252 [No. 4, 



Analysis of the Khettree Meteorite with an account of its fall, 



by D. Waldie, Esq., F. C. S. 



[Read and received 2nd June, 1869.] 



The Meteoric stone of which the analysis is given in the following 



pages, fell near Khettree, Rajputana, and the sample was supplied to 



me by Mr. W. Stotesbury of the Topographical Survey, who at the 



same time communicated an interesting account of the circumstances 



of the fall, of which he was to some extent personally cognisant. 



The account I shall give in his own words from his letter to me. 



" Whilst employed in making a Topographical Survey of a portion 

 of Shekawattie in Rajputana in February 1867, (I forget the exact 

 date)* I was out at work one morning at about 9 o'clock ; I was sud- 

 denly startled by a loud report resembling that of a cannon at Khettree, 

 the seat of a petty prince, about 11 miles distant to the south of the 

 place where I was then working. The first report was followed by 

 two more, louder than the first, but a little to the east of the place 

 where I imagined I heard the first report ; these three were succeeded 

 by a regular roll, resembling musketry heard at a short distance. 

 The day being a beautiful bright one, and no clouds to be seen any- 

 where, and also seeing no stones falling, I did not know what to 

 make of this, to me, strange atmospheric phenomenon. I immediate- 

 ly communicated the above facts to the Editor of the Delhi Gazette, 

 asking to know what these strange reports in the air meant and the 

 cause thereof. The day after I had posted the letter, I was informed 

 by some villagers that the day before, they heard the reports, and that 

 a shower of Aerolites had fallen, and that the stones had been seen by 

 them. Mr. Robert Todd, a friend of mine, and in the same survey 

 party as myself, seeing my query in the Delhi Gazette, regarding 

 these reports, wrote to the Editor of the above paper informing him 

 that they were caused by a fall of Aerolites ; he was at that time 

 working about ten miles to the east of me, and describes the reports, &c, 

 the same as I have mentioned already. The showers of stones, as I 

 learned afterwards from the villagers, amounted to about 40, which 

 fell chiefly near a village called " Saonlod," 3 miles to the north of 



* Mr. Stotesbury has since found from an entry in one of his books that the 

 date was 19th Januaiy, 1867. 





