St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-03-30
A HAUNTED MINE.


Guarded bs Nature and By Fierce Beasts
04 Enorm01s Size.
Some time ago I heard q story Of .
gold mine that was said to be in ex-
istence in the Chantaboon province.
An old villager that met told me that
the mine had never been worked. He
recollected in his childhood. about fifty
years ago. that . party with four ele-
plants visited the place, but he does
not remember whether they found the
mine or not. Two or three Cam
bodians arereportcd to have found mug
gets in the bed Of the stream, put NO
one has ever been adventurous enough
to follow tho stream to its source.
The greatest possible amount Of
superstition exists about this
mine. Somo allege that those
who 60 there never return.
They either die of sickness, the influ-
ence of the evil one, or fall prey to
wild animals Three Englishmen at
tempted to reach the source Of the
stream where this mine II reported to
be. but had to abandon the idea for
various reasons. At starting they had
to take . narrow path that had been
made by ''cardamom" 2atherers-
After keeping on this path for two
days they reached pool OF dirty wa
ter. Here their guide took them aside
and whispered them not to talk OF
tigers, rs the forest in that part was
infested with them. and that they
would surely visit the camp If they
only mentioned the names. Promising
to be discreet. they went down to ex-
anime the pool, and found the whole
place. actually trampled down by
wild boar with q few tiger foot
prints Here they rested for
the night, and next day proceeded ON
their journey. If the footprints around
the pool led them to believe their
guides reports of wild animals they
were now perfectly convinced. for on
either side of the path they saw the
destruction worked by wild elephants.
A little further on they came to . spot
where the mammoths had rested for
the night That evening they found
that one of the carriers who had charge
of the provisions had taken to his
heels. As they had no cooking uten-
sils, they were compelled to cook their
rice in tobacco tin. and along with .
steak of a civet cat (meo-pa) managed
to make . dinner.
At this spot the guide informed them
it was impossible to 60 on unless they
walked along the stream barefooted.
After walking in this manner for
about five hours they came to the
falls. Here they had to climb ur
rocks thirty to forty feet high by
means of the roots of trees growing
through the assures. the guide point
ing them out places where gold had
been found. After climbing mp higher
they came to the junction Of two
streams, and the guide now told them
that he did not know the road further
up and that he was afraid. One of the
party got dysentery here, and they
then determined to hurry back. es.
pecially as they had only rice with
them, and not even \ bamboo to cool
it in. This excursion can only be dont
in the months of January, February
and March. It would be y good oppor
tunity for q sportsman who desired Il
combine business with pleasure
Ponies and pack animals could not pos
sibly 60; the only way of transpor
would be by carriers, and 1t would b
very hard to obtain more than two q
three men, ~ the people are 80 super
stitious about it.-Siam Free Press.