"الجغرافيا الشرقية لابن حوقل، رحّالة عربي من القرن العاشر" [‎٣‎٦] (٣٨٨/٨٩)

i30 )
(Galen) the Grecian. From Ferma to Tends is a distance
of two farsang by this sea.
Tcneis is a vast j^ile or heap erected over the bodies of the dead,
which were placed one above another until they formed a pile;
which pile was called y Terhourn : and this must have been
done before the time of Moses, on whom be the peace and bless
ing of God '.—for, in the time of Moses, according to the religion
of the Egyptians, the dead were interred—a custom which was
continued afterwards by the Christians, and is still practised by
the Mussulmans. The author of this book says, that he himself
had seen some of those bodies in their shrouds, or winding-sheets,
with bones and skeletons of immense size.
There are some plaees on the river Nile whieh the crocodiles do
not infest, near Fostat and Bouseir; and the Aien~
al-shems, or Fountain of the Sun, lies to the south of Fostat.
These two places are said to have been villas or pleasure-houses of
Pharaoh. On the top of Mount Moazem there is a place
which they call the stove or furnace of Pharaoh.
In the vicinity of Fostat, there grows a plant, called
halsam, from which the oil is extracted. This is not to be
found in any other part of the world.
The left side of the Nile is called Khouf. In this divi-