The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-08-08

defenders were driven away they took the secret
OF the hiding-place with them and later were eth
er made slaves killed. Umcan collected much
treasure and. removed 1t to Ciandu, but he did
not get the great hidden store of wealth, though
he laid the city in ruins and filled whole tower
with prisoners, whom he roasted alive in ven-
geance. Today no man seems competent to say
where those ruins lie and one has gone over
the old records to trace out the geographical
points that are known and fixed in relation to the
unknown site of the lost city whose treasure
would run into the hundreds Of millions. 1t is
thought to be in Turkestan.
Equally uncertain is the spot where lie the
ruins of the splendid summer capital Of Ciandu.
Marco Polo even furnished more or less accu.
rate map Of the city proper 1t was in Cathay
and built in the bend of a great river with miles
Of defenses the banks and extending toward
the mountains behind It. In many ways its de-
scription corresponds to the modern town OF
Khotan in esatern Turkestan on the Khotan river
yet other indications point to Leh in Kashmir on
the Indus river, and 1t may mean Kunduz the
great Amu-Daria river stream as long as the
Ohio but in SO remote part Of the world that 1t
is rarely even heard Of
Genghis Khan, which means chief of all Chiefs
was Temudjin, Mongol and chieftain of the Col
den Hordes. His domain in 1903 comprised all Of
China, Turkestan, Persia and Kaptchak or south
ern Russia, and it was about this time that he
established his summer capital at Ciandu. Here
1t was that he instituted the peculiar system Of
fiat money which made god-pieces pIaythings for
the children Of the poor. Round pieces of the
inner bark Of the mulberry tree were stamped
with the royal mark and 30 passed current as
money. Within the bounds of the country all
trading was done with these pieces of bark back
ed by the force Of imperial arms instead of by
treasury reserve
Merchants came in caravans from all western
Asia, bringing gold, jewels and merchandise Of all
Sorts and all these they exchanged for mulberry
bark fiat money and with 1t bought freight for
their caravans. The result was that finally all
the gold and jewels Of all Tartary drfted in thin
but steady streams to Ciandu and stagnated there
decreasing in value till they were useless. They
were stored in vaults and buried In great caches
in tens of million dollars worth. When the en-
pire fell the fat money became useless The pos
SCISSORS Of the gold were being slaughtered and
driven OF as slaves leaving the treasure behind
them in quantities too great for the mind to COM
prehend. Where Is 1t now? In what dustdrifted
valley? What student Of oriental literature and
European accounts will trace out the location of
Candu and recover the vast hidden fortunes?
Some one will doubtless uncover a very large
treasure in the natural course of events in or
about the strange gigantic castle Of Marid at Ell
Jowf, Arabia. Every new advance made by the
antiquarians and the Biblical scholars makes it
a little more clear and certain that here lies
hoard that is one Of the richest in the world
In large oasis supporting the largest popula.
tion Of Northern Arabia. El Jowf is peculiarly
isolated spot, best reached by riding from the
Mecca pilgrimage railway or by caravan from
Ithera The castle stands to the north, monster
pile Of ruined sandstone, now utterly deserted
and feared and Stunned by the Jofees Of the re-
gion. They say strange sights and sounds are to
be seen and heard there at night and that once
a year, before the Feast of Ramazan, all the
blood that has been split about it ooxes up from
the ground making a great red pool around the
fortress and dripping from the walls till daylight
The early Arabian chieftains were great looters,
hunters and hiders Of treasure, and the traditions
are that FL Hadp one OF the builders Of the cas-
tie, during a life that extended over more than
one hundred years. spent his entire time not
only in robbing all the rich caravans within strik-
ing distance Of Ell Jowf and in warning on his
neighbors but in tracing out the traditions of all
the tribes. And in this work. guided By dreams
and visions he recovered vast quantities of treas
ure. bringing it all to Ell Jowf and hiding it in
the castle.
twenty-five years ago this tale was psf in the
same category with the entertaining yarns of
the Arabian Nights. But earh year Of study of
the relils of the ancient peoples of Egypt Arabia