The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1912-05-03

man prefers to work for a few dollars aiweek
But the history Of the hundreds Of treasures some
81 them well known and rich In narrative, some OF
them but vaguely chroniced, is something OF absorb
ing interest to the with the true spirit OF ad
venture in his blood.
More gold and silver was produced from the new
" discovered Western Hemisphere by the early
Spanish and Portuguese adventurers than the world
had ever known In its history The Spanish Main
reeked with it. The Indians from Mexico to Peru,
had SO much that they had no use for 1t. Sh1pioad
after shipload went to England, Spain and Portugal
Pirates and privateers raided the ports and the gal
Icons Governors often cached the treasures OF g
city to save them from the raiders; 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 the clerics suffered similar fates.
Hundreds of millions have been recovered. but the
sums remaining unbound are SO vast as to be stag
gering.
IT is Of those uncovered 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 it easily recoverable that
one could 60 and almost lay ones hands It: more
OF 1t would require patient effort digging. draining,
diving searching; still other portions will be found
only by the purest chance 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 will state its claims first.
On the Cundinamarca plateau In the Republic OF
Colombia is little pond quarter Of mile across.
In the center OF this pond supersttious Indians
on the bottom lie hundreds of millions, perhaps
several billion dollars worth. One chief dropped
in 5000 pounds in day to save the life Of
sick daughter, and the votive process went on I'M
nterruptedly for hundreds of years. It is easy to
see how stupendous the treasure must be and how
diflcult to estimate accurately
The bulk Of the definite information concerning
the lake comes from the journal OF Fray Pedro
Simon, Jesuit missionary who dwelt among the
Chbcha 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-
leved that in the lakes and springs dwelt the sub
deities and all the tribes in northern South Amer
tca believed that in this wonderful little pool,
with its clear cold springs and beautiful shores.
dwet the deity, who had power to save and heal
Gold was to be found everywhere. Its sole use
was for decoration and religious 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 to buy all the print-cloths
arms, food and baubles that make up their SIM
pie needs: then they 60 away to their huts In the
mountains. When the Spaniards first came the
Indians laughed to ind the white men SO eager
for 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 knowE
edge of gold among themselves. An Indian who
u leads the way to an Indian mine signs his own
death-Warrant.
Fray Pedro Simon's account of the lake says
that It was one Of a chain; that 1t was so small
that two fiber ropes could be stretched across It,
marking it into quarters. They crossed in the
exact center. Rats were moored on-shore and
the Indians coming from afar laden with gold
would heap it on these RATS In fiber and skin
bags, the ropes to guide the RATS to the CEN
ter and then throw in the gold, old and sacred
man Of the tribe family reciting invocations to
the spirit Of the lake.
What have related has been common property
among men interested in treasureseeking. and
parts of the facts have printed both In Amer
lea and England but this is the first time that all
the known facts have been given. There is today
on the plateau lake called Guatavita, but 1t does
not answer Fray Pedro Simon's description
On the 18th of April 1913, there set sail from
what is now Colon the Spanish galleon Santa
Marta. commanded BY masteratarms called Eel
Tigre de Joasco and bearing vice-governor Her
nando Arojas Alencon, with considerable COM
pany of wounded and fever-broken Spanish SOL
diers, scattering of priests and some business
travellers
She was headed for Cadiz and vigo Her cargo
was almost entirely gold to the value OF about
$25,000000.
II was not supposed that any lone aboard was
aware that there was anything extraordinarily
valuable aboard except the MASTER Governor
lArojas, and two priests of the ships company.
Some one organized mutiny among the return
ing soldiers and sailorD and while the ship was
heavily armed to defend herself against pirates
or privateers, she was very easily taken by
her own some time during the first week
out
Two boatloads of prisoners were abandoned
the sandy shore Of the PALISADES on the harbor
OF Kingston, jamaica but Ell Tigre de Joasco and
Governor Arojas not among them. and
somewhere in the chinks of history their fate has
gipped through and been lost.
The marooned people were very quickly picked