From that mountain to Hamadan[243] is a journey of ten days; this was the metropolis of Media, and contains about fifty thousand Jews. In front of one of the synagogues is the sepulchre of Mordecai and Esther. Four days from thence stands Dabaristan[244], on the river Kizil Ozein; it contains about four thousand Jewish inhabitants. The city of Ispahan is distant seven days' journey; it is the metropolis of Persia, and residence of the king, being twelve miles in extent, and containing about fifteen thousand Jews. Sar Shalom, the rabbi of this city and of all other towns of the Persian empire, has been promoted to the dignity by the prince of the captivity.
Four days distant stands Shiraz, or Fars, a large city, containing about ten thousand Jews. It is seven days thence to Giva[245], a large city on the banks of the Oxus, containing about eight thousand Jews. Very extensive commerce is carried on in this place, to which traders of all countries and languages resort; the country about it is very flat. Five days from thence, on the frontiers of the kingdom, stands Samarkand, a city of considerable magnitude, which contains about fifty thousand Jews. The prince rabbi Obadiah is the governor of the community, which includes many wise and learned men. Four days from thence is the province of Tibet, in the forests of which country that beast is found which yields the musk. To the mountains of Khazvin, on the river Kizil Ozein, it is a journey of eight-and-twenty days. Jews of those parts, who live in Persia at present, report that the cities of Nisapour are inhabited by four tribes of Israel, viz., the tribe of Dan, that of Zebulon, and that of Naphthali, being part of the first exiles who were carried into captivity by Shalmaneser, king of Ashur, as reported in Scripture[246]. He banished them to Halah and Habor, the mountains of Gozan, and the mountains of Media. The extent of their country is twenty days' journey, and they possess many towns and cities in the mountains. The river Kizil Ozein forms their boundary on one side, and they are subject to no nation, but are governed by their own prince, who bears the name of rabbi Joseph Amarkhela Halevi[247]. Some of these Jews are excellent scholars; others carry on agriculture; and many of them are engaged in war with the country of Cuth, by way of the desert. They are in alliance with the Caphar Tarac, or infidel Turks[248], who adore the wind and live in the desert. This is a people who eat no bread and drink no wine, but devour the meat raw and quite unprepared; they have no noses, but draw breath through two small holes, and eat all sorts of meat, whether from clean or unclean beasts. They are on very friendly terms with the Jews.