150 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 3G9. 



ness of the iron — with entire absence of 

 weathering — are noticeable features, as strong- 

 ly indicating the recentness of the fall. 

 Nejed was a meteorite which fell in two 

 masses, one of 131 pounds, the other of 136J 

 pounds. The former was brought to Europe 

 in 1885, and was sold to the British Museum, 

 where it has since been on display. Mr. 

 Fletcher has given (Mineralogical Magazine, 

 1887) some interesting points as to its finding. 

 It was brought to London by a Persian agent 

 who delivered it at the Museum, at the same 

 time submitting a letter from his Excellency 

 Hajee Ahmed Khanee Sarteep, Ex-Governor 

 General of Bunder Abbas, Persian Gulf, and 

 Grand Vizier of Muscat. The letter sent from 

 Bunshire, and with the Persian date 14th Di 

 Koodah, 1301, A. H., says: 



"In the year 1282, after the death of 

 Mahomed, when Maime Eaisole Ben Saoode 

 was Governor and General-Commander-in- 

 Chief of the Pilgrims, residing in a valley 

 called Yakki, which is situated in Nagede 

 (Nejed) in Central Arabia, Schiek Kolaph 

 Ben Essah, who then resided in the above- 

 named valley, came to Bushire, Persian Gulf, 

 and brought a large thunderbolt with him for 

 me, and gave me the undermentioned par- 

 ticulars concerning it. 



"'In the spring of the year 1280, in the 

 valley called Wadee Banee Kholed in Nagede, 

 there occurred a great storm, with thunder and 

 lightning; and during the storm an enormous 

 thunderbolt fell from the heavens accom- 

 panied by a dazzling light, similar to a large 

 shooting star, and it sank deep into the earth. 

 During its fall the noise of its descent was 

 terrific. I, Schiek Kolaph Ben Essah, pro- 

 cured possession of it and brought it to you, 

 it being the largest that ever fell in the dis- 

 trict of Nagede. These thunderbolts, as a 

 rule, only weigh two or three pounds, and fall 

 from time to time during tropical storms.' 



"The above concludes the narrative of 

 Schiek. Kolaph Ben Essah. The said Schiek, 

 who brought me this thunderbolt, is still alive 

 and under Turkish Government control at 

 Hoodydah near Jeddah. I myself saw in 

 Africa, four years after the above date, a sim- 

 ilar one, weighing about 135 pounds, to that 



which Schiek Kolaph Ben Essah brought to 

 me. 



"The Sultan of Zanzibar, Sayde Mazede, 

 obtained possession of it and sent it to Europe, 

 for the purpose of having it converted into 

 weapons, as when melted and made into 

 weapons they were of the most superior kind 

 and temper. For this reason I have forwarded 

 my thunderbolt to London, considering it one- 

 of the wonders of the world, and may be a 

 benefit to science." 



(Signed) ' 



Hajee Ahmed Khanee Sarteep, 



Ex-Governor of Bunder Ahias, and Grand 

 Vizier of Muscat. 



Any reader of the above letter will be im- 

 pressed with its straightforward narrative,, 

 even though the writer gives credence to the 

 popular idea — not at all confined to Arabia — 

 that mieteorites fall during thunder storms. 

 His remark that thunderbolts in his country 

 usually weigh only two or three pounds is. 

 also of an ingenuous naivete not incompatible 

 with truthful sincerity. There is a similarity 

 like to that of general human nature — ^which 

 marks tales of meteorites in every part of the 

 world, the phenomena accompanying their 

 fall, which are also strikingly similar, helping 

 toward this. In this present case the meteor- 

 ite itself was forthcoming to justify the nar- 

 rative, and its fellow followed closely after: 

 the piece which the Grand Vizier mentions 

 having seen in Zanzibar and which the Sultan 

 of Zanzibar, at that time also Sultan of Mus- 

 cat (which district borders close upon that of 

 ISTejed), sent also to Europe to have converted 

 into weapons. It reached London, and also 

 went to the British Museum, where, they be- 

 ing already provided. Director Fletcher sent 

 them with this second piece to Mr. James R. 

 Gregory — a celebrated collector of meteor- 

 ites, who promptly added it by purchase to his 

 collection. From the heirs of Mr. Gregory I 

 a few months ago obtained it, and gave it a 

 place of honor, becoming its uniqueness, in 

 the Ward-Coonley Collection. In view of the 

 fact that Sayde Mazede, the Sultan of Zanzi- 

 bar, duly received his weapons, and that they 

 were not made from his meteorite, the story 



