25G ON STONV AND METALLINE SUBSTANCES. 



In the neighbourhood of Juanpoor, about 12 miles from the 



fpot where the Hones are faid to have fallen, it was very dii- 



tin&Iy obferved by feveral European gentlemen and ladies 



who defcribed it as a large ball of fire, accompanied with a 



loud rumbling noife, not unlike an ill difcharged platoon of 



mufquetry. It was alfo feen, and the noife heard, by various 



Degree of light, perfons at Benares. Mr. Davis obferved the light come into 



* c - the room where he was, through a glafs window, fo ftrongly 



as to project fliadows, from the bars between the panes, on a 



dark coloured carpet, very diftinclly; and it appeared to him 



as luminous as the brighteft moonlight. 



Investigation on When an account of the fail of the ftones reached Benares, 



DwiiT ^ Mr ' Mr * Davis ' the J ud S e and ma g iftrate of the diftria, fent an 

 intelligent perfon to make inquiry on the fpot. When the per- 

 fon arrived at the village near which the Hones were faid to 

 have fallen, the natives, in anfwer to his inquiries, told him, 

 that they had either broken to pieces, or given away to the 

 Tefleldar (native collector) and others, all that they had picked 

 up; but that he might eafily find fome in the adjacent fields, 

 where they would be readily difcovered, (the crops being then 

 not above two or three inches above the ground,) by obferving 

 where the earth appeared recently turned up. Following 

 thefe directions, he found four, which he brought to Mr. Davis : 

 molt of thefe, the force of the fall had buried, according to a 

 meafure he produced, about fix inches deep, in fields which 

 feemed to have been recently watered ; and it appeared, from 

 the man's defcription, that they mufl: have lain at the diflance 

 of about a hundred yards from each other. 



Account by the What he further learnt from the inhabitants of the village, 

 concerning the phenomenon, was, that about eight o'clock. in 

 the evening, when retired to their habitations, they obferved 

 a very bright light, proceeding as from the Iky, accompanied 

 with a loud clap of thunder, which was immediately followed 

 by the noife of heavy bodies falling in the vicinity. Uncertain 

 whether fome of their deities might not have been concerned in 

 this occurrence, they did not venture out to enquire into it un- 

 til the next morning; when the firfl circumftance which at- 

 tracted their attention was, the appearance of the earth being 

 turned up in different parts of their fields, as before mentioned, 

 where, on examining, they found the fiones. 



The 



