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Annon.: The Marvels Found in the Great Cities and in the Seas and on the Islands (15th)
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Taken from: Sergey Minov, The Marvels Found in the Great Cities and in the Seas and on the Islands: A Representative of Aga’ib Literature in Syriac.
The dog-headed people from a ms. of Qazwini.
First manuscript
Nr29
Marvels: In the Eastern islands, there is an island called Karnas, and on it, there are dog-people, (1) whose males are like dogs. And when enemies approach them, they enter and swim in the river, which is there. And they roll in the sand, so that it would serve [them] instead of armour; and neither arrow, nor spear, nor sword can reach them. And if a regular man would cleave to their women by way of intercourse, he dies immediate.
Second manuscript
Nr20
There is one island called Karnas, and on it, there are dog-people, whose males are like dogs. And when enemies approach them, they enter and swim in the river which is there. And they roll in the sand, which serves them instead of armour, so that neither arrow nor spear nor sword can reach them. And if a regular man would cleave to their women by way of intercourse, he is going to die immediately.
(1) the dog-headed people: Pradines argues that the dog-headed creatures are the lemurs from Madagascar.
Ibn AlWardi and AlKazwini notice them in the Isle Saksar, in the Sea of the Zanj (Zanzibar): the name is corrupted Persian “SagSar” (Dogs'heads).