_20th._--I wrote to Sale, to tell him we were all safe. At 3 in the morning we had a pretty smart shock; and constant ones, some severe, and many very slight, on an average every half hour all day, and five or six slight ones at night. The gentlemen gave up their largest room to my party, who were utterly roofless. Nearly all the others slept outside: but we had only one crack in the roof of our room, caused by part of the wall falling on it. The cold outside was intense; and the dew completely saturated the bed clothes last night: added to which, should the buildings come down, we were safer above, for the yard was so crammed that, in case of accident, half the people below must be crushed.
_21st._--At 1 in the morning a sharp shock made us run to the door. We had numerous slight, and three or four pretty good shocks: they became more frequent in the evening. Part of our party made awnings in the courtyard to sleep under; but Mrs. Sturt and myself still preferred the house as safest.
Dost Mahommed Khan brought workmen to clear away the _débris_. He tells us our fort is the best of forty that have suffered in this valley; and that many are entirely thrown down. In one, a tower fell, and crushed five women and a man: others have not a wall remaining.
We have various reports regarding Jellalabad;--that it has been taken, that the walls and all the defences are thrown down, &c.
Dost Mahommed says that a man was sent as a spy to Jellalabad: that Macgregor sent for him; and, with Sale, took the man round to show him the state of the place: that two bastions had sunk a little; but that they were not only able to withstand Mahommed Akbar, but, if he came against them, they would meet him in the plain. It is said that Mahommed Akbar intends sending Gen. Elphinstone away if he can get a palkee. Lady Macnaghten has requested she may go with him; being, she says, differently circumstanced from the rest, who have most of them their husbands with them. Not even an animal's life was lost in our earthquake (I mean at our fort). Lady M.'s cat was buried in the ruins, and dug out again.
_22d._--My wounds are quite healed. We had earthquakes day and night; less severe, but equally frequent. A prop was put up in our room to support the broken roof. We experienced a curious shock in the evening like a heavy ball rolled over our heads. Some large pieces of hills have fallen, and immense masses of stone. I miss some large upright stones on the hills that divide us from Kaffiristan, and that looked in the distance like large obelisks.