Hikayat Saif-al-Yezan. 



NOTES. 



1. Ch&ritdra yang dahnlu. This refers, I suppose, to 

 some earlier work by the same author. 



2. Tcha, (or " Tobba " as D'Herhelot, Sale, and Burton 

 spell the word), was a title of the early kings in Yemen of the 

 Himyar race, like " Pharaoh " of the sovereigns of fegypt. 

 The Arabian historians assert that the empire of these kings 

 was of immense extent. One of them is said to have been the 

 founder of Samarcand, an inscription in the Himyaritic langu- 

 age having been found on the walls of that city. See D'Her- 

 belot's Bibliotheque Orientale ; Sale's Koran, Preliminary 

 Discourse ; and Burton's ' Pilgrimage to El Madinah and 

 Meccah.' 



3. A blank in the MS. probably representing a long 

 traditional genealogy, which the scribe has judiciously omitted. 



4. There follows an example of the physical power of 

 King Baal which is unfit for publication in any language. 



5. Tclah adalah Baja Teba Zu-al-Yczan itu yang ber- 

 mula-muld mcnyalinkan <akan Bcit-al-Haram The first of all 

 the kings to cover the Kaabah with a robe, the Kiswah. There 

 is possibly some very slight basis of historical fact for this 

 statement. There appears to be no doubt that the veneration 

 •for the Kaabah dates from very early times, even if it does not 

 go quite so far back as the age of Abraham, as Mohammedans 

 believe. Burton says, (Pilgrimage chap, xxx) " The Meccan 

 Temple was first dressed as a mark of honour by Tobba the 

 Himyarite when he Judai^ed." And Hughes, (Diet, of Islam 



R. A. Soc, No. 58, 191 1. 



