William Bollaert

“ I tried to get across the desert in 1828, from the coast of the Pacific, in the hope of examining the localities of Guanaquero and Peine, near to one or other of which places I hoped to find the meteoric deposit. I was lost for awhile in the desert of Atacama, and had to return to the coast. Near to Toconao. north-east of Peine, was supposed by Sir W. Parish to be the spot; but in 1853, Dr. Philippi determined Imilac, a few miles south-west of Peine, to be the spot, or one of the spots of the fall of the Atacama Meteorite. ”

“ Run the eye easterly from the meteoric region of Atacama, on the west coast of South America, for ten degrees of longitude, and now we come upon that extraordinary deposit of solid meteoric iron of Otumpa [2] (about thirteen tons) , of which there is so magnificent a specimen in the British Museum. Near Bahia, in Brazil, is another mass of iron of 14,000 lbs. ”

“ He says:—"Out of the fourteen depositions of meteoric matter on the American continent within the last few years, thirteen have taken place between 33° and 44° N.; one only at Maceio, in Brazil, south of the Equator,—a distribution exceedingly unequal." He however concludes "that there is a zone or region over which meteoric falls are more frequent than elsewhere." ”