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[14] 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. These stones
had all been broken from their settings and thrown loose in the chest.
The settings themselves, which we picked out from among the other
gold, appeared to have been beaten up with hammers, as if to prevent
indentification.
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