'Tis they who have bestowed on Samarkand the name of Shamr,
And who have transported thither the Tibetans" (Al-Tubbatīna).[[267]]
Mas'ūdī, i. 352.
c. 976.—"From the sea to Tibet is 4 months' journey, and from the sea of Fārs to the country of Kanauj is 3 months' journey."—Ibn Haukal, in Elliot, i. 33.
c. 1020.—"Bhútesar is the first city on the borders of Tibet. There the language, costume, and appearance of the people are different. Thence to the top of the highest mountain, of which we spoke ... is a distance of 20 parasangs. From the top of it Tibet looks red and Hind black."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 57.
1075.—"Τοῦ μόσχου, διάφορα εἴδη εἰσίν· ὦν ὁ κρείττων γίνεται ἐν πόλει τινὶ πολὺ τοῦ Χοράση ἀνατολικοτερα, λεγομένη Τουπάτα· ἔστι δὲ τὴν χροιὰν ὑπόξανθον· τοῦτου δὲ ἧπτον ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰνδιάς μετακομιζόμενος· ῥέπει δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ μελάντερον· καὶ τούτου πάλιν ὑποδεέστερος ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν Σίνων ἀγόμενος· πάντες δε ἐν ὀμφαλῷ ἀπογεννῶνται ζώου τινὸς μονοκέρωτος μέγιστου ὁμοιόυ δορκάδος."—Symeon Seth, quoted by Bochart, Hieroz. III. xxvi.
1165.—"This prince is called in Arabic Sultan-al-Fars-al-Kábar ... and his empire extends from the banks of the Shat-al-Arab to the City of Samarkand ... and reaches as far as Thibet, in the forests of which country that quadruped is found which yields the musk."—Rabbi Benjamin, in Wright's Early Travels, 106.
c. 1200.—
"He went from Hindustan to the Tibat-land....
From Tibat he entered the boundaries of Chīn."