Note 11 — EARLY FRANCISCAN MISSIONS

“Copper ores are reported from a great number of places in the Philippines; they are said to occur in Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, and Mindanao. It is not probable that all of these are important, but northern Luzon contains a copper region of unquestioned value. The best known portion of this region lies about Mount Data, in the province of Lepanto.... In this range copper was smelted by the natives long before Magellan discovered the Philippines. The process consists of alternate partial roasting and reductions to ‘matte,’ and eventually to block copper. It is generally believed that this process must have been introduced from China or Japan. It is practiced only by one peculiar tribe of natives, the Igorrotes. This tribe is in most respects semibarbarous and lives in great squalor, though industrially they stand on a high level, and show remarkable skill in the working of metals as well as in their extraction. They have turned out not merely implements of small dimensions, but copper kettles as large as three and a half feet in diameter.” (Official Handbook of the Philippines, p. 50. For more detailed account see Becker, ut infra, pp. 584–590.)