4/8 Lassen on the History traced [No. 101, 



Eratosthenes, that the country is a square, and on this supposi- 

 tion he defines the place of the different nations. The Cabolita 

 live according to him, towards the north, namely in the valleys 

 of the Gurbend and Panjhir 5 the town Ortospana or Cabura 

 in the centre of the country (which is certainly identical with 

 the modern Cabul), supplies their name. The Aristophyli, 

 a Greek name, have their abode in a westerly direction towards 

 Aria 5 we must look for them below the Kohi-Baba. Further 

 down are seated the Pabii, or after another reading, the Parsii ; 

 the Ambauta, lastly, live in the east, and are therefore the neigh- 

 bours of the Lamghani ; this name has likewise turned out 

 useless, and we cannot draw any conclusion from it. 



It is strange, that Ptolemy does not mention the tributaries of 

 the Cabul river in this part of Cabulistan, it is said, at least he 

 does not; however, the river TwfipvaQ, into which another dis- 

 embogues, is probably the Gurbend, and the nameless river is 

 perhaps the Cabul itself, the Kophen of old, of which there is 

 made no mention. 



Of the names of towns, Cabura has been already touched 

 on ; traces of the town of Alexander have disappeared at this 

 place, and it is difficult to look for it under another name 

 among those that Ptolemy noticed ; but we shall still make 

 especial mention of one among them. Art oar tar recurs here, as 

 it were to show us the old seats of the Scythians, from which 

 they started for the Indus. It lies in a north westerly direc- 

 tion from Kabura, and just in the mountains, where the passes 

 lead from the sources of the Cabul river to Bamian. 



In the statement of Ptolemy it appears much more distinctly 

 than in those of the Macedonian period, that eastern and west- 

 ern Cabulistan were likewise, in a national point of view, se- 

 parated into two equal divisions, almost consentaneous with their 

 natural boundaries ; the western half belonged to that nation} 

 whose separate tribes are comprehended under the general name 

 of the Paropamisades ; the eastern is numbered with the Indians ; 

 but the plain at the lower part of the river is now under the 

 power of the Indo- Scythians, and perhaps only Nagara, and the 

 Gandarians give the appearance of independent Indian nationa- 

 lity. It is a great loss, that Ptolemy does not furnish us with 



