Sir;--Seeing in your Paper of yesterday a translation of the Arabic
416 manuscript respecting Mr. Mungo Park's death, which is deposited
with the African Association, and _decyphered and transcribed by
me_ in Mr. Bowdich's account of a Mission to Ashantee, p. 480, and
perceiving that the errors in _that translation_ are thus
propagated to the public through the medium of the London Papers;
which although perhaps of little consequence to the general reader,
yet, as they are of importance to the critic, and to the
investigator of African affairs, I shall take the liberty of
offering a few observations on the subject.
The following passage, in the translation above alluded to, might
have passed the public eye without animadversion as the language of
a foreigner, (as we have understood Mr. Salamé to be,) but from the
intelligent Editor of a London daily paper, might we not have
expected more correct phraseology?[233]
[Footnote 233: "The phrases thus objected to by our learned
Correspondent, were contained in the translations furnished to
us in common with other papers, and not the language of the
Editor. Indeed, this appears to be admitted by our
Correspondent himself, in the apparently very just comments he
has thus favoured us with.--EDITOR."]
"The ship reached a head of mountain which took her away, and the
men and women of Bassa, altogether with every kind of arms, and the
ship could find no way to avoid the mountain."
I have no hesitation in declaring to be incorrect the first two
417 lines of Mr. Abraham Salamé's translation, inserted in your paper
of yesterday, which runs thus:--
"_This declaration is issued from the town called YAUD, in the
country of KOSSA_."
My translation of this passage, inserted in Mr. Bowdich's account
of a Mission to Ashantee, page 478, runs thus:--
"_This narrative proceeds from the territory in HAUSA called
ECAUREE_."
No one, I presume, will say that there is not a _manifest_
difference between these two translations--between _the town called
Yaud, in the country of Kossa_, and the _territory of Hausa, called
Ecauree_.
One of these translations must therefore necessarily be incorrect.
The Arabic manuscript decyphered and transcribed by me, is inserted
in Mr. Bowdich's work, page 480. Those who may feel interested in
ascertaining which is the correct and precise translation, are
requested to refer to the transcript above-mentioned, or to the
original manuscript, in the possession of the African Association.
As for myself, I presume I am right; and would submit the decision
to the judgment of either Sir Gore Ousley, or to that of Sir
William, or to the opinion of any Arabic scholar, to decide this
question.
If, Mr. Editor, you had an Arabic type, to save the trouble of
referring to the original, I should ask the Arabic scholar if it
were possible for any man to translate the following passage in
418 that document:--"Bled Hausa eekalu Ecuree"--"the town called Yaud,
in the country of Cossa;" whilst I should maintain that it would
admit of no other translation but the following, viz.--"the country
of Hausa, called Ecauree."
If you think this elucidation of the translation of the Manuscript
of Park's death sufficiently interesting to the public to deserve a
place in your intelligent paper, it is very much at your service.
From, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,