Dr. Walter Flight—History of Meteorites. 261 



of them exceeded in brightness a star of the first magnitude, and the 

 breadth of the train left behind them is estimated to have been from 

 3° to 5°. The first thought of the eye-witness was that he was gazing 

 at a rocket ; this, however, was soon dispelled, as the phenomenon, 

 instead of fading out, rapidly increased in brightness, and continued 

 to move towards him, leaving a train behind. According to the 

 report of the Eev. G. Yeates, "its motion was not very rapid but 

 steady, and by the time it had reached about 10° of the meridian, 

 which it passed south of the zenith, it assumed an exceedingly bril- 

 liant appearance, the larger fragments, glowing with intense white 

 light with perhaps a shade of green, taking the lead in a cluster, 

 surrounded and followed by a great number of smaller ones, each 

 drawing a train after it, which, blending together, formed a broad 

 belt of a brilliant fiery red." It lit up the whole country, and pro- 

 duced an effect similar to that of the electric light. It proceeded in 

 this way till it reached a point nearly due east, paling again as it 

 drew near the horizon, and at about 20° above it, it appeared to go 

 out rather than to fall. The train, which continued very bright for 

 some time, was distinctly traceable three-quarters of an hour after- 

 wards. At first it changed to a dull red ; then, as the morning broke, 

 to a line of silvery -grey clouds that divided into several portions, and 

 floated away on the wind. The track of the meteor was unusually 

 long, extending through nearly 180°. It first appeared near the star 

 Algenib, at the time about 15° above the horizon on the west, passed 

 close under Orion, the lowest star of which (Eigel) was very near 

 the meridian, and disappeared as already stated. After this had 

 taken place, and while the train still attracted attention, there was 

 perfect silence, which was at length broken by a loud report, followed 

 by a long reverberation, that gradually died away like the roll of dis- 

 tant thunder. This interval is estimated to have been four minutes. 



At Bhawalpur the explosion was sufficiently violent to shake the 

 houses and slam the doors. At Bhawalgur, 80 miles from Khairpur, 

 the meteor was seen, but no explosion was heard. It was also 

 observed at Jodhpur and Moradabad, and was probably visible within 

 a radius of 300 miles of Khairpur. 



A correspondent of The Pioneer of the 30th September records 

 his observations made on the Shujabad road, 13 miles south of 

 Multan. He states that the different fragments into which the 

 meteor broke up were distinctly visible, "more than twenty of them, 

 I should say, moving in parallel courses, two or three of the larger 

 ones taking the lead in the centre, and each of them leaving a tail 

 of red light behind," which blended together, forming one huge band 

 of light. The report, which was very terrific, followed after the 

 lapse of about three minutes and a half, which would make the point 

 where the disruption of the aerolite took place about 42 or 45 miles 

 distant. The train remained very bright for some time, and the 

 clouds into which it was transformed were visible upwards of an 

 hour afterwards, till they faded away in the bright sunlight. 



Another correspondent, " Shikaree," states that on the left bank 

 of the Chenab, some 60 miles S.W. of Bhawalpur, the meteor dis- 



