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NOTES V, VI AND VII 107
(or Sistan) in reply to a threatening letter Addressed to him by* Ntih II
ibn ManStir the Sarrranid and this is no dbubt the correct version
;
of the story, since al-Bfruni was as remarkable for his accuracy as'our
author is for his carelessness,* and, moreover, wrote more than a century
'
'and a half earlier.
V. Historical errors in Ar/ecdote III.
(Text, pp. 15-17 ; Persian notes, pp. 105-106.)
In this anecdote also our author is guilty of two historical errors.
(*i) He supposes that Makan's rebellion tAok place in the ,reign of
Niih II ibn Mansiir, whereas it really occurred in the reign of his
great-grandfather Nasr II ibn Ahmad ibn Isma'il, and Makan was
defeated and killed in "329/940-1, some 37 years before Ntih's accession.
(2) The general who defeated Makan was not Tash, as our author
states, but, the Amir Abti 'Ali Ahmad ibn Muhtaj. >
VI. Anecdote V. The Sahib Isma'il ibn 'Abbad.
, t
1
(Text, pp. 17-18; Persian notes, pp. 107-109.)
The Sahib Isma'il ibn 'Abbad is, as we have seen, described by the
"
best authorities as "of Talaqan (Tdlagdni], not "of Ray" (Razi).
Al-Mafarrtikhi, author of a notable but rare history of Isfahan, claims
him as a native of that city, and cites verses composed by him during a
campaign in 1
Jurjan which lend colour to this assertion . Al-Mafarrtikhi
wrote his history between A.M. 465 and 485 (A.D. 1072-1092) in Arabic,
and there is a MS. of it (Or. 3601) in the British Museum, while I
possess another from the library of the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler.
It was translated into Persian by Muhammad ibn 'Abdu'r-Rida
al-Husayni about 730/1329-30 and dedicated to Ghiyathu'd-Dm Muhammad
ibn Rashidu'd-Din Fadlu'llah. Of this Persian version (of which I
have since myself obtained a MS. formerly in the possession of Sir
A. Houtum-Schindler) I published an abridged translation with extracts
in t\\ey.fi.A.S.t for 1901, also obtainable as a separate reprint.
VII. Fabrics and Materials mentioned in Anecdote VII. ,
(Text, pp. 19-21; Persian notes, pp. iio-in.)
Mirz4 Muhammad has kindly communicated to me the following
shorter version of this anecdote from the Kitdbrf I- Kindya wJt-Ta'rid
of ath-Tha'alibi (Berlin Arabic MS. No. 7337, Petermann II, 59, f. 146*),
who wrote aboui a century and a half earlier than our author :
1
Cf. p. 103 supra.
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