The San Francisco call., 1913-07-25
SOUGHT Il DORADO;
LOST THEIR MONEY
Treasure Hunters Spent For
tune Draining Sacred
Lake Guatavita
Mr.. Bandelier, Leading Au.
/ thority, Tells Real Story
of the Gilded Man

The dismal ending of South Amerl-
can treasure hunt was briefly noticed
in cable dispatch from London to
the New York Sun. An English COM
pany organized IS years ago with the
professed hope of finding $4,000. 900, 900
in the bottom of Lake Guatavita in
Columbia has at last drained the lake
1t found % feet OF mud with a few
ornaments and precious stones valued
at 10000 Having spent $4,000 in the
quest. the company is disbanding and
the usual meeting OF creditors has been
called.
The news is of prime Importance in
the history of nearly 400 years search
for hidden gold in South America: in
fact that history dates from the day
in 1929, when Ambrosius Dalfinger,
German governor OF Venezuela, set
forth to find this very lake Guatavita
For beside the lake dwelt Ell Dorado,
"the gflded man"-the original Ell Do
rado. sought by Spaniards, exalted to
myth of two continents-the very
name corrupted into that of place
instead of a man. borrowed by Cali
fornia county, applied to countless
mining camps. a synonym for easily
acquired wealth.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LEGEND
No one was more interested In this
cablegram yesterday than the archae-
ologfst and historian, Adolph Francis
Bandelier of 521 West One Hundred and
Fifty eighth street, for many years a
leading authority on antiquities of
South and Central America and our
own southwest. He's no treasure
hunter. He says he never heard of an
~ hot t~A tr,41
Spanish occupation that had any sub
stantfal success. But az q scientist he
has run down several golden legends.
and one of them is that of Ell Dorado.
One OF his books is entitled The
Gilded Man"
The experience OF the English COM
pany,' Mr.. Bandelier said yesterday
confirms my own belief that the
.gflded man did once exist and that
there was nothing worth draining Lake
Guatavita for except the few ornaments
that have been found. The persons
VINO rlsked their money in the venture
were fools. They always are. And the
men who get up such expeditions either
are ignorant of the real facts or else
they conceal the truth in order to take
advantage of the ignorance of others"
How the legend Of Ell Dorado started
was thus explained by Mr.. Bandelier:
On the plateau OF Bogota in Colombia
lived the Muysca Indians. They had
no gold OF their own, but got it in trade
with the Panches and other western
tribes. Their lakes were holy places
In each lake resided a special divinity
for whom the Indians threw gold and
emeralds into the water. One of these
lakes, north Of Santa Fe lies near the
village of Guatavita. The particular
divinity OF Guatavita, according to the
Indian legend, was the wife of one Of
their chiefs who had thrown herself
into the water and became a goddess.
The Guatavitans and other independent
tribes made pilgrimages to cast emer-
aids and ornaments into the lake as
offerings to the lady thereof.
A SAVAGE FESTIVAL
When new chief was selected by
the people of Guatavita there was a
procession OF the men OF the tribe to
the lake.
In 'front.'" says Mr. Bandelier in his
book, walked wailing men, nude, their
bodies painted with red ochre the sign
OF deep mourning among the Muyscas
Groups followed OF men richly decor
ated with gold and emeralds, their
heads adorned with feathers and braves
clothed in jaguars' skins. The greater
number OF them went uttering joyful
shouts, others blew on horns. pipes
and conchs. Xeques. or priests. were
In the company, too, in long black robes
adorned with white crosses and tall
black caps. The rear of the procession
was composed of the mobiles of the tribe
and the chief priests, bearing the new
ly elected chieftain, or uzaque, upon
barrow hung with discs of gold. His
naked body was anointed with resinous
gums and covered all over with gold
dust This was the gilded man. eI
hombre dorado, whose fame had
reached to the seacoast
Arrived at the shore the giIded
chief and his companions stepped upon
balsa (rafD and proceeded upon it to
the middle Of the lake. There the chief
plunged into the water and washed off
his metallic covering, while the as
sembled company, with shouts and the
sounds of instruments, threw in the
gold and jewels they had brought. The
offerings completed, the chief returned
to the shore and to the village of Qua
tavita. The festival closed with dan
cling and casting"
GOLD HUNTERS CARRIED DEATH
This ceremony was abandoned for.
ever between the years 1890 and 500
when the Guatavita Indians were con
quered by other Indians. But the news
didn't penetrate to the sea coast and
more than 80 years later Governor Am.
"a OSloS l(dinbSSI set ICTtn from COTC
to find Ell Dorado and the gold where
with he was smeared. He failed. but
In 1910 Herman Perez reached Lake
Guatavita and tried to drain It, All
he found was 1000 pesos worth of the
goddess hoard.
Perez and his lieutenants tortured
and plundered the natives in their
search for more; and between their
treatment by the Spaniards and wars
with other tribes the Muysca Indians
were exterminated. But the legend OF
the gilded chief persisted and spread
and as far as the banks of the Orinocc
and the Amazon white men killed In
dams and perished in pursuit of the
vision.
Mr.. Bandelier says that ornaments
have been found from time to time ir
the lake Of Guatavita. He has seen in
Berlin golden group representing E.
Dorado and his companions on a raft
found either in Puertavita, near Guata-
vita, or the lagoon of Siecha.
But all through the conquest" he
says, "the wealth of the Indians was
exaggerated. Most of whatever precious
things they threw into the lake has
long since been recovered. These Eng
lishmen who drained the lake were
foolish, but they seem TO have found
additional evidence in the few orna-
ments they dug up that the legend of
the gilded man really had some basis