To next page
Ibn al-Fakih al Hamadhani (903) Kitab al Buldan (book of countries) from Hamadan Iran's ancient capital.
-----------------------------------------------------
Neville Chittick: East Africa and the Orient
N. Levtzion and J.F.P.Hopkins; Corpus of early Arabic Sources for West
African History.
Friedrich Storbeck; (1914) Mitteilungen des Seminars fur orientalische
Sprachen
Al Hamadani : Abrege du livre des pays
Serjeant; Society and Trade in South Arabia
Socotra island: Socotran aloes is called after it. It and the island of Barbara are part of (the area) that intervenes between Aden and the land of the negroes (Zinj), situated on the route (to it). A person putting to sea from Aden to the land of the Zinj starts out as if making for Oman and Socotra island runs along with him on his right until its end and he turns in the direction of the Zinj sea.
The gold of the Waq-waq of Yaman (south) (is west on our maps, so east Africa) is inferior to that of the Waq-waq of Sin. (East India).
There is no bigger sea in the world then the Big Sea. She starts at the Magrib and through the Kolzon sea reaches Wakwak and China. The Wakwak of China is different from the Wakwak of the south which only produces pour quality gold.
Some people say that the Nile issues beyond the Equator from two lakes called the Two Lakes of the Nile. It flows around the land of the Habasha, then it passes between Bahr al-Qulzum (Red Sea) which is the same as Bahr al-Farama, and the desert to flow on and pour itself out at Dimyat into al-Bahr al Rumi al Maghribi, The Western Roman Sea. Dimyat is on the coast of that sea. Abu 'l-Khattab related that al-Mushtari b. al-Aswad said: I have raided the land of Anbiya twenty times from al-Sus al-Aqsa, and I have seen there the Nile. Between the river and the salty sea is a dune of sand and the Nile emerges from beneath it. (Note: his raids were from Marocco to the Sahara)
Behind Alwa is a strong nation of blacks, called Bukna. They are naked like the Zang. Their country produces gold. In the country of these, the Nil splits in two. A big channel which splits of that becomes green of color. The big watermass, (the Nil) goes further through the country of Nubie, without changing color. Every now and then, it happens that the water in the channel becomes less, and the big water becomes white from color, the small one green. Each channel then goes through thickly populated valleys, and ends close to Chalabis and the desert, where they end in the ocean.
If nobody had ever traveled,...... then the kings would not have collected the blades from Yemen, the swords from India, lances from Baloutchistan (Balus), the iron for lances from the land of Hazar, ........ the leader bags from Magrib, the bags from Tibet, the leather from the land of Zang, the panther skins from Barberia, the brides handadiyya, ........
The Egyptians count the crocodile in the Nil as one of the curiosities of their country. That animal swims around in the bays of Sindan and the land of the Zang, ......
The Buga are of different sorts. By the Nubians and the Buga, Allah is called Bahir, with the Zang, Lamaklujlu (or Mkulu njulu )(la-makalujalu) with the Coptes, Abnudah (pnuti), with the berbers, Madikas.
Behind the land of Alwa, you will find a black people called Takna; they walk naked, all like the Zang, in their land the gold grows, in their land also the Nil divides...........
One of the faults of Syria is its many bad insects; one says; the fever of Haybar, the pests of Syria, the beetles of Mesopotamia, the scabies of the Zang, and the rat problems of Bahrain.
It has been said: he who lives for one year in Mossoul sees his strength increase, he who prolongs his fast in Mopsueste, is thought to become crazy, he who continues from the frontiers of Iraq towards the land of Zang is always feeling bad, the worse as longer they stay there. Those who drink alcohol and the coconut milk (whine), become crazy.
A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq have sound minds, commendable passions, balanced natures, and high proficiency in every art, together with well-proportioned limbs, well-compounded humors, and a pale brown color, which is the most apt and proper color. They are the ones who are done to a turn in the womb. They do not come out with something between blonde, buff, blanched, and leprous coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Ethiopians (Hubsan), and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two.
The barastug (kind of fish) is he not swimming to Basra, setting of from the land of Zang, looking for the sweet water of the Tigris. All sailors know this. And all sailors know, and they believe it, that the distance between Basra and Oman bigger is then between Basra and Zeng, and the people mistakenly believe that China further is then the sea of Zeng.
The sea of Zeng is a deep white channel, with big waves, and over this sea blows a heavy wind, and from Oman to Zeng you need two months, and because the sea is deep, the wind strong, and the waves big, what makes that proper trading goods in Zang are scares, so one does not leaves the sail down, that one navigates with the cord and not with the bow without knowing kannab or makaand the trip goes fast, all this makes the trip to Zeng shorter.
The barastug goes through the waves, swimming from Zang to Basra, then the ones who have escaped the fishermen return to Zang.
According to Plato (Aflatun), there is no good faith with the Turks, nor generosity with the Rum, nor honor with the Hazar, not tristesse among the Zang, nor greatness among the Slaves, nor character among the people of Sind.