30 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OE KUTCH. [PAET 1. 



mosque^ erected by Sultan Ahmad (14.11-1443), nearly 400 years before, 



fell to the ground, attesting how long a period had elapsed since a shock 



of similar violence had visited that point. 



The first shock of the catastrophe seems to have been the most 



„ , , , . violent, " shaking every house from the Prince's 

 First suock most vio- o j 



lent : its results. Palace to the paupers' grass-hut to its centre : nor 



were the places of the dead exempt from the devastation produced by 

 this mighty convulsion of nature." At Bhooj 7,000 houses, including the 

 Rao's Palace, were destroyed, and 1,150 people buried in the ruins, and of 

 the houses which escaped, one-third were shattered ; hundreds of houses 

 in.Anjar, Mandavee and Lukput were hurled to the ground. All the 

 fortified towns throughout the country were injured, and that which was 

 reckoned the best fortress, at Tayra in the western maritime plain, was 

 left with not a stone unturned. 



With all this ruin the " face of nature" in the interior of Kutch 

 , . , , was not greatly changed, according to MacMurdo. 



Geograpnical changes o ./ o ^ o 



and accompaniments. Large masses of rock and soil were detached from 



the precipices of the hills, and vast clouds of dust were seen to ascend 

 from all their summits. ' Many gentlemen perceived smoke to ascend, 

 and in some instances, fire was plainly seen bursting forth for a moment.' 

 A respectable native assured him that considerable quantities of fire 

 issued from a hiU, and that a ball of large size was vomited into the air 

 and fell to the ground still blazing. The hill nest day was found rent 

 and shattered, as if something had sunk, and the spot where the fire- 

 ball was supposed to have fallen bore marks of fire in the scorched 

 vegetation. 



It is to be regretted that the sites of these occurrences are not given, 



so that the places could be examined. Dhenodhur 

 Certain of the results -ni • -j i u 



not capable of verifica- hill, west-north-west from Ishooj, was said to nave 



sent forth flames, and has thus received the name 



of a volcano, which it certainly is not ; nor is there any spot in the whole 



( 30 ) 



