EDRISI, or Aldrisi, the most eminent of the geographers who have written in the Arabic language. There is no individual of equal eminence over whose life there hangs a deeper veil of mystery, the various parts of it affording rather subjects of controversy to the learned than of precise information to the biographer. The place, and even the country in which he was born, compose the first subject of disputation. Sionita and Hezronita, who published a Latin translation of his work at Paris, make him a Nubian, and gave to their work the title of Geographia Nubiensis, the Nubian Geography. They proceeded upon the expression there used, namely, “the Nile of Egypt, which cuts our land” Hartmann was at once led to suspect the correctness of this inference, by observing that Nubia was one of the countries of which Edriβi gives the most meagre and imperfect account; and his suspicions were confirmed by learning that Ockley, on examining two manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, had found in both “that land," instead of “our land.” It seems now generally agreed, therefore, that there is no reason to suppose him of Nubian origin. Others have given him an Egyptian one, which seems more probable, yet rests solely upon the erroneous reading above referred to. In 1663, Bochart stated that he had found in a manuscript of Leo Africanus, that Edrisi was born at Mazara, in Sicily, in 1098. Next year, however, the manuscript was edited by Hot-tinger, in an appendix to his work entitled Bdiliothecarius Quadripartibus, when it appeared that the person supposed to be Edrisi was there named Esseriff Essachalli. Esseriff, or Scheriff, is indeed an usual appellation of Edrisi, but it is common to many, and is rather a title than a name. The rest of the name, and the date of birth, are materially different, so that there seems very little reason to doubt that Bochart was here mistaken.

The most positive statement on the subject is that of Casiri, who says (Bibliotheca ArabicoHispanice, ii. 9), that if Edrisi, as appeared probable, were the person designated by the Mahommedan writers under the long appellation of Abu Abdallah Mohamad Ben Mohamad Ben Abdallah Ben Edris, he was born at Septa, or Ceuta, on Lite coast of Morocco, in the year of the Hegira 493 (a. d. 1099). Casiri not only qualifies his statement with this condition, but he does not state the authorities from which it is derived; so that it rests only upon the confidence reposed in his learning and accuracy. Edrisi was long a mighty name in Northern Africa; but in 919 the dynasty was subverted by Mahedi Abdallah, and the proscribed wrecks of the family, according to D’Herbelot, afterwards sought refuge in Sicily. This certainly tends to strengthen the Sicilian origin of our author, though it is not probable that many would seek refuge by concealment in their native country.

If we may trust the information of Casiri, Edrisi pursued his studies at Cordova, then equally famed as a seat of Moorish empire and a seminary of Arabic learning. From the accurate and particular description he has given of Spain, it is probable that he had travelled through a great part of that country. Various circumstances prove that he removed to Sicily, and began to compose his great work under the patronage, and indeed at the express desire, of Roger IL king of that island. It was completed about the year of the Hegira 548, a. d. 1153.

It has been a subject of pretty warm controversy among the learned whether Edrisi was a Mahommedan or a [7:8:432]Christian. Sionita, who adopts the latter opinion, observes that he repeatedly calls our Saviour the Lord Jesus, and on one occasion simply the Lord, a title which is said never to be applied by Mahommedans unless to Mahommed, while they merely say “Jesus, to whom be peace,” or “Jesus, to whom be safety.” He also speaks with profound respect of the holy Virgin, and of various saints, using in regard to the latter the Italian expression instead of the Arabic. These arguments are strenuously repelled by Hartmann, though not, as appears to us, on very solid grounds. He justly remarks, indeed, that the Mahommedans speak always with the highest respect of every thing connected with the origin of Christianity. But though this may impair the force of Sionita’s arguments, there seems nothing of any importance to place in the opposite scale. Hartmann lays much stress on the circumstance that Edrisi, amongst his numerous names, bears that of Mohamad, which he says was never borne by any Christian; but though this may imply that he was a Mahommedan by birth, it does not authorize us to infer that he may not have become a convert to the opposite faith. He evidently wishes to offend persons of neither profession, and thus writes in a style from which no positive inference can be drawn. But considering how high religious differences ran in that age, it does not appear very probable that he could have resided in Sicily, or been in such high favour with Roger, without adopting the religion of the monarch and country.

The only thing relative to the life of this eminent author which remains even a subject of controversy, is the period of its termination. Bochart has fixed it in the year 1122; but this date clearly proves that he had some quite different person in view; since it appears by the preface to Edrisi’s own work, that its completion took place in the year 1153. No other notice, nor even conjecture, relative to the time or manner of his death, is to be found in any author.

From these meagre notices respecting the life of Edrisi, we shall proceed to give some account of his work. It has appeared under various titles. The first and fullest appears to have been, The going out of a Curious Man to explore the Regions of the Globe, its Provinces, Islands, Cities, and their Dimensions and Situation. This is sometimes abbreviated into The going out of a Curious Man to explore the Regions of the Globe ; and sometimes merely The going out of a Curious Man. Sionita published it under the name of Relaxation of the Curious Mind ; but the title of Nubian Geography, which he and his companion imposed upon it, though it has become general in Europe, is, as already observed, altogether arbitrary.

The work contains a full description of the whole world, as far as it was known to the author, with its countries, cities, and all its features, physical and political. These are arranged, not according to any of the methods to which we are accustomed, but in a manner peculiar to itself. The world is divided into seven climates, commencing at the equinoctial line, and extending northwards to the limit at which the earth is supposed to be rendered uninhabitable by cold. Each climate is then divided by perpendicular lines into eleven equal parts, beginning with the western coast of Africa, and ending with the eastern coast of Asia. The whole world is thus formed into seventy-seven equal square compartments, resembling those upon a chess-board, or those formed upon a plane map, by the intersecting lines of latitude and longitude. The geographer begins with the first part of the first climate, including the western part of Central Africa, and proceeds eastward through the different divisions of this climate, till he finds its termination in the Sea of China. He then returns to the first part of the second climate, and so proceeds till he reaches the eleventh part of the seventh climate, which terminates in the north-eastern extremity of Asia. The inconveniences of such an arrangement must be abundantly obvious. Instead of each country, or at least each region of similar physical character, being described by itself, it is severed by these mechanical sections into fragments, which are described in different and distant parts of the work; and no connected view is given of any great country.

The only valuable unpublished manuscripts of Edrisi which now exist in Europe are two which are preserved in the Bodleian Library. The first, which was brought over from Egypt by Greaves, is written in the Arabic character peculiar to Northern Africa. It is illustrated by a map of the known world, and by thirty-three other maps, containing each part of a climate, so that there are maps only for the first three climates. The second manuscript, brought by Pococke from Syria, is written in the Arabic character, as used in that country, and bears the date of 906 of the Hegira, or a. d. 1500. It consists of 320 leaves, and is illustrated by one general and seventy-seven particular maps, the last consequently including all the parts of every climate. The general map has been published by Dr Vincent in his Periplus of the Erythreean Sea.

There is a manuscript (Cod. DLXXX) in the Royal Library at Paris, which professes to be the production of Edrisi; but D’Herbelot, it appears, has not made use of it as such; and De Guignes expresses positive disbelief on the subject. Hartmann, however, found it to coincide in many particulars with the geography of Edrisi. A copy of our author’s work was contained at one time in the library of the Escurial, but it was destroyed by a great fire in the year 1671.

The geography of Edrisi, in the original Arabic, was printed at Rome in 1592, at the Medicean press, from a manuscript preserved in the grand-ducal library at Florence. Both the paper and printing are exceedingly neat, the latter being made to resemble manuscript. This unfortunately constitutes the whole merit of the edition, which swarms with typographical errors, and forms, besides, only an epitome of the original work. This epitome seems made, indeed, in the oriental style, by the simple omission of those parts which appeared to the editor to be superfluous; but these comprise many essential and important passages. The description of Mecca, for example, which had been unaccountably omitted, is supplied by Pococke from his manuscript. Hartmann gives instances where reference is made to the description of places of which there occurs no other mention. D’Herbelot and Casiri equally remark the imperfections of this edition; and the information obtained by the writer of this article, at Oxford, as to the result of a comparison between it and the manuscripts in that university, tends entirely to confirm their statements. In most bibliographical works, this impression has been characterized as one of the rarest of books; but Adler, in a visit to Florence, found in the palace there 1129 copies, which were publicly exposed to sale at a moderate rate. If, therefore, the book be wanting, even in many extensive public libraries, it is merely because those libraries have not taken the trouble to procure it.

In 1619, two oriental scholars, Gabriel Sionita and John Hezronita, published at Paris a Latin translation of Edrisi’s work, bearing the title, as already observed, of Geographia Nubiensis. It is not executed with all that care and accuracy which might have been expected from these learned personages. They have been particularly careless as to the proper names, which are given sometimes in Latin, sometimes in Arabic, sometimes in neither, nor in any intelligible language. In consequence of the Arabic[7:8:433] original being occasionally appended, it has been supposed to have been reprinted along with it; but this is a mistake, there being no edition ever printed except the Roman one. George Hieronymus Velschius, an eminent German scholar, had prepared a copy of the Arabic origi- ∙ nal, with a Latin translation, which he intended to have illustrated with notes; but death prevented the execution of this design, and his manuscript remains deposited in the library of the university of Jena. Casiri (Bibliotheca ArabicoHispanica, ii. 13) mentions that, at the request of many friends, he had determined to re-edit this work, but he appears never to have executed this intention. The part relating to Africa, pre-eminent certainly in point of importance, has been very ably edited by Hartmann, professor of oriental languages at Marburg (Edrisi, Africa, Göttingen, 1796). Instead of following the awkward division into climates, he has collected together all the notices relating to each particular country, and has annexed the statements of the countrymen and contemporaries of Edrisi, so that his work forms nearly a complete body of Arabian geography, as far as relates to Africa. (e.)