EARLY ARAB GEOGRAPHERS.
bank and belongs to Mansúra, where it receives the name of Mihrán. There it divides into two branches, both of which fall at the town of Shákira,[1] which belongs also to one of the districts of Mansúra, into the Indian sea, under the name of Mihrán of Sind, about two days’ journey from the town of Debal.
Múltán is seventy-five Sindian parasangs from Mansúra. Each parasang is eight miles, as stated above. The estates and villages dependent on Mansúra amount to three hundred thousand. The whole country is well cultivated, and covered with trees and fields. It is constantly at war with a nation called the Meds, who are a race of Sind, and also with other races on the frontiers of Sind. Like Múltán it is on the frontier of Sind, and so are the towns and villages belonging to it. Mansúra has its name from Mansúr bin Jamhúr, governor of the ’Ummayides. The king of Mansúra has eighty war elephants, every one of which is supported by five hundred infantry in battle, as we have already remarked; and these elephants oppose thousands of horses.
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Let us now resume our short account of the kings of Sind and India. The language of Sind is different from that of India. Sind is the country which is nearer the dominions of the Moslims, India is farther from them. The inhabitants of Mánkír, which is the capital of the Balhará, speak the Kíríya language, which has this name from Kira, the place where it is spoken. On the coast, as in Saimúr, Súbára, Tána, and other towns, a language called Láriya[2] is spoken which has its name from the sea which washes these countries; and this is the Lárawí sea, which has been described above. On this coast there are great rivers, which run from the south, whilst all other rivers of the world flow from north to south, excepting the Nile of Egypt, and the Mihrán of Sind, and a few others.◌◌◌◌Of all the kings of Sind and India, there is no one who pays greater respect to the Musulmans than the Balhará. In his kingdom Islám is honoured and protected◌◌◌◌The money consists of dirhams, called Táhiriya,[3] each weighing a dirham and a half. They
