III. — The Meteoric Iron from Bethany, Gi'eat Namaqualand . — 

 By Prop. E. Cohen, Greifswald. 



(Plates VI., VII., VIII., IX.) 



The iron here described was known for a long time to the mis- 

 sionaries settled at Bethany, in Great Namaqualand."^' It was 

 brought as far south as the Orange Eiver, and, after a considerable 

 delay, ultimately taken to Cape Town and lodged in the South 

 African Museum by Mr. John Wild in 1860. When the Challenger 

 Expedition was in Cape Town (1873) the Curator of the Museum 

 allowed a piece weighing 1,440 grams to be cut off and taken to the 

 British Museum. This piece is given in Mr. Fletcher's Catalogue 

 under the number 34. Less this piece, the block weighed 508 English 

 lbs. (230-4 kgs.), from which must now be deducted the 5 lbs. 

 removed for the present investigation. 



In the various meteorite catalogues a number of other irons from 

 South- West Africa are mentioned, and much difference of opinion 

 prevails as to what relationship, if any, exists between them. The 

 following list gives the chief ones : — 



1. British Museum Catalogue t : — 



{a) Great Fish Eiver (east bank of). 

 ih) Springbok Biver, Namaqualand. 



(c) Lion Eiver, Great Namaqualand. 



[d) Orange Eiver, South Africa. 



2. Tiibingen Collection j : — 



Cabaya, Grosser Fischfluss. 



3. Gottingen Collection : — 



A specimen with Blumenbach's label " Von einer am 

 grossen Fischflusse in Siidafrika gefundenen Eisenmasse." 



* This name has, according to English usage, been retained throughout the 

 text, but the more correct "Namaland" had been printed on the plates prepared 

 under Prof. Cohen's directions. — Ed. Ann. S. A. Mus. 



t An introduction to the study of meteorites, with a list of the meteorites 

 represented in the Collection, p. 57. London, 1896. 



X A. Brezina, Die Meteoritensammlung des k.k. naturhistorischen Hofmuseums 

 am 1 Mai 1895. Ann. des k.k. naturhist. Hofmuseums, 1895, x. 329. 



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