GEMS OF EVIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16911, 9 December 1922, Page 3

GEMS OF EVIL.

MONTEZUMA’S PEARL. j 3ROUGHT DISASTER TO ! ANYONE WHO TOUCHED IT. j (By STUART MARTIN in “Pearson’s Weekly.”) The story of Montezuma’s pearl *s j perhaps one of the most fascinating of all stories of baleful gems. It lias come down the ages from the • great day in 1519 when Cortez, at the head of bis shattered and feeble army, marched into the capital of the Aztec kingdom. Along the beautiful valley of the Parabeno, in Lower California, yon will find dotted here and there old mission stations, century old monasteries still inhabited by monks who know nothing of the outside w'orld. In the Santa Monte Mission there is an old monk, nearly ninety yoars ol age, who lias never been farther than two miles from his cell. Antonio is his name. He is the keeper of the treasures of the mission ; and the treasures are ancient manuscripts, a few skulls of former monks, some rough jewellery —and the famous Montezuma Pearl. ! Occasionally, perhaps once in three years, a tourist in that place may call at the mission. Antonio meets him and plays the host. “ You are welcome,” he says. “ You may rest in your wanderings. The soul o f man needs rest.”. It- is his formula, never changed, for it is the formula which greeted the ancient conquerors hundreds of years ago when they pushed tliei r wavthrough Tlastralan and marched to Clio-lula-n. Father Antonio will bring you ONLY A SMALL STONE. There is no secret about the Montezuma Pearl. It is kept iu the underground chamber below the floor of the monastery. Daylight floods the chamber from the many loopholes cut into the solid walls of the mission house. The pearl lies in a little hoi Low on an altar. It is not a large stone, and no thief would ever think of stealing it. The stone w r as given to Cortez bv Montezuma under strange circumstances. It was given by Cortez to Hortuba. the priest who accompanied him —one of the most learned men who ever entered New Mexico. Its story is written in the ancient manuscript which Hortuba left behind him when he established the little miseio*i m Southern California before his death. Clad in rags, Hortuba travelled the length and breadth of the new land which Cortez had conquered. Ho always walked in naked feet and humble attire ; so much so, indeed, that he was known as Motolinia, tho “poor man.” It w r as he w'ho w’rote the best history of Cortez's conquests which has ever been penned. When the members of a certain famous antiquarian society were investigating the history of the Atzecs some years ago, they visited the Santa Monte Mission, where Father Antonio showed them the stone. THE STORY OF THE PEARL. “ J, of all the world,” he said, “know the true history of this pearl you have come to see. f, of all the world, have read in the ancient manuscript of Hortuba how Montezuma gave it to Cortez.” He pointed to it, for no one is ever allowed to handle the pearl. “ It was after Cortez had captured Montezuma and taken him to his abode,” lie went on, “ that he placed fetters on the ankles of the barbarian monarch. His men, meanwhile, were transferring all the jewels and gold belonging to Mciitezuma to their apartments. “ It was then that Montezuma brought forth the pearl you see there. He offered it to Cortez on condition that the fetters would he But ■* Cortez snatched the stone out of the king’s hand and hid it in his pocket. “ When Montezuma saw that he swore that death and destruction would accompany the Spaniards for the remainder of their stay there, that lire and lightning wPuld come from heaven and consume the city, that poison would enter their bodies from thorns as they walked abroad, that foul weather would follow them on the sea. “ He asked that tho stone be buried in the general burning of the city when the end came; but Cortez paid no attention to the pleadings or the threats. FIRE AND EARTHQUAKES. “ We all know what happened. Montezuma’s words came true. The city, was laid waste by fire and earthquakes. In the general scramble for safety Cortez snatched and handed it to Hortuba saying that since he was a holy man lie would, not be harmed. “My friends, Hortuba- was one of the few saved. He climbed tb.e high sacrificial altar of the Aztecs, holding the pea.rl in his hand and calling on the lightning to cease. Alone in that city of death he. seemed to hear a charmed life. When he left the blackened ruins he was the only man there alive. “He then stcr+ed or his wanderings through the Lard., bearing the pearl with him. Time after time he was attime after time the pearl was stolen from him. time after time, it returned to him in curious ways. Once, when he bad seated himself yonder in the mountains which overlook tlus mis-

1 i sion. the stone was lifted from his side | by u, great eagle. i “ This time indeed Hortuba thought j that Jto had lost *t for ever. He had j intended to take it back to Spain and ; present it to his sovereign. But what \ was his surprise that- w hen ho reached j this spot several days later in bis j wanderings lie saw the stone lying on i the ground. Ihe eagle had dropped j it whiie in flight. i “ Hortuba resolved that such, a cir- • cum stance could only fittingly be com- | memorated by the erection of a mis- ; rion. That vas the reason for tho | founding of this monastery.” ! AN INTERESTING SEQUEL. • So much for the story of Father An- • tonio. The sequel is even more inter- ; c.sting, tor while excavating amid the rock dwellings of the ancient Aztecs i the antiquaries discovered the foundaJ tion.s of che ancient city of Otumba. i There on the carvings of the altar ; stones they found tho strange prophecy ! -which must have been made ceni furies before Montezuma reigned—that 1 this pearl, which had been brought j from Palestine, would one day be carried by a priest through the land, and I would come to rest in a priest’s house j u for eyer.” Sp far as antiquaries are able to \ » state an ago, one of the most difficidi j things in the world to do, it- is odi rritted that this pearl must have been |ir existence centuries even before, j Solomon. It is not an ordinary pearl. for it is hard, and defies analysis. , Curiously enough, with the carvings |i\ liicli were unearthed at Otumba., j were drawings of the pearl also done j in carving, and round the drawing the name of Solomon has been traced. ! Dirl it really come from Palestine 0 Who brought it, and what were the i rites in which it was used? The«c and other questions will probabiv never be solved, but if it was such a sacred nearl we mar here see o reason why Montezuma accepted defeat -it the hands of Cortez when he might have made a fight. THE VICTIM OF FATE. The Aztec king must have felt that lie was but the victim of fate ; tli ic. the prophecy of the ancients, which l o must have known when the pearl lay or his own altars, was about to be fulfilled, and that not all his striving could alter it one jot. One part oi the prophecy certainly came true, cor j whenever anyone but a priest touched that stone disaster came of the act". Such are the theories which have been formed by the antiquaries since the remarkable- finds of the story i > the carvings of the ancient city of Otumba. Some hold it to he the most ancient in the world; and when Father An tonio met the party returning sever'd years later, elated and puzzLed wit a the result of their labours, lie smiled in hie old way as he gave them mills and fruit. “ You are welcome,” ho said. “ You may rest from your wanderings. The soul of man needs rest.” “ But, Father Antonio, we have :i strange story to tell,” they said. And then they told him. His replv was merely a* smile. “My children, there is nothing wonderful in that. All that you have done is just to touch the cord which runs through the storv of the universe. The stone shall remain here until the end of time, and it shall be buried with the last monk who Ijves at Santa Monte.”