MYSTERY LAKE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3756, 15 May 1936, Page 5

MYSTERY LAKE

HUGE INCA TREASURE. The discovefy of vast mineral deposits and the transformation of one of the poorest areas in the world into one of the most prosperous may follow investigations by a British scientific expedition which is leaving England for South America next year. Their objective will be Lake Titicaca, the highest and one of the largest lakes in the world. The Percy Sladen Trustees have voted money for the work and Professor Gardiner has been asked to direct it. The expedition is also officially supported by the Royal Society and the British Museum. Professor Gardiner said recently: “I shall select six scientists, three zoologists, a chemist, a botanist, and geologist. I am too old to go myself. This is a young man’s job, for it will be necessary to do a great deal of work on the lake itself, which is 12,500 ft above sea level. The rarefied atmosphere imposes considerable strain on the heart.” The deepest parts of the lake lie in Peru, and the shallow area is in North Bolivia. Legend says that £50,000,000 of Inca treasure was dumped in the lake to save it from the Spanish invader, but although the natives believe it is there, they have never searched for it. Yet the whole of this vast water area is useless from an economic point of view. Only two kinds of fish exist in Titicaea, and they are inedible. The object of the expedition will be to investigate the nature of the water and the flora and fauna of the lake from the surface to its greatest depth of 170 fathoms. These researches will reveal whether it is possible to stock the water with fish and provide an entirely new food supply for the region. “It is work of the greatest importance,” Professor Gardiner said. “We shall not derive any financial benefit, our reward being an increase in scientific knowledge.”