The Pate Chronicle: edited and translated from MSS 177, 321, 344, and 358 of the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam

MS 321

MS 321 This MS was transcribed from a photocopy; its original was written in a lined school notebook. The text is contained on pp. 37-24 (the reverse pagination is due to a discrepancy between European and Arabic styles of writing). On page 23 of the same MS a genealogical chart, by a different scribe, is contained, identical to that sketched on f. 17 (21) of MS 309 and on p. 29 of MS 358. It is reconstructed in Appendix 1 of the present volume. The photograph reproduces what claims to be a copy made by Salih bin Salim bin Ahmad and is dated 3 February 1925 (because of the paper used it is more likely that this was a copy of a copy). That, in turn, claims to be a copy of another version, scripted by Salih bin Salim bin 'Abd Allah Sharahil (apparently the same person as in MS 177) on 6 Safar 1318/1900 for the Illustrious Infant (al-walad al'azrz), a possible mistake for "Illustrious Liwali" (cf. MS 344, but the same reading is found also in MS 358, p. 26). The patron is identified as a member of the Nabahani family, Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Sultan bin Furno Bakr bin Shaykh bin Bwana Furno Madi waSimba or Sultan Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Bwana Mkuu bin Abu Bakr bin Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin 'Umar bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Sulayman bin Sulayman bin Muzaffar Nabahani. Almost as closely related to the Hollis-Werner text as MS 177, this MS seems to be highly reliable. However, the sequence of rulers between 900 A.H. and 973 A.H. (p. 35) differs from that in MS 177; on p. 34 the names of the rulers ascending in 1100 A.H. and 1103 A.H. differ from those in MS 324 MS 321 177 but are identical to the forms in MS 344. Some readings on p. 32 differ from both MS 344 and MS 358. The identification of the Pate delegates in the negotiations conducted by Shaykh Muhi aI-Din (p. 26), absent in the Werner and Heepe versions, differs from that given in MS 177, f. 18. A passage on p. 30 concerning an Omani attack on Pate offers the clearest reading among the accounts of the episode, but the whole of page 29 was missing in 1975. Among its other special features is the use of the ethnonym Wa-Pate on p. 26, naming the liwali of Sayyid Barghash sent against Sultan Ahmad "Sa'id bin Hamad bin Sa'ud" (also p. 26; cf. "S'ud bin Hamad" in the Hollis MSi ), and attaching the title Imam al- 'Arabrto the name of the Nabahani founder (p. 24). The town called elsewhere Kitaka is named Kitoki, and the pronunciation is confirmed by the use of a long vowel on p. 32 (see also MSS 344 and 358). The text is in Ki-Amu. Among the orthographic distinction of this MS is the use of klif with two dots above the top strike for ch, more commonly rendered with ta'. On the other hand, the scribe rarely uses pa' with three dots for p, commonly resorting to bti' for both p and b sounds. In another respect, the MS reads more easily than MSS 177 because the n sound is more consistently recorded with nun. Occasionally, words were missed in copying; in other instances the final words of a line were repeated at the beginning of the new line and on p. 26 almost a whole line was repeated before the scribe realized his mistake. The writer's Arabic imperfections show up especially in the name of the Islamic month Rabe' al-Awwal (see p. 25). Also noticeable is the substitution of hti' for ~ii' in Arabic words, and (more extraordinarily) of 'ayn for hamza in amer. The Arabic text is reproduced without changes. I Werner, op. cit., pp. 404/405. INTRODUCTION 325 Obvious mistakes, ligatures, missing words and repetitions are marked with an asterisk *. The length of MS pages made it impossible to accommodate each page of the Arabic transcript on the computer-generated page. Page breaks are indicated with two slashes II. Corrections and editorial conjectures are placed in brackets in the transcript. The translation has conjectured words in brackets; those added to ease the flow of the text are placed in parentheses. ...