254

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.418, cont.)

days of payment from shares (esham) owned by Yüsuf Agah Efendi, Mehmed Kamil Efendi, Hiisna Hanim and Mustafa Hayr Efendi is found on ff. 59b-60a. A substantial part of the notebook, ff. 15b-41b, is filled, interestingly, with a detailed survey of the results of archery contests at the Okmeydam in Istanbul, mentioning the various points of record-breaking distances (menziller), mostly marked by stones - the survey actually consists of lists of results arranged according to menzil and weather condition mentioned in the headings on each page, with the names of the archers (or numbered stones: anatayi, ikinci, iigiina etc.), the distances reached in cubits (gez), and, occasionally, the dates or year in which a record was broken, nearly exclusively in cases that Sultan Mahmüd [II, ruled 1223/1808-1255/1839] raised a record. The first entry (15b) mentions ‘the eastern point’ (gün dognsi menzili) at 1225 cubits reached by Sultan Mahmud. A typical entry (25b, see plate), to give an example, lists the results at the menzil-i Nakka$ with south-westerly wind: the original record by Timurci Ca'fer stood at 896 gez\ it was raised by, subsequently, Segban-kuli ‘All Beg (+84), Nakka§ Mehmed Celebi (+10), by an unknown man (nd-ma'lüm, +28), by Haccf Svileyman Aga (+56), by Tacirzade Mehmed Emm Aga (+19) and, finally, by Sultan Mahmüd (+7) on 20 Cemaii l-ahir 1250 (24 October 1834), which resulted in i 102 gez. The series end on f. 41b with the mention of a record of 965 gez by Tevfik Beg in 1251 (1835-6), who, with special permission of the Sultan and after his’father, the silcLh§ör ‘All Aga, had failed, shot his arrow from the foot mark (ayak yen) behind the erected stone (dikili toy) in the direction of the sun. (Cf. Ismail Fazil Ayvanoglu, Ok meydam ve okguluk tarihi (without place name, 1974).) The notebook also contains poetry. We find a mün&cat (16 beyts, lb-2a); a gazel by Vasif Efendi, muharric (?) at the Enderün-i hürruïyün (3b); six beyts, five of which are attributed Hamdf, Belfg, ‘AbdïPa§a (two items), and Vehbf (8a); beyts by Nedïm, Seyyid Vehbf, Fenni, Nesfb ‘iki bayrakli-zade , izzet Molla, Hajimi, and Rikabdar Yaver Hasan Beg (9b); more beyts by Vasif EnderimT, Rikabdar Yaver Beg, Nabf, ‘izzet Molla, Cam!, and Nahfff (10a); yet more couplets by Rasib, ‘Izzet, Kudsfzade, Ha§met, Fennf, Rü§dï, Himmetzade ‘Abdi, Seyyid Vehbf (10b); and couplets by Seyyid Vehbf, Fitnat Hamm, (Jatem, §akir Pa§a, Ragib Pa§a, Sabit, and Rümf (11a); a gazel of Sunbülzade Vehbf and fragments by Qayalf, and Vasif Enderünï (lib); a song and beyts by Vasif Enderüni (12a); a song and two misra's (12b); a beyt (13a); a miistezdd by Fazil Beg, a rhymed list (three distichs) of the names of the sultans: ‘Two Mahmuds there are and two are Bayezfd Han/ In the house of ‘Osman there are also two of Süleyman...’ (42a); a gazel by Vasif Beg (45b); a tahmis by Nesfba Hamm on a gazel by