BURIED TREASURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9096, 23 May 1908, Page 7

BURIED TREASURE.

-FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS OP COCOS ISLAND. tInCOP Island, that palm-covered, picturesque, solitary bit of land some 400 miles west of Panama, is cnce more to be hunled over for the treasure which Don Pedro Benitr, thy fan - oua pirate, is said to have hidden there. . The adventurer is Mr Claud Robert Grieves Kobinsor, who has obtained from the Costa Rican Government, to whom Cocus belongs, sole rights for two yeax-s to explore the island. Benito, who commanded the brig Belafnpfcge • arryii g iight car o airs and a 32-pomder "Long Tom" swivel, wss o ie of t! e last of those - who earned the title of "Ter- j *orß of tho Seas" by their rtilhlees •cruelties. On the ships. he attacked ;he never left a soul alive if he could help it, and was known to have obtained immense booties from his in the Spanish Main. Abu tlf 22 ho took in succession several slrps with co«t'y cargoes, iimongst t tern one off Guayf quil, j Which was conveying an enormous of,Church plate. This, wi h the proceeds of his other piracies, he carried to Cocos Island, which he ■ made his headquarters. The tieasure he buried is. acc r ■ ing to legend, wcrth some six mil'lions) sterling, and is said to have been placed in a specially constructed pit. Into thitfjwas placad, so the i story goes, hundreds of tons rf • silver dollars, chests of jewels, gold Church plate chalices, patens, etc. a golden triargle studded with jewles and a crown that bore amongst other ••ornaments a diamond the size of a pigeon egg. When the treasure p.t was sealed up Benito murdered every man who had assisted in its making, ?go that he might be the sole depositary of the secret. Mr Robinson's title to unearth this treasure if he can is likley to be ■challenged by a Mr Guissler. to whom the Costa Rican Government some two yearn ago also granted privilege of exploration., Lord Fitzwilliam was interested in the Guissler venture and found a vessel to •carry the leader to the island. This vessel was wrecked at sea, wand when Mr Guissler at last arrived in Costa Rica in last October could not obtain a renewal of ampU concession cnce granted •to hi'ma. Nevertheless, vowing that no one else should .find the treasure -of Don Pedro, Mr Gu-issler left in a ..sailing vessel for Cocos Island, and : since that time there has been no j news of him. Cocos island is about 12 miles in ■ circumference, has plenty of good water, groves of nocranut palms and banana trees, and animal life, including droves of wild pigs, in abundance.