330 Mr. Bell on thé growing power of Russia. 
sians, nor the Macedonians, nor the Romans, ever possessed it but 
in part. Beyond the coarlicr! slopes of the (Cancican their domi- 
nions never extended, and the mountaineers of that range always 
asserted and retained their rude and wild independence, and the 
nations of the south were in constant dread of the warlike Scy- 
thians, that wandered on the extensive plains at the base of the 
Caucasus, or who dwelt on its northern slopes. Great care was 
consequently t taken to occupy the passes of the Caucasus, in order 
to prevent those inroads, which were occasionally made by the no- 
madic tribes of Spores and Scythia, into the territories of the 
Byzantine sovereigns, or those of the Sassanian monarchs. At the 
commencement of the sixth century, the energetic and sagacious 
Cabades, the father of Khosrou Nushirwaun, * forcibly seized the 
Iberian Gate or Pass of Dariel, erected a fortr ess in the meuth of 
the strait, and maintained a garrison there ; and the emperor Jus- 
tinian was compelled, both by him and Haid successor Nushirwaun, 
to pay his quota of the expense incurred in the maintenance of this 
fortified pass. The maritime pass of Derbend, between Russia 
and the mountains, was also fortified by N ashirwaun, and a mag- 
nificent wall of 300 miles in length, and of great strength and ele- 
vation, was erected by him. It ran W.N. W. alongst the vallies 
and over the hills of the Caucasus, as far as the mountains which 
form the Albanie Porte. It was fortified with towers at proper 
distances, furnished with small garrisons, and over the whole a 
Persian satrap was appointed, whose dignity and high importance, 
as the commander of an extensive frontier were deffhed by the pri- 
vilege of sitting on a throne ef gold w ithin the walls of Derbend. 
The walls of fe city were double, running on both sides from the 
mountains to the sea, and had iron gates. iene it was denomi- 
nated Bab-al-abwab, or the gate of g ‘cates, and Demir-capi, or the 
iron gate. Tgnteans of this magnificent bulwark, worthy of the 
genius and power of Nushirwaun, are still to be seen in various 
parts of the mountains. It is very strange how Gibben could ima- 
gine that the fort of Dariel, erected by Cabades, could be designed 
by Alexander the Great, even though he has qualified the expres- 
sion with a perhaps, as ‘Ale exander never was there, nor ever heard 
of such a pass as the Iberian Gates, as the whole tract of his marches 
lay several hundred miles to the souh of Caucasus, and éven to the 
south of the Koordistaun mountains ; and it is equally strange that 
the foundation of Derbend should ever have been attnbuteee to Al- 
exander or his Grecian successors. 
On the subversion of the Sassanian dynasty, the passes fell into 
the hands of the natives, and the for eiaeicice of Derbend were 
allowed, by the indolent monarchs of the Suffavian dynasty, to go 
to ruin. But the whole of the Caucasus, and its stupendous passes, 
are now in the hands of a power w hice knows well how to appre- 
ciate the conquest and the possession; and a sovereign infinitely 
more powerful than the Scythian Madyes, or Oguz Kinw. will 
again inundate with his numerous cavalry, and disciplined legions, 
