Emery; better known as corundum is the hardest material after diamond. Shown are natural pieces of corundum.
An example of rock crystal better known as quartz.
The skull of an aepyornis; the extinct giant bird from Madagascar.
An example of Sandarus gum.
Khamahan; better known as Agate
Quicksilver; also known as Mercury or Hg.
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Al-Biruni: Kitab al-Jamahir fi ma’rifat al-Jawahir. (The Book most Comprehensive in Knowledge on Precious Stones.)
N. Levtzion and J.F.P.Hopkins; Corpus of early Arabic Sources for West African History.
He tells the story of the conquest of India, of which the capture of ships with Muslims by pirates was the start. This story is also told by Sihrindi; there however the ships also have Abyssinian slaves on board. Here they are not mentioned. The story is part of his expose about the Ruby (Jacynth) of which many were found during the conquest.
One jeweler has narrated that the king of this island (Ceylon) had sent to Hajjaj bin Yusuf (1), women who were born Muslims but whose parents had died. They were, therefore orphans. The Rajah (of this island) wished to obtain the good wishes of Hijjaj (1). (The ship carrying these women) was pirated by the Mayds (2), who were pirates from Daibal (3), operating pirate ships. (The bawarij in the language of these people are called the birah, that is , boats). The women were abducted. One of the women belonging to the tribe of Bani Yarbu (4) cried: O Hajjaj (1); O Hajjaj When he heard about her agonized cry he replied. Yes. In much the same way, the widows (of Muslims) from the frontier (of the Abbasid Caliphate during the Abbaside-Byzantine war) had called out to Mu'tasim (5), and the Abbaside Caliph had cried back: Here I come. Hajjaj (1) sent Muhammad bin Qasim bin Mubinnah (6) to the frontiers of the Umayyid Caliphate which borders on the frontiers of Sind (24). At that time he was only seventeen. He would then go on and conquer Sind.
Emery
.....The Razi brothers say that the best emery is from Nubia. This is followed by the Serandibi (7) and Indian varieties, and that the Nubian kind is also called the Zanji. It is said that it is found admixed with sand grains in the rivers, and hands feel cold when they touch it. It is in this way that they are separated.... .
Shells and the Occurences of Pearls
Wada (Conchae veneris) is a kind of shell. Zangis collect them when the water is in low tide and put them in a pit. This pit is covered till the animals inside die and their flesh putrefies and disintegrates. This is the practice followed in the islands of the Indies. The people drive palm stakes into the ground. When the water is in high tide, the conchae veneris clings to the stakes, these conches cut off the stakes when the water recedes, and the Zangi practice is followed.
There are two kinds of islands in the Indies. From one kind are fetched woven coir fibers. These are used for stitching the boats employed by these people. They are called kusarah by these people. The other class of islands is that from which conches are brought. These they call kurah (cowries) (8). The people of India use them in place of coins and gamble with them, as people gamble with counters and gems. The cowries are used for decorating the cheeks of camels.
Some kinds are the size of eggs. They have backs marked with dots and having slight reddishness. They are strung from the necks of animals, and are used for polishing the gold used for gilding books. They are called minqaf. A cowry which has its right speckled side curved to the right is rare. It is considered to be holy and is bought at a high price. People give them as gifts to the kings of Habashah, on account of the uniqueness of this article.
Sites for Diving
....These places not only have nacreous shells (9), but one can occasionally get mahars (10) as well while journeying between the coast and the sea, and precious pearls can rarely be found in them. The Bahr-al-Akhdar is specifically marked for this. Its depths and bays have celebrated maghasat (11), e.g., in the deep of (the sea around) Serandib (7) as the Persian Gulf, and Bahrayn, Dihlak (12) and Clysma (13), or as a new diving side which has been recently discovered in Sufalah-i-Zanj.
Beryl, Crystal and Rock Crystal
...As far as the axis of the crystal is concerned, it has the same weight as jaza (14), and not to the contrary. It is brought from the island of Zanj and other islands to Basrah, where vessels are made. Large and small pieces are collected at one place. Instructions are tagged upon pieces that are to be cut and shaped and the types of vessels that are to be made from them. They are then handed over to the artisans who follow the instructions and collect high wages. These wages are far higher then those of the persons who measure the pieces and put down the instructions. There is considerable difference between knowledge and the practice of that knowledge. This crystal possesses the tenuity of the air and the transparency of water. If a hole, knot, or cloudiness falls upon its transparency, it is masked by some etched design or inscription, requiring considerable expertise. Should this defect engulf the whole piece and remove its transparency, it is denoted as rim billur (the dross of the crystal).
It is brought from Kashmir also. Some sections are uncut and some are used in the making of vessels and utensils, goblets and cups, chess pieces and counters, and pieces as large as a soap-nut. But this variety does not approach the Zanji kind nor is the quality of the workmanship of these people (of Kashmir) as finished as that of the Basrans. Its sections are found in mountains as well. It is found in plenty in Wakhan (15) and Badakhshan (16) but is not exported.
See Note on Rock Cristal.
The Khutu
...A tradition which runs about it - and it is extremely difficult to check the veracity of the factual truth behind this tradition -has it that it is the forehead of a big bird. When it dies and falls upon an island, its flesh putrefies and scatters, but people preserve its forehead. Someone has mentioned that he was traveling in the wilderness of China along with some natives. The sky suddenly darkened and the people dismounting from their horses, prostrated themselves. They did not raise themselves up till the darkness cleared. When he asked them about it, they said: it is God, and began to describe in an ignorant fashion the attributes of God, saying that it was a fowl in appearance.
These persons would have been nearer to their purpose if they took the name of an angel or Satan: they believe it to be a very large fowl residing in uninhabited regions beyond the sea of Zanj and China, eating large ferocious elephants in the way in which the domestic fowl pecks at wheat grains. It is designated Khatu in their dialect as such a name displays esteem and respect: in much the same way they call their rulers Khans and their wives Khatuns.
Amber
....Hamza says: Amber is a kind of bead which floats in the Western Sea and in the Sea of Tabaristan (17). Its mine is unknown. Hamzah and Siri have both written erroneously. Probably they did not see grass, straws, mosquitoes and fleas in it, as we find in sandrus which is the gum of kahruba. The only difference between the two is that one is lighter than the other. From the view point of axis, the weight of kahruba is 21and 5/12. Sandarus (18)nand kahruba both are found in the two seas - the sea of Zanj in the warm zone and the sea of Saqalibah (19) in the colder zone.....
One of the men who traveled to Safalah Zanj and the islands thereof, reported that the sandarus tree (18) is scratched and it lets out a gum after some time which begins to flow after a few days from it and congeals. The gum that flows earlier congeals first and the one that flows later congeals afterwards. It is because of this that different kinds of insects are found in it.
Khamahan and Karak
The prices of both these stones are those of beads.......
The best khamahan is Zanji and is very black. Its face is so lustrous as to appear white. Book-binders use it for polishing the gold (employed in gilding). A poet says in a simile pertaining to the Syrian mulberry: As if (there are) mulberries layer upon layer and meseems there are dots of the dragon's blood upon iron. The author of the Ashkal al-Aqalim (20) writes that its mine is situated in the mountain of Muqattam (21) and the adjoining areas in Egypt. If so, it is associated with Zanj only because of its tint.
Quicksilver
Lead in much the same way on being calcified is converted into red lead. Both are designated sometimes as sanjfiryyah which is made from quicksilver.
In one manuscript someone had added the following text:
The meaning is that isrinj (lead) is also called zanj far, just as the product of kibrit (sulpher) and zaybaq (mercury) is called zanj far. There again the word Rumi, is added as aprefix to the product of sulphur and so as to emphasize its superiority over lead, and the compound is spoken off as zanj-far-I-Rumi. What is not designated as Rumi is made from sulfur and lead. It is called isrinj. (I do not know if the word Zanj here is even remotely connected to East Africa)
Gold
... The gold which is so pure that it does not have to be tested for its purity by melting is called iqyan. It is found in the deserts of the Sudan like soapwort pieces and is picked therefrom by the people of Sifalah i-Zauj...
At Sufala of the Zanj there is gold of extreme redness and in the land of the Sudan of the Maghrib one finds it round like little beats. He who goes at a forced pace as one says of crossing deserts like those without following a beaten track will reach it within the time mentioned, but he will excuse himself unless he is able to carry enough supplies, even if his needs are satisfied. Now after this we shall note some fables.
For instance, it is the custom of seagoing merchants in their dealings with the Zabaj (22) and the Zanj that they do not trust them in their contacts, so their chiefs and elders come and give themselves as hostages so that they are even held by fetters. Then the goods which their people desire are handed over to them for them to take to their land and there divide among them. After that they go out to the deserts to seek the price (of these goods) and each one of them finds in those mountains only as much gold as is proportionate to the goods which have fallen to his share. This is what they allege. What they find resembles date-stones or the like. They bring it to their ships and deliver it to their ships and their hostages so as to pay it. They remove the fetters from them and let them go with honors and gifts. The merchants wash this gold or heat it in the fire as a precaution, for they relate of one of them that he put a piece of this gold into his mouth and died on the spot...
To what we have said are sometimes added other myths about gold growing in these wastes like carrots, and about it not being possible for anyone to find it except at sunrise by the gleaming of the sun's rays upon it. These wastes are all in origin what has been carried down by the torrents descending from the Mountains of the Moon and the Southern Mountains and deposited in the same way that the land of Egypt is an accumulation of sediment, having formerly been (under) the sea. These mountains bear gold and are extremely high, so that the force of the water carries down to these wastes big pieces of gold like ingots which resemble carrots. Because of them the Nile is called land of Gold. As for it being found only at sunrise, that is because of the torrid heat. For the darkness of the night prevents the search for it and the same applies to the brightness of daylight because of the heat associated with it, so that there remains only the dawn twilight since the latter part of the night is the coldest part of it and the first part of daylight follows immediately after it when it has not yet reached its full heat. The flash of gleam of gold in the sun's rays are no novelty especially after the dew has fallen upon it. The seekers after treasure in ancient ruined cities look for it after rain has ceased. Rabia b. Maqrum al-Dabbi (23) says: The noble one of the clan is like refined gold, picked up by the gatherer in the morning after rain.
As for the supposed fact of its being found in proportion to the value of the goods which they have carried off, be it known to you, O Umm Amr, that this is an indication of an abundance by which it is at hand whenever it is needed so that men are not induced by its scarcity and want of it to make a stock of it and hoard it up. This is in addition to the fecklessness of those people in this respect and their freedom from thoughts which might lead them to care for tomorrow. For the Zanji so long as he can get a string for his kankal and can find enough coconut-milk to make him drunk, cares nothing for the world and reckons that by owning this part of it he owns it all.
Iron
It is sometimes mentioned in articles that Al-Biruni in his book about India or about precious stones gives evidence of steel of East-Africa being exported to India; like Al-Idrissi does. I read through both books and did not find any evidence.
He does talk a lot about the Iron of India in his book on precious stones, and the swords that are made of it. The translation of this text is easily found on the net. He however just as al Kindi gives Serandib as a sources for steel for those swords.
Sometimes they are associated with Serandib (7), and the name is transmogrified through Arabicisation. Ibn Ahmar says: He fell and turned his shoulder-blade leftward as if the Serandibi sword glitters in the hands of the burnisher.
Taken from: Bulletin of the Asia Institute by Asia Institute - History - 1994
It is as if the berries on their platters were xumahan (kind of iron), speckled with red. … the best variety of this mineral is al-xumahanu z-zanji, which is absolutely black and, at the same time, so glossy that one could imagine it to be white. It is used by the calligraphers to polish the gold of their books...
Isfidru
The word isfidru is a Persian word, meaning white copper....
Isfidru is used in making food utensils, water cups, pickle-jars and wash-tubs, since it neither rusts or collects dirt....
Good copper is found in Sufulah-Zanj; it does not blacken upon fire but becomes peacock colored. When the artisans poured (molten) copper upon it, it became shibh-like and
malleable....
Note: We can in general conclude out of this book that in Al-Beruni's days there were already connections between the east coast and the very
center of Africa. Like the gold and copper from central Africa.
He attests that ivory (=aj) was found in Arabia and traded by Yemenite merchants;
It is said that Arabs designate the pearl as aj also since aj
was used by them in jewellery. A Bedouin says: ….just as concealing the pearl and anointing with fragrances make (one) pale. A’arabi says: The ornaments worn by Umayra on hands are like aj
(pearl) with its yellowishness fine and fragrant. I believe he has not equated aj with pearl since the pearl remains in good state if consealed. He has implied the ivory of the tusk which
becomes pale, as the pearl also becomes pale. It is said that the people of Arabia and India made bracelets for their women from elephant tusks. They were narrow or broad according to the
wrists of the women. The people of Arabia call them wasqf. Nabighah Ja’di says: Like the elephant tusk bracelet anointed with the fragrance of musk which Yemenite traders bring.
(1) Hajjaj bin Yusuf: Hajjaj (Haggag): Abu Muhammad al-Ḥajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Ḥakam ibn ʿAqil al-Thaqafi (Ta'if 661 – Wasit, 714), governor of huge parts of the east of the Umayyad Caliphate.
(2) Mayds: the Tangamara tribe, who were pirates from Daibal
(3) Daibal: or Debal or Deybal; close to present day Karachi. For the importance of this town in the East African Histort see my webpage: Note on Daibal or Debal or Daibul or Daybul (year 710)
(4) Bani Yarbu: a clan of the Banu Hanzala, a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tamim which inhabited the north-eastern region of Arabia, between Bahrain and Najd.
(5) Mu'tasim: (October 796 – 5 January 842), known by his regnal name Al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllah, was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling from 833 until his death in 842.
(6) Muhammad bin Qasim bin Mubinnah: Muhammad ibn Qasim al-Thaqafi (c. 695 – 18 July 715), was an Arab military commander of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh and Multan.
(7) Serandibi: Sri Lanca.
(8) Note that Biruni mentions this also in his Book on India and Buzurg ibn Shahriyar in his Kitab aja'ib al-Hind (955)makes a nearly similar distinction between the two categories of islands.
(9) nacreous shells: also known as mother of pearl
(10) mahars: Oyster type containing the best peals, found in deep water.
(11) Maghasat: locations of the pearl – field.
(12) Dihlak: Dahlak island of the Eritrean coast.
(13) Clysma: was an ancient city and bishopric in Egypt. It was located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.
(14) Jaza: In Arabic, black onyx is known as el jaza, which means “sadness.”
(15) Wakhan: Wakhan is located in the extreme north-east of Afghanistan.
(16) Badakhshan: is a historic region comprising parts of what is now north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and the Tashkurgan county in China.
(17) Tabaristan: present-day province of Mazandaran in Iran.
(18) Sandarus: gum copal; Arabic gum.
(19) Saqalibah: the Slaves from Eastern Europe.
(20) Ashkal al-Aqalim: Al – Balkhi; Little is known about this Persian writer except that he wrote about 934 AD a geography book called: Ashkal al - Aqalim.
(21) Muqattam: Mokattam or Mukattam Mountain, is a range of hills and located in southeastern Cairo, Egypt.
(22) Zabaj: one of the main islands of Indonesia (Sumatra).
(23) Rabia b. Maqrum al-Dabbi: Poet from Arabia. He lived in the end-time of ignorance as well as the time of Islam. He took part in the battle of al-Qadisiyah and was martyred.
(24) now part of Pakistan.