An Extraordinary Will.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 907, 19 July 1889, Page 4

An Extraordinary Will.

SEARCH FOR HID TREASURE AT QUEBEC. Canadian papers to hand state that at Quebec, in the suburb of St John, the population has been greatly excited owing to the disoovery of a mysterious will by Mr Trudel, a contractor for a house in Madeiine-street. The will, which is a holograph one, and written in old French, on dirty parchment, strongly impregnated with some chemical substance, and boaring all the marks of great antiquity, was found buried four feet beneath the surface in a hermetically.sealed bottle, enclosed in a heavy tin box, whioh in turn was covered with another tin vessel something in the form of a bell or coal Bcuttle badly eaten through by rust. The contents of the mysterious document were easily deciphered. They purport to have been written by * Francois Gutetin de St. Malo,’ and bear date 17th May, 1734, the opening paragraph in Latin seeming to indicate that the writer died during the terrible Bmall-pox epidemic whioh decimated the population of New France in that year, carrying off also M. de la Chassaque, Governor of Montreal. The will reads as follows : * Unhappy America, before 24 hours I shall no longer be of this world. God is witness of what I write. This is my will to you if you deserve it, for God knows his own. At four feet from this spot, going in a straight line towards the west, then bending seven feet towards the south, and at seven feet from the surface of the soil, between two large stones, you will find a' copper box containing 1001 b of gold and 3001 b weight of silver. Are you rich ? Do charity with it for the repose of my soul. Are you poor ? Use it honestly and pray for me. Before God, who is my only witness, if you employ this treasure in libertinism I wish you evil and death. Pray to God for all the unhappy French who died to-davl'. Diligent search has been made in one direq* tiou for the treasure, a guard being placed on the ground to prevent any attempt ts> anticipate the contractor in its discovery. In prosecuting the search a quantity human bones was dug up and a cavity disclosed with something at the lpottonq emitting a metallic sound, but it was found that the bed rock had been reached. It is now thought the treasure is buried in the adjoining ground, owned by a man named Frenette, who, however, had refused to allow the contractor to continue the search there, and has refused 3000 dollars for his property, whioh is not worth 800 dollars. A lawsuit is threatened. The Mayor, the Recorder, and prominent citizens have visited the ground.