Treasure Hunt

Most Mexican houses are thick-walled, built of adobe, or mud. So frequently do Mexican householders, fearful of pillage, bury their valuables in adobe walls or back gardens, then find themselves unable to recover them, that it is an established custom of the country when renting or buying an old house to spend the first week tapping walls and ceilings, burrowing in likely corners. Many have made pleasant discoveries.

Fortnight ago when Manuel Morales, his sister Rita and three friends decided to spend their vacation in Oaxaca hunting for buried treasure near the ruined temples of Teposcolula, friends considered them practical, prosaic. So did Oaxaca state authorities who issued a treasure hunting license with the usual provision that 50% of the findings, if any, should be given to the state.

But the Morales vacation treasure hunt did not lack for excitement. While the party pitched their tents, ate frijoles, Indians gathered on the mountain tops. Oaxaca Indians, though officially Roman Catholics, still honor their old gods. Angry at the desecration of their temple, jealous of the undiscovered treasure, they crept down on the treasure hunters at midnight. With a burst of rifle fire, the Indians attacked. Manuel Morales was instantly killed. Fighting like a wildcat by the body of her brother, Rita Morales fell mortally wounded. The three other members of the party fought their way back to civilization, through with treasure hunting as a vacation sport.