The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-26
CALIFORNIA FIC syrup co.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.


wealth concealed below their feet. Long
before the British government gave back
the fortress, every one who knew the CO.
trance into the concealed hoard was dead,
except one man, who was extremely old,
and, although in good health, he might
have died any day. If that had happen
ed, the treasure might have been lost to
the owner forever. and to the world for
ages, because there was only one entraNe
to the hoard, which was most cunningly
concealed and, except that entrance, ev-
cry other part was surrounded by solid
rock
80 the Maharajah was in such a fix
that he must either get back his fortress,
or divulge the secret to the government,
and run the risk of losing the treasure
forever. When the fortress was given
back to the Maharajah, and before the
British troops had left Gwalior territory,
masons were brought from Benares,
sworn to secrecy, in the temple of the
Holy Cow, before leaving; and when they
reached the Gwalior railway station they
were put into carriages, bIindfoded and
driven TO the place where they had to
work. There they were kept till they had
opened out the entrance into the secret
vault; and, when the concealed hoard had
been verified, and the hole built up again,
they were once more blndfolded. put into
station and re-booked for Benares under
a proper escort"
Such is the purport of the story told to
me. When l ventured to doubt its truth.
and suggested, if the hoard had any ex-
istence, in fact, sixty lakhs instead of sixty
crores would be nearer the amount Crown
inghee Lall laughed at my ignorance,
and declared that what he had told me
was fact. He added that, although that
arffpt -
were several smaller ones, varying from
sums of fifty lakhs to 5 and ten crores
some of which the government got to
know about and had obliged the present
board of regency to invest in India bonds
On this point 1 pointed OUT that such
boarded wealth could not be reconciled
with the known revenue of the Gwalior
state, even If the whole could have been
boarded for a generation. Chowringhee
L.all then explained to me that these
boards were not accumulated from the rev
enues of the state, but were the accumula-
tons of the plumber gathered by the NAH
rata armies in the good old times when
the Mahrattas systematically swept the
. plains of India, and that, Gwalior being
the capital, the whole of their vast plum
der was accumulated and boarded there.
Crowninghee Lall went on to tell me that
for generations before the rise of the Brit
ish power, his ancestors had held the post
of treasurer in the Gwalior state and that
after the British had annexed territories
around Delhi, one of his great-grand-un-
Giles had retired from the post of treasurer
of Gwalior with a fortune of 20 crores of
: rupees (f20,0O0OOO BY great good for
tune, all this money was quietly got into
British territory, he declared; and Is crores
of it are at this day bricked up in a secret
vault under Hindu temple dedicated to
the goddess of wealth in the holy CITY of
Brindabun. Now" said the Lalla, Elf
the treasurer could accumulate so much
what were the Accommodations of the state
likely to be? The treasures of Gwalior
form but. very small amount compared
with the total of the known concealed
wealth of India. All the silver would be
brought out and replaced by gold directly
the British government decreed gold cur
rency for India
Five hundred millions of gold would be
absorbed and concealed before a gold cur
rency had been twelve months in circula-
ton. Europeans, even those who have
been in the country for years, have no
idea of the boarding propensities Of even
well-to-do natives, without counting the
more wealthy bankers and traders. For
example, my wife" said the Lalla "has
more than three lakhs or rupees hidden
for fear of my dying before .her, because
am much older than she is, and we have
no son alive to inherit my property And
know nothing about the place where this
money is concealed"
On this / asked how natives managed to
accumulate so much wealth, and the I.alla
replied: Natives don't spend like Euro
peans. Take the house of any weu-to-do
native merchant with an income of, say.
thousand rupees per month; at the very
outside, so to 100 rupees would purchase
the whole Of the furniture in it, Beyond a
few purdahs (curtains) and beds. furniture
in the European sense does not exist Even
the very wealthy, although they may have
carriage and horses, possess neither
books nor pictures nor any expensive
works of art and, when a feast is given to
their friends, a piece of a plantain leaf
serves each guest for a dish, where Euro
peans spend hundreds of rupees in dinner
and breakfast services of fragile. but most
expensive china and glassware. All this
the native saves and boards. The wealthy
conceal their accommodations of gold and
silver in secret vaults, except the orna-
ments, which are reserved for and worn
by their women" l had to admit the
force of all this reasoning,