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Masudi told us he had suffered most severely from losses by his men running away, one after the other, as soon as they received their pay. He thought Grant would soon join me, as, the harvest being all in, the men about Rungua would naturally be anxious for service.
But Masudi works very unequally, accepts a good deal that is suspicious provided only it is entertaining, and as regards detail he is by no means over exact. As an historical authority, the Persian redaction of Tabari, so remarkable in many of its aspects, and achieved by Muhammad Belami or by others under his guidance, has but little value.
Competition, I found, had raised these men's wages, for I had to pay, to go even as far as Kaze, nine and a quarter dollars a-head! as Masudi and some other merchants were bound on the same line as myself, and all were equally in a hurry to be off and avoid as much as possible the famine we knew we should have to fight through at this late season.
Thereupon Tabaristan came into the power of the Tahirides, the nominal governors of the Khalif in Khorasan. Our authorities are Beladhori 134, 14; Masudi 7, 137; Kitab ol Oyun 399, 6; Yaqut 3, 284, 4. 506, 10; Abulfida 2, 212, 2. The Bavend dynasty is a continuation of the Masmughans.
Lumeresi, of course, was greatly perplexed at this, and sought my advice, but could get nothing out of me, for I laughed in my sleeve, and told him such was the consequence of his having been too greedy. 11th to 15th. Masudi with his caravan arrived from Mchimeka Ungurue "the Pig," who had led me astray, was, by the way, his kirangozi or caravan-leader.
On which Bombay said, "Oh, everybody in the place congratulated me on my success in having obtained an interview with that great monarch the very first day, when Arabs had seldom that privilege under one full month of squatting; even Masudi had not yet seen him."
Moreover, he was rather put to shame by my saying, "Pray, who now is biggest Ruhe or yourself? for any one entering this country would suspect that he was, as he levies the first tax, and gives people to understand that, by their paying it, the whole district will be free to them; such at any rate he told me, and so it appears he told Masudi.
Hamza treats his materials in a spirit of much more freedom and independence than Tabari, but to us the compiling process of Tabari is far more convenient. Masudi in his "Meadows of Gold" affords us many a supplement to Tabari's narratives derived from reliable Persian sources.
We were not the only travellers in misfortune here, for Masudi, with several other Arabs, all formed in one large caravan, had arrived at Mchimeka's, and could not advance for want of men.
Our starting-point for the interior was Makalla, which is 230 miles from Aden, and is the only spot between Aden and Maskat which has any pretensions to the name of port. The name itself means 'harbour. It is first mentioned by Ibn Modjawir; Hamdani calls it El Asa-Lasa, and Masudi gives the name as Lahsa.
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