EARLY ARAB GEOGRAPHERS.
VIII.
NUZHATU-L MUSHTAK
OF
AL IDRÍSÍ.
ABÚ ’ABDU-LLAH MUHAMMAD was born at Ceuta, in Morocco, towards the end of the 11th century. He was member of a family which descended from an ancestor named Idrís, and so came to be known by the name of Al Idrísí. This family furnished a line of princes for Morocco in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the branch from which Idrísí sprung ruled over the city of Malaga. Idrísí travelled in Europe, and eventually settled in Sicily at the court of Roger II. It was at the instance of this prince that he wrote his book on geography. He cites in his preface the various authors whose works he had employed in the compilation of the book. Further information was derived from travellers, whose verbal statements he compared and tested; and M. Reinaud quotes the Biographical Dictionary of Khalílu-s Safadí to the effect that men of intelligence were specially commissioned to travel and collect information for his use. The full title of the work is, Nuzhatu-1 Mushták fi Ikhtiráku-l A′fak, “The Delight of those who seek to wander through the regions of the world.” A full translation of the whole work into French was published at Paris in 1836 and 1840 by M. Jaubert, and from this the following Extracts have been done into English. Idrísí’s work met with very early attention. An abridgment of the text was published at Rome in 1592, and a Latin translation was printed at Paris in 1619, entitled “Geographia Nubiensis, id est accuratissima totius orbis in septem climata divisi descriptio
