8G On Stones, Se. faid to have fallen from the Clouds. [Deéc.1, 
in the fouthern regions, proceeding ra- 
pidly from eait to weit. This phenome- 
nen at that time was confidered to be a 
meteor; but he is fo fully perfuaded that 
this body is the fame which fell at Sales, 
that he has given me permiflion to. quote 
his teftimony inthe following words :— 
‘Ihave a perfe&t recolle&tion of the 
appearance of this meteor. Its light was 
exceedingly bright, and its motien fo ra- 
pid, thal it was feen only for a few fe. 
conds, during which it diffuled through- 
out the whoe town an alarming light, 
though it paffed at the diftance of more 
than ‘twenty leagues to the fouth. Its di- 
rection, according to efimation, was pre- 
cifely fowards the quarter in which it fell.” 
Tn the fame year, we have an account 
of the explofion of a meteor, near Benares, 
in the Eaft Indies ; and of the falling of 
fome flones at the fame time, about four. 
teen miles from that city. It was on the 
19 th of December 1798, about’ eight 
o’clock in the evening, that a very lumi- 
nous meteor was obferved in the heavens 
by the inhabitants of Benares and the 
parts adjacent, in the form of a large ball 
of fire; that it was accompanied by a 
Joud noife refembling thunder’; and that 
a numher of ftones were {sid to eee fallen 
from it near Krakiu:, a village on the 
north fide of the river Goomty, about 
fourteen miles from the cry of Benares. 
Tne meteor appeared in the weftern 
part of the hemifphere, and was but a 
fhort time vifible: it was obferved by fe- 
veral Europeans, as well as natives in difs 
ferent parts of the country. In the neigh- 
bourhcod of Juanpoor, about twelve miles 
from the fpot where the ftones are {aid to 
have fallen, it was very diftinétly obferved 
by feveral European gentlemen and ladies; 
who deicribed it as a large hall of fire, 
accompanied with a loud rumbling noiie, 
not unlike an ill-difcharged platoon of 
mufketry. It was alfo feen and the noife 
heard by various pericns at Benares. 
When an account of the fall cf the 
flones reached Benares,Mr. Davis, the judge 
of the difiri&, fent an intelligent perfon to 
make enguiry on the {pot. vo foon as 
he arrived at the village near which the 
fiones were faid to have fallen, the na- 
tives to!d him, that they had either broken 
to pieces, or given away to the teffeldar, or 
native collecior, and others, all that they 
had picked up; but that he might eafily 
find fome in the adjacent fields, where 
they would be readily difcovered, by ob- 
ferving where the earth appeared recently 
turned up. 
Following thefe directions, he found 
- four; moft of which the forte of the fall tad 
buried fix inches deep. He farther learnt 
from the inhabitants of the village, that 
about eight o’clock in the evening, when 
retired to their habitations, they obferved 
avery bright light proceeding as from 
the fky, accompanied by a loud clap of 
thunder, which was immediately followed 
by the noife of heavy bodies falling in the 
Vicinity. Uncertain whether fome of their 
ceities might not have been concerned in 
this occurrence, they did not venture out 
to inguire into it until the next morn Ins 5 
when the firft circumftance which attracted 
their attention, was the appearance of the 
ear:h being turned up in different parts 
of the fields where they found the fiones. 
Mr. Maclane, .a genileman who refided 
very near the village of Krakhut had one 
of the ftones given to him by the watch- 
man who was on duty at his houfe. This 
he faid had fallen through the top of his’ 
hut, which was clofe by, and buried it- 
felf feveral inches in the floor, which was 
of ccnfolidated earth. Fhe fione muf, 
by his account, before it was broken, 
have weighed upwards of two pounds. 
At the time the meteor appeared, the 
fky was perfectly ferene; riot the {malleft 
veftige of a cloud had been feen fince the 
rith of the fame month, nor were any ob- 
ferved till many days after. And it is 
well known there are no voleznoes on the: 
continent cf India; and no ftones have 
been met with in the earth in that part of 
the world which bear the fmalleft refem-. 
lance to thefe above deicribed.* 
We now come to a defcription of a 
fhower of fones which fell at L’ Aigle, in 
the department of L’Orne, on the 26th of 
April 1803. Of this we have feveral ac- 
counts :—M. Foureroy fays, * That, front 
the moft authentic documents, its ales, 
1ft. “« That about one in the afternoor, 
on the 26th of April, the air being rather 
cold, and the fky without hue there 
was feen, at the diftance of twelve or fif. 
teen bectes W.S.W. from L’Aigle, a 
luminous globe, moving towards the N. Ws 
with great velocity. 
2d. ‘* That nearly at the fame bake 
there was heard at L’Aigle and in the fe- 
veral’furrounding villages, a violent ex- 
plofion, fucceeded by two others no lefs 
extraordinary, which were followed by a 
rumbling noife; the more terrible, as no 
one knew to what it could be compared or 
afciibed, and which continued about ten 
iris 
* Phil. 
379. 
Trams, 1302. Past J. p. 175— 
ad. * That 
