Abu Hamid al-Andalusi

ABU HAMID AL-ANDALUSI (Al-Gharnati) (1080 - 1169 A.D.)

Abu Hamid A. Rahman al-Mazīnī al-Qaysi al-Andalusi. He was born at Granada, studied in Alexandria, travelled in Africa and Asia and died at Damascus.

Brockeimann, 477f

Tuḥfat al-albāb (a short treatise on Cosmography)

Ed.; M.G. Ferrand, Journal Asiatique. t. 207, 1925, pp. 1-148, 195 - 303.

T•: MC 874—876 (Ferrand) A:1

As for the Fāwah, the Qūqū, (Qawqaw), Kawkaw, Mallī Takrūr and the Ghadamis, they are dreadful peoples whose countries are devoid of any good things or wealth. They have neither religious beliefs nor understanding. The worst among them are the Qūqū who have a short neck, flat noses, red eyes ... I saw them in the country of Maghrib. They are the worst kind of Blacks (Sūdān). The other Blacks are employed as slaves and labourers, but the Qūqū are fit for nothing but war. (Ferrand, pp. 42 - 43; MC 8740).

Another people among the Blacks are the Zayla’: i.e. they are the most civilized of all the Blacks, and are Muslims. The countries of the Blacks, including the territories of the Zani and the Buja extend a distance of 14 years' Journey. These people eat dogs, a meat they prefer to lamb, and rats. (ibid., p. 44; MC 874 r).