IN NORTHERN MISTS 



the queen/ who was very compliant. When Ibn ^Alqama 

 asked al-Gazal whether she was really so beautiful as he had 

 given her to understand, that prudent diplomatist answered, 

 " Certainly, she was not so bad ; but to tell the truth, I had use for 

 her ..." When he was afraid his daily visits might attract 

 attention, she laughed and said : 



" Jealousy is not among our customs. With us the women do not stay with 

 their husbands longer than they like; and when their consorts cease to please 

 them, they leave them." With this may be compared the statement for which 

 Qazwini gives at-Tartushi (tenth century) as authority, that in Schleswig the 

 women separate from their husbands when they please [cf. G. Jacob, 1876, p. 34]. 



After an absence of twenty months, al-Gazal returned to the 

 capital of the sultan 'Abd ar-Rahman. In the excellence of its 

 realistic description and the introduction of direct speeches this 

 tale bears a remarkable resemblance to the peculiar method of 

 narration of the Icelandic sagas. 



The best known of the western Arab geographers in Abu 

 'Abdallah Muhammad al-Idrisi (commonly called Edrisi), who 

 gives beyond comparison the most information about the 

 North. He is said to have been born in Sebta (Ceuta) about 

 1099 A.D., to have studied in Cordova, and to have made 

 extensive voyages in Spain, to the shores of France, and even 

 of England, to Morocco and Asia Minor. It is certain that 

 in the latter part of his life he resided for a considerable time 

 at the court of the Norman king of Sicily, Roger II., which 

 during the Crusades was a meeting-place of Normans, Greeks 

 and Franks. According to Edrisi's account, Roger collected 

 through interpreters geographical information from all 

 travelers, caused a map to be drawn on which every place was 

 marked, and had a silver planisphere made, weighing 450 

 Roman pounds, upon which were engraved the seven climates 

 of the earth, with their countries, rivers, bays, etc.- Edrisi 



1 Her name may be read "Bud" (Bodhild?), or — according to Seippel's 

 showing — with a trifling correction, " Aud." 



2 Probably this was made from Edrisi's design and corresponded to the 

 map of the world in his work. Khalil as-Safadi (born circa 1296) also relates 

 202 



