The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1912-12-07
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before we reach it. But, according to the sto.
ries, the bottom of the lake is where the richest
treasures are"
We have most of us heard in our childhood
that the Spaniards of the sixteenth century
dreamed Of eel Dorado the land of gold and
that they sought for it in strange and savage
and ever hopeful ways among strange and saw
age peoples We have read how the lust of gold
seized the adventures of Spain and they press
ed 1nto~the Wilderness and found land conquered
more and more land without finding the land
OF gold. But, as matter of fact, the Spanish
explorers did find Ell Dorado. Only Ell Dorado
was not the land of gold; it the golden man.
And the treasure of the golden mans gift was not
treasure that could be found on the land; it
lay at the bottom of lake, and the Spaniards
could not drain it. The story of the real Ell
Dorado is the story of the religious festivals of
the Chbchas.
The tribes of the Chibchas, according to recent
historians, occupied the plateau region of the
northeastern province of Colombia, and were
among the richest, the most magnificent, and the
most enlightened of South American tribes. In
their wealth, their barbaric splendor and their
handicrafts, they ranked with the Aztecs of Mex
leo and the Incas of Peru. Their land was rich
in emeralds. Gold they procured in great guam
titles from their immediate neighbors. Rich tex
tiles and dyed cotton stuffs as we'll as the feath-
ers of beautiful birds, added to the wealth and
their magnifcence. Amber they obtained from
their neighbors, and apparently from the other
side of the world they procured in some unknown
manner some quantity of jade.
Savage, uncontrolled in their indulgence of
the arts of pleasure that they had cultivated
even more eagerly than the arts of war they
were yet a thoroughly religious people. Their
hierarchy Of gods and goddesses had passed be-
yond the simple worship of the forces of nature
and included definite deites with definite powers
--deitles to be propitiated. Occasionally they
offered up human beings to their gods often
they sacrificed talking parrots to avert calamity.
But for the most part they gave their possessions
to their deities and worshipped with barbaric
wealth of sacrifice, at the sacred lakes
There were five Of these lakes in the district
that we know as Colombia-Guatavita Guas-
ca, Siecha, Teusaca, and Uhaque; of the five.
Guatavta was by far the most important, Ubaque
being its nearest rival. The people made pill
grimages to all the lakes but to Guatavita most
of all. and with the richest gifts. And it at
the lake of Guatavita that the great ceremony
OF the Chibcha tribes took place-the installation
of the chief. Guatavita' was the most important
center of the Chibchas the religious capital" of
the tribe. ....
The chief who to his kingdom with sac
riices to the holy water of the plateau was an
absolute monarch, whose power rested largely on
the assumption that he semi-divine No sub
ject dared look his leader in the face but in the
royal presence turned aside assumed stoop-
ing attitude. No messenger might approach the
chief without bearing gift, not to win the royal
ldVOI, uleicy 10 10 homage TO the royal state.
Over every detail of his subjects lives he ruled
and if man of Guatavita wished to alter the
style Of his dress he must ask his leaders per.
mission and receive the new garment from the
royal hand. In his South American Archaeol-
ogy" T. Athol Joyce of the British Museum de-
scrbes the state of the Zipa of Bogota: His gar
ments were of the finest cotton his throne was
OF gold studded with emeralds, and he travelled
In litter hung with golden plates. His head
dress was of gold, and golden crescent orna-
mented his brow; nose and ear ornaments were
OF the same material, and also the breastplate
he wore upon his chest"
For i've years or more before Chibcha chief
became his peoples ruler he must remain in Sc
clusion preparatory to the great ceremony of
the lake. At the end of his rigorous period of
probation-for it also period of stern self
denial-the chiefs nose and ears were pierced
for the ornaments of his rank, and he made gold
en- offerings to the gods. Professor Joyce. who
in his book describes the ceremonies of the ga
cred lake as historically attested facts, quotes
from the history of the conquest and discovery
OF New Granada by Juan Rodriguez Fresle.
written in 1886: