ful in
finding good indications of rich minerals. He appeared to make a
confidant of me. At one time he showed me a lot of gold and some silver
that he had found out on his prospecting tours, but would not tell me
where they came from. He told me that when he was discharged he
intended to return and work the mines. I knew that the paymaster had
considerable money belonging to this old miner, who told me he should
invest it in the mines, and in purchasing mining machinery.

I saw and heard enough to cause me to believe that when the natives are
civilized, and when men would be safe in the mountains, that the mines
in the Philippines will attract more people than the Klondike ever did.
There are advantages in the Philippines which are not found in the
Klondike region, the most important being the climate, not considering
the quality of the mines, which I believe to be equal to that of the
Klondike.

The mountain regions are rich in various minerals.

In the Island of Mindanao coal has been mined ever since Americans have
been there.

This country will find out in a few years what is in the Philippines. I
believe it is a rich country. Almost anything can be raised that is
desired in the line of field and garden crops; fine timber is plentiful
and saw mills are yet unknown. I don't believe there is a saw mill in
the Island of Luzon. All sawed timber is imported that is used at
present; not much is used in building as most of the houses are built of
stone or bamboo. The frame buildings which we have in America are never
seen there. All the native houses and small towns are built of bamboo,
and covered with grass. The bamboo grows very large, the joints are two
and three feet long, and some of the larger bamboos are as large as a
common tree. They are the same thing that people in this country know
as canes, the difference being in their size only. Houses are built of
bamboo without the use of nails. Nothing for flooring but the naked
earth. Split bamboo is worked into the houses fastening the whole
together. I have seen the natives build houses, and have no other tool
than a large knife. The roof of grass is fastened on with strips of
bamboo, and is three to four inches thick. This roof is superior, in
point of comfort, in a hot country, to that of anything I ever saw. I
have been in the hot sun and in metal roofed buildings, and on going
into a grass covered house the difference was noticeable immediately,
the grass ro