June 23, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



969 



indicated by Herbelot, he finds nothing to 

 justify the latter's statement in regard to 

 rous, and adds, as he dismisses the subject, 

 " Either this author must have drawn from 

 some other source than that which he indi- 

 cates, or a strange confusion must have pre- 

 Tailed among the notes which he had col- 

 lected." * 



This judgment of Bonafous' seems for the 

 time to have closed the question, but the in- 

 vestigation of the subject of the origin of 

 maize in connection with some bibliographical 

 work being done in the Bureau of Plant In- 

 dustry, of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, has revealed the fact that several 

 scholars of note agree that Herbelot and others 

 often ascribed to Mirkhond statements which 

 ■were really taken from the writings of Elhon- 

 demir" (1475-1534).° 



Khondemir wrote at almost the same time 

 as Mirkhond, although he was his grandson,' 

 and his best known work, the Khelasse-al- 

 akhbar, is very nearly identical in subject 

 matter with Mirkhond's History of the world, 

 the Eauzet-al-saf a. Reinaud says : " The 

 Khelasse-al-akhbar . . . which, however, is 

 for the most part only an abridgment of the 

 Eauzet-al-safa, composed by Mirkhond, has 

 furnished Herbelot with a large part of his 

 historic articles." ' 



* " Ou cet auteur aura puise k une autre source 

 que celle qu'il iudique, ou une etrange confusion 

 se sera mise dans les notes qu 'il avait rassemblees ' ' 

 (Zoc. cit.). 



° Variously spelled, Khondemir, Khwand amir, 

 Chuandamir. 



• Silvestre de Saoy, ' ' Memoires sur diverses an- 

 tiquites de la Perse," p. xiii; Langles, in 

 "Notices et extraits des manuserits de la Bib- 

 liothSque nationale," Vol. 5, 1799, p. 193; Audif- 

 fret, in Miehaud, "Biographie universelle, " Vol. 

 29, 1821, p. 133. 



' Khondemir is often spoken of as the son of 

 Mirkhond, but he himself says that Mirkhond was 

 his maternal grandfather. (Eieu, ' ' Catalogue of 

 the Persian Mas. in the British Museum," 1879, 

 Vol. 1, p. 96.) 



' " Le Klelasse-al-akhbar . . . qui, du reste, 

 n'est le plus souvent qu'un abrege du Eauzet-al- 

 safa, compose par Mirkhond, a fourni a d 'Herbe- 

 lot une grande partie de ses articles historiques. ' ' 



The similarity of subject matter in the two 

 works is shown by a comparison of the sum- 

 maries of the two parts in which we are espe- 

 cially interested — part 9, of the Khelasse-al- 

 akhbar, and part 5, of the Eauzet-al-safa. Of 

 the former Eeinaud says, " The author goes 

 back to Japhet. He undertakes to relate 

 everything worthy of note that has happened 

 in the northern countries of Asia, and then 

 gives many details of the wars of Jenghiz 

 Khan and of his descendants."' Of part 5, 

 of Mirkhond's Eauzet-al-safa, Jourdain says: 

 "Introduction to the history of Jenghiz 

 Khan, in which Mirkhond traces that of some 

 Tartar and Mogol princes from Japhet, son 

 of Xoah, to this victorious Mogol." '° 



Having thus seen, first, that the two au- 

 thors, Mirkhond and Khondemir, were often 

 confused, and second, as a reason for the con- 

 fusion, that the subject matter of the Khel- 

 asse-al-akhbar of Khondemir and the Eauzet- 

 al-safa of Mirkhond is, for the most part, the 

 same, it seems reasonable to advance the con- 

 jecture that Herbelot drew his information 

 from Khondemir rather than from Mirkhond, 

 and that this probable error in crediting the 

 quotation accounts for the failure of Bona- 

 fous to verify the reference. 



The statement concerning maize ascribed 

 to Mirkhond loses none of its value in the 

 investigation of the early history of maize, if 

 taken from the writings of Khondemir, so that 

 an examination of his writings, especially 

 part 9, of the Khelasse-al-akhbar, becomes 

 important. A copy of this work is in the 

 (Reinaud, in Miehaud, " Biographie universelle," 

 Vol. 22, 1818, p. 378.) 



'"L'auteur remonte jusqu'a Japhet. II s 'at- 

 tache a relever tout ce qui s'est passe de re- 

 marquable dans les contrees septentrionales de 

 I'Asie, et foumit ensuite beaucoup de details sur 

 les guerres de Djenguyz-khan et de ses descend- 

 ants." (Eeinaud, in Miehaud, "Biographie uni- 

 verseUe," Vol. 22, 1818, p. 379.) 



""Introduction k I'histoire de Djenghiz-khan, 

 dans laqueUe Mirkhond trace ceUe de quelques 

 princes Tartares et Mogols, depuis Japhet, fils de 

 Noe, jusqu'a ce conquerant Mogol." (Jourdain, 

 in "Notices et extraits des manuserits de la Bib- 

 liothfeque nationale," Vol. 9, 1813, p. 135.) 



