BOLIVIAN TREASURE HUNT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20389, 21 April 1928, Page 19

BOLIVIAN TREASURE HUNT.

BURIED BY THE JESUITS. EXPEDITION TO THE SACAMBAYA RIVER. A NEW ZEALAND MEMBER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 2. Mr J. F. St. B. Barclay, an old boy of Christ’s College, afterwards a student of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and since 1925 a diamond merchant and publicity agent, is a member of an expedition to Bolivia to seek for hidden treasure, it the £12,000,000 worth of treasure is tound his share will be £45,000. The party ot Englishmen sailed by the Orcoma from Li verpool on March 1. . The leading spirit of this expedition is Dr Edgar Sanders, mining engineer, who has the legal rights to search for the gold supposed to be hidden by the Jesuits from the year 1767 to 1778, at the junction of the rivers Sacambaya and lUialo, among the mountains of the Eastern Cordilleras. It was here the Jesuits in 1635 built the fortress and monastery af Via.zuela. These became the centre not ot a missionary field, but of a rapidly spreading mining activity which soon absorbed all the energies of the holy fathers. The Indians were forced to work nractically as slaves, and all the gold obtained, whether from mines or from alluvial washings, was exported to Europe as the property of the Society of Jesus. For a long time U-e Jesuits were undisturbed, although (hey did not pay the royalty of - one-fifth, cue to the Spanish Crown from all precious stones and metals mined in the colonies. Eventual!, however, this question of royalty became acute, and the authorities nractically issued an ultimatum to Tie Jesuits to the effect that either they must pay the royalty or go back to their proper business, which was the conversion of the heathen. The Jesuits refused, having it in mind to form a political unit entirely independent of Spain. They might have succeeded if the Spanish authorities had not blockaded them in the interior and prevented them exporting their gold or importing any supplies. As a matter of fact, the Spanish Government wished by now to deport them to Europe, but strong ecclesiastical influences were at work with the King, and the sentence of deportation was not carried out for 11 years. As the Jesuits hoped that it would not be carried out at all and that they would bo allowed to remain in the country they went on working their mines. Since it was impossible to export the gold in these 11 years—from 1767 to 1778—they accumulated it in the hope of finally being able to export it. Eventually the Jesuits were deported peacefully, and the gold was left behind to become the property of the Spanish Crown. MASSACRE OF NATIVES. “ It is fairly certain,” says Dr Sanders, "that the Jesuits had foreseen that they might be threatened with confiscation and had prepared an elaborate place of concealment in readiness to meet such a contingency. It is known that the- employed 500 Indians on the construction of this hiding-place, and that the work took about two and a-half years. Some 200 of these Indians died at this work, and it is said that the Jesuits, having completed their task of concealment, poisoned the rest of the Indians 'viio had actually assisted in the burying c. he gold. However this may be—it is local rumour even to-day—l certainly found an old silver mine containing the bones of 280 natives, and this was the place pointed out to ra© as the scene of the massacre. “So well had the Jesuits done their work that, when the representatives of the Spanish Crown arrived in the district, after many delays owing to Indian uprisings fostered by the departing Jesuits, (hey found the monastery and fortress of Flazuela, but no trace of the Jesuits’ wealth. Undoubtedly there were several Indians in the neighbourhood who could have given them helpful information, but the Indian hatred of everything Spanish, whether civil, military, or ecclesiastic, combined with the fear that the Jesuits would some day return, prevented the Spanish authorities learning anything. In some cases even torture was employed, but the Indians could not bo made to speak. “ When the Jesuits wore deported, the deposit on the Sacambaya contained gold, silver, and precious stones, the value of which was estimated at 60,000,000 duros reales (slightly over £12,000,000 in present currency). This enormous treasure was the accumulation of 11 years’ working of the gold mines of El Carmen and Tres Tetilias, of some silver mines, and of gold and diamond washings near Santa-Gruz-de-la-Sierra.” • THE SAN ROMAN DOCUMENT. Many expeditions have tried to find the treasure, but have failed. Father Gregorio San Roman, on© of the Jesuits deported from the Sacambaya, had a younger brother who at that time was Prefect of Callao, Peru, and to this brother he gave a description of the hiding place of the treasure, on . his way out of the country. This description is embodied in ’ a document which has been handed down in the San Roman family—from the prefect ta his son, who later became a general and President of Peru and from the president to his daughter, Senorita Corina San Roman, who is still alive and lives’ at Oruro, in Bolivia. For various reasons, not being in want of money, the San Roman family made no attempt to secure the treasure, although through an Indian family dependent on them they kept in touch with the place where it was hidden and knew that it had not been disturbed. In 1905 Cecil Prodgers, an Englishman well known and respected all over South America, met Corina San Roman and was asked by her if he would undertake to unearth the treasure, giving her a share in the proceeds. He was unsuccessful, however, in three attempts, and finally had to abandon the enterprise for health reasons, and he turned the information over to Dr Sanders. The latter organised an expedition in 1925 and in 1926. He interpreted the secret document in a different way from Prodgers and, according to his account, he discovered the mouth of a tunnel. THE CURSE. “ After a few days’ work we encountered a wooden board embedded in sheep's excrements. On ono side of this board was nailed a silver crucifix, which is still in my possession. When we had taken out the filling of the tunnel for some four yards further, we came to a wall which blocked the entire width of the tunnel, i and was made of loose stones, uncemented. We began to take down this wall and, j after the first layer was removed, we I found a stone box, or rather a small compartment, in which was placed diagonally something that on first sight looked like a round piece of wood. I picked it up, and owing to its age it fell to pieces in my hands Apparently it was originally a wooden casing. Inside I found a piece of parchment, well preserved, on one side of which was written, in Spanish, the translation of which is; “ You who reach this place withdraw. This spot is dedicated to God Almighty and the one who dares to enter a dolorous death awaits him in this world and eternal damnation in the world lie goes to. The riches that belong to God our Master are not for humans. Withdraw and you will live in peace and the blessing of the Master will make your life sweet and yon w : ll die rich with the goods of this world. Obey the command ot God Almighty our Master in life and in death. In the name of God the Father, the Son. and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” NATIVES REFUSE TO WORK. “ When I found this, I was alone except for several of my native workmen, who gathered round me as I spelt it out slowly and painfully. Although remarkably iresh, the lettering waa difficult to de-

cipher, and I was so engrossed that I did not notice how much the context appeared to disturb my workers. When they struck and refused point blank to do any more work in that particular place I realised that superstition still had a very considerable hold on them. No amount of persuasion, no promises, could mate them change their minds. They were terrified. Only my foreman, Juan Mendizabal, and my cook, a boy of 15, agreed to stay with me. It was obviously impossible to go on working with them alone, and the rainy season was approaching, so I decided to abandon operations for that year, to return to Europe to organise a fresh expedition on a large scale, and next time to take out with me at least 15 reliable whit© men."

The present expedition is the outcome of that resolution.

“ I do not claim,” says Dr Sanders, “ that the finding of the treasure is a certainly, although in my own mind I am convinced that it will be found by this expedition. There is no attempt to disguise the fact that this is no an investment but a purely speculative undertaking, although with every prospect of a successful conclusion and a very large return. If the entire treasure is found and secured the profit for every £5 ordinary share will he £750. In other words, £lO9 will return £15,000, or at the rate of £l5O for £l.”