they have no iron; and that he further found, in the collection of
the Captain General of the Philippines, a large shallow kettle of
three and one-half feet in diameter, which had been bought for only
three dollars; whence it may be inferred that, in the interior of
the island, the copper occurs in large masses, and probably solid;
for how could those rude, uncultivated negritos understand the art
of smelting copper?

[Copper-working a pre-Spanish art.] The locality of these rich
quarries was still unknown to the Governor, although the copper
implements brought thence had, according to an official statement
of his in 1833, been in use in Manila over two centuries. It is
now known that the copper-smiths are not Negritos but Igorots; and
there can be no question that they practiced this art, and the still
more difficult one of obtaining copper from flint, for a long period
perhaps previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. They may possibly
have learnt them from the Chinese or Japanese. The chief engineer,
Santos [134], and many others with him, are of opinion that this
race is descended from the Chinese or Japanese, from whom he insists
that it acquired not only its features (several travellers mention
the obliquely placed eyes of the Igorots), its idols, and some of
its customs, but also the art of working in copper. At all events,
the fact that a wild people, living isolated in the mountains,
should have made such progress in the science of smelting, is of
so great interest that a description of their procedure by Santos
(essentially only a repetition of an earlier account by Hernandez,
in the Revista Minera, i. 112) will certainly be acceptable.

[The Igorots' Method.] The present mining district acquired by the
society mentioned, the Sociedad Minero-metalurgica Cantabrofilipina