1848.] The Battle Field of Alexander and Porus. 629 



ever having held lands so far eastward. Tukht purri also is in a bare 

 uninviting country, far from the Indus, where all Alexander's prepara- 

 tions were progressing, viz. : the structure of boats to be carried to the 

 Jelum. Hussun Ubdul appears to me a more probable locality. Its 

 ancient name I have vainly endeavoured to discover. But it must have 

 been an important place very early, on account of the abundance of its 

 water, and of its lying upon the main road between India and Afghan- 

 istan. It is also an hereditary appanage of the Tarkhaili wrested 

 from them by the Sikhs within a few years ; is the boast of the country 

 for its water, its groves and its salubrious atmosphere : is close to the 

 rich plains of Chuch and the fertile valley of Huzara, and sufficiently 

 near the Indus for communication with the Board of works established 

 there. Tukht or Trukh purri is said to signify the disjected rock ; a 

 probable interpretation ; the last spine of the sandstone formation jut- 

 ting up there through the plain in a remarkable manner, accompanied 

 by several enormous disjected masses of Tufa. 



On the Maha Bunn the Ivy must, I think, grow in abundance, as 

 I have found it at much lower elevations in Huzara, and Mt. Mcerus 

 must be looked for amongst the subordinate hills of Maha Bunn." The 

 wild olive forms one of the principal forest trees in Khaunpoor (of 

 Huzara). Waving over sites from which we turn up Grecian relics, it 

 has often occurred to me that it may have been transplanted hither 

 from Attica. 



I may perhaps be accused of extravagance in fancying I can trace the 

 course of the Macedonian conquerer in a singular custom prevalent 

 throughout that tract. On the approach of a Chief or Governor, the 

 women run together and sing poems in his praise. The chaunt is 

 every where the same : but it is not often easy to catch the words. 

 When I have succeeded, I have found them to consist in repetitions of 

 " the conquering Raja, victorious in battle !" Grecian habits sit ill upon 

 Hindu persons. The obligation to be bashful, imposed by eastern 

 decorum, struggling with a determination to maintain a privilege not al- 

 ways agreeable to their Lords, drives the women together in clusters, 

 with faces to the centre : whilst the display of untidy linen and the 

 ravages of time upon such faces as are visible, are dangerous to a 

 reader of Macbeth. Nevertheless the custom is decidedly derived from 

 the followers of Bacchus or of Alexander. On first entering Kote, one 



