Chap. 17.] ACCOUKT or COTJlfTEIES, ETC. 29 



twenty-eight miles in extent. This narrow pass, too, is ren- 

 dered still more difficult by a liquid salt which oozes from the 

 rooks, and uniting in a single stream, makes its way along the 

 pass. Besides this, it is frequented by such multitudes of 

 serpents, that the passage is quite impracticable except in 

 winter. 



(15.) Joining up to Adiabene are the people formerly known 

 as the 'Carduchi,' now the Cordueni,*' in J^ont of whom the 

 river Tigris flows : and next, to them are the Pratitas, entitled 

 the Par Odon,*^ who hold possession of the Caspian Gates." 

 On the other side*" of these gates we come to the deserts"' of 

 Parthia and the mountain chain of Cithenus ; and after that, 

 the most pleasant locality of all Parthia, Choara^' by name. 

 Here were two cities of the Parthians, built in former times for 

 their protection against the people of Media, CaUiope,'' and 

 Issatis, the last of which stood formerly^* on a rock. ' Heca- 

 tompylos,'* the capital of Parthia, is distant from the Caspian 

 Gates one himdred and thirty-three miles. In such an effectual 

 manner is the kingdom of Parthia shut out by these passes. 

 After leaving these gates we find the nation of the Caspii, ex- 

 tending as far as the shores of the Caspian, a race which has 

 given its name to these gates as well as to the sea : on the left 



I 



*' Ttis was the name of the wild tribes which occupied the high moun- 

 tainous district between the great upland of Persia and the low plains of 

 Mesopotamia. In addition to the name mentioned by Pliny, they were 

 called Gordyae, Cardaces, and Curtii. The present Kurds, inhabiting Kur- 

 distan, are supposed to be descended from them. 



** The Greek Trap' bSbv, " on the road" — meaning, probably, to the 

 Caspian Gates. Haidouin says that the Pratitse were so called from the 

 Greek irparlrai, '' merchants." 



*' Although dwelling at a considerable distance, the custody of these 

 gates was delivered to them, Hardouin says, by the kings of Media. 



" To the south-east of them. 



" Meiltioned in c. 29 of the present Book. 



'* Or ChoUrene. 



^^ Its site is unknown ; but it is mentioned by Appian as one of the 

 many towns erected by Seleucus. 



" By the use of the word " quondam,"^ he implies that in his time it 

 was in ruins. 



^ A place of considerable importance, which seems to have derived its 

 name from its " hundred gates. It was one of the capitals of the Ar- 

 sacidan princes ; but, extensive though it may have been, there is great 

 doubt where it was situate, the distance recorded by ancient writers not 

 corresponding with any known ruins. 



