12 illustration(s) from this book
Though the opinion before mentioned respecting the form of the earth
which we inhabit is that generally maintained by the Arabs, there have
been, and still are, many philosophical men among this people who have
argued that it is a globe, because, as El-Ḳazweenee says, an eclipse of
the moon has been observed to happen at different hours of the night in
eastern and western countries. Thus we find Ptolemy's measurement of the
earth quoted and explained by Ibn-El-Wardee:--The circumference of the
earth is 24,000 miles, or 8,000 leagues; the league being three miles;
the mile, 3,000 royal cubits; the cubit, three spans; the span, twelve
digits; the digit, five barley-corns placed side by side; and the width
of the barley-corn, six mule's-hairs. El-Maḳreezee also, among the more
intelligent Arabs, describes[17] the globular form of the earth, and its
arctic and antarctic regions, with their day of six months, and night of
six months, and their frozen waters, &c.