CATALOGUE. 5 



A. D. 



1505. July 6th. — In the Mir-dt-ul- Alam, a MS. in the library of the 



Asiatic Society of Bengal, it is stated — " In the beginning 

 of this year (911) an immense earthquake happened in the 

 confines of Kabul. The walls of the fortress and of most 

 houses of the Bala Ricar and in the town fell down, and 

 thirty-three times in one day did the earth tremble. For 

 a whole month twice a day pieces of earth slipped down, 

 and a large number of men was killed, and between 

 Pimghan and Bekfaut (?), a piece of land about sixty 

 cubits broad tore off and slipped down as far as you can 

 shoot an arrow, when suddenly at the former place sever'al 

 springs appeared. And from Istarghab to the Maidan 

 which is nearly six far sang s, the ground presented depres- 

 sions and elevations as high as an elephant. And in the 

 same year an earthquake was also felt in Hindustan." 

 In Baddoni (Bibliotheca Indica, Vol. 1, p. 319), we find it 

 recorded : " On the third day of the month Qafar, 911 

 A. H., there was an immense earthquake in the whole of 

 Hindustan, so much so that the mountains trembled, and 

 high, firm, buildings came down. The earth broke open 

 in several places, and immense fissures appeared. Vil- 

 lages and groves slipped from their places, and people 

 thought the day of resurrection had come. But from the 

 memoirs of Sultan Babar it would seem that the earth- 

 quake was not confined to Hindustan, but was felt just 

 as powerfully in Kabul and Persia. Since the creation of 

 the world there never was so dreadful an earthquake." 

 In the memoirs of Baber (Erskine's edit., p. 170), it is said : 

 " At this period (Muharram, 911), there was such an 

 earthquake that many ramparts of fortresses, the summits 

 of some hills and many houses both in the towns and vil- 

 lages, were violently shaken and levelled with the ground. 

 Numbers of persons lost their lives by their houses and 

 terraces falling on them. The whole houses of the vil- 

 lage of Pemghan (or Peghman, south or south-west of 

 Kabul) fell down, and seventy or eighty respectable land- 

 holders were buried under the ruins. Between Pemghan 

 and Bektob, a piece of ground about a stone's throw in 

 breadth separated itself, and descended for the length of a 

 bowshot, and springs burst out, and formed a well in the 

 place which it had occupied. Prom Istarghaob (north of 



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