Search for a Pot of Gold

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 451, 5 March 1890, Page 6

Search for a Pot of Gold

An Allahabad paper tells a story with a flavour so distinctly Arabian as to demand immediate attention at the hands of Sir William Burton. A Brahmin living at Monghyr rejoiced in the possession of an amulet which had fallen to him from long generations of piou3 ancestors. Like most amulets of modern times, however, it proved no charm against poverty ; and reduced by the pangs of hunger to the last extremity of noble minds, the Brahmin a day or two ago went to a goldsmith and offered his amulet tor sale. The goldsmith broke it up to test the quality and genuineness of the metal, and discovered within its hollow centre a scrap of paper covered with minute writing. The Brahmin took this mysterious message from the past to a pundit in the neighbourhood, who found that it contained a fortune—or, at any rate,the means of finding one. It recorded the fact that close to the shrine of Pir Shah Napal there lay a well whose origin dated back to the days of the Mahomedan rule, and that a certain number of paces to the north of that well, there lay buried treasure to the value of fourteen lakhs of rupees. ‘The Brahmin,’ the story _ concludes, ‘ has now obtained the sanction of the Government to have the plot of ground excavated. A rich mahajan of Monghyr has taken a contract for digging the ground, on condition that a six anna share of the entire property be given to him. The Government will take one - fourth, and the remainder will be the Brahmin’s. Many labourers have already been engaged to dig up the place, and they have now arrived at a depth of about nine or ten cubits ; ’ but alas ! no trace of the money has yet been discovered.