Derbend-nâmeh or the History of Derbend. 655 
äl, y) + PAIE ai} Jol * Es 1 Al-Haugkal (Ibnu-l-Haucal) who was one 
: | dr REC of the philosophers and travellers who lived 
hs Ce «s gaul] is EU GI if, au Lea) in the period of the reign of the dynasty of 
Abbas: says that he would not believe the 
relation of Mas’uodi in that respect, until he 
Eugl. miles, so that the Huns, or Khazars, having passed through it might directly proceed onward into the 
Roman territories. The same idea may be illustrated by a quotation from Georgian Chronicles inserted 
in the Voyage autour du Caucase by M. Dubois de Montpéreux (T. Il. p. 26); it indicates that besides the 
passage of Derbend the Scythians or the Khazars were also acquainted with the defile of Duriel, otherwise 
called Aragvi; and that through these two passes they did not cease to lead their numerous troops and as- 
sault the Thorgamosians, or aborigines of [beria who at last paid them tribute. 
Thus the pass of Darial. which in fact may be called the central pass of the Caucasus, being known as 
one of the two principal passages through which the Scythians, Huns, or Khazars made their irruptions 
we are led to ask the question: »was not the Tzér of Procopius, or the Soul of the Arabs, the same 
principal port of Dariel or ot Aragvi? I would not hesitate to say: yes. — The high ridges of mountains, at 
the very entrance to the very ceutre of Caucasus where the Terek takes its rise, and where rises the famous Cazbec, 
are diversified by many valleys, defiles and narrow passes, some of which continue their difficult and winding 
course, changing their names conformably to the chauge of regions, cantons and districts through or by which 
they run. — There are more than 50 defiles or narrow passages, each bearing its proper name, even at this 
time, about Dariel, all of which may be called the passes of Darial and whose entrance is known by the ge- 
neral name of the passage of Caucasus. Among these passes, or defles, are those of Xhev, Noacaû, Ukhat, 
Gudo-Shäûr, and Xoi-Shâûr; and farther to the South Ur-Shäûr (in Ossetia) and to the S.E. that of 
Khev-Sour. Can we not recognize the Teur, or Soul, in any of these Shaur’s or Sour? and can we not af- 
firm that the defile of Tzur, or Soul, was one and the same with the passage of the Caucasus, Dariel or 
Aragvi (the name of a river which takes its source in the southern parts of the mountain Sirkha-Khokh in 
Ossetia and, which after having received 27 small rivulets in its course, falls into the Æur on the very 
north of Tiflis)? Besides, the same Georgian Chronicles that point out two principal passages for the incur- 
sions of the Scythians, affirm that Mirvan (the eighth king from Pharnaväz) king of Georgia, defended the de- 
file of the Caucasus against the Æhazurs and Ossetes, and for that purpose built a fortress on the left and 
rocky shores of the Terek i. e. not far from the defile of Æhev (see OSospruie T. IL. p. 80) — In the vo- 
yage of Dubois it is said that this fortress was Derubal, or Dariel; see T. IL. p. 439). — Thus, then, the 
resemblance between Sour (in Æhev-Sour), Shaur (in Gudo and Xoi-Shaurs) and Shoar or Djoar (in Ur-Shoar or 
Ur-Djoar), which are at the same time the proper names of the tribes or families that inbabit the above mentioned 
quarters, — suggests the existence of a common stock to all of them: an able investigator may in the same stock 
find the origin of one of the eight hordes of Patzinaces, or Petchenegs, —. namely Tzur, vf which Constan- 
tine Porphyrogenitus speaks (Deguignes; Hist. Gén. des Huns T.IT, pag. 519.) some centuries later. 
As to the passages of Lézugk or Lazana, of Leyan-Shah and Iran-Shah, we have to make the following 
remarks: {) coucerning the first, as we have noticed above, I would not make any objection to the opivion 
of the learned D’Ohsson, if we were sure that the correct reading were 45,5 Y or a35 Ÿ, but since several 
MSS. give us a55Y and a JU) instead of 459 5 I doubt whether the first Arabian geographer, who used 
the word, did not mean the passage of Alazan which name is till now given to the pass or the defile of 
Barbala (the monntain in which the 4luzan takes its source), exactly in the same manner as the passage of Dariel 
is called by the name of the river Aragvi. — 9) In Leyan oLi oU with the change of the « into» (as 
* 
