_ 268 _ often run to several hundred pages, unnumbered in most cases. They are mostly written in SiyAqat, a script usual in Ottoman finance documents. It served the double purpose of speed and secrecy, and still maintains some success in securing the second. The language is a kind of office jargon-a hotchpotch of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, in proportions varying from province to province. In the Arab lands as one would expect the proportion of Arabic is high. Some defters are dated. Many more bear the name of the reigning Sultan. Others can be dated within a few years by internal evidence. The state of preservation is on the whole good, but many defters have sections missing, especially at the beginning. A few defters have been affected by damp and worms, but the great majority are in good condition. Even the damaged ones can in most cases be read. The TapU defterleri have their gaps. Areas under indirect rule are excluded, and nothing is said about the farming of the revenues of crown lands. But enough has been said to show that for the Arab lands, as for the rest of the Ottoman Empire, the TapU Defterleri are a source of unique value. Economic and demographic development can be followed to an extent not equalled in the Middle East until very recent times, while administrative topography and to some extent the administration itself can be traced in great
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