The Gold of the Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

searching light of scientific examination? There does not seem to be anyone available as rich and enthusiastic as Heinrich Schliemann, who excavated Troy and Mycenae. When Moricz discovered the tunnels he was as poor as a church mouse. Since then he has discovered iron and silver mines and leased them to metal firms to exploit. He has become comparatively rich, but he lives extremely simply and uses all his wealth for his research work. But Juan Moricz is not rich enough to engage expert assistance and continue his work on the extended scale that is essential. He knows perfectly well that he could immediately get the help of speculators, Wild West type gold-diggers; he would only have to show them a fraction of the alluring gold treasures in the tunnels below Ecuador. He does not want that kind of assistance. It would degenerate into plundering and would not benefit mankind. That is why it is difficult to organize a disinterested expedition that would be exclusively devoted to research. Even in 1969 when Moricz invited guests to visit the site, he had the group accompanied by armed guards. Moricz and Peña said that the further the group penetrated into the labyrinth, the tenser and more febrile grew the atmosphere, until finally the guests were afraid of the guards, who had caught gold fever. They all had to turn back.
    Why does Ecuador do nothing to encourage a scientific expedition that would bring fame to the country?
    Ecuador, with its five million inhabitants, is one of the poorest countries in South America. The plantations of cocoa, bananas, tobacco, rice and sugar-cane do not bring in enough foreign exchange for the purchase of modern technical equipment. Indian agriculture on the plateau produces potatoes and corn, and there is some sheep and lama breeding. The wild rubber obtained from the eastern forests is no longer in demand. Perhaps government-aided exploitation of mineral wealth (gold, silver, copper, lead and manganese) may bring in some income in the years to come, as may the petroleum found offshore. But even then all the surplus will be used in the first place to alleviate the wretched poverty; as yet the government shows no interest in projects that do not directly help to overcome the problem of hunger.
    Juan Moricz estimates that inspection of the tunnel system alone, without detailed research, would cost more than one million Swiss francs. An electricity station would have to be set up, security measures would have to be taken and some form of mining machinery would be necessary.
    My knowledge of this buried treasure, which has so much to tell us about human history, induces me to repeat the challenge I issued in
Chariots of the Gods?
in 1968:
“A Utopian archaeological year is due! During this year archaeologists, physicists, chemists, geologists, metallurgists and all the allied branches of these disciplines would concentrate on one question: did our ancestors receive visits from outer space?”
     
    Nearby, in the Peruvian Andes, Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541) discovered cave entrances closed with slabs of rock on Huascaran, the mountain of the Incas, 22,203 feet above sea level. The Spaniards suspected that there were storerooms behind them.
    Speleologists did not remember these caves until 1971, when an expedition was organized. The periodical
Bild der Wissenschaft
gave an account of the expedition which descended in the neighborhood of the Peruvian village of Otuzco equipped with all the latest technical equipment (winches, electric cables, miner’s lamps and hydrogen bottles). Two hundred feet below the. earth the scientists made a staggering discovery. At the far end of caves which had several stories they suddenly found themselves confronted with water-tight doors made of gigantic slabs of rock. In spite of their tremendous weight, four men were able to push the doors open. They pivoted on stone balls in a bed formed by dripping water.
    Bild der Wissenschaften
reported as follows:
“Vast