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four times a year. It is first green and
then changes into blood red, then becomes more turbulent,
and finally it becomes clear, clean, and very fine,
so that everyone delights in seeing it but no one
dares to drink from it. And there is another fountain
that rises three times or four times a week, good and
wholesome, but the other days it does not rise but
rather remains completely dry. There is similarly
a quite large river that flows six days a week but
not on Saturday. For when Saturday approaches
it sinks back into the earth. Near the city of Acre
there is a kind of sand and sea gravel
that bond well when they are mixed together.
These two ingredients make good, clear glass.
In Egypt there is the Red Sea, which the children
of Israel passed through as though on dry land
to come to the Holy Land on the other side.
This sea takes its name for the land, for the land
is completely red at its source and all along its banks,
so that the water of this sea is completely red as well.
In Persia there is a long, large river that is so
narrow at night that people can cross it by foot, but by day