649

ACQUISITIONS OF 1996-9 (Or. 23.644, cont.)

The letters and documents comprise the following: petitions to the Porte (concerning an appointment to the post of miitevelli at the Sultan Ofijon Mosque at iznikmid (izmit, 5b-6a); the payment of 1500 gurus to a creditor named es- Seyyid ‘Ömer of Istanbul (6a-7a); the appointment to a timar of 12,000 akge at the village of Karayö[rü]cik (?) in 1216 (1801-2, 25a-26b); a letter accompanying a gift of two gold pieces to the ferrasiyet vekili of Mecca, Ahmed Efendi (10b- 12a); temessüks (a contract worth 6000 gurus issued to a taxfarmer (multezim) called Nu‘man Aga for the revenue of a ze 'amet in the province of fjudavendigar, dated 1195/1780-1, 18b-20; concerning a loan to Süleyman Aga, 130 gurus of which had yet to be paid back, dated 1216 (1801-2), 28a-29a; confirming the receipt of 1200 gurus by Eyiib Aga, dated 15 Safer 1216 (27 June 1801), 29a-b; concerning the ownership of a timar in Karayö[rü]cek (?) by Süleyman Aga, dated 1216 (1801), 30a-31a; concerning the receipt of 500 gurus from an (Armenian) sarraf, signed by Molla Hasan Aga and dated 1232 (1816-7), 35a; and concerning the revenue of taxes from hass land in Ordu near Karahisar by the taxfarmer Ibrahim Aga, 37a-b, incomplete); bills (tahvil) for 500 gurus (dated 21 Cem&zf l-evvel 1200/22 March 1786, 20a-21a) - another tahvil begins on f. 26b; a note (tegkire), inviting an addressee to the house of the sender on the next day (21a); a tenezzül buyruldisi to local authorities, ordering shelter to an unspecified party along an unspecified road, dated 1216 (1801-2, 23a-24b); a letter to a dizdar, ordering the imprisonment of a certain Süleyman in the fortress of Karahisar, dated 15 Safer 1216 (27 June 1801, 24b-25a); a letter of manumission for a female slave called Mahbübe, of the same date (27a-28a); and a letter concerning the dismissal of a timar-holder named Süleyman who failed to participate in a military campaign to Erzurum, dated 1216 (1801-2, incomplete). Other examples, of a more private character, comprise a letter from an inferior to a superior (7a-8a); a letter, containing a verse, exchanged between friends (8a- 10b); a letter from a husband to his wife (it was accompanied by 100 gurus and contains greetings to his son Ahmed Efendi, his daughter §enfe, and a female slave, 12b-14a); a letter from a son to his father (containing greetings to his mother; it was accompanied by a gift of Indian textile (sevayt, sal), 14a-17a); and a letter from followers to their efendi (17a-18b). Amongst the letters, one finds arithmetic annotations in the hand of the main copyist/compiler: examples of calculations for accounts (21b-22a); examples of fractions (22b); a table with the numbers 1-100, then 200, 300, and so forth to 900, and 1000, 2000 etc. to 6000 (31a-33a); and further examples of calculations (33b). Finally, we find: a list of the ‘Arab [lunar] months’ (34a); fragments of preambles to letters, partly upside-down (34b); and vague, abstract drawings,