F39a

I. The Habasha are a category under which come different classes (of people) such as the Nubians, Zanj, etc. Their territories consist of extensive countries with a wide stretching periphery the extremity of which ends where habitation ends and cultivation and procreation ceases. And as their lands are removed from temperate climes their features (too) have become different, a black colour has become prevalent among them because of the excess of heat in their region, (for) we had mentioned previously that harmony in features and in the appearance of limbs is a consequence of the balance of humours, and the latter is a consequence of temperance in soil and air. When this is borne in mind one sees that the most appropriate places in which pleasantness of features is realised are the countries situated in the middle of the oecumene or near it, such as the territories (mamlaka ?) of the Persians, Arabs and Byzantines and the nearer parts of the country of the Turks.

But as regards those who live on the periphery of the oecumene and in the more distant climes, in view of their (geographical) remoteness from temperate conditions, a disproportion, which is the opposite of harmony, is found in their limbs and in their complexion, as is the case with the Habasha, and quite especially in their farther lands. In them one discovers certain repellent forms and ugly features, such as protuberance of the eyes, flatness of the nose, large nostrils, flapping of the lips and their formation in the shape of those of beasts or cattle. All this is explained by their remoteness from the middle (zones), by their nearness to the torrid zone (?) and by the predominance of excessive heat in their climate. Heat being the most powerful cause of attraction, this explains their growth upwards, so that their stature becomes very tall, and as heat expands the things and opens them, their souls are expanded outwards and they are always found to be gay, playful and laughing.

F40a

As for the heat in the lands of Habasha and Zanj, it reaches the extreme limit in scorching. They find beauty in the intensity of blackness and abhor whiteness and hold that a white man cannot be healthy. There are some among them who eat the whites.

Some people prefer the blacks to the whites. What led them to this assumption was the fact that they had seen many Arabs and Indians who possessed an abundant share of spiritual and physical gifts and whose complexion was blackish, as they also had seen that, if some whites had black moles, it added to their beauty and pleasantness. When someone looks at much blackness, his sight improves and becomes acute ; but if he looks at much whiteness his sight is wearied, as someone's eyes are tired by snow. But this judgment must be rejected; it is a pronouncement which has no reality before reason. Indeed, the science of nature and the knowledge of its essence decide in favour of whiteness for this is a simple and primitive natural colour set as the (basic) element for the totality of colours, which are put on it, and then it is coloured by them and it receives them all.

F40b-41a

(So) it has been established that the blackness of complexion of the Habasha and Zanj is no superiority. It is only a result of the absence of temperance and the excess of scorching in their climate. Blackness, though a defect, has its use in some instances; (such is) its physical utility, through its usefulness for sight, for it collects light and narrows the opening of the eye, and consequently does not allow light to spread ; (such is) its political and moral utility, as when the government agents dress in black in order to inspire the subjects with awe and fear. It is said in the Tawarikh (Histories) that one of the kings of Khorasan (5) crossed the Oxus in order to fight the Turks. In his troops there were some Zanj. When the Turks sallied forth to meet them, they saw the Zanj, whose appearance frightened them, for they imagined that they were demons or some other kind of supernatural beings. So they put to flight and retreated without fighting. When the kings of Khorasan (5) were informed of this they increased the numbers of Zanj and Habasha and put them forward in fighting the Turks. But finally the Turks got accustomed to seeing the Zanj, and killing one of them saw that his blood was red. So they said; His blood is like human blood and so are his limbs, and their fear ceased.

In the Tarikh Muluk al-Turk (History of Turkish Kings) it is related that one of them called B.K.J. became related by marriage to the king called Jabbuya. Among the dowry and numerous gifts which he dispatched to him was a Zanj porter who was a wonder among the white. They used to bring him to their assemblies and express their astonishment in looking at his appearance and color. He possessed (great) sagacity, power of thought and valor, and he succeeded in performing many great deeds. The king attached him to his person and his station continuously grew in elevation and solidity. Finally he attacked the king, killed him, occupied his place and seized most of their provinces. He assumed the title of Qara-Khan, which no one had held before him, for it means Black Khaqan. His dignity was great, so whenever the Turks after him wished to honor a king they addressed him as Qara-khan, in Turkish qara being black and khaqan Supreme lord. So Qara-khan means Black Khaqan.

F42b-43a

In the farthest lands of the Zanj there is a tribe of theirs living on the sea-coast and having no buildings, fields or animals, heat oppresses them excessively. They have underground dwellings which they dig out and make deep. At day time they take refuge in these dwellings, which they cannot leave until at sunset the sun has shrunk. Their food is fish, fruit and trees. Their lands include meadows and intertwined trees. They are of ugly appearance and extremely tall, with flapping lips, lop-eared, with wide ear apertures and nostrils. They eat the flesh of the whites whom they have vanquished. It is their custom after a victory over some whites to imprison them on an island of theirs lying in the sea and give them food in abundance of whatever there is in their possession, so that their bodies fatten and their flesh increases, after which they slaughter them and eat them. Their king and queen have special rights to this dish, but if it is plentiful other persons partake of it. On account of their heat they are hard pressed by lust. Sometimes, when the whites are brought before the king that he may make his choice of whom he wants to be slaughtered, the queen's eyes fall on someone whom she finds good and she selects him as food for herself, takes him into her underground dwelling and dallies with him. If she discovers in him strength and mastery in coition, she spares him, cares for him and feeds him with the kind of fish which increases sexual power. She continues to avail herself of his services until he grows weak and tired, and when he becomes impotent she kills and eats him. Sometimes the man seizes an opportunity and runs away.

F44b

In a corner of the Habasha sea there is a tribe of Berbers whom traders visit. They deal and trade with them from afar, with watchmen and guards as if they are afraid of them, their custom being to castrate (yujibbu) the strangers whom they discover (13), and this is their only mode of procedure. Then they hang their male parts with the scrotum in their houses, taking a pride in the number and boasting about them.  

F45a
I have read in the Kitab al-Bahr (Book of the sea) that in the island of Waq-Waq (16), where ebony grows, there is a tribe………. 

F47b

Harmony...in a Zanj is that he should be black, tall in stature, with large eyes, nostrils and corners of the mouth, with crisp hair and harsh voice, whereas a Turk should be short, with narrow eyes, nostrils and mouth, and a shrill voice. If a Zanji had the characteristics (kayfiya) of a Turk, or vice versa, this would be an anomaly. Each nation, nay each person has a special constitution (mizaj)

F51a-52a

About the line that makes the day equal, namely the equator.

Some scholars think that because the sun there stands in the zenith, its scorching heat makes live impossible. Ibn Sina (12) is of a different opinion: he thinks that the region of the equator is the most well-tempered as to air, water and soil and the people who live there are the closest to equilibrium, I’tidal. Accordingly, they are the most beautiful people on earth, and their constitution is the most healthy, unless mountains or seas get in the way. Ibn Sina here counters the view of those who say that the sun is harmful when it stands in the zenith, stating that when it does not, all the circumstances are in  perfect harmony, so that the constitution of the people is always well tempered, there is no difference between the seasons, and day and night are of equal length.

…………………

From what we have told of what Hippocrates (17) and Galen (18) said it is clear that the places that are parallel (muwaziya) to the equator are habitable and that they are the most temperate places of the inhabited world. The philosopher Ibn Sina (12) follows their path in this sense. He made a treatise (maqala) about this and presented proof for it.

F135b

Marvazi state also that the African Negroes use the term impila (20). This Marvazi explains as: buffalo cow.

F149a-b
al-karkadann, the rhinoceros.
Ali b. Dbn (Ali b. Rabban) says, speaking on the authority of the Greek: This animal is called wrwfrws (rinuqirus Greek rhinokeros). Atmuniyus (7) says: The translation of that is; having a horn on its nose. Thus he says: Its size is like that of a horse. It lives by the Nile in the region near the bahr al-asamm?;
He has one horn on his nose that is like a sharp sword; he can pierce a rock with it if he hits it. Some-times he attacks an elephant with it and kills it. This species consists exclusively of males. There are no females, and nobody knows how they come into being or are generated and there are different accounts of this.
…..Marvazi uses the following names: al-himar-al-hindi (the Indian ass) and ganda…….. He also states that the African Zanj use the term impila (20) which he says means buffalo-cow.
…….The karkadann is thought to be the least abundant animal…….
…..In view of the large demand for the horn in China, it is not surprising to find that its price was as high as 3,000 to 4,000 mithqals (8) or dinars (9) of gold,…….
……shortly before the time of birth the karkadan foetus sticks out its head from inside its mother's womb and eats branches of trees. When it is satisfied, it pulls its head back into its usual place.
Marvazi, expresses his doubts about a story in which he alleges that the karkadann devours its offspring. …………the birth takes place only after the young one is strong enough to run away from its mother because the very rough tongue of the dam would separate the flesh from the bones of the calf when licked after the birth.
F149b-150a
………….a young rhinoceros attacked an elephant, and the rhinoceros wounded with its horn the forefoot of the elephant and threw it down on its face………
………Marvazi tell us that he has heard from a traveller in Sofala of the Zanj that the horn of one of the African species is white but for a black streak from the tip to the center of the base, skill is needed in sawing it so that each handle contains a black circle.
…….And that the frontal horn of the rhinoceros becomes erect when it charges and wants to strike with it and that the animal sharpens its horn against rocks so that it can cut and pierce……..
……….Marvazi tells us of a man in Balkh (22) who had imported the horn of the African species. He mentions also the export of the horn to China……..
………he states that the port of export to China was Basra,……….
F150a-b
………Marvazi: It is of the build of the buffalo, but taller and short in the leg. The skin is smooth, not hairy, but scaly, made of scales raised from the epidermis and the chest (?) with dewlaps on both cheeks. The haunches (of the animal) are big and the head flat-nosed and receding. The horn is on the tip of the nose, conical in shape, and bent backward toward the head. It is longer than a span. In the center of the upper lip, under the horn, it has something like the additional "finger" on an elephant's trunk. The lower jaw is like that of the bull; it has two blunt canines inside the mouth. The nose resembles most closely the noses of beasts of burden. The ears protrude on both sides, like the ears of the donkey. Its eyes are almond-shaped (??) and set lower than is usual. Its tail is short, thick at the root then widening toward the end. Testes and penis are like those of the bull Its hoofs are fleshy and resemble the feet of elephants; each has three toenails, white with a yellow tinge; the biggest in front, then two in a half- circle to the right and left……….
………..Marvazi refers to Ptolemy's Geography in connection with the habitat of the animal, and he paraphrases Aristotle's (23) theory that a single horn goes with a solid hoof and that this horn is placed in the middle of the head………..
F150b
……………….one way of hunting the rhinoceros is for a man to shelter himself behind a huge tree which the animal cannot uproot or break, then to shout at it and rouse it; it will charge at the tree, striking it with the horn which sticks in the tree. The animal is then unable to extract the horn and people kept in readiness come out and kill it……………
F151a
az-zurafa, the giraffe
Atmuniyus the Wise (7) says: There came to us a man from India, a messenger of the king of India, with two giraffes covered (mu-jallal) with cloths (jull) and harnessed with many bridles (qala’id) and nose straps (arsan), that he wanted to bring to the king of Constantinople. He came to our house and I was full of amazement for what I saw of their nature and shape. They had the stature of a camel in height, a skin like that of the panther, long forelegs, a prominent breast and a slender neck. Their head was like that of a camel, and so was their mouth. Their teeth were like those of a cow, and their tails were the size of a gazelle's. Black men (sawad) sat upon them, and they walked by pushing forward their right foreleg and then their left foreleg and then their left hind leg. They live in a region of India where there is little water (14), and when they are thirsty they gather together and walk around and look for a water well from which they all drink, and then they go away.
F151a-152a
Some say that the giraffe is an offspring of the tiger and the camel. Nevertheless I have not seen any resemblance between (the giraffe) and the tiger. A giraffe, said to be of the best variety, was brought in the presence of Sultan Malik-Shah (10). I saw it in Isfahan (24) in the year 1081-82AD. The vizier Nizam al Mulk (11) ordered me to observe the giraffe and to contemplate its figure and form. I thought it was an amazing sight.......The intricate pattern on the giraffe’s skin, bears no resemblance at all to that of the leopard’s, which consists of spots on a light background…….
There are no known medical uses of the giraffe…….

F169b

Ibn Sina (12) confirms that there are pygmies living near the sources of the Nile………..

F250a

In the sea of the zanj there is a round animal with small eyes near its mouth and with its mouth on the edge. On each side it has four long crooked legs which it uses to catch other animals for lack of claws.

F253a

Muh. ibn Musa al-Munajjim (al-Jayhani)(25) tells in his book Fi l- masalik wa l-mamalik about giant fishes (100 cubits) in the sea East of Africa; dangerous for ships; hate beating of wood on wood, can thus be chased away. In the same sea a giant fish was caught; it had another fish in its belly, this one in its turn another, and so on to a total of seven (others mention also ten)

(1) Assafoetida: Asafoetida is the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, perennial herbs growing 1 to 1.5 m.

(2) lapis lazuli: or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.

(3) Saffron: Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus Sativus.

(4) tamarisk Wood: The genus Tamarix (tamarisk, salt cedar) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa.

(5) Khorasan: Afghanistan + Eastern Iran.

(6) hunting their children and young people: Other authors writing on enslaving (children): Tuan Ch'eng-Shih (863); Jahiz: Sudan (869); Abu Zaid al Hassan (916); Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad (1017); Marvazi (1120); Mudjmal al -Tawarikh wa-l-qisas (1126); Al Idrisi (1150); Yahya bin Ahmad Sirhindi (1434); Ibn al Wardi (1456); Al Himyari; (1461).

(7) Atmuniyus: Timotheus of Gaza, as Byzantine sources inform us, was a grammarian who lived during the reign of the Emperor Anastasios (491-516).

(8) mithqals: 4-5 gr of gold.

(9) dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold).

(10) Sultan Malik-Shah: was sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1072 to 1092.

(11) Nizam al Mulk: (1018-1092) was a Persian scholar, political philosopher and vizier of the Seljuk Empire.

(12) Ibn Sina: in the West Avicenna (c. 980 – 1037) was a Persian and the most significant physician of the Islamic Golden Age.

(13) Other authors who write about emasculating enemies:

Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (955)

Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century)

Chou Chih-Chung: (1366)

Zare'a Ya'kob ruler of Ethiopia (1445)

Yakut (or Jakut) al Hamawi (1220)

Al Marvazi (1120)

Ibn Nasir al-Din (d1438)

Ning Xian Wang (1430)

(14) And the giraffe: in areas with little water: This is also repeated by many authors; Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d1023); Ibn Sida (1066); Shah Mardan Ibn Abi al-Khayr (11th); Al Marvazi: (1120); Ibn Manzur: (1290).

(15) island of the monkeys: Ibn Said (1250); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300); Al Marvazi (1120) mentions Aden, where female apes were offered for sale to visitors who could not afford to buy slave girls, Al Maqrizi (1441) copied by Abu al-Mahasin (1441) and  Al-Sakhawi (d1497) describes this same behaviour of the monkeys in the towns of East Africa, from where the monkeys supposedly were imported to Aden.). Al-Idrisi (1150) and Ibn Al Wardi (1456) has the merchants of Yemen use them as slaves to guard their belongings and money in their shops.

(16) Waqwaqian Zangi: in the books three different places are called Waqwaq: in South-East Africa; in Indonesia; around Japan.

(17) Hippocrates of Kos (460BC-370BC), was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

(18) Galen: Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (129 – c. 216 CE), was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire.

(19) dirhams: silver coin of the Arab world (3 gr of silver).

(20) this is first found with Al-Biruni (India-1050) and is repeated by Al Marvazi (1120) and Rashid al-Din Fazlallah (d1318)

(21) bahr al-asamm: lit. sea of silence ??

(22) Balkh: is one of the provinces in northern Afghanistan.

(23) Aristotle: was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece.

(24) Isfahan: is a city in central Iran.

(25) Abu Abdallah Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Jayhani, or Abu Abdallah Jayhani, was the Persian vizier of the Samanid Empire from 914 to 922. His lost geographical work is an important source of 9th-century history of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.