The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-18
GUARDED BY A GHOST.
THE LAST INCA STANDS IN FRONT
OF THE GOLD MOUNTAIN.

The Natives VIII Not Touch the Rich
Mines-Most Valuable Gold Fields
in the World Kept Unworked by
This Indian SuperstitiOn-MissiO
aries Try to Assist the Govern
ment--PicI1s Spirited Away, SHOW
els stolen, Buckets Overturned
and Shafts Wrecked by the Ghost
of Inca.
Copyright 1850
New York, Oct. f.-Twenty million dol
lars worth Of gold yearly lies within easy
reach of the capital of the United States.
1t is lightly buried in the mountains
little south of Texas, and not far past
"the neck" as the strip of Central Amer
lea that connects North and South Ameri-
ca has been termed.
These gold mines are the easiest work
ed in the world, and the richest in yield.
Yet there they lie year after year, while
gold is being laboriously mined in far
countries. The mines have never been
worked, and may be. never will be work
ed. And all on account of a ghost.
For a hundred years, since the destruc-
ton of the last distinct tribe of the Incas,
the ghost of the lost tribes have haunted
the mines. Laborers would not work
there because troubled by mysterious spir-
it's that annoyed them increasingly. Picks
would be spirited away, shovels would dis
appear, buckets were overturned and the
shafts worked all awry. Time and again
the mines have been reopened, but always
with the same results. Finally the work
was abandoned to be renewed yearly and
abandoned again.
Last week engineers appointed by the
government visited these mines and made
an examination of them. From the
roughet estimate that could be made by
surface examination, they appraised the
gold to be worth 600 annually. Th1s
did not estimate the amount probably IN
the ground but only that within easy
reach and sure. They reported the entire
Carabaya province of Peru underlald with
these mines and estimated that, were
work begun there, the most boundless
wealth of the earth would be brought
forth. veritable mine of King solomon
with more practical results and much
nearer home.
The Carabaya province is in the south
ern part of Peru, very near the coast.
1t is shut off from the rest of the country
by high peaked mountains, which are
always covered with snow. In the sides
of these mountains lie the gold mines.
Visitors to the place have described the
country as colder than Greenland, with
the glittering gold readable from any
place on the mountain side. A gold mar
vest in a country of snow!
Years ago, when the Indians inhabited
most of South America and North Amer
lea, too, the Incas tribe owned this coast
of Peru and hunted in the Andes noun
tains. They were a wealthy tribe, and
the last to succumb to the inroads or
other countries. They dug their metal,
gold and silver, from the mountains and
traded it off for that which they most
needed.
When the new corners. the Spaniards,
and the French, drove them out and broke
up the tribe it was the lncas that strGS-
gled longest and held out most manful-
ly. At one period of settlement 1t was
feared that this tribe would hold the An
des forever as a menace to the seaport
places Of South America and as perma-
nent owners of the great gold mines
there.
There is a story told about the final
driving out of the Incas. Their last chief,
Inca, was a man deemed impenetrable.
He led the raids into the mountains to
drive back the encroachers. And he bold
ly captured game and hunted freely where
others dared not go. Inca was a wise man
and he knew that it was the gold mines
that the Spaniards sought; so he determin-
ed that he would wall up the mines with
impossible stone so that, take what parr
of the country they might, they could
find no treasure to reward them.
For one year Inca labored with his
strongest chiefs to hew the largest stones
from the mountain sides, and for another
year he toiled to get them in place. Each
opening in the mountain side was to be
closed and where the richest veins lay
there was to be mountain ridge of stone
built.
~1a1I oil r1ra- Al Ta ht,E
boulders. They were to be rolled into
tunnel a the foot of the Mountain Jesu,
under which ran a vein bright with richest
ore.
But in the night Inca awoke and re-
pented thus sealing up so much treasure.
He longed to enter the tunnel and feast
his eyes upon the veins which would yield
gold to all the Incas for generations to
come; and rising from his couch he threw
his blanket around himself and grasping
a torch, entered the mountain by a secret
entrance.
At first break of light the strong men of
the tribe rose ready for their days work
With prodigious effort they rolled the
mighty boulders in place and sealed them
with cement, and rolled smaller boulders
in the cracks. Not an entrance from any
side was left unguarded.
When the work was done they went to
find their chief TO show him their work,
but Inca was nowhere to be found He
had wandered deep into the mine and,
falling asleep from WEAKNESS, was en-
tombed alive. The boulder builders re-
membered seeing a distant light but
supposed it was a torch left from a
miners hand Too late to rescue their
chief, they remembered this.
This ghost is the one that guards the
mines, and the natives believe that Inca
came to life some day, and, recalling
his tribe, gave them the buried treasure.
They dare not touch it.
The people with whom the government
has to deal in this excavation of the most
valuable gold mines in the world are a
mixture of races. Spanish, French and
italian blend together. They speak
Quichna, a mixture of Spanish Indian
and Chinese. 1t is the most peculiar
tongue ever heard, and no American has
ever been able to acquire it, All work
must be done through Spanish interpr-
ters, half-bred with those who speak
Quichina, or negotiations would never be
carried on.
These natives are desperately poor Liv-
ing, as they do, in a county of constant
cold, they need fuel, good food, clothing
and shelter for their comfort. These they
1,f.s. ,fs, Ft,s.xF H.