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Show Miojt Ircasuros- cMP: . K30O ana c Still WalfM io be by; SomcrModon Adventurer 4 j w- ILLIONS of dollars' worth of fa P aate. i treasure lie today where men of luff M I tho 11 a 1,1 centuries have lost or I LafA I url.S it. History teem with ac-U ac-U r count of sacks of cities, cache t 1 If ' tl,e to',n trwisure-t roves con- j rr.f cealed from Invaders, million v: hidden by pirates and buccaneers, Q t wonderful mines of gold or sliver U ((A) found and then lost, and treasure-ships treasure-ships sunk In shallow water. Little of It has ever been recovered; the average ninn prefers to work for a few dollars a week. Hut the hlBtory of the hundreds of treasure, some of them well known nnd rich In narrative, some of them but vaguely chronicled. I something of absorbing absorb-ing Interest to the man with the true spirit of adventure ad-venture In his blood. More gold Hnd hllver was produced from the newly new-ly discovered Western Hemisphere by U3 early Spanish and Portuguese adventurers than the world had ever known In It history. The Spunlsh Main reeked with It. The Indians, from Mexico to Peru, had so much that they had no use for it. Shipload after shipload went to Kiigland, Spain mid Portugal. Pirate nnd privateers raided the port and the galleons. gal-leons. Governors often cnebed the treasures of a city to save them Irom the raider; bishops and priests hid the wonderlul solid gold altars, railings, vessels, and so forth, to keep them safe. Often the governor was slain or captured, perhaps removed, and In many cases tho clerics suffered Rlmllar lates. Hundreds of millions have been recovered, but the sums remaining unfoulid are so vast as to he stag gelilig. It Is of those unrecovercd or only partially recovered recov-ered that I write, giving all the facts that I have been uble to find, hoping to start the seekers on to the quests. Some of It seems so e:islly recoverable that one could go nnd almost lay one's hands on It; more of It wouki requite patient effort, digging, draining, dhlng, searching; still other portions will be found only by the purest chance, a the clue are too vague. Tliere in one astounding store of gold the history of which Is so clear nnd definite and the obstacles to recovery so slight, that I will slate Its claims first. on the Ciindinaniari a plateau In the Republic of Colombia Is a little pond a quarter of a mile across In the exact center of this pond superstitious Indian dumped gold In liber bags In such quantities that on the bottom lie hundreds of millions, perhaps several billion dollars' worth. One chief dropped In 9.A00 poutidu In one day to save the life of a sick daughter, and the votive process went on uninterruptedly un-interruptedly for hundreds of years. It la easy to see how stupendous the treasure must be and how difficult to estimate accurately. The bulk of the definite Information concerning the lake comes from the Journal of Kray Pedro Simon, a Jesuit missionary who dwelt among the Chlbcha Indians near the lake for many years and witnessed the one Incident cited. At the time of the conquest the he wa called Ouatavlta, "Caretaker or Life." The Indians believed be-lieved that In the lakes and springs dwelt the aub-deltles, aub-deltles, and all the tribes In northern South America Amer-ica believed that In till wonderful little pool, with Its clear cold springs and beautiful shores, dwelt the deity, who had power to save and heal. Cold was to be found everywhere. Its sole use wa for decoration and religious or superstitious offerings. Kven today they still hide the secret of the deposits, appearing In the towns with little leaf basket the bottoms of which are covered with gold, which they use to buy all the print-cloths, arms, food and bauble that make up their simple sim-ple needs; then they go away to their hut In the mountains. When the Spaniards Ilrst cume the Indians latched t find the white men so eager for what they deemed of so little value. Hut when they saw the white men killing and torturing tortur-ing their brothers, wives and children they grew silent and ever since have hlddeu all their knowledge knowl-edge of gold among themselves. An Indian who loads the way to an Indian mine signs hi own death-warrant. Fray Pedro Simon's account of the lake says that !t was ore of a chain; f.Vat It was so small that two fiber ropes could be stretched aero It, marking It into quarters. They crossed In the exact center. Raft were moored on-shore, and the Indian coming from afar laden with gold would heap It on these rafts In fiber and skin bags, use the rope to guide the rafts to the center cen-ter and then throw In the gold, an old and sacred man of the tribe or family reciting Invocations to the spirit of the lake. What I have related has been common property among men Interested In treasure-seeking, and parts of the fact have been printed both In America Amer-ica and F.ngland, but thl Is tha first time that all foe known facts have been given. There Is todaf oil the plateau a lake called Ouatavlta, but It does lot answer Fr3y Pedro Simon's description. On the 15th of April. 1843. there set sail from what I now Colon the Spanish galleon Santa M.arla. commanded by a master-at-arms called hi T.?re de Joasto, and bearing rlcegovernor Hernando Her-nando Arojas y Alencon. with a considerable com-puny com-puny of wounded and fever-broken Spanish soldiers, sol-diers, a scattering of priests and some business triveleru She was headtd for Cadiz and Vigo. Her cargo ws nlmost entirely gold to the value of about tlj.oon.ooo. It wa not supposed that any one aboard was sware that there was anything eztraordlnarlly valuable aboard, except the mauler, (iovernor Arojas, and two priests of the ship's company. 8ome one organized a mutiny among the returning return-ing soldier and sailors and. while the ship was heavily arnwd to defend herself against pirates or privateers, she was very easily taken over by her own crew some time during the first wee out. Two lontload of prisoners were abandoned on the sandv shore of the pallsadoes off the harbor ft Kingston. Jamaica, but El Tlgre de Joaco and Governor Arojas were not among tbem. and somewhere In the chinks of history their fate das slipped through snd been lost. The murooned people were very quickly pite4 up by small bonis and lauded In Kingston, and a butch privateer by the name of Warblngton hurried hur-ried In pursuit. The record of what transpired during the chase and the tight Is not clear i even too vague to be pertinent, but a mouth later Warblngton sailed into what Is now New York harbor and reported that he hud fought the Santa Mart twice and been worsted, but hud followed her to the Windward Passage, as It Is now known, and north to the Islands now bearing the name Fortune Islands, given them by reason of this very happening. Here the crew cached the treasure, as they could not enter any Important port and account for themselves and could not enter a small port and dispose of their hoard. It Is positive that In these Islands the cache was made, because when the Santa Marta reached Puerto el Principe shortly thereafter she was discharged. In the Fortune Islands was the only place she could have sent the treasure ashore. The governor of Puerto el Principe was about to arrest the crew on suspicion of their having committed piracy, when they put to sea, and later the hulk, burned to the water's edge, was found near Cape Maysl. 1 he men were never heard of, but, as they were quarreling and fighting among th"tiiHelves In lierto el Principe, It Is logical to suppose that there was a second mutiny with rnuch bloodshed, that the ship was fired and that those who did not Jump Into the sea were hurried to death. Two other galleons were robbed that same year by mutinous crews, but the treasures were safely landed by the mutineers, one crew at l.lxtwin and the other at Genoa. These must not be confused with the Santa Marta affair. The Fortune Islands are quite small, are Inhabited In-habited almost solely by Ha ham a blacks, are almost al-most out of touch with the world, though but four days' sail from New York and one from Nassau or Havana. From the chart It may be seen that there Is but one spot where the Santa Marta could have anchored to put ashore so heavy a cargo, and there ought to be little difficulty In locating the cache on the low-lying Island. So far as I know, there has never been any attempt made at recovery. There are many, many alluring sunken treasures treas-ures on both coasts. Many of these are so familiar fa-miliar as to need but the merest mention. Iarse sums and great effort have been expended expend-ed to recover the millions in California gold of the old Golden Gate, definitely located on the Mexican Mex-ican coast. Admiral Francis brake's Marigold carried the bulk of his spoils up to the time of her loss on the west coaat near Pledranegra. In 169? Admiral De 'otitis, with a combined fleet of royal ships and colonial privateers, at tacked, captured and sacked Cartagena and departed de-parted In two sections, the last ships being the treasure bearers. They were Intercepted by the Kiig!lsh and one wa blown up by a shot Into her magazine and sank In the harbor; another went ashore near by; and a third was beached on Clsne Cay. To recover the treasure, location can be effected through study of the Prltlsh ad mlralty records, and at least one of the three should He In shallow water. The so-called Captain George H. Poynton. by all odds the greatest adventurer of modern times, would have tiMile the record of lrake. Morgan and be Ruyter l'ok pale and sickly had he lived In the good old days. Until hi death In Hrooklyn some month ago at an advanced age, be carried the knowledge of a number of treasure troves, the richest of which Is an unnamed galleon In a Venezuela harbor. ' Hefore leaving the subject of the buccaneer, another sunken treasure should b cited. In a Captain Phlppa of the Hrltlsb navy learned of a sunken buccaneer vessel with a great treasure aboard on the shore or near the Tortugas and was sent by James II, of Kngland to effect recov ery. He found the treasure, removed only a pari of It, and then sailed away, owing to the approuct of two Spnnlsh men-of-war. He was about to re turn, when the revolution of ltlSH broke out anc he was deterred. In the admiralty archives art all detal!rof this uncompleted task. What wai easy for Captain Phlpps should be still easlei with modern methods. For the past twenty years Mexican antiquarian! have been expecting the announcement of th finding of a vast treasure in the State of Puehla The third royal Spanish viceroy after Cortex sue? ceeded In torturing from the chiefs of a tribe It Jalisco the secrets of the hiding-places of all ol the tribal store of gold and silver, and by great efforts brought It to Tacuba, where It wo con cealed during a period when the suzerainty o: New Spain wa more or less uncertain. A dummy treasure-train was orgrvlzed and started for Veri Cruz, and the word weit forth that It carried tin treasure. Some weeks later the real treasure train of one hundred and eighty mules set out with only the usual small guard. In some way the word got abroad, and the trait was attacked by a mixed force of adventurer and Indian at a point within sight of the wiiitt tops of Popocatepetl and Ixtucclhiiatl. The de fenders of the treasure succeeded In escaping with the loss of five mules and their burden, bill while passing through a gorge on the route of th old trail, now followed more or less closely by tlx Mexican railroad, they decided It was best tc cache tho treasure. A cave Id the gorge w as chosen and three hun dreil and twenty bug of gold and silver, con tailing several million dollars' worth, dcp'cmllii on how much more gold there wa than silver were stored away, while the train proceeded tf Orizaba. Some fifteen miles from the slle of th present town the same band again attacked tin train and killed nearly all the guard. Since tin development of the region In which the chv must He ha begun. Its discovery Is only a mattei of lime, and It might be effected with compara, tlve ease. There cannot be many gorges, and caves are not frequent. The chances for ttndliis the right one are rather strong. It has nevei been attempted. No small spot on the face of the earth has beet so productive of treasure hunting adventure ai Coco Island off tho coast of Costa Rica The west coast pirate I'.onlta before his deatD Insisted that be bad planted more than two mil Hon dollars in gold, silver. Jewels and plate og the IsUnd, but bis specific directions were lost by bis Ignorant executioners. A party of Mexican political refugees, severs, of them of the famous Romero family or Its con nectlons, fleeing from the wrath of Santa Anna lr IMS, planted under a stone arch on the Islaud more than one million dollars, the revolutionary fund with which they expected to gain control ol the government. The third treasure Is the greatest and moat Im portant. There Is a little doubt aa to whether II I located on ( ocos or Is In the Gallapsgos group off the coast of Peru. The traditions ail say th latter place, but after a digest of all source ol Information I am convinced that Cocos Is the spot. Among th smaller treasures of which there Ii record It Is well to mention the seven large can non filled with gold pieces by the pirate Ylllazon and burled on an Island at the very southernmost part of the Hay of Campeacby; the reported racn on the top of the eminence Immediately north of the city of Santiago de Cuba, to be reached only by a difficult trail sUrtlng In near boa Camlnos; the mysterious and probably nonexistent Havanl municipal treasure, ssld to have been assembles at the time of the English attack and concealed within the ramparts of Morro Castle so effectually that It was never found acaln. |