Letter: T-S 18J4.18

recto

1. In Your name, O Merciful.
2. The letter of his excellency, the most illustrious Sheikh, my lord, has arrived—may God protect your life
3. and make permanent your honored position, rank, pre-eminence, supremacy, superiority and ascendancy!
4. May He never deprive your dwelling place and court of any good! May He prostrate in weakness {alt. tr.: crush in disgrace}
5. those that are envious of you and humiliate your enemies! May all your affairs be completed successfully {lit., ‘be joined by blessings’}! I read it
6. and comprehended it and was happy to learn about your well-being and that your affairs are in order. I praised God for this
7. very much and asked Him to give you more of all that is good, in His mercy. I, your servant, acknowledge,
8. my lord, your kind inquiry (about my well-being) {alt. tr.: your kind attention} and concern. May God concern Himself with bestowing favors upon you {alt. tr.: Himself favorably with you}
9. and may He avert from you the misfortunes of this world! May He unite us, after the completion of your affairs, soon,
10. not belatedly, in His might and His kindness, which is (a) sufficient (guarantee) {alt. tr.: and His bounteous kindness}! You detailed, my lord, what
11. was salvaged for me, your servant, in the shaffāra, namely half a bahār of big measure of pepper, less
12. a farāsila. However, you did not mention to me, your servant, anything about the ginger which had been carried in it,
13. namely, three bahārs of ginger, less one quarter, for you, my lord, had mentioned it to me in your letter of
14. last year, and (wrote) that the nākhudā had insisted on collecting the freight only {alt. tr.: refused to collect the freight except} from it.
15. This is what it says in your letter of last year, my lord, which is in my—your servant’s—possession, and that the (loss incurred by)
16. jettisoning (part of the cargo) from the shaffāra had been distributed over the (whole) cargo. Now I do not know whether you, my lord, forgot
17. to mention this in your letters or what the matter is {alt. tr.: what (else) happened}. For in your letters from
18. last year, which I, your servant, have kept, you explained that the proceeds from the silk, after
19. expenses {alt. tr.: tolls}, were 17 ½  mithqāls. You had bought me, your servant, three bahās less one quarter of ginger
20. for 11 mithqāls, the price being four mithqāls per bahār. The balance in my, your servant’s, favor: six
21. and a half mithqāls. From this, there had been deducted one mithqāl, the balance (due from the purchase) of {lit., ‘the difference from’} the iron last year.
22. There had remained a balance in my, your servant’s, favor of five and a half mithqāls. For this you had bought for me, your servant, pepper, half a bahār
23. of big measure, less one qirāṭ. This is what you had written to me, your servant, about the shaffāra last
24. year. Your letter concerning this, my lord, is still with me. Furthermore, my lord, please check what is due to me {alt. tr.: is my loss} from the distribution.
25. From the total proceeds for me, your servant, buy whatever God, the Exalted, apportions:
26. pepper or something else, and forward it with one of the first ships coming out {lit., ‘one of the ships coming out at the beginning of the season’}. Concerning
27. the cardamom owed by the kārdār—may God curse him!—I spoke with someone
28. about this, and he told me that the cardamom actually was on your account, and we had nothing to do with it {lit., ‘was exclusively for you and we have no share in it’}. You had
29. made a transaction with the kārdār in which your share was lost {alt. tr.: and he defaulted on it}, whereupon you charged it to us.
30. However, as do others, your servant sends you consignments, relying on you to buy merchandise that needs no
31. bartering or advance, but an available commodity, which, if its purchase is convenient, fine, and if not, it should be abandoned;
32. for whoever sends you a consignment, does not write: “advance me money for certain merchandise,” but:
33. “purchase for whatever price God apportions as livelihood, and send it.” However, my lord, the decision lies with you
34. in all matters. Sheikh Abū Iṣḥaq b. Joseph arrived this year and reported
35. that your brother Mevassēr had arrived in Egypt and wishes to go to your place. Please take note of
36. this. As to ‘the salted foods’ and the qaṣʿa-bowls, which you had sent with Maḍmūn b. Sālim:
37. While at sea, he boarded a ship of Fidyār, but left everything in the ship (which had transported him from India) So far,
38. there arrived from Zabīd only three qaṣʿa-bowls, one for Sheikh Maḍmūn, one for Sheikh
39. Joseph, and one for me, and the mōja wood destined for me, nothing else. I, your servant, sent you
40. what has no importance, namely a bottle of sugar and a bottle of raisins for the children—may God, the Exalted,
41. keep them with {alt. tr.: for} you! You asked, my lord, to buy a dinar’s worth of arsenic. But, it is not to be had in the town,
42. nor is ladanum. However, I bought you a dinar’s worth of paper,
43. 30 sheets. There were forwarded to you also half a pound of kohl (antimony), half a pound of chewing gum and half a pound of vitriol.
44. This is from me, your servant. It cost nothing {alt. tr.: No charge}. As to the dinar for the paper, add it to my, your servant’s, account
45. for the ginger and pepper salvaged in the shaffāra and buy, my lord, what
46. God facilitates <and send it> in one of the ships heading (for Aden) {alt. tr.: arriving (here)}. There is no need, my lord, to give you advice. Receive, my master,
47. for your esteemed self the best greetings from me, your servant, and give the best greetings to my lords, your two children {alt. tr.: your two sons},
48. and greetings to Sheikh Bama. If you are able to buy some cardamom,
49. send it together with what you happen to buy {If there is some cardamom available, . . . with what you were able to buy}. And Peace.

verso, address

1. (To) His excellency, the most illustrious Sheikh, my lord, Abū Iṣḥaq
2. Abraham son of his honor, great and holy master Peraḥyā—may he rest in Eden!—b. Yijū.

verso, return address

1. (From) Your servant, who is grateful for your beneficence,
2. Khalaf b. Isaac—may I be spared losing you!

verso, Arabic address

[the address in Arabic script which adds ‘the Israelite’ for both sender and addressee; the name of the sender is prefaced by: ‘the one who is sincere in affection for you.’]