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.
[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
vre est mout estroit entre la montagne et la mer."]
"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!"'
"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."
The story alluded to by Polo is found in the mediaeval romances of
Alexander, and in the Pseudo-Callisthenes on which they are founded. The
hero chases a number of impure cannibal nations within a mountain barrier,
and prays that they may be shut up therein. The mountains draw together
within a few cubits, and Alexander then builds up the gorge and closes it
with gates of brass or iron. There were in all twenty-two nations with
their kings, and the names of the nations were Goth, Magoth, Anugi, Eges,
Exenach, etc. Godfrey of Viterbo speaks of them in his rhyming verses: -
"Finibus Indorum species fuit una virorum;
Goth erat atque Magoth dictum cognomen eorum
* * * * *
Narrat Esias, Isidorus et Apocalypsis,
Tangit et in titulis Magna Sibylla suis.
Patribus ipsorum tumulus fuit venter eorum," etc.
Among the questions that the Jews are said to have put, in order to test
Mahommed's prophetic character, was one series: "Who are Gog and Magog?
Where do they dwell? What sort of rampart did Zu'lkarnain build between
them and men?" And in the Koran we find (ch. xviii. The Cavern): "They
will question thee, O Mahommed, regarding Zu'lkarnain. Reply: I will tell
you his history" - and then follows the story of the erection of the
Rampart of Yajuj and Majuj. In ch.
