H. A. Ward — Colombian Meteorite Localities. 3 



II. Tocavita, finest octahedrite (off). Represented by the frag- 

 ments mentioned by Rivero and Boussingault as having 

 been picked up on the Tocavita Hill, and by some few 

 pieces in meteorite collections, notably that of Reichen- 

 bach, now in Tubingen. 

 III. Rasgata, ataxite. Nedagolla group (dn). Represented by 

 the Rasgata masses spoken of by Rivero and Boussingault, 

 and by most of the material variously known as Rasgata, 

 Santa Rosa, and Tocavita in meteorite collections. 



This differentiation, while the best that could be effected in 

 the circumstances, is hypothetical, and contains an element of 

 uncertainty introduced by the inexactness of the history of the 

 material available for examination. 



So matters stood when, in the late winter of the present 

 year, I determined to undertake a journey into the heart of 

 Colombia to secure, if possible, the great Santa Rosa meteorite 

 for science ; or, at least, to obtain facts which would serve 

 either to confirm Cohen's distinction, or to establish a correct 

 one should that prove erroneous. 



A narrative of the difficulties incident upon the trip of five 

 hundred miles up the Magdalena River from Barranquilla to 

 Honda in a crawling river steamer; upon the arduous jaunt 

 over seventy-five miles of mountain passes between the latter 

 place and Bogota ; and upon the expedition to Santa Rosa de 

 Viterbo, fifty-three leagues to the northeast of the capital city, 

 is reserved for a more popular form of article. The same occa- 

 sion must await the story of the vengefnlness of a South 

 American community at the loss of a remarkable landmark, 

 reverenced almost to the point of worship, and of the tribula- 

 tions arising from the inconstancy of the Colombian mind. 



Santa Rosa de Viterbo* lies, not twenty leagues as Rivero 

 and Boussingault state, but fifty-three leagues from Bogota, in 

 an almost due northeasterly direction, and the Tocavita Hill, 

 whence the great mass and the fragments are supposed to have 

 come originally, stands back of. the village about a mile away. 

 When I reached the village I found the object of my long 

 journey crowning a fluted column in the market-place beside 

 the fountain whence the entire community derived its water 

 srip ply ; and an inscription stated that it had been set up there 

 in 1874. The tradition of its removal from Tocavita Hill still 

 exists among the people, but neither there nor later in Bogota 

 were any traces to be found of the Tocavita fragments reported 

 by Rivero and Boussingault, and recorded by Cohen as consti- 

 tuting a distinct siderite fall. The early estimates as to the 

 size of the great mass were exaggerated, as its weight is only 

 612*5 kilograms. 



* Not Santa Rosa de Antioquia, lying northwest of Bogota. 



