73r

[Book IV]

If we begin on the southern
shore of the sea ^{1Mediterranean Sea}, at the narrow mouth
where the channel is sixteen miles wide^2Gibraltar
with mountains and rocks on every side,
we find the city of Ceuta ^3Setta.
It is six days' travel to the northeast of Marrakesh ^{4Marrakesh is referred to, in the text, as 'manrocha' (i.e., Morocco), a term that applies to the region as well as the city; but here, the city is meant}.
And at the same distance from each,
midway between the two, is the great city of Fez.

Below Ceuta^{5That is, along the western coast of Africa beyond Gibraltar, which would be below Ceuta on a contemporary map oriented with east at the top.}, for maybe a thousand miles
along that shore, little is known:
going that way is seldom advised for anyone
either for pleasure or for profit.
There have already been some who, out of curiosity,
wished to travel further, but tragically
they and their companions ventured so far
that nothing was ever again known about their lives.

Along this thousand miles of coastline
to the southwest one finds first Arzilla^{6Asila, Morocco}
and then Laraccia^{7al-ʿArāʾish or Larache} quite nearby.
Salla^{8Salè, Rabat} then follows, which is a good town;
the river that borders it on one side
and springs from the Atlas mountains
passes through Fez. That takes a hundred fifty
miles, and it is the same distance from Ceuta.