(TRAVEL)

Endter

Nürnberg

1676

Asiatische und Africanische Denckwürdigkeiten dieser Zeit / Das ist/ Beschreibung der Königreiche / Herschafften und Länder des Grossen Mogols / Der Grossen Neguz, oder so genannten Priester Johannis, des Königreichs von Argier, und der Länder Barabariae und Mauritaniae, Neben dem Africanischen Judenthum [Contemporary Asiatic and African Memoirs; Chronicle of the Kingdom and Lands of three Great Mogul; The Great Neguz, or Prester John; the Kingdom of Algiers, and the Lands of Barbary and Mauritania; Regarding African Jewry]

This work is culled from several travelogues and preceded by "The Late Travels of S. Giacomo Baratti, an Italian gentleman, into the Remote Countries of the Abissins, or of Ethiopian Interior "(London 1670). The Introduction here explains that the third part of the book concerning Ethiopia's Prester John is taken from Baratti; and the Fourth Part concerning Algeria, the Barbary States and Mauritania from M. Roland Frejus. The Fifth Part concerning African Jewry is unattributed. The section that purports to offer a contemporary account of the Jews in North Africa is in fact, a summary of the Jewish religion, including: Maimonides' Thirteen Articles of Faith; the religious habit ( zizith and tephillin); translation of a Kethubah (marriage contract); description of an amulet to protect the newborn; the circumcision ceremony; translation of a bill of divorce; various prayers, excerpts from Tractate Sabbath; the Festival of Purim; text of a Cherem, etc.