768 Translation of the Mohit, [Sept. 



number of seven, lies in their different motions. The proof of it is that 

 the before-said planets cover one the other. The covering sky is the 

 inferior and the covered one the superior. 



The stars are divided in three classes. The first : the seven planets 

 every one of which is moving in its proper sky. The second class are 

 the fixed stars, which are real stars like the planets, and which are all 

 fixed in the eighth sky. The third class are only imaginary and not 

 real ones ; these are the two points which are called the poles. The 

 two poles of the greatest sky, make the difference between east and 

 west. In the same manner there are in the ninth sky two insensible 

 points ; all the* stars are fastened in the globe of the skies like the stone 

 in a ring. Their rising and going down is fixed by returning cycles. 

 The line which passes through the two poles is called the axis )yS* m 

 In order to go on in the operations of this science it is necessary to name 

 the four great circles which are the meridian, the equator, the'hori- 

 zon and the circle of height*. 



Second Section, Of the divisions of the circle of the shy. 

 The learned in nautical science agree that the circle of the sky, that 

 is to say, the horizon, is divided into thirty-two parts, called khan\ ; 

 because the ship can go in thirty -two directions, which applied to the 

 horizon make these thirty-two divisions, every one of which is named 

 after a particular constellation to which seafaring men have given a 

 particular name. So they call in Turkey the north, Yildiz, which the 

 masters of the Indian seas call Kutb Jdh sW^_Jaj # So the two calves 



(j8. and 7. in ursa minor) are true north, the rising point of them is N. 

 by E., the setting point of them N. by W. The rising point of the bier 

 (the square of ursa major J N. N. E. ; the setting point of the bier N. 

 N. W. The rising point of the camel (0. in Cassiopeia :) N. E. by 

 N. The setting point of the camel, N. W. by N. ; the rising point of 

 Capella N. E. ; the setting point of it N. W. — The rising point of the 

 falling eagle (a in the lyra :) N. E, by E., the setting point of it N. W. 

 by W. — The rising point of Spica E. N. E. ; the setting point W. N. 

 W. The rising point of the Pleias E. by N. ; their setting point W. by 

 N. The rising point of the eagle true east, the setting point of it, true 



£UUjl tjijA This we presume is any circle passing through the Zenith 

 of a place, on which altitudes above the horizon are measured. — Ed. 



"^ fj&- Perhaps the Persian word khdneh, place, house, division, or khand 

 from the Sanskrit ?p$ part, division. --Ed. 



