1873.] Annual Report. 35 



been copied from two MSS., so, in reality, we had only two * * * The 

 Society had issued hundreds of circulars 'to all parts of India, and had failed 

 to draw out more than two copies ; and the fact that the four old copies I 

 had, had been copied from two MSS. seemed to indicate so clearly the 

 great scarcity of MSS. of this work, that I decided to go on." 



' The editor's remarks are perfectly correct with regard to the India 

 Office Library MS. and the Royal Asiatic Society MS. ; for the mistakes 

 contained in the former, are repeated in the latter exactly, even where two 

 or three pages of the history of Mas'ud of Ghaznin are inserted in the 

 account of the Saljuqs. 



' Mr. Morley also mentions the Tabaqat as " a work of rare occur- 

 rence ;" but, however scarce in India, it is not so in Europe. 



' On instituting inquiry, I found the Bodleian Library possessed one 

 copy, and that there were two others in the British Museum. These were not 

 to be procured on loan, and there was no other course for me to adopt than 

 to proceed to Oxford and to London, to collate them, although I somewhat 

 doubted whether it would be well to put the Society to the expense attending 

 these journeys ; but Mr. Grote strongly advised me to do so. I first collated 

 the Bodleian MS., a tolerably good copy, from Section VII, where I com- 

 mence my translation, to the end of the work, line for line, and word for 

 word. This completed, I went to London and collated the British Museum 

 copies — one, a very good one : the other, ordinary — in the same manner, and 

 completed that task also. Altogether these labours occupied six weeks • 

 and I regret to say that my sight has suffered in consequence. 



' Having done this, I set to work ; and six of the sheets were put in 

 type, when our energetic friend, Mr. Grote, obtained the Hamilton MS. 

 which copy of the text the Earl of Crawfurd and Balcarres was so very kind 

 as to place at our disposal for six months ; and, although it is not a very 

 good copy, and defective at the end, it has been very useful. In the mean- 

 time, we had endeavoured to obtain the loan of two copies in the Paris 

 Library, as it was impossible for me to go there to collate them ; but after 

 considerable delay, the favour was refused, on the plea that one was an 

 autograph of the author's, and, therefore, could not be lent, and, that it 

 would not be advisable to lend works of the kind to be taken out of Europe ! 

 I shall have something to say respecting this " autograph" hereafter, as I 

 think I can put my hand upon three or four " autographs," equally authen- 

 tic. I have had no difficulty, however, in obtaining collations, from those 

 MSS., of passages which were at all doubtful, through the great kindness 

 of M. Garcin de Tassy and M. Zotenberg. I find that they are, by no 

 means, the most correct copies, and that even the " autograph" contains 

 similar blunders to those of the India Office Library, and the Royal Asiatic 

 Society's MSS., and likewise, the very great blunder of the author, which 



