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EXPEDITION TO DIiSCOVER Miw
- LIONS OF PIRATES' PLUNDER.
Hid in Canyon cof the Galapagos lel
ands in 1820-21—A Etate Depart
ment Officer—Talks of the Treas
ure and the Various Searches for it.
This dispatch caught the eye of o
State Department official in Wash
ington not long ago: ; ‘
Valparaigo, Chili, August B—The
British yacht Cavalier, owned by Ma
jor- Maude, a member of the Royai
Army Reserve, has left Coquimbo
for @Galapagos Islands, where a
gearch will be made for the treasure
which is said to have been hidden
there a long time ago. The Cava
. ler met very rough weather near
Mocha Island, where the crew tempor
arily abandoned the vessel and suffer
ed great hardships. The yacht car
ries two guns and 100 rifles.
“Qtill arter the Galapagos treas
ure, eh?” he remarked to your cor
respondent on reading this. “Weil,
I hope they get it titis tife. They
are taking two guns and 100 rifles
along to kill tortoise, I presume. You
know the Galapagos Islands swarm
with huge tortoises, some of them
600 pounds in weight. No doubt, tco
any of these monsters would hinder
the work of treasure digging.
“Put why malke fun of these treas
ure hunters? They are on a quest
that to my mind is the most fascin
ating in the world. What's more, I
"believe the treasure is there. I have
kept track of it a little myself, and
if T had a few thousand to spare and
six months’' leave of absence, might
be there myseclf,
“I'll tell you.gabout this treasure,
how it came there, and who puried it
there, if you will guarantee not to go
down and get it before 1 do. It was
the rich spoils of years of piracy in
the West Indies, and was taken round
the Horn in 1820 and 1821, when the
English war vesscls stamped out pi
racy in the. Spanish Main. Tae Gala
pagos group lics right out under the
equator. The treazure Wwas taken
there. and buried on Commander Is
land, one of the group. The spot was
well chosen, in a,canon which cleaves
the hills running down to the beach.
The pirates, who were pretty hotly
chased, scattered as soon as they had
disposed of their loot. Two of them,
Englisimen of the names of Thomp
son and Chapel, landed at Valparaiso
and worked their way back to Eng
land.. They informed the British Ad
miralty of the ‘reasure, and on prom
ise of immunity from punishment
they furnished maps and even accom
panied a md-of-war that was sent out
to recover the stuff and apprehend
the pirates. That part of the treas
ure deposited in 1820 was dug up and
taken back to England, and the ex
pedition captured eighty of the pi
rates in small boats along the west
coast, took them to Jamaica and'
hanged them.
“Thompson and Chapel were misty
as to the location of the treasure
hidden in 1821, This was the bigger
lot, as it contained all the loot left
in the West Indies. That is the
treasure which still lies under the
sands of Commander Island. A syn
dicate of Liverpool merchants sent
out an expedition to get the treasure,
but it was not found. Since that time
many parties have searched for it. In
1846 a man named Keaton, who was
said to be descended from one of the
pirates,” went to Galapagos and re
cover:d $75.000 of the treasure. He
was accompanied by a sailor named
Bogué. They had two Chilians with
them, who afterwards disappeared.
Keaton himeself also disappeared, but
Bogue turned up in St. Johns, New
Brunswick, where he was charged
with the murder of Keaton, and nar
rowly escared the gallows. Eeveral
expeditions were fitted out after that,
at San Fraacisco and Victoria, B. C,,
by persons who had been associated
with Keaton. The brig Blakely was
fitted out a couple of years ago, aad
she went down to locok for the treas
ure, but she might as well have look
;fl for poig if %019 at the egd of rain
bows, for she went to Coccs Island,
aff Costa Rica, instead of going to
Galapagos. D
~wPhe latest expedition that went in
search of the West Indian “treasure
was in charge of Capt. Brown of Bos
ton, who took a party down from San
Francisco in the schooner Herman.
He had no definite knowledge of the
treasure, but thought it was on Cocos’
Island. He hecame invelved in a con
troversy with his crew, and the
‘schooper put in at ITenclulu, Later
the crowd.dribbled back to San. Fran
cizco, disgusted with Brown and hid
den treasure. They buried about $6OO
cach of their treasure in the vepture,
I understand. %
“The only reference I ever saw of
the amount and character of the pos
gemgions .was an interview with one
of the Keaton parties in a San Fran
cigeo paper. Thais said that the treas
ure was variously estimated at from
$33 000,000 to $60,000,000 in money,
bullion -and utensils. In one excava
tion was buried 300,000 pounds of sil
ver bullion and money, and in an
other hole 733 bars of gold, cpch four
by three inches, and two inches thick,
as well as jewelled swords. precious
stones, and several kettles full of mis
cellaneous gold.
‘And now Capt. Maude of the Royal
srmy Reserve js after this treasure
in the stout yacht Cavalier. Good
luck to him! So long as I ecannot
afford to te)ie a six months’ leave of
absence from the department, I am
willing that Capt. Maude should have
his trial. I hope he strikes that canon
and diverts without superhuman
difficulty the little river that now
flows over the spot where the treas
ure was buried. It is a good six
months’ task. It might pay—quien
gsabe? And think of the fun! Think
of the international complications to
be aveided in smuggling this loot
away from the jurisdiction of Euca
dor!”’—New Yark Fost.
A WEAKNESS IN STATISTICS.
Statistics of Dependent and Defective
. Classes Are Not Reliable,
Among the numerous subjects re
garding whica the director of the cen
sus is authorized decennially to col
lect statistics, under the act of March
6, 1902, we find enumeratsd the “in
sane, feebie-minded, deaf, dumb, and
blind,” also “crime, pauperism, and
benevolence, including prisoners, pau
pers, juvenile delinguents, and in
mates of benevolent and refcrmatory
institutions.” Unfortunately the act
contains a provision at the end to the
effect “that the statistics of special
classes, and of crime, pauperism, and
benevolence specified in this section,
shall be restricted to institutioas con
taining such classes.” This limita
tion will render the returns of little
value, if it does nct make them posi
tively misleading. For instance, a
reform in the adminisiration of the
poor laws of our northern states and
cities is very apt to show itself in a
cutting down of outdoor relief, which
is sometimes followed by a larger
population receiving in-door relief.
The inmates of dlmhouses might
show an increasé which would natur
ally be inferprested to signify more
pauperism, when in point of fact this
might be the result of a change in the
form of relief due to a diminution of
pauperism as a whole. There are
knowna to be some 150000 fecble
minded persons_in the United States,
and yet the census will apply only to
the 15,000 found in institutions.
Hardly anything can be said about
dependent chiidren, s.nce most of
them are cared for outside of institu
tiens. '
The limitation ~of the enumeration
to the decennial years, though per
haps net so scrious as teat just con
sidered, is yet calculated to greatly
dimnish the value of thi= part of cur
census work. llf paup:r statistics are
to sesve the purnose of throwing
light either on the general condition
of the country or on the administra
tion of the laws, tiey should be gath
‘ered more {requently, certainiy at ia
tervals of nct more *han two years.
The great expense mvolved in"all gen:
eral statistical inquiries may have in
flueneed Congress to practice this
ecopomy on the principle that half 2
loaf is better than no bread. This
may be the case 1n ‘nousekeeping, but
it does not always bhold in statistics.
“A -half truth is not b:tter than no
truth at all, it is generally worse.
And if the government can not afford
the money necessary to carry out @
fairly complete. enumeration of de
penclcni and defective classes annual
ly or biehnially, it would seem bet
ter=to give up the plan of an criginal
investigation altogether, and to con
fine the work of the census bureau
to the compilation of such statistics
as may be obtained through the
boards of charities or the bureaus of
statistics of those Statecs which chn
supply trustworthy figures. But such
a makeshift would not be worthy of a
great country, which in' many fields
of statistics has a proud record.—
Yale Review. |
The Taste in Soda Water,
Year ip and year out, va: l'a flavor™
ing is the standard at th 2 soda foun
tains. Chocolate is second, strawber
ry a bad third, and lemcn is some
where in the ruck among the also
rans.
It depends a gcod deal upon the.
weather, but this is the normal pref
erence, say the mixers of the soda
fountains. The warmer th 2 weather
the sourer the flavors demanded by
the public. b ~
On a hot, muggy day, there is a
great run on lime julce wnd phos
phatcs of all flaveors. On just com
fortably warm days, chocclate, straw
berry and all the swe=t flavors are in
demand. 4
Ice cream soda js not liked so much
as it was a few years ago. Among
the fancy soft drinks, egg phosphate
is the favorite.
Every y=ar a few. new ‘“health
drinks” are sprung. They rarely last.
more than a seascn. Sometimes, al
ter a rest of a year or two, a health
drink that has run its course is put
out again under another name.
TALES OF THE INDIANS.
There Were Some in 1805 Who Had
Never Heard a Gun Fired.
Even as late as the year 1805 the.r2
were Indians on the North American
continent who had never seem «(r
Reard a gun, had never se2n tobacco
smoke, and were capable or worship
ping the white men who controlied
these wonders. The Rev. A. G
Morice t:lls of some cf the advern
tures of Sion Fraser, who has stamyp
ed his'name on Canada. Father Mo
rice writes as follows: “On landing
-at Lake Stuart Fraser's men, to im
press the natives with a proper idea
of their wonderful resources, firsd a
volley with their guns, whereupon the
whole crowd of Indians fell prostrate
to the ground. To allay their fears
and make friends, tobacco was oifer
ed to’ them, which, on being tasted,
was found tco bitter and thrown
away. Then to sh:w its use,. the
crew lighted their pipes, and at the
sight of smoke issuing from their
mouths the people b2gan to whisper
that they must come from the land
of ghosts, since they were still full of
fire wherewith they had besn cre
mated. Picces of soap were given to
the women, who, taking 'them to be
cakzas of fat, set upon crunching them
causing foam and Dbubles in the
mouth, which puzzled both actors and
bystanders. All these phenomena,
however, were sicon explained away,
lesaving np suspicion in the native
mind, but a most profound admira
tion for the {oreignsrs and their
wares,” ; :
Sir Alexander Mackenzis had an
idea that th= Indians of the far north
west were partly Jewish in origin.
From Lak2 Athabasca in 1794 he set
out at the head of an expedition “in
a birch bark canoce, twenty-five feeg
long, . four and three-quarters fest
beam, and twenty-six inches held,"
with 3,000 pounds cof baggage and pro
visions ar4 s erew of nine French
Canadians.” He reacned the Pacific
coast ‘ax‘lg,,‘;xgturged. he aboriginies
he met were “fior the most part pos
sessed of strongly religious instinets,”
said he in his report. “With regard
to their origin all we- ar3 prepared
to state, after a careful survey of
‘heir language, manners and customs
3 that they are™ undoubtedly of a
mixed origin; com: from the norig
acrthwest, and ha! commerce in thefr
aarly history, perhaps, through inter
marriage, with peopie of Jewish pga_'-
suasion or origin.” f
" New Year’s Day, 1811, in the Caza
dian northwest was described by D.
W. Harmon as follows: “This being
the first day of a new year, our people
have passed it, according to th\:zus
tom of the Canadians in drinking
and fighting. Some of *the principal
Indians of Fraser Lake desired to al
low them to remain at the fort that
they might see our people drink. As
soon as they bzgan to b 2 a little in
tovicated and to quairel among them
selves the natives began to be appre
hensive that something unpleasant
might befall them also. They, there
fore, hid themselves under beds and
elsewher?, saying that they thought
the white people had run mad, for
they appeared not to kuwow what they
were about. It was the first time
thdat th:y had ever gseen a person it
tox:cated.” A
Goats and a Nation’s Fate.
The frontier between British India
and Thibet traverses districts where
there ars mountain pastures, and our
main grievance was that certain Thi
betan goats which were ignorant of
the line of demarcation were in the
habit of straying into British terri
tory. What particular harm the goaty
did by browsing occaslonally on Brit
ish grass is not very clear. In any
case, the damage could not have been
censiderable. In 1739 we went to war
with Spain on account cf the ear of
a cartain Jenkins, which, we asserted
had bzen cut off by somsz Spanish of:
ficial, although 1t was cont2nded that
the ear was still attachsd to Jen
kins’ head. It has, however, been re
served to this century for this coun:
try to engage in a war that promises
to be extensive, on accouni, profess
edly, of a few wandering goats.—Lon
don Truth. :
Cursing *he Sea.
The little sears:de resort of Kuit
chuk, Russia, has been scandalized by
the introduction of mixed bathing by
visitors from Odessa. The priests and
puritan residents are denouncing “the
awful behavior of the Odessa devils,”
whieh, neventhaless, is drawing
crowds, hundreds of peasants driving
to Kultchuk to witness the novelty.
‘Father- Zachrali, a local priest, is
conducting on the beach a propaganda
against mixed bathing. He wades into
the water up to his armpits daily at
noon and solemnly curses the sea for
permitting the defilement. He has
improvised a liturgy, which includes
the follcwing: “Rire, ye waves, and
cverwhelm these unchristian men and
women, whose conduct makes the
fishes blush.”
Not the Same Bird.,
Secking' for argument to gupport
an attack cn woman, a correspond
ent of a contemporary found what
he thought was a suitabls. one in the
Book of Job, and produced it in tri
umph. Next day another correspond
ent pointed out that, owing to a slight
technical error, the argument was not
80 convincing as it might otherwise
have been. It seems that the pro
phet’s remark was not sbout women
at all, but abou: ostriches. These
mistakes will oecenr,
Thieves and Beggars.
When the unmanning inseeurity of
poverty oppresses man the weak beg,
the strong steal. And the strong
largely outnumber the weak in this
sublunary world of ours.
e
The easiest legal' way of becoming
a Japanese subject is to marry a Jap
anese woman.