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224 ARAB NAVIGATION
my advice over this but 1 was not able to help him. When he ruled
over Mahra he got rid of his [real] wealth and ruled it (Soqotra) and
when he died his tribe arose and settled there for some years and
branches of the Kings of Shihr drove them out from it for 30 years THE ELEVENTH FATDA
and their relations of the Mahra helped them against Shihr and over Monsoons and connected matters1
came the latter and then Sa‘d b. Mubarak b. Faris ruled over them
after he had besieged it for three complete months while they starved. Seasons for leaving the Arabian coasts
They then brought them out of the fortress of Shihr into their own Know, oh seeker, that we have now commented on everything
land. Hadramaut was at that time ruled by Badr b. Muhammad al- that is necessary for this science and we have not left out anything
Kathiri and they came out and made an alliance with him and those reliable.2 But it is necessary that we should mention the monsoons
that were with him in the year a.h. 894. At the present time the (sailing seasons) in which one is compelled to travel,3 the in
island of Soqotra belongs to Mahra who share it with the Beni tervals of the monsoons, their beginnings and ends, showing
Sulaiman and the Beni ‘Afrar [f. 71 r] who are descended from al- what is not good in each. We will begin with the departures from
Mahra of the Beni Ziyad. These are the large inhabited islands. the Arabian coasts, i.e. from Yemen and Jidda and neighbouring
As for a summary of the greater prosperity in the islands. This places like Bab al-Mandam and the coasts ofZaila' and theTihamah
occurs in five islands. Bahrain, Jurun, Andalus,28 al-Ghur, Silan. and other connected places at the time of the appearance of al-
But Jurun on the coast of Hormuz has the most prosperity and the Simak.4 All of these places are inter-connected, their season de
greatest amount of business for it is a port for the people of Iraq. pending basically on conditions in the Great Sea (Red Sea?). People T.
Andalusia is between the Maghrib and the southern Franks to depart [from all these places] at the beginning of the Dabur wind. %
whom is ascribed the southern island of ZaTaran. al-Sarakisa and The season ends in the 170th day of the year (ca. May 11) in these
al-Qala’ida29 are some way oft'. Bahrain and Silan and al-Ghur; places,5 at the beginning of the storms6 [which reach] as far as
their civilisation has been mentioned before. As for the islands which Hormuz and Qalhat and their borders, for winds vary so much in i ft
are at the end of the world like the islands of Radmiyaniya30 and these regions at these times. However a little later in the season is &
the islands “beyond the wind” there is no accurate information still possible for the man who would sail along the coast to Hormuz; m
about them and their longitudes and latitudes are not accurate and but not for India. Therefore those who depart, around the 200th •W
there is no need to mention them. That is sufficient on the islands. day of the year7 for the coasts of Hormuz and Qalhat, will find it
:m Andalusia has of course noi been mentioned earlier in the chapter.
111 This is stretching the Arabic somewhat, but it is unexplainable otherwise. 1 The word ^1y is missing (copyist’s error?). Note that all dates in this section
The places as they stand do not appear in the classical geographers. I are Gregorian so that they can be compared with the modern year. Julian >
therefore presume that the southern Za'faran is Sicily usually in dates would be nine or ten days earlier for Ibn Majid’s time. \m '■
Arabic and Sarakisa and Qala’ida are Sardinia and Corsica respectively - i.e. which has not a firm foundation.
corrupted \S\_r. for (classical jJ)y and for or 3 Jl j* •
1 This is when Simak rises in the evening, i.e. end of March—beginning of April,
oL-hi (classical
30 Radmiyaniya cannot be identified in the classical geographers. It may be and not the heliacal rising which according to Ibn Majid is the 16th October.
compared to Ptolemy’s Rhadamarkotta in the extreme east. A Reading for j.
u obU-1 The second word is inexplicable as the root is non-existant,
either LaJU- as “pure” or “clear” storms, or i-JL- storms bringing rain if
arc meant. May is one of the driest months in Oman and Hormuz. The rains
are in winter. oLU-1 are breezes and may not necessarily be accompanied h.
by rain and may not be violent. This is the season of the (Jhaimir storms $
which are unpredictable and dangerous to local shipping. “A little later in
the season” in the next sentence is my translation of here: but it is iv
possible that it can be translated as “the same date is also possible . . .” ■t
7 Lit. in the beginning of the 200th day. This is the beginning of June, the winds :
being more steady in June.
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