1843.] Memoir on Indian Earthquakes. 1029* 



This remarkable bund was cut through by a great inundation of the 

 Indus, and from the section thus exposed, it was found to be composed 

 of clay and shells. " To the eye," Captain Burnes remarks, " it did 

 not appear more elevated in one place than another, and could be 

 traced East and West as far as it could reach : the natives assigned to 

 it a total length of 50 miles. It must not, however, be supposed to be 

 a narrow strip like an artificial dam, as it extends inland to Raomoka 

 Bazaar, perhaps to a breadth of sixteen miles, and appeared to be a 

 great upheaving of nature. Its surface was covered with saline soil, 

 and I have already stated, that it consisted of clay, sand and shells." 



Thus at the Western extremity of Cutch, the effect of the Earth- 

 quake of 1819 was to produce simultaneously an elevation of a tract 

 of country, fifty miles in length, sixteen miles in breadth, and ten feet 

 in height, and a depression of another tract extending over about 2,000 

 square miles, which latter became an inland lake or lagoon. The 

 depth of the channel of the river was variously affected, at some spots 

 becoming greater, at others less, but all indicating material changes of 

 level throughout the tract. 



Rutin of Cutch. — This remarkable tract of country extends from 

 the Indus to the Western confines of Gujerat, having a total superficial 

 extent of about 7,000 square miles. During the Earthquake, numer- 

 ous jets of black muddy water were thrown out from fissures through- 

 out this region, and cones of sand, six and eight feet high, similar in 

 character to those observed during the Chilian and Italian Earth- 

 quakes, were thrown up. It is traditionally reported, that the 

 Runn of Cutch was formerly an inland sea, freely accessible from 

 the main ocean ; that an extensive commerce was carried on along 

 its shores; and that many towns, now far inland, formed its har- 

 bours. Nerona, a village about twenty miles N. N. W. from Bhooj 

 and Chanu westward of Nerona, are both said to have been sea-ports. 

 The people of Puchum, the largest island in the Runn, have traditions 

 of boats having been wrecked on the hills of the island, and they point 

 out several considerable harbours, called Dorut, Doh, or Dohee and 

 Phungwuro, to the westward of Puchum. On the Sinde, or western 

 side of the Runn, like traditions prevail. In farther confirmation of 

 these traditionary accounts, it was observed, that during the shock of 

 1819, numerous pieces of iron and ship nails were thrown up with the 

 black muddy water near Phungwuro, and like materials have subse- 

 quently been discovered in digging tanks in the neighbourhood. The 

 traditions of the inhabitants of Cutch indicate the cause of this change 

 of sea to land to have been some great natural convulsion, and they 

 have, as is usual among a superstitious people, connected the occur- 

 rence with a mythological legend. A Hindoo saint, by name Dhoorum- 

 nath, a Jogee, (Burnes' Travels, Vol. I. p. 319), underwent penance by 

 standing on his head for twelve years on the summit of Denodur, one 

 of the highest hills in Cutch, overlooking the Runn. At the close of 

 his penance God appeared to him, the hill on which he stood split in 

 two, and the present Runn dried up, the ships and boats then navigating 



7 a* 



