The labor world., 1898-02-05
GUAQUEROS OF COLOMBIA.
Men Who Hunt For Gold Buried With the
Ancient Inhabitants of the Country.

Men Who Hunt For Gold Buried With the
Ancient Inhabitants of the Country.
The burial places of the ancient
inhabitants Of Colombia, more par
ticularly in the provinces of An
tioquia and Cauca, have for more
than three centuries afforded a pre-
carious livelihood, first to some of
the Spaniards who colonized the
country and then to some of the
present inhabitants, for the Indians
of Colombia followed the custom of
burying the dead with their posses
sions and treasures. In Antioquia
and Cauca an Indian tomb is known
as guaca and group of tombs as
a pueblo. The guacas are said to be
rich when they contain a large
amount of gold, poor when they
contain little and empty when they
contain only bones and pottery.
''The art Of the guaqueros, or
grave searchers,' says Don Manuel
Uribe, a quaint writer of century
ago, "has perfectly plain rules, easy
to be understood, whose application
is so certain in it's results that they
are almost exact. "
Of the men themselves he says:
Like all who seek treasure, their
life is enthusiastic and full Of
dreams that too often are dispelled
and replaced by painful realities.
There is in the Antioquian guaquero
something strange and typical that
makes it's impress on his character
and gives him peculiar physiogno-
my. Light hearted and observing,
he is always sanguine of finding
enormous treasures; he speaks Of
his occupation with pride, praises it,
defends it with tenacity, and often
shows signs of a kind of insanity
which might well be called sar-
cophagomania."
The don might have added that
once a guaquero always a guaquero,
and that the guaqueros are the only
miners in all the country who can
not obtain credit. This is saying a
good deal, for in Colombia every re-
tail as we'll as every wholesale
merchant expects to give from to
IL months credit. =
The searchers claim to be able to
locate a guaca with unfailing ac-
curacy, but the writer's has seen
them fail too many times to believe
it to be other than a matter of, great
luck. The sole indication of a guaca,
so far as an outsider can learn, is a
sinking of the ground correspond
ing to the size of the grave, but in
the course of centuries such indica-
tions have disappeared to large ex-
tent. The tools required are few
a crowbar, shovel, a botea for wash
ing the dirt, and a block and tackle
if the grave be deep. ..@ !
Having located his guaca, the
guaquero can, after digging little,
tell pretty nearly what he may ex-
pect. If he finds q stone wall or
signs of steps, he may be pretty
sure that the grave is of some one
of Importance. If the wall is of
hewn stone, we'll Joined, he knows
it must be of a great chief or a
cacique. BY the hardness and COM
pactness of the soil he knows wheth'
er the grave is very ancient or colh-
paratively modern. By the kind Of
utensils found he can tell whether
the grave is that of man or a
woman. He can also tell whether
the grave has been previously rob-
bed and whether by Indians or
Spaniards. This he determines by
indications that would appeal very
forcibly to Sherlock Holmes. The
ancient Indians were extremely
careful in filling the grave to place
the different earths, generally black,
BLUSH gray, and brown, in che ex-
act order in which they occurred.
If the grave was subsequently, rob-
bed by Indians, the bones and pot
terry would be carefully replaced,
but the same care would not. be ex-
ercised in replacing the earth. If
the grave was robbed by Spaniards
the grave would be hurriedly filled
with bones, broken pottery, and
earth Unfortunately.
When it becomes evident to the
guaquero that he is nearing the bot
tom, the earth is removed in thin
slices and every piece is carefully