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Aet. XI . — Memoir on several Masses of Iron found in Ike 
Eastern Cordillera f the Andes. By Mariano de Rivero 
of Santa Fe de Bogota, and J. B. Boussingault. Com- 
municated by the Authors to Mr Heuland. (PI. IV.) 
On our arrival at Santa Rosa, a village on the road from 
Pamplona to Bogota, we were told that an iron mine had been 
discovered in its vicinity, and that a specimen of the mineral was 
serving as an anvil to a blacksmith. On inspection, we were agree- 
ably surprised to find that this specimen possessed all the characters 
of meteoric iron. This mass of iron was found upon the hill of 
Tocavita, at the distance of a quarter of a Spanish league to the 
east of the village, on Easter Saturday of the year 1810, by 
Mr Cecilia Corredor, a native of the said place. W e went to 
examine the hill, where we still saw the cavity which was made 
at the time the mass was taken out, and which, when found, was 
nearly buried, and only visible to the extent of a few inches. 
The formation of the hill of Tocavita belongs, like that of Santa 
Rpsa, to a secondary sandstone, and is observed to a consider- 
able extent. The latitude of Santa Rosa is 5° 40' N., and the 
longitude 75° 40' W. of Paris; its height above the level of the 
sea is 2744 metres. 
The inhabitants joined in getting this mass to the village* 
where it was deposited at the town-house for seven years ; and 
seven years after that, till our arrival, it was used by the black- 
smith. This iron contains cavities, but we have found no vitri- 
fied traces in them; it is malleable, and can be cut; its struc- 
ture is granular, its lustre of a silver-white, and the specific gra- 
vity 7.3. The weight of this mass \\ T as much exaggerated by 
our informants; but, judging from its diameter, notwithstanding 
the irregularity of the surface, it will be found that its volume 
is nearly 102 cubic decimetres, and consequently its weight must 
approach 75 myriogrammes. (One myriogramme is the weight 
of 21 lb. 11 ounces 12 adarmes and 3 grains Spanish.) 
A fact worthy of notice is, that, nearly at the same time when 
this mass was found, other pieces were met with on the same 
* Translated from the Spanish. 
