Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/625

Rh from the abridged MSS. at Cambridge, which attractedmueh interest. The French capture of Constantina at last afforded MSS. of the complete work, one of them the autograph of Ibn Juzai. And from these, after versions of fragments by various French scholars, was derived at last (1858-59) a careful edition and translation of the whole by M. Det remery and Dr Sanguinetti, with a valuable index and other apparatus, in 4 vols. Svo. 1

Though there are some singular chronological difficulties in the narrative, and a good many cursory inaccuracies and exaggerations, there is no part of it except the voyage to China in which its sub stantial veracity is open to doubt. Nor can it be questioned, we think, that he really visited China, though it is probable that his visit was confined to the ports of the south. The whole of the second part of his story especially is full of vivacity and interest. His accounts, e.r/., of the Maldive Islands, and of the Negro countries on the Niger, are rei&amp;gt;lete with interesting particulars, and appear to be accurate and unstrained. The former agrees sur prisingly with that given by the only other foreign resident we know of, viz., Pyrard de la Val, two hundred and fifty years later. His full and curious statements and anecdotes regarding the showy virtues and very solid vices of Sultan Mahonuned Tughlak are in entire agreement with Indian historians, and add many fresh details.

To do justice to the traveller s own character, as he has uncon sciously drawn it, would require the hand of Chaucer and his freedom of speech. Not deficient either in acuteness or in humanity; full of vital energy and enjoyment ; infinite in curiosity ; daring, rest less, impulsive, sensual, inconsiderate, extravagant ; superstitious in his regard for the Moslem saints and quacks, and plying devout observances when in difficulties ; an agreeable companion, for he is always welcomed at first, but clinging like a horseleech when he finds a full-blooded subject, and hence apt to disgust his patrons, and then to turn to intrigue against them, such is the picture we form of this prince of Moslem travellers. (H. Y. )  IBN EZRA. See ABENEZRA.  IBN KHALDOUN (1332-1406), a celebrated Arabic historian, poet, and philosopher, was born at Tunis on the 1st Ramadhan 732 A.II. (February 8, 1332). His name was Abu Zeid Abdarrahman, that of Ibn Khaldoun being a patronymic derived from an ancestor Khaldoun ibn Othman, who came over with a band of Arab warriors and settled at Carmona in Spain. The family afterwards established itself in Seville, which it quitted for Tunis on the approach of Ferdinand III. Ibn Khaldoun at an early age applied himself to the .study of the various branches of Arabic learning with very great success, and entered the employ ment of the sultan as private secretary at the age of twenty- one. Not believing, however, in the stability of his master s throne, ho soon afterwards took refuge with and obtained employment under the Merinide sultan Abu Einan at Fez. In the beginning of the year 1356, his integrity having been suspected, he was thrown into prison until the death of Abu Einan in 1358, when the vizier El Hasan ibn Omar set him at liberty, and reinstated him in his rank and offices. He here continued to render great service to Abu Salem, Abu Einan s successor, but, having offended the prime minister, his position became less pleasant at court, and he sought and obtained permission to emigrate to Spain, where, at Granada, he was received with great cordiality by Ibn el Ahmer, who had been greatly indebted to his good offices when an exile at the court of Abu Salem. The favours and honours he received from the sovereign soon, however, excited the jealousy of the vizier, and he was driven back to Africa, where he was received with great cordiality by the sultan of Bujaiye, Abu Abddlah, who had been formerly his companion in prison. Jealousies and intrigues again drove him forth, this time to take refuge with the lord of Biskera, Ahmed ibn el Mozni. In answer to an appeal from the sultan of Tlemcen, Ibn Khaldoun raised a large force amongst the desert Arabs of the district, and passed over to the service of that prince. A few years later he was taken prisoner by Abd el Aziz, who had defeated the sultan of Tlemcen and seized upon ! the throne. He then entered a monastic establishment, j and occupied himself with scholastic duties, until in the year 1370 he was sent foi to Tlemcen by the new sultan, Abd el Aziz. After the death of Abd el Aziz he resided at Fez, enjoying the patronage and confidence of the regent. After some further vicissitudes he entered the service of the sultan of his native town of Tunis, where he devoted himself almost exclusively to his studies. Having received permission to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, he set out and reached Cairo, where his reputation had already preceded him, and was presented to the sultan, El Melek ed Dhaher Berkouk, who insisted on his remaining there, and in the year 1384 promoted him to the high rank of grand cadi of the Malekite rite for Cairo. This office he filled with great prudence and probity, and succeeded in removing a mass cf abuses with which the administration of justice in Egypt was overgrown. A terrible misfortune now fell upon him ; the ship in which his wife and family, with all his property, were coming to join him, was shipwrecked, and every one on board lost. He endeavoured to find consolation in f i esh devotion to his studies, and to the completion of his great work the History of the Arabs of Spain, in which he had long been engaged. At the same time he was removed from his office of cadi, which gave him still more leisure for his work. Three years later he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and on his return lived in strict retirement at the village of Faiyoum until 1399, when he was again called upon to resume his functions as cadi. He was removed and reinstated in the office no less than five times. In the month of Rabia I, 803 A.II. (October to November 1400 A.D.), he was sent to Damascus, in connexion with the expedition intended to oppose the celebrated Timur or Tamerlane. When Timur had become master of the situation, Ibn Khaldoun let himself down from the walls of the city by a rope, and presented himself before the conqueror, who, charmed with his dignified appearance and his learned discourse, permitted him to return to Egypt. Ibn Khaldoun died on the 25th Ramadhan 808 A.H. (16th March 1406), at the age of sixty-four.

The great work by which he is known is a &quot; Universal History,&quot; but it deals more particularly with the history of the Arabs of Spain and Africa. Its Arabic title is Kitub el Iber, ica ditcdn cl Mubtadd ica I Khaber, ft a! yum cl Arab VM I Ajam wa I Berber ; that is, &quot; The Book of Examples and the Collection of Origins and Informa tion respecting the History of the Arabs, Foreigners, and Berbers. &quot; It consists of three books, an introduction, and an autobiography. Book i. treats of the influence of civilization upon man ; book ii. of the history of the Arabs and other peoples from the remotest antiquity until the author s own times; book iii. of the history of the Berber tribes and of the kingdoms founded by that race iu North Africa. The introduction is an elaborate treatise on the science of history and the development of society, and the auto biography contains the history, not only of the author himself, but of his family and of the dynasties which ruled in Fez, Tunis, and Tlemcen during his lifetime. An admirable edition of the Arabic text has been printed at Boulak (Cairo), and a part of the work has been translated by the late Baron de Shine under the title of Hisloire dcs Jlcrbercs (Algiers, 1852-56) ; it contains an admirable account of the author and analysis of his work. (E. H. J . )  IBN KHALLIKAN (1211-1282). Abu 1 Abbas Ahmed, better known as Ibn Khallikan, 2 author of the celebrated Arabic biographical dictionary, was born at Arbela on the 22d September 1211. Some of his biographers trace his descent to Jaafer the Barmecide, the well-known unfor tunate friend and vizier of Haroun Alraschid. His life was that of a scholar and literary man, and he was promoted in his later years to the office of cadi of Damascus. He died in the Najibiyeh College of that city on the 29th October 1282. His great work is the Kitdb Wafai/dt el Ait/an, &quot; The Obituaries of Eminent Men,&quot; and contains brief sketches of the lives of all the most important

1 P. Jose de S. Antonio Moura previously published at Lisbon a i 2 By some scholars this surname is written Ibn Khillikan ; but his Portuguese translation from a MS. obtained by him at Fez many years j own autograph signature recently found upon a manuscript in the before. University Library, Cambridge, gives the usually accepted form. 