THE DIVINING-ROD. 
23 
Chap. I.-B. S.] 
ments, in bold clear letters, was just 100 years old, 
and run thus: u Kobert Rawllings; his book; 1747.” 
But to return to our mutton. People are now more 
than ever bent upon recovering the treasure supposed to 
have been buried in the Cocos Island, and of late years 
several companies have been formed in California for 
that special purpose. Could you believe it, that in this 
age of enlightenment—heaven save the mark !—sharp- 
witted Californians have been employing a divining- 
rod, to find where the treasure is hid, and, after they 
had satisfied themselves by that means with regard to 
the spot, gone back to San Francisco to purchase ma¬ 
chinery for the purpose of turning the revelation to 
account? I was aware that amongst the gloomy pine- 
forests of the Harz Mountains the power of the magic 
branch was still believed in as fervently as the exist¬ 
ence of the wild huntsman; but, under the bright 
sky of San Francisco, who would have expected to find 
such an anachronism ? If people are determined to 
sink money in this affair, it would be more sensible 
to act upon the dying confession of the old pirate, 
which has been reduced to writing, and of which, to my 
knowledge, two copies exist, one in London, the other 
in an island in the Bay of Panama. Here is a fine 
chance for opposition companies : the one would have 
a magical, the other an historical basis. 
The second morning after my arrival at Panama “ I 
awoke and found myself famous.” The local papers 
had announced in leaded type who I was, and what I 
had written about the isthmus. The honour was all 
the more appreciated by me as it induced several 
