Finally, on 14 January, the weather eased and the expedition was able to begin. That first day, Stromer was able to find little more than a fossilized shark vertebrae, fish teeth, and some petrified wood, but his enthusiasm was unhindered—on 18 January, his patience finally began to pay off—while walking around the south flank of el Diest he suddenly found "three large bones which I attempt to excavate and photograph. The upper extremity is heavily weathered and incomplete measures 110 cm long and 15 cm thick. The second and better one underneath is probably a femur [thighbone and is wholly 95 cm long and, in the middle, also 15 cm thick. The third is too deep in the ground and will require too much time to recover." He also discovered that morning an ischium (one of the pelvic bones of a dinosaur), another vertebrae with "a convex end," and what he described as "a gigantic claw". He cut up his mosquito netting and soaked them in a flour and water paste, covering the two larger bones in this wrapping.