CHAP. II.
TO THE EAST OF PERSIA.
31
tribute imposed by Darius. These satrapiescomprehended the whole of that part of Asia which is to the eastward of the Tigris , and, ex-tending along the border of the Caspian sea ,contains within its boundaries Persia, Siberia ,Tartary, and whatever was known to the Per-sians in the days of Darius of Thibet, China , andIndia beyond the Ganges . They are now knownto contain veins of the precious metals, some fewof which still yield gold and silver, but whichwere worked to a greater extent in former ages.Herodotus 1 particularly notices those people asemployed in searching for gold who live in thecountry of Pactijica, near the sources of theIndus, and who are said by him to resemble theBactrians. This district, fertile in gold, is onthe eastern border of Great Bactriana, where thechain of the Taurus mountains divides into tworanges, which almost surround Little Bactrianaan d the desert steppes of Cobbi. The riverswhich descend from these mountains give suffi-cient evidence by their washings that gold wasa bundant, some of which was procured partlyfrom washing the sand, more by digging, butftiost by a fabulous mode of procuring it, whichma y at least be amusing to relate 2 , though itma y not obtain much credit, even when sanc-
1 Herodot . b. iii cap. 102, and Abulgasi, Hist, des Tartares,P- 388.