V.] GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA. 89
thus communicated to us can be checked by a comparison with
the list of tribes that furnished contingents to the army of Xerxes
which is contained in the seventh book1; and additional light has
been thrown upon them by various monuments that have been
discovered in modem times, especially by the famous Behistun
inscription of Darius—the same which has furnished us with the
key for interpreting the cuneiform writing. But Scanty
from the nature of the case these documents con- Notices of the
tributed little to the knowledge of geography, and tognp y'
this deficiency is reflected in Herodotus' narrative. We have
already seen how rude was his conception of the conformation of
this part of the continent in his description of the Actae, or tracts,
into which he divided it. In the latter of these tracts it is hardly
surprising that he shews a very limited acquaintance with Arabia,
which was comprehended within it, because that land, as we have
said, did not form part of the Persian empire, and has at all
times opposed great obstacles in the way of travellers. But in
the former, which comprised Asia Minor, it is
remarkable that he should so greatly underestimate
the width of the country between the northern and
the southern coasts, for he speaks of it as being five days' journey
for a good walker8, whereas it is in reality about 300 miles across
in a direct line. He also shews no knowledge of the strongly
marked physical characteristics of that land, and especially of the
elevated table-land in its interior, with its severe climate in
winter and its sparse vegetation—features which in every age
have greatly affected its history. Still more strange
,..,.. - , , . Ignorance of
than this is his ignorance of the mountain chains the Mountain
of Asia, for the Caucasus is the only one of these Cham8p
that he mentions. Even the Taurus—which to subsequent geo-
graphers became the most important of all ranges, and was made
1 to include the Himalaya and other chains by which Asia is
intersected—is not named in his writings. With the
rivers, however, especially those which were crossed
,by the main line of communication between the
Aegean and Persia, he shews an adequate acquaintance.] He
. , „ ,,s—J
1 7. 61 foil. * i. 72.