V.] PEOPLES BEYOND SCYTHIA. 8/
hair1, which characteristics seem to suggest that they belonged
either to a Germanic or a Slavonic stock. Among and Geloni
them the Geloni were settled, but these were quite
distinct from them in their mode of life, for they dwelt in a city,
and their occupations were agricultural. The historian adds, that
they were by origin Greeks, having migrated thither from one of
the Greek settlements, and that they had set up Greek temples and
altars, and spoke a mixed dialect of Greek and Scythian. It would
not be difficult to find similar instances of civilised communities,
when isolated, falling away into a state of semi-barbarism.
Of the lands to the northward of these races Herodotus could
learn nothing, but this was not the case with those
that lay to the north-east The reason of this is to
be found in the existence of a trade-route, by means
of which there was communication between the Greek settlements
in the neighbourhood of the Maeotis and the tribes far away in
the interior to the northward of the Caspian. The article of
commerce was gold, of which, he tells us, a very Qold of the
large quantity existed in the north of Europe8; and Ural Moun-
the place from which it came was no doubt the
Ural mountains, which are at the present day the great gold-field
of Russia. These he describes as a lofty chain, which formed the
limit of the habitable world in that direction3, and the gold that
was found there was fabled to be guarded by griffins4. That this
precious metal was brought thence to the coast is proved by
the abundance of it that has been discovered in the Scythian
tombs.; Two of the tribes that inhabited that distant
region, the Argippaei and the Issedones, deserve
especial notice. The former of these, who dwelt close
under the southern side of the mountains just mentioned, to judge
from the description of their peculiar physiognomy—their flat
noses, projecting jawbones, and bald heads—appear to have been
Kalmucks, though the baldness in reality only applies to the
sacerdotal caste of that tribe; and this view is confirmed by the
description given by Herodotus of their principal article of food,
1 4.108,109. a 3.116.
•4.25. 4 3.116; 4.37.