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 VEgypte^ par Abd-allatif, medecin Arabe de 

 Bagdad, etc. ; traduit et eni'ichi de 7iotes historiques et critiques : 

 par M. Silvestre De Sacy.^^ Paris, 1810, 4to. book 2, chap. 2, 

 p. 340. First quoted in part by M. Fraehn., (sup.) 



The passages occur at pp. 117 and 118 of the Tubingen edi- 

 tion of 1789. 



(18.) 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 IT Kal. Apri- 

 lis, fer. 2. Et in ipso Anno apparuerunt signa in CceIo de stellis, 

 quae videbantur hominibus aliae cadere, alise fulgere sicut facnlae 

 XIV die intrante mense Octobri Luna 2." — Notes found on a Cal- 

 endar ; and printed at the etid of Chronicon Cave^ise : Muratori, 

 Rerum Italicarum Scriptores. 26 torn. 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." — Moderti Part of the Universal History. 

 Svo. Lond. Vol.2. 1780. p. 333. {Hist, of the Arabs.) 



The following is cited by M. Fraehn : " Le 3 du Sulkade de 

 Pan 323, il y eut en Egypte, un tremblement de terre, et les 

 etoiles lumineuses etaient dans un mouvement violent." — Eu- 

 tychii AnnaL, II, 529. 



It is plain that the exact date of the shower cannot be inferred 

 from either of these accounts. 



