The Opelousas courier., 1896-11-14
TREASURE TROVE,
BILLIONS IN GOLD AND JEWELS
BURIED IN THE RED SEA.
Divers Have Never Been Able to
Reach This Vast Fortune-At-
tackled by Immense COnger
Eels-Will Try Again.
SYNDICATE of English and

foSU al OIhS SoS u
amounting to 81, 900, 900. 900.
1t has been about twenty years nov
: since Captain Temple began to thinl
about this problem of getting at these
four thousand millions in gold ant
silver and precious stones. Thanks t.
the recent progress in certain branche:
of science, he has been able to formu
late q plan which has appealed K
timid capital, and the work of at
tempting to recover the treasure viii
soon begin.
For four thousand years OF least the
great sea route for trade between In
dia and Western Asia and Europe has
been through the Arabian Sea te
Alden, and thence up the Red Sea to
Suez. AS every schoolboy knows, the
ource of all the gold and silver anc
jewels of the ancient world vas Asia,
And tho richest and most famous
mines were in India.
Ever since the formation of civiliza.
tion in the countries around the east.
ern end of the Mediterranean ships
laden with the most precious com
modities known to man have been sail
ing over this route and laying down in
Europe their splendid cargoes.
TO the ancients the Arabian Sea was
fraught with the gravest perils. AS
the centuries went by thousands Of
treasure laden ships were sunk along
the trade route in the comparatively
shallow waters of that sea.
The moderns as well as the ancients
have found the navigation of the Red
Sea most p%erilous. 1t is a long, mar
row trough, in many places less than
twenty miles wide and nearly two
miles deep. The Red Sea is 1870
miles long, but it's bottom is thickly
strewn with wrecks. It is always full
of craft of all kinds and has been for
centuries. Until the use OF steam q
considerable proportion of the craft
that sailed there went to the bottom.
And not a few of these were treasure
ships.
The estimate that there are four
billions OF treasure as the bottom OF
the two seas is based upon the known
catastrophies in historic times. The
actual records show that this sum has
been lost in that trade route. 1t is
safe to say that this gigantic sum
represents only a small part of the
treasure really there.
Buried under sand and shells and
bones of ships as old as history and as
new as the latest disaster there lie
tons of gold and silver, huge bags and
boxes of diamonds and ru ,ies and
emeralds. Every year of TIP history
of the civilized 4 gse world is represented
there.
If you con,l walk over hose
abysmal plains lu would see the Vii
ships of the well greaved Greeks OF
whom Homer sang,, Re gallant vessels
of Pharaohs lying nliuef pyramids
these 5000 years, the galleys of Cartha.
merchants, of Roman Senators
who did not despise the grains Of
the schooners of the merchant
of that period of which Colum-
bus is the chief figure, and, last of all, |
the two.funnelled steamships of our
own century.
Captain Temple will first try the
waters of the Arabian Sea.
Until a few years ago deep-sea diving
vas impossible. But science has dis.
covered some new modes which make
t possible for divers to go down
several hundred feet and work with
,ase. AS the Arabian Sea is very
shallow in some places directly under
trade route, Captain Temple will
will send his divers down there. With
he experience he will gain in these
attempts he hopes to able to penetrate
'ven the depths of the Red Sea. It is
here that he expects to find the most
Ireasure. For even within the few
asst years many treasure ships have
'een lost in those dangerous waters.
There is not the slightest doubt but
hat a fabulous treasure, equal to the
otal wealth of many a great Nation,
les in the depths of that very narrow
All that is needed, in Cap
ain Temples opinion, IS patience and
lssiduity. He fully expects to pour
nto the strong boxes of the syndicate
en- times as much gold sail the mines
# America have produced.
In addition to the other difficulties
# deep-sea diving the Red Sea has one
that is peculiar sto itself.
When the Challenger made deep-sea
oundings there many strange and
antastic forms Of life never found
elsewhere were brought to the surface.
The waters of the Red Sea are very
lot.
The intense heat that is always beat
ng upon the surface, the heat of the
and on either side, and the peculiar
Fay in which the waters are inclosed,
ii combine to make it the hottest
arge body of water in the world.
often the temperature of the water is
less than LOG degrees Fahrenheit.
fervent heat has no doubt had a
'reat deal to do with producing the
aonstrous and terrifying sea creatures
form the active and terrible guar
ians of the buried treasures. OF
hese monsters the most terrible is
he huge conger eel, found there and
.owbere else III the world. This
2%eature is like a great boa constric-
or. It often reaches the length OF
birty feet. and is as formidable in
act as it is in appearance. .
A few years age the P. and O. mail
teamer Carnatic sank in the shallow
7ater ear the African coast. Divers
sent down to 0 the gold in
.er strong room. They found that
cores of these fierce and huge ecls
ere writhing and tumbling about the
hin eating the enrnses of the d1nwned