The Spaniards, in their attempt to drain the lagoon had two thousand slaves with cups working day and night to try to scoop out the water so the Spaniards could find the gold that had been thrown into the lagoon by the native Indians. With little success, they then took out a large slice of the side of the lagoon to try to drain the water to get to the gold. They took it down several feet, but there is still a lot of water in the lagoon.
