Letter: T-S 8J17.15

Description

Letter from ʿAllān b. Ḥassūn, in 'Aydhab, to his sons, before embarking again for the east. He reports that he had dismissed his traveling companion and chosen a different one, and that no one, not even in the Kārim flotilla, had arrived in 'Aydhab. He expresses regret at having undertaken the voyage at all, and advises his sons not to be on the road constantly as he is; he advises them that a family partnership would enable them to share the effort of travel. Goitein identified ʿAllān as the author of the letter based on his handwriting. (Information from Goitein, "Portrait of a Medieval India Trader: Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza," BSOAS 50 (1987): 449–64, published posthumously; see also the attached notes, used as a basis for the article and stored in Goitein's files.)