P45-46

Abul Qayyib …..He said: The scholars unanimously agreed that there is no river in the world longer than the Nile, a month's march in Islam, two months in Nubia, and four months through wasteland up to the place where it emerges from Mount Moon behind the Equator. And in this world there is no river flowing in the sea of the Romans and in the one of China. And in this world there is no river that increases and extends as much as it can during the heat when the rivers of the world diminish and the sources of the Nile increase. And the further the hot season goes the more free it increases.

p57

Chapter II

In a statement where the origin of the Nile

And where he goes. And explain the cause of his greening

………

(The river) it is believed that it comes out of Mount Moon, according to Ibn al Kindi (1). Al-Masaoudi (9), the author of the seven climes, also said: that it comes out of Mount Moon in ten sources, five meet in Batiha (2), And five in (another) Batiha (2), means a flat place of the ground, and then these waters meet. He mentioned the image of the Mount of the Moon and that it is curved, with several elevations on its crest. Thus, Masoudi (9) mentioned in the prairies of gold that the philosophers said: It runs on the face of the earth nine hundred farsakh (3), and was said thousand farsakh (3) it ventured in Amran (4) and the wild, it comes to the land of Aswan (5) from Upper Egypt, and to this place the boats shall go up from the coast of Egypt. ……

P58

The Nile has its sources at the foot of Mount al-Qamar where it formed by twelve fountains: also this mountain is located beyond the equinoctial line, that is to say on which the days and nights are equal and draws its name from that of the moon, because, in the interval that this star increases and decreases, it happens by an effect of its light, which sometimes shines in all its fullness and then weakens, which shines for a time and then disappears that this mount also seems to undergo itself the various phases of the moon. The waters of these twelve fountains pour into two lakes (bahirah). On leaving these two lakes, continues the author whom we quote, the waters form a current and first traverse swamps and sandy plains; they then take their direction towards the country of the Negroes which borders on the Zanguebar, and, having arrived there, they enter partly into a canal which will end in the Sea of the Zinges, which is the Sea of Qinlwa (Qanbalu)(6). An island full of Muslims, but their language is Negro, they overcame this island, and carried away those who were from Zinj…..

P59

A group (of people) said they were watching in this sea at a time when the Nile is increasing in Egypt, or shortly before (Water breaches) this sea and a piece of it is taken over by the big amounts coming from the surrounding lands, and that comes out of the mountains of Zinj. It is present for more than a mile, (tastes sweet), at the first increase in Egypt of its level.

Al-Masaoudi (9) said: in the year 260 of the Hegira he came to the ears of Ibn-Tulin (7) that there was in Upper Egypt a man aged 130, from among the Copts, who was renowned for his knowledge and education, that he was particularly versed in the administration of the country; that he knew the extent of the land that could be cultivated there; the history of its river, the troops that Egypt can set up, the militia necessary to the sovereigns who dominate it; that he had run the world, crossed empires, and visited the nations of the two colours; with all this he joined the knowledge of the figures of the stars and their various influences. Ahmed therefore sent for him, and passed alone with him several days and nights to hear the information given to him, his stories, and his answers.

P60

Among other things, he asked him one day what could be the extent of the course of the Nile in the land of Habacha, and how many states it went through. The old man replied that he had seen, in different kingdoms of this country, sixty princes who are constantly making war between neighbours. Ibn-Tulin (7) asked him again if he would not have some information to give him on the sources of the Nile; the old man assured him that the river was coming out of a lake. He said: he is not aware of the length and width of the lake, and it is situated towards the land, where night and day are equal in length.

Ibn Zulaq (8) said in his history: Some of the historians of Egypt reported that one of the caliphs ordered people to walk to where the Nile started, so they walked until they reached a high mountain and the water came down from above. Then one of them managed to climb up the mountain, and there started to dance, clap his hands and laugh, and then he went further the mountain and did not return anymore, and his companions did not know what he would do. Then another man went up to have a look, and the same thing happened. Then a third approached and said: Put a rope around my middle. If I reach where they have reached, then you will pull. They did that. And when he was at the top of the mountain, he did as the others, and they pulled him away, and it was said that he was mute, and he answered no questions, and died of close after. So the people returned and did not know anything new.

P64

……. Behind Alawah there is a great nation of Sudan, called Baknat, and they are naked like the walzanj. And in their land sprouts gold. In the kingdom of this nation, the Nile is divided into a great green water that its separation from the Nile, and most of it descends to the land of Nubia. And most of the green moves through the valleys and bays and the works done by people and to the south, and to the coast of the Zinj, and it ends in their sea. End the words of Masoudi. (9)

(1) Ibn al Kindi: see my webpage on Al Kindi (968).

(2) Batiha: lake, swamp

(3) Farsakh: Parasang: 1 parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.

(4) Amran: literally gift of God.

(5) Aswan: the southern border town of Egypt on the Nile.

(6) Sea of Qinlwa (Qanbalu): from where the Zanj slaves were imported till the great Zanj revolt in Basra. (Zanzibar or Pemba).

(7) Ibn-Tulin: Ahmad b. Tulin: was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria between 868 and 905. Originally a Turkic slave-soldier.

(8) Ibn Zulaq said in his history: see my webpage Ibn Zulaq: Akhbar Sibawayh al-Misri (Chronicle of Egypt) (d996).

(9) Behind Alawah there is a great nation of Sudan, called Baknat, and they are naked like the walzanj: for this complete paragraph; see my webpage on Masudi (part2 p383).