Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1912 — STILL SEEK TREASURE [ARTICLE]

STILL SEEK TREASURE

PEOPLE OP SCOTCH HIGHLANDS FIRM IN FAITH. , Tradition of Buried Wealth Lingers and Is Occasionally Made Stronger by Finds—Some Heavy Gold . Ornaments Uneartflpd. For centuries the search for ancient treasure has been pursued in the glens and wild places of the highlands of Scotland, and sometimes • unexpected “finds” have been made, Jbe duke of Argyll in Youth’s Companion. For instance, a tradition that a treasure was hidden at Inver&ry had )oag been banded down. According te the legend, it would never be found except by a stranger. Generation after generation of children searched tor Itr If a badger made a hole in the hillside the children believed that the badger bad the scent, and dug up his burrow; but no young or old badger ever came forth with bangles on its neck or its nose. The children watched every rabbit scrape or hen scrape to see if animal or bird ted been attracted by apy thing shining under the sod or In the sand. Then drainage was introduced. Formerly the glen was too wet to be cultivated, except on dry slopes where water could not gather; and a hand plow did all the necessary furrowing. But now red tiled pipes weaie put down to drain off water from fiat! :er ground, and It was possible to sow in comparatively level places. One pretty piece of grass land under a cliff was pointed out as a good bit for plowing. From the precipice above a great rock had fallen in long past ages. This had to be Removed. The man at the plow tail was a stranger, an Englishman. %. He pnt a bag of powder under the rock to blow it up. The explosion followed, the partly splintered rock hekvetf and fell on Its side. Underneath where it had beenwaa a gleam - of the lost treasure! Therdinece three bautiful, heavy gold bracelets, two of ***** u . th « T . “?.*■ j*. treasure had been found, and by a “stranger,” as prophesied. ‘ Those bracelets were beautifully wrought; one of them bad plain end* wbeje tbe wrist was slipped through. As for the pair with the hollow cape, an old tradition was recalled which declared that no person who bad committed a fault could be forgiven unless the cups of gold at the gap fa the bracelets were filled with his penitential tears. There Is just room for the nose, like tbe wrist td slip in between the golden ends, and It is possible to bold the cups under the faro eyes. Sometimes ignorant men who have found such bracelets have looked qn the gold as mere brass. In one cnee a number of bracelets found fa an Island of the Hebrides were need an drawer handles for an old pine cheat of drawers. A peddler eame to the cottage, found that the old chest had very heavy handles, and gave 16 shillings. or |8.76, for it He took it away and sold the old bandies for £2O each. Buch heavy ornaments pis the bracelets must have been a burden to a Celtic beauty. For a warrior the gold was beaten out until It was thin, for then it was more portable and easily worked. Patterns of all kinds could be punched in it, so as to gtnea good effect fa front. We can imagine how grand an old chief from Brittany or Wales or Ireland looked with a shinmg yellow band on his conical r a broad plate of gold on hie right shoulder and on his left a long yellow mantle girt in by the belt itself. ■ . ■ - - . "•