Page 87 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

Hakluyt's description of the Hajj 77
suggests that something has preceded it and that the writer is now
turning to his main theme: ‘Hora per dar principio a ragionar della
Caravana senza la quale non si pu6 andar alia mccca.’
If the manuscript is compared with Hakluyt’s text it becomes
obvious that it was not the one used by the translator. There are
numerous differences in the spelling of proper names and foreign
words, and some differences in meaning, as will appear from the
following table:
MS. Royal 14.A.XV. Hakluyt
Zamazan Ramazan
Bieram Bairam
Amille hoggi Amarilla Haggi (amir aI-frajj)
chiusua gli tinabi Chisva Talnabi (kiswat al-nabiyy)
stalismuni Talismani
Pasca di Zemazan Pascha di Ramazaco
Drueh Bairam Bine Bairam (Biiyiik Bairam)
Rabel Salema Babel Salema

One further instance will suffice. We read that the pilgrim caravan
‘carrieth with it sixe pieces of ordinance drawen by 12 camels to
terrifie the Arabians.’ In the manuscript they are implausibly ‘tirati
da due cavalli’. The manuscript can only be a rather incorrect copy
of part of the one used for the translation.
The manuscript is not dated but there are indirect indications of
the approximate time at which it must have been written. In an
article to which we shall return,5 the late Professor Giorgio Levi
della Vida remarked that a reference to ‘Sultan Soliman grand­
father to Sultan Amurath now Emperor’ implies a date during the
reign of Murad III (1574-1595). There is another clue which he
ignored or, more probably, was unable to exploit under wartime
conditions. The section ‘Of the patriarke of Greece’ begins by
stating that there are two Patriarchs in Cairo, ‘one of the Greekes,
and another of the Jacobites’, by whom must be meant the Greek
Orthodox, ‘Melkite*, and the Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria
respectively. We are then told: ‘The Greeke Patriarke called
Gioechni, being about the age of one hundred and thirteene yeeres,
was a very good and holy man.’ There follows a story of how
‘when Soldan Gauri of Egypt reigned’ (i.e. Qan$uh al-Ghuri,
1500-16), a malevolent Jew had challenged ‘Gioechni’ to drink
poison and see whether Christ would save his life. The Patriarch
had drunk the poison and ‘had none other hurt save that he
became somewhat pale in sight, and so remained ever after.’ He
had then challenged the Jew to drink pure water; he agreed, but
‘having drunke the water, within halfe an houre burst a sunder.’