Scholarship on Letter: Moss. IV,21.1 + T-S NS J240 + T-S 20.137

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11. there was in the ship an unlimited amount
12. of diversified goods. Never has a ship like this sailed to 
13. India. But God ordered this, and there is
14. no escape from Him [and from] His judgment. He, who has the power to decree,
15. decrees. God, the Exalted, may recompense me and you
16. and everyone! God is my witness that
17. my anguish over the losses of o[thers is greater than that]
18. over my own. For it is hard [. . .]

II,23: T-S 20.137 recto

1. And after this he [Bama] went and rented himself a place and said,
2. “Provide me with sufficient living expenses.” So he took from me
3. eight dinars for living expenses during four months. Most of the
4. time he came to me under the inÁuence of drink, not hearing
5. a word I said. I don’t know what purpose you had, my lord,
6. in sending him. Your (load of ) pepper arrived,
7. that is the one in the ship of the nākhudā Abu ’l-Ḥasan b. Abu
8. ’l-Katāʾib. The weight: twenty-two bahārs and sixty pounds
9. This year, at the beginning of seafaring time, the son of al-ʿAmīd,
10. the ruler of Kīs, sent an expedition against Aden. He had demanded part of Aden, which
11. was refused, whereupon he sent this expedition. His fleet consisted of two burmas {read: nrmhs},
12. three shaffāras, and ten jāshujiyyas, altogether manned with
13. about 700 men. They anchored in the harbor (makallaʾ) of Aden, lying in wait for
14. (the incoming) ships, but did not enter the town. The people of the town were very much
15. afraid of them, but God did not give them victory and success.
16. Many of their men were killed, their ships were pierced (with spears), and they died of thirst
17. and hunger. The first of the merchants’ fleet to arrive were the two vessels of the nākhudā
18. Rāmisht. They (the enemy) attacked them, but God did not give them victory. As soon as the two ships
19. entered the port (bandar), they were boarded by a large number of regular troops,
20. whereupon they (the enemy) were driven from the port and began to disperse {alt. tr.: go in circles} on the open sea.
21. Thus, God did not give them victory. They made off in the most ignominious way, having suffered great losses
22. and humiliation {alt. tr.: having suffered many killed and great losses}. The news from Egypt was mediocre.
23. (As a result) goods sold poorly, and there was no demand for even a dirhem’s worth of pepper
24. or (other) merchandise, except a week before sailing.
25. Had I asked the owners of the pepper for the ‘tithe,’ they would have sold it
26. for less than 20. So I was patient with them for the ‘tithe’
27. up to the day of sailing, until people came from all over
28. and the price of pepper was fixed at 23 dinars per bahār. The proceeds
29. of the pepper listed above amounted to 510 ½ dinars
30. and two qīrāṭs (1/12). The sack of cardamom, delivered by Yāqūt al-Tanjī
31. at the sale in the ‘house,’ turned out to weigh one bahār and 222
32. pounds, price (per bahār) 48 (dinars); total {alt. tr.: proceeds} 83 ½ dinars. The weight of the other
33. sack was two bahārs less seven pounds, at a price of 45 (dinars);
34. total {alt. tr.: proceeds} 89 dinars. Also your credit: Yāqūt delivered,
35. in exchange for half an (Egyptian) mithqāl, which you {alt. tr.: he} still owed, two (Malikī) dinars
36. less one-quarter. Total of your assets:
37. 685 dinars, less one-sixth.
38. You owe: the ‘tithe’ on the pepper, 155 ⅓ dinars and two qīrāṭs (1/12)
39. the cost of baskets of palm leaves and the porter, 2 ½ dinars and two qīrāṭs (1/12);
40. for two sacks of cardamom, (whose) weight in the Furḍa was three bahārs and 109 {read: 110} pounds,
41. the ‘tithe’ was 19 ½ dinars. You owe (also): the living expenses
42. of your servant for four months, from Iyyar to the end of Ab: 8
43. dinars; the registration fee for the captain Bakhtiyār, one dinar; the sum of
44. five niṣāfīs (for) glass and five cups {alt. tr.: jars}, firmly set {alt. tr.: of muḥkam glass} in baskets, a dinar;
45. given to Bama, a quarter-dinar for purchasing glass tumblers;
46. four Berbera mats and {alt. tr.: for} one niṣāfī; a hide—one dinar;
47. an iron pan—two-thirds d.; a sieve one-third d.;
48. for a niṣāfī, twelve pounds of soap; two chickpea-patterned (dotted)
49. Egyptian fūṭas, worth four dinars; a woolen fulled fūṭa,
50. 3 ½ dinars. The total of all these {add: retail} items
51. [...five bahārs of yellow copper…the tax for the yellow copper]