Page:Omniana.djvu/216

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198
OMNIANA.

98. Météorolithes.

The largest specimen of these substances which has ever been described, has escaped the notice of all the philosophers who have written upon the subject.

Walckcnaer in a note to Azara's Travels, upon the mass of iron and nickel found in the Chaco, says that two other such masses have been discovered; one which Pallas has described, and one which was dug up at Aken near Magdebourg. Gaspar de Villagra, in his Historia de la Nueva Mexico, mentions a fourth, evidently of the same nature as these, and considerably larger than the largest of them. The tradition of the natives concerning it supports the most probable theory of it's origin. A demon in the form of an old woman, appeared to two brothers, who were leading a horde or swarm of the ancient Mexicans, in search of a new country; she told them to separate, and threw down this block of