Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-02
GOLD BY THE HANDFUL
Austrian Visits the SmithS0-
nian With Idols.
PRODUCT OF COSTA RIGA
Caller Describes the Indians and
Their Customs.
PLACE OBJECTS IN THE GRAVES
Natives Very Highly Developed in
an Artistic Sense-Description
of Their Work.
PLACE OBJECTS IN THE GRAVES

! Gold idols by the handful from Costa
Rica. and plenty more there, is the AT
tractive story of young Austrian. Emile
Mosonyi. who visited the authorities at
the Smithsonian Institution today. Mr.
Mosonyi is mining engineer. and has
spent altogether about seven years IN
Costa RIGA and the nearby islands. He
iourneyed to the mountains to look for
minerals, and says he found them in
plenty. but considers the Indians of the
region much more interesting and poten-
TALLY quite as valuable as the, mines.
Speaking of his experience to a Star re-
porter, he said:
THE Indians are a peculiar people. ana
they have had bad experiences with the
whites. You have to know them we'll to
get their confidence, and as long as you
are honest with them they will treat you
we'll and tell you as much of the inside
history of their tribe as you want to
know. But once they find that you have
not acted honestly with them their con-
fidence Is gone forever. l had rather
good fortune among them and was able
| to locate number of their burial places
where there were idols and ornaments
Of gold. There is an immense amount
more In the country, but of that l do not
wish to speak now.
Do Not Mark Graves.
The Indians bury their dead without
anything to mark the spot. and they
never bury their gold objects with the
dead. They put into the grave objects of
pottery and household effects. so that
when the dead return they will be able
to use them. or perhaps they think that
the spirit of the utensil goes along with
the dead. for they always destroy the
usefulness of the pottery vessel by knock
ing a hole in it. OF the fabrics and
wooden objects it is impossible to tell
what they do. as they are mostly de-
stroyed by age when discovered.
Il brought back a few of the gold
images with me and might have gotten
more. But l think that the Smithsonian
Institution will be interested in making
excavations. The Indians at present are
very highly developed artistically. and
some of their work is as good as any
thing that could be done in this coun-
| try
Work on a Gourd.
In proof Mr.. Mosonyi produced the half
of gourd of very hard and smooth fiber.
1t is called jicago by the natives and the
work on it was executed by the Queches
tribe of Indians. The outside of the
gourd had been stained black and polish
ed very highly. On this had been etched
medallion frame. and within the por-
traits Of two Indians, the picture part of
the etching being about four inches in
greatest length. The design is a spiral.
vine line frame, inclosing a second frame
Of conventional Roman key. The picture
inside of this Is cross-hatched with the
point Of a needle 1t is considered mar
velously fine work, being almost as fine
as a sixty-eight- halftone screen
The gold objects. Of which the explorer
displayed handful. were all small orna-
ments that might have been used as fe-
fishes or personal decorations or both
Some Of them are in the form of human
figures. some of cOnventfonalized birds
and animals. and all have in them one or
two small rings by which they might
Some are as much as two inches long and
weigh several ounces, and others are
scarcely more than half an inch long.
Characteristic Of the Natives.
All of them had been cast hollow and
finished with a craving tool or polisher
on the diverse side. They were bright
and clean. as though they had just been
finished. but some of the experts of the
bureau OF ethnology thought that they
might be genuine. as the form and the
workmanship are characteristic of the
authenticated native work Of the region.
MI. MOSOnyl mao scores OF photographs
of other objects taken from the grave
caches some of them Of gold objects four
inches long. The collection from one
grave weighed in the aggregate pound.
One of the few specimens that unques-
tionably had been an ornament was
small gold pin with head in the shape
of a conventionalized animal.
Mr.. Mosonyi says that he is going to
England and thence back to Austria, his
native country, and will subsequently re-
turn to the grave diggings of Costa RIGA.