Chapter LXXVII

LXXVII. The Four Quarters of the World: the Seven Mountains, the Seven Rivers, &c . CHAPTER LXXVII. 1. And the first quarter is called the east, because it is the first: and the second, the south, because the Most High will descend there, yea, there in quite a special sense will He who is blessed for ever descend . 2. And the west quarter is named the diminished, because there all the luminaries of the heaven wane and go down. 3. And the fourth quarter , named the north, is divided into three parts: the first of them is for the dwelling of men: and the second contains seas of water, and the abysses and forests and rivers, and darkness and clouds; and the third part contains the garden of righteousness. p. 104 4. I saw seven high mountains, higher than all the mountains which are on the earth: and thence comes forth hoar-frost, and days, seasons, and years pass away. 5. I saw seven rivers on the earth larger than all the rivers: one of them coming from the west pours its waters into the Great Sea. 6. And these two come from the north to the sea and pour their waters into the Erythraean Sea in the east. 7. And the remaining four come forth on the side of the north to their own sea, 〈 two of them 〉 to the Erythraean Sea, and two into the Great Sea and discharge themselves there [ and some say: into the desert ] . 8. Seven great islands I saw in the sea and in the mainland: two in the mainland and five in the Great Sea.