THE LURE OF BURIED TREASURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE LURE OF BURIED TREASURE.

THE story of buried treasure is one of fortunes spent in vain search,

and of silence respecting successful quests, except in those pictorial flights of fancy in which old pirate charts and romantic adventure figure prominently. Many expeditions have been fitted out to search for treasure supposed to have been buried by pirates on Cocos Island, off the west coast of Panama, and on Trinidad Inland, about 700 miles east of Brazil. Almost every pirate who achieved notoriety by his misdeeds is credited by tradition with having buried much of his illgotten treasure, and the localities ckosen by them for hiding their loot cover a very wide area. From time to time treasure hunting expeditions are still fitted out." The question arises—Has anyone ever found any of the treasure buried by pirates? There is one recent case on record of the discovery of a treasure chest buried by the notorious pirate Captain Teach, but so much mystery surrounds the discovery that it is not known wlio discovered the chest or what was the value of the treasure it contained.

In the closing days of December, 1928, American newspapers published a sensational story of this discovery of the treasure buried by Teach, who in his own days was known as Blackbeard. This treasure was found buried in the sand at Plum Point, a narrow neck of land in North Carolina, U.S.A., where Bath Creek flows into the Pimlico River. The end of Plum Point is low and sandy, and is cut off from the mainland by a marsh. For more than 200 years the story that Teach buried his treasure in the vicinity had survived, and from time to time attempts were made to find it by digging. What Did the Chest Contain?. On Christmas Day, 102S, two trappers went to Plum Point to examine some traps they had set in the marsh. In i

Pirate Loot And Inca Gold.

FORTUNES SPENT IN VAIN QUESTS

the sand they found a hole which had recently been dug, and there were broken bricks scattered about it. The searchers who had made the hole had fotmd at a depth of about eight feet a small brick vault, which they had broken open. The vault had been made of hand-made bricks, of a larger size than are commonly used in building. The top of the vault,had been rounded like a roof, and the floor consisted of three layers of bricks. The treasure chest had been placed on the floor, and tlie sides of the vault had been built around it. Plenty of mortar had been used, with the result that a great deal had been squeezed into the inside walls. 'I bis mortar clinging to the walls retained many impressions of the chest with its liand-forged iron clasps, criss-crossing one another, and its large round rivet heads. Except for the top and part of one side, the vault was intact. The chest, which measured about 40 inches by 30 inches, with a depth of about 30 inches, had been raised out of the vault by means of a pulley fixed on a tripod. There were footmarks of three men round the hole, and it appeared that the chest, after being raised, had been placed on a large plank, and dragged to the river, where the searchers had moored a boat. They must have known exactly where to dig for the chest, for there were no other signs of digging operations in the sand. Who the searchers .were, was never discovered; and the value of the treasure they obtained can only be guessed at. According to local gossip the treasure cliest contained thousands upon thousands of doubloons, pieces of eight, and many valuable jewels. A Notorious Pirate. Captain Teach, whose piratical activities created terror along the Atlantic coast of America from Newfoundland to Trinidad in 1710-IS, believed in dressing for his part when about to board

a ship. He was more than 6ft tall, broad shouldered, and had long arms like an ape. He wore a long sash of scarlet silk, which was wrapped twice round his waist, and carried over one shoulder. In this waistband he carried three pistols, and three more were stuck in the sash Across his chest. Several knives were also stuck in his belt, and from the left side hung a cutlass in a scabbard. He had a naked cutlass in his right hand, and' a pistol in his left, and between his teeth he carried a knife with a blade about 2ft long. His black beard, which covered his cheeks up to his eves, was long, and before going into action he had it plaited and tied back over his ears with coloured ribbons. He put lighted slow matches under his hat.

"Edward Teach was one of the biggest ruffians that has ever sailed the seas," wiites Mr. J. G. Lockhart. "The ferocity of his appearance, his great strength, his" cruelty, his treachery, his drunkenness ancl his daring have combined to make him the pattern pirate of fiction. ... No good thing can be said of him save that, although he lived like a beast, lie died like a man. His character was rs black as the beard which gave him his nickname. He knew neither mercy nor faith, and into his short career he crowded a series of crimes so outrageous as to be almost without parallel in the stormy records of the buccaneers." He was killed on November 17, 1718, in a fin-lit between his ship and two small sloops which had been sent in search for hftn, under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard, of the British Navy. Blackbeard is said to have received 25 wounds, of which five were pistol shots. The light took place in Okerecock Bay, off Bathtown, and after it was oyer Maynard returned to Bathtown with Blackboard's head fastened to the end of the bowsprit of his sloop.

Treasure of the Incas. There is a great deal of buried treasure in various places, apart from that which pirates are supposed to have buried, but so far the repeated attempts to recover treasure have seldom paid expenses. . . Peru is richer in buried treasure than any other country in the world, according to ■ tradition, and in no other country in the world has treasure hunting been carried on so persistently. The legends concerning the buried treasure of Peru centre round the Spanish conquest of the country 400 years ago. After the Spanish commander, Francisco Pizarro, had induced Atahualpha, the Inca of Peru, to visit him in state and had made the Indian monarch a prisoner, Atahualpha offered to fill a room full of gold in exchange

for his freedom. This room is now shown to visitors to the city of Caxamalca, in Peru. It is 20ft long by 17ft wide and it was to be filled with gold plate and ornaments to a height of oft. The Inca sent messengers to his capital of Cuzco and throughout his kingdom to collect treasure from the temples and palaces, but they had to proceed on foot (the horses the Spanish cavalry rode were the first animals of tho kind seen by the Indians), and to travel long distances. Atahualpha had stipulated for a period of two months to obtain tho treasure for his ransom, but the treasure came in too slowly for the impatient Spaniards. The Great Gold Chain. Among that received were many large gold vessels and gold plate in pieces weighing as much as 751b. Two hundred men were required to carry all the treasure of the despoiled Tempie of the Sun at Cuzco. It included a massive gold throne, a gold fountain and many beautiful ornaments. Before the room had been filled the Spaniards accused Atahualpha of stirring up a rebellion against them, and after a hurried farcical trial Ije was sentenced to death and executed the same day. The value of the treasure that had been received up to that time was about £3,500,000 when melted into gold ingots. According to tradition, the Indians who were on their way to Caxamalca with gold for the ransom of the Inca, buried the treasure or threw it into mountain lakes in the vicinity when they learned that the Inca had been executed. It is said that a great gold chain 233 yards long, which had stretched round the market place at Cuzco for the Indians to grasp in their religious dances, was among the treasure thrown into Lake Oreos, in the Andes.

The Treasure of Guatavita. Another mountain lake which was said to contain much treasure is Guatavita, 10,000 feet up, in the Cordilleras Mountains, north of Santa Fe de Bogota, in Colombia, which lies north of Peru. According to an old legend, the lake was the scene of Indian ceremonies for generations. Kacli Indian chieftain was covered with gold dust before plunging into the lake, the banks being lined with thousands of Indians who threw gold and jewels into the water to propitiate the goddess of Guata.vita. The treasure lying in the bed of the hike was estimated to be worth many millions of pounds, and repeated attempts w(jre made to recover it. In 1900 a British company was formed to drain the lake. It was 46 feet deep at the lowest point, and the plan of the British engineers was to drain it by means of a tunnel through the mountains, 1000 feet long, and carried down 70 feet below the level of the water. After some years the lake was drained, and it was then found that the bed of the lake consisted of mud 25 feet deep. A few ornaments and jewels were found, and this encouraged the promoters of the enterprise to raise more capital and continue the work. The mud set hard under the tropical sun, and there was no water available to sluice it down the tunnel. The engineers sank shafts in the mud and drove channels through it at various points. By this means some small gold ornaments and precious stones were obtained, but the total value of the treasure recovered in the course of thirteen years' work, at a cost of £15.000, was a little over £2000. The treasure found consisted of finely worked gold pendants representing birds, a serpent of fine gold, a warrior's cap of gold, gold bowls, gold snakes and some emeralds.