The Jasper news., 1917-10-18

1
1 ly. Designing persons are
always trying to secure what
does not rightfully belong to them and
there never has been relaxation from
the efforts to keep valuables from the
reach Of such INSCRIPTIONS persons.
The result of the thousands Of years
Of such efforts 10 the modern safe de-
post vaults.
The history of mans efforts to retain
possession of the gold and jewels he
had accumulated Is romantic and fas-
chatting, from the time when he used
to bury them to the present day. A
local trust company has issued an at
tractively illustrated account of these
efforts, which was gotten up for 1t and
copyrighted by Boston printing COM
pany. BY their courtesy the following
has been prepared:
That burying treasure was once the
ordinary method Of concealment Is In
dicated by such references as appear
in the thirteenth chapter of st. Mat
thew: '"The kingdom Of heaven is like
unto treasure hid in field; the which
when man hath found, he hideth, and
for Joy thereof goeth and selleth all
that he hath, and buyeth that field"
Syria and other eastern countries are
said to be full of treasure buried before
battles and never dug up. No one can
estimate the worlds buried treasure.
AS soon as America was discovered
1t was overrun with Spanish adven-
turers attracted by stories Of the
buried treasure of the South Amer
lean Indians. The aborigines of Co
lumbla, the Chibchas, built mounds in
memory Of their dead and filed them
: with sacrifcial stores of gold and
Jewels. The invaders secured immense
booty from these mounds, and 1t Is
said that one chief gave up treasure
worth $4,000, another $4,000 worth
in. gold strips and still another $50, 900
worth Of emeralds and gold. But II
was the booty from the sacred lake of
NGuatavita that the Spaniards most
desired. At the great religious fes-
tvals on this lake It Is said that offer
ings of gold, silver and gems were
thrown into the water to appease the
serpent reputed to dwell at the bot
tom.
Although various efforts were made
by Spanlards to drain the lake and
secure the gold and gems II was not
until seventeen years ago that an Eng
fish company secured leased rights
from Colombia and succeeded In drain
ing off the water. It has been estimat.
ed that there nre on the bottom of
the lake 120,000,000 pounds of gold,
however correct that may be. Many
thousand dollars worth already have
been recovered.
Odd Hiding Places.
Stories are told of other treasures
hidden and never recovered, including
the $15.000,000 national treasure of
Peru, then 1t Is pointed out that gradu-
ally man became aware that better
protection must be afforded. The
Egyptians concealed much in the soft
walls and floors Of their houses, prob
ably to outwit the tax gatherers,- who
called not infrequently. The Egyptians
had wooden chests for clothing and
family treasures. but they used them
little for keeping gold and Jewels.
In Egypt the church and state were
identical, and the crown Jewels and
public revenue, as we'll as the sacrifi-
cfal offerings, were kept In the we'll
built treasure houses within the tenn
plies, the only buildings In the coun-
try erected with durable materials.
The earliest public treasury Of which
there Is public record belonged to
Rameses III, who is reputed to have
reigned about 1900 B. @. It was a
large stone affair and vaulted. The
treasure was kept In clay vases with
covers in the form of human heads.
Among the temples with secret crypts
was the one of granite, at Edfu.
Keys recently found In the ruins at
Thebes with straight shanks Ave
inches long and bar at right angles
with three teeth prove that the Egyp-
tians were familiar with certain prin-
clples of sloek-making until lately sup
posed to be modern ideas II is evident
. that they used tumblers to hold the
bolt fast until moved by the key. Keys
were first designed only to move the
bolt and were not removable. The first
mention of key to be taken from a
lock occurs In Judges, 8:23-25; used to
fasten the summer parlor of Eglon,
king of Moab.
Treasures of Greek temples still
stand. The oldest and the one best
preserved is at the oracle Of Delphi.