480 Memoir on a Map of Peshawar [Aug. 



think that this town is the same as Massaga, the capital of the 

 Assaceni, but I am more inclined to think that it is the Nysa of the 

 Greeks. Its proximity to the Cophenes, and above all what Plu- 

 tarch states as said by Alexander to his Macedonians, when they 

 objected to fording the river on account of its depth, corroborate 

 my conjecture. The inhabitants of the Duab, and those of the 

 mountains of the Mourmards, appear to me to be the Assaceni, 

 who were employed by Alexander in building the vessels, in which 

 they sailed down the Cophenes as far as Taxila. To the N. E. of 

 Hashtnagar is the mountain of Behhi standing alone on a vast plain, 

 and close to it are the ruins of an ancient castle which is attributed 

 to Rajya Varrah, and which, according to the traditions of the 

 inhabitants, was the dwelling of the ancient sovereigns of this 

 country. There are also some basso-relievos, and the traces of 

 an aqueduct by which the waters were carried to the river Jind. 

 This aqueduct commences at the ruins of Rajir, which are situated 

 nearly opposite Hashtnagar. Further off in the district of the Babu- 

 zais, on another mountain, are the massive ruins of another fortress, 

 which can only be reached by means of a path cut through the rock. 

 It goes by the name of Peli. 



Three days' journey north of Hashtnagar are the districts of Sawdt 

 and Bunir, where are the ruins of Gerlra, Bonsekhan, Zaktit, and Chim- 

 kor. Near the latter are four massive cupolas of the same kind as 

 those of Manikydla. The small river Panjkori traverses the district, 

 and joins the Jindi. It is much to be regretted that travellers do not 

 visit with more minuteness this portion of the country, as they might, 

 were they to do so, gain positive information as to the march of 

 Alexander on the banks of the Indus. It is in these districts that 

 Birbel, the Vizier of Akber, perished with a whole army. The inha- 

 bitants have, we are told, cut a road through the rugged rocks, 

 leading to the north, by means of which they communicate with the 

 Tartar tribes of Kashgar and others. All that tract of country lying 

 to the east of Hashtnagar is inhabited by the tribe of the Yusufzais. 

 The Indus forms the eastern boundary of this district, and Landeh on 

 the river Nagumdn its southern. To the north are the mountains of 

 Panjitar and Shemla. According to some historians, the province of 

 the Yusufzais is the same as the Taxila of Alexander, where the 

 king Omphis reigned, whose fidelity and devotion facilitated to Alex- 

 ander the conquest of the Indus. But, according to other historians, 

 and more especially in the opinion of Plutarch, the real Taxila was 

 that country enclosed between the Indus and the Hydaspes. 



