At that time there was a great earthquake[946] such that most of the ramparts of forts and the walls of gardens fell down; houses were levelled to the ground in towns and villages and many persons lay dead beneath them. Every house fell in Paghmān-village, [Sidenote: Fol. 157b.] and 70 to 80 strong heads-of-houses lay dead under their walls. Between Pagh-mān and Beg-tūt[947] a piece of ground, a good stone-throw[948] wide may-be, slid down as far as an arrow's-flight; where it had slid springs appeared. On the road between Istarghach and Maidān the ground was so broken up for 6 to 8 _yīghāch_ (36-48 m.) that in some places it rose as high as an elephant, in others sank as deep; here and there people were sucked in. When the Earth quaked, dust rose from the tops of the mountains. Nūru'l-lāh the _ṯambourchī_[949] had been playing before me; he had two instruments with him and at the moment of the quake had both in his hands; so out of his own control was he that the two knocked against each other. Jahāngīr Mīrzā was in the porch of an upper-room at a house built by Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā in Tīpa; when the Earth quaked, he let himself down and was not hurt, but the roof fell on some-one with him in that upper-room, presumably one of his own circle; that this person was not hurt in the least must have been solely through God's mercy. In Tīpa most of the houses were levelled to the ground. The Earth quaked 33 times on the first day, and for a month afterwards used to quake two or three times in the 24 hours. The begs and soldiers having been ordered to repair the breaches made in the towers and ramparts [Sidenote: Fol. 158.] of the fort (Kābul), everything was made good again in 20 days or a month by their industry and energy. (_d. Campaign against Qalāt-i-ghilzāī._) Owing to my illness and to the earthquake, our plan of going to Qandahār had fallen somewhat into the background. The illness left behind and the fort repaired, it was taken up again. We were undecided at the time we dismounted below Shniz[950] whether to go to Qandahār, or to over-run the hills and plains. Jahāngīr Mīrzā and the begs having assembled, counsel was taken and the matter found settlement in a move on Qalāt. On this move Jahāngīr Mīrzā and Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ insisted strongly. At Tāzī[951] there was word that Sher-i-`alī the page with Kīchīk Bāqī _Diwāna_ and others had thoughts of desertion; all were arrested; Sher-i-`alī was put to death because he had given clear signs of disloyalty and misdoing both while in my service and not in mine, in this country and in that country.[952] The others were let go with loss of horse and arms.