NKARCHUi 



NECKER, JAMEP. 



Karbi* ; and tbener, after doubling a high rooky promontory, which 

 projected nine mile* into the tea, and which is probably the modem 

 Cap* PawMOoe, they reached a tuff harbour, called Mosarna, which 

 miwt be looked for a little to the west of this ca|*. 



At Mosarna Xearchus found a pilot, who undertook to conduct the 

 Bert to the Fenian Gulf, and from thin time they sailed on t acli day 

 a much greater dintauce. From Moearna they proceeded iu succession 

 to Balomua, Barna, Dendroboaa (perhapi the Dendrobilla of Ptole- 

 nucuo, and Kophas, the petition of which places is uncertain, with 

 the exception of Kophaa, which in perhaps the same at the modem 

 Koppah. From Kopbu the fleet tailed round Cape Gwadel, and pro- 

 ceeded fifty uiilea to Kyisa, where they did not land, at the coast was 

 rocky and barren. On the following day they surprised a small town, 

 probably situated on Gutter Bay, and obtained some corn, which they 

 were Ktcutly in want of. They afterwards anchored at a cape in the. 

 m i^lil ourhood called Bageia : and thence proceeded about eighty-seven 

 milea in two days to Kanatit, a town in ruins, probably situated on 

 Cboubar Bay. From Kanatis Nearchus sailed twenty-four hours 

 without intermission to a desert coast, where be was obliged to anchor 

 at tome distance from the shore, as the distress of the people was now 

 risen to such a bright that, if he had suffered them to land, lie had 

 reason to suspect that they would not have returned on board. From 

 this place they proceeded, in great want of provisions, to Kanate 

 (Tauka), Troi, and Daguira, and at length reached Badis, a place on 

 the wesUm aide of Cape Jaak, which separated the country of the 

 Ichthyophagi and Kanuania. At Badis they found corn, vines, and 

 fruit-tree* of every kind except the olive, a town inhabited, and the 

 inhabitant* ready to relieve their wants. 



From Badia they proceeded fifty miles, and came to an anchor on an 

 open coast, opposite Cpe Maketa (lias Mussendon), from which point 

 Kearchua considered that the Persian Gulf commenced. From Badis 

 they proceeded forty-four miles, to Neoptaua (near Karroon), in the 

 IVnun Gulf. From Neoptana they sailed on the following day six 

 milea to the river Anamis (Ibrahim), at the mouth of which was a 

 town called Hannozeia, the name of which is still preserved iu the 

 celebrated island of Ormuz, in the neighbourhood. Near this place 

 Xearchus landed hi* men, and ordered the ships to be drawn on shore ; 

 and learning that Alexander was only distant a journey of five days, 

 he went with a few attendant* to his camp, nud was received by the 

 king with marks of the greatest honour and respect. At first Alex- 

 ander would hardly believe that tho fleet had arrived in the Persian 

 Gulf in safety ; and when he was assured by Xearchus of the fact, he 

 is reported to have said, ''By the Grecian Zeus und the Libyan Ammon, 

 I swear to yon that I am more happy in receiving this intelligence 

 than at being the conqueror of all Asia ; for I should have considered 

 the loas of my fleet, and the failure of this expedition, as a counter- 

 balance to all the glory I have acquired." So anxious was Alexander 

 to establish a commercial intercourse between India and the western 

 province* of his vast empire. 



After remaining a few days with Alexander, Nc.irchiia returned to 

 til* fleet, and act >ail again about tho beginning of the following year 

 (B.C. S2i). During the third day's sail, three of the ships grounded 

 during a storm on a shoal off the western coast of the island of Oaracta 

 (Kuhma) ; but they got off when the storm ceased, and joined the fleet 

 on the following day. The remainder of the fleet escaped the danger 

 by sailing to the touth-westward, and anchored at the islands called 

 at {'resent the Great and Little Tomb. On the following morning they 

 railed again to the mainland, leaving on their left the island Puloni 

 (1'olior), and after a sail of two or three days arrived at Kattca(Kaish, 

 Guas, or Kenn), a low desert island, opposite to which, according to 

 Nearchus, is the boundary of Persia and Kanuanin on the coast. 



From Katie* they proceeded along the coast of Ferris, anchoring 

 niccosively at Ilia, opposite the island of Kaikandros (Inderabia) ; 

 at Ochus, under a high mountain ; at Apostani (Shewar ?), where 

 they found many ships at anchor ; at a bay, probably the tamo as 

 the modern X abend, on tbu borders of which were many villages with 

 palm and other fruit-trees ; at Gogana (Congoon), situated at the mouth 

 of a mounUiu-stream called Anon; and at the river Sitacus, west of 

 tli* modern Has Khann, where Nearchus remained twenty-one days in 

 order to repair and refit several of his ships, during which time be 

 notived a large supply of corn from Alexander. About the Ut of 

 Fcbnury they tailed from the Sitacus to Hicratia (Khore), a place 

 w. 11 inhabited, and thence to Moambria, and anchored at the mouth 

 of a rirer called Padargoa. Arrian describes the whole of this country 

 as pcniosala, which correspond* most correctly with Aboushehr, 

 generally called Boshire, Thence they proceeded to Taoke, near the 

 month of the river Grants (Khi-ht), on which there waa said to be a 

 > alacc of tl.e I'ersun iing>, about 200 stadia up the country. Strabo 

 (xv. p. 729. Casanb.) alto menltont a Persian palace near the sea, 

 called Ok*, which apparently is a shortened form of Ta-oke. From 

 Taoke they proceed* I in incosnion to Khogonis (Bunder Height), to 

 I'.iixaiia, a winter tori en t, and to the river ArotU, called Oroatis by 

 . I'liny, and Ptolemtcus (' Tab.'), which, according to Arrian, 

 divided Penis from Kutiana. 



At the Amis they took In a supply of wat- r for five days, a* the 

 pilot* told them that no ban our could be gained without considerable 

 dangt-r, in conaeqaoic* of the number of shoals which extended from 

 the Und far out into the sea. The whole of the navigation along the 



ooaat of Susiana was attended with great difficulty and danger ; but 

 the fleet eventually passed through the shoals in safety, and sailed up 

 the river Positions (Karoon), when Xearchus joined Alexander and 

 his army, who were on their march from Persepolit to Susa, Vincent 

 supposes that the expedition was concluded on the 21th of February, 

 B.C. 325. 



After the death of Alexander, we find that Xearchus was governor 

 of Lycia and Pamphylia (Justin, xiii. 4), and that he attached himself 

 to the fortunes of Antigonus, whom he accompanied in several of his 

 expeditions. The time and manner of his death are unknown. He is 

 last mentioned as one of the generals selected by Antigonus iu B.C. 814 

 as advisers of his son Demetrius in his first military expedition. 



A very complete and interesting examination of the voyage of 

 Xearchus is given by Vincent in the first volume of ' The Commerce 

 and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean,' from which the 

 preceding account has been chiefly taken. 



XEBRUS, one of the family of the Asclepiadre, and the most 

 eminent physician of his day, lived in the island of Cos, about B.C. 5SO. 

 The Arnphictyous, having consulted the oracle of Delphi, in conse- 

 quence of the plague breaking out among their army while besieging 

 the town of Crissa iu Phocis, were directed to fetch from Cos " the 

 young of a stag, together with gold." Tliis was interpreted to mean 

 Nt-brus and his sou Chrysus [ce/3pi>i, in Greek, signifies 'a fawn,' and 

 Xpuffbf, 'gold'] who accordingly joined tho camp of the Amphic- 

 ty ons, where the former helped to reduce the town by poisoning the 

 water ; and the latter was the first person who mounted the wall at 

 the time of the general assault (Theagali ' Oralio ad Athen., apud 

 Hippocratis Opera.') For tho Cris&aean war see Strabo, ix. p. 418; 

 and Pausau, ' Phoc.,' 37, who attributes the poisoning of the water to 

 Solon. 



NECKER, JAMES, son of a profc.-sor of law at Geneva, was born 

 in 1734. He waa sent to Paris in his youth, and waa employed in the 

 house of Theluesou, the great banker, who, after a time, iu conse- 

 quence of his abilities and the services which he had rendered to the 

 house, took him into partnership. In the course of twelve or thirteen 

 years, Necker realised a very large fortune by various successful 

 speculations, and retired from business at forty years of age. lie- 

 now began to aspire to official situation-', and wrote several works on 

 financial affairs, which made him favourably known. He wrote con- 

 cerning the French East India Company, and also upon the corn-laws, 

 ' !Sur la Legi-httion <les Grains.' His ' Eloge de Colbert ' obtained a 

 prize from the French Academy. He afterwards wrote a memoir u, mi 

 the French finances, suggesting the means of making up tho deficiency 

 in the revenue, and forwarded it to the minister Maurcpas, the pre- 

 sident of the council of finances. The president, being delighted with 

 it, obtained for the author, from Louis XVI., after some hesitation on 

 account of Xecker being an alien and a Protestant, the appointment of 

 director of the treasury in 1776. This was a now office, and waa 

 created for the purpose of giving assistance to that of comptroller- 

 general, which was filled by the counsellor of state Tabourcau de 

 Klaus, a mild and unassuming man, who, feeling his inferiority to 

 Necker, resigned his place iu the following year. Necker waa 

 appointed director-general of finances in June 1777, but without a seat 

 in the council That was a critical period ; tho finances had been lung 

 in a state of gnat embarrassment, and the impending war with 

 England on account of the American colonies required a great increase 

 of expenditure. Necker, leing averse to imposing new taxes, endea- 

 voured to make up the deficiency by economy and loans. [Louis XVI.] 

 In 1781 he published his ' Compte Ileudu,' which disclosed for the l.r i 

 time the state of the revenue and expenditure of France, and made him 

 numerous enemies. 



In order to counteract their intrigues, Necker asked for a seat in 

 the council as a mark of the king's confidence, but this being refused 

 on the score of his religion, he tendered hi* resignation, which was 

 accepted, in May 1781. lie withdrew to Switzerland, where he pur- 

 chased an estate at Copet, on the banks of the Leuiau Lake, and hero 

 he wrote his work, ' Sur 1'Administration de* Finances,' 17S4. " Both 

 Xecker and his predecessor Turgot," says a contemporary writer, 

 " worked for tho public good, and both made war against abuses. But 

 Turgot had the disinterestedness of a philosopher and a philanthropist 

 who entirely forgot himself for the good of the state and of mankind. 

 Necker was disinterested, but only in money matters, for he was 

 tormented by the ambition of fame and popularity. Turgot had faith 

 in his principles ; Necker confided in himself. Turgot had fixed ideas 

 on legislation, and he wished to give a durable government to France ; 

 Necker combated only partial abuses, and appeared to have no settled 

 notions of the science of government. . . . Turgot wished to give 

 to the French a political and moral education; ho wished to foVtn 

 public opinion ; Xecker believed thai public opinion iu France was 

 very enlightened, and he bowed himself before it. Tho former spoke 

 to the people a* a legislator, the other as a courtier of the people." In 

 hit retreat however, after his second resignation, he altered his tone. 

 " Public opinion," he rays, in the preface to his work ' De 1' Adminis- 

 tration de SI. Necker, par Inl-meme,' 1791, " appears to me no longer 

 as it did once. The respect which I felt, for it has been weakened 

 since I have seen that opinion influenced by the arts of the wicked, 

 since I have seen it waver and tremble before men whom it ought to 

 have rightly estimated and marked with itu scorn and reprobation." 



