of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. 419 



contrived by great exertion, with the assistance of thirty men, to 

 turn it on its side. He observed the bed on wliich it rested to 

 be of the same scaly substance tliat was attached to the bottom 

 of the mass, and about eighteen inches tliick. 



About the latter end of 1785, he conveyed to the spot a wag- 

 gon, or rather a truck built for tiie purpose, and succeeded in 

 getting the mass of iron into it; but having spent three days in 

 tins operation, the men employed were obliged to depart, in 

 consequence of the neighbouring rivulet being brackish, and not 

 fit to be drunk. They returned, however, and yoked oxen to 

 the truck, but they could not move it until they had put on 

 twenty pair of oxen on each side. You must observe that their 

 oxen are not of the strength of ours, that the ground was a loose 

 gravel, and that the truck was constructed on the very worst 

 plan, the wheels being fixed to the axletrees, and the two axle- 

 trees remaining constantly in a parallel position with respect to 

 each other. 



They proceeded, however, in this manner to the distance of 

 about one hundred yards, when they got into the bed of the ri- 

 vulet above mentioned, called the Bendego. There it was stopped 

 by the prominent point of a rock ; and as the truck was only cal- 

 culated to move in a straight line, it was abandoned. 



I visited this mass on the 17th of January 181 1, and found 

 it still on the waggon or truck, where it had been lying for five- 

 and-twenty years. It is situated near the left bank of the ri- 

 vulet, but entirely in its bed, which was then dry, and is very 

 seldom otherwise. 



I send you a very correct outline of this mass. (PI. V.) It is 

 about seven feet long, four feet wide, and two feet in thickness, 

 besides a sort of foot on which it now stands, of about six 

 inches in height. 'I'he solid contents, however, cannot be 

 inferred correctly frcnn these dimensions, since the broad part is 

 hollowed out underneath very considerably. After making due 

 allowance for the cavities, I estimated on the spot, the solid 

 contents of the whole mass to be at least tv.enty-eight cubic 

 feet, which at .'iOO Ihs. will make its v/eight to be 14,000 lbs. 



Its colour is exactly that of a chesnut, and is glossy at the 

 top and sides, but the hollow part underneath is covered with a 

 crust in thick ilakes, outwardly of the colour of rust of iron, and 

 staining the fingers. The flakes arc very !)rittle, and the fresh 

 fracture is black and brilliant, like some magnetic iron ores. 



The glossy surfaces of the block are imt smooth, hut sliglitly 

 indented all over, as if they had been hammered with a rather 

 large round-headed hannner. 



There arc several cavities in it, from the diameter of a twelve- 

 pound cannon ball, to tliat of a musket-ball; the larger ones being 

 D U 2 shallow. 



