Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/61

 complete command of its resources, and its commerce; but their accounts of it were at that time unknown in Europe, and even those, with which we have since become acquainted, are most of them, like the general mass of Arabian geography, short, confused, and written with a very inaccurate knowledge of the actual, as well as relative, positions of the countries described.

The following early description, by one of their most celebrated writers, Zaneddin Omar ibn l' Wardi, is the most interesting I am acquainted with, and as it has never before (to my knowledge) been translated, may be acceptable to the reader. I am enabled to give it through the kind assistance of a friend, who made it out from three copies of the "Kheridat al ajaieb wa feridat al goraieb," written by the above author, which I brought over from Arabia.

"The land of the Zinji lies opposite to that of Sind; between the two intervenes the breadth of the Sea of Persia. The inhabitants are the blackest of the negro race. They worship idols, are brave, hardy and fight in battle riding on oxen, as their country supplies neither horses, mules, nor camels. Massoudi says, 'I have seen their oxen kneel like camels, to be laden, and they travel as fast with their burthens.' Their habitations extend from the extremity of the gulph, (supposed Gardafui) to the low land of gold (Sofala 't il Dhab.) This country is extensive, and abounds in gold, grain, and the treasures of nature, and their towns are populous. Each town lying adjacent to the branch of a river. Snow is not known among them, nor rain, which is commonly the case with the greater part of the country of the blacks. They have no ships, but traders come in vessels from Ummaun, to buy their children, whom they sell in different countries. The Zinji are extremely numerous, though deficient in the means of carrying on war. It is said that their king goes forth to battle with three thousand followers, riding on oxen. The Nile is divided above their country, at the mountain of Muksim. Most of the natives sharpen their teeth, and polish them to a point. They traffic in