of justice prevented many of them from ever returning to regain their buried treasures, which remain to this day thus secreted, and are irrecoverably lost.  This is the cause of those frequent reports of trees and rocks bearing mysterious marks, supposed to indicate the spots where treasure lay hidden; and many have been the ransackings after the pirates’ booty.  A rocky place on the shores of Long Island, called Kidd’s Ledge, has received great attention from the money diggers; but they have not as yet discovered any treasures.

THE BLOODY CAREER AND EXECUTION OF VINCENT BENAVIDES A PIRATE ON THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA.

Vincent Benavides was the son of the gaoler of Quirihue in the district of Conception.  He was a man of ferocious manners, and had been guilty of several murders.  Upon the breaking out of the revolutionary war, he entered the patriot army as a private soldier; and was a serjeant of grenadiers at the time of the first Chilian revolution.  He, however, deserted to the Spaniards, and was taken prisoner in their service, when they sustained, on the plains of Maypo, on the 5th of April, 1818, that defeat which decided their fortunes in that part of America, and secured the independence of Chili.  Benavides, his brother, and some other traitors to the Chilian cause, were sentenced to death, and brought forth in the Plaza, or public square of Santiago, in order to be shot.  Benavides, though terribly wounded by the discharge, was not killed; but he had the presence of mind to counterfeit death in so perfect a manner, that the imposture was not suspected.  The bodies of the traitors were not buried, but dragged away to a distance, and there left to be devoured by the gallinazos or vultures.  The serjeant who had the superintendence of this part of the ceremony, had a personal hatred to Benavides, on account of that person having murdered some of his relations; and, to gratify his revenge, he drew his sword, and gave the dead body, (as he thought,) a severe gash in the side, as they were dragging it along.  The resolute Benavides had fortitude to bear this also, without flinching or even showing the least indication of life; and one cannot help regretting that so determined a power of endurance had not been turned to a better purpose.

Benavides lay like a dead man, in the heap of carcasses, until it became dark; and then, pierced with shot, and gashed by the sword as he was, he crawled to a neighboring cottage, the inhabitants of which received him with the greatest kindness, and attended him with the greatest care.

The daring ruffian, who knew the value of his own talents and courage, being aware that General San Martin was planning the expedition to Peru, a service in which there would be much of desperation and danger, sent word to the General that he was alive, and invited him to a secret conference at midnight, in the same Plaza in which it was believed Benavides had been shot.  The signal agreed upon, was, that they should strike fire three times with their flints, as that was not likely to be answered by any but the proper party, and yet was not calculated to awaken suspicion.