And Mesopotamia Dureth
From The River Of Euphrates, Unto The River Of Tigris, For It Is
Between Those Two Rivers.
And beyond the river of Tigris is Chaldea, that is a full great
kingdom.
In that realm, at Bagdad above-said, was wont to dwell
the caliph, that was wont to be both as Emperor and Pope of the
Arabians, so that he was lord spiritual and temporal; and he was
successor to Mahommet, and of his generation. That city of Bagdad
was wont to be clept Sutis, and Nebuchadnezzar founded it; and
there dwelled the holy prophet Daniel, and there he saw visions of
heaven, and there he made the exposition of dreams.
And in old time there were wont to be three caliphs, he of Arabia
and of Chaldea dwelt in the city of Bagdad above-said; and at Cairo
beside Babylon dwelt the Caliph of Egypt; and at Morocco, upon the
West Sea, dwelt the Caliph of the people of Barbary and of
Africans. And now is there none of the caliphs, nor nought have
been since the time of the Soldan Saladin; for from that time
hither the soldan clepeth himself caliph, and so have the caliphs
lost their name.
Also witeth well, that Babylon the less, where the soldan dwelleth,
and at the city of Cairo that is nigh beside it, be great huge
cities many and fair; and that one sitteth nigh that other.
Babylon sitteth upon the river of Gyson, sometimes clept Nile, that
cometh out of Paradise terrestrial.
That river of Nile, all the year, when the sun entereth into the
sign of Cancer, it beginneth to wax, and it waxeth always as long
as the sun is in Cancer and in the sign of the Lion; and it waxeth
in such manner, that it is sometimes so great, that it is twenty
cubits or more of deepness, and then it doth great harm to the
goods that be upon the land. For then may no man travail to plough
the lands for the great moisture, and therefore is there dear time
in that country. And also, when it waxeth little, it is dear time
in that country, for default of moisture. And when the sun is in
the sign of Virgo, then beginneth the river for to wane and to
decrease little and little, so that when the sun is entered into
the sign of Libra, then they enter between these rivers. This
river cometh, running from Paradise terrestrial, between the
deserts of Ind, and after it smiteth unto land, and runneth long
time many great countries under earth. And after it goeth out
under an high hill, that men clepe Alothe, that is between Ind and
Ethiopia the mountance of five months' journeys from the entry of
Ethiopia; and after it environeth all Ethiopia and Mauritania, and
goeth all along from the land of Egypt unto the city of Alexandria
to the end of Egypt, and there it falleth into the sea. About this
river be many birds and fowls, as sikonies, that they clepen ibes.
CHAPTER VII
OF THE COUNTRY OF EGYPT; OF THE BIRD PHOENIX OF ARABIA; OF THE CITY
OF CAIRO; OF THE CUNNING TO KNOW BALM AND TO PROVE IT; AND OF THE
GARNERS OF JOSEPH
EGYPT is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say narrow,
for they may not enlarge it toward the desert for default of water.
And the country is set along upon the river of Nile, by as much as
that river may serve by floods or otherwise, that when it floweth
it may spread abroad through the country; so is the country large
of length. For there it raineth not but little in that country,
and for that cause they have no water, but if it be of that flood
of that river. And forasmuch as it ne raineth not in that country,
but the air is alway pure and clear, therefore in that country be
the good astronomers, for they find there no clouds to letten them.
Also the city of Cairo is right great and more huge than that of
Babylon the less, and it sitteth above toward the desert of Syria,
a little above the river above-said.
In Egypt there be two parts: the height, that is toward Ethiopia,
and the lower, that is toward Arabia. In Egypt is the land of
Rameses and the land of Goshen. Egypt is a strong country, for it
hath many shrewd havens because of the great rocks that be strong
and dangerous to pass by. And at Egypt, toward the east, is the
Red Sea, that dureth unto the city of Coston; and toward the west
is the country of Lybia, that is a full dry land and little of
fruit, for it is overmuch plenty of heat, and that land is clept
Fusthe. And toward the part meridional is Ethiopia. And toward
the north is the desert, that dureth unto Syria, and so is the
country strong on all sides. And it is well a fifteen journeys of
length, and more than two so much of desert, and it is but two
journeys in largeness. And between Egypt and Nubia it hath well a
twelve journeys of desert. And men of Nubia be Christian, but they
be black as the Moors for great heat of the sun.
In Egypt there be five provinces: that one is Sahythe; that other
Demeseer; another Resith, that is an isle in the Nile; another
Alexandria; and another the land of Damietta. That city was wont
to be right strong, but it was twice won of the Christian men, and
therefore after that the Saracens beat down the walls; and with the
walls the tower thereof, the Saracens made another city more far
from the sea, and clept it the new Damietta; so that now no man
dwelleth at the rather town of Damietta. At that city of Damietta
is one of the havens of Egypt; and at Alexandria is that other.
That is a full strong city, but there is no water to drink, but if
it come by conduit from Nile, that entereth into their cisterns;
and whoso stopped that water from them, they might not endure
there.
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