1 837.] and the Altars of Alexander. 59 



opposite their fort, which was not very high or difficult of access ; this 

 they had fortified with a triple row of chariots and waggons, placing 

 their tents in the middle. Alexander successively stormed the 

 barriers of wheeled carriages, and the Kathaei sought refuge within 

 the walls of their fortress. Around this he then drew an intrench- 

 ment, except at the point where the lake intervened, the bank of which 

 he secured by lines of waggons he had captured, and there stationed 

 a strong division of troops under Ptolemy to intercept the flight of 

 the garrison, which he naturally concluded, when driven to extremi- 

 ty, would attempt to escape that way — the depth of water, in what 

 Arrian calls a lake (or it may be his translator) being, as he himself 

 assures us, inconsiderable. Alexander having completed his line of 

 circumvallation and other precautionary measures, advanced his 

 engines to the assault of the walls. The terrified garrison, as antici- 

 pated, by night attempted to pass the lake ; their progress was inter- 

 cepted, and they were driven back with immense slaughter. The 

 operations of the siege continuing, the towers of the fort were over- 

 thrown by mines, and it was finally carried by assault. 



In the present Hurreepah we are able to recognize every feature 

 which Arrian so distinctly points out — the fort built of brick, the lake, 

 or rather swamp of water, and the eminence or mound opposite the 

 fort — this last is wonderfully convenient for the mode of defence 

 the Kathsei adopted, from the gentle slope of its sides. Moreover, 

 a trench still exists between the mound and the fort and parallel there- 

 to, which may plausibly enough be ascribed to the line of circumval- 

 lation raised by the Macedonian engineers. 



"With respect to the present fort, however ancient it may be, it is 

 not of course the identical one that was besieged by Alexander, 

 and which Arrian informs us was razed to the ground — but in all 

 probability it occupies the precise site, and may be built with the 

 materials of the one sacrificed to Grecian resentment. 



It is necessary to state with regard to Hurreepah, that native tra- 

 dition assigns to the spot the commencement of a large city, which 



extended as far as Chichee Wutnee, twelve coss southward the 



period of its existence so remote, that it is not known whether the 

 Hindu or Muhammedan religion was then professed — and that it was 

 destroyed by an immediate visitation of Divine anger, excited by the 

 crimes of the sovereign, who appropriated to himself the wives of his 

 subjects. The eminence, so often noted, is covered with fragments 

 of bricks and earthen-ware, as is the entire neighborhood of the 

 place. Accident prevented me from observing if any remains of 

 buildings were discernible in the next march we made to Chichee 

 i 2 



