LONG BURIED TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONG BURIED TREASURE.

OLD ROMAN COINS.

DISCOVERY IN BULGARIA.

AN EXCITED POPULACE

A large quantity of old Roman coins lias been found in the Bulgarian village of Reka, Devna, near Varna, Bulgaria's chief Black Sea port, by a Macedonian refugee, Paul Todoroff. Todoroff and a companion were digging a deep ditch in one corner of their yard when at tho depth of 6ft. then spades struck a hard object, which they at first thought was a stone. _ On removing tho earth from around it they uncovered a still larger object and after further hasty digging they found two enormous earthen jars before them. They supposed these vessels, so enrefullv buried, were full of treasuie, since in the Balkan Peninsula many a man in flight before an approaching army has buried his money, hoping in better days to return and find it. Rave is the nieside in Bulgarian or shepherds' fire in the .mountains about which thrilling stories of buried treasures have not been hidden wealth. told, and almost overy imaginative boy in the Balkans hopes some day to . uncover Todoroff and his companion broke open the jars and sure enough found them filled with money, but not as they ha'd hoped, with '1 nrkish gold. However, some of the pieces were still shiny and appeared to be of silver. In all there were not far from half-a'-ton of coins. 'lhe

villagers helped themselves and the whole collection might have been scattered had not the mayor notified the county governor by -telephone, who rushed to the place in his automobile and managed to recover about two-thirds of the.money. Ho put it in bags and took it to "Varna, whence it was sent to Sofia. On examination the money proved to' ho of Roman origin. Bulgarian experts say that it dates from the first three centuries A.D. and arc of the opinion that it "was-lmried -during- o«e--of -the-in-vasions of the Goths who invaded the Balkan Peninsula along this route.

The place where the coins were found is the site of the old Roman city of Marcianopolis, founded by tlie Roman Emperor Trajan and named after his sister It is believed that the cobis must have belonged to the municipality and that thev were concealed in the cellar of the city hall, since, it is argued, no individual "would have so much money in his house. The city itself, which was inhabited bv Romans, Greeks and Thracians, occasionally struck "its own coins and manv of tho pieces discovered were from the* mints of Marcianopolis. They bear the images of many Greek gods and of Roman emperors. Tho village, Reka Devna, in which they were discovered, is at a junction in a famous Roman road. Ono branch went north-east to Silistrn, .present day Rumania and Russia, another branch east to Varna and other Black Sea ports and a third south and west to Constantinople, Greece and Rome. Further excavations are to bo made.

LADIES IN WAITING.

QUEST . FOR HUSBANDS.

Providing husbands for lonely women willing to make a good man a good wife is still one of the duties of Mr. W.; A. Wilkinson, ox-Mavor of Durham. * There is a Darlington woman who sadly writes:—"l am still a widow, but, very smart and up-to-date with everything, am a good housewife, my hair is not bobbed, but is dark and curly. I have a fair complexion, and do not use powdei or paint. 1 want someone gentlemanly. I could not stand anyone rough. I like singing and music." Another woman declares: 1 have Jots to bo thankful for, but life is nothing without love.'' " I would welcome love and companionship and a good man," wrote a third, pleading for a husband