Page 22 - Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean (before portuguese)_Neat

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32 ARAB NAVIGATION
Najid al-Barraq (J3 Orionis) placed at rhumbs south of east. The
second section of this /aTc/a consists of a bibliography of classical
Arabic works thought to be of use to navigators (see also p. 40)
and this is followed by a section on the months of the Roman year
in the form of a qa$ida. The uses of the planets when influencing the
days of the week in astrology is then given, split into two portions
by a section on Eras and the 1st point of Aries, similar but in more
detail than the section given at the beginning of the third fd'ida. A
few minor points bring this fd'ida to an end and one is tempted to
think that the whole of this fd'ida was written after those that follow,
including all the material omitted from them.
The sixth fa'ida reverts to a specific plan. Here Ibn Majid deals
with the three types of routes, the Dirat al-Mul, the Dirat al-Maflaq
and the Dirat al-Iqtida\ Here he is very concise; first describing
the type of route and then giving examples. However his descriptions
are not noticeably clear and it is only by checking the examples and
a considerable amount of comparison with the texts of Sulaiman
al-Mahri that I have achieved the explanation I have given for these
on p. 273. He has equated the examples of the iqtida’ route with
those usually given for tirfa variations and this adds to the con­
fusion. This fa'ida then concludes with an account of the relative
importance in navigational science between the route, the bearing
and the latitude (qiyas) measurement. This is given in the form of a
conversation between these three “concepts”.
Qiyas measurement is dealt with.in detail in the seventh fa'ida.
The original plan of the first part seems to have been to give the
best latitude measurements according to the culminating lunar
mansion similar to the treatment given to the'third fa'ida. However
the sequence begins at Sa‘d al-Dhabih for no apparent reason
except that this culminates'when the Farqadan are level with the
Pole Star on the west: This original plan like most of Ibn Majid’s
plans has been lost or considerably modified in the text which
follows. Only those mansions are mentioned at whose culmination
important measurements can bemade and only these important
measurements are described. Vega, Sulbar (Achernar), Sirius and
al-Mikh (y Cephei) are mentioned as well as the measurements
taken on the Pole Star, the Plough and the Farqadan, but no real
systematic attempt is made to give.' all the useful positions of the
latter. -Much irrelevant matter is introduced, making the whole
rather more unintelligible. This general theoretical section is really
an introduction to the main part of this fa'ida which consists of
tables of qiyas measurements for places on the coasts of the Indian
Ocean. Unlike the complete tables of Sulaiman al-Mahri which
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THE NAVIGATORS AND THEIR WORKS 33
lists places down each coast at regular intervals, these tables of Ibn
Majid are very irregular and like the other parts of his book are
interspersed with irrelevant information. He begins with qiyas
measurements on the Farqadan, i.e. the middle range of the coasts
from north to south but only including the coasts of the eastern
part of the ocean, i.e. South-East Asia. In this section he occasionally
elaborates on a certain place and often gives variations according
to different races of sailor (Cholas, Gujeratis etc.) with his own
opinion as to the most correct value. After this he returns to measure­
ments taken on the Pole Star, i.e. the northern part of the ocean,
beginning by describing the coasts of Ceylon and then proceeding
to the Bay of Bengal tackling it from north to south and including
the Andaman islands. This section is most incomplete and con­
tinues once again through the Farqadan measurements down the
straits of Malacca as far as the south of Sumatra. Another mental
leap takes the reader back to the Burmese coast in order to give the
route directions from here into Malacca harbour with explicit
directions for crossing the shallows off Selangor. This.whole fa'ida
excluding the introductory theory seems to be a hotchpotch of
already composed (if not written) directions; a miscellany of extracts
taken from tables of latitude measurements and from sailing direc­
tions for set voyages, similar to those given so clearly by Sulaiman
al-Mahri, inserted into each other without a serious thought for the
results. There are no measurements at all for the Arabian Sea or
the coasts of Africa although the west coast of India will be given
in the next chapter. As for the Red Sea, Ibn Majid now proceeds to
give his reasons for not including it in this section.
Finally the chapter reverts to theory, giving an account of the
common failings found when taking qiyas measurements and last of
all, a complete list of bashi values—presumably Ibn Majid’s values
after all the various suggestions mentioned early in-this and the
third fd'idas have been subjected to scrutiny.
Thus in spite of the scrappy nature of thisfa'ida, it remains one
of the most important sections in the book for the geographer or
the historian, one of the most interesting parts for anyone who is
not interested in Ibn Majid’s navigational theory.
The eighth fd'ida begins with the theoretical side of ishdrdt (signs
to look out for, landmarks etc.) and siyasat (policy of the navigator »
and well-being of the ship and its occupants). This information on
how to be a forbearing navigator therefore includes a section on
prayers and Muslim invocations which may be useful in certain
events. The first section on siyasat is .reasonably clear and well-
planned. But immediately afterwards one is struck by the scrappiness
r~