understood, and of course it would be folly to go anywhere without a
knowledge of the language. I was, as you know, five years out there, and
came home when the war broke out between Chili and the Spaniards. I have
been more in Peru than in Chili, and as Peru was still in the hands of the
Spanish, it would have been impossible for me to go there again as long as
the war lasted. Knocking about as I did, I heard a great deal from the
natives (I mean the Indians). I gathered from them a number of their
traditions, and I am convinced that they know of any number of gold mines
that were formerly worked, but were blocked up when the Spaniards invaded
the country, and have been kept secret ever since.

"The natives have never spoken on the subject at all to the Spaniards. If
they had, they would have been flogged until they revealed all they knew--
that is to say, they would have been flogged to death, for no tortures
will wring from an Indian anything he knows about gold. They look upon
that metal as the source of all the misfortunes that have fallen upon
their race. With an Englishman whom they knew and trusted, and who, as
they also knew, had no wish whatever to discover gold mines, they were a
little less reticent. I never asked them any questions on a subject in
which I had not a shadow of interest, but I certainly had some curiosity,
not of a pecuniary kind, because the matter had always been a riddle as to
the hiding-place of the Incas' treasures. And from what I learned I should
say it is absolutely certain that a great portion of these escaped the
search of their Spanish tyrants.

"Whether the men who were employed in the work all died without revealing
the secret, or whether it had been trusted to a chosen few, I know not;
but the natives believe that there are still a few among them to whom the
secret has been passed down from father to son. Anyhow, all had heard
vague traditions. Some said that part of the treasure was carried hundreds