its rugged and uninviting appearance, the inland plateaus are rich
with luxuriant vegetation.

"Prominent among this is a peculiar species of bean, which is not
only edible, but extremely palatable. The surrounding seas swarm
with fish, which as yet are wholly unsuspicious of the hook.
Dolphins, rock-cod, pigfish, and blackfish may be caught as
quickly as they can be hauled out. I look to the sea birds and the
turtles to afford our principal source of revenue. Trinidad is the
breeding-place of almost the entire feathery population of the
South Atlantic Ocean. The exportation of guano alone should
make my little country prosperous. Turtles visit the island to
deposit eggs, and at certain seasons the beach is literally alive with
them. The only drawback to my projected kingdom is the fact that
it has no good harbor and can be approached only when the sea is
calm."

As a matter of fact sometimes months pass before it is possible to
effect a landing.

Another asset of the island held out by the prospectus was its great
store of buried treasure. Before Harden-Hickey seized the island,
this treasure had made it known. This is the legend. In 1821 a great
store of gold and silver plate plundered from Peruvian churches
had been concealed on the islands by pirates near Sugar Loaf Hill,
on the shore of what is known as the Southwest Bay. Much of this
plate came from the cathedral at Lima, having been carried from
there during the war of independence when the Spanish residents
fled the country. In their eagerness to escape they put to sea in any
ship that offered, and these unarmed and unseaworthy vessels fell