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218 NOTICES OF BOOKS.

or at least part of its subject, was ably treated twenty years ago by a Rungpore Pleader named Mohim Chandra

Mozamdar. But his "Brahmans in Gaur" waft written in

Bengali, and does not seem to be much known. Babu Govindra Niith's work will call attention to the question of

Kulinism, and will lead to profitable discussions.

H. B.

Al-Mostatuaf. Recueil de morceaux choisis 94 et la dans Toutes les Branches de Connaissances reputes attra

gantes par l'lmftm, 1'Unique, le Savant, le tr&s

Erudit, le Disert, le Perspicace, le Sa'ib (Sheikh) &ib&b-ad-Din Ahmad Al-Abslhi, que Dieu le couvre de sa Mis?ricorde et lui accorde des marques de sa satisfaction ! Amen I Ouvrage Philologique, Aneo

dotique, Litteraire, et Philosophique, traduit pour la

premiere fois par G. Rat, Membre de la Society

Asiatique. (Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1899.)

The Mustatrafx has until now been a sealed book in the West to all excepting Arabic scholars. M. Rat has placed European students interested in a rival civilization under a debt of gratitude by his careful translation of a work the value of which is hardly known to the general world of literature.

Compiled by an erudite Arab towards the close of the fourteenth century of the Christian era, the Mustatraf is a mine of information in all branches of knowledge which formed in those days an essential part of Islamic culture. Its importance, therefore, as a picture of Arabian society can hardly be exaggerated. Although Western Asia and

Egypt had for over three centuries been engaged in a life and death struggle with the hosts of Europe, and the

Eastern Caliphate had been overwhelmed and destroyed by the Mongolian avalanche, the glorious traditions of

AL-MOSTATRAF. 2 i 9*

Moslem civilization were still extant, and the pursuit of

learning and the search for knowledge still formed the pride of students and scholars.

In his compilation al- Abshihi, the author of the Mustatraf,. fulfilled a double purpose. He collected all the learning of the age, and at the same time preserved for posterity a picture of Moslem civilization at the best period of its

history. The immensity of M. Rat's task will be perceived by the

enormous range of subjects dealt with in the Mustatraf. These are cleverly summarised by the translator in his

preface as "un recueil d'historiettes, d'anecdotes, de traits

piquants, de bons mots, d'apophthegraes, d'aphorismes, de

preceptes, de pensees philosophiques, de maxiraes et de sentences morales, de melanges litteraires et philologiques."

But this hardly gives an adequate conception of the

encyclopaedic character of the work. It consists of eighty four chapters, most of which again are divided into sections.

Each chapter is devoted to the treatment of a special subject with more or less amplitude. The fundamental dogmas of

Isliim, general ethics, philosophy, political and social

economy, the relative duties of sovereign and subject, natural history, the phenomena of nature and the marvels of the earth, poetry, music, oratory, medicine, and a variety of other subjects of the most multifarious character are treated and discussed in detail. The observations are almost

always illustrated by venerable traditions and poetical quotations. Anecdotes from the lives of the Caliphs and other eminent men who figure in Moslem history are often

employed to point the moral, and passages from the Koran are frequently cited to give force to the principles enunciated. General ethics occupy by far the largest portion of the work ; the duties of man to man, the practice of benevolence, mercy, charity, fidelity, piety, and self-control, the discipline of the heart, and the training of the mind seem to be favourite subjects with the author. This slight reference to the contents of the Mustatraf will show the value of

M. Rat's work. So far as a rather hurried study of the

220 notices of books.

translation and comparison with tho original can enable me to judge, the learned translator has performed his task with remarkable exactitude. As a rule, having regard to the genius of the two languages, Arabic and French, the

rendering follows the origiual with admirable fidelity, leaning almost towards the literal. In.some instances, from the

exigencies of the case, he has had recourse to a paraphrase. In the preface to the second volume he has disarmed the

criticism which might suggest itself to the student un

acquainted with Arabian history and biography regarding the absence of footnotes giving some account of the men referred to in the anecdotes and the principles cited by the author. As M. Rat observes, any attempt in this direction would have involved stupendous labour and have swelled the volumes. M. Rat has in his translation of the verses

quoted in the work supplied their metre, which is most useful to those who can read the Mustatraf in the original.

Ameer Ali.

Zwei Gedichte von al-'A'sa, herausgegeben, iibersetzt, und erlautert von R. Geyeh. I. Ma Buka'u. (Wien, 1905.)

Al-'A'sa, an Arab poet of the time before Islam, is celebrated by native critics as one of the foremost poets of the nation, and by some he is even credited with the first

place. To judge from verses of his which are at present generally accessible, we can only confirm the judgment of Arab critics.

The poem here edited by Professor Geyer is based upon the excellent manuscript of his dlwan preserved in the library of the Escurial (I)erenbourg Cat., No. 303), confronted with all accessible manuscripts und the Bulaq edition of the Jamhnrat-al-AS'ar of al-Qurusi. The text is excellent and

accompanied by a German translation, but the principal merit of this edition lies in the exhaustive notes, which follow the text and which some may consider rather prolix.