Left the sources of the Nile from al Sifaqsi (1551)

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Qadama (930) Kitab al Kharadj wa Sanat al katib
(Book of taxes and of secretarial work) Syriac Scholar
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Qudama ibn Ja'far al-Katib al-Baghdadi was a Syriac scholar who converted to Islam. He was probably born ca. 873/874, possibly at Basra. In Baghdad he rose to a senior post in the treasury department. He died between 932 and 948. The Kitab al-Kharaj: Book of the Land Tax and the Art of the Secretary. The last four sections of the original eight, survive. It was written after 928 as a manual for administrators. It is not really important for the history of East Africa.

 

Taken from: Youssouf KamalIIIfasc1
Journal Asiatique 1837
Also called Kadama

 

Book 6 Geography
Fol 58a
….. Ham (2) took on the south side the lands of the Zandjs, Hind, Sind (in Pakistan) and Sin (China) then in the west the land of Nuba the Boudja (1) and the Barber and all the islands in the eastern and western sea……
Fol 61b
….. From that sea a gulf springs at the land of Habacha, that gulf stretches in the direction of the Barbar, and is called the gulf of Barbar, its length in the direction that it takes is 500 miles, where as its dimension at its beginning is 100 miles. ………….
Fol 63a
(About mountains) On the south of the equator in the south before arriving on the first climate there are nine mountains, from which five have about the same dimensions, as they vary between 400 and 500 miles. There is also found a mountain being 900 miles long, then the Djabal al Qamar which is about 1000 miles long. Then a mountain……
Fol 64a-b
The Nile leaves from the mountains of Al-Qomr situated south of the equator. There one big spring gives birth to ten rivers of which five run to one lake the other five to the other lake south of the equator. From each lake three rivers leave; they unite in a single lake situated in the first climate; at two degrees south of the equator; it is from that lake that the Nile of Misr (3) leaves. ….. The Nile from its beginning has a length of 2000 and some miles. A different spring has its center on the equator and gives birth to a river that flows towards the Nile and unites with it close to the town of the Nuba.

(1) Boudja: Beja people from Sudan. The Egyptians leaving from Aswan;  the southern border town on the Nile; have to cross their territory to reach the harbors on the Red Sea.

(2) Ham: one of the three sons of Noa.

(3) Misr: other name for Egypt.