LURE OF BURIED TREASURE

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 10 (Supplement)

LURE OF BURIED TREASURE

rHE tireless hunt for treasure is the keynote to the history of the Spanish-American colonies.

But those accounts which; record rich finds of hidden, gold, or the payment of enormous tribute, have failed to rouse the same degree -of interest as the greatly more intriguing stories of presence in secret Mexican and Peruvian fastnesses of hoards of native gold and jewellery still awaiting discovery.

There is probably not a village in either of those regions of old romance which has not its-, legend of buried treasure, and the fact that many of these traditions are vouched for by documentary evidence of a trustworthy character, serves to keep them alive. Stories, too, are current in some districts of the existence of hereditary guardians who hand? down the secret of the hidden wealth from one generation to another.

Although the native rulers of Mexico and Peru exacted large annual tributes of gold, silver and jewels from the conquered peoples whom they had absorbed into their respective empires, the precious metals do not seem to have aroused in the American races that feverish spirit of covetousness»which it astonished them so greatly to find in their European conquerors.

By - - Lewis Spence, F.R.A.I.

When it became clear to them that accumulation of gold was ( the master passion of the Spaniards they took extraordinary precautions to conceal from the invaders the spots where it was mined, or taken from the and they began to secrete in inaccessible places such stores of it as ill -.the ordinary way would have been paid as a tribute into the royal treasuries of Mexico and Cuzco.

Xo hidden hoard, perhaps, has aroused so much speculation or has given birth to such a wealth of traditional lore as the treasure of Montezuma, the illstarred Emperor of Mexico. After his death great efforts were made to discover its whereabouts, in face of what appears to have been a general conspiracy on the part of the natives of all ranks not to divulge the secret. Cortes and his followers had already had an encouraging experience of Aztec treasure trove. Quite by accident they had come upon a built-up doorway in the old palace of Axayacatl, where they had been lodged by order of Montezuma.

Breaking down the plaster which covered it, an opening was revealed, and the Conquistadores beheld a large apartment in which were headed gold and silver bars and ingots, jar<= of gold-duet, countless cup 6, vases and platters of gold, ornaments lavishly besprinkled

with pearls, and quantities of chalchihuitls, or Mexican emeralds, a species of jadeite. This was the treasure of King Axayactl, the father of Montezuma, the' tribute which during his reign had passed into his coffers from the subject provinces, and which he had hoarded against a national emergency. On being weighed it was found to be worth nearly a million and a half in present currency. This enormous booty inspired the Spaniards to seek for more, and on the death (rf 'Montezuma and the subsequent capture of 'his nephew and successor, Guatemozin, a persistent rumour ran through the army that Guatemozin had given orders that the treasure of his deceased uncle should be carefully placed beyond the reach of the con-

Vast Hoard Of Montezuma

querors. Pressure was brought to bear upon Cortes to put Guatemozin to the torture, and thus force him to divulge the whereabouts of the treasure. To this the Spanish leader unwillingly assented, but even in the extremity of his pain the last of the Aztec kings would vouchsafe nothing more definite than that large quantities of gold had been thrown into Lake Texcoco. In an unavailing search expert divers took part. But in a pond in the garden of Guatemozin's palace was found one of those great wheels of gold on which the Aztec symbols of the calendar were engraved. Generations of treasure hunters have sought unavailingly for the hoard of Montezuma. On several occasions documentary evidence has been forthcoming which seemed to point to one or other

locality in the neighbourhood of Mexico City as its place of concealment, but subsequent examination has invalidated an entire series of what seemed to be trustworthy clues.

That vast resources other than the treasure of Axayactl were at the disposal of Montezuma cannot be questioned. But native subtlety has proved more than equal to the task of concealing these in some secret and inaccessible cavern or retreat in the great mountains which surround the plain of Mexico, so thatwafter four centuries the story has come to have an aspect almost fabulous.

In Peru, from the hills to the coast, scarcely a village is without its legend of the buried treasure of the Incas. Unlike the fairy gold of the Montezumas, however, this occasionally materialises. On the execution of Athahualpa, the Inca whom Pizarro found disputing the throne with his brother, Huascar, the tribute of gold and silver which at his command was flowing into the Spanish coffers from all parts of the empire was •promptly discontinued, and the wealth in bars and specie which was on its way to the Castilian headquarters at Gazamarca was hastily concealed.

Golden Statue

The hidden hoard included the great golden statue of the Luauque, the familiar or guardian spirit of Atahualpa's father the Inca Huavna Coapac, and with cups, vases, jewels, and ritual vessels amounting in value to many million sterling. The secret of its hiding place was religiously 4 guarded by the dispossessed royal line of the Incas until the beginning of last century. Its first official keeper seems to have been Carlos Inoß, who, as* head of that section of the royal family which had submitted to the Spaniards, dwelt in melancholy state in the ancient palace of the Colcampata, the ruins of which still stand on a slope above the City of Cuzco. The Spaniards do not seem to have been aware that he knew the place of concealment of the treasure or he would not long have been left in peace.

Tradition has it that, on one occasion, Carlos' wife, Maria de Esquival, a woman of partly Spanish race, upbraided him with his poverty and condition. But the guardian of the Incarial millions, obtaining from her a promise of secrecy, led her blindfolded to the spot where the treasure was concealed, displaying to her bewildered gaze the heaped bars of precious metal, the choice vessels and jewels which had enriched his ancestors in happier days.

Carlos Inca, unable to sustain the constant indignities to which the Spanish authorities subjected him, eventually went into exile. But he handed down the secret of the concealed treasurehouse to his heirs in the royal Peruvian succession. Ample proof of this is to be

found in the manuscript of Don Felipe de Pomares, now in the British Museum.

In 1815 the chief, Pumacagua, then seventy-one years of age, resolved to head an insurrection against the Spaniards. But he lacked the sinews of war. Betaking himself to the hereditary guardian of the treasure, he requested his aid, took the oath of secrecy, and was conducted to the place of concealment. Blindfolded, and at night, he was led up the bed of the river Huatanav for a long distance, and suddenly found himself surrounded by ingots, bars and great statues of gold heaped in incredible profusion. He took from the hoard only the sum that was necessary to equip his forces, and, returning to Cuzco, sought the house of a sympathiser, Colonel Pablo Astete, whose daughter long afterwards informed Sir Clements Markham that she well remembered his visit. He was heavily Taden with gold dust and ingots, and drenched to the skin by his recent passage through the river. The revolt, however, was unsuccessful. Treasure amounting to more than five millions sterling has already been unearthed from the vast ruins of Chimu culture, at Chan-chan, near Truxillo, but the "peie grande," or great treasure, which a well-authenticated tradition says is concealed at that spot still awaits some lucky excavator. Many expeditions have closely searched the labyrinthine Chhnu ruins, but so far they have jealously preserved their golden secret.

Famous Meteorites Crater

IT is officially stated that a Soviet air expedition has photographed from the air the place where the enormous Tunguska meteorite fell on June 30, 1908.

The meteorite, one of the biggest ever recorded as having hit the earth, fell near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Siberia.

The effects of the impact were tremendous. A pillar of flame was visible for hundreds of miles, and a glow was seen over Siberia and many parts of Europe.

It is now stated that the weight of the meteorite may have been several hundred tons.

In 1927 Leonid Kulik, the Russian geologist, penetrated the region. He found that in a circle about 70 miles in diameter destruction of the forests was complete, the point of impact being a crater-like valley.

The air expedition was equipped late in 1937. First attempts to reach the crater failed, but now a flying boat has enabled some hundreds of photographs to be taken of the scene of havoc.