3^ ' f f 
Chap. 12.] ACCOUNT OE OOUNTEIES, ETC. 21 
. chain. The chief cities are Cabalaca/^ in Albania, Harmastis,®^ 
near a river^^ of Iberia, and I^^eoris ; there is the region also 
of Thasie, and that of Triare, extending as far as the moun- 
tains known as the Paryadres. Beyond these®^ are the deserts 
of Colchios, on the side of which that looks towards the Ce- 
raunian Mountains dwell the Armenochalybes ;^ and there is 
the country of the Moschi, extending to the river Iberus, 
which flows into the Cyrus ; below them are the Sacassani, 
and after them the Macrones, upon the river Absarus. Such 
is the manner in which the plains and low country are par- 
celled out. Again, after passing the confines of Albania, the 
wild tribes of the Silvi inhabit the face of the mountains, 
below them those of the Lubieni, and after them the Diduri 
and the Sodii. 
CHAP. 12. (11.) — THE PASSES OF THE CATJCASIJS. 
After passing the last, we come to the Gates of Caucasus,^* 
by many persons most erroneously called the Caspian Passes ; 
a vast work of nature, which has suddenly wrenched asunder 
in this place a chain of mountains. At this spot are gates 
barred up with beams shod with iron, while beneath the 
middle there runs a stream which emits a most fetid odour ; 
on this side of it is a rock, defended by a fortress, the name of 
which is Cumania,^^ erected for the purpose of preventing the^ 
* passage of the innumerable tribes that lie beyond. Here, then, 
we may see the habitable world severed into two parts by a pair 
^0 Now called Kablas-Var, according to Parisot. 
'1 Parisot says that this can be no other than Harmoza on the river 
Cyrus, in the vicinity of the modern Akhalzik. 
92 Probably meaning *' of the same name." 
S3 To the west. 
9* " The Armenian workers in iron," or Chalyhes of Armenia." See p. 9. 
55 There are two chief passes over the chain of the Caucasus, both of 
which were known to the ancients. The first is between the eastern 
extremity of its chief north-eastern spur and the Caspian sea, near the 
modern Derbend. This was called Albanise," and sometimes, " Caspiae 
Pylae," the "Albanian" or "Caspian Gates." The other, which was 
nearly in the centre of the Caspian range, was called "Caucasiae" or 
" Sarmaticae Pylae," being the same as the modern pass of Dariyel, and 
probably the one here referred to. 
Probably the same as the present fortress of Dariyel. 
t 
