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Thus "Kisil-Usun" means "Red River." Having regard to the passages 2 Kings xix. 12 and Isaiah xxxvii. 12, Nöldeke maintains that there was a tract of land watered by the river Gozan, known as Gozanitis, which Scripture refers to. See J. Q.R., vol. I, p. 186. Naisabur is a city near Meshed, and close to high mountains which are a continuation of the Elburz mountain range.
Thence it is five days to Samarkand, which is the great city on the confines of Persia. In it live some 50,000 Israelites, and R. Obadiah the Nasi is their appointed head. Among them are wise and very rich men. Thence it is four days' journey to Tibet, the country in whose forests the musk is found. Thence it takes twenty-eight days to the mountains of Naisabur by the river Gozan.
The extent of their land is twenty days' journey, and they have cities and large villages in the mountains; the river Gozan forms the boundary on the one side. They are not under the rule of the Gentiles, but they have a prince of their own, whose name is R. Joseph Amarkala the Levite. There are scholars among them.
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
The region south of the Khabour and the Sinjar he seems to regard as inhabited entirely by Arabs. Ptolemy has, in lieu of the Mygdonia of Strabo, a district which he calls Gauzanitis; and this name is on good grounds identified with the Gozan of Scripture, the true original probably of the "Mygdonia" of the Greeks.
Their country extends twenty days journey in length, all full of mountains, and having the river Gozan running on one side, with many inhabited cities, towns, and castles; and the inhabitants are entirely free, being governed by Joseph Amrael, a Levite, and among them are many disciples of the wise men.
Hewn stones were imported from the "land of the Amorites," limestone and alabaster from the Lebanon, gold-dust and acacia-wood from the desert to the south of Palestine, copper from northern Arabia, and various sorts of wood from the Armenian mountains. Other trees came from Dilmun in the Persian Gulf, from Gozan in Mesopotamia, and from Gubin, which is possibly Gebal.
The mountains of Nisbor, which are situated near the river Gozan, are about twenty-eight days journey from Thibet; and some of the Jews in Persia affirm, that the four tribes of Israel, carried away in the first captivity by Salmanazar, still inhabit the cities of Nisbor.
Four days journey from Ispahan is Siaphaz , the most ancient city of this country, formerly Persidis, whence the whole province is named, in which there are almost 10,000 Jews. From Siaphaz you come, in seven days journey, to the city of Ginah, near the river Gozan, where there are about 8000 Jews, and to this place merchants resort of all nations and languages.
Four days onward is Shiraz, which is the city of Fars, and 10,000 Jews live there . Thence it is seven days to Ghaznah the great city on the river Gozan, where there are about 80,000 Israelites . It is a city of commercial importance; people of all countries and tongues come thither with their wares. The land is extensive.
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