BURIED TREASURE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9417, 13 April 1909, Page 2

BURIED TREASURE.

A story appears in the Transvaal Leader, wdl calculated to fire the imagination, of vast wealth, accumulated by Lobengula, the famous chief of the Matabele, now being eagerly sought. The story runs that five men only knew originally where the treasure is deposited, and of them but one remains in the laud of the living - to»day, this being John Jacobs, a native minister, at one time private secretary to Lohengnla. Ee has recently returned to Johannesburg after an expedition in search of the burled fortune, set out bj him as follows £2,Boo,ooo in coin, 36 bars of raw gold, Id-waggon loads-of ivory, 400 diamonds. Bather more than a year ago Jacobs entered into negotiations with Mr A. Spinner, a well known Johannesburg prospector, as the result of which both men, accompanied by Jacobs’ two sons and a MrMonokz, set out for the far north, trekking into regions rarely traversed by white people. They started on January 3rd, 1908, from Johannesburg, and now, after an absence of over a year, they have just returned. They did not bring back the treasure, but state that they are all the same firmly convinced they have tracked the spot where it lies. Difficulties of transport aud the obtaining of food and water caused,the abandonment of the search, but another expedition will soon be sent, the cost of -which will ha three thousand pounds, or as much again as the expenditure on the first. Mr Spinner, in the course of a description of the journey, stated they trekked along the Zambesi to Sesheke after great hardship, suffering, aud varied adventure. At Sesheke the waggons and mules had to be - abandoned, boats were procured, and after an eighteen days’ trip up the river the explorers reached Lealui, the capital of the King of Barotselaud. Thence they proceeded up the Kabompo river, where they were deserted by the boys, necessitating a return to Leaiui. , Again they left for the Kabompo, their objective now being the head Of the Kori river, near : where the treasure was understood to be deposited. But it appears there were two Kori rivers £and by the directions of the natives they held to the Northern Kori, and subsequently found themselves three or four hundred miles too far north. giving out and the boys Vere deserting daily. A reluctant return was therefore made to Lealui, where it was found impossible to obtain enough supplies for a further journey. The party, therefore, trekked forborne.

As to the -treasure, the gold is stated to be what the king had collected from his people, the diamonds what the boys working at Kimberley brought home with them, the bars of gold metal stolen from the Rand, and the ivory what the natives secnred in the hunting held.