CHAP. 11. (10.)—ALBANIA, IBERIA, AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS. The whole plain which extends away from the river Cyrus is inhabited by the nation of the Albani,[184] and, after them,[185] by that of the Iberi,[186] who are separated from them by the river Alazon,[187] which flows into the Cyrus from the Caucasian chain. The chief cities are Cabalaca,[188] in Albania, Harmastis,[189] near a river[190] of Iberia, and Neoris; there is the region also of Thasie, and that of Triare, extending as far as the mountains known as the Paryadres. Beyond these[191] are the deserts of Colchios, on the side of which that looks towards the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Armenochalybes;[192] 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 parcelled 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 CAUCASUS. After passing the last, we come to the Gates of Caucasus,[193] 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,[194] 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 of gates; they are just opposite to Harmastis, a town of the Iberi. Beyond the Gates of Caucasus, in the Gordyæan Mountains, the Valli and the Suani, uncivilized tribes, are found; still, however, they work the mines of gold there. Beyond these nations, and extending as far away as Pontus, are numerous nations of the Heniochi, and, after them, of the Achæi. Such is the present state of one of the most famous tracts upon the face of the earth. Some writers have stated that the distance between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea is not more than three hundred and seventy-five miles; Cornelius Nepos makes it only two hundred and fifty. Within such straits is Asia pent up in this second instance[195] by the agency of the sea! Claudius Cæsar has informed us that from the Cimmerian Bosporus to the Caspian Sea is a distance of only one hundred and fifty[196] miles, and that Nicator Seleucus[197] contemplated cutting through this isthmus just at the time when he was slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus. It is a well-known fact that the distance from the Gates of Caucasus to the shores of the Euxine is two hundred miles. CHAP. 13. (12.)—THE ISLANDS OF THE EUXINE.