WARD — BACUBIRITO. 7 I 



were very regular in size, about 2 to 3 inches across, with well 

 defined walls, yet quite shallow^ The general form of the mass seen 

 from the side was that of one side or ramus of a huge jaw. The 

 surface was very even, with no holes due to the destruction of 

 Troilite nodules. Nor were there any points which showed the 

 devastation of deep rust. The dryness of the soil and the large 

 proportion of nickel in the meteorite's composition had doubtless 

 impeded this. As often happens in such cases, the part which had 

 been most above ground was best preserved, with a light oxydized 

 crust, brown and somewhat bronze-like in appearance. 



On one side there was a deep crack, running horizontally through 

 nearly half the length of the mass. At one end this crack was too 

 narrow to insert a knife- blade. Going toward the other end it increased 

 to a fissure wide enough to first admit our hammer handle and finally 

 our arm. This fissure at a distance of some three feet from the 

 smaller end of the mass cut oft' the lower part from the upper, the 

 latter extending beyond in diminished size for three feet further. 

 Our Mexicans were astonished at the revelation of their own work ; 

 they marvelled alike at the size of the mass as their digging had 

 developed it, and at our credulity in believing that it had ever fallen 

 from space above. View No. 2 gives a somewhat oblique view after 

 further excavation. No. j gives same view and shows the unequal 

 weathering of the mass, the part most exposed being the least 

 weathered. N^o. ^ is another view taken from above and lengthwise 

 of the mass. This shows on the right hand the fissure in the mass. 



By the end of the second day we had carried our excavation to 

 an average depth of about six feet on every side. The black vege- 

 table soil was from three to four feet thick. Below it was a porphyry 

 rock, common in this part of the country, much broken up by natural 

 cleavages and a good deal decomposed in situ. The vegetable soil 

 passed very gradually into this rock, and seemed to have unquestion- 

 ably formed above it, as an operation of gradual change. Immediately 

 around the meteorite we had dug much lower, leaving the great iron 

 mass poised on a pillar or pedestal of the undisturbed rock. Finally 

 we performed a feat of moving the great mass. To lift one end would 

 have been a physical impossibility ; all our men with the stoutest 

 tackle in the district could not have done that ; but it needed little 

 mechanical aid to make the mass move itself. We attacked with our 

 long iron bars one side of the supporting pedestal on which it was 

 balanced. It was slow work, for the rock seemed to be here some- 

 what less decomposed. After long chiseling away one side of the 



