Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-12

away,
THOUGH native priests, Sun
Virgins and public officials
wore gold ornaments, especially
on formal occasions. the chief
use for the precious metals and
for jewels was to please the gods
by adjoining their temples with
the glittering metal.
If a poor native of Inca times
had found a piece of gold he
would no more have thought of
bartering the sacred stuff for
food or raiment. than "A devout
European Christian of the same
era would have tried TO sell a
bone of one of the saints. He
would have turned it in at the
nearest temple.
The Inca and all his subjects
were astounded that the Span
iards should go crazy over this
holy metal, much as the Con-
auistadors would have been puz-
zled had invaders fought bloody
battles in Spain merely 10 steal
all the stained glass from their
cathedral windows.
Little enough good did any of
Peru's stolen gold DO the rob-
bers. The Spanish plunderers
dreamed of returning TO Spain
some day fabulously rich to be-
come grandees. with great
estates. retinues of retainers and
the right to wear the hat in the
presence of the King.
Very few ever achieved even
a small 1.-THE of that old age Sc
curity hope. Most. like Pizarro,
lived by the sword and persisted
by the sword, getting little out
of life but wounds, sickness and
hardships. The conqueror OF
Peru. died by assassination as be-
fitted the star traitor and assas-
sin Of them all.
OF such gold as actually
started overseas toward Spain,
as the Kings Fifth a goodly
portion was captured by the
buccaneers who were the high
hackers of the sea These in turn
threw their ill-gotten gains away
in riotous living and usually died
early. from knife. bullet or dane
ing al the end or rope
What allY-reached the
rovaf Golfers went 10 support
the Spanish armies which
like Hitlers today had overrun
most of Europe except England
This drain on the treasury cul-
minated in The dIsastr0us az
tempt by the Spanish Armada to
invade Britain. the very thing
the German dictator does not
seem to dare to try nor yet dare
not to try
Pizarro was perhaps the most
unrestrained of the Spanish cut
Threats misnamed Conquista-
doris. in his murder. treachery
and pillage. but others who ran
sacked parts Of Central and
South America. were nc far be
hind. Many have wondered why
these Spaniards burst into his
tory as fiends in human form
They probably were little bet
ter or worse than the average
European of their day and class
before they set out on their &C
cursed adventure Psychologists
have pointed out that there is
nothing supernatural about the
curse which hovers over buried
treasure. II was the hunt and
the finding of the gold which
developed the beasts and mad
men in them. even as it seems
still to do today.
Most of the Conquistadors
were Of noble blood or at least
gentle breeding. Francisco Pr
zarro was IAN illegitimate son.
an illiterate, who worked as
butcher in his early youth.
Some have thought that this
tended TO make him the butcher
of human beings that he became
as soon as he had the power.
But the behavior of others in
dicates that IL was the gold
madness that did II. II has even
been guessed that had the Pill
grim Fathers landed in golden
Peru and the Spaniards at Ply
mouth Rock, where the Indians
treasure was wampum made OF
sea shells, those two streams OF
immigration would have soon
snapped character.
One Of the strange things
about the gold-madness is that
it is not always the quantity OF
the treasure which brings it on
but often the mental picture OF
some one item Of the many. Mer
have listened without enthusi'
a L. l..