140 Sketch of the Route and Progress of [April, 



K Our entertainment might be compared to those splendid feasts 

 " described in the Arabian Nights ; we were transported into a little 

 Ci paradise of pleasure ; the Maharaj himself tasted, in more senses than 

 u one, of the intoxication of the scene, and ere morning most of his 

 a chieftains and guests were ' hors de combat.'" 



Having procured letters of introduction to the several chiefs who 

 occupy the west bank of the Indus, and provided themselves with 

 hundis to an ample amount on the kotis of Peshawur and Kabul, 

 the travellers left Lahore about the beginning of March. In their pro- 

 gress towards the Indus, they visited the great salt range which stretches 

 between the Indus to the Jelum, and made a considerable deviation 

 from the straight road to visit Dddan Khan, where some of the chief 

 excavations of the article exist*. 



While on the banks of the Jelum, they were much struck by the im- 

 mense size of the firs floated down the river ; the houses in all the towns 

 along its banks are roofed therewith. Immense cedar trees were seen 

 rolled down from the hills; it was these that supplied materials for Alex- 

 ander's fleet : one tree measured thirteen feet in girth, which may 

 afford some idea of their applicability to ship-building. 



From Dddan Khan they went to Darapur on the Jelum, but not- 

 withstanding a very active search they failed to discover the remains or 

 site of the city of Bucephalus, founded by Alexander, in honor of his fa- 

 mous charger. The celebrated fortress of Rotas, is situated a short dis- 

 tance to the west of the town and river of Jelum, near a broad sandy 

 stream, which contains little water. This fortification was built by the 

 well known Patan emperor Sher Shah, who expelled Hamayun, the son 

 of Baber Shah, from the throne of Delhi. 



Lieutenant Burnes and Dr. Gerard halted one day to look at this 

 noble fortress, but they deem it, " with all its formidable extent, a 

 piece of stupendous folly." 



The next place of interest the travellers visited, was the tope of 

 Manikydla, the history of which ancient structure still remains a pro- 

 blem. They obtained many coins with devices apparently Grecian, 

 from the peasants of the neighbourhood t. Dr. Gerard observes, that 

 although the probable inference is, that from " any of the memorials 

 which have been discovered, the tope marks the site of the town 

 of Taxilla, the appearance of the building does not accord with so great 



* An account of theseminesby Lieut. Burnes will be found in the present number. 



f Three of these coins, and impressions of one more and of two ancient 

 gems, have reached us, which in addition to the coins discovered by Colonel Ven- 

 tura, are now under investigation.— Ed. 



