_ 132 _ Item: The River Euphrates rises in the mountains of [Mingol] in Greater or Upper Armenia, where are also the sources of the Tigris and the Araks which have already been mentioned. It rises at forty-two-and-a-half degrees near the land of the Georgians and flows westwards to a castle called [Palli], and from there for a day and a half’s journey to another called [Pirteo]. From there, [it flows] two more days’ journey to the city of Malatya, and to Shungonah and Rum Kaleh and on to Biruek. This is the city already mentioned. From here it flows with many bends and curves, through many places, to [a point] a day’s journey from Baghdad, and from there in another direction at a distance from the Tigris and without joining it. The Tigris flows past Baghdad as already mentioned. Below Baghdad, it flows through many places peopled by dark-skinned Moors, who speak Arabic and are Arabs, and joins the Tigris a day’s journey before Basra. From there, both rivers flow until they empty into an arm of the sea. Here, there is an estuary which goes to Basra, which is two leagues from the mainstream of the two rivers. The Euphrates at the point where we crossed it is a musket-shot wide and half a lance’s length in depth. In other places it is narrower, and in February and March it floods and becomes broader.
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