1848.] The Battle Field of Alexander and Poms. 621 



which remain naked and sharply defined as when first grooved in the 

 soil, and never entirely lose their office of conduits to the waters. 



Nearly all the fifty* islands of the Hydaspes are cultivated. Several 

 are thickly inhabited. But the Tamarisk springs rapidly upon the 

 fallow, forming in three or four years cover sufficient to screen at night 

 the passage of a hostile armament. The length of several of the islands 

 is very considerable. That which I suppose to be the larger island of 

 Alexanderf is about 6 miles in length by an average breadth of half a 

 mile. It is cultivated like the mainland : and no one from the level 

 plain of the western side could conjecture it to be an island. 



A glance at the map will assure us that from time immemorial there 

 has been but one ferry to the Hydaspes between Mungla and Jelum, 

 and that this ferry must ever have been near its present site at Pindi. 

 Alexander could not have been two days at Jelum without discovering 

 that the river above that point was full of islands, J and he would natur- 

 ally have sought a passage near the ferry, because, at that season none 

 of the numerous channels could be supposed fordable. But as the ferry 

 itself would certainly be (as indeed he found it) watched by a hostile 

 force, he would have made the crossing at sufficient distance to escape 

 their opposition. 



Now if we suppose both the old and the new channels to be occupied 

 during the monsoon, as at this day, we shall have opposite the promon- 

 tory at Bhoonna, a cluster of four small islands, — or if we suppose the 

 minuter channels to be recent, we shall have a single island in their 

 stead. The island immediately abreast could not be reached owing to 

 the power of the current ; the boats would therefore thread the small 

 channel (a) and come to at the easternmost island of the group ; which 

 if covered, as at this day with Tamarisk, would effectually cover the 

 passage. From thence, on the arrival of the rear-guard, they would put 

 off for what they would naturally suppose to be the mainland, being the 

 land of the established ferry. They would land in the parallel of the 

 village Seem, and would quickly discover that they had reached only a 



* Between Mungla and Jelum the number of islands is fifty. Below Jelum there 

 are many more. 



f Marked in the map (b). 



X In one of those islands a contest was maintained between the adventurous 

 spirits of Alexander's and Porus' camps, (see Quintus Curtius.) 



