Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31

than the Englishman's joint stock COM
pany 1t was as broad as a New Jersey
corporation charter. They were going to
develop all Peru, and the location of the
Incas' lost treasure was mere incident in
the general plan.
Place of Burial Forgotten.
While these stories of vast wealth being
buried may be mythical there are cases OF
small amounts which may prove attractive
to treasure seekers with modest ambitions.
A year and a half ago, while on the edge
of the Atacama nitrate desert, 1 heard of
one Of them. The buried treasure was To-
Gated near Tacna.
This Tacna treasure seems to be fairly
well authenticat ted. When l was there the
Chilean authorities had given permission
for two enterprising individuals to locate
it. 1t was said to be the lost wealth of
Senior Don Rafael Gavino de Berries. He
was very rich landowner, and at the
time of the war against Spain, nearly n
century ago, was engaged in extensive op-
erations which required large sums in cash
He intrusted $4,000 in gold, done up III
bags, to trustworthy muleteef and Il
faithful slave. The land transaction for
some reason was not contaminated, and
the muleteer, returning with the gold,
found that there was an uprising, and that
whichever side won it would not be good
thing for $4,000 in gold to be lying around
loose. So he sent the faithful slave for
WdrQ on some pFeIeXt ana nlQ the SOlu Ia
deep gorge about mile from Tacna,
known as the Devils Canyon.
He reported to his employer what he had
done. When the, disturbance was ended
they went to find the money. But the
muleteer had become confused and could
not remember just where the spot was. He
was killed soon afterward in one of The
fresh disturbances, and Senior Don Rafael
Gavino de Berries never was able to locate
his gold. He was so very rich that he did
,of mic hI,fi in, nna
story of the loss has been preserved An
American to whom told the circumstances
suggested that 1t was mistake to look 10
the Devils Canyon. The cemetery is not
more than a quarter of mile away and
he thought the chances were that the gold
bags were buried there. He announced his
purpose of making quiet quest on his own
account, but I have not heard that either
he or the other treasure hunters have been
successful.
The Isle of Pines.
Coming nearer home, the coasts of Cuba
TEEN with buried treasure, If the location
only could be found, for Morgan and his
pirates rendevouzed on both sides of the
island. The Isle of Pines was a nest of
pirates from the sixteenth to the nineteenth
century. Many traditions exist of the
buried booty, but in spite of very syste-
matte searches no great sums have been
unearthed.
Princeton was taking photographs, and
was struck with the industry of one OF the
natives, who was digging zealously. Hard
work of this sort is not the rule in the Isle
of Pines especially on the part of the
natives. 1t may have been on this account
that Prof. Finley was so anxious to get the
photograph. The native was equally anx-
ious to escape observation. 1t developed
later that he had found some buried Span
ish gold The pieces were Of the sixteenth
century, and would have been valuable far
beyond their worth in bullion. But the
finder, in his eagernesS, had them melted
up, and only obtained a few hundred dol
lars. where he might have had thousands
Though he did a good deal OF excavating
there were no further finds. Since then the
Isle of Pines has been filled with Amerf-
cans, who have taken up the quest, but
they have got more out of tobacco ana
oranges than out of gold dug from the
earth.
Along the north of Cuba is the Cayo Ro-
mano, or Roman Key. 1t was once the
spoil of the pirates who came thtther from
the Bahamas. They were said to have
hidden much Of their wealth there. Cuban
families from the mainland were also re-
ported to have buried their family treas
ures on this island reef in periods of trou-
BILE with Spain. Among this class were the
ancestors of Minister Quesada, who were
not pirates. But the mosquitoes are SO bad
on the key that nobody ever has had per-
sisterce enough to make a thorough search
for this hidden wealth, traditional, if not
mythical This prevalence of mosquitoes
is a drawback to nearly all the treasure
islands The pirates apparently were IN
different to the personal comfort or poster
fty. CHARLES M. PEPPER.