With Ibn Khordadbeh talking of the Mountains of the Moon I give as Illustration the oldest drawing known of the Ruwenzori from Henry Stanley's In Darkest Africa, 1890.
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Ibn Khordadbeh (886) Al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik (Book of Roads and Countries)
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Also called Ibn Khurdadhbih and Ibn Hordadbesh, Ibn Khurradadhbih
As postmaster general he travelled very far and wrote the above book about it. Both Ibn Hawqal and Istakhri would later write a book with the same title. Describing different routes from one specific location to another, his book has been seen as a manual for the use of secretaries of the administration. Small mentions are made about East Africa on some of these routes; seen the early date of the book they have some importance. His description of the world ends in Aden, the furthest southern place were the postal service reaches. (This way he gives indirect evidence that no large scale immigration to Africa from Arabia had taken place. And that the Swahili civilization then starting was of African origin)
The world-map in this book; the world in four parts.
………The biggest king of India is the Balhara (1) or king of kings. The other kings of that country are those of Djabah (Java), of Tafen (2), of Djouzr (3), of Ghanah (in West Africa), of Rahina and of Kamroun (4). The king of Zabedj (one has surely to read here of the Zendjes, according to the translator) is called Alfikhat (10), the king of the Nubiens, Kamil (or kabil), the king of the Abussins (Abyssinians=Ethiopia), Nedjachy (or najashi) (5), the king of the isles in the eastern sea Maharadja, the king of the Slaves, Kobad.
……Aden is one of the chief ports in that sea. There is no wheat nor cattle but it has lots of amber and musk. It is the place for goods from Sind (6), Hind and China, from Zendj, Habacha, Qoloum (Persia), Basra, Jidda (7) and Qulzum (8), this sea is the big eastern sea and out it comes good amber from Zinj and Abyssinia, Persia.
…..In the mountains of the Zendjes there are the big snakes who eat men and buffaloes; there are even those who eat elephants…..
Once more he talks about the Zendjes, when talking about the big snakes in their forests. Here however the translator thinks it must be Zabaj as it occurs in the middle of the description of that part of the world.
THE COUNTRY OF THE DYNASTY OF IDRIS
……It has been recognized that the country inhabited by Abyssinians and the Blacks is seven years in length. Egypt forms only the sixtieth part of the earth. According to the most widespread opinion, the land has not less than 500 years of walking, one-third of which is cultivated, inhabited and populated, one-third occupied by vast solitudes, and the last third invaded by the sea……
…… He who goes to the land of the Zendjes gets leper (or elephantiasis) (Man dakhal bilad ez-Zendj, feld boudd an yadjrab) (more recent authors have translated this by scabies) (9). This sentence gets repeated further by many authors still for centuries to come.
SOURCE AND MOUTH OF RIVERS
……The Nile of Egypt comes out of the Mountains of the Moon, throws itself into two lakes, flows towards the regions on the northern side of the equator, passes by Nubie, and enters Egypt...
(1) Balhara: Vallabha-raja, was a title of several kings in India. It was abbreviated to vallabha and was written by Muslims as Balhara.
(2) Tafen; or Taqan; maybe a town in the Deccan. (according to Syed Sulaiman Nadvi)
(3) Djouzr: Djazir or island; name for northern part of Iraq.
(4) Kamroun: modern day Assam is a state in north-eastern India.
(5) Nedjachy (or najashi): Najashi was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum who reigned from 614–631 CE. He gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615–616 at Axum.
(6) Sind: now in Pakistan
(7) Jidda: Jeddah: town at the shore, close to Mecca.
(8) Qulzum: located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.
(9) Scabies in the land of Zanj is found in: Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan 869, Ibn Khordadbeh 886, al Hamadhani 903, Ibn Rosteh 903, Ibn al-Fakih Tha'alibi 1038, Al-Raghib al-Isfahani 1109, Mohammad ebn Mahmud ebn Ahmad Tusi 1160, Ali ibn Zaid al Baihaqi 1170, Jakut al Hamawi 1220, Al-Qazwini Atar al Bilad 1283, Rukneddin Ahmed 1420 and many others.
(10) List with names of rulers among the Zang. But nothing that resembles Alfikhat.
Ibn Khordadbeh (868) Alfikhat.
Masudi (916): The king of Zanj is called Flimi.
Al-Khwarizmi: (d997) Almehraj: King Alzabaj and Zinj.
Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067): And the Flymy (title of king) has three hundred thousand cavalry.
Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109): Al Buhraja: sahib al Zunj.
Al-Qazwini(d. 1283). Atar al Bilad: And they have a King named Aokulaim.
Muhammad al Fasi, Maliki: (d1429-30): Al Hyaj: the king of Zinj and Ghana.
Wasif Shah (1209): Their principal king is called Kunah; he resides on the shore of the sea, in a place called Kandu.
Al-Dimashqi (1325): The supreme king is called Touqlim (or tuqlim or buqlim) meaning 'son of the Lord'
Note: Charles Guillain: ( Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie et le commerce de l'Afrique…. P173) gives several versions on how different translators translated the word Flimi (King) of Masudi (916): M. Reinaud: Oklimen; M. Quatremère: Wakliman; M. Sprenger: Afliman; Deguignes: Phalimi and Aphlimi.