[p.60]

In Bagdad there are about 40,000 Jews[127], and they dwell in security, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongst them are great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study of the law.  In this city there are ten Academies.  At the head of the great Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli.  He is the head of the Academy Gaon Jacob.  He is a Levite, and traces his pedigree back to Moses our teacher.  The head of the second Academy is R. Hanania his brother, warden of the Levites; R. Daniel is the head of the third Academy; R. Elazar the scholar is the head of the fourth Academy; and R. Elazar, the son of Zemach, is the head of the order, and his pedigree reaches to Samuel the prophet, the Korahite.  He and his brethren know how to chant the melodies as did the singers at the time when the Temple was standing.  He is head of the fifth Academy.  R. Hisdai, the glory of the scholars, is head of the sixth Academy.  R. Haggai is head of the seventh Academy.  R. Ezra is the head of the eighth Academy.  R. Abraham, who is called Abu Tahir, is the head of the ninth Academy.  R. Zakkai, the son of Bostanai the Nasi, is the head of the Sium[128].

[p.61]

These are the ten Batlanim[129], and they do not engage in any other work than communal administration; and all the days of the week they judge the Jews their countrymen, except on the second day of the week, when they all appear before the chief rabbi Samuel, the head of the Yeshiba Gaon (Jacob), who in conjunction with the other Batlanim judges all those that appear before him.  And at the head of them all is Daniel the son of Hisdai, who is styled “Our Lord the Head of the Captivity of all Israel.”  He possesses a book of pedigrees going back as far as David, King of Israel.  The Jews call him “Our Lord, Head of the Captivity,” and the Mohammedans call him “Saidna ben Daoud,” and he has been invested with authority over all the congregations of Israel at the hands of the Emir al Muminin, the Lord of Islam[130].

For thus Mohammed commanded concerning him and his descendants; and he granted him a seal of office over all the congregations that dwell under his rule, and ordered that every one, whether Mohammedan or Jew, or belonging to any other nation in his dominion, should rise up before him (the Exilarch) and salute him, and that any one who should refuse to rise up should receive one hundred stripes[131].

[p.62]

And every fifth day when he goes to pay a visit to the great Caliph, horsemen, Gentiles as well as Jews, escort him, and heralds proclaim in advance, “Make way before our Lord, the son of David, as is due unto him,” the Arabic words being “Amilu tarik la Saidna ben Daud.”  He is mounted on a horse, and is attired in robes of silk and embroidery with a large turban on his head, and from the turban is suspended a long white cloth adorned with a chain upon which the cipher of Mohammed is engraved.