1850.] of the original text of Tabary. 135 



9 « U» " v 4 ** 



* cUs"° JXi Ui) u/b| j&i U«J iyUi 1,13 X^(5 aXJI 



The pious Baydhawy who is the author of an abridgement of the 

 Kashshaf, carefully omits the latter part of the story, and instead of 

 the condition that Mohammad should defend the valley of Wajj, (i. e. 

 Tayif,) he says, that he should declare it sacred, in the same manner in 

 which the territory of Makkah was sacred. 



The farther back we go in examining the records regarding the cha- 

 racter of Mohammad, the stronger they impress us with the conviction, 

 that he was a man of great poetical genius ; but like most exalted men, 

 he was weak and unpractised in action and a barefaced imposter. 



I leave it for another opportunity to give a notice of the remainder 

 of this volume of Tabary. Since writing the above I have found a 

 fragment of the first volume of the same author. In looking over 

 some worm-eaten leaves the remnants of a valuable library at Delhi, 

 I saw two sheets, in all 38 pages, written in a very ancient bad 

 hand, and observed the isnad "Ibn Homayd from Salamah, &c." 

 which I know is the isnad of Tabary, and on examination it 

 turned out that the two sheets in question, were a fragment from the 

 first volume of Tabary, and contain part of the history of Abraham. 

 This discovery is in so far important as it gives us the assurance that 

 copies of Tabary are to be found in India. 



