Star-Showers of Former Times. 355 
of the Nile was bad, and there were troubles and agitations in the 
country.’ These are doubtless very strong signs, but they are 
common to all regions ; and not peculiar to Egypt. We have 
seen a recurrence of the same phenomena in the present year 
596, [beginning Oct. 22, 1199.] At the beginning of the year, 
the stars were seen coursing through the heavens, and afterward 
the water was very low. During the same year the sovereign of 
- Egypt was dethroned by his uncle Melic-aladel.”—Translated 
from “ Relation de U Egypte, par Abd-allatif, médecin Arabe de 
Bagdad, etc. ; traduit et enrichi de notes historiques et critiques * 
par M. Silvestre De Sacy.” Paris, 1810, 4to. book 2, chap. 2, 
Pp 340. First quoted in part by M. Fraehn, (sup.) 
The passages occur at pp. 117 and 118 of the Tubingen edi-- 
_ tion of 1789. : 
(182) A. D. 931 or 934. . “In the same year appeared signs in 
the heavens among the stars, which appeared some falling and 
others blazing like torches, on the fourteenth day of October, the 
second day of the moon.” _ 
“934. Indictione 4. Defunctus est Joannes Abbas II Kal. Apri- 
lis, fer 2. Et in ipso Anno apparuerunt signa in Ceelo de stellis, 
que videbantur hominibus alie cadere, alie fulgere sicut facule 
xiv die intrante mense Octobri Luna 2.”—Notes found on a Cal- 
endar ; and printed at the end of Chronicon Cavense: Muratori, 
Rerum Ttalicaram Sceriptores. 26 tom. fol. Mediol. 1723, etc. 
t. vii, p. 961. ; - 
The date on the margin is A. D. 934. The year of the Indic- 
tion requires A. D. 931: the moon’s age agrees about equally well 
with either, 
(19.) A.D. 935. In the year 323, [Hegira,] “ several violent 
shocks of an earthquake were felt in Egypt, the third of Dhu’l- 
Kaada: [Oct. 5, A, D. 935,} about the same time, many of those 
Meteors called falling stars, of a very remarkable kind, likewise 
appeared in Egypt.”—Modern Part of the Universal History. 
Svo. Lond. Vol. 2. 1780. p. 333. (Hist. of the Arabs.) 
The following is cited by M. Fraebn: “Le 3 du Sulkade de 
Pan 323, il y eut en Egypte, un tremblement de terre, et les 
étoiles lumineuses étaient dans un mouvement violent.”—Eu- 
Yychii Annal., II, 529. 
It is plain that the exact date of the shower cannot be inferred 
from either of these accounts. 
