202 Literary Intelligence. [No. % 



been taken up with full approval by Alexander Humboldt in bis 

 Kosmos. A more southern land the Northmen named Hvitraman- 

 naland (the land of the White Men) or Irland it Mikla (Great Ire- 

 land). This was supposed by Rafn to be North and South Carolina, 

 Georgia and Florida. The oldest historian of Iceland, Are Frode, 

 states that his stam-father Are Marson came to this land about the 

 year 983, and was baptized there. This same land, Irland it Mikla, 

 Irlandeh el Kabirah, is also mentioned by an Arabian geographer of 

 the 12th century, Abu-Abdallali Mohammed Edrisi, who was born 

 in Ceuta in 1099, and had studied in Cordova. He drew up his 

 work at the desire of Roger II. King of Sicily (1130—1151.) The 

 above geographical name as well as several other notices of the 

 North, were doubtless derived by the Arabian author from his inter- 

 course with the North men at the court of this sovereign in Palermo. 

 " It is most interesting to follow the often highly successful identi- 

 fication of the local names mentioned by the Arabian geographers, 

 especially those of several" islands in the Western Ocean, places in 

 France and England, and also in Scandinavia, particularly Denmark, 

 where Slesvig is mentioned in a curious manner, and also in Sweden. 

 The same thing applies to Russia. An extract from a voyage in 

 the 12th century (1132) by Abu Abdallah Humid of Granada, 

 gives an undoubted description of a Whale-fishery on the coast of 

 the Arctic Ocean near the land Wisu. This, according to the admi- 

 rable explanation of Frabn, is the tribe Wes, spoken of in the Rus- 

 sian Annals, north of Novgorod by the White Lake (Bielo Osero.") 



The following is an extract from a letter to the President from 

 Dr. Sprenger, dated June 30th. 



" You are probably aware that Wopke is going to publish the 

 Tarikh al Hind of Byruny, of which Reinaud has inserted some ex- 

 tracts in his work on India. It is a most extraordinary work and 

 proves that the • author had a complete knowledge of Sanscrit liter- 

 ature. Wopke is an excellent Mathematician, and a good Arabic 

 Scholar, and he has made considerable progress in Sanscrit. He began 

 the study of this language on purpose to master Byruny. Wustenfeld 

 intends to bring out the great work of Yaqiit (o^J t>) on geo- 

 graphy." 



