ÿþ<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <meta name="Author" content="Vassil Karloukovski"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <title>Hudud al-'Alam - The Translator's Preface</title> </head> <body> <font face="Palatino Linotype"> <b><font size=+1>Hudud al-'Alam, The Regions of the World</font></b> <br><b>V. Minorsky</b> <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE <br>&nbsp; </font> <blockquote><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i> <a href="#I." style="text-decoration: none">1. Description of the Ms</a></i> <br><i><a href="#II." style="text-decoration: none">2. Discovery and publication of the H</a></i></font><i><a href="#II." style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-&#39;</font></a></i><font face="Palatino Linotype"> <br><i><a href="#III." style="text-decoration: none">3. The translators's task</a></i> <br><i><a href="#IV." style="text-decoration: none">4. The commentary: explanation of the text</a></i> <br></font><i><a href="#V." style="text-decoration: none"><font face="Palatino Linotype">5. The commentary: the sources of the H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'</font></a></i><font face="Palatino Linotype"> <br><i><a href="#VI." style="text-decoration: none">6. Loyalties</a></i></font></blockquote> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="I."></a><b>1. DESCRIPTION OF THE MS.</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The anonymous <a href="#vii 1.">[1]</a> geographical work called <i>H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">udkd&nbsp; al-'lam</font></i><font face="Palatino Linotype">, i.e. "The Regions of the World", <a href="#vii 2.">[2]</a> was compiled in 372/982-3 and dedicated to the Am+r Abul-H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">rith Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad b. Ah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mad, of the local Frighknid dynasty which ruled in Gkzgnn in what is now northern Afghnistn (see notes to § 1 and § 23, 46.). The unique manuscript was copied in 656/1258 by Abul-Mu&#39;ayyad &#39;Abd al-Qayykm ibn al-H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">usayn ibn 'Al+ al-Far+s+ (<i>v.i.</i>, p. 166). The same half-erased name appears on the title-page: <i>sh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ibuhu </i><a href="#vii 3.">[3]</a><i> ktibuhu al-'abd al-mudhnib al-muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">tj il rah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mati'llhi ta'l Abul-Mu . . . 'Abd al- . . .&nbsp;km ibn . . . yn ibn 'Al+ al-Fris+</i>.... </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The MS. consists of 39 folios measuring 28 x 18 cm., while the size of the written text (within ruled frame) is 20 x 13 cm. Each page has 23 extremely regular lines written in good and personal <i>naskhthulth</i> script. The paper is of <i>khnbliq</i> description. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">On the whole the text is very well preserved. Ff. 28 and 29 are slightly damaged. The lower part of f. 39 (<i>viz.</i>, half of the lines 17-23) has been torn, so that not only the text relating to the African countries but the colophon, too, has greatly suffered. The text begins on f. 1b. The title-page (f. 1a) is occupied by the title of the book, by some mediocre verses in the same hand, but having no relation to the text, and by some later entries of no interest. Marginal notes which are found on ff. 19b, 20a, 22b and 30a, have no great importance [cf. Appendix A]. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-'lam</i> forms only one part of a bound volume of which all the folios are of the same size (28 x 18 cm.). It contains: </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>a.</i> The geographical treatise <i>Jihn-nma</i> (ff. 1b-27a) by Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad ibn Naj+b Bakrn <a href="#vii 4.">[4]</a>, copied by 'Ibd-allh Mas'kd ibn Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad ibn-Mas'kd al-Kirmn+ on 28 Ramad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">n 663 (14 July 1267). <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="vii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> On the author cf. p. xii; he was a sunn+, cf. pp. 375, 392.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="vii 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2. </b><i>v.i.</i>, p. 30. The word <i>h</i></font></font><font size=-1><i><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">udkd</font></i><font face="Palatino Linotype"> (properly 'boundaries') in our case evidently refers to the 'regions within definite boundaries' into which the world is divided in the&nbsp;<i>H</i></font><i><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></i><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'., the author indicating with special care the frontiers of each one of these areas, v.i., p. 30. [As I use the word "region" mostly for <i>n</i></font></font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>h</i></font><i><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></i><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>iyat </i>it would have been better, perhaps, to translate&nbsp;<i>H</i></font><i><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></i><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-lam</i> as "The limited areas of the World".]</font></font><font face="Palatino Linotype"> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="vii 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> Certainly in the sense of 'possessor' and not in that of 'author', as confirmed by the colophon of the <i>Jmi' al-'ulkm</i>, v.i. p. v+.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="vii 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> Cf. Rieu, <i>Catalogue Pers. Mss. Brit. Mus.</i> i, 423; Bibl. Nationale, anc. fonds persan, 324.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>viii&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>b.</i> A short treatise on Music (ff. 27b-28b) by Ustdh 'Ajab al-Zamn bul-Ustdh-Khorsn Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad ibn Mah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mkd ibn Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad N+shpkr+. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>c. H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">udkd al-'lam</i> (see above). </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>d.</i> The well known encyclopedia <i>Jmi' al-'Ulkm</i> (ff. 1-50) <a href="#viii 1.">[1]</a> by Fakhr al-d+n al-Rz+ (d. 606/1209) with the colophon: <i>waqa'a al-firgh min tah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">r+rihi yaum al-jum'a lil-sdis wal-'ishr+n min jumd al-kl sana thamn+ wa khams+n wa sitta-mi'a 'ala yad+. Ad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">'afu 'ibd allh wa ah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">qaruhum Abul-Mu'ayyad 'Abd al-Qayykm b. al-&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">usayn </i>(?)<i> b. 'Al+</i>. Consequently this work, too, was copied by the scribe of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-'lam</i> on Friday, 26 Jumd al-kl 658 (Thursday <a href="#viii 2.">[2]</a> 10 June 1259). He must have been an eager student to transcribe in his careful regular hand a series of important works for his personal library at the momentous epoch when the Mongol invaders were exterminating the Assassins, destroying the Baghdd Caliphate and remodelling the administration of Persia! <a href="#viii 3.">[3]</a> </font> <p>&nbsp;<p> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="II."></a><b>2. DISCOVERY AND PUBLICATION OF THE&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'.</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The discovery and publication of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-'lam</i> have a long history not devoid of romance. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The Russian orientalist, Captain (later Major-General) A. G. Toumansky, was a great friend of the Bah'+s whom he first met in Askhabad in 1890. He eagerly studied their religious literature <a href="#viii 4.">[4]</a> and rendered some signal services to the thriving Bah'+ colony established in the Russian Transcaspian province, for example at the time when the first temple of the new religion (<i>mashriq al-adhkr</i>) was being built in Askhabad. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Probably through Baron V. Rosen, who was his teacher, or through Barthold, who then was at the beginning of his scientific career, Toumansky heard of the interest of Ulugh-beg's lost work <i>Ulks-i arbaa</i> and made a search for it through his Persian friends. The importance of Bukhr as a market for rare manuscripts was fully realized only after 1900 when special expeditions were sent there by the Russian Academy, yet even before that time it was natural to turn one's attention towards that Muslim centre. Toumansky <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="viii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> Probably composed in 574/1178, cf. Rieu, <i>Supplément</i>, p. 102 (Or. 2973 contains 188 folios each side being of 17 lines).</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="viii 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> Thursday evening is called in Persia <i>shab-i jum'a</i> and considered as the beginning of Friday.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="viii 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> The data on the manuscript are partly borrowed from Toumansky's article (<i>v.i.</i>, p. ix, n. 2) and partly based on the notes personally taken in Paris in 1921.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="viii 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> See his edition of the <i>Kitb-i aqbas</i>, SPb. 1899 (<i>Mémoires de l&#39;Académie des</i></font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br><i>The Translator's Preface</i>&nbsp;&nbsp; ix </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">availed himself of the occasional visits to Bukhr of the learned Bah'+ of Samarqand M+rz Abul-Fad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">l Gulpyagn+ who soon after, in a letter in Persian dated 2 Rab+' II, 1310 = 25 October 1892, reported as follows: "During my stay in Bukhr all my efforts to find the <i>Ulks-i arba'a</i> proved unsuccessful but I have found an ancient bound book which is very good and contains four treatises of which the first has geographical contents and formed a Preface to a Map (<i>muqaddama-yi naqsha bkda</i>); the second, composed 943 years ago and copied 808 years ago, is also geographical and mentions the names of towns which now are absolutely unknown; the third treats of Music, and is short; the fourth is the <i>Jmi' al-'ulkm</i> of Imm Fakhr-i Rz+." When, in 1893, Toumansky joined M+rz Abul-Fad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">l in Bukhara, his Persian friend made him a present of his find "on condition that it should be edited and not be lost for science". </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">A journey to Persia and the vicissitudes of a military career made it impossible for Toumansky to publish the manuscript immediately but in an article which appeared in 1896 <a href="#ix 2.">[2]</a> he explained the circumstances which led to the discovery of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'., gave its description (date, colophon, dedication to the Frighknid ruler Abul-H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">rith, complete table of contents &amp;c.), and, as a sample of the text, published the Persian original and a Russian translation of the chapters on the "Christianized Slavs", the Slavs, and the Rks (ff. 37a-38a), with a short commentary. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Toumansky reserved the right of final publication of the MS., or more precisely, of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-'lam</i>, but in spite of some preparatory work done by him, <a href="#ix 3.">[3]</a> was unfortunately unable to carry out his intention during his lifetime. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><font size=2><i>Sciences</i>, t. viii, No. 6) and his articles in the <i>Zap. Vast. Otd.</i>: <i>The two latest "lauh</i></font><i><font size="2" face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font size="2">" of the Bb+s</font></i><font size="2">, vol. vi, 1896, pp. 314 21, <i>Bah'ullh's last words</i>, vol. vii, 1892, pp. 193-203; <i>The author of the history known under the name of "Tr+kh-i Manukch+</i>,<i>" or "Tr+kh-i Jad+d"</i>, vol. viii, 1893, pp. 33 45. Toumansky maintained a correspondence on the subject of their mutual interest with E. G. Browne, see the latter's <i>Tr+kh-i jad+d</i>, pp. xxxiii, lii and passim, and the review of the <i>Kitb-i aqdas</i> in <i>JRAS</i>, 1900, pp. 354-7. Among Toumansky's other works may be quoted: <i>Note on the Kitb-i Qorqud</i>, in <i>Zap. Vost. Otd.</i>, vol. ix, 1895, pp. 268-72; the interesting report on his journey in Persia <i>From the Caspian sea to the Hormuz strait</i> in 1894, SPb. 1896; a translation of Abul-Ghz+'s <i>Pedigree of the Turkomans</i>, Askhabad 1897; <i>A survey of the vilyats of Erzerum and Bitlis</i>, Tiflis 1909; <i>The Arabic language and Caucasian studies</i>, Tiflis 1911. </font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="ix 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> On M+rz Abul Fad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">l see E. G. Browne's <i>Tr+kh-i jad+d</i>, Index.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="ix 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2. </b><i>Zapiski Vost. Otd.</i>, x, 1896 (printed in 1897), pp. 121-37: <i>The newly discovered Persian geographer of the 10th century and his reports on the Slavs and the Rks</i>. In the same number of the <i>Zapiski</i> appeared the text of Barthold's opening lecture at the St. Petersburg University, held on 8 April 1896.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="ix 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3. </b>So I was informed by Mme. Toumansky. In fact he published only the fragments on Samarqand (in the Russian</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>x&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">With the owner&#39;s permission a photograph of the manuscript was taken in Si. Petersburg in 1894, and Karon V. R. Rosen copied the whole of the text with his own hand. Both the photograph and the copy were left in the possession of the Musée Asiatique ot the Russian Academy and Toumansky very liberally allowed other Russian scholars to make use of single passages having special interest to them. V. A. Zhukovsky was thus able to utilize the passage relative to Marv in his standard description ot that province (see note to § 23, 37.). V. V. Barthold quoted extensively from the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-' in his early <i>Report on a Scientific Mission to Central Asia</i> (1897), then in his famous <i>Turkestan</i> (1900), in his <i>History of Irrigation in Turkestan</i> (1914), and occasionally in many other of his books and articles. <a href="#x 1.">[1]</a> After Toumansky&#39;s death he published the fragment on Tibet (see notes to § 11) and summarized the contents of the chapter on G+ln (see notes to § 32, 35.). </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Nevertheless, in Western Europe very little was known about the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-', and J. Marquart who had access only to the quotations found in Toumansky's article (<i>ZVO</i>, 1896), in Barthold's <i>Report</i>, and in Westberg's <i>Beiträge</i> (<i>v.i.</i> p. 427), several times expressed his regret that the MS. still remained unpublished. <a href="#x 2.">[2]</a> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">On 13 December 1921 in a Russian paper edited in Paris I published an obituary notice of the head of the Bah'+ community 'Abbs Efendi (d. in&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">aifa, 28 November 1921). In it I mentioned both E. G. Browne's and A. G. Toumansky's close connexion with the representatives of the faith preached by the Bb and the Bah'-allh. My article happened to be read in Constantinople by Madame Toumansky who hastened to communicate to me the sad news of her husband's death (in Constantinople, 1 December 1920) asking me in the meantime for advice as to his MSS. which remained in her possession and with which, in view of the circumstances, she was obliged to part. The&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. was among them, and soon after the precious MS. was on my desk in Paris. Madame Toumansky fully realized the intense interest taken in Russia in the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-' and the amount of work already done on it. I offered to communicate with the Leningrad Academy, and when a favourable answer came, through the late S. F. Oldenburg (d. 28. ii. 1934), she most generously agreed to repatriate the MS. to Russia, though more advantageous conditions could have been obtained elsewhere. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Paper <i>Okraina</i>, 2 May 1893) and on the Burt</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">s-Bardhs (as a supplement to A.V. Markov, <i>Russo-Mordovan relations</i>, Tiflis 1914, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 462). <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="x 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> C.f. p. 169.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="x 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> See for instance <i> Streifzüge</i>, 1903, pp. xxx-xxxi, 172, note 4; <i>Komanen</i>, 1914, p. 37.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br><i>The Translator's Preface</i>&nbsp; xi </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Some time later we had the satisfaction of hearing that the publication of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. was being undertaken by V. V. Barthold. By March 1930 the plates reproducing the 78 pages of the original, as well as 32 pages of <i>Preface</i> and 11 pages of <i>Index</i>, were printed, but for some technical reasons the publication of the book met with delay. On 18 August 1931 Barthold wrote to me that the difficulties were being overcome, but this letter reached me in London an hour after I had read in <i>The Times</i> the two lines which came like a blow, announcing the death of the great historian on August 19. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Barthold had not the satisfaction of seeing in final form the work which had been a companion of all his scientific life. The now posthumous book appeared in the editions of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. under the title: <br><img SRC="xi_1.jpg" height=50 width=568> 1930. </font> <p>&nbsp;<p> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="III."></a><b>3. THE TRANSLATOR'S TASK</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">In the concluding words of his <i>Preface</i> (<i>v.i.</i> p. 32) Barthold says that his chief reason for abandoning the idea of giving a complete translation of the manuscript was the "great number of geographical names, of which the reading remains unknown". Probably for the same reason the text was not printed but photographically reproduced. As regards the Persian original, such a procedure can only meet with our full approval, for the risks of publishing such a complicated text from a single manuscript would be too great, and a printed text would never replace the paleographically very important original in doubtful places. <a href="#xi 1.">[1]</a> As already mentioned the MS. is written in a script clear enough and yet in some places presenting considerable difficulties. Barthold (letter of 5. iii. 1930) was ready to admit with regard to the photographic reproduction of the MS. that "it would not be an edition in the proper sense, and orientalists who had no great experience in the reading of Muslim MSS. would feel disappointed". In such circumstances, many people interested principally in the geographical contents of the book were likely to be hampered by the character of the script, while Barthold's <i>Preface</i>, though extremely valuable, is far from exhausting the problems raised by the text. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">I have decided therefore to take a resolute step in rendering this <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype" size="2"><a NAME="xi 1."></a><b>1.</b> Lately Sayyid Jall al-d+n Tehrn+ has, more or less successfully, printed the text of the&nbsp;H<font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font>.-'., together with that of Part III of the <i>Tr+kh-i Jihn-gush</i>, as an annex (!) to his Calendary (<i>gh-nma</i>) for the Persian year 1314 (= A.H. 1353-4 = A.D. 1935), Tehran 1352. TheH<font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font>.-'. occupies pages 1-114 and on pp. 115-49 Barthold's Index is reproduced. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xii&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">important tenth-century text more accessible to the public, by translating the whole of the Persian original and by supplementing it with a translation of Barthold's Russian <i>Preface</i> and with my own detailed commentary. <a href="#xii 1.">[1]</a> Lacunae and uncertainties are inevitable in such an enterprise, but only the sieve of translation is capable of separating what is clear from what remains doubtful. I only hope that my work will stimulate a further examination of the respective chapters by Turcologists, Indianists, Byzantologists, and other specialists. The present book comprises the following parts: </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">1. A translation of V. V. Barthold's Russian <i>Preface</i>. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">2. A complete translation of the Persian text of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-lam</i>. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">3. My commentary on the text, disposed in the order of the chapters. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">4. Appendices containing remarks on the marginal notes, the language of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'., &amp;c., as well as a <i>Glossary</i> of the rare and less usual words and expressions. <a href="#xii 2.">[2]</a> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">5. A Romanized <i>Index</i> based on my translation and consequently differing in a number of transcriptions from Barthold's <i>Index</i> (in Arabic characters). It also serves my Commentary. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My translation of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. (Part II) follows the Persian text strictly and literally. I do not even say "wood" when the original speaks of "trees". In a unique manuscript of one of the earliest prose works of Persian literature, [3] older than the <i>Shh-nma</i>, every word and turn of phrase is interesting and I have made a very liberal use of Romanized quotations with the double object of elucidating the difficult and doubtful readings and of affording a means of control. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> P. Pelliot in his note on Barthold's edition of the&nbsp;</font></font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><font size=-1>.-'. in <i>T'oung-Pao</i>, 1931, No. i, p. 133, writes: &quot;Puisque l&#39;ouvrage est enfin accessible il faut espérer qu&#39;un iraniste donnera en caractères typographiques une édition critique des sections concernant l&#39;Asie Centrale et Orientale, et lui adjoindra une traduction annotée.&quot;</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xii 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> [For some imperious material reasons only the Appendix on the marginal notes could be incorporated in the present volume. The rest will be published as an article in the <i>Bull. of the School of Oriental Studies.</i> Cf. however, even now Index E.] (See now <i>BSOAS</i>, vol. xvii, 1955, p. 250-27.)</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xii 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> The ancient Preface to the <i>Book of Kings</i>, 346/957; Bal'am+'s translation of&nbsp;</font></font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">T</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font size=-1 face="Palatino Linotype">abar+'s <i>History</i>, 352/963; translation of&nbsp;</font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">T</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font size=-1 face="Palatino Linotype">abar+'s <i>Commentary</i> on the Qor'n by a group of Transoxanian scholars, under Man</font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">s</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font size=-1 face="Palatino Linotype">kr b. Nk</font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">h</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font size=-1 face="Palatino Linotype"> who reigned 350-65/961-75, mentioned in Mu</font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">h</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font size=-1 face="Palatino Linotype">ammad Qazv+n+'s Preface to <i>Marzubn-nma</i>, p.&nbsp;<img SRC="xii_1.jpg" height=22 width=22 align=ABSBOTTOM> [cf. also E. G. Browne's description of another very archaic <i>Commentary</i> in the Cambridge University Library, <i>JRAS</i>, 1894, pp. 417-524]; Abk Nasr&nbsp;</font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><font size=-1>asan b. 'Al+ Qum+, <i>Kitb-i mudhkil dar 'ilm-i nujkm</i>, 365/975, see W. Ahlwardt, <i>Verzeichnis d. arab. Handschr.</i>, Berlin, 1893, v, 149,&nbsp; No. 5663 [I owe the reference to my friend S. H. Taqi-zadeh]; the first edition of the <i>Shh-nma</i>, 384/994. As Shaykh Mu</font></font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">h</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><font size=-1>ammad Qazv+n+ tells me (30.VI.1936), Abk Man</font></font><font size=-1><font face="Palatino Linotype">s</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font></font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><font size=-1>kr Muvaffaq al-d+n 'Ali Harav+'s <i>Kitb al-adwiya</i> can hardly pretend to the same antiquity, for the scribe's entry on the back of the book of suggests that the author was still alive in 447/1055.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br><i>The Translator's Preface</i>&nbsp;&nbsp; xiii </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Practically all the rarer words and expressions figure in my translation. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">I have numbered all the chapters of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. (§§ 1-61), and, within every single chapter, all the separate items which in the original appear in red ink (these latter numbers being followed by a dot: 1. 2. 3., &amp;c.). This system of chapter and verse has proved of great convenience for quotations and cross-references. </font> <p>&nbsp;<p> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="IV."></a><b>4. THE COMMENTARY: EXPLANATION OF THE TEXT</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The object of my Commentary (Part III) is twofold: (a) to explain the text by identifying the places and names mentioned in it, and (b) to ascertain the sources of the book. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My explanation of the less interesting chapters, such as the middle zone of Islm (§§ 27-31 and 33-4, cf. p. 223) is very brief and only checks the names, locates the places, and gives the immediate parallels. On the contrary, whenever the text contains traces of some new information I have done my utmost to elucidate the question in the light of all accessible data, using by preference the sources contemporary with, and older than the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. Of the slightly younger works I constantly quote B+rkn+ (inclusive of his <i>Canon</i>, Br. Mus. Or. 1997), Gard+z+(containing a number of invaluable parallels to the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'.) and Mah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mkd al-Kshghari. Having myself experienced great difficulties in finding the explanations of the names and facts relating to territories as different as China and Spain, India and the Volga Bulghrs, I could not help bearing in mind the interests of the readers who cannot be satisfied with mere references to doubtful passages in the sources and to little accessible works. Therefore at the beginning of the chapters (especially those on India, China, Tibet, the Turks, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe) I have not only prefixed brief indications of authorities and literature, but summed up the present-day situation of the question, comprising tentative hypotheses and doubtful points, and have made my personal suggestions supplementing or modifying my predecessors' views. Though my definite object has been to comment on the particular geographical work written in a.d. 982 and conspicuous for its well-balanced brevity, my commentary may eventually prove of more general utility as covering the whole field of the <i>Orbis Terrarum Musulmanis notus</i> <a href="#xiii 1.">[1]</a> and making <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> Le Strange's excellent book <i>The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate</i>, 1905, describes only the countries between Asia Minor and Transoxiana; P. Schwarz's amazingly full <i>Iran im Mittelalter</i> (in progress since 1896), covers only Persia. See my reviews of these books <i>resp</i>. in <i>BSOS</i>, vi/3, 1931, pp. 802-3, and <i>Journ. As</i>., July 1932, pp. 175-9. For the rest of the lands the information is very scattered. It is to be hoped that a translation of the <i>BGA</i> carried out, on the initiative of G. Ferrand, by a group of French Arabists, will see the light before long.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xiv&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">a point of referring to the special sources and to recent investigations. <a href="#xiv 1.">[1]</a> I have used notes and references very liberally in order to show respect for my predecessors' opinions and to lay stress on the great fellowship of the living and dead by whose efforts the fabric of our knowledge has been reared. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">In studying the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. and in preparing the Commentary it has been my particular endeavour not to lose sight of geographic realities. I hope that my sketch maps illustrating the less known regions will be found useful by all those who like myself had to toil through the wonderful works of Barthold <a href="#xiv 2.">[2]</a> and Marquart, <a href="#xiv 3.">[3]</a> unaccompanied by such graphic aids. I take this occasion to say in pious gratitude what I owe to these two great scholars who by their contributions (so different in method, yet equally admirable as results) have shed light on numberless points of Muslim historical geography. </font> <p>&nbsp;<p> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="V."></a><b>5. THE COMMENTARY: THE SOURCES OF THE&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'.</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The second object of the commentary has been to ascertain the sources of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. Our geographer was evidently but a "cabinet scholar" and not a traveller. Only in the description of Gkzgnn (§ 23, 47.), and maybe of G+ln (§ 32, 24.-5.), does the text reflect some personal experience. For the rest, the information evidently depends on other people&#39;s materials, which seem to have been of two classes, <i>viz</i>. books, <a href="#xiv 4.">[4]</a> and any other information coming under the rubrics of <i>ydhkird-i&nbsp;h</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ak+mn</i> "memories of the sages" (f. 2a<sub>2</sub>), <a href="#xiv 5.">[5]</a><i>akhbr</i> "information [heard]" (cf. f. 13b<sub>3</sub>: <i>ba-akhbr-h ba-shan+d+m</i>), or simply <i>dhikr</i> "mention" (f. 12a<sub>2</sub>). There is no indication in the text as to which particular details were derived from non-literary sources, unless we <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiv 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> Comprising works in Russian, very insufficiently known in Western Europe. [On the as yet unedited sources cf. p. 480.]</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiv 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> Barthold's (15.xi.1869-19.v+.1930) bibliography comprises over 300 titles of books and articles. See Umniakov, <i>V. V. Barthold, on the occasion of 30th year of his professorship</i> (in Russian) in <i>Bulletin de l&#39;Université de l&#39;Asie Centrale</i>, 1926, No. 14. pp. 175-202; Milius Dostoyevsky, <i>W. Barthold zum Gedächtnis</i>, in <i>Die Welt des Islam</i>, xii, Heft 3, 1931, pp. 89-135; Th. Menzel, <i>Versuch einer Barthold-Bibliographie</i>, in <i>Der Islam</i>, xxi (1933), pp. 236-42, xxii 2 (1934), pp. 144-61.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiv 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> See V. Minorsky, <i>Essai de bibliographie de J. Markwart </i>[<i>Marquart</i>] (9.vii.1864-4.ii.1930), in <i>Journal Asiatique</i>, October 1930, t. ccxvii, pp. 313-24 [where the obituary and bibliographic notices by G. Messina, H. H. Schäder, &amp;c. are quoted],</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiv 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> <i>Kitb-h-yi p+shinagn</i> "books of the predecessors", folios 2a<sub>1</sub> and 13b<sub>3</sub>; or simply "books", folios 4a<sub>19</sub>, 9a<sub>9</sub> (concerning the Kucha river). Under 11b<sub>18</sub>&nbsp; <i>kitb-h va akhbr-h</i> are clearly distinguished.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xiv 5."></a><font size=-1><b>5.</b> I see that the reading <i>ydhkird</i> has been accepted also in the text of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. printed in Tehran, p. 4 (contrary to Barthold, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 31, note 1).</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br><i>The Translator's Preface</i>&nbsp;&nbsp; xv </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">include in this category the above-mentioned details regarding Gkzgnn and G+ln. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Abul-Fad</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">l Gulpyagni (<i>v.s.</i>, p. ix) made an interesting suggestion in taking the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. for "a Preface to a Map". In several passages, in fact (folios 5b<sub>11</sub>, 8b<sub>10</sub>, 25b<sub>13</sub>, 33b<sub>16</sub>, 37a<sub>15</sub>), our author mentions a Map prepared by himself, which was certainly more than a simple illustration of the text. We know, for example, that on it were shown the stages between Rukhud and Multn (<i>v.i.</i>, p. 121) of which there is no mention in the text. A close scrutiny of the text has convinced me that in numerous places the peculiar order of enumeration is a result of "reading off the Map", <a href="#xv 1.">[1]</a> often without any regard for the natural divisions of territories, ranges of mountains, watersheds and roads. <a href="#xv 2.">[2]</a> This discovery has facilitated the explanation of numerous passages in the text. It appears then that the Map was compiled before the text, and if so, we cannot help inferring that the author worked on the basis of some previous MAP which we must consider as one of the important sources for his compilation. In his Preface (<i>v.i.</i>, p. 18, note 5) Barthold suggests that Balkh+'s book may have been only an explanation of Abk Ja'far al-Khzin's maps. The latter (in a more or less modified <a href="#xv 3.">[3]</a> form) may have been worked upon by our author as well. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The improvement due to him personally seems to be in the first place a clearer division of the chart into "limited areas" with rigorously indicated frontiers, as recapitulated in the description of each single country. Even the title of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"><i>udkd al-lam</i> indicates the importance which our author attached to this task. In the better known countries the problem presented no difficulty, though in the eastern region beginning with Khorsn the bearings <a href="#xv 4.">[4]</a> usually show some error, mostly as if the author took the north-east or east for the north (cf. notes to §§ 7, 4., 12 [p. 270], 17, 23, 24, 25, 48, &amp;c.). This is a common mistake with Muslim geographers, cf. Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">., 253, quoted on p. 351, and may be partly due to the difference between the places where the sun rises and goes down in summer and in winter. <a href="#xv 5.">[5]</a> <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xv 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> A striking example is offered by the themes of the Byzantine empire, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 420, line 32.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xv 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> <i>V.i.</i>, pp. 239, 338, 376, 392 (§ 33, 11.), 394, 414 (especially § 38, 15.). On the contrary in some places the enumeration follows the roads, as quite clearly appears from a comparison with Gard+z+'s parallels, <i>v.i.</i> p. 229, 260; cf. also pp. 251, 289, 293, 363, 380, 382, 391. [Cf. Index E: <i>Map</i>.]</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xv 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> By Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">akhr+, at least in such regions as Frs? Cf. I.H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">., 236 [<i>V.i.</i> p. 381, 1.16.]</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xv 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> Cf. Index E: <i>bearings</i>.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xv 5."></a><font size=-1><b>5.</b> Reinaud, <i> Géographie d&#39;Abulféda</i>, i, (Introduction générale), pp. cxcii-iii: &quot;Les Arabes, pour désigner le sud-est, disent quelquefois <i>l'orient d'hiver</i>, et pour indiquer le nord-est, <i>l&#39;orient d&#39;été</i>; de même, pour marquer le nord-ouest, ils se servent des mots <i>occident d&#39;été</i>, et pour&nbsp; dire le sud-ouest <i>d'occident d'hiver</i>." Cf. the <i>Qor'n</i>, lv, 16, where the "two Orients" and "two Occidents" are mentioned. [<i>V.i.</i> p. 285, I. 4: <i>mashriq-i&nbsp;s</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ayf+</i>.]</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xvi&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Perhaps also the confusion of the qibla with the south, natural in the Middle East but very misleading farther east, accounts for the irregularities in our text. <a href="#xvi 1.">[1]</a> In the less-known territories, the author would have been wiser not to have tried to be too precise and to have left due latitude to the imagination. He, however, wanted to force his data into map form and this is the reason of such blunders as his location of the <i>V.n.nd.r</i> and <i>Mirvt&nbsp;</i> explained in the notes to §§ 46 and 53, as well as of his vagaries about the Pechenegs and Qipchaqs (§§20-1). He has fallen a victim to the desire for cartographic accuracy. Moreover, with the sole exception of the Pechenegs, <a href="#xvi 2.">[2]</a> he did not distinguish between the historical moves of the tribes and the different forms of their names. This is particularly felt in the north-western corner of the Black Sea (see notes to § 22, § 42, 16. and 18. and §§ 45, 46, 53). </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Whatever the influence of the Map on the Text, the latter, as it stands, certainly forms a complete description of the world known to the Muslims in the 10th century a.d. In spite of the vague references to the "books", <i>akhbr</i>, &amp;c., the number of the original sources at the disposal of our author cannot have been considerable. We must certainly make due allowance for the fact that earlier data were transcribed by later authors, and not necessarily imagine, for example, that our author had a direct knowledge of Aristotle and Ptolemy (in Khuwrizm+'s <i>rifacimento</i>?), who are the only authorities quoted by name (<i>resp.</i> fol. 2a <i>ult.</i>, 4a<sub>20</sub>, and 5a<sub>9</sub>). <a href="#xvi 3.">[3]</a> With this reservation, we may enumerate our author's more obvious authorities as follows: </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (a) IBN KHURDDHBIH, as appears from the paragraphs on China (§ 4, 9.), on Khkzistn (§ 30, 7. and 8.), on the Byzantine Empire (§ 42, as well as the points in §§ 3, 5, 6 mentioned on p. 419), on Nubia (§ 59), and the Skdn (§ 60). Possibly the text of I.Kh. which was at our author&#39;s disposal was more complete than that reproduced in <i>BGA</i>, vi. As the names of the kings of Nubia and the Skdn are quoted after I.Kh., one may surmise that other curious details on Africa (cf. §§ 59, 60) also belong to the same author (v.i, p. 476, line 33). However, according to Maq., 41, I.Kh.&#39;s work was sometimes confused with that of Jayhn+, and as the reason of this confusion was that Jayhn+ incorporated I.Kh.'s data, <a href="#xvi 4.">[4]</a> it is quite possible that echoes from I.Kh. penetrated into the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. indirectly through Jayhn+. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvi 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> In § 4, 33. Sardinia is located to the south of <i>Rkmiya</i>. Has Sardinia been confused with Sicily?</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvi 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> Cf. also § 13, 1., § 15, 12.-13.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvi 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> Cf. also § 8, 5. &quot;the Greeks&quot;.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvi 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> Maq., 271: <i>idh na<img SRC="z_t.jpg" height=18 width=10 align=ABSBOTTOM>arta f+ kitbi-'l-Jayhniyyi wajadtahu qad ih</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">taw 'al jam+'i as</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">li Ibn Khurddhbih</i>.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xvii&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (b) Some unknown work which was also utilized by I. Rusta, Bakr+, Gard+z+, 'Auf+, &amp;c., <a href="#xvii 1.">[1]</a> and which is usually identified with Abk 'Abdillh Muh</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">ammad b. Ah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mad JAYHN*'s lost <i>Kitb al-mamlik wal-maslik</i>. <a href="#xvii 2.">[2]</a> The risk of exaggerating the importance of an unknown source is, of course, obvious and Barthold's cautious remarks, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 25, must be kept in mind. However, according to the additional passage in the Constantinople MS. of Maq., <i>BGA</i>, iii, 4, Jayhn+'s work was in seven volumes and this great bulk made it possible for later authors to select from the book different details. <a href="#xvii 3.">[3]</a> This may be the explanation of the fact that the peoples <i>V.n.nd.r</i> and <i>Mirvt&nbsp;</i> figure only in the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. and Gard+z+. The rare reports quoted by name in I. Rusta (<i>e.g.</i> Abk 'Abdillh b. Ish</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">q on India, v.i., pp. 235 and 241, <a href="#xvii 4.">[4]</a> and Hrkn b. Yah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">y on the Byzantine Empire and the Balkans, <i>v.i.</i>, pp. 320, 419, 468) may have been originally collected by Jayhn+. Through him may have been transmitted even the echoes of Khuwrizm+<a href="#xvii 5.">[5]</a> and Sulaymn-the-Merchant, <a href="#xvii 6.">[6]</a> found sporadically in our text. Some of Jayhn+'s written sources (Tam+m b. Bah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">r's complete report?) may be responsible for the details about China which point to a time before the middle of the 9th century a.d. (<i>v.i.</i>, pp. 26 and 227). </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Jayhn+'s personal position gave him excellent opportunities for collecting independent intelligence. When during the minority of Nas</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">r b. Ah</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">mad he became vaz+r (in 301/913-14) "he wrote letters to all the countries of the world and he requested that the customs of every court and <i>d+vn</i> should be written down and brought to him, such (as existed in) the Byzantine empire, Turkistn, Hindkstn, China, 'Irq, Syria, Egypt, Zanj, Zbul, Kbul, Sind, and Arabia". After having examined the reports he retained for observance in Bukhr whatever he found suitable, see Gard+z+-M. N<img SRC="z_t.jpg" height=18 width=10 align=ABSBOTTOM>im, pp. 28-9. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> Particularly with regard to Eastern Europe.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> On Jayhn+ see Marquart, <i>Streifzüge</i>, xxxi-xxxii and passim, Barthold, <i>Turkestan</i>, pp. 11-12, and <i>Preface</i>, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 23, cf. also S. Janicsek, <i>Al-Djaihni's lost 'Kitb al-Maslik val-mamlik'</i>. <i>Is it to be found at Mashhad</i>? in <i>BSOS</i>, v/1, 1926, pp. 14-25. [We now know that the rumour about the discovery of Jayhn+'s work in Mashhad was premature.]</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> According to the <i>Fihrist</i>, p. 154, Ibn al-Faq+h "borrowed (data) from the books of various authors and plundered (<i>salakha</i>) Jayhn+'s book." However I.F.'s text as published in <i>BGA</i>, v, has been of almost no use for the explanation of the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. Cf. <i>infra</i>, p. 182, on <i>K.rkh</i> (*<i>Karch</i>?), and p. 480.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> Though some of his details seem to have been known to I.Kh., <i>v.i.</i>, p. 27, note 2.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 5."></a><font size=-1><b>5.</b> Cf. note to § 6, 16. as well as the Ptolemaic data in § 3, 6. and 8., § 4, 1.-4., 18., 20.-3., 26., § 9, 12., several of which are also found in I. Rusta who was perhaps the earliest among those who made use of Jayhn+'s book.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xvii 6."></a><font size=-1><b>6.</b> The relation of Sulaymn to I.Kh. is still obscure (<i>v.i.</i>, p. 236 <i>ult.</i>). In <i>T'oung-Pao</i>, 1922, pp. 399-413, Pelliot cast doubt on the authenticity of Sulaymn's travels.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xviii&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">Maq., pp. 3-4, says that Jayhn+ "assembled foreigners, questioned them on the kingdoms, their revenues, the kind of roads leading to them, also on the height of the stars and the length of the shadows in their land, in order in this wise to facilitate the conquest of provinces, to know their revenues, &amp;c. . . . He divided the world into seven climes <a href="#xviii 1.">[1]</a> and assigned a star to each. Now he speaks of stars and geometry, anon of matters which are of no use to the mass of people, now he describes Indian idols, now he relates the wonders of Sind, now he enumerates taxes and revenues. I myself have seen that he mentions also little-known stations and far-distant halting-places. He does not enumerate provinces, nor forces, he does not describe towns. . . . On the other hand, he speaks of the roads to east, west, north, and south, together with a description of the plains, mountains, valleys, hillocks, forests, and rivers found thereon. Consequently the book is long, yet he neglected most of the military roads, as well as the description of the chief towns." <a href="#xviii 2.">[2]</a> We may then attribute personally to Jayhn+ many interesting items in our book on the Farther East <a href="#xviii 3.">[3]</a> and the Turkish tribes. The data on the Turks living round the Issik-kul (§ 12) reflect the complete disintegration of the former dominions of the Türgish, and even the latter&#39;s successors the Khallukh seem to be under pressure from the south by the Yaghm (future Qar-khnids). In some details we may even recognize traces of Jayhn+'s interested curiosity to which Maq. alludes (cf. <i>infra</i>, p. 270). Some Arabic forms of names (§ 10, 45. and 46., § 15, 9., § 17, i., § 42, 17.) may also be due to Jayhn+'s original text. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (c) IS</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">T</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">AKHR* (&lt; Balkh+) is without doubt the source most systematically utilized in the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. The chapters on the countries between the Indus and the Mediterranean are practically a mere abridgement of Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">., sometimes with a verbatim translation of details, <i>v.i.</i>, p. 21. For my commentary I first of all compared the text with <i>BGA</i>, i, and in cases of coincidence made no further references to parallel texts. As the names of places in Iranian and Caucasian regions have a distinctly iranicized form <a href="#xviii 4.">[4]</a> one would infer that Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">. was used in a Persian translation. Several points in Central Asia have parallels only in IbnH</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">auqal (<i>BGA</i>, ii) and Maqdis+ (<i>BGA</i>, iii). However, our author could not have utilized I.H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">., as otherwise we should find in the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. traces of I.H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.&#39;s original chapters, such as those on Africa and Spain (cf. §§ 40 and 41). Probably, therefore, the addi- <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xviii 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> On this point our author totally disregards Jayhn+, for the only passing reference to a  clime is found in our text in&nbsp; § 5, 2.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xviii 2."></a><font size=-1><b>2.</b> Cf. Barthold, <i>Turkestan</i>, p. 12.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xviii 3."></a><font size=-1><b>3.</b> Cf. the reference to the  books with regard to the Kuchch river, § 6, 4.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xviii 4."></a><font size=-1><b>4.</b> Cf. Index E.</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xix&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">tional items on Transoxiana, &amp;c. existed in the original Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">. and were preserved both by I.H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype"> and the&nbsp;H</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">.-'. As regards Maq. even the earliest date in his book precludes the possibility of its use by our author. <a href="#xix 1.">[1]</a> Consequently in cases of coincidence we have to suppose that Maq., too, <i>BGA</i>, <i>5a</i> (Const. MS.), utilized some additional passages in Balkh+ > Is</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">t</font><font face="Arial Unicode MS">#</font><font face="Palatino Linotype">., which were also available in our author's copy. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (d) More than problematic is the influence of MAS'jD* on our author. Apart from the dubious case of the two &quot;Artush&quot; rivers (§ 6, 41. and 42.), a conspicuous parallelism is found in the chapters on Shirvn (mountain <i>Niyl </i>!), Daghestan, and the northern Caucasus (§§ 35-6, 48-9), but our author adds several details not found elsewhere and we should rather assume that he utilizes a source of which Mas&#39;kd+ possessed only an abstract. Possibly the same source is responsible for the interesting details on G+ln. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (e) Very curious are a few original points on Arabia. One might suppose (<i>v.i.</i>, p. 411) that some of them are due to an early knowledge of HAMDN*'s <i>Jaz+rat al-'arab</i> but even Hamdn+ does not seem in account for all of them. Do they, like some details on the African lands, belong to the more complete I.Kh., or to some unknown <i>Book of Marvels</i>? </font> <p> <hr WIDTH="60%"> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="VI."></a><b>6. LOYALTIES</b> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My thanks go first to the Trustees of the Gibb Memorial who in 1931 accepted my work for inclusion in their series, Sir E. D. Ross, with his usual kindness, acting as my sponsor. To the latter, as well as to my friends Prof. R. A. Nicholson, Prof. H. A. R. Gibb, Dr. A. S. Trilton, and Dr. (now Prof.) H. W. Bailey I am deeply obliged for their great help in checking my copy. Dr. W. Simon has kindly tried in unify my transcription of Chinese names though he certainly is not responsible for any eventual mistakes in cases where the Chinese original was not available. I hope my memory has not played me false in thanking in the text the numerous scholars of many lands who readily answered my queries on matters within their competence. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My dedication confirms the debt of gratitude which I have contracted towards the great Persian scholar who during the fifteen years of our friendship has been lavish in his aid to me in hundreds of my perplexities. My long, frequent and always instructive conversations with him constitute one of the very pleasant recollections of my life. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a NAME="xix 1."></a><font size=-1><b>1.</b> See de Goeje in <i>BGA</i>, iv, p. vi: Maq. himself, p. 8, dates his preface A.H. 375/985 but certain passages point to the years 377 and even 387/997 (p. 288r).</font> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype"><img SRC="line_down.gif" height=18 width=596> <br>xx&nbsp;&nbsp; <i>The Translator's Preface</i> </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My commentary would never have been written without the extensive use of the treasures of the British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the School of Oriental Studies, and the École des Langues Orientales. The latter&#39;s librarian Mile Renié (now Mme Meuvré) very kindly allowed me to keep for long periods great numbers of books not found elsewhere. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">I must thank Dr. John Johnson, Printer to the University of Oxford, and his staff and collaborators who have so successfully overcome the difficulties of a text bristling with difficult names, references and quotations. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">My wife helped me with the translation of Barthold's Preface, prepared about 4,500 cards of the Index and several times typed out the revised text of my manuscript (some of the chapters four and five times!). <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">The printing of my book has extended over a period of three years, during which time many more sources have been consulted by me, and many more materials collected. Even Barthold's <i>Vorlesungen</i>, in Prof. Menzel's excellent edition, became available only when the whole text had been set up. Wherever possible I have introduced the requisite additions, but it must be borne in mind that the date of my Preface is not that of my text. By the end of June 1936 my commentary was in page proofs and no further important alterations were possible. Some additional notes will be found in Appendix B. </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">V. MINORSKY <br>10 December 1936. <br>&nbsp; </font> <p><font face="Palatino Linotype">[<a href="hud_contents.html">Previous</a>] [<a href="hud_dates.html">Next</a>] <br>[<a href="index.html">Back to Index</a>] </font> </body> </html>