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Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi;
'Aja'eb al-Makhluqat va Ghara'eb al-Mojudat
(1160) (The Wonders of Creation) From Tusi in Khorasan
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Taken from; The Miller Atlas.
The map of the Indian Ocean shown is unique as the places shown on the east coast of africa do not appear in any other manuscript.
Taken from the website of the French National Library
The full title of this book is Kitab Aja ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara ib [al-]Maujudat. The author's name does not appear in any manuscript and evidence of authorship remains problematic. However, Hajji Khalifa attributes the work to Mohammed bin Mahmud bin Ahmad al-Tusi al-Salmani.
The text is divided into ten main sections. They are:
1. Angels and spiritual beings; the poles; the marvels of the sun, moon, planets and stars.
2. Fire and fire-worshippers; meteorology.
3. The earth, its features,divisions and climates.
4. Cities, mosques and temples; natural disasters.
5. Trees and plants.
6. Statues, talismans, marvels of tombs of prophets and royal treasures.
7. Mankind, soul and physical features. Woman.Peoples and tribes. Prophets, wizards and pretenders. Alchemy, medicine, qualities of foods. Wonderful cures.Fate, dreams, death. The faithlessness of the world.The resurrection.
8. Jinns, devils and ogres.
9. Birds.
Animals, sea creatures, appendix on 72 demons, all illustrated, and the afflictions they bring to mankind. The demons were said to have been chained up by Solomon, but effected their escape on his death and returned to their evil ways. Possibly based on a separate work of demonology.
As far as I know the works remains untranslated and unpublished. It does however contain material on East Africa. The few things I was able to find are:
fol;243v lion
fol 234 giraffe giving birth
fol 197 People of black Africa with dotted skin
fol 196v People of Zandj
fol 58 Worldmap
fol 46v Kay Husraw observing the hybrides in the sea of Zanzibar
