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Abu Mashar al-Balkhi, Jafar Ibn Muhammad (d885) Kitab al-mudkhal al-kabir ila 'ilm ahkam an-nujjum (The Greater Introduction to Astrology) from Balhi
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Taken from : Actes; XII congres inernational vol 1A D�histoire des sciences Paris 1968
Richard Lemay, Fautes et contresens dans les traductionsarabo-latines m�di�vales : l�Introductorium in Astronomiam d�Abou Ma�shar de Balkh
Also called: Albumazar; Abu-Mashar; Abu Maschar,
I did not find a translation of the MSS only quotes from his work.
He writes down what he heard from sailors:
The people on the coast of Berbera are a kind of Zanj.
He mentions that in the land of the Zanj they see what later was to become known as the Magellan cloud.
He mentions the two countries in east Africa being Zanj and Zabay which however have to be reached following a different course; For Zanj the Arab navigators go immediately by the Oman sea and the eastern shore of the Indian Ocean. He also uses for the big island of Zabay other words like al-Qimar and al-Chymer. Al-Qimar, situated behind India and populated by a kind of Zanj.
The people of the East African coast: And there is nobody who has reached their land, and those people are not recorded, and we do not know anybody who reached the continent who can describe us the people and the natives.
