Buzurg ibn Shahriyar was a tenth-century Persian ship's captain who collected anecdotes and tall tales about distant lands from merchants and seafaring men like himself. His Kitab 'Aja'ib al-Hind ("Book of the Marvels of India") contains 134 of these tales, one of which is reproduced here. According to tradition, numbers of Persians from Shiraz

and Siraf emigrated to East Africa in the ninth and tenth centuries and there was at the time considerable trade between the Persian Gulf and the East African Coast. Thus, although the story as Buzurg tells it is obviously fictitious, it reveals some knowledge of life among the Zanj (more, at least, than was available a century later to al-Andalusi), and, incidentally, conveys a good deal of information about Islamic attitudes to Black Africa in the Middle Ages.

Ismailouia tells me, and several mariners have confirmed his story, that, during the year 310 [923 A. D.], he set sail in his ship from Oman to go to Kabila. A storm drove him towards Sofala of the Zindjs.(1) "Seeing the coast we had reached," said the captain, "and realizing that we had fallen among man-eating negroes, we had no doubt what our fate would be; we performed our ablutions and turned our heart to God, one to another reciting the prayer for the dead. The negroes surrounded us in their canoes and took us into harbor. There we cast anchor and went ashore. They led us before their king. He was a handsome, well-set-up young negro. He asked us who we were, and whither we were going. We replied that his territory had been our goal.

'You lie,' he said. 'It was by no means here you meant to land. The winds, and they alone, have driven you ashore, willy-nilly.' And when we had admitted that he spoke the truth, 'Bring ashore your merchandise,' he said, 'and buy and sell. You have nothing to fear.'

So ashore we brought our bales, and started to do business; and excellent business for us it was, with no restriction and no duties to pay. We made the king presents, and he replied with others, of an equal or of an even greater value. There we stayed several months. But, at last, the moment of parting came. We asked leave to go, and it was straightway granted. We put on board the goods we had bought, and concluded our transactions. And, as soon as all was settled, the king, hearing of our intention to set sail, bore us company down to the shore with some of his people, and, getting into the boats, they sped us

as far as the ship. The king even came on board with seven of his attendants.

But, when I saw them there, I said to myself: 'That young king would fetch at least thirty dinars,(2) if he were auctioned in the marketplace at Oman, and his seven attendants a hundred and sixty dinars the lot. Their clothes are worth twenty dinars at the lowest. Altogether, we should make a profit of not less than three thousand dirhems, (3) without stirring a finger.' Thus reflecting, I gave the crew certain orders; sails were spread, and the anchor was hauled up. Meanwhile the king was behaving in the friendliest possible manner, exhorting us to return presently, and promising us a friendly reception. But, when he saw the sails swelling in the wind and the vessel already under way, his face changed. 'You are going,' he said. 'Well, I will say good-bye.' And he made to climb down into his canoes, which were moored alongside. We cut their painters, and remarked:

'You stay where you are, with us; we are taking you home; and there well make it up to you for all your kindness.'

'Strangers,' he said, 'when you happened on our shores, my people wanted to eat you and spoil your goods, as, in their time, they have done to others. It was I who protected you. I asked nothing of you. As a token of my goodwill, I came on board your ship to see you off. Then treat me as justice demands, and let me go back to my native land.'

But we paid no attention to what he said; little we cared. The wind freshed. Quickly the coastline disappeared. Then night wrapped us in her veils, and we reached the high seas.

Day returned, and the king and his attendants were added to the other slaves, whose number was round about two hundred heads. He received no better treatment than the rest, his companions in captivity. He said no word, and never opened his mouth. He comported himself just as if we were strangers to him, and we knew not who he was. Once arrived at Oman, the slaves were sold and the king with them.

Well, some years later, sailing from Oman towards Kabila, the wind drove us a second time against the seacoast of Sofala of the Zindjs, and we put in at exactly the same place. The negroes saw us, and surrounded us in their canoes, and we recognized one the other. Now we were quite sure of perishing and terror sealed our lips. Silently we performed our ablutions, and recited the prayers for the dead. We said good-bye, every man to his fellow. The negroes took and led us to the king's house. They made us enter. What was our surprise: there was the same king, him whom we had known seated on his throne, as if we had left him there not long ago. Down we flung ourselves in his presence, and,

sprawling, had not the strength to rise.

'Aha!' he exclaimed. 'My old friends!' None of us could find tongue to answer. We shook in every limb. 'Come now!' he continued. 'Lift up your heads; I grant you the aman,(4) you and your goods.' Some of us raised our heads; but others could not, crushed by shame. And, for his part, he dealt with us kindly and graciously till we had all raised our heads. But even then, we could not pluck up courage to look him in the face, so

strongly did remorse and fear affect us. And when, at length, we had come to our senses, reassured by his aman, 'Ah, traitors!' he cried, 'how did you treat me, after what I had done for you!' 'Mercy, King, have mercy!' we severally implored. 'I will be merciful,' he said; 'fall to your business of buying and selling as you did before; you have full liberty to traffic.' We could not believe our ears, and feared it might be a ruse to persuade us to unship our merchandise. Nevertheless, unship it we did, offering the king a present of incomparable value. He refused it, remarking: 'You are not worthy I should accept a present from you. I will not soil my fortune with anything coming from your hands.'

Thereupon we went quietly about our business. The time of parting came, and we asked his permission to embark. It was given. When we were actually ready to go, I went to inform him of it. 'Go your way,' he said, 'under the protection of God!' '0 King,' I answered, 'you loaded us with kindness and we requited you like graceless traitors. But how was it you escaped and managed to return home?'

'After you had sold me at Oman,' he replied, 'my buyer took me to a city, called Basra' (and here he described Basra), 'where I learned the usage of prayer and fasting and some parts of the Koran. My master sold me to another, who took me into the territory of the king of the Arabs, to a place called Bagdad' (and he described Bag- dad). 'In that city, I learned to speak correctly, and completed my education in the Koran, praying

with the people in mosques. I saw the Caliph, whose name is El-Moqtadir.(5) A year and longer I stayed in Bagdad, when there came a troop of men of Khorassan, riding camelback. Seeing a great crowd of them, whither were they all going, I asked. To Mecca, they answered me. What was Mecca, I demanded. It was in Mecca, they replied, was the holy House of God, where Musulmans made pilgrimage. And they instructed

me, concerning the history of the Temple. I should do well to follow the caravan, I thought within myself. But my master, to whom I communicated the circumstance, was neither willing to go himself nor to let me go of my own accord. So I found a means of eluding his vigilance, and mingling with the crowd of pilgrims on the road, I constituted myself their servant; I was fed and provided with the two garments necessary for the ihram.(6) In fact, under their guidance, I accomplished all the ceremonial observances of the pilgrimage.

'Fearing to return to Bagdad, lest my master should kill me, I joined another caravan, going to Cairo. I offered my services to travelers, who, in return, gave me rides upon their camels, and shared with me their food. Arrived at Cairo, I saw the great river, called the Nile. "Where does it flow?" I enquired. "Its " they replied, "is in the land of the Zindjs." "Whereabouts?" "Near a great city, called Assouan, on the frontier of the territory of the Blacks."

'Hearing this, I followed the banks of the Nile, going from one town to another, and begging alms, which were not refused me. But I fell in with a troop of blacks, who used me ill. They bound me, and laid burdens on me, heavier than I could bear, and put me among the other servants. I escaped, only to fall in with a second troop, who took and sold me. A second time I escaped, and thus traveled on, till, after many adventures

of the same kind, at last I found myself in a country, which borders the country of the Zindjs. There I disguised myself; none of the terrors I had experienced, since leaving Cairo, equalled my terror, in approaching my own kingdom. For, said I, a new king has no doubt taken my place on the throne and with the army. To get back one's power is no easy thing. If I declare myself or am discovered, they will take and lead me before the new king, and I shall be slain out of hand. Or, it may be, a partisan of his will lop off my head, to curry favor.

'So, prey to the keenest terror, I traveled at night and hid by day. Reaching the seacoast, I took ship, and, touching at various points, was finally landed one night upon the shore of my native land. I questioned an old woman. "The king who rules here, is he a just king?" I asked. "My son," she answered, "we have no king but God." And the good woman told me how the king had been carried of£ I pretended the keenest astonishment, just as if the story did not concern myself and events of which I was so well aware. "The inhabitants of the kingdom," she added, "have agreed not to take another, till they have some definite news of the first. Soothsayers have told them that he is living safe and sound in the country of the Arabs."

'When day dawned, I entered the city and made my way to my palace. There I found my family, as I had left them, but plunged in the greatest affliction. My people listened to my story with surprise and joy. Like me, they adopted the religion of Islam. Thus, a month before your coming, I took up my kingdom once more. I am glad and satisfied with the grace which God has accorded me and mine, instructing us in the precepts of Islam, the true faith, in the usage of prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage, and in the knowledge of what is forbidden and what is allowed; none other in the land of Zindjs has received such favor. And if I pardoned you, it was because you were the first cause of the purity of my

faith. But there is still something on my conscience, of which I pray that God will wash away the sin.' 'What is that, 0 King?' I asked him. 'It is that I left my master, in Bagdad, without his leave, and that I never returned to his service. Could I but find an honest man, I would beg him to take my master the sum necessary to buy me off. If there was among you an upright if you were persons of respectability, I would give you the money to hand over to him, a sum ten times the sum he paid, as recompense for the delay. But you are no better than traitors and thieves.'

We bade him good-bye. 'Go,' he said; 'and, if you come back, you shall have no different treatment; you shall have the best possible reception. Musulmans shall know that they may come to us like brothers, since we are Musulmans too. But as for speeding you to your ship, I have my reasons for staying where I am.' And so we parted."

SOURCE: Peter Quennell, trans., The Book of the Marvels of India (London: Roudedge, 1928), pp. 44-52. Reprinted in Irwin, Africans Abroad, 110-15.