arch after
imaginary hidden treasure. They wander through the woods and bushes by
day to discover the marks and signs; at midnight they repair to the
hopeful spots with spades and pickaxes; full of expectation, they labor
violently, trembling at the same time in every joint through fear of
certain malicious demons, who are said to haunt and guard such places.

"At length a mighty hole is dug, and perhaps several cart-loads of
earth thrown out; but, alas, no keg or iron pot is found. No seaman's
chest crammed with Spanish pistoles, or weighty pieces of eight! They
conclude that, through some mistake in the procedure, some rash word
spoken, or some rule of art neglected, the guardian spirit had power to
sink it deeper into the earth, and convey it out of their reach. Yet,
when a man is once infatuated, he is so far from being discouraged by
ill success that he is rather animated to double his industry, and will
try again and again in a hundred different places in hopes of meeting
at last with some lucky hit, that shall at once sufficiently reward him
for all his expenses of time and labor.

"This odd humor of digging for money, through a belief that much has
been hidden by pirates formerly frequenting the (Schuylkill) river, has
for several years been mighty prevalent among us; insomuch that you can
hardly walk half a mile out of the town on any side without observing
several pits dug with that design, and perhaps some lately opened. Men
otherwise of very good sense have been drawn into this practice through
an overweening desire of sudden wealth, and an easy credulity of what
they so earnestly wished might be true. There seems to be some
peculiar charm in the conceit of finding money and if the sands of
Schuylkill were so much mixed with small grains of gold that a man
might in a day's time with care and application get together to the
value of half a crown, I make no question but we should find several
people employed there that can with ease earn five shillings a day at
their proper trade.

"Many are the idle stories told of the private success of some people,
by which others are encouraged to proceed; and the astrologers, with
whom the country swarms at this time, are either in the belief of these
things themselves, or find their advantage in persuading others to
believe them; for they are often consulted about the critical times for
digging, the methods of laying the spirit, and the like whimseys, which
rend