PROF. NOliDENSKIOLD, EXPEDITION TO GREENLAND. 445 



chloride of copper, and afterwards with chloride of irou, 4 * 79 per 

 cent, of a carbonaceous matter containing 42 • 58 per cent. ash. An 

 elementary analysis of this carbonaceous matter, deducting the 

 ash, gave — 



Carbon 



Hydrogen 



Oxygen (loss included) 



VI. 



G3-59 



3-26 



33-15 



VII. 



63-04 



3 -50 



32*81 



100-00 



100-00 



This substance is not soluble in either alcohol, ammonia, or 

 potash, and evidently consists of a mixture of organic matter, 

 water, and carbon. 



The discovery at Ovifak is remarkable, not only as the largest 

 discovery of meteoric iron hitherto known to have been made, 

 but also as of that which is richest in carbon, excepting the carbon 

 powder that fell at Hessle. Add to this, the remarkable circum- 

 stances, that lenticular and discoidal pieces of native iron occur 

 at the same place in the underlying basalt, and that basalt in 

 pieces of considerable size, at numerous spots, forms a crust on the 

 larger meteorites, and even sometimes has been driven through 

 the surface into the iron. Nevertheless, in spite of this, it appears 

 to me that there cannot be a doubt of the really meteoric origin of 

 the large masses. Their form, their composition, their appearance, 

 sufficiently indicate this. To explain the occurrence of meteoric 

 iron together with basalt we must then assume : 



That (1) the ridges fg and gh {see map*) on the shore are not 

 really in connexion with the rock, but are only fragments of 

 one large meteorite of 20 to 40 feet in diameter, formed prin- 

 cipally of a mass of basalt-like matter, with balls of iron dis- 

 seminated through it, that has fallen at this spot. This 

 assumption would, however, be too hazardous, and is rendered 

 improbable by the circumstance that the basalt that surrounds 

 the meteoric iron is perfectly similar to the variety of Greenland 

 basalt forming the rocks of the locality.j The greatest part of 

 the mass in which the iron particles are scattered is, however, 

 very unlike genuine basalt, and in external appearance rather 

 resembles the meteoric stone from Tanacera Pass, in Chili. Time 

 has not yet permitted a more accurate investigation. 



Or that (2) the whole fall of meteoric iron took place during 

 the period when the piling up of these Greenland basalt rocks was 

 in progress, i.e. during the latter portion of the Cretaceous and 

 the beginning of the Tertiary periods. Some of the pieces of 

 meteoric iron have fallen to iron-dust, and filled cracks in the 

 basalt, w^here they have again hardened into the iron above de- 



* Published with Part II. in " Geol. Mag.," August, p. 355. 

 •j- Duly the basalt in some parts of the ridge fg and gh, but not the basalt 

 from other districts of Disko and Noursoak, contains native iron. 



