[p.81]

Then there arose a king of the name of Sin-ed-din, the king of the Togarmim, and a vassal of the king of Persia, who sent to the father-in-law of David Alroy, and gave him a bribe of 10,000 gold pieces to slay Alroy in secret[158].  So he went to Alroy’s house, and slew him whilst he was asleep on his bed.  Thus were his plans frustrated.  Then the king 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 sow and reap and go forth to war as far as the land of Cush by way of the desert[167].  They are in league with the Kofar-al-Turak, who worship the wind and live in the wilderness, and who do not eat bread, nor drink wine, but live on raw uncooked meat.