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A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 35 
rapidly descended towards the earth; and these again broke up into lesser 
fragments, till they appeared to descend in a shower of sparks. Before the 
first bursting, the meteor was of exceeding brightness, of an intense blue co- 
lour, and at the instant of explosion it changed into red :—it seemed to light 
up the whole heavens, though the moon was shining, so as to render the lesser 
stars visible.” 
From the Bombay Times, November 1, 1847. 
“On Sunday evening (Oct. 30), about seven o’clock, a magnificent 
fire-ball was seen to shoot across the air from nearly west to east, when its 
horizontal motion suddenly ceased and it seemed to drop perpendicularly 
into the sea betwixt Mazagon and Sewree. At the time of its explosion— 
for such we may take that of its change of direction to have been—its 
illuminating power was equivalent to that of an ordinary-sized blue light: 
it dazzled the eyes of those near it and who looked at it directly ; and though 
the evening was at the time perfectly dark, the most minute objects in the 
landscape were for ten or fifteen minutes made visible by it. It appeared to 
become extinguished some three or four hundred feet before touching the 
water. It left a long train of light behind it, which was visible for the space 
of nearly half a minute.” 
No. 5.—From the Bombay Monthly Times, June 18, 1848. 
“ At a meeting of the Bombay Geographical Society, the following letter 
was received from Captain George Wingate, of the Bombay Engineers :— 
» <I beg to transmit two fragments of an aérolite, which fell about oneo’clock 
p.m. of the 15th of February last, 1848, in a field to the south of Negloor, a 
- village situated within a few miles of the junction of the Wurda and Toom- 
boodra rivers, and belonging to the Gootul division of the Ranee-Bednoor 
talook of the Dharwar collectorate. 
“«« The fall of this aérolite is most satisfactorily established. A cultivator 
of Negloor, named Ninga, was driving his cattle out to graze close by where 
it fell, atthe hour above mentioned, when he suddenly heard a loud whirring 
rushing noise in the air, but on looking up could see nothing. An instant 
afterwards, however, he observed a cloud of dust rise from a spot in an ad- 
joining field, as if something had struck the ground there with violence. At 
this time several] other villagers were standing by a threshing-floor close at 
hand, who also heard the noise, and one of them called out to Ninga asking 
whether he had also done so. He replied, Yes, and that something seemed 
to have fallen in the next field, where he saw the dust rise, pointing at the 
same time to the spot. The whole party then immediately proceeded there, 
and found to their astonishment the aérolite broken into fragments, of which 
those now forwarded were alone of any considerable size. ‘The stone, from 
the velocity of its descent, had made a hole of several inches in depth,—like 
the print of the foot of a young elephant, as the villagers described it. They 
were naturally much puzzled to account for the appearance of the stone, which 
altogether differed from any to be met with in their neighbourhood ; but at 
‘ - length were constrained to conclude it had fallen from,the sky. The cir- 
cumstance seemed so extraordinary that one of them was immediately sent to 
-summon the Patel of the village to the spot, who soon arrived, attended by a 
crowd of people who had also heard the wonderful tidings. These too una- 
- nimously adopted the same conclusion regarding the fall of the stone, and the 
Patel took into his charge the accompanying fragments, and wrote a report 
of the whole circumstances to the Mahalkurree of Gootul, who is revenue and 
police officer of the district in which Negloor is situated. . 
D2 
