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Salamanca translator: Translation of part of Al Zuhri’s al Jarafiya (about 1420) Castilleja.

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Al Zuhri was an Andalusian geographer who wrote the al Jarafiya . This text corresponds to an unpublished medieval Castilian version of the al Jarafiya by the Andalusian geographer. Comparing its translation (here for the parts concerning East Africa) with the original Arabic version is now possible.  

Taken from: Libro del conosçimiento de todos los reynos y tierras y señoríos que son por el mundo y de las señales y armas que han cada tierra y señorío por sy y de los reyes y señores que los porueen escrito por un franciscano español á mediados del siglo XIV

 

§13-14 Chapter (of the Samarda and the stone. )

It is said that of the quarter of the earth that is beneath the equator, it is all uninhabited and non can enter even a very little distance, even some leagues (5), who enter there meets a beast that is called Samarda and that is a beast that is the strongest in all the earth, and all the way this beast is strong in this. They have there a stone, which stone is already known, it is brought from a mountain that is in land of Sanje [Zendji]…….

 

§16-17-18 Chapter (of the mountain of the moon.)


Philosophers say that no part of this land is visited because of the great fever, and many other things they say, because this part of the earth is uninhabited, and in the land is a mountain that is called the mountain of the moon, because when the moon rises, the highest of the mountain gets white light and clear light, and as the moon grows the second night, the whiteness grows more. And at night, [third], it is covered with light that shoots yellow like the ray of the sun. And at the forth night, it grows in birth, and at night, fifth, in the same way, And the night, six times, the light that faze is red as fire, and so for each night and at night it creates the light in such a way, that when it is the full moon is, it has the color of the tail of peacock and very light, in the guise of [the white], and they dwell very late, as much light comes out. From this mountain many rivers go through the said mountain, and from that mountain the great river called Nile comes from the mountain as its native mountain and enters between the mountains that are called the mountains of gold, and traverses many lands, it is easy to say, land of Cartar (1)[Kartum] and Ahuen (2)[Assuan, Siena] and land of Caus (3)[Kus, Apollinopolis the small] and the city called Acmini (4)[Akmin, Ekmin] it enters the land of Egypt to the land of Alexandria and………… And the long river that comes out of the mountain of the moon enters the sea of the Romans, is one thousand and forty five leagues (5) long. This way the mountain of the moon and the different colors in which this mountain separates each day is of the said Nile.

 

§19 Chapter of the yellow Nile. (13)

 And so, from this mountain, another river called the yellow Nile, descends to the equator line and enters between the mountains that are called the mountains of gold and goes through the land (On the sidelines: it enters the mountains of land of) Adracan (6) and comes to the land of Sange (Zandj) and ends in the greater sea said, which is called the green sea.

 

And this mountain is to the west part of the said unpopulated area. And in that zone comes bad wind, very bad, and it is a hot and dry wind that dries all the water that falls and it kills anything that reaches that wind in the said unpopulated area,………….

 

Taken from: El mundo en el siglo XII: estudio de la versión castellana y del "original" árabe de una geografía universal, "El tratado de al-Zuhrī" by Dolors Bramón

 

§21 Chapter of the division of the seven climes. Some experts understand that the first climate is in the middle of the populated area, it is convenient to know: land of Yaman and Mecca and Tayf (7) and the Sea Rubro (8) and Egypt and its regions.

And the second climate is the land of Cin (9) and Yndia (India) and Sindi (10).

The third climate is Persia, Al-Iraq and its regions

And the sixth climate the land of Sahra (Sahara)

The second and the first climate are in the middle of the inhabited part and the other six climes are around it.

 

§80

…………And they could never know who or what was inside the castle. And some of the wise say that they are inside stones that are called al-bahte (11) stones, that attract the people against and from very far away. In these stones, were brought by Alexandre from the land of Sanje (Zandj). This finding is the most wonderful thing in the world.

 

Taken from: Mapping Mediterranean Geographies: Geographic and Cartographic Encounters between the Islamic World and Europe, c by Jeremy Francis Ledger

 

§84

And among the marvels of the land of Egypt is the Nile River which originates in the Mountain of the Moon which is, according to Ptolemy, in the northern quarter, in the part north of the equator. And according to other learned people, it is in the southern part of the uninhabited quarter of the earth. And furthermore, [one ought] believe the view (seso) of Ptolemy in this [matter] over the others, because it is certain, according to the Holy Scripture, that this Nile River originates in earthly paradise. The learned do not doubt [the existence of] this earthly paradise on the equator in one of the places below the equinox. And therefore, [one ought to] believe that this Mountain of the Moon, where they say this river originates, is in the northern part and that the river comes to it from paradise and men think that it originates there [in paradise]. And if this said mountain where the river originates were in the part to the south of the equator, then the said river would originate before paradise and come to paradise from the other part, which would be counter to Holy Scripture…….

 

Taken from: El mundo en el siglo XII: estudio de la versión castellana y del "original" árabe de una geografía universal, "El tratado de al-Zuhrī" by Dolors Bramón

 

§161

.........and the last Cham (12), son of Noah, he went to the west, he had four fixed lines of descendants, which were those of Nuba and Ethiopia and Sanjer (zandj) and those of Ganegua (Guinea).

(1) Cartar [Kartum]: Khartoum or Khartum is the capital of Sudan.

(2) Ahuen [Assuan, Siena]: Aswan: southern border of Egypt.

(3) Caus [Kus, Apollinopolis the small]; Kus; Qus; Caus : mentioned as being south of Egypt (Ancient kingdom of Kush); A different Qus is a town in the central part of Egypt on the Nile.  Repeated by: al-Zayyat (1058); Al Zuhri : (1137); Nuwayri (1333); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335); Salamanca translator (1420).

(4) Acmini [Akmin, Ekmin]: Akhmim is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt.

(5) leagues: any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km).

(6) Adracan: must be Ardakan Mountains; see Ibn Said (1250) (Ardakan: in Persian: Holy Place.)

(7) Tayf: Al-Ṭaʾif, also spelled Tayif, city, western Saudi Arabia.

(8) Sea Rubro: Red Sea.

(9) Cin : China

(10) Sindi : Sindh ; now in Pakistan.

(11) al-bahte stones: Pieces of the story of the tones Baht or Bahit brought by Alexander from the country of the Zanj and found in the mountains of the moon called the magnet of men or who make people laugh till they die and which story comes originally from Aristotle can be found in: al Maqrizi (1441); Suyuti (1445-d1505); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300); Al Umari (1349); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Al Zuhri (1137); Salamanca translator (1420).

(12) Cham, son of Noah: married Yakhleb, daughter of yareb, son of Aldermesil, son of Mahwil, son of Enoch, son of Cain, son of Adam, she got from him three children, Kouch, Fout, and Chanaan.

(13) Nil of Maqdishu: Nile of Mogadishu: This is the Shabelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal. Al Zuhri : (1137) Makes the people divert themselves the Nile into a branch to the sea of Yemen; In Dimashqi (1325) it is called the river of Damadim; and he is the only one who kind of understands the river-system in South-Somalia. Salamanca translator (1420): calls it yellow Nile. Ibn Khaldun (1406) says it has nothing to do with the Nile. Nile of Mogadishu appears in Ibn Said al Maghribi (1250); Cowar el-aqalim (1347); Abulfida (1331); al Maqrizi (1441)he calls it River of the Damadim ; Hafiz I Abru (1420); Qoutb al-Din al-Chirazi (1311); Al Qalqashandi (d1418); Qadi Ibn Sasri Al-Shafi’I (1300) Cowar el-aqalim (1347).