Mr. Mornay’s account of native iron in Brasil . 271 
extraordinary stone which had been found still farther up the 
country, in the same direction. It had been supposed to be 
silver, or iron, or that ferruginous agglomeration so common 
in Brasil, which often envelopes gold, and I believe sometimes 
diamonds. On the other hand, some persons who pretended 
to have seen it, asserted that it was not a mass of any metal, 
but had only the metallic sound on being struck, common to 
numerous blocks of stone in the same neighbourhood, called 
by the inhabitants “ serpent stories, ” in consequence of their 
exfoliating by decomposition at the surface. As the serpent 
casts his skin yearly, so they suppose these stones to do. 
Some account of the discovery of this extraordinary mass 
had been given to the government of Bahia, and through the 
inspector general of the militia, a man of great talents and 
considerable learning, I obtained a sight of the papers on the 
subject existing at the government house. On reading them, 
I was decidedly of opinion, that the mass described was native 
or meteoric iron, and I determined to go to see it. But before 
I relate my own observations, I will give you the substance of 
the notes which I took out of those papers. 
In the year 1784, a man of the name of Bernardino da 
Mot a Botelho, while looking after his cattle, noticed the block 
in question, as being different from all the other stones on 
the spot, and informed the Governor General of the province 
of Bahia of his observation. His Excellency immediately 
ordered the head man of a neighbouring village, that is to 
say, at the distance of near fifty leagues, to go and examine 
it. He did so, and reported very marvellous things, calling 
the mass sometimes iron, and sometimes stone, but giving to 
understand that it contained gold and silver. The Governor 
