The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-05-03

- ALI IOunu anu tHeu iOSl, IL lEedsuie-
ships sunk In shallow waters.
Little OF it has ever been recovered; the average
man prefers to work for a few dollars a week.
But the history of the hundreds W treasures, some
of them well known and rich in narrative, some OF
them but vaguely chronicled, is something of absorb
ing interest to the man with the true spirit OF adj
venture in his blood.
More gold and silver was produced from the new
ly discovered Western Hemisphere by the early
Spanish aud Portuguese Adventures than the world
had ever known in its history. The Spanish Main
reeked with 1t. The Indians, from Mexico to Peru,
had SO much that they had no use for it. Shipload
after shipload went to England, Spain and Portugal.
Pirates and priyateers raided the ports and the gal
Icons. Governors often cached the treasures OF a
city to save them from the raidcIs; bishops and
priests hid the wonderful solid gold affairs, ratings,
vessels, and SO forth, to keep them safe, Often the
governor was slain or captured, perhaps removed,
and in many cases the clerics suffered similar fates.
Hundreds of millions have been recovered, but the
sums remaining unbound are SO vast as to be stag
gering.
1t is of those unrecoyered or only partially recov-
cred that ! write, giving all the facts that | have been
able to find, hoping to start the seekers on to the
quests. Some of 1t seems so easily recoverable that
one could 60 and almost lay ones hands on it; more
Of 1t would require patient effort, digging, draining,
diving, searching; still other portions will be found
only by the purest chance, as the clues are too vague.
There is one astounding store of gold the history
Of which is so clear and definite, and the obstacles
to recovery so slight, that l will state its claims first.
On the Cundinamarca plateau in the Republic of
Colombia is a little pond a quarter OF a mile across.
In the exact center of this pond superstitious Indians
dumped gold In fiber bags In such quantities that
on the bottom lie hundreds of millions, perhaps
several billion dollars worth. One chief dropped
in $500 pounds in one day to save the life Of a
sick daughter, and the votive process went on I'M
interruptedly for hundreds of years. 1t is easy to
see how stupendous the treasure must be and how
difficult to estimate accurately.
The bulk Of the definite information concerning
the lake comes from the journal of Fray Pedro
Simon, a jesuit missionary who dwelt among the
Chibcha Indians near the lake for many years and
witnessed the one incident cited.
at the time OF the conquest the lake was called
GuataVita, "Caretaker of Life" The Indians be-
HeVed that in the lakes and springs dwelt the sub
delties, and all the tribes in northern South Amer.
lea believed that in this wonderful little pool,
with its clear cold springs and beautiful shores,
dWeit the deity, who had power to save and heal.
Gold was to be found everywhere. Its sole use
was for decoration and religious or superstitious
offerings.
Even today they still hide the secrets of the
deposits, appearing in the towns with little leaf
baskets the bottoms of which are covered with
gold, which they use to buy all the printcloths,
arms, food and baubles that make up their sim
pie needs; then they go away to their huts in the
mountains, When the Spaniards first came the
indians laughed to find the white men so eager
Tor what they deemed OF so little value. But .
when they saw the white men killing and tortur-
ing their brothers, wives and children they grew ,
silent and ever since have hidden all their knowl- ,
edge of gold among themselves. An Indian who T..
leads the way to an Indian mine signs his own :
death-warrant.
fray Pedro Simon's account Of the lake says :
mat 1t was one of a chain; that 1t was so small I
that two fiber ropes could be stretched across it, 4
marking it into quarters. They crossed in the q
exact center. Rats were moored on-shore. and I
the Indians coming from afar laden with gold G
would heap it on these RATS in fiber and skin =
bags, use the ropes to guide the RATS to the cen l.
Ter and then throw In the gold, an old and sacred a
man Of the tribe or family reciting invocations to n
the spirit OF the lake.
What | have related has been common property II
among men interested in treasure-seeking, and n
parts of the facts have been printed both in Amer
lca and England, but this is the first time that all e
le known facts have been given. There Is today o
On The plateau a lake called Guatavita, but it does Il
not answer Fray Pedro Simon's description.
On the 18th Of April, 1913, there set sail from b
what is now Colon the Spanish galleon Santa Il
Marta, commanded by a master-at-arms called El
Ilgre de Joasco, and bearing vicegovernor Her. n
hando Arojas J Alencon, with a considerable com tt
pany Of wounded and fever-broken Spanish sol p
alers, a scattering OF priests and some business t.
travellers. E
She was headed for Cadiz and vigo. Her cargo N
was almost entirely gold to the value of about a
325, 100000. c
1t was not supposed that any one aboard was b
aware that there was anything extraordinarily N
valuable aboard, except the master, Governor 81
Arojas, and two priests of the ships company.
Some one organized a mutiny among the return al
ing soldiers and sailors and, while the ship was W
heavily armed to defend herself against pirates al
or privateers, she was very easily taken over by In
her own crew some time during the first week sc
out. Ii
lWn hnuflOodc ~ ricpna abandoned on III
the sandy shore of the PALISADES off the harbor V
OF Kingston, Jamaica, but Ell Tigre de Joasco and
Governor Arojas were not among them, and al
somewhere in the chinks of history their fate has a
slipped through and been lost. a
Ire marooned people were very quickly prcked al