BURIED MILLIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 6 (Supplement)

BURIED MILLIONS.

NEW HUNT BEGINS.

TREASURE IN BOLIVIA. HIDDEN FROM THE SPANIARDS. Buried treasure, hidden by Jesuits hundreds of years ago, and guarded by a terrible curse of death, is the romantic quest of an expedition of 20 Englishmen, to fcouth America, No more romantic quest for buried treasure has ever come about than this expedition into the heart of South America. Over twelve million pounds 13 stated to be at stake. The story of the treasure goes back to 1778, whan Bolivia belonged to- Spain and was known as Upper Peru. In that year the Jesuits, who used to work gold mines there with Indian slaves were deported by the Spanish Government. In the course of years the Jesuit? had amassed a fabulous fortune from their mines, when suddenly the Spanish .<o\ei nment stopped them sendin rr thei: treasure out of the countrv. ° All (heir wealth, amounting, it is '".id, to something like £12,000,000, was carefully concealed so as to be safe fron. !ho rapaciousness of the Spaniards, who, when they swooped down on the settlement, found nothing. Afterwards the priests were deported! According to a parchment in possession of the modem treasure hunters all this vast wealth was concealed in secret chambers in a hill opposite the site of an abandoned Jesuit monastery on the Sacambaya River, in the ranch known as Oaichani, in the province of of Inquivivi, La Taz, Bolivia. Document Handed Down. How this document survived throughout the agea is in itself a remarkable story. Father Gregario san Roman, one of the deported Jesuits, had a brother who at the time was Prefect of Callao, Peru. On his way out of the country Father Gregario managed a meeting with his brother and entrusted to his keeping a document containing the secret of the Jesuit hiding place. This parchment was handed down from father to son in the family, finally passing to a daughter, Dona Carina. She gave a copy of it to Mr. Cecil Herbert Prodgers, an Englishman well known In South America. Fired by the story, Mr. Prodgers set out to discover the whereabouts of th» treasure. He roaclied the spot named in the document in 192(5, and commence*' operations. It was then that the first nroof of the genuineness of the document was forthcoming. In the course of he unearthed a silver crucifix and tlu n a wooden cas ing containing a parchment. Tnside was a warning which, translated into Knglish, read as follows:— "You who reach this place with draw. This spot is dedicated to God Almighty, and the one who dares to enter a dolorous death awaits him in this world and eternal condemnation in the world he goes to. The riches that belong to God our Master are not for humans. "Withdraw and you will live in peace, and the blessing of the Master will make your life sweet and yon wiP die rich with the goods of this world. Obey the command of God Almighty our Master in life and in death. "In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen." Expert's Vsrdict. With the approach of the rainy season Mr. Prodgers decided to cease investigations for the time being and return later with a larger and well-equipped expedition. #As a result the Sacambaya Exploration Company has been formed in London, with a capital of £25,000 shares, to take up the search. One important development has been to submit the parchment to Sir Edward Denison Ross the greatest living authority on ancierit manuscripts. He has declared that it is absolutelv genuine so far as age is concerned an' it belongs to the period assigned to