69v-70r

Frison, Tigris, Euphrates

The Frison^{1Pishon (Bibl)} is another one, way to the east,
that flows from the mountains of Persia to India.
Towards the south runs the third one,
the Tigris River, which makes its way
through Assyria ^{2lit. "the Assyrians"} and goes very quickly [>>>e va molto repente].
The Euphrates, the fourth, sends^{3[>>> sommersa]} its
waters below into caverns which then reemerge.
Both of them [the Tigris and Euphrates] flow to the south.

These two flow down out of the Armenian mountains
where [Noah's] ark landed^{4Mount Ararat} after the flood.
All three take long routes
until each one encounters the Indian Sea.^{5Probably the entire Indian Ocean region including the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.}
This sea seems to stretch out its shores,
with the Ocean becoming narrower
past Arabia and up near Sinai,
then [again] over to the west close to Basra and Chessi.^{6Dati seems to be referring to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf as two narrow extensions of the Indian Ocean. Chessi is labeled on the Catalan Atlas, on the northeast shore of the Persian Gulf—so not a misspelling—but so far unidentified.}

Many spices arrive here^{7 Probably referring to the ports of Basra and Chessi.}
from India and Ethiopia; people
come for them when they do not have them
to take them to the west.
An incredible abundance [of spices] come here
by caravan, and after that
they send camels grouped together in great herds
to carry them to Damascus and Alexandria.

[Fol. 70r:]

From the southeast stretches up an arm of the deep sea
which is called the Red [Sea] from the color of its depths.
It goes on for 100 miles or more,
long and stretched out like a trench;
it twists in an arc and finally comes
to an end at a hill
about three days away from Cairo in Babylon^{1"Cairo de Babilonia" was a contemporary term for Cairo, Egypt, to distinguish it from several other Cairos in Europe},
where Pharaoh kept his granaries.

In the northern part of Asia Major^{1as opposed to Asia Minor, this refers to the area north and east of the Black Sea},
there are Tartars in the cold regions,
a brutish people in both laws and food.
As far as the waves of the Caspian Sea^{2Known at the time as the "Mar di Bachu", from the city of Baku on its shores.} resound,
a great river^{*The Volga River.} spreads across this land,
which is the joining of two tributaries, the Ile and the Tiro;^{3Discussed here in the context of Russian geography: http://archtat.ru/content/uploads/2020/02/p1-310_Tezisy_FD_Edit_sait-of-17.10.2016.pdf}
most of the time it is frozen by the cold.
The great city of Sarai is located there.

The aforementioned river flows into a great basin
of salt water^{*The Caspian Sea.}, enclosed on every side,
whose circumference is more or less
the same as the circumference of the Black Sea.
From one sea to the other, there is a path
that takes eight days or so from one end to another,
going directly east; this entire region
is named after the city of Baku.