The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-23


out all around His only decoration was an
enormous diamond. worth a fortune in itself.
which he wore in his astrakhan kOld or hat.
when l was introduced his Majesty said
Bon Jour- This was tho limit Of his French
found. and our conversation was carried on In
u triangular fashion. Tho Shah was good
enough to ask me some questions regarding
meteortcs. about which he knew little. His
questions were put in Persian to the Grand
Nizlcr, who translated them into French FOR
me. replied to the Grand Vizicr in French.
looking however. at his Majesty, the Grand
Nlzier translnting my reply into Persian. Tho
Shah was particularly anxioIstok know whether
gold had ever been found In mctcoritcs then
asked regarding their origin and finally re-
ferrcd to his meteorte. which was known as
the NeramIn metcorite, and which fell on tho
plain OF Nrramin. twelve miles cast Of TcherNn
in May. 1890 l replied to his questions us we'll
ns could told him that had pieces or parts
OF many Of tho famous mctcoritcs Of the
world. and that | should esteem 1t the highest
privilege to obtain piece of this incstimahlc
treasure OF his MnJcstys. Whether my friend.
tho Grand Nizicr trembcd rs he trnnslatcdmy
request do not know. but am confident TINT
he was dumfoundcd when the Shah turned to
him, crossed his fingers. and said that could
have piece. l rendered my thanks. and the
Shah looking n little more bored II possible.
saw that the audience was ended and we
backed OF. and kept on backing up the long
hail. at the risk OF slipping on the polished
floor, making our exit with proper dignity
The Guardian OF the Palace informed me
that the Shah was going on hunting trip in a
few days and that during his absence would he
the best time for me TO obtain the promised
piece OF metcortc. So two days later. followed
bv a photographer and Persian bearing
large pair OF scales. | proceeded to the palace.
We now learned that the metcoritc had been
placed in the museum oil n low stand in an eN-
cellent position. | photographed 1t and an
| unprecedented thing. part OF the museum and
the guardian standing by the stone. In fact
photographed it from all sides. When came
| to measure the stone it was not large
| as l had supposed. It rescmbled an oblong
| loaf OF bread; was 16 inches in length. L.
| inches wide and x inches thick. Its weight l
| found TO he Just l13a pounds. The attend
| ants then took it down into the Garden Of the
| Roses where began with nv steel saw. but. to
| my surprise. 1t turned out to be n sidcrolitc. a
| mixture of stone and iron. q composition SO
| tough that / soon gave up in despair. If IL
| had been a siderite l could have sawed 1t with
| out difficulty. or even il an aerolite | could
| have broken it.
| Il now sent for smith, who. armed with n
huge hammer. attacked it. and, as the result OF
| two hours work. l had n few little pieces. Soc
| ing that this would not do, ! asked permission
| from the guardian TO take it to the Shah's ar
senal. and. accompanied by his son. we placed
| the meteorte in carriage and carried 1t across
| the city TO the building. There | was fortunate
| in finding an old steam planning machine. but
| there being no steam and the boiler being out
OF order. l mustered ten or a dozen Of the
| Shah's subjects. attached them to the rope and
| operated it by hand 1t was most difficult
operation. SO difilcult that 1t required two days
| and a night to cut of a piece which weighed
| three pounds. That l was more than satisfied
you may well imagine. had accomplished the
impossible as tho Grand Nizier had told me
that the Shah would not even allow the stone
to be photographed. II you set market value
on IT, / can sell It at any time for $1,000 {
pound but 1t was for my own collection.
My interview with the Shah was interest
ing. as had heard that he was insane but thi!
was far from the truth. Like his father. h,
may be eccentric. judged from our standpoint
but insane he certainly was not. He has pccul
lar ideas OF pleasure. One was to buy lot o
parlor skates and insist upon all OF the mem
bers OF the court skating before him on tn
polished floor OF the palace. md the constan
falls OF his subjects no doubt caused him NJ
end OF amusement but Western Kings have in
dulged In similar amusements. Another gam
denly fall to pieces. and in this craft he insisc
that his courters should sail. laughing whe
they were spilled out. Such sports are by n
means evidences Of a weak mind: they wou
rathcr be considered horse play.
During my hunt for this mctcorite | Wis
tied every meteorite collection in Europe. an
as | had several trunks filled with metcOrite
which had collected. l had many experiences
At Ably In Russia. the Custom House Office
said that they were precious stones and on
deavored to muct me Of large sum as duty
but he finally accepted them as astronomic1
. instruments and l escaped The Russian lay
forbids the expectation OF meteorites. yet
large one followed me out OF the country eve
from Tashkcnd. Russia has some fine spec
,, mems. The Imperial School OF Mines q
. st. Petersburg has one collection and tn
Academy OF Sciences another In the lat
: | ter Is the famous mctcorite OF PaIlas, found /
=, I'LL. 1t weighs 1000 pounds. The finest co
, | lection OF these stones In all Russia, hOwcve
belongs to the estate Of J. NJ. Siemaschkc. an
represents more than 400 falls. In the Natioui
Museum at Budapest there is a collection
= 800 meteoritcs. My trip increased my privat
collection. 40 that now have 1852 separate fall
= represented. all telling marvellous story
: the great hombardmcnt Of the earth that
, ever going on