“‘At the point on the mountain, at the extremity of the fortress (of Derbend), where the double wall terminates, there begins a single wall constructed in the same style, only this no longer runs in a straight line, but accommodates itself to the contour of the hill, turning now to the north and now to the south. At first it is quite destroyed, and showed the most scanty vestiges, a few small heaps of stones or traces of towers, but all extending in a general bearing from east to west.... It is not till you get 4 versts from Derbend, in traversing the mountains, that you come upon a continuous wall. Thenceforward you can follow it over the successive ridges ... and through several villages chiefly occupied by the Tartar hill-people. The wall ... makes many windings, and every ¾ verst it exhibits substantial towers like those of the city-wall, crested with loop-holes. Some of these are still in tolerably good condition; others have fallen, and with the wall itself have left but slight vestiges.’ “Eichwald altogether followed it up about 18 versts (12 miles) not venturing to proceed further. In later days this cannot have been difficult, but my kind correspondent had not been able to lay his hand on information. “A letter from Mr. Eugene Schuyler communicates some notes regarding inscriptions that have been found at and near Derbend, embracing Cufic of A.D. 465, Pehlvi, and even Cuneiform. Alluding to the fact that the other _Iron-gate_, south of Shahrsabz, was called also _Kalugah_, or _Kohlugah_ he adds: ‘I don’t know what that means, nor do I know if the Russian Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, has anything to do with it, but I am told there is a Russian popular song, of which two lines run: ‘“Ah Derbend, Derbend Kaluga, Derbend my little Treasure!”’ [Illustration: View of Derbend. “=Alexandre ne poit paser quand il vost aler au Ponent ... car de l’un les est la mer, et de l’autre est gran montagne que ne se poent cavaucher. La vie est mout estroit entre la montagne et la mer.=”] “I may observe that I have seen it lately pointed out that _Koluga_ is a Mongol word signifying a _barrier_; and I see that Timkowski (I. 288) gives the same explanation of _Kalgan_, the name applied by Mongols and Russians to the gate in the Great Wall, called Chang-kia-Kau by the Chinese, leading to Kiakhta.”