no HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



I never saw one better performed. The room was very 

 light ; the alchemist had his arms bared, as I have 

 said, to the elbows; and both I and the doctor were 

 sitting close by and watching attentively, and yet w^e 

 neither of us perceived when or from where the coins 

 were produced, nor how or whither they vanished. 



Alchemy, except for such-like professors of it, is not 

 a profitable pursuit. Still less so is treasure-seeking, 

 yet, like gambling, it possesses an extreme fascination. 

 Those who commence always continue. No experience 

 teaches ; no amount of failure disheartens. There is, of 

 course, always a possibility of success, for undoubtedly 

 a very great amount of gold and silver and coined 

 money does lie concealed in India, buried in the soil 

 or hidden away in buildings. But then the success 

 never arrives. Treasure is not unfrequently found, but 

 seldom, if ever, by those who are looking for it. In 

 all the instances that I have known or heard of where 

 treasure has been found, it has always been come upon 

 quite accidentally. The amount found is not either 

 generally large, but to this rule history records one 

 striking exception. When, near two centuries ago, 

 Nadir Shah plundered Delhi, he found concealed in 

 a vault in the palace no less than fifty millions of silver 

 rupees. This vast treasure had been there stored away 

 no one knew when or by whom, and its existence was 

 entirely forgotten. 



According to native belief, however, a far greater 

 treasure remains somewhere in the country still un- 

 discovered. This is the treasure which, according to 

 tradition, the Emperor Alumgire concealed before 



