218 Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 



en el mundo no habra quien lo pueda deshacer." (God only with his 

 might this iron will destroy, for in the world is no one ahle to break 

 it in pieces.) It lies within the inclosure of a hacienda, having 

 been hauled to the ranch years ago by the Spaniards, who, so the 

 story goes, thought to use it for the manufacture of farm implements. 

 Its weight is estimated to be about five tons. An examination of a 

 fragment showed it to consist of : 



Iron =95*01; Nickel = 4-22; Cobalt = 0-51 ; Phosphorus = 0-08; Copper =Trace; 



Total = 99-82. 



Still more recently we have news of the discovery, in the central 

 portion of the desert, of a meteorite (No. 6) larger than any previously 

 found in that region. It should be stated here, that in addition to 

 meteorites No. 3 and No. 4, Juan Urgindi mentions other larger 

 ones at Chupaderos, 20 leagues N.W. of No. 4. L. Smith's paper is 

 illustrated with a little map indicating the relative position of these 

 masses. He is of opinion that they are the result of two falls. The 

 Tucson iron (also called the Signet meteorite and the Ainsa meteorite) 

 he finds to possess characters which distinguish it from the other five. 

 The latter probably fell at an epoch far remote, moving from N.E. to 

 S.W. during their descent. Nos. 1 and 2 fell first, 85 miles apart. 

 The distances between the larger masses are — from No. 2 to No. 6, 

 135 miles; from No. 6 to No. 5, 165 miles; and from No. 5 to 

 No. 3, about 90 miles. 



In a paper on some of the meteoric irons of Mexico, D. J. Correjo 

 (La Naturaleza, Periodico cientifico de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia 

 Natural, i. 252) reviews what has been published about the Mexican 

 irons, and gives some additional facts respecting them. A recent 

 number of the journal contains an indignant protest of the Society 

 with reference to the destruction of the large meteorite, called 

 " The Descuhridora," ordered by the Mexican Society of Geography 

 and Statistics (Amer. Jour. Sc, vii. 75). 



1871. — Victoria, Saskatchewan River. [Lat. 53° 45' N., Long. 

 111° 30' W.]. 1 



In 1870 Captain Butler received orders from Lieut. -Governor 

 Archibald, of Manitoba, to proceed on a mission to the Saskatchewan. 

 While returning from the Far West he passed, on the 25th Decem- 

 ber, 1871, through the village of Victoria, which lies on the North 

 Branch of the river, about midway between Fort Edmonton and 

 Fort Pitt, and was shown, in the farmyard of the mission-house of 

 that Station, a curious block of metal of immense weight. It was 

 rugged, deeply indented, and polished on the edges by wear and 

 friction. Longer than any man could say, it had lain on the summit 

 of a hill out on the southern prairies. It had been a medicine-stone 

 of surpassing virtue among the Indians far and wide, and no tribe, 

 or member of a tribe, would pass in the neighbourhood without 

 visiting this great medicine. It was said to be increasing yearly in 

 weight. Old men remember to have heard old men sa} r that they 



1 The Great Lone Land. By W. F. Butler. London : Sampson Low. 1872- 

 Page 304. 



