El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-06-06

cathedral in Cuzco, which stands on
the plaza near the ancient site Of one
Of the Inca palaces, was brought about
by the discovery Of an Inca treasure.
Its origin was in a miraculous dream
of the bishop. In this dream the Vir-
gin Mary appeared before the bishop,
and told him that she wanted a ca
thedral in CuZcO- She fixed the To-
cation on the ancient plaza Of the
meas and described the grand build
ing as il now is. The bishop replied
that his people were poor, that he had
no money and that he could not pos
siDly raise the sum needed There
upon the Madonna directed him to go
10 a place near Cuzco and dig There
he would uncover some Of the lost
treasures Of the Incas- This was duly
reported to the people, and. as the
story goes, they went with the bishop
in a great procession TO the place des-
ignated- They dug down into the
earth and there found a large store OF
gold 1t was with this gold that
they began the cathedral which al
though here far off from the sea, and
between the walls OF the Andes. is one
Of the finest churches Of the new
world
I have already described the cathe-
dral Of CUzcO- All told il is perhaps
more gorgeous than was Coricancha,
the Inca temple Of the sun. 1t is
vast museum Of gold carvings and
beautiful paintings. One Of its treas
ures is a life-siZed figure Of the Christ
fastened TO d W OGDEN cross by great
nails OF solid gold. The figure is
decorated with Jewels and the pedestal
or car upon which the cross stands IS
plated with silver and incrusted with
diamonds.
Made Indian Godfather.
Another story Of lost treasure re-
lates TO a Cuzco white man Of Spanish
descent whom the Lord blessed with
numerous children. II is the custom
here that a godfather shall look after
and provide for his gOdchild: and so, as
this man was poor, he tried to add TO
his resources by getting a corne If
good gOdfathers. So as the infants
came one after another. he named each
in honor of one Of the DISTINGUISHED
citizens Of the town. The citizens.
however, did not respond. and the man
grew poorer and poorer. At last he
had had nine babies, each of whom
had been given a rich godfather. but
there was no help forthcoming The
father sWore that he would leave the
rich and choose as the patron Of his
next child the first man he met on the
street after its birth. In due time the
stOrk came again. and the man. rush.
ing out, saw a poor indian driving A
caravan of llamas into the town. He
stopped him and told him he wanted
him to be godfather to his child. The
indian objected, saying that he was
poor and not fit to be godfather to a
white child The man then told OF his
vow and finally persuaded the indian
10 accept the position.
In due time the bay was baptized
and the indian appeared at the cere-
mOny as its godfather. He kissed his
gOdsOn as he left the church and the
next day came back into Cuzco with
a score Of lamas, loaded with wood.
He took this wood TO the father OF
his godchild. saying. that he had
brought what he could and that he
must accept the wood as a gift The
man was thanked and the wood was
duly stored away In the court Of the
house. Some time after that the bun
dies Of sticks and roots were opened,
and inside of each was found a great
bag Of gold in nuggets and dust In
the meantime the indian had disap-
peared and could not be found The
man took the gold and built two large
houses on the street called Triumph.
Treasures Were Unlimited.
The treasures OF the Incas were not
confined to CuzcO. 1 have heard stories