Keyes — Meteorites on the Painted Desert. 139 



and similar favorable climatic and geologic conditions 

 other desert tracts would doubtless yield meteoric ma- 

 terials in equal abundance. 



Occurrence of Meteorites in Desert Regions. 



Although the abundance of meteoric materials at Can- 

 yon Diablo excites wide attention and is even regarded 

 as something unparalleled, it does not appear to be quite 

 so unusual as has been generally inferred. The marked 

 success of the Indian trader Voltz in collecting meteoric 

 stones for the purpose of sale as curiosities is merely 

 the result of exceptional diligence along lines which are 

 the experience of many a ranchero of the Mexican table- 

 land. Few of the stock ranches of the grazing country 

 do not have lying about the premises some larger or 

 smaller fragments of the "heavy stones." 



As already noted meteoric falls are probably not more 

 frequent in desert regions than elsewhere on the earth's 

 surface; but the anomalous climatic conditions tend to 

 give them great prominence. The thin air, the cloudless 

 skies, and high altitudes contrast sharply with the thick 

 atmosphere, the prevailingly cloud-covered firmament of 

 the sea-coast of humid countries. In the high dry re- 

 gions the frequency of meteoric manifestations immedi- 

 ately arouses the wonderment of the sojourner from 

 cloudy-land. The constant stream of light-paths across 

 the heavens reminds one every night in the year of the 

 November meteoric showers of other parts of the world. 



As especially emphasized later on arid climate strongly 

 militates against the rapid decay of rocks. There is 

 practically no such phenomenon in dry regions as chemi- 

 cal decomposition of rock-masses as it is known in the 

 moister regions of the globe. For years, without notable 

 oxidation, meteoric stones and irons remain on the sur- 

 face of the desert. When they fall in humid lands mete- 

 oric masses are immediately lost to view in dense vege- 

 tation, are covered by soft earth, and are subject to rapid 

 disintegration; but in desert regions the very reverse is 



