Though
Entitled The Travels Of Two Mahomedans, The Travels Seem To Have Been
Mostly Performed By One Person Only; The
Latter portion being chiefly a
commentary upon the former, and appears to have been the work of one Abu
Zeid
Al Hasan of Siraf, and to have been written about the 803d year of the
Hegira, or A.D. 915. In this commentary, indeed, some report is given of
the travels of another Mahomedan into China. The MS. employed by Renaudot
belonged to the library of the Count de Seignelay, and appears to have been
written in the year 619 of the Hegira, or A.D. 1173. The great value of
this work is, that it contains the very earliest account of China, penned
above four hundred years earlier than the travels of Marco Polo, who was
esteemed the first author on the subject before this publication appeared.
There are many curious and remarkable passages in these travels, which
convey information respecting customs and events that are nowhere else to
be found; and though some of these carry a fabulous appearance, the
greatest part of them have been confirmed and justified by the best writers
in succeeding ages. The first portion, or the actual narrative, begins
abruptly, on account of some portion of the original manuscript being lost,
which would probably have given the name and country of the author, and the
date and occasion of his voyage.
In the accompanying commentary by Abu Zeid, we are informed that the date
of the narrative was of the Hegira 237, A.D. 851, which circumstance was
probably contained in the missing part of the manuscript; but though
written then, it is probable that the first journey of the author was
undertaken at least twenty years before that date, or in 831, as he
observes, that he made a second journey into the same countries sixteen
years afterwards, and we may allow four years for the time spent in the two
journies, and the intervening space, besides the delay of composition after
his last return.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 80 of 810
Words from 22003 to 22345
of 222093
