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Chiefly a pastoral people they tended, on foot or on horseback, their numerous herds in the luxuriant meadows of the modern Shirvan; their few tilled fields were still cultivated with the old wooden plough without iron share. Coined money was unknown, and they did not count beyond a hundred. Each of their tribes, twenty-six in all, had its own chief and spoke its distinct dialect.

Chiefly a pastoral people they tended, on foot or on horseback, their numerous herds in the luxuriant meadows of the modern Shirvan; their few tilled fields were still cultivated with the old wooden plough without iron share. Coined money was unknown, and they did not count beyond a hundred. Each of their tribes, twenty-six in all, had its own chief and spoke its distinct dialect.

But there are ruins of a town still existing on both sides of the Volga, which are now used for the purpose of making saltpetre. Forst. Schabran, or Schabiran. Shamaki, in Shirvan. The Karai, on which Tefflis or Tiblis stands, runs from the north-west; the Demur, Araz or Araxes from the west; and both united form the Kur, which runs directly south into the Caspian.

Their route lay through Strana , which produces good silk; then through Gursey, Gurghia, or Georgia, which is inhabited by Christians; after this, through the country of, Lahinsham , where silk is cultivated; and through Schurban, or Shirvan, where the silk is produced from which the silk stuffs of Damascus and Kaffer are made.

The administration of Rae, Derbend and a portion of Armenia was before now entrusted to Jamasp, a son of Peroz, who was succeeded by his son Narsi, while another son, Behvat, father of Surkhab became the ancestor of the kings of Shirvan who were known as Shirvan Shahs.

Sultania or Sultanie. The Caspian; so called in this place, from Baku or Baccou, a city on its banks, in the province of Shirvan. Oderic must have made a mistake here, as Casbin is not above seventy or eighty miles from Sultanie, and the journey of the caravans between these cities, could not have exceeded four or five days. Yezd, about 500 miles east from Ispahan.