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than thirty leagues in every direction, a violent explosion, which lasted five 
or six minutes. At first there were three or four reports like those of a can- 
non, followed by a kind of discharge which resembled the firing of musketry; 
after which there was heard a rumbling like the beating of a drum. The 
air was calm, and the sky serene, except a few clouds, such as are frequently 
observed. The noise proceeded from a small cloud which had a rectangular 
form, and appeared motionless all the time that the phenomenon lasted. The 
vapour of which it was composed, was projected in all directions at the suc- 
cessive explosions. The cloud seemed about half a league to the N.E. of the 
town of L’Aigle, and must have been at a great elevation in the atmosphere, 
for the inhabitants of two hamlets, a league distant from each other, saw it 
at the same time above their heads. In the whole canton, over which it 
hovered, a hissing noise like that of a stone discharged from a sling was 
heard ; and a multitude of mineral masses were seen to fall, to the gross 
number of nearly three thousand. The largest weighed 17^ pounds. 
Many meteoric stones have fallen in India. On December 
tbe 19th, 1798, at eight o'clock in the evening, a large lumi- 
nous meteor was seen at Benares, and other parts of the 
country. It was attended with a loud rumbling noise, like an 
ill- discharged platoon of musketry, and about the same time 
the inhabitants of Krakhut, fourteen miles from Benares, saw 
the light, heard an explosion, and immediately after, the noise 
of heavy bodies falling in the neighbourhood. The sky had 
been previously serene, and not the smallest vestige of a cloud 
had appeared for many days. Next morning, the mould in 
the fields was found to have been turned up in many spots, 
and unusual stones of various sizes, but of the same sub- 
stance, were picked out from the moist soil, generally from a 
depth of six inches. 
Professor Maskelyn, who has devoted such pains to the col- 
lection of meteorites in the British Museum, has given in the 
Philosophical Magazine an account of several falls in India, 
nearly all occurring by day, in a serene sky, and almost all 
unaccompanied by the appearance of any luminous meteor. 
Among the most interesting of these is the fall of five stones 
at Gunduk, on May 12th, 1861. They fell in four spots about 
three miles apart. Their fall out of a cloudless sky was 
heralded by a sound like that of ordnance succeeded by several 
peals of thunder. Those who witnessed the fall of these 
stones, with one exception, saw nothing peculiar in the sky, 
and had their attention called to the spot where the stones fell 
by the dust and gravel thrown up by their fall. The excep- 
tion was a native, who was taking his cattle to the water when 
he was startled by three loud reports, and saw in the air on 
high a “ light," which fell to the ground within two hundred 
yards. Sky serene, weather fiercely hot ; but there was a very 
