of Persia went forth against the Jews that
lived in the mountain; and they sent to the Head of the Captivity to
come to their assistance and to appease the king. He was eventually
appeased by a gift of 100 talents of gold, which they gave him, and
the land was at peace thereafter[159].

From this mountain it is a journey of twenty days to Hamadan, which is
the great city of Media, where there are 30,000 Israelites. In front
of a certain synagogue, there are buried Mordecai an Esther[160].

[p.82]

From thence (Hamadan[161]) it takes four days to Tabaristan, which is
situated on the river Gozan. Some [four] thousand Jews live
there[162]. Thence it is seven days to Ispahan the great city and the
royal residence. It is twelve miles in circumference, and about 15,000
Israelites reside there[163]. The Chief Rabbi is Sar Shalom, who has
been appointed by the Head of the Captivity to have jurisdiction over
all the Rabbis that are in the kingdom of Persia. Four days onward is
Shiraz, which is the city of Fars, and 10,000 Jews live there[164].
Thence it is seven days to Ghaznah the great city on the river Gozan,
where there are about 80,000 Israelites[165]. It is a city of
commercial importance; people of all countries and tongues come
thither with their wares. The land is extensive.

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.

[p.83]

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. And there are men of Israel in the
land of Persia who say that in the mountains of Naisabur four of the
tribes of Israel dwell, namely, the tribe of Dan, the tribe of
Zebulun, the tribe of Asher, and the tribe of Naphtali, who were
included in the first captivity of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, as it
is written (2 Kings xviii. 11): "And he put them in Halah and in Habor
by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes[166]."

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. And they s