Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-01-16

and displayed to view queerly-formed
stone, jagged upon one side and compar-
atively smooth upon the other, with
certain fading, indistinct characters
rudely carved upon its surface.
At first nothing could be made of these
characters, but by brushing away an &C
emulation of dirt and carefully scan
ming the whole surface it was easy to
observe letters and figures, written in
slightly irregular form over space of
perhaps two feet square, for the stone
had q circumference of over nine feet
and must have weighed about seven
hundred pounds.
BY tracing carefully the indentations
and the use of a small magnifying glass
the following was obtained:
The inscription was very indistinct, and
the second word had also the appearance
of sMurio.'' Translated from the Span
ish it means:
.sHere suffered Tor was lzilled) the I'M
fortunate Diego de Nicuesa, April 5,
1911"
AS it aids materially in clearing up
an important historical controversy we
stop here to give the historical facts
leading up to this connection:
The fate of the famous Spanish navi-
gator, Nicuesa, has long been wrapped
mystery, He was rich Spanish
courtier, who had been given the gov
eminent of Veragua. now comprehended
in the territory from Colon to Cape
Gracios Dios.
Toward the close of the year 1910
he sailed for the new province with 6s5
men, and landed on the isthmus of
Darien, after experiencing untold priva-
tons, the loss of two of his vessels in a
storm and the stranding of the other in
one Of the noxious inlets of the coast.
In q short while fever and Indians had
reduced his force to seventy men.
Through the rivalry and treachery of
Vasco Nunez de Balboa, mutiny fol-
lowed, and the latter became Governor,
forcing Nicuesa to sea in little boat
with sixteen companions, who were
never afterwards heard from, except a
report that hostile Indians had pre-
vented them from landing at the mouth
of the San Juan, the present site Of
Greytown. 1t is quite natural to sup
pose that they continued up the coast
toward Blewfelds Lagoon, in the hope
of reaching a settlement at Gracios a
Dios. But hunger and thirst must have
finally driven them ashore somewhere
near the Lagoon, and in their weak and
famished condition they became easy
victims to the warlike tribes that then
and even now infest this part of the
coast. This brings us to the evidence
above described as throwing long-de-
ferred light upon this mystified part OF
the history Of the early Spanish con-
quest. 1t corresponds closely to the
historical account of the loss of Nicuesa
and party, who left the Rio Belen on
March 1, 1911.
But how came this huge stone here,
over one hundred and twenty miles from
the coast? Did Nienesa and rarty aban.
don their boat and penetrate the interi.
or? If not, how could such q large stone
have been transported from the coast,
through rivers and over high mount
aims, with no vehicle or other possibility
than being dragged here by the Indians?
If the latter, why should such venera-
ton attach to the relic by the uncivil-
lied tribes who found it? These were
the pulling questions prompted by our
discovery, which was not cleared away
by the tradition that was repeated by
the pi3a in whose possession we had
found it As near as could be inter
preted the tradition runs as follows:
The scita indicated by handful of
sand that 1t was so many suns ago as the
grains it contained. that his aka (foro-
-