of 40,000 men southwards to Daghestan, partly by land, but chiefly by sea. The chain of the Caucasus terminates to the eastward at a place called Derbend, a word meaning a gate in a pass. It is so named because there existed at that spot a natural opening in which there was a gate in the famous wall which was built from sea to sea to prevent the ingress of the Scythian horsemen. This sea-washed fortress, which lies on the side of a beautiful hill that rises from the shore, might have been defended against all the power of the Czar; but the governor preferred, by a timely submission, to secure the protection of so redoubtable an enemy. Thus ended the first Persian campaign of Peter the Great, who returned in triumph to Moscow.
Mahmoud, the Affghan, fearing lest Shah Hussein should find in Peter a supporter capable of restoring the Shah's fallen power, endeavoured to induce the Ottoman Porte to declare war against Russia. In the last campaign in which the armies of these two nations had been pitted against each other, the advantage had remained with the troops of the Sultan. It was the campaign of the Pruth, in which the army of Peter had only been saved from utter destruction by the tact and coolness of Catherine. Turkey, in turn with Persia, claimed obedience and tribute from the petty kings who ruled the country lying between the Caucasus and the dominions of the two great Mussulman powers, and Mahmoud strove to excite the jealousy of the Porte at the interference of the Czar in the affairs of that region,—an interference which was justified by the expressed desire of Shah Hussein. The Turks saw the armies of Peter already in Daghestan, and, naturally fearing lest
