Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-08
HARMLESS BATS GUARD
= LOST NINE IN MEXICO
Entrance Was Concealed Years
Ago BY Spanish Friars

"A sudden interest in buried
treasure in Mexico probably is only
a variant Of the passion for lost
mines that continually grips certain
optimists of the southern Republic,
especially on the West Coast, accord
ing to a bulletin from the Washing
ton, d. c., headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
Everyone on the coast seems to
have at least one lost NINE" says
Herbert Corey in a communication
to The Society on which the bulletin
is based. Some rest on tradition
only, while others have a sure docu-
mentary foundation.
There is the tale of the mine
near Arispe, for instance, the en-
trance to which was concealed by
the Spanish friars just before they
were wiped out by a ~reversion of
their converts to ancient form.
"A century or so later a searcher
in the monastic archives in Madrid
found the story. BY this time the
very existence Of the old mine had
been forgotten. One can see the
opening of the tunnel from the door
of the church, the priestly writing
ran.
PGOI t5 VI pIOSPGClOTS lOOk SlSHIS
from the doorway without success.
Then a bit of plaster fell away from
an old wall and revealed a forgotten
door, bricked up and covered over.
1.-THE one old-timer who remem-
bered the legend brought out his
glasses and searched the hills. Sure
enough, far up on the side of a IAN
yon he saw something which seemed
Nxrnrfh ~ NfnCfiOa tipn IL MN fhn oafn-
way to the lost mine.
Not long ago an American got
the papers to, one of the veritable,
sure-fire friars' mines,
"a friar mine is one that was
worked by the priest-conquerofs in
the fine days of old. They could
pick and choose in those days, and
they were good pickers and choosers.
No one has ever heard of a sailed
mine being worked off on a friar.
The very best mines In Mexico today
are those that were opened by the
sturdy old churchmen.
$50 when the American found his
mine he looked on himself as a made
man:
81 only have to unwater IT, he
said licking his lips.
"Then the hard luck OF the west
coast began to operate. Some one
must have broken a series of mir
rors on the west coast. Things can
happen there that could not possibly
happen anywhere else.
"On the west coast are bats-mil-
lions, billions, numerical incredibili-
ties of bats-which live in caves. One
of the important industries of the
coast is the gathering of bat guano
from these dark holes. One sees the
burro trains come in, day in and day
out, the little animals pattering re-
1ectively under feather sized
sacks of the fertilizer.
"Some of the caves contain enough
guano to load an entire freight train.
Such a ave must contain the ac-
emulation of centuries.
"Well-and here is the hard luck
the bats had succeeded to the
friar, his heirs and assigns, In the
possession of that mine. For almost
two centuries they had lived in 1t,
until all the lower reaches were hlled
with guano.
"Then the water came in and a
light odorous quick-silvery mud was
produced. 1t was too thick to be
pumped and the water ran In too
rapidly to permit the unwaterlng
and unguanoing Of the mine by buc-
kets.
$50 there you are. A perfectly
good mine. so far as any one knows,
has been made im~pregnable by the
most harmless creature on the foot
stool"