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of Hephaestion, whom he now commanded to fortify them, and pre- 

 pare for the reception of his whole fleet till the time of navigating 

 the Persian Gulph should arrive. After issuing these orders, being 

 determined to explore the other great branch of the Indus, and see 

 if through it a more easy and secure passage to the ocean might not 

 be found, he sailed down the eastern current, denominated Nala- 

 Sunkra, in the modern geography of India, till he arrived at a 

 vast lake formed by the river itself and other confluent waters near 

 its mouth. Into a creek, or small bay, of this lake, the pilots were 

 ordered to steer the long galleys, and land Leonnatus with the greater 

 part of the forces, while the king himself, witli some biremes and 

 triremes, pressed forward with eagerness a second time to view the 

 great Indian Ocean. He found this passage more commodious 

 than the former, and, going on shore with a few battalions of 

 horse, into the country of Sangania, which from Alexander's to 

 Hamilton's time has been infamous for nourishing a brood of 

 pirates, he proceeded for three days along the coast in search 

 of some commodious bay for the security of his fleet from future 

 storms, and employed his soldiers in digging wells as they ad- 

 vanced, in order to open an easier communication through the desert 

 to Guzzurat*, and forward those commercial purposes, which, 

 wheresoever he moved, his conduct proved he had deeply at heart. 

 He then re-embarked, and, arriving at the part of the lake where 

 Leonnatus had landed, the station appearing to his discriminating 

 eye an important one, he ordered a dock-yard to be built, fixed a 

 sufficient garrison there for its defence, and left them provisioned for 



* Dr. Vincent, p. 155. Consult his subsequent judicious remarks on the grand political 

 projects of Alexander; for, of all his various historians and biographers, Plutarch and himself 

 have alone done full justice to his public character; though it would be absurd to deny that 

 his private one was obscured by infinite defects. 



