After an unquiet slumber of some three
or four hours' duration, we arose, as if by preconcert, to make
examination of our treasure.
The chest had been full to the brim, and we spent the whole day,
and the greater part of the next night, in a scrutiny of its
contents. There had been nothing like order or arrangement.
Everything had been heaped in promiscuously. Having assorted all
with care, we found ourselves possessed of even vaster wealth than
we had at first supposed. In coin there was rather more than four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars--estimating the value of the
pieces, as accurately as we could, by the tables of the period.
There was not a particle of silver. All was gold of antique date
and of great variety--French, Spanish, and German money, with a few
English guineas, and some counters, of which we had never seen
specimens before. There were several very large and heavy coins,
so worn that we could make nothing of their inscriptions. There
was no American money. The value of the jewels we found more
difficulty in estimating. There were diamonds--some of them
exceedingly large and fine--a hundred and ten in all, and not one
of them small; eighteen rubies of remarkable brilliancy;--three
hundred and ten emeralds, all very beautiful; and twenty-one
sapphires, with an opal.
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