As illustration only Persian ambassadors arriving at the Mughal court.

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Al Yamani:  Bahgat al-zaman(d1343) Yemen

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Tag al-Din Abd al-Baqi b. Abd al-Magid al Yamani; who wrote: Bahgat al Zaman fi ta’rih al-Yaman. (History of Yemen), till 1323 AD (BNF Arabe 5977). Most commonly addressed as Ibn Abd al Magid, the secretary of the chancellery of the Rasulids in Yemen in the years 1310-1320 AD is the main Rasulid chronicler for this period. An eye-witnesses and he presents a version of the facts largely favorable to the Rasulid sultan, insisting on his good disposition towards the Egyptians. His notes on the ambassies of Yemen to Egypt are repeated by authors like al-Hazragi and Ḥagar al-Asqalani who give the Egyptian site of the story. Among the gifts of these embassies a few things that might have come from East Africa. 

 

Taken from: Pouvoir, commerce et marchands dans le Yémen rasulide by Eric Vallet

 

This way comes to the Sharif (1)(of Mecca) that what the favour of the Sultan (of Yemen), that is that what his father the caliph (al Muzaffar Yusuf)(2) had fixed for him in precious metal and grain, in robes and aromatics, in musk, aloes, amber and sandal, in coloured textiles and in honour robes of high value. It were 80000 dirhams (3) of precious metal and the amount of grain 400 mudd (4) with considerable properties.


Taken from: Du système mercantile à l'ordre diplomatique : les ambassades entre Égypte mamluke et Yemen rasulide by Eric Vallet

 

Embassy of 705 AH (1304-5)

 

The rasulid sultan (5) wants to send a present with the emir Asad al-Din Muḥammad b. Nur. But he learns that the situation is tense in Egypt, and the present is not sent. It is ultimately sent later: Silver objects of various kinds, such as basins (tusut), ewers(abariq), plateaux (salahiyyat), perfume burners (majamir), balls (akr), cases (qurabat); (Sawari) sticks of aloe wood and sandalwood, large pieces of amber, musk bladders (nawafij), a magnificent selection of Chinese porcelain and sandstone (yashm), including plates (Huhun) and bowls (zubadi), plateaus (sakarij), of indescribable beauty; of the Abyssin eunuchs (al-khuddam al-habashi); India bamboo (al-qana al-hindi); Chinese sofas (al-maraqid al-siniyya); Golden consoles (al-marakib al-mudhahhaba); Finest muslins (shashat) and Bailakan (al-silqaniyat) fabrics; A considerable quantity of Chinese brocades (al-thiyab al-mudhahhaba al-siniyya); Vases (awani) and plateaus (atbaq); Chests (sanabiq) full of musk in grains (al-mufarragh), shah-sini (root of a Chinese plant), refined camphor (al-tazza); Which belongs to the hawa’ij khanat, such as many bahar (6) of pepper, cloves, ginger, lacquer, wood of brazil; Elephants, evening primates with striped robe (al-attabi), giraffes, all these animals caparisoned with gold-embroidered satin, Arabian horses of race corresponding to the rank (hal) of the recipient. The whole was dispatched on two large ships. The sending of presents of this kind should not be delayed beyond two or three years; It was indeed necessary to affirm affection and friendship (al-Mawadda wal-mahabba), as well as the perpetuation of the companionship (huhba) that had been concluded. I have detailed the visible content (iyan) of this present only because it testifies to the great virtue of the sultan [who sent it].

(1) Sharif: meaning "noble", "highborn", or "honourable", traditionally used as a title for the descendants of the family of the prophet Muhammad.

(2) al Muzaffar Yusuf: : Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Muzaffar Yusuf I (1249-1295) under whom the Yemeni kingdom reached its apogee.

(3) dirhams: silver coin of the Arab world (3 gr of silver).

(4) mudd (= 800 ratl); ratl: standard ratl of 440 grams in Umayyad Egypt.

(5) rasulid sultan: al-Mu'ayyad Da'ud (1296–1322).

(6) The bahar of pepper, cloves, ginger: is the great Bahar: about 216kg.