Al-Bustān by al-Shaykh 'Abdullāh al-BustāniReview by: Philip K. HittiJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Jun., 1931), pp. 177-178Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/593671 .

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Ilitti, al-Bustan 177

or real standards. As has been made absolutely clear by the dis- coveries at Tell el-'Obeid, the rings on these "standards" were intended to hold the horizontal bars by which the gates were bolted.

Mrs. Van Buren has placed us under a very great obligation by her careful and complete treatment of a much neglected, but ex- tremely important subject. No student of ancient oriental arch- aeology can afford to neglect her monumental work, which will probably remain the standard handbook in its field for many years to come.

W. F. ALBRIGHT. The Johns Hopkins University.

Al-Bustan. By AL-SIIAYKH tABDULLiH AL-BUSTANI. 2 vols. Beirut: AMERICAN MISSION PRESS, 1930. Pp. 2784 + 66.

The Mission Press of Beirut has shown in recent years com- mendable activity in the publication of scholarly and scientific works. A book on geology by Professor Alfred Ely Day, empha- sizing the geology of Lebanon, and done intoi Arabic by Professor Diwdud Qurban, both of the American University of Beirut, ap- peared last year in 191 pages. It is the third in a series of which the first two deal with the plant and animal kingdoms, all by the same author. A second edition of al-WUsfr al-Qadcmah, being a translation of Breasted's Ancient Times by Professor Qurbdn, has just appeared. Such was the demand for the first edition, reviewed in this JOURNAL, vol. 49 (1921), pp. 87-88, that its copies have already been exhausted. The book is being used as a textbook on ancient history in the public schools of al-tIrdq, Palestine, and Transjordania. The student descendants of the peoples who lived in these three lands, however, will find the data dealing with their ancestors out of all proportion to that treating the Greeks and Romans. An Arab will search in vain for a paragraph on the once- flourishing civilization of the Minaeans, Sabaeans, and Himyarites. In fact, these words do not occur in the index; and al-tArab occurs on three pages only. Nor are the words Nabateans, Ghassan, Lakhm, and al-Hirah listed. In order to meet the real needs of the Arabic-speaking world for whom it is intended, a work of this kind should have been an adaptation rather than a translation,

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178 Reviews of Books

The most voluminous work of the Press, however, has been al- Bustdn. It may be the largest book printed in any Arabic press during the last year. The author, who died after correcting the last proofs, belonged to a Maronite Lebanese family which fur- nished the modern Arabic world with two of its most distinguished scholars, one of whom translated the Ilitd and Odyssey into ex- quisite Arabic verse, and the other produced in the latter part of the last century a whole Arabic encyclopaedia in a number of volumes. The book under review has omitted a number of obsolete and objectionable words, has arranged its entries in a fairly good manner, and on the whole constitutes an improvement on 4fuhit al-Muhit and Aqrab al-Mawdrid, to say nothing of the older and more archaic forms of lexicons such as Thj al-'Aris. But it still leaves much to be desired. No etymologies are given. The whole is the work of one man. Arabic as a language is treated from the narrow provincial point of view rather than from the broader Semitic aspects.

Kitdb Khitat al-Shanm. By MuHAl&.AD KURVDALI. Vols. IV, V

and VI. Damascus, 1926-28. Pp. 310, 308, 425.

These volumes complete a work of which the first three volumes were reviewed in this JOURNAL, vol. 46 (1926), pp. 321-322. The author, who is the president of the Arab Academy in Damascus and the minister of education in the Syrian government, has fol- lowed the medieval school of historiography as represented by such a writer as al-Maqrizi, the title of whose monumental work on the history of Egypt, al-Khitat, was appropriated by Kurd'ali. And like Maqrlzi our author has produced a compilation of historical material rather than a real history. In volume IV, entitled to- gether with the last two volumes " cultural history," he takes up literature, science, sculpture, architecture, painting, music, agri- culture and industry from the days of Muhammad to the present time. Volume V deals with the army, navy, taxation, ports, rail- roads, castles, and kindred subjects, beginning with the ancient Assyrian period. The last volume is devoted to the history of the churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, sects, and denominations. A number of articles written by writers other than the author himself are incorporated in the book. The work serves a purpose in making

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