582 Lieutenant Burnes’ Memoir on the 
he left Leonatus, and ‘¢ sailed with some biremes to a creek which his pilots directed 
him to, and through which he sailed into the ocean, and found the passage much easier 
and safer than the other.” From this circumstance he landed with a party of horse, 
and travelled three days along the coast to try if he could find bays or creeks to 
secure his fleet from storms, causing, as ARRIAN expressly says, ‘‘ wells to be dug to 
supply his navy with water.’ Surely, then, he must have travelled westward in the 
direction his fleet was to sail ; or of what utility would wells dug to the eastward have been 
to his navy, or bays and creeks in that direction? AtexaNper dreaded the dangers his fleet 
would have to encounter, but was not so ignorant of the direction in which they were to 
sail as to make such a mistake as to travel and dig wells to the eastward ;—indeed, ARRIAN 
says, in the 2lst chapter of his 6th Book, that when ArexANpeEr had proceeded as far 
westward on his return as the river Arabius, he turned towards the ocean “ that he might 
cause more wells to be dug for his fleet,” andcaused ‘* Leonatus to tarry there till the 
fleet should sail round these coasts,” from which second anxiety to secure water for his 
fleet it may be surely inferred, that his first journey along the coast, as well as his route 
home, were in one direction. 
It has been surmised that ALEXANDER would have had a most dificult march through 
the delta of the Indus, which was the direction of this route; but it is stated that when he 
first resolved to sail down to the ocean, he sent Lronatus, with a thousand horse and 
about eight thousand heavy and light-armed foot, through the island of Pdttdla, “that 
they might meet the fleet on the other side ;” and as Lronatus encountered no difficulty 
in passing through, it is not likely that Atexanper would experience any. Besides, he 
had his vessels with him, and as his march would be along the beach he could easily 
transport his cavalry across any rivers which intervened. 
To account for AvExanpER’s digging wells, Dr. Vincent has stated, (upon what 
authority I am not aware), but erroneously, that that part of Cutch which ALEXANDER 
would pass through is a desert, and that our later travellers mention the wells which 
make it passable, and that it was the route of the caravans from Guzerat to the 
Indus. From personal observation and inspection of this tract, I have to state, that 
it is by far the richest part of Cutch, and, instead of being a desert, is highly culti- 
vated and called the Adrdssa; besides, it was never the route of the caravans to the 
Indus, which led through the little desert north of the Runn of Cutch by Parcar, where 
the wells Dr. Vincent alludes to are to be found, and which he confuses with Cutch. 
That the above route has been always the frequented one between Guzerat and Sinde, 
must be obvious; for in selecting it the caravans avoided the Runn and the formidable 
mouths of the Indus, which, by pursuing the road through Cutch, they would encounter 
very low down, and find exceedingly difficult to cross. 
But allowing ALrxanper to have turned eastward, after passing down the eastern 
branch of the Indus below Pdétdlé, he would still be in Sinde, even if he marched three 
days eastward ; for the Lacpat branch of the Indus has no communication with the 
others but during the floods of the Indus; and the grand embouchure for the waters of 
the most eastern of the two branches below Tatta is Wanydni, which lies between the 
