[Illustration]
"I send you a photograph showing in two positions the curious
amalgamation of coins by a flash of lightning. This incident occurred in
a miner's hut in Swazieland some time in December, 1897, and the
photograph represents money to the value of fourteen shillings and
sixpence, viz., one half sovereign, four single shillings, and a
sixpence. The money was placed on a table in the order given, the
half-sovereign being under the other coins and lying on the face of the
table. The hut was not injured by the lightning, as the fluid entered by
the window and passed over the table (on which the coins were) and out
at the open door. The table (in the centre of the hut and in a line with
the window and door) had a badly scorched line over it. The money, after
the flash, lay in exactly the same position as before; the only
difference was its being fused into one mass instead of six different
coins. At the time of the flash the miner happened to be absent."--Mr.
A. E. Graham Lawrance, Barberton, Transvaal.