Zone 2: Ghana, Kashmir, China

Zone 2

This is contiguous with the northern boundary of the first zone.

Opposite its western limit in the Surrounding Sea are two of Canary Islands. At the southernmost part of the first and second sections of the second zone, there is the land of Qamnuriyah.95

Then, to the east, there are the southernmost parts of the land of Ghanah. Then, there are the desert plains of the Zaghay Negroes. In the northernmost part, there is the desert of Nisar.96 It extends uninterruptedly from west to east.

It has stretches of desert which are crossed by merchants on their way from the Maghrib to the Sudan country. It includes the desert plains of the Veiled Sinhajah Berbers. There are many subgroups, comprising the Gudalah, 97 the Lamtunah, the Massufah, 98 the Lamtah, and the Watrigah.

Directly to the east of the waste regions is the land of Fezzan. Then, there are the desert plains of the Azgar, a Berber tribe, which extend due east in the southernmost part of the third section. This is followed, still in the third section, by part of the country of Kawar, a Negro nation.

Then, there is a portion of the land of at-Tajuwin. 99

The northernmost part of the third section is occupied by the remainder of the land of Waddin, followed directly to the east by the land of Santariyah which is called the Inner Oases. 100

The southernmost limit of the fourth section is occupied by the remainder of the land of at-Tajuwin.

The middle of the fourth section, then, is intersected by Upper Egypt along the banks of the Nile, which flows from its source in the first zone to its mouth at the sea. In this section it passes through two mountain barriers, the Mountain of the Oases in the west, and the Muqattam in the east.

At the southern part of the section lie Esna and Armant. There is a continuous riverbank region up to Assyut and Qus, and then to Sawl. There, the Nile divides into two branches. The right branch ends up at al-Lahun, still in the fourth section.

The left branch ends up at Dalas. The region between them is the southernmost part of (Lower) Egypt. East of Mount Mugattam are the deserts of ‘Aydhab, extending from the fifth section to the Sea of Suez, that is, the Red Sea (Sea of al-Qulzum) which branches off northwards from the Indian Ocean to the south. On the eastern shore of the Red Sea, in the same section, is the Hijaz, extending from the Mountain of Yalamlam to Yathrib (Medina).

In the middle of the Hijaz is Mecca-God honor it!-and on its seashorethere is the city of Jiddah, which is opposite ‘Aydhab on the western shore of the Red Sea.

Section 6

In the sixth section to the west is the Najd, having as its southernmost limit Jurash and Tabalah,101 (and extending) up to ‘Ukaz in the north. North of the Najd, in the sixth section, is the remainder of the Hijaz. Directly to the east of (the Najd) lies the country of Najran and Janad. North of that is the Yamamah.

Directly to the east of Najran, there is the land of Saba’ and Ma’rib, followed by the land of ash-Shihr, which ends at the Persian Gulf.

This is the other sea that branches off northward from the Indian Ocean, as has been mentioned, and turns westward on its course in the sixth section. The northeastern area of (the sixth section) constitutes a triangle. At its southernmost part is the city of Qalhat, the coast (seaport) of ash-Shihr. North of it, on the coast, is the country of Oman, followed by the country of alBahrayn with Hajar, at the end of the (sixth) section.

The southwestern part of the seventh section contains a portion of the Persian Gulf connecting with the other portion of it in the sixth section. The Indian Ocean covers all the southernmost area of the seventh section. There, Western India lies along it, up to the country of Mukran which belongs to Western India. Opposite it, is the country of at-Tawbaran 102 which also belongs to Western India.

All of Western India lies in the western part of the seventh section. Western India is separated from Eastern India by stretches of desert, and is traversed by a river (the Indus) which comes from Eastern India and flows into the Indian Ocean in the south.

Eastern India begins on the shore of the Indian Ocean. Directly to the east there lies the country of Ballahra. 103 North of it is Multan, the home of the great idol.104 The northernmost part of Eastern India is the southernmost part of the country of Sijistan.

The western part of the eighth section contains the remainder of the country of Ballahra that belongs to Eastern India. Directly to the east of it lies the country of Gandhara. 105 Then, at the southernmost part (of the section), on the shore of the Indian Ocean, there is the country of Malabar (Munibar). North of it, in the northernmost part (of the section), there is the country of Kabul. Beyond (Kabul) to the east 105a is the territory of the Kanauj, between inner and outer Kashmir at the end of the zone.

Section 9

This, in its western part, contains farthest Eastern India, which extends to the eastern part (of the section) and stretches along its southernmost part up to Section 10 which is China.

In the northernmost part here, there is a portion of China. It includes the city of Khayghun.10 6 China then extends over the whole tenth section up to the Surrounding Sea.