453 
ing on board; no pilot but fuch’ as 
they might cafually pick up on their 
courfe; no certainty that this fea 
was ever navigated before, or even 
navigable; and no refources fuch as 
the moderns have, without number, 
in their arms, their inftruments, 
their experience, and the accumu- 
lated acquifitions of knowledge, 
whether practical or theoretical. 
Under all thefe difadvantages, if 
the object was attained, and the 
voyage completed, it is not the 
led@zth of the courfe that ought to 
raife the name of Columbus higher 
than that of Nearchus; the confe- 
quences derived from the difcove- 
ries of both are equally important, 
and the commerce with the Eaft 
Indies upon a level with that of 
America: but’ if the communica- 
tion fixed at Alexandria is the ori- 
gin of the Portuguefe difcoveries, 
and the circumnavigation of Africa, 
Nearchus is in fact the primary au- 
thor of difcovery in general, and 
the mafter both of Gama and Co- 
lumbus. 
There is one extraordinary cir- 
cumftance attending this expedi- 
tion, which is, that we find no men- 
tion of mutiny or difeafe among 
the people. The former would be 
naturally checked by their fituation, 
for they had no fecond hope if they 
failed in the execution of their en- 
terprife, and no chance of preferva- 
tion but by obedience to their com- 
mander; the latter was lefs likely 
to occur, from the circumftances 
peculiar to the navigation; and the 
maladies arifing from famine or bad 
provifions, appear not to have had 
fufficient time to exhibit their worft 
effects. As far as can be collected 
from the journal, they were never 
without fhell-fith till within a few 
ays of their arrival; and {corbutic 
ANNUALCREGISTER, 
1797¢ 
diforders, which are the fcourge of 
the mariner in the protra¢ted voy- 
ages of the moderns, are never no- 
ticed by the antients. The proxi- 
mity of land, the frequency of fleep- 
ing on fhore, and the properties of 
their veffels, which were not deck- 
ed, feem to have operated to the 
exclufion of a difeafe, which two 
hundred years experience is only 
now teaching modern navigators to 
combat; and this experience no- 
thing but the perfevering difcipline 
of Cook could have reduced to 
practice. 
It is not apparent that the paffage 
from the Indus to the Gulph of 
Perfia had ever been performed by 
the natives; for however great the 
commerce on that river was, and 
however extended, its progrefs na- 
turally bent towards the coaft of Ma- 
labar and the peninfula. The na- 
tives there were all Indians; while 
on the weit, the name terminated at 
the Arabis, and all Indian manners 
with the boundary of the Oritz at 
Malana. This appears to me a proof 
that no commerce from the Indus 
was carried farther by the Indians; 
the other natives, whether Oritz or 
Iéhyophagi, had no embarkations 
even for fifhing; and the Perfians 
were never navigators. If any vef- 
fels, therefore, vifited thefe coafts 
even in’ that early age, they were 
probably Arabian; but of this 
there can be no fatisfaétory evi- 
dence. That fomething paffed up- 
on the fea, and in all appearance 
from port to port, thefe feems to 
be ground for fuppofing ; for Hy- 
drakes could not have been worthy 
of employment ‘without fome fort 
of experience; and there is a fha- 
dow of evidence that the pirates to 
eaftward .of the Indus, who have 
been pirates in alt ages, accidentally 
vifited 
