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Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi:
Kitab al-Imta' wa'l-Mu'anasa (930-d1023)
(a discussion on national character) lived in Baghdad.
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Taken from : Yves Bonnefoy; Asian Mythologies
Which is the wisest of all nations?
The Chinese we said; People of furnishings and handicrafts, he replied, with neither thought nor reflection. The Turks we said; Wild beasts for the frag he replied, The Indians we said; People of fantasy he said of legerdemain and conjuring and tricks. The Zanj we said; Freckles cattle he replied....
.... In consequence, good and bad qualities are spread among the whole of mankind and implanted in all of them. The Persians have statecraft, civility, rules, and etiquette. The Byzantines have science and wisdom; the Indians have thought and reflection and nimbleness and magic and perseverance. The Turks have courage and impetuosity, the Zanj have patients and toil and merriment, the Arabs are intrepid, hospitable, loyal, gallant, generous, protective, eloquent, and cogent....
On Languages;
We have heard many languages (even if we do not understand them) of all nations, such as the languages of our friends the Persians, Indians, Turks, Khwarezinians, Slavs, Andalusians and Zanj, and we found nothing in these languages like the limpidity of Arabic
The giraffe (zurafa) is found only in the country of the Abessinians