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Kitab Ghara'ib al-funun wa-mulah al-'uyun (The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes; The Book of Strange Arts and Visual Delights) (1050AD) written in Egypt
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Taken from the website of the Bodleian Library and a blog from BibliOdyssey
The Bodleian Library has purchased the Kitab Gharaib al-funun
wa-mulah al-uyun (the Book of Curiosities.) The manuscript on astronomy and geography compiled between 1020 and 1050, contains a series of colorful maps. First part: concerned with astronomy; the
second devoted to geography and to natural and supernatural phenomena. The original book consisted of three additional chapters devoted to horses, camels and hunting. The texts and especially the
texts in the maps are because of the early date of real importance to East African history. The 17 maps: one is a circular map of the world (resembling Idriss map) and the second world-map
a rectangular one given here. Among the other maps are ; Lakes of the world (13 lakes) including mountains of the moon (Qamar) ; a special map with the sources of the Nile plus the mountains of
the moon (Qamar); and one of the river Nile. This world-map resembles Caliph al Mamun’s map and gives the name “the land of Zabaj, but places it on the African coast below the orthographically
similar “land of Zanj”
In this book Unquja (Anfoudja) appears for the very first time on a map.
Chapter 2.2
Rectangular world map
1- The crocodile comes from it [the qarurah (1) lake] to the lands of the Zanj
2- Ethiopia
3- Berbera
4- Land of the Zanj
5- A river from the lake of al-Qarurah (1)
6- Land of the Zabaj (2)
7- End of the desert along the sea
8- Mountain of the Moon
9- The land of scorching Heat
10- the eastern Marsh
11- the western Marsh
12- This is the white sand dunes from which springs and marshes gush forth, flowing into the Nile.
Chapter 2.3
fol. 24b,
The first clime, called Diyamaris (3): It begins near the Land of the Scorching Heat (Africa). Its zodiacal signs are Sagittarius (26) and Virgo (27), and its planet is Jupiter. This is the clime
of India and Far China.
It starts in the east and ends in the west, spanning 180 degrees of longitude. Its width, from the vicinity of the Land of the Scorching Heat to Sarandib (4) (Ceylon), is 285 farsakhs. (5)
Its inhabitants are the people of Far China. These people go around naked like animals, and have frightful appearances, repulsive colors, deformed bodies, sparse beards and masculine women. But
they possess knowledge of incantations and omens, live long lives, and are skillful in applying herbs and minerals.
In their clime one finds animals with huge bodies, and enormous birds with frightful bodies compounded from these beasts, as well as elephants, dragons, wild beasts and snakes of terrible forms,
giraffes, and various types [of animals].
It is said that the phoenix is to be found in their lands. They know how to benefit from poisons and vipers’ bites.
Chapter 2.3
fol. 25b,
In the regions south of the Equator there are nine adjoining mountains, 400 to 500 [miles] high; another mountain, which is 900 miles high.
And the Mountain of the Moon, which is 1,000 miles high, and situated partly in the first clime and partly beyond the Equator, and is the source of the Nile which gushes out and branches out from
it.
Chapter 2.5
Circular World
map
1- The Zanj
2- Sofala
3- al Waqwaq (6)
4- Island of al-Qumr (7)
5- al Waqwaq (6)
6- Ceylon
7- a river that flows into the Nile
8- the smaller marsh
9- the Mountain of the Moon
10- the smaller Marsh
Chapter 2.5
fol. 26b
As for the scorching regions, which stink from the excessive heat, no animal or plant has any moisture there because of the intense heat. No stream is running there except the source of the
Nile.
As for the Sudanese and the Ethiopians, which are the inhabitants of the lands between the Circle of Aries [that is, the equator] and Tropic of Cancer. When the sun is rising and setting in this
part of the ecliptic it is in the middle of the sky right above their heads.
The air becomes hot, and burns them. Heat and dryness dominate in them, their color becomes black, their hair curly, their bodies lean and their disposition hot. The same is true for their beasts
and trees.
Chapter 2.7
Map of the Indian Ocean
1- The Seventh Chapter on the cities and fortresses along the shore
2- Berbera, 250 farsakhs (5)
3- A mountain in the sea, called Ra’s Fil (the cape of Elephant) (8)
4- It is said that there other bays (?), and whenever a ship enters them it is lost (?)
5- The lands of al Zanj (on top of this is given the list of islands for which there is no space in the sea itself)
6-Susmar (crocodile), an island
7- K.l.n.ku, a stronghold
8- The bay of the Amir
9- Q.d.yah, a bay
10- Island of…d.lah
11- Kilwalah(?), an island (25)
12- Manfiya, an island
13- Unjuwa, an island (Zanzibar)
14- The bay of Mikhanah(?)
15- The traveler encounters here the land of the Zanj at the edge of the Encompassing Sea. Whoever wants to go there is thrown back by the waves, but whoever seeks the land of the Zanj, the sea
waves come from behind (and assist him).
16- Ra’s Hafun, a mountain (9)
17- Al Jardafun, a large mountain (10)
18- Abd A.d.s.(?), a mountain in the sea.
19- al-Harah, a mountain (11)
20- Sajib, a mountain (12)
21- A fortress in Ankhan(?), mountains.
22- Ra’s Khanzirah (?) a mountain
23- Al Qandala, a mountain (13)
24- Island of al-Sanf (?) (14)
25- An island of the Zanj
26- Island of the Zanj
27- The island of Qanbalu (15)
28- The island of Sanit (16)
29- The island of Qalus (17)
30- The island of Hasa (18)
31- The island of Unjuwa. (Zanzibar) There are twenty(?) anchorages around it. It has a town called Ukuh (?)
32- The mouth of the river-valleys; mountains
33- The land of the Zanj
34- al K.r.di, a village
35- Uwayrah (?), a village
36- Ma’it, village
37- M.l.n.d.s (Malindi?), village
38- D.m.yun (?), village
39- Hays. Village
40- M.k.fa, village
41- …t.bah, village
42- Alu
43- …yah(?), village
44- Ma…a(?), village
45- Bay of…
46- Al x.h.yah, village
47- A.y.s (?), village
48- The island of Sofala
49- The land of the…
50- The islands of the Dibajat (Laccadive and Maldive)
51- The islands of the Waq Waq. Their inhabitants engage in piracy.(24)
52- Islands toward the south, large and small, some spread over two farsakhs (5), and some less. All of their inhabitants are cannibals. They have fruitful trees and warm rivers.
53- Al-Shihr (19)
54- The remaining lands of Yemen
Chapter 2.15
fol. 37a
The island of K.d.m.w.h [Karimata ?] One of the
islands of the Zanj. Its inhabitants are a Black people called Bumiyyun. They wear waist-wrappers, and engage in piracy. Their weapons are swords and spears, and they eat whomever they lay their
hands on. [ The island of Bartayil (20)] . At night one can hear tambourines and the sound of entertainments, and the sailors say that the Devil (al-dajjal) is imprisoned on that island.
Chapter 2.15
fol. 37b
The island of Socotra. It is 80 miles long,
and has three cities. Its inhabitants are Christians, of the Nestorian sect. They are excessively … [SPACE], and use decapitation as method of punishment. They are generally under the rule of
black pirates. This island is the source of the Socotran aloe, which is pressed from plants found there. The island is near the cities of the Zanj and near a land called Mahhkuh.
Chapter 2.16
fol. 38a
The island of al-Dasbi [the Andaman Islands ?] . Its
inhabitants are Negroes (Zanj), with pepper-like hair. When a foreigner falls in their hands, they eat him alive. They devour human flesh like dogs. They share their women. They have long faces,
long legs, and a deformed appearance.
Chapter 2.17
fol. 39b
The seventeenth chapter on the description of the lakes. The largest lake on the face of the Earth is the lake known as the Marsh (al-batihah) on the Equator, which is the source of the Nile and
its floods. It is ---- long and wide. It has a mountain that is covered with snow during winter and summer. Most Copts maintain that the sun, when in the summer it is at its zenith over this
mountain, melts the snow away and causes the rise of the Nile and its perennial flow.
The explanations for the rise and ebb of the Nile vary greatly. We have chosen only that which will be readily understood by the listeners, and that which is as certain as possible within the
limits of our human ability. Power is with God, and we ask Him to reprieve us of any mistake or error.
Map of the largest of the Nile Marshes, which is on the Equator
Chapter 2.17
Sources of The
Nile
1- This lake is known as the Marsh. It is on the equator. Within it there is a mountain covered with snow in winter and summer. Some say that the rise of the Nile is caused by the floods coming
from this mountain in the summer. The floods of the Nile are drawn out from this lake towards its mouths and outlets, of which there are eight.
2- This lake is called the eastern Marsh. Five rivers flow into it from the Mountain of the Moon, and three rivers flow from it into the great Marsh. It is one of the three Marshes.
3- This lake is called the Western Marsh. Five rivers
flow into it from the Mountain of the Moon, and three rivers flow from it into the great Marsh. It is one of the three Marshes.
4- This lake is called the Marsh of the Zanj. Ptolemy called it the flask. It is near one of the cities of the Zanj called Qanbalu
(15). This is the source of the Nile crocodile, which is called by the Zanj Susmar.
5- This lake is called the Marsh of the Zanj. Ptolemy called it the flask. It is near one of the cities of the Zanj called Qanbalu (15). This is the source of the Nile crocodile, which is called
by the Zanj Susmar.
6- A large river flows from this lake across deserts, savannahs and sands until it reaches the land of the Nubians, then joins the Nile near the city of Dongola. It is one of the biggest and
largest of the marshes.
7- A large river flows from this lake across deserts, savannahs and sands until it reaches the land of the Nubians, then joins the Nile near the city of Dongola. It is one of the biggest and
largest of the marshes.
Chapter 2.18
fol.42a
River Nile
1- Map of the Nile. Its course consists of ten streams, of which five are to the east and five to the west. Then it empties into two marshes, and from the two marshes into one large marsh at the
equator. Then it descends to its eight outlets. It is joined [by a river] coming from the land of Zanj from a lake which is called the flask (al-qarurah) and is also known as Lake Qanbalu (15).
Another river reaches it from the area of the Maghrib, from a spring flowing under the white sand dunes along the seacoast of the Encompassing Sea. Many rivers pour into it [this spring]. Its
[the Nile’s] flow is vigorous, even when all other rivers on the surface of the land ebb - so much so that it is possible to say that it [this spring] provides it [the Nile] with waters when it
is rising.
2- Mountain of the Moon
3- The beginning of this river is at the position of 59 degrees
4- The diameter of this eastern marsh is five celestial degrees, equivalent to 284 miles.
5- The extent of this distance between the rivers is three celestial degrees, and that is 190 miles. The measurement between each of these rivers is 57 miles and two thirds of a mile.
6- This is called land of the scorpions. It has no plants or animals because of the ferocity of its heat.
7- The beginning of this river is at the longitude of 46 degrees.
8- The diameter of this western marsh is 248 miles.
9- The white sand dunes from which a river flows to the Nile.
10- The Equator
11- This marsh is in the first clime. Its position there is a spring, at 58 (deg) longitude and 2 (deg) latitude. In it there is a mountain covered with snow in winter and summer.
Chapter 2.20
fol. 45b
In the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and Oman there is a fish called the al-wal [the whale]. It is 100 ba [fathoms (21)] in length, more or less. It is accustomed to ships, and likes to follow
them, but can cause them to sink, as it may capsize the ship when it only tries to cross from one side of the ship to the other. Therefore, when the sailors see it, they blow the horn and hit
drums and pails against each other so that it might go away.
When it opens its mouth, water comes down as if in the slope of a valley. When it closes its mouth, it blows the water from between its teeth so that it goes up in air as if it is a fountain. The
fish remain in its body.
Its adversary among the fish is a fish called lashak [shark sucker]. This is a small fish, no more than a cubit (28) or two, but it is the enemy of the wal. It follows the wal, and, when the wal
is unaware, it grasps the inside of its ear and stays there. When the wal notices this, it swims to the bottom of the sea in irritation, but the fish clings in its place without budging. That
causes distress to the wal, which goes on diving to the bottom and emerging on the surface with the fish clinging to it, or it dies.
The Zanj often use this fish to catch large marine animals. They attach to its tail a long rope, as thick as the thong of a whip. Then they carry it near the boat in underwater cages, they chant
[to the fish] songs that arouse it, and they watch over it so it does not get eaten or harmed.
When the fisherman wants to go fishing, he takes it [the lashak] out of its cage, holds the rope by its end, and then sends it towards the large fish just as the falconer sends off a sparrow hawk
(bashiq). The fish then clings to the ear [of the larger fish], which then dives into the sea with it [the lashak] sticking to it, and then emerges and dives again, while the fisherman loosens
the rope.
Then the large fish keeps diving up and down until its body weakens, without being able to harm the fish that eats its ear. At that point the fisherman takes the lashak in his hand, tears it away
from the larger fish's ear and returns it to its cage.
In this sea there is a marine animal that goes over land, where it climbs the coconut palm and feeds on it. When the wal gets stuck in the mud, the men of the sea call him 'the springtime', since
it is a source of profit for them. They find in its belly ambergris that it had swallowed, and this ambergris harms the wal and intoxicates it. The ambergris that is found above the stomach is
pure, while the amber found in the abdomen is [called] manidd ambergris. [which is] fetid and decayed. The meat of this fish consists solely of fat. The seamen draw out the oil from its corpse
using jars. They find that the fat had solidified around its brain and cannot be extracted without a bow and iron bars. They also take the bones of its skeleton and use them as chairs.
Chapter 2.21
fol. 46b
In the land the Zanj there are creatures that look human, but have tails, talk in whistles, and jump from tree to tree.
Chapter 2.23
fol. 48a
The twenty-third chapter on strange plants In the land of the Zanj there is a tree that grows from a trunk, but then its upper half branches out into four boughs, and from each of these another
trunk emerges, which shoots up four boughs carrying a citrus-like fruit. The body of this fruit is filled with something resembling carded silk, like the fruit of the ushar (22). In its cavity
are many seeds.
After it is cleaned of its seeds it is used as filling for mattresses and pillows, but only for half of the filling. When it warms up under a person's body the material swells and fills up the
entire mattress or pillow. It is impossible to fill it entirely, but only up to a half. When a person sleeps on the mattress, the material grows and increases until it fills it entirely.
If the mattress or the pillow gets dirty, the filling can be washed, and it does not become matted or spoilt. I have witnessed this at [the house] of one our shaykhs, a man from Harran (23)
called Abu al-Qasim al-Harrani, who has travelled extensively to the land of the Zanj. I examined it and found it to be a marvelous thing.
Chapter 2.23
fol. 48a
The Waq Waq trees. On the Waq-Waq Island, which is an island bordering on Sofalah, one of the Islands of the Zanj, there is a tree bearing fruits that look like women suspended by their hair as
if by green cords. They have breasts, female sexual organs, and curvaceous bodies, and they scream waq waq. When one of them is cut off the tree, it falls down dead and does not talk any more.
Their insides and outsides, their faces and their limbs, are entirely made of something resembling the down of a feather.
When a person advances further into the island, he finds a tree with more attractive fruits with plumper posteriors, bosoms, genitalia, and faces, which scream louder than the ones described
above. If this fruit is cut off, it survives for a day or part of a day before it stops talking and screaming. The person who cuts down this second type of fruit may sometimes have sexual
intercourse with it and derive pleasure from it.
fol. 48b
The x-gh-w-sh is a white beast that resembles a rabbit, found in the region of [the Mountain ?] of the Moon.
The giraffe has three colours, with a very long neck and short thighs. It has horns and ears like the ears of cows.
Chapter 2.25
On Wondrous Birds.
In the land of Zabaj (2) there are white, red and yellow parrots, who speak in whatever language they are instructed, whether Arabic, the language of the Zanj, or Persian.
In the land of Sofala there is a species of birds called the al-kharabi. It can learn how to speak eloquently, but lives no longer than a year.
(1) al-Qarurah: literally the flask.
(2) Zabaj: one of the main islands of Indonesia (Sumatra).
(3) Diyamaris : from Greek : dia Meroes (through Meroe) = Capital of Kush kingdom in Sudan on the Nile.
(4) Sarandib: Sri Lanca.
(5) Farsakhs : 1 parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.
(6) Waqwaq: : in the books three different places are called Waqwaq: in South-East Africa; in Indonesia; around Japan. Here South East Africa is meant.
(7) Qumr island: Qamar: Khmer (Cambodia) or Qumr; Madagascar.
(8) Ra’s Fil (the cape of Elephant): cape Filuk: also known as Cape Elephant, is a headland in the north-eastern Bari province of Somalia. It is mentioned by Ibn Majid (1470) in his Al-Urguza as-Sabiyya and his Al-Muarriba. (See my webpage Ibn Majid (1470) Other Poems.)
(9) Ra’s Hafun; a promontory in the northeaster Bari region of Somalia.
(10) Al Jardafun: Cape Guardafui, Ra's Jardafun, Ra's 'Asir.
(11) al-Harah, a mountain: In Saudi Arabia.
(12) Sajib, a mountain: In Saudi Arabia.
(13) Al Qandala: Qandala is an ancient port town in the north-eastern mountainous Bari province of Somalia.
(14) Island of al-Sanf: Champa in Indochina, appears also in Masudi (916).
(15) The island of Qanbalu; Qanbalouh: The island of Qanbalu from where the Zanj slaves were imported, till the great Zanj revolt in Basra. (Zanzibar or Pemba)
(16) The island of Sanit: ??
(17) The island of Qalus: ??
(18) The island of Hasa: ??
(19) Al-Shihr: coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen.
(20) island of Bartayil: in the Moluccas. There is an island of Bartayel in al Himyari (1461) which is in the China Sea and maybe Ibn Al Wardi (1456) The island of Birtabil .
(21) fathoms: a unit of length equal to six feet (1.83 meters) used especially for measuring the depth of water.
(22) the fruit of the ushar: Calotropis procera with silk like interior of the fruit.
(23) Harran: Harran, also known as Carrhae, was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is in the modern village of Harran, Turkey.
(24)The complete list of authors who mention expeditions of the Austronesians (here called Waqwaq) against East Africa: Jahiz (d.869) Al-Fakhar al-Sudan p217; and Buzurg (955): Sailors tale 117; Abu Imran Musa ibn Rabah al-Awsi al-Sirafi: Al-sahih min ahbar al-bihar wa-aga’ibiha (978); Hudud Al-'Alam (The Limits of The World) (982); and Kitab Ghara'ib al-funun wa-mulah al-'uyun (1050AD); and Ishaq b. al-Hasan b. Abi'l-Husayn al-Zayyat (d1058); and Ali ibn Ahmad Asadi (1066); Khaqani: (d 1190)
ALL THE FOLLOWING CHINESE SOURCES SPEAK ABOUT SELLING SLAVES BY THE PEOPLE FROM MADAGASCAR: Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century); Chao Ju-Kua (1226); Chou Chih-Chung (1366); Ning Xian Wang (1430); Wang Khi (1607).
(25) Some consider this an early mention of Kilwa. The mentioning of Kilwa in the Kilwa Sira (part of Salma b. Muslim al-Awtabi (+1116)) was till recently the earliest mention of the Swahili town.
(26) Sagittarius: is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Latin for "archer".
(27) Virgo: Its name is Latin for maiden; it intersects the celestial equator; its brightest star is Spica.
(28) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).