On Meteorites. 99 
looking up into the sky, observed a black mass of clouds, from 
which she thought she heard a cracking sound, repeated five or six 
times, upon which the stone fell with a whizzing and rumbling 
noise a little distance off. Dust arose from the spot where it struck 
the ground. The woman walked up to where it fell and saw a hole 
in the ground, but found nothing else, as the meteorite had bounded 
off several yards from where it first struck. The other eye-witness 
—a man who was a little further off—was just going home after 
having finished his day’s work. He heard the report, and shortly 
after saw the stone coming down, “like a shot bird.” No fiery 
display was noticed at the place; but people who witnessed the 
phenomenon from a distance of several miles (a Norwegian mile 
about equals seven English miles)—as, for instance, in Bergen and 
in Vossevangen—observed a fire-ball darting with great speed 
across the sky and then exploding in the direction of Tysnes. 
Comparing the accounts of the direction of the fire-ball by the 
different observers, it appears that the meteor must have moved 
nearly vertically towards the earth’s surface. That the fire-ball 
escaped the notice of those on the spot may be accounted for by its 
being right above their heads, as one seldom notices what occurs 
right over one’s head. Their attention was first attracted by the 
report ; but as this, of course, was heard a considerable time after 
the explosion of the fire-ball, the fiery display had ceased long 
before the thundering noise could reach them, after which some 
time again elapsed before the stone fell. The man pointed out to 
me the corner of the field where he was standing at the time he 
heard the report; when the stone fell he had nearly reached his 
house. In ascertaining the distance, he found that it took him about 
one minute and ten seconds to walk from one place to the other. 
Judging from the space of time which elapsed between the report 
and the fall, the explosion must have taken place at a very great 
height above the surface of the earth. With due regard to the 
traveling speed of the sound and the probable celerity of the fall, 
the height may be estimated at twenty to thirty thousand metres; but 
any certainty. cannot be arrived at. 
The next morning a girl living close by found a big, black 
stone lying in the grass. She put it aside, but did not mind it any 
further ; and people’s attention was not called to it before it was 
_ rumored that a stone had been seen falling from heaven. The fol- 
lowing Sunday the curious stone formed the ‘main topic of 
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