vin.] TRAVELS, 1839. 245 



stone fell among them. One of these men gave me in 

 his patois a most animated account of the scene and of 

 their extreme terror, and with the aid of an interpreter 

 I extracted the following particulars, in which those 

 present whom I questioned agreed. 



' The stone fell on the 15th June, 1821, at half-past four 

 in the afternoon, whilst the sky was clear, and. the wind 

 blowing from the north. A long rolling noise was first 

 heard, then an explosion like the discharge of a cannon, 

 which occurred five minutes before the stone fell, touching 

 the ground within a few feet of the terrified bystanders 

 and penetrating it to a depth of seven palms (about 5^ feet) 

 in a vertical direction. No lightning accompanied the 

 noise or the fall, but the stone burnt the ground, reducing 

 it to a cindery condition. 



'The men were frightened, but not stunned, though the 

 noise was heard at a great distance one man present 

 declaring that he had heard it at Argentiere, distant five 

 French leagues in a straight line. The hole was the 

 same size as the stone. There was no scattering of earth, 

 and it had so wedged itself between two others that it 

 could not be removed without breaking it. The people 

 of Libounez thought it was the devil that had fallen ! 

 and did not venture to dig up the stone for seven days, 

 when it was sprinkled with holy water by the priest ! It 

 weighed 220 pounds, as I was told by the man who 

 weighed it, and it was sold for six francs; but the fr,i_r- 

 ments have been so dispersed that 1 with difficulty 

 obtained one or two morsels, although I inquired for 

 them in all the surrounding valleys. 



' Such was the circumstantial and apparently authentic 



narrative which I gathered from the spectators of this 



most curious occurrence. They are corroborated by a 



manuscript account, or proems-verbal , drawn up by the 



Maire of the Commune of Juvinas, and forwarded by 



him to the Prefecture of Privas, where I subsequently 



>vered and copied it. ... The meteor of Juvinas is 



one of the very few which have fallen so near to intelh- 



spectators as actually to eii'l.ui-. r their li 



