“JESUIT TREASURE.”

Grey River Argus, 13 February 1929, Page 8

“JESUIT TREASURE.”

THE “BAINBOW CHASE” ABANDONED. After enduring “tremendous labour and hardships” since March ,the English expedition has evacuated Sacambaya (Bolivia) —without the £12,000,000 worth of Jesuit treasure. Floods, say the seekers, forced their withdrawal. A cable in the “London Star” (November 16) announced the evacuation “without mishap,” and the newspaper added that the cable “closes a very interesting adventure, typical of the exploits in which Englishmen for centuries past have been engaged in foreign lands.” The correspondent with the “treasure hunters” had declared in the previous day’s issue: “At three in the morning the anxious faces peering down the shaft reflected our bitter realisation—the water had won, and the treasure will have to remain undisturbed fo r another year. “The existence of the hidden hoard has by no means been disproved, and after the tremendous labour and hardships endured by the expedition it would be unthinkable to abandon the work finally when probably we are within a few feet of victory.

“It must be remembered that both tho Incas and the Jesuits employed slave labour, and, therefore, had prac tically no expenses.” The expedition was sent out by the Sacambaya Exploration Company formed at the beginning of the year to find £12,000,000 which, said the company, Jesuits had hidden at Sacambaya. Of the 400 or so slaves used for the burial of the treasure, the tale ran, 200 died on the job and the remainder were killed. The basis of the company’s operations was a document which the “Universe” has shown more than once to be a fake. This document was given to Dr Sanders (the leader) by a woman who, says Dr. Sanders, “is still alive and lives in Oruro. ” But this person died 15 years ago, and did not live in Oruro. Furthermore, the “Universe” pointed out that Jesuits never had a mission at Sacambaya, neither did they work mines or use slaves, and that when the “treasure” was supposed to have been buried, there were no Jesuits in the land. When the treasure hunters reached Bolivia, the Bolivian Government issued a warning to the unwary not to throw their money away on the expedition, which the Government described as “a fantasy lacking rational basis or historical foundation.”