MYSTERY OF AN ISLAND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1641, 7 January 1913, Page 2

MYSTERY OF AN ISLAND.

A search for buried treasure worth .£20,000,000, of monoy sounds romantio enough, espeoially in those prosoic days! But that is aptually tho quest on which two English sisters, Mrs. Barry Till and Miss Brockleby Do.vis, ha\o embarked. They aro now on board the good ship Melmore, en route for the. Cocos Island, in the Pacific Ocean, whoro tho trcasuTO in question, is said to lie buried. Some 'of it was hidden by pirates in 1821. The rest was deposited by tho Peruvian Government during the war between Peru and Chili. But the men who buried it are dead end gone, and whatovor maps and plans may have been made aro lost beyond recovery, and though people have been, hunting for it, off and on, for tho la3t CO years, no ono has found it yet. , But it is there all right—bullion and precious stones, hundreds of bars of pure gold, gold-hilted swords studded with jewels, chests crammed full of coin, gold and silver sacramental vessels-Ta."find" worth ,£20,000,000 if it is worth a penny. Mrs. Till and Miss Davis were on the' island last year, and aro oonfidont that they found tho 6pot where tho troasuro lies. Th%y could not dig for. tho millions then, for, various reasons. But now they , have obtained from the Government of i Costa Rica, who own the island, tho exclusive right for ono year to search for the hidden millions. If thoy find thcra, the Government will bo content to tako a third in return for their kind permission. •; A representative of tho Government goes with the expedition, and it is stipulated, 1 rather .quaintly, that the explorers shall give him "lodging and healthy and i sufficient food." It sounds rather like a reflection on women's catering, doesn't it?