ll, therefore, omit them, and conclude by
observing, that in translating this manuscript, two gentlemen
(Arabic scholars) had translated _akkadan Fie Asfeena_, "two maids
in the ship;" which words I have translated, "were tied or bound in
the vessel:" the word _akkadan_ being the preterite of the verb
_akkad_, to bind. I was not surprised to hear that _one_ translator
had made such an interpretation; knowing that incredible errors
have been frequently committed by professed Professors in the
Hebrew language as well as in the Arabic. But when I heard, as I
did, that another Arabic scholar had given a similar
interpretation, I must confess that I was not a little surprised.
However, a circumstance soon after unravelled the mystery; for I
discovered that these two gentlemen, at a loss no doubt to
412 ascertain the meaning of _akkadan_, had referred to Richardson's
Arabic Dictionary, wherein the word is quoted to signify, in a
figurative sense, a virgin. _In a figurative sense!_ In translating
an ill-written, illiterate, and ungrammatical manuscript, these two
translators had had recourse to _rhetorical figures_, and actually
substituted a trope for what was a verb, generally used in the
West, signifying "to bind!"

As it has been asserted in the following extract, that my
translation of the foregoing manuscript differs _only in a trifling
degree_ from that of Mr. Abraham Salame, I here insert my answer to
that assertion, leaving the intelligent reader to determine,
whether they are alike or materially different.

_Extract from The Times, 3d May, 1819_.

MUNGO PARK.

The death of this enterprising traveller is now placed beyond any
doubt. Many accounts of it have been received, and although varying
as to the circumstances attending it, yet all agreeing that it has
taken place. One statement was given to Mr. Bowdich, while on his
mission to the King of the Ashantees, in 1817, by a Moor, who said
that he was an eye-witness; and the same gentleman procured an
Arabic manuscript declaratory of Mr. Park's death. This manuscript
has been deposited with the African Association, formed for the
413 purpose of extending researches in that part of the world. Two
translations have been made of this curious document; one by Mr.
Salame, an Egyptian, who accompa