& Memoir on the Ancient Coins of Beg hr dm. [Jan. 



tribes of the Kohistdn, but would secure the allegiance of those abso- 

 lutely in rebellion or independence, as of Panjshir, Nijrow, Taghow, &c. 



It is impossible to cast a retrospective view over the regions of Afghd~ 

 nistdn and Turkistdn, to behold the cities still in existence, and the sites 

 of such as have yielded to the vicissitudes of fortune, which owe and 

 owed their foundation to Alexander the Great, without paying the 

 tribute of homage and admiration to his genius and foresight. Above 

 twenty centuries have elapsed, since the hero of Macedon marched in 

 his triumphant career from the shores of the Bosphorus to the banks of 

 the Hyphasis, subjecting the intermediate nations, but rendering his 

 conquests legitimate, by promoting the civilization and prosperity of 

 the vanquished. A premature death permitted not posterity to wonder 

 at the prodigy of an universal monarchy, which he alone of all mankind 

 seemed talented to have erected and maintained. No conqueror had 

 ever views so magnificent and enlightened, and none ever left behind 

 him so many evidences of his fame. Of the numerous cities which he 

 founded, many are at this day the capitals of the countries where they 

 are found ; and many of those no longer existing would assuredly be 

 revived, were these parts of Asia under a government desirous to effect 

 their amelioration. The selection of Mittun by the British Government 

 of India for their mart on the Indus, while the most eligible spot that 

 could have been chosen, was also a tribute of respect to the memory of 

 the illustrious Alexander ; for there can be no doubt that Mittun 

 indicates the site of the Alexandria that he founded at the junction of the 

 united streams of the Panjdb with the Indus, and which he predicted, from 

 the advantages of position, would become a large and flourishing city. 

 It may be that Mittun under British auspices may realize the prophecy 

 applied by the hero to his Alexandria. 



To return from this digression to the question of the site of Alexandria ad 

 Caucasum or ad calcem Caucasi, we can only refer it to two spots, Nildb in 

 Ghorband, and Beghrdm : I incline to prefer the latter, from the superiority 

 of its local advantages, and from the certainty of its having been a large 

 and flourishing city, as Alexandria is represented to have become. In favor 

 of Nildb may perhaps be adduced the itinerary of Diognetes and Boston^ 

 the surveying officers of Alexander, as preserved by Pliny. We there 

 find the measured distance from the capital of Arachosia to Ortospanum 

 stated to be 250 miles, and from Ortospanum to Alexandria, 50 miles. 

 The capital of Arachosia was unquestionably in the vicinity of the 

 modern Kandahar, and Ortospanum, although by some considered 

 Ghazni, may safely be referred to Kdbul, when we find in Ptolemy that 

 it was also called Cabura, the first approximation to the present name 



