the pit, divided the remainder of the
booty as equally as might be among us; and, leaving the holes unfilled,
again set out for the hut, at which, for the second time, we deposited
our golden burthens, just as the first faint streaks of the dawn gleamed
from over the tree-tops in the east.

We were now thoroughly broken down; but the intense excitement of the
time denied us repose. 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 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. 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 identification.
Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold ornaments;
nearly two hundred massive finger and ear rings; rich chains--thirty of
these, if I remember; eighty-three very large and heavy crucifixes; five
gold censers of great value; a prodigious golden punch-bowl, ornamented
with richly chased vine-leaves and bacchanalian figures; with two
sword-handles exquisitely embossed, and many other smaller articles
which I cannot recollect.

The weight of these valuables exceeded three hundred and fifty pounds
avoirdupois; an