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of al-Iraq [the Indian Ocean], which said, " My Lord, in that event 16
I shall carry them on my back; and will praise Theewhen they
praise Thee j and when they adore Thee, will I join in their
adoration; and I will magnify Thee together with them. Whereupon
the Lord said, "Depatt; I have blessed thee and thy
treasures and fish will I multiply." This tradition serves as a
proof that there are only two seas.
I do not know whether these two seas fall into the ocean or
proceed from it. I have read somewhere that they both proceed
from the great sea; but it is much more probable that they fall
into it; inasmuch as a person travelling from Farghanah makes
a gradual descent in his progress as far as Egypt, and thence
again to the westernmost parts of al-Maghrib. In fact, the inhabitants
of al-'Jraq speak of the Persians as the dwellers in the
high-lands, and call the people of al-Maghrib dwellers in the
lowlands. This confirms¹ what we have supposed; and the
inference to be drawn therefrom is that these seas are rivers
collected into large bodies of water, and falling into the ocean;
but the real state of things is known to God alone. Abu Zaid
gives the number of seas as three, by the addition of the allencircling
ocean ; we have however excluded this from the number,
because it is known to surround the earth on all sides as with a
ring, and has neither bound nor limit. Al-Jaihani, 2 on the other
hand, makes them five by the further addition of the Sea of the
Khazars³ [the Caspian] and the Channel of Constantinople.*
1 Reading which is the textual reading but seems unsatisfactory.
2 C : as well as the author of az-ZIj and Qudamah al-Katib.
3 The name of ' sea of the Khazars* has also been applied to the Black
Sea; and from the mention of this name in connection with the Khalij or
Channel of Constantinople, which is the Sea of Marmora, it might be supposed
that the Euxine is the sea intended here j indeed, some geographers,
such as lbn Khurdadhbah, apply this name exclusively to the Black Sea,
while they call the Caspian by the name of the Sea of Jurjan. Our author
of Ver, distinctly says that it is also called the * Lake of Tabaristan,' thus
leaving no room for doubt as to which sea is meant. In all other places of
this work the ' Sea of the Khazars' represents, as here, the Caspian Sea.
4 The Khalij, or Channel of Constantinople, is the modern Sea of Marmora,
lbn Khurdadhbah (p. 108), places it correctly at the entrance of the Black Sea
which he calls the * Sea of the Khazars;' he is wrong however in saying
that it is the same as the sea called * Bunjus.' The Bunfus [Pontus Euxinns]
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