Show I IL Y J l f of Fd k a A 4 T IS not Improbable Improbable I u I able that during y the dry season of 1910 some trace of the once famous faw fa fa- fa w mine of N J Tisingal will be found as by Law Third of January n ti nl 2 2 1909 passed b bythe by bythe the national assembly assembly as as- of Panama Panama Pana Pana- ma the immense savannas and sel- sel sevas selvas selvas vas of the Pacific slope of Panama are aie thrown open to acquisition on very favorable terms and already a number of Americans especially of the Canal Zone have baye taken up land thereIn there In the westernmost part of Panama bordering on Costa Rica lies the province of the richest of the seven provinces constituting constituting constituting con con- the Republic of Panama Its north coast is washed by the Caribbean sea known to the Spanish Span ish conquerors as the North sea while Willie the Island-dotted Island Pacific or South sea washes its southern shores Twenty miles from the Atlantic Atlantic At At- lantic side and 40 miles from the Pacific is the highest crater of the Vulcan Volcan Vol can de or volcano rising nearly feet b h II III I J r r ra t sI a t y t 1 k l rs r's k p ph ii l sex is isy y all allF f F II J L i S' S 4 4 y F. F y 4 n Pa dM a h s p Y d d k Abl a wc N. N ty I r 2 Ore OA 14 I I r G k 4 a ar t 1 E I e Pf V A INDI A Nd Ills iv lVA r t- t two wo t f a RUU of I a sea I level levei Two TWO iwo other older craters of lesser height leight rise one on either side of the main crater then hen a sheer drop of several thousand feet of sul sul- coated hur-coated rock to the highest signs of tion ion Below this on the Pacific slopes stretch beautiful rolling llanos or steppes lower and lower ower on down to the palm-fringed palm coast line Somewhere on these Immense slopes lies the lost ost mine of the Indians Tisingal known to and worked by the early Spanish settlers who changed hanged its name to La Estrella or Mine of the Star During the year 1833 34 In going through the archives at Cartago Costa Rica some official documents documents doc doc- ume ts pertaining to this mine were found and permission was obtained from the Costa Rican government go for their publication Shortly thereafter thereafter thereafter there there- after a company was formed in Cartago to send out exploring parties and although considerable time Ime and money were wasted and several lives lost ost in an endeavor to locate this mine no indications Indica Indica- ions of its whereabouts were found Reprints of ot some of the documents referred to have lave come into the hands of the writer in which is s preserved the old style Spanish in which they were orI originally written during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Translations of these papers pa pa- pers pel'S ers have been made and the information con con- tamed therein summarized to which have been added data obtained through a personal acquaintance acquaint acquaint- ance with the country described During last ear lear an unsuccessful attempt was made by the writer to ascend the highest crater of the Chin Chiri qui volcano for the purpose of verifying certain information purported to have been secured In inthe the he year 1605 from this point and pertaining to Ithe he the Tisingal mine During the dry season of this year ear a second attempt will probably be made Among the documents consulted is one that literally translated reads as follows Within the limits of the department of ot Chin Chiri qui contiguous to the Republic of Costa Rica exist places rich in gold known by the names of Tisingal Quebrada Ancha Quebrada de Oro and others quite Important The first of these places was explored some time ago by a Spanish colony which In the year 1601 founded the city of or Concepcion Concepcion Concepcion Con- Con de la Estrella near this mine of great wealth The excessive stinginess of the conquerors conquer ors reduced the Indians of ot the locality to the condition condition con con- of slaves they being forced by the Spanish to work mining the gold of the Tisingal These Indians became tired of the excessive work and bad treatment and became desperate In the year 1611 they revolted against their oppressors and exterminated them but other Spaniards at the place ilace of the mutiny again compelled the Indians to o resume the working of the mine and made harder mider for them their state of slavery This almost almost almost al al- al- al most eliminated the Indians from this stretch of ot country On the twenty-eighth twenty of September some years after these happenings the Indians returned returned re reo turned and without pity or consideration took the tile life of every foreigner living in the country and not only this but carrying stones from distant distant distant dis dis- tant localities they covered up and destroyed all traces of the workings of the mines and they also razed all houses and churches belonging to the Spaniards The only traces remaining of ot these ancient buildings today are the foundations of the church and a bell belonging to it At last the news of the new rebellion reached Cartago in iii Costa Rica where immediate preparations preparations prepa prepa- rations were made for revenge It is known that at the tho beginning of the year 1710 the government at Cartago sent men by the thee vay of Boruca and Tuis to San Jose a town to the east about 15 leagues from Concepcion This expedition expedition tion took Indians of both sexes prisoners and reduced them to a state of ot slavery and as such consigned them to the inhabitants around about Cartago upon their return to that place These prisoners and all other Indians they met along the way were massacred shortly thereafter From that time all Indians living In the mountains in all directions up to to toa a distance of 70 leagues s turned bitter enemies of or the foreigners and amI up to a few years ago would have nothing to todo todo todo do with the white races Due to these events all traces of the villages of Turrialba Tuis Atirro San Jose and other places that lay on the route to Concepcion de la a Estrella and Tisingal Tisingal gal were lost and the trails of communication with the mines were covered with brush and completely destroyed so eo that after 40 years In Cartago no knowledge was to be obtained as to the locality of the Estrella and practically no noH person H ln living knew or had seen the mines at I Tisingal Due to the hostility and cruelty of the Indians Indi Indi- Indians ans together with the dangers of the trails trails and the unhealthiness of the country people gradually gradually gradually ally began to forget about these mines and whoever spoke of ot making making ma map king an expedition for forthe forthe forthe the purpose of discovering discover discover- ing these mines was considered to be committing committing committing com com- suicide The slopes of the volcano are traversed by numerous rivers In many places not more than a mile apart apart wild wild r rushing u 8 h I n g mountain torrents that form navigable rivers rf tJ re o 0 I F I K P S 0 MUJO I uhf ir f I Gr oto 0 ORlI w wA TF Rr A Al L PANAMA oft StA StAv f r Ceu N dW r a r v e 1 r 3 64 c- c P R. R P C near me the coast many of or which are constantly changing their courses Along the banks of these rivers the Spaniards found the richest Indian vil vil- vil- vil lages The Indians extracted gold from the sands of ot many of these rivers and worked it Into weird figures representing alligators frogs birds turtles fish snakes bells plates images and others which It was the custom to bury with the owners thereof in the walled rock-walled tombs in which their dead were Interred Among the documents referred to are found the records of ot an expedition that set out from the city of Munoz Garci-Munoz In Costa Rica In the year 1563 for Quepo Couto Boruca and the valley of An extract from this document literally literally liter liter- ally translated reads as follows Going up the valley one arrives at a place called Couto where much gold has been found and the natives have It worked into all forms and on being questioned as to where they obtained it they stated that they had gotten It ItIn ItIn itin In very big grains from a river four days' days journey from that place In the dominion of an Indian cacique called caned Not one days day's march from Couto lies the village of the Inhabitants inhabitants In in- habitants of which stated that they had obtained gold in the same river as the inhabitants of Couto The provinces of Couto and lie 50 leagues from the city of Munoz Garci at the beginning beginning beginning be be- ginning of the valley vaHey of 10 leagues from the South sea In front of the Golfo Dulce It Is known that following up the valley to the tho mountains toward the north there are to be found numerous villages such as Quepo Couto Boruca Aci Yabo Duba Cabara Cabara Ca Ca- bara Que- Que The following year rear 1564 another expedition set out from Cartago Costa Rica to explore this same country and the chronicler writing of their discoveries says Crossing the province of Ara and passing the valley vaney of we arrived in the province of and made ade our camp in the village of ot Co Co- curu which lies In the valley vaHey of Duy Dup And the Indians having brought to the leader a great quantity of ot gold he sent the sla slaves ves to explore and they brought back such large pieces that the leader himself decided to explore We then arrived arrived ar are ar- ar rived at a river called La Estrella which Is the principal one as to the quantity of gold found from Cartago the expedition returned returned re reo turned to the province of to the village of Cururu in the vall valley y of the Duy Indian name for Quequexque and from there we went to the big river which had already been named Rio de dela dela dela la Estrella Since the sixteenth the land bordering the river which lies to the north of the volcano and which empties into the Caribbean Caribbean Ca Ca- sea had been in dispute b between the governments of Costa Rica and that of Panama At that time tilDe it was claimed by both the governor of Costa Rica and the governor of Veraguas The province of adjoins and formerly formed part of the province of Veraguas now one ono of the seven provinces of Panama After the independence of ot Panama in 1903 this dispute again arose d due e to a great extent to changes In the names of many of the rivers of this part of the tho tw two countries some of which still retain their Indian names while others have been renamed re re- re- re named The question was finally submitted to President Fallieres of France Franco for arbitration and an entirely new boundary line was traced in accordance accordance ac ac- ac- ac with his findings The Indians inhabiting the country lying near the border line of ot Costa Rica ana alga have always always al ways been hostile and In several Instances have risen against the whites and massacred them The Talamanca Indians who still Inhabit these parts were especially bellicose The existence of the Tisingal mine has never i been doubted nor is It considered the product o othe or of orthe the fertile imagination of the natives of or At Cana in the province of Panama at the pres present ent eat time there Is being operated a gold mine formerly formerly for for- merly worked by the Spaniards Several Severa years ago while blasting In one of the galleries of the Cana mine an aperture was made Into what proved to be buried the remains of a gold mine worked several cen centuries urles ago ago- Leather buckets with straps that fit around the forehead and around the shoulders of the mine workers and instruments of ot steel stee were found in a good state of preservation I The mouth of this mine had been so completely hidden that mining operations had been carried on for years almost paralleling the entrance shaft without the en engineers suspecting its proximity Records of ot the old Cana mine are In existence but Its exact location had never been fix fixed d before Gold can be found In almost all the rivers 01 ot of In 1859 there were discovered the first Indian graves from which were taken gold ornaments ornaments orna orna- ments stone figures arrow points etc Since this time there have bave been found in hundreds of these Indian graves known to the present day natives by the name of guacas guavas The writer himself himself himself him him- self opened up one grave from which he took 18 pieces of pottery It is a well known fact that the Indian half-Indian natives natives na na- na- na tives of knowing the whereabouts of a arich arich arich rich prefer to work It alone and to sell the gold found only In such quantities as their needs may require They are suspicious of ot the white man this suspicion and distrust being Inbred In them and handed down in tradition from their ancestors who in truth had cause to hate that race A hunting and exploring party that recently returned from the vicinity of Buenos Duenos Aires and Boruca In the heart heal t of the Indian country to the west of ot David reported that although they were not openly attacked by the Indians yet they were conscious of being constantly watched that food was scarcely obtainable and that on several occa occasions they found the water of at the springs muddled apparently but a few minutes before their arrival If It this report be true and there Is every reason to believe that it is is Ie inasmuch as it Is but a repetition of former ones of a similar nature then it Is quite evident that the party were not cognizant of the customs likings and language of the natives with whom they had bad to deal Odd Inscriptions and decorations are found carved on volcanic in many parts of Chi and these inscriptions according to the In Indians Indicate the burying grounds of the caciques Many of these decorations appear on the pottery found in the graves and in the ethnological report referred to are classified t Gold bearing copper ore are has has' been found In many districts in especially In that of Bugaba in w which ich Tisingal Is in all probability located the analysis of which has shown 15 per cent copper cop per bearing two per cent gold The Panamanian government is at the present time planning the construction of a railroad from David in to the city of Panama which when built will greatly open up this part of the country and make It more accessible The Indians of will give way before the advance of civilization and the earth will give up another ot of other other her treasures so well hidden for centuries by natures natures nature's natures nature's na na- tures ture's barriers aided by the avenging hand of tho the vanquished American |