It is probable that the Valley of Kabul is the crater of an ancient volcano, for, in addition to other indications, there are in many places in the surrounding hills traces of volcanic action to be seen in the way of lava cones. At many places, also, are large beds of mingled lava and small stones, which have the appearance of extensive concrete blocks, and they might readily be mistaken for them. Several of these beds are many hundred yards in length and breadth, and they mostly lie at the foot of a hill, where they look like the foundations of a large fort or palace, from which the superstructure has crumbled and disappeared, and the rain of centuries has washed away the surrounding earth and left only the concrete beds to mark the spot where they stood. It seems likely that the molten lava flowing down the adjoining hillside picked up small stones in its progress, and on reaching the level ground below spread itself out over the land and cooled down into a solid block. The strata of the ground surrounding Kabul is in a very disturbed condition, some of the hills and mountains about showing the strata standing perpendicularly, as though the earth of a flat country had been lifted bodily and thrown up on end, as, no doubt, it had been. Earthquakes are of very common occurrence, and usually the greater number and those of most violence occur in October or November. The one which was worse than all others that I experienced there happened at the end of December, and as the walls of the Kabul houses are built of mud bricks, with very heavy roofs superimposed, many houses were brought down by the shock, and several people killed through the walls and roofs falling on them. Preceding this earthquake a violent storm of wind arose, which broke off large branches from the trees and threatened to beat the windows in, and when the wind had been raging for an hour or so, the earthquake commenced. It came on about ten o’clock at night, and at the time it commenced I was standing before one of the windows of the guest house, which is fortunately solidly built, and when the shaking and rattling of the windows began, I thought it was due to the wind, and remarked to the others in the room that if it continued in violence the windows would soon be blown in; but while I was speaking the floor started swinging from side to side, and then I made a dash for the doorway, and stood there until the disturbance ceased. The doorways are safer than other places in a house during an earthquake, as, should the roof fall in, one stands a chance of escaping unhurt. It is difficult to judge the length of time an earthquake lasts, for one is more interested in the probabilities attending it, but it seemed four or five minutes before the tremors finally ceased, and then I saw that large cracks had been formed down the walls of the room, although they are five or six feet thick, and the next day I heard of different houses completely