When he died his son' Subuktigín was named king. He was a Turk, in whom the signs of generosity and courage were apparent, and whose actions and sayings gave proofs of his future prosperity. He was a descendant of Díb Yáwaghúí, who belonged to the house of Ughúz.2

In the reign of Mansúr bin Núh Sámání, during the chamberlainship of Abú Is'hak, Alptigín was appointed commander of the army of Khurásán, and the management of all the affairs (of that country), and the control of all the servants, officers, and troops were entrusted to his care. Afterwards he was sent to Ghazna, and the government of that place was conferred on him. When Abú Is'hak came to Ghazna, after a short time he died, and as there was no one of his family fitted for the sovereignty, all the nobles 3 assembled and, with one accord and by the general voice, consented to the chiefship and sovereignty of Násiru-d dín Subuktigín.

چون وفات یافت پسرش سبکتکین را بپادشاهی قبول بکردند]

2 [In both MSS.—E. I. L. and B. M.-Díb is here called the grandson of Ughúz, but at the beginning of this extract he is called the father, and he was in fact the

Ughúz,

از استخواني فاني از نسل ديب با وقوي که نواده ,grandfather of ghaz

اغوز بود]

3 Ham-kunán, compeers.

24

XI.

TAZJIYATU-L AMSAR WA TAJRIYATU-L ASAR

OF

'ABDU-LLAH, WASSAF.1

[The author of this history, 'Abdu-llah, son of Fazlu-llah, of Shíráz, is commonly known by his literary name Wassáf, the Panegyrist. The title which he has given to his work, “A Ramble through the Regions and the Passing of Ages," is quite in keeping with its florid style. Different readings of the title are common, and, for simplicity's sake, the work is often called Táríkh-i Wassáf. The date of the work, as given in the preface, is the last day of Sha'bán 699 (March 1300), and the first four volumes were published about that time, for Rashídu-d dín borrowed from them, as has been already stated. But Wassáf subsequently resumed his labours, and, adding another volume to his history, brought the work down to the year 728 (1328 A.D.)

Rashidu-d dín, the wazír of Uljáítú and author of the Jámi'u-t Tawarikh, was, as we have seen, more of a compiler than an author, but he had a just appreciation of those from whom he had borrowed, and was ready to acknowledge and requite his obligations. He extended his patronage to 'Abdu-llah, the author of the history before us, and under his auspices the author presented his work to the Sultán Uljáítú on the 24 Muharram

1 [Sir H. Elliot, having lost his Biographical Notice of Wassáf, has left only a few notes which come in at the end of this article. The editor has drawn the first part of the article in great part from D'Ohsson.]

712 (June, 1312). This introduction had been long desired by 'Abdu-llah, and when he obtained it he recited an ode on the succession of the Sultán, and another in praise of his city of Sultániya. These productions were so full of metaphors that the Sovereign was many times obliged to ask for explanations, but in the end he was so gratified that he conferred on the writer a robe of honour and the title "Wassáfu-l Hazrat, Panegyrist of his Majesty." In one of his chapters the writer dilates upon this incident with much self-complacency.

This work takes up the history at the point where the Jahán Kushá closes, and was designed as a continuation of that work, of which Wassáf expresses the highest opinion, and on which he expends a laboured panegyric. The facts recorded in the work the author professes to have gathered from the oral accounts of trustworthy persons.

The history opens with the death of Mangú Khán and the accession of Kublai Khán. In the third and fourth volumes it gives some notices of India, from which the following extracts are taken. The fourth volume closes with a summary retrospect of the reigns of Changíz Khán and his immediate successors. The fifth volume, subsequently written, is principally occupied with the reign of Abú Sa'íd. As a history of the Mongol dynasty the work is held in the highest estimation. There is not much in the work directly relating to India, and the extracts which follow this give all that is of importance in respect of that country.

D'Ohsson has made great use of this work in his History of the Mongols, in which he often refers to it and quotes it. Hammer-Purgstall made it the object of his especial attention, and has noticed it in several of his writings. He says "the history of Wassáf, so far as regards style, holds the same position in Persian as the Makámát of Harírí in Arabic, being an unapproachable model of rhetoric, and also, in the opinion of the Persians of historic art." He describes and dilates upon its difficulties, but is enthusiastic upon its merits as a literary com

position, rating it above Harírí, "because Wassáf has decked the highly-embellished pages of his historical narrative with the choicest flowers of Arabic and Persian poetry, and has worked with equal labour and accuracy on the limited subject of geography and in the wide field of history." Sir H. Elliot, while admitting the style of Wassáf to be highly elaborated, considers Hammer's description of it to be rather overdrawn.] He says Hammer, in his notice of Aibak's reign, makes Wassáf to exceed the Taju-l Ma-ásir in ornateness, but this is not possible. In the extracts which follow, and which do not amount to onefortieth part of Wassáf, there is more real matter on India than in a far greater extent of the Táj, though the latter work is specially devoted to that country.

Wassáf's reflections and opinions are judicious and appropriate, as where he speaks of 'Aláu-d dín slaying the ambassadors. He was partial to introducing Arabic words and phrases into his history; indeed some whole chapters are written in Arabic. The extract, for instance, which is given below, respecting the conquest of Somnát, is in Arabic, avowedly in imitation of 'Utbí. The first extract respecting Java has the Arabic words in italics in order to show their prevalence in his ordinary style. Some of the extracts are literal and some are abstract translations, with the omission of all superfluous words; but Wassáf is so full of useful historical matter that, after divesting his volume of all redundancies we should reduce them to only half their size, whereas, were the Táju-l Ma-ásir subjected to a similar process, not more than one-hundredth part of it would remain.

[An edition of Wassáf in lithograph, with a vocabulary of difficult words, was published at Bombay in 1853, and in 1856 Hammer-Purgstall published the first book of the text with a German translation, most beautifully printed in the Imperial printing office at Vienna. The further publication of the work has been interrupted by the death of the veteran and hardworking orientalist.

[In Sir H. Elliot's library there is only the 4th book of

Wassáf, and some loose leaves containing the text of the extracts printed below, very badly copied. The work is not rare in Europe, for several libraries contain copies.]1

EXTRACTS.2

Conquest of the Island of Mul Jáva.3

Among the easy conquests during the time of the reign of Kublai Khán was that of the island of Múl Jáva, one of the countries of Hind, in the months of the year 691 H. Having appointed "a leader of an army who was a seeker of battle," he despatched him with extreme splendour and immense preparations "upon ships traversing the waves of the sea." When the men of the expedition had brought their ships to anchor at the shore of their desire, they brought under the bondage of their acquisition, through fear of the attack of their swords, an island which could scarcely be called an island, as it was no less than two hundred parasangs long and one hundred and twenty broad.

The ruler of that country, Srí Rám, intended to pay his respects to his majesty with offerings and humble representations, but predestined death did not grant him the power of moving

1 See Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte der schöne Redekünste Persiens. Ges. des Osmanischen Reichs. Die Ländeverwaltung unter dem Chalifate. Ilchane II. passim and Goldene Horde, Index. Nouveau Jour. Asiat. XII. 1838. Ouseley, Persian Poets, p. 230. Fundgruben des Or. I. 113, VI. 274. Diez, Denkwürdigkeiten I, 272. Nour. Mel. As. I. 437. Rampoldi, Annali, 1849, p. 48.

2 [All these extracts from Wassáf were either translated or very extensively corrected by Sir H. Elliot himself.]

3 D'Ohsson (Histoire des Mongols, II. 464) does not enter this expedition in his text, but mentions it only in a note. But from other authorities he gives an account of a naval expedition in 1293, against Tché-po or Koua-oua, which he thinks may probably refer to the Isle of Jáva. The "Kawisprache" applied to the language of Java gave this supposition great probability, but Wassáf and Rashídu-d din both ascribe the expedition to 1292. The testimony of Marco Polo (Edinburgh Ed. p. 278), that “on account of the long and difficult navigation, the great Khán never could acquire dominion over Jáva" is of no value, because, as he left China in 1291, he must have reached the island before the expedition sailed for it. Mills considers the island to have been Borneo.-History of Muhammedanism, p. 212. See Col. Yale's Cathay, p. 518.