Legal document: Bodl. MS heb. d 66/64–65

Bodl. MS heb. d 66/64 64 Recto

1. On Monday, the eighth day of the month of Iyyar, 1409 E.D.,

2. Mr. Jekuthiel, who is mentioned on the reverse side of this sheet, appeared in court and sued Mr. Joseph,

3. who is also mentioned together with him (overleaf), for a bale of ⟦liche⟧ dry storax weighing

4. 380 manns, asking where and under which circumstances it was sold. When Mr. Joseph was questioned about this,

5. he said: “I sold 80 manns of that storax in Dahlak for 40

6. Dahlak dinars, worth ten Egyptian dinars, and took the remainder

7. with me to India, incurring expenses for customs, tithes and freight {alt. tr.: tolls}. The remainder was sold

8. for 120 Nahrwāra dirhems, worth about

9. eight Egyptian dinars.” Then Mr. Jekuthiel said (to the judge): “Ask him whether he carried the storax separately,

10. whether he bought it on his own account, or carried something in it.” Lebdi said: “I carried in it corals

11. belonging to me from Dahlak to India \\approximately one qirāṭ,// which did not require additional expenses all the way [alt. tr.: for which I was not required to pay a toll] to India. I carried it (the storax) to Nahr

12. wāra. When I arrived there, I took the corals out of it (the storax) and paid there for it

13. the customs and tithes (referred to before, but nothing for the corals,) for they are free of customs there {lit., ‘and tithes, because there are no dues on corals there’}. Nothing happened to the storax

14. until my arrival there and its sale. After efforts on my part, its proceeds were 120

15. dirhems, as mentioned before.” Then Mr. Jekuthiel said: “I gave him 20

16. excellent Egyptian dinars, for expenses; ask him how they were spent.” Questioned about this,

17. Mr. Joseph replied, providing details on those 20 dinars: “Of these I spent one dinar

18. and a half for freight from here to Qūṣ.” Said Mr. Jekuthiel: “These one and a half dinars 

19. are charged to me for what?” Joseph replied: “For the storax, the lichen

20. and the rest of the goods, such as the copper, the textiles, ⟦the cor(als)⟧, the dodder of thyme. This freight was received by

21. Fatān. Dues in Akhmīm and in Qūṣ amounted to one-eighth dinar each. When I arrived in

22. Qūṣ, I bought canvas and equipment {alt. tr.: packing materials} for camel transport \\and salabī ropes// for about one-half dinar.

23. Halters and payment to the weigher: one-eighth dinar. Hiring two camels from Qūṣ to ʿAydhāb: 5

24. dinars for a weight of about 800 Laythī (pounds). Having arrived in ʿAydhāb,

25. I paid one-quarter dinar for the brushing {[lit., ‘combing’} of the {add: bag of} textiles and two qirāṭs for the porter, and put down

26. in ʿAydhāb five and a third dinars for the two camels and two qirāṭs for porters.

Bodl. MS heb. d 66/65 65 recto

1. In ʿAydhāb, I put down one-quarter dinar for repacking the stuff in two bales, as it had been before,

2. and one-quarter dinar for mats; for porters and the skipper of the boat: one-eighth dinar, paid

3. before the two bales were laded. For the freight

4. from ʿAydhāb to Dahlak I paid six and a quarter dinars, and in Dahlak customs duties for the two pieces

5. six dinars, after having given bribes to the amount of one dinar and two [qirāṭs]. For the freight

6. of the piece of \\lichen// I paid 1 dinar from Dahlak to Aden.” He (Jekuthiel) also asked him (Joseph) about the corals,

7. which he had sent with him. He said: “Yes, I received them, traveled with them to Nahr-

8. wāra and exchanged them for 95,000 beads, which I put

9. into bales of lac, nine in all. Of these,

10. eight were lost by shipwreck; one bale (of lac) containing one bag (of beads) was saved 

11. and is here with me.” He asked him also about the 70 dinars obtained through the sale of 

12. textiles and other goods in Dahlak, namely, what {add: ⟦you⟧} he bought for them. He replied: “I did not buy

13. him anything for them, but took them with me in specie to Aden, to Ḥasan b. Bundār, 

14. \\together with my own money// and asked Ḥasan to grant me an advance on 50 bahārs of pepper, ⟦\\of which// to Mr. Jekuthiel⟧ of which

15. 15 bahārs were for Sheikh Abū Yaʿqūb. I assigned this to him \\in my heart.// I could

16. not specify this expressly for Sheikh Abū Yaʿqūb, lest something

17. happen and the entire shipment would be lost.” Then he asked Joseph also about the lichen, the silver (vessels), the dodder of thyme,

18. and the scammony. He replied: “I carried all these things with me to Aden in my own name

19. and stored them with {alt. tr.: I unloaded them at the place (warehouse) of} the representative (of the merchants) Ḥasan b. Bundār, also in my own name, but told him 

20. ‘sell them ⟦separately⟧ \\apart// (from my goods), for they belong to Sheikh Abū Yaʿqūb.’ As to the copper, I sold a quantity of it

21. which was not suitable for export to India, bought another type {lit., ‘a substitute for it’}, and sent it ⟦for him⟧ to the region of

22. pepper, to be sold there; so that pepper would be bought for its price by the agency of Ḥasan b. Bundār. I do

23. not exactly remember whether I did this in the name of Sheikh Abū Yaʿqūb or in my own name.” Finally, Sheikh

24. Abū Yaʿqūb said to this Mr. Joseph: “On whose orders did you do all these things you mentioned,

Bodl. MS heb. d 66/65 65 verso

1. such as shipping some goods (to India) and leaving others in Aden, and other actions, none of which I instructed you

2. to do?” He replied: “When you gave this to me, you said to me, ‘these goods are yours, do

3. with them ⟦as you see fit⟧, as you do with your own merchandise.’ Because of this, I did all those things.

4. My handing over of goods {lit., ‘what I handed over’} to Ibn Bundār was done at your suggestion and on your instructions

5. for the purchase of pepper.” The proceedings

6. etc. Hillel b. R. Eli—may his memory be blessed!

7. Abraham b. R. Shemaʿya, etc. 

Nethanel b. Japheth—may he rest in Eden!