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MS 358 This is a photocopy of a MS copied in a check-lined copy-book. Uniquely among the known MSS, in the upper left margin of p. 2 (the pages are not numbered) is inscribed the name of the owner: Ahmad bin Hasan bin Hamad Ba Husayn al-Murshidi of Lamu. The postscript states the usual provenance from Bwana Kitini and his grandfather Bwana Simba. The original is again indicated to have been commissioned by Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Sultan bin Furno Bakr, etc., whose title here again is awkwardly scripted with an extra [am so it resembles more al-walad al- 'azfz (as in MS 321) rather than ai-waif al- 'azfz, 'the Illustrious liwali', as in MS 344. A second copy dated 1343 by Salih bin Salem bin Hamad is also mentioned, the mention of a third is missing, and the fourth and fifth copies are dated 1365/1946 as made by 'Ali Khalifa. On p. 29 is sketched the same genealogical chart as in MSS 309 and 321, reproduced in Appendix 1 below. The text is in Ki-Amu. The use of the particle na- is frequent (as in akavunda na-mui wa-Siu). For ch the dotted kiifis used. Occasionally, words or phrases with the predicate were missed in copying, which are sometimes restored by the scribe. These are placed in brackets in the Arabic-script transcript. A whole reign is skipped on p. 7. Apparently the paper had several holes which on occasion make the reading uncertain. In the early passages the MS mistakenly names Marika (Marka, Merca) for Manda (Mandra). On p. 6 the passage about trade has the voweled verb henda (as in MS 344) rather than Hindi of the other versions ("He sent ships to go and 418 MS358 conduct trade," rather than "he sent ships to India"). Importantly, on p. 22 the wording makes it clearer than in Hollis MS that Shaykh Ahmad or Pate was a key participant in negotiations between Zanzibar and Pate, and on p. 24 Sayyid Barghash is reported to have wished to place soldiers at Witu and the harbor (kuweka 'askari Wtlu na k(w)a-bandari), rather than 'soldiers and a flag' (bendera), as elsewhere. The writer exhibits some flexibilty in the use of Arabic loanwords (e.g., replacing ~brta with nasi/a). Orthographic peculiarties include the use of two alifs next to each other, raising the tails of final consonants (e.g., so that/a looks like a/a '-alifligature, and occasional substitution of ~ad for sfn and ka/ for I¢/ in Arabic loanwords. The Arabic original is reproduced in the transcript without changes; location of slips and lacunae is marked with the asterisk *. The romanized transcript offers corrections and editorial conjectures in brackets. The translation has conjectured readings in brackets; the words added to ease the flow of the text are placed in parentheses. ...

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