How to protect a traveler from the harm of various waters

Indeed, a traveler can get sick from various diseases more often from varied water than from varied food. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to this and take measures to correct the water. These measures include good filtration, thorough passing through porous earthenware and boiling. As we have already said, by boiling water is purified and the substance of pure water is separated from its impurities.

The most advanced of all these methods is to distill it by evaporation. Often a wick is made from wool, one end of it is lowered into a vessel filled with water, and the other end into another empty vessel, as a result, water will drip into the empty vessel. This is one of the best types of water filtration, especially if it is done several times. It’s the same thing if you boil bitter and bad water, throw clean clay and balls of wool into it, then take them out and squeeze them out, the squeezed water will be better water than the original.

The spoilage of water is eliminated by shaking it, adding pure clay that does not have bad properties, especially sun-burnt clay, and then straining.

Drinking water with wine also eliminates its depravity, if this depravity lies in its insufficient ability to be absorbed in the body.

When there is little water and you cannot find it, you need to drink it mixed with vinegar, especially in summer. Truly, this will save you from consuming it in large quantities.

Salt water should be drunk with vinegar or sikanjubin. You should also add sweet horns, myrtle and hawthorn berries to it. After alum astringent water, you should drink something that softens the nature. It is also useful to drink wine after it.

After bitter water, eat fatty and sweet foods; julab is also added to it.

Drinking water in which chickpeas were soaked before bitter water and similar drinks eliminates their harmfulness. Eating chickpeas also has this effect.

Along with the hot and rotten water of swampy places, you should not take food with a hot property, but you should eat tart fruits and vegetables with a cold property, such as quinces, apples and rhubarb.

Very cloudy water should be eaten with garlic. Yemeni alum is among those that purify such water. And onion is one of the means to eliminate the spoilage of various waters. Truly, it is teryak for her, especially the onion with vinegar; also garlic.

Lettuce is one of the things with cold properties. For persons meeting with different waters, a good measure is to take with them the water of their city and mix it with the water of the neighboring place; take the remaining water from each stop until the next stop and mix it with the water of the last one. You need to do this until you reach your destination.

You need to take the clay of your city with you and mix it with any water you come across, shake it up and then leave it until it is filtered.

You need to drink water through a feed to avoid accidentally swallowing leeches and indigestible bad impurities.

It is also good to carry sour condensed juices with you for mixing with various waters.