An Account Of Timbuctoo And Housa Territories In The Interior Of Africa Part 28

[Footnote 231: The Emperors of Marocco, and the Arabian writers in general thus repeat the princ.i.p.al subject of a letter or discourse, to impress it more forcibly on the mind.]

LETTER XI.

_Epistolary Diction used by the Muhamedans of Africa, in their Correspondence with all their Friends who are not of the Muhamedan faith_.

"Praise be to G.o.d alone; for there is neither beginning nor strength without G.o.d, the eternal G.o.d.

"From the servant of the great G.o.d, El Hage Abdrahaman El Fellely, to my friend Consul Jackson, peace be to those who follow the right way, or who pursue the right path; and then, O my friend, I have received your letter, and I have taken good notice of its contents, &c. &c."

The letter, after explaining matters of business, concludes thus:--

"Do not leave me without news from you; and peace be with you, and peace from me to our friend L'hage Muhamed Bu Zeyd; and peace from me to Seed Muham'd bel Ha.s.sen, and to the Fakeer Seed Abdallah, and 405 praise be to G.o.d, I am very well, and prosperous."

"Written 15th day of Shaban, year of the Hejra 1209, (1797, A.C.)"

The style in which letters are addressed is generally as follows:--

"This shall arrive, G.o.d willing, to the hands of Consul Jackson, at Agadeer. May G.o.d prosper it."

LETTER XII.

_Translation of a Letter from the Sultan, Seedi Muhamed Emperor of Marocco, to the Governor of MoG.o.dor_.

"Praise be to G.o.d alone,

"I order my servant Alkaid Muhamed ben Amran, to deliver the treasure and the merchandise to the Christian merchants at MoG.o.dor, which is in the possession of the Jews, Haim Miram, and Meemon ben Isaac Corcos, and others of the Jews, friends of the Christian merchants. G.o.d a.s.sist you, and peace be with you. 23d of the month Jumad Ellule, year of the Hejra 1203.

"By order of the Sultan, empowered by G.o.d. Written by Talb El Huderanie."

The courier who receives the letter is ordered by the minister whom to deliver it to. It is then inclosed in a blank leaf or sheet of paper, without any address, and not sealed. It is presumed, that the courier or messenger will not dare to open it, or discover the contents to any one; such a breach of confidence might cost him his head, if discovered.

406 _Doubts having been made in the Daily Papers, concerning the accuracy of the two following Translations of the Shereef Ibrahim's account of Mungo Park's Death; the following Observations, by the Author, are laid before the Public in elucidation of those Translations_.

The following is a copy of a letter, supposed to be a description of Mungo Park's death; brought to England from Ashantee in Africa, by Mr. Bowdich; and that gentleman a.s.sured me, about six months after his arrival in England, and a few days previous to the publication of his interesting account of a mission to Ashantee, that he had by every means in his power endeavoured, but ineffectually, to get this ma.n.u.script _decyphered_ and translated into English; that he had sent it to several persons, who had retained it in their hands a considerable time, but had returned it without a decypher, or even a complete translation. When delivered into my hands, I transmitted him a _decypher_, and a translation immediately. The following is my translation, which, in that gentleman's account of Ashantee, is coupled with another translation, _not perspicuous, but unintelligible_; for which see Bowdich's "Account of a Mission to Ashantee," Appendix, No. 2.

The original Arabic doc.u.ment, of which I have given a decypher in 407 the work before mentioned, is, (for the information of gentlemen desirous of referring to the same,) deposited in the British Museum. There are also, in the same work on Ashantee, several papers decyphered by me, of certain routes in Africa. Now I think it expedient here, to declare to the public, that whenever the British Government, the Court of Admiralty, or private individuals, have stood in need of translations, and decyphers from the Arabic, they have invariably found it expedient, ultimately, to apply to me for the same, after having, however, endeavoured ineffectually to procure their information at the Universities, the Post Office, and elsewhere: but as this declaration may appear to many incredible, I will mention three instances in elucidation of this my a.s.sertion, which, as they are all on record, will place this fact beyond doubt.

1st. A vessel under Marocco colours, was, during last war, taken by a British cruiser, and sent or brought into Plymouth, or other port, in England. The captain and the ship were detained a considerable time here; the former, at length, whose patience became exhausted, expostulated at his detention, and insisted on being released, if no interpreter in this commercial nation could be found competent to translate his pa.s.sport. _Mr. Slade, an eminent proctor in Doctors' Commons_, then applied to me, after a detention of, I believe, two months, and I translated the pa.s.sport.

408 Mr. Slade very liberally told me, that whatever I chose to charge for this service, which he had _sought in vain to accomplish_, should be gratefully paid. I charged five guineas; and it was instantly paid. The pa.s.sport consisted of two lines and a half.

This was in the Court of Admiralty. Mr. Slade, who is an honourable and respectable man, will of course not hesitate to corroborate the accuracy of this statement.

2d. A letter was written by the present Sultan Soliman, emperor of Marocco, &c. to our late revered sovereign, George III., in a more courteous style than is usual for Muhamedan potentates to write to Christian kings; with liberal offers on the part of the Sultan, courting an augmentation of friendly intercourse, &c. This letter (contrary to the usual courtesy of European courts) was neglected some months, no answer being returned to it. It was sent to the Universities for translation, but ineffectually; then to the Post Office; and, at the expiration of some months, it was accidentally transmitted to me, through the hands of the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer, and I delivered, at the request of that gentleman, a translation of it in English. This letter was ten or fifteen times as long as the pa.s.sport before mentioned, and I charged thirty pounds for the service. But the Treasury thought ten pounds a sufficient remuneration, which I accepted!!

409 This service was rendered to the British government, and I have letters and doc.u.ments in my possession, which corroborate this fact.

3d. Was the translation of an Arabic ma.n.u.script, respecting Mungo Park's death; delivered gratuitously to a private individual, viz.

Mr. Bowdich, before mentioned; to satisfy the curiosity of my country, whose interest was excited respecting the fate of that enterprising and indefatigable African traveller. Mr. Bowdich, who is an honourable man, will undoubtedly confirm the truth of this statement, to any gentleman who may be desirous of ascertaining the fact.

_The Shereef Ibrahim's account of Mungo Park's Death_.

(THE AUTHOR'S TRANSLATION.)

"In the name of G.o.d, the Merciful and Clement!

"This narrative proceeds from the territory in Husa, called Eeaurie or Yeaurie. We observed an extraordinary event or circ.u.mstance, but we neither saw nor heard of the river which is called Kude. And as we were sitting we heard the voice of children; and we saw a vessel, the like to which in size we never saw before. And we saw the king of Eeaurie send cattle and sheep, and a variety of vegetables, in great abundance. And there were two men and one woman, and two slaves; and they tied them in the vessel. There were 410 also in the vessel two white men, of the race called Christians: and the Sultan of Eeaurie called aloud to them, to come out of the vessel, but they would not. They proceeded to the country of Busa, which is greater than that of the Sultan of Eeaurie. And as they were sitting in the vessel, they hung[232], or were stopped by the cape, or head-land of Kude."

[Footnote 232: Probably by an impetuous current.]

"And the people of the sultan of Busa called to them, and poured their arms into the vessel; and the vessel reached the head-land or cliff, and became attached or fixed to the head of the mountain or projection in the river, and could not pa.s.s it. Then the men and women of Busa collected themselves hostilely together, with arms of all descriptions; and the vessel being unable to clear the head-land, the man in the vessel killed his wife, and threw the whole of her property into the river; they then threw themselves into the river through fear. The news of this occurrence was then conveyed to the Sultan Wawee, until it reached, by water, the territory of Kanjee, in the country of the Sultan Wawee. And we buried it in its earth; and one of them we saw not at all in the water. And G.o.d knows the truth of this report from the mouth of the Shereef Ibrahim. The end."

411 OBSERVATION.

After giving the foregoing translation, it behoves me to inform the intelligent reader, that I wrote a letter to Mr. Bowdich, communicating to him my observations on several notes, transmitted to him by Sir William Ouseley, on the ma.n.u.script of which the foregoing is a translation, in which I informed him, that in decyphering the Arabic ma.n.u.script, I had observed the Oriental or Asiatic punctuation; knowing that Mr. Bulmer had not letters with the occidental punctuation. Several observations I made, respecting the Arabic ma.n.u.scripts which could not be elucidated here without the Arabic type. I shall, therefore, omit them, and conclude by observing, that in translating this ma.n.u.script, two gentlemen (Arabic scholars) had translated _akkadan Fie Asfeena_, "two maids in the ship;" which words I have translated, "were tied or bound in the vessel:" the word _akkadan_ being the preterite of the verb _akkad_, to bind. I was not surprised to hear that _one_ translator had made such an interpretation; knowing that incredible errors have been frequently committed by professed Professors in the Hebrew language as well as in the Arabic. But when I heard, as I did, that another Arabic scholar had given a similar interpretation, I must confess that I was not a little surprised.

However, a circ.u.mstance soon after unravelled the mystery; for I discovered that these two gentlemen, at a loss no doubt to 412 ascertain the meaning of _akkadan_, had referred to Richardson's Arabic Dictionary, wherein the word is quoted to signify, in a figurative sense, a virgin. _In a figurative sense!_ In translating an ill-written, illiterate, and ungrammatical ma.n.u.script, these two translators had had recourse to _rhetorical figures_, and actually subst.i.tuted a trope for what was a verb, generally used in the West, signifying "to bind!"

As it has been a.s.serted in the following extract, that my translation of the foregoing ma.n.u.script differs _only in a trifling degree_ from that of Mr. Abraham Salame, I here insert my answer to that a.s.sertion, leaving the intelligent reader to determine, whether they are alike or materially different.

_Extract from The Times, 3d May, 1819_.

MUNGO PARK.

The death of this enterprising traveller is now placed beyond any doubt. Many accounts of it have been received, and although varying as to the circ.u.mstances attending it, yet all agreeing that it has taken place. One statement was given to Mr. Bowdich, while on his mission to the King of the Ashantees, in 1817, by a Moor, who said that he was an eye-witness; and the same gentleman procured an Arabic ma.n.u.script declaratory of Mr. Park's death. This ma.n.u.script has been deposited with the African a.s.sociation, formed for the 413 purpose of extending researches in that part of the world. Two translations have been made of this curious doc.u.ment; one by Mr.

Salame, an Egyptian, who accompanied Viscount Exmouth in his attack on Algiers, as interpreter; and the other by Mr. Jackson, formerly consul at one of the Barbary courts. The following is Mr. Salame's translation, from which, however, _the one by Mr. Jackson only differs in a trifling degree_. The words in italics have been inserted by Mr. Salame, in order to render the reading more perfect, and are not in the original:--

_A literal Translation of a Declaration written in a corrupted Arabic, from the Town of Yaud, in the Interior of Africa_.

"'In the name of G.o.d, the merciful and the munificent. This declaration is issued from the town called Yaud, in the county of Kossa. We (the writer) do witness the _following_ case (statement.) We never saw, nor heard of the sea (river) called Koodd; but we sat to hear (understood) the voice (report) of some persons, _saying_, 'We saw a ship, equal to her we never saw before; and the King of Yaud had sent plenty of every kind of food, with cows and sheep; _there_ were two men, one woman, two male slaves, and two maids in the ship; _the_ two white men _were_ derived from the race (sect) 414 of Na.s.sri (Christ, or Christianity.) The King of Yaud asked them to come out to him (to land); but they refused coming out (landing); and they went to the _King_ of the country of Ba.s.sa, who is greater than the King of Yaud; and _while_ they _were_ sitting in the ship, and gaining a position (rounding) over the Cape of Koodd, and _were_ in society with the people of the King of Ba.s.sa, the ship reached (struck) a head of mountain, which took (destroyed) _her_ away, and the men and women of Ba.s.sa all together, with every kind of arms (goods); and the ship could find no way to avoid the mountain; and the man who _was_ in the ship, killed his wife, and threw all his property into the sea (river), and _then_ they threw themselves _also_, from fear. Afterwards they took one _out of the_ water till the news reached the town of Kanji, the country of the King of Wawi; and the King of Wawi heard of it; he buried him in his earth (grave), and the other we have not seen; perhaps he is in the bottom of the water. And G.o.d knows best.' Authentic from the mouth of Sherif Abraham.--Finis.'

"In addition to the foregoing, another corroboration has been obtained. Lieut. Col. Fitzclarence, when on his voyage down the Mediterranean on board the _Tagus_ frigate, Capt. Dundas, with despatches from the Marquis of Hastings, learnt from the governor to the two sons of the Emperor of Marocco, who had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and were then returning home, that he (Hadjee 415 Tahib) had been at Timbuctoo in 1807, and had heard of _two white_ men, who came from the sea, having been near that place the year before; and that they sold beads, and had no money to purchase grain. This person added, that they went down the _Nile_ to the eastward, and that general report stated that they _died of the climate_. There can be little doubt but the _two white_ men here alluded to were Mr. Park and his companion, Lieutenant Martyn, who were at Sandsanding in Nov. 1805, and could, in the following year, have been near Timbuctoo. Sandsanding is the place from whence the last dispatches were dated by Mr. Park; and Amadi Fatouma, who was his guide afterwards, was sent to learn his fate, and returned with an account of Mr. Park being drowned. The statement of this person was, however, of such a nature as to excite suspicions of its correctness; and hopes were entertained that Mr. Park had not met with such an untimely fate. Fourteen years have now almost elapsed since the date of his last dispatches; and this circ.u.mstance is of itself sufficient to demonstrate, that he is to be added to the catalogue of those who have perished in their attempts to explore the interior of Africa.--_Englishman_."

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH STATESMAN.

Sir;--Seeing in your Paper of yesterday a translation of the Arabic 416 ma.n.u.script respecting Mr. Mungo Park's death, which is deposited with the African a.s.sociation, and _decyphered and transcribed by me_ in Mr. Bowdich's account of a Mission to Ashantee, p. 480, and perceiving that the errors in _that translation_ are thus propagated to the public through the medium of the London Papers; which although perhaps of little consequence to the general reader, yet, as they are of importance to the critic, and to the investigator of African affairs, I shall take the liberty of offering a few observations on the subject.

The following pa.s.sage, in the translation above alluded to, might have pa.s.sed the public eye without animadversion as the language of a foreigner, (as we have understood Mr. Salame to be,) but from the intelligent Editor of a London daily paper, might we not have expected more correct phraseology?[233]

[Footnote 233: "The phrases thus objected to by our learned Correspondent, were contained in the translations furnished to us in common with other papers, and not the language of the Editor. Indeed, this appears to be admitted by our Correspondent himself, in the apparently very just comments he has thus favoured us with.--EDITOR."]

"The ship reached a head of mountain which took her away, and the men and women of Ba.s.sa, altogether with every kind of arms, and the ship could find no way to avoid the mountain."

I have no hesitation in declaring to be incorrect the first two 417 lines of Mr. Abraham Salame's translation, inserted in your paper of yesterday, which runs thus:--

"_This declaration is issued from the town called YAUD, in the country of KOSSA_."

My translation of this pa.s.sage, inserted in Mr. Bowdich's account of a Mission to Ashantee, page 478, runs thus:--

"_This narrative proceeds from the territory in HAUSA called ECAUREE_."