The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1870-04-09
[puBLIeHEp ny REaUEsr.1
THE GOLD BUG.
.i54 BY EDGAR A. POE. ~ :
(coNohupED IN OUR NExT.)
g III -, - -.

and we spent the whole day, and the
greater part of the next night, in O
scrutiny of its contents There had been
nothing like order or arrangement. Every
thing had been heaped in promiscuously.
Having assorted all with care, we found.
ourselves possessed of even yaster wealth
than We had at fTst supposed. In coin there
was. rather more than four hundred and
fifty thousand dollars-estimating the
value of the pieces, as accurately ins we
could, by the tables of the period. There
was not particle of silver. All was
gold of antique date and Of great variety
French, Spanish aud German money,
with few English guineas, and some
counters, of which We had never seen
specimens before. There were several
very large aud heavy coins, SO worn that
we could make nothing of their inscrip-
tions. 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 aud ten in all.
and not one Of them small; eighteen
rubies of remarkable brilliancy; three
hundred and ten emeralds, all very beau
tiful; 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 on: from among the
other gold. appeared to nave been beaten
up with hammers, as if to prevent idcnti.
6cation. Besides all this, there was a
vast quantity of solid gold ornaments !;
nearly two hundred massive finger and
ear rings; rich ciains--thirty OF these,
fif remember; eishty-three very large
and heavy -crucifixes; fiveSgold censers
Of great value; a prodigiqus golden
panek <bowl, oraamented with richly
chased vine-lcaves aud Bacchanalian
figures; with two sword handles equiSite
ly embossed, and many other smaller ar
ticles which l cannot recolicct. The
weight Of these valuables exceeded three
hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois /;
and in this estimate l have not included
one hundred and nine-seven superb gold
| watches; three Of the number being
worth each five hundred dollars, if one.
Many of them were very old, and az
time keepers valneless; the works hav
ing suffered, more or less, from corrosion
but all were richly jewelled and in
cases of great worth. We estimated the
entire contents Of the chest, that night,
at million aud half of dollars; and
upon the subsequent disposal of the
trlnkets aud jewels Ga few being retained
for our own use,) it was found that we
had greatly undervalued the treasure.
When, at length, we had concluded
our examination, and the intense excite
ment of the time had, in some measure.
subsidized, Legrand who saw that was
dyipg with impatience for a solution of
this most extraordinary riddle, entered
into full detail of all the circumstances
connected with it.
"Iou remember" said he, "the night
when l handed you the rough sketch [
had made of the scarabous. You re-
collect also, that became quite vcxed at
you for insisting that my drawing re.
sembled death's-head. When you first
made this assertion l thought you were
jestipg but afterwards l called to mind
the peculiar spots on the back of the in
sect, and admitted to myself that your
remark had some little foundation in fact.
Still, the sneer at my graphic powers ir-
ritated me-for I am considered good
af;iss-and, therefore, when you handed
me the scrap Of parohments | was about
to crumble it up and throw it angrily
into the fire."
"The scrap of paper, you mean," said
| L.
"No; it had much of the appearance
of paper, and at first l supposed it to be
such, but when came to draw upon it,
discovered it, at once, to be piece of
very thin parchment 1t was quite dirty,
you remember. Well, as 1 was in the
very act of crumpling it up, my glance
fell upon the sketch at which you bad
been looking, and you may imagine my
astonishment when perceived, io fact,
the figure of a death 's-head just where,
it seemed to me, had made the drawing
of the beetles For moment was too
much amazed to think with accuracy