validity of such a statement, but the evidence from sworn witnesses proves overwhelmingly that he was heavily involved in the then-common practice of treasure hunting. Though he never was very good at it—by his own admission he never received more than about fourteen dollars a month for his efforts20—he was persistent, and even as long as ten years after he left the town of Palmyra the townspeople remembered his attempts at divining out buried treasure and hidden money with his peepstone. But the