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Al Zuhri : (1137) Kitab al-Jarafiyya from Granada (Spain)
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Taken from : N. Levtzion and J.F.P.Hopkins; Corpus of early Arabic Sources for West African History.
Youssouf KamaltomIIIfasc3
Al Zuhri had a special system to number the climate zones as can be seen in the table under here.
They can not continue, sometimes they arrive close to the lakes from which comes the Nile and in which flows the waters of the Djabal al-Qamar. They go to these places when hunting the zoumrouda, this is a poisonous animal from which the poison is the strongest in the world�.. When one of the Nuba or Habacha wants to take this poison he goes with a bottle and a razor blade made of stone from a mountain called Djabal al Azdakan, this mountain goes around the land of the Zandj��
We will now speak about the mountain in the desert which is called Djabal al Qamar it has received this name because of the changing colors that he has�..Many rivers come out of this mountain, they come together in the lakes in that desert mentioned here. From these lakes comes the greater Nile (al-nil al-a'zam) descending to the equator issues from them (the mountains of the moon) and enters among the mountains called the Mountains of gold. It traverses (yantashir 'ala) the land of the Habasha in the North of Kawkaw, to the city of Uswan, to the land of Qus, to the city of Akhmin, to the land of Egypt.... The length of the Nile from its sources in the Mountains of the Moon to its outflow into the Mediterranean is 1045 farsakhs. God knows best......
The lesser Nile (al-nil al-asghar) descending to beyond the Equator also issues from these mountains and enters among the mountains called the Mountains of Gold, known as the mountains of Tuta. It traverses the land of the Nuba and enters among the Mountains of al-Ardakan to the land of the Zanj until it falls into the Great Ocean which surrounds the earth towards the west. This range (al-Ardakan) is only in the west of this arid desert.
From this land blows the suwayda' wind. This is a hot dry wind which dries the water skins and annihilates anyone it encounters in that arid desert. Refuge is in God.
When Ham son of Noah settled in the west he begat the Sudan. They are four tribes (qaba'il): the Nuba, the Habasha, the Zanj, and Janawa.
The seventh region: the land of the Sudan, the Habasha, the Zanj, and the Nuba.
(first part of 7th clime)
One of the marvels of Misr is the Nile. This is a big river coming out of the Djabal al Qamar�.
Between the land of the Nuba and that of the Zandj, in t he mountains of Arkadan one finds the stone called baht (beryl). Those stones have a force in them that makes the one who looks at them unable to speak and those people remain enormously attracted to them even from far away. Iskandar brought them back with him to Egypt for the construction of the Castle al-Kasr al-mushayyad.
The first part of the seventh clime of the planet. This first part has the Nuba, the Zandj and the mountains of al-Azdakan. In this part is situated the town of Mourouk which is the royal seat. It is the first town to receive the water of the Nile coming from Djabal al-Qumar and between the mountains of al-Azdakan to flow then to the country of the Zandj and the big sea�.
Between the land of the Nuba and the land of the Zanj are the mountains of Ardakan...
In this section the Nuba gather gold in the Mountains of Tuta above mentioned. These mountains are very high and with their loftiness touch the clouds and are therefore so remote that nobody can climb them and descend. In the month of July, when the sun is in Cancer, this district is cold and there is much rain. The rivers of these mountains become torrents and much water descends from their summits and flanks, so that the sand piles up at the foot of the mountains and makes many pools around them. The Nuba then come with dishes of ebony and dishes of the quills of the feathers of birds which they have, and wash that sand and extract from it the gold in pieces about the size of grains of wheat or barley. The Zanj do the same in their country. From this country the gold is imported into the lands of the Maghrib and al-Andalus and the Rum.
The Zanj are a people who live beyond the mountains of al-Ardakan on the Nile which enters their country. One of the marvels of this people is that no one sees them without becoming blind on the spot. They themselves see nobody except of their own kind without his turning also blind.
Sometimes the Nuba and the Habasha come to them with articles of trade from their own countries, such as salt, which is the most precious thing brought to them. Each one of them places merchandise on the bank of the Nile, then goes away. The Zanj then bring the gold and place it in a pile in front of each parcel of merchandise. Then the Nuba and the Habasha come, and if they are pleased with that they take it, but if they are not pleased they carry away their wares to another place so that they may be offered a better price. Thus they trade with each other without either party seeing the other.
Being Habacha and the big Nile
(Third part of 7th clime)
With Ghana and sea of the west
As for the Sudan who are beyond the Nile to the east, they are the Habasha, and those who are to the west are the Nuba, the Zanj and the Janawa (and beyond the Zanj are the tribe of the Sudan called Zaghawa)
In this zone in the furthest part of the inhabited part of the world there is the town of Dundjula (Dunkula). It is the residence of the king of the Habasha, this according to the information from Ibn al-Djazzar in his book Adja�ib al Buldan. In its neighborhood, there is the town of Wasdita. The people of this town collect gold as do the ones of Nuba and the Zanj. From there is exported afluniyya (peony?) which is an excellent remedy to fight bad tempers (ilal balghamiya)
The people of this land reach out till behind the mountain chain of gold behind the equator, at 20 parasanges in that solitude and so they arrive into the neighborhood of the Mountains of the Moon.
In the seventh part of the globe, where one finds the Nuba, Zandj, the Djinawa and the Habasha, the land is 3,600 parasanges wide.
The boundary of its first section from the equator to the land of the Zanj to Janawa is 80 days, that is 800 farsakhs.
....in the 7th clime being the country of Kanaw, Nuba and the Zanj being 3600 farsakh....
.... The Nile of Misr, the length of this Nile from where it leaves the Djabal al-Qamar till Nuba 1000 farsakh.....
(description of Egypt when talking about a fortified castle-unspecified location or name)
It is those stones that Alexander, son of Philippe brings from the land of Zang. We will talk about it at the right moment.