60 pliny's natural HISTOET. [Book VI 



longer on fish. Next after these the writers have placed ex- 

 tensive deserts, and then Carmania, Persia, and Arabia. 



CHAP. 26. VOYAGES TO INDIA. 



But before we enter into any details respecting these 

 countries, it will be as well to mention what Ouesicritus* 

 has stated, who commanded the fleet of Alexander, and sailec 

 from India*^ into the heart of Persia, and what has beer 

 more recently related by Juba ; after which I shall speak of the 

 route along these seas which has been discovered in later j-ears 

 and is followed at the present day. The journal of the voyage 

 of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names of the 

 stations, nor yet the distances set down in it ; and. first of all, 

 it is not sufficiently explained where Xylenepolis was, and 

 near what river, a place founded by Alexander, and from 

 which, upon setting out, they took their departure. Still, how- 

 ever, the following places are mentioned by them, which are 

 worthy of our notice. The town of Arbis, founded by IS^e- 

 archus on the occasion of this voyage; the river Xabrus,*' 

 navigable for vessels, and opposite to it an island, at a distance 

 of seventy stadia ; Alexandria, built by Leonnatus*^ by order 

 of Alexander in the territories of this people ; Argenus, with 

 a very convenient harbour ; the river Tonberos,*^ a navigable 

 stream, around whose banks are the Pasirae ; then come the Ich- 

 thyophagi, who extend over so large a tract of coast that it 

 took thirty days*^ to sail past their territorj' ; and an island 

 known by the names of the " Island of the Sun"^° and the '' Bed 



^* See the Notes at the end of this Book. 



*5 By descending the Indus, and going up the Persian Gulf. 



^^ Near the mouth of the Indus, Hardouin says. 



*' One of Alexander's most distinguished officers, and a native of Pella. 

 He commanded the division of cavalry and light-armed troops which ac- 

 companied the fleet of Alexander down the Indus, along the right bank of 

 the river. The Alexandria here mentioned does not appear to have been 

 identified. It is not to be confounded with Alexandria in Arachosia, nor 

 yet with a place of the same name in Carmania, the modern Kerman. 



*^ A river Tomerus is spoken of by Arrian as lying between the Indus- 

 and the river Arabis or Arbis. 



*^ They seem to have dwelt along the shores of the modern Mukran, 

 south of Beloochistan, and probably part of Kerman. 



^" Called Nosala by Arrian. Ansart suggests that it is tlie island now 

 known by the name of Sengadip. It lay probably off the promontory or 

 headland of the Sun, on the eastern coast of Arabia. 



