GOLD OF THE INCAS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2677, 4 August 1913, Page 8

GOLD OF THE INCAS.

On the United Fruit Company’s vessel Canlio, which sailed from New York for Guayquil, Ecuador, were Mr and Mrs William G. Gates, of Callao, Peru, and three mining engineers and assayers. Mr Gates has had large mining interests in Peru for some years past, but a couple of months ago he cam© upon a “find” in the course of explorations in the wilds of the Andes that impressed him so deeply that he came at once to New York in order to secure expert opinion on the question. The location of the “find” Mr Gates refused to make public beyond saying that it is between the headwater* of two rivers.

The ore, says Mr Gates —gold ore — is of such richness that he believes he has at last actually found the original treasure-lode of the Incas, and has thus rediscovered an ancient mine that has been the subject of wild speculation, the object of hundreds of prospecting expeditions, and the theme of scores of romances in every language since the days of Pizarro. “The tales of the old Spanish conquistadores,” said Mr Gates, “are full of of the splendors of the court of the Incas, Manco, and Huayna Capac, of the gold plates on the walls of their palaces and temples, the gold ornaments on the costumes of even the meanest of their court attendants, the gold that apparently strewed the very ground around them. The precious metal seems to have been common as lead among them. “Pizarro and his men seized vast quantities of gold and silver at the taking of Quito and Cuzco, but it has always been believed that even larger portions of the treasure escaped them aud has remained to this day buried far back in some almost inaccessible recess of the Andes. “I do not know whether these tales are myth or exaggeration or plain sober fact. Certainly none of the many expeditions organised to search for the treasure has ever been successful. But it is not open to doubt that Pizarro and his men did seize immense quantities of gold in Peru. Enough of it was brought back to Spain to prove that. None of the mines now known in Peru would account for such vast wealth. The lode I have just found, however, is of such amazing richness that I think it is only reasonable to suppose that it must be the true source of the treasures of the Incas.” Mr Gates said that he had not let his discovery be known, in Peru for fear of Governmental interference. It is understood in Lima that he has found irqu ore, and his expedition is known in Peru as an expedition to develop a new iron mine,