"الجغرافيا الشرقية لابن حوقل، رحّالة عربي من القرن العاشر" [‎١‎٠] (٣٨٨/٢٥)

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x PREFACE.
t( inscription- The people report this to have heen in the
" Hamariah character, and that the gate was erected by the
" Tohha, the king of Yemen, (Arabia FelixJ ; that (the in~
<( scription signifiesJ " From Sanaa to Samarcand is a thousand
" farsang." This was written in the days of the 2 } ohha. Then,
" says he (Ebn Haukal), a riot or tumult having happened
" at Samarcand, during my stay there, the gate was burnt
" and the inscription destroyed. After that, Mohammed Lbn
" Logman Ebn Nasir Ebn Ahmed, the Samanian*, caused
" the gate to be rebuilt, but did not restore the inscription."
In page 254 of the following work, this passage will be
found with less variation from the original than Persian
translations generally exhibit: and as it leads to a curious
anecdote in Oriental history, an article of the Appendix is de
voted to its illustration.
The Author q/* f/ie Ajaieb al Boldan fFifth Climatej also
quotes Ebn Haukal on this subject; and he seems to have
* For some account of the Samanian dynasty, see the Appendix No. IP.
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