115

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.365, cont.)

(3) ff. 80b-214b Tarih-i Hind-i garbi ,^>6. y jb An illustrated copy of an anonymous description of America. The actual title given to the work was ‘Hadis-i nev’ (cf. 82b:2) which was expanded to ’Kitab-i Hadis-i nev der iikr-i ahval-i Hind-i cedtd ya'ni Yefii dünyü' in a heading preceding the text (80b), but the one given here is best known and it is also found in some manuscripts as well as in the printed editions. The work was dedicated to Sultan Murad III whose name is mentioned on f. 82b; the oldest known mansucript was written in 991/1583-4 and is kept in the Beyazit umumi Library in Istanbul (No. 4969). The work proper is preceded by an introduction (80b-83a) and two introductory chapters on the Old World and the Ocean (Okyanus, from 117b) based on traditional Islamic sources (cf. Goodrich’s translation, pp. 31-2). The work proper, the third chapter (from 120a), presents information about the New World, its discovery by Columbus and, oddly, Magellan’s voyage of 1519- 21 with a description of Borneo and the Moluccas (147a-153a). It is based on, mainly, four Italian translations of Spanish (natural) histories (ibidem, pp. 32-8).' Copious marginal additions, indications of content and years by the copyist. Our copy is not exceptional in that it contains a series of maps and pictures which all seem to resemble one another and may have been copied from, essentially, a set found in the original copy now lost (cf. Goodrich’s translation, pp. 55-64, which classifies the pictures according to fourteen types). The maps in our copy were all drawn/printed on separate sheets of paper and afterwards pasted on the relevant pages; these are: a circular map in gold, blue and red of the Middle East in traditional style centred on the Kaaba (90b, see plate); two circular maps in gold, green, blue and red in Western style, originally part of one set, representing the eastern (Asia, Africa, Europe and Antarctica, 116a) and the western (America, Antarctica, 120a) hemispheres, with inscriptions in Arabic script; two, equally related, printed circular maps in gold, two shades of green and red in Western style representing, again, the eastern and western hemisperes (but without Antarctica), with inscriptions in Latin (215b-216a). The pictures are the following (numbers refer to Goodrich’s classification - the picture on f. 207a does not seem to be found in other manuscripts): the Wak-Wak tree with fruit in the form of girls (97a and 97b, see plate) (1); the sea cow or manatee; pictured is a female suckling her young on the edge of a stream (130b) (3); two tapirs and three trees (mammee, avocado and job, 142a) (4); two mermen drawn from the sea by two dark-skinned men wearing skirts (145a, see