502 H. C. RUSSELL. 
coming away from north-east; it was high up but falling 
towards us ; at first the tail appeared about 14° long and inclined 
upwards, but as it passed by on the east side of us it seemed to 
be 10° or 12° long; it changed colour at first, but I saw no sparks 
in it. The object in front (i.¢., the meteor) seemed to be 34° to 
4° ahead of the flash or tail of smoke, this distance got greater 
when close to us. When opposite to us the motion was too rapid 
for such observations, although I could see the trail quite distinetly; 
it looked like sheet lightning, and it disappeared when the meteor 
was due south of us.” eS. 
“ As the meteor passed us the trees under it actually glittered 
with its light, while east and west of the track the tree tops 
appeared dark. The meteor passed to the east of us as just stated, 
but almost over our heads from north-east to south-west. The 
hissing noise as it passed was something like the flare noise of a 
gas jet, but very much louder. The remarkable brilliance of the 
light which dazzled our horses may have affected our eyes, and 
this would account for the fact that the meteor itself did not 
appear so bright. The tail looked like a tongue of flame gliding 
along after a dark object. two degrees in diameter, which seemed to 
be enveloped in smoke.” [Probably the meteor looked dark 
because (1) they were looking at the back of it, and (2) the front 
of the meteor would be the great point of heat and light in its 
passage through the atmosphere.| ‘Subsequently he heard three 
loud reports as if three heavy guns had been discharged almost at 
the same moment and quite near them.” 
When they reached Gulgunnia the townspeople were found to 
be in a state of alarm at what they thought was an earthquake. 
They said the noise was like heavy thunder that rolled past from 
the north-east, At Nymagee the noise of the explosion was SO great 
and the earthquake so severe that almost every person in the 
town was alarmed. Mr. Robinson gives the time 10 h. 30 m. 
that at which the meteor passed, but his watch must have bee? 
fifteen or twenty minutes slow, for Mr. Cadell at Bedooba, sixty 
miles away, made the time 10h. 50 m., and the three observers 
