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tiful place on West Beach. Late one evening when John had gotten about seven feet down and it was getting pretty dark in the hole, Mr. Swan drove home. His attention was caught by scraps of rotten wood, rust encrusted bits of iron and bright beads that were coming up with each shovel full of dirt. Picking up some of the objects Mr. Swan asked “What are you throwing out there, John?” John replied “Just dirt. Sir.” “Well, look at all this!” said Mr. Swan, holding out a handful of objects. When John caught sight of them he came up out of the hole with one frantic bound. He thought he had dug into a grave. It proved, however, to be the remains of a wooden chest, with iron hinges and hasp lock, put together with curious square iron nails with a square, hollow core. The size and shape of the chest could no longer be determined. We may guess at it from the size of the hinges and hasp lock. The latter must have run back on the lid about eight inches, hinging over on the front about four inches. Probably the chest had been about a foot deep, eighteen inches from front to back, and two feet long.
The contents consisted of pink and white beads from the size of a peach stone down to ordinary little ones; also brass buttons of several sizes from five eighths down to three-eighths of an inch, with a depressed rim and a small square of flat, perforated metal on the back for fastening to the garment. There were also sleigh bells.
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Mr. Swan’s daughter-in-law sent some of the beads to Tiffany, of New York, to be made into a necklace which she still has. She asked what kind of beads they were and he replied that they were of Spanish make.
Mr. Swan’s place is a short distance west of Bienville’s headquarters in New Biloxi.
The contents of the chest were evidently goods that could not be warehoused legally or even displayed pSndmg their use as a medium of exchange in contraband traffic.
We may wonder as to the fate of the trader who never returned to dig up his treasure.
JEAN CHEVALIER DE LAUNAY
In the year 1820 Mr. De Launay, who, by the way, was related to the De Launay who was governor of the Bastile when it fell, bought a strip of land in Biloxi, fronting twelve hundred feet on the beach.
The side lines ran straight through to the Back Bay. Prices were not high. He gave a dollar a front foot for half the land and fifty cents a foot for the other half. The two parts are now separated by De Launay street.
When he "discovered that he was supposed to pay something like two dollars a year taxes on it he promptly cut a road across, dividing it into front and
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