Prof. Maskelyne and Dr. Lang's Mineralogical Notes. 51 



the north of, a little place called Piprassi; the south-eastern 

 angle is a little to the north-west of one called Bulloah. These 

 points are some three miles apart. Two very small fragments, 

 weighing about 5 and 7 ounces respectively, fell at the latter 

 locality. A thin slab-like piece fell at the former. It weighed 

 about 11 pounds. Of the other angles, one is formed by a spot 

 called the Qutahar Bazar (described in one account as in the 

 Thannah of Nimboah) ; this is the north-westerly angle. The 

 southern angle is at a spot called Chireya. The stones that 

 fell at these two points respectively weighed 13 lbs. and 8 J lbs. 

 These points, like the former, are some three miles apart ; and 

 whereas Chireya and Piprassi are only two miles, the northern 

 point, Bulloah, and Qutahar Bazar are some three miles distant 

 from each other. 



For the narrative of the circumstances accompanying the fall 

 of these aerolites, I am indebted partly to Mr. Atkinson, the 

 Secretary of the Asiatic Society, partly to my friend Dr. Oldham, 

 the Director of the Indian Geological Survey. 



The fall of the Qutahar Bazar and Chireya specimens was 

 heralded by a report from out of a cloudless sky with a sound 

 like that of ordnance, succeeded by several successive peals of 

 seeming thunder. An appearance as of smoke was seen above 

 the ground where they fell. One stone penetrated the soil for 

 a cubit ( = 18 inches) ; the other did so to half that depth. 



The two small fragments from Bulloah were accompanied by 

 phenomena well substantiated by a near eye-witness. A native 

 was taking his cattle to the water, when he was startled by three 

 very loud reports, and saw in the air on high "a light " (a 

 luminous body), which fell to the ground within 200 yards of 

 him. Here too the sky was serene, and the weather fiercely 

 hot, but there was a very small cloud, out of which this witness 

 stated the report and the luminous body to have come. " First/' 

 he adds, "there was the loud report, and about the same time I 

 saw the light like a flame ; then the stone fell, and in falling 

 made a great noise, and after it fell the sand was taken up high 

 into the air." He went to the spot whence the sand had been 

 raised from the ground, and found there five pieces of stone. 

 They were very hot, and so was the sand all round, which was 

 thrown up to the height of a foot. Unfortunately only two of 

 these five fragments were preserved. Dr. Oldham further men- 

 tions that the incandescent fragments in falling are stated to 

 have scintillated like iron when at a white heat. 



The Piprassi stone was seen to fall by a witness quite in- 

 dependent of the other, but unfortunately from a much greater 

 distance. In the midst of the calm hot day, while sitting in a 

 field on the east side of the village of Piprassi, with many of the 



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