6*30 The Battle Field of Alexander and Porus. [Dec, 



of the towns of Huzara, at a time when the appearance of a British 

 Officer was a welcome sight, I observed two old crones upon a housetop, 

 hiding their faces in one another's rags, whilst one of them beat either 

 a tambourine or a parchment sieve and both screamed in chorus. Here, 

 on the Hydaspes, the villages near Alexander's crossing are dangerous of 

 approach owing to this custom, as it is made an excuse for demanding a 

 douceur. In Huzara it is a spontaneous tribute of respect. 



This paper, excepting a few corrections, was written in April last up- 

 on the Hydaspes, previous to the appearance of Captain A. Cunning- 

 ham's interesting correspondence in the February number of the Jour- 

 nal of the Asiatic Society. It was detained owing to some errors in the 

 measurements of my native surveyors, and subsequently by the disturbed 

 state of the Punjab. Whenever my opinion may differ from that of so 

 distinguished an antiquary, it is offered with hesitation. Had his leisure 

 allowed him to visit the Maha Bunn, I think he would agree with me that 

 it is the only mountain upon the Indus answering to Arrian's description 

 of Aornos. And that if it be not the identical mountain, the site must be 

 sought for upon the Loondi river. This would reconcile the difficulty 

 arising from Quintus Curtius' statement of 1 6 marches from Ekbolima 

 to Atok. From Umb, at the foot of Maha Bunn to Atok, not above 8 

 marches intervene. As, however, neither Arrian, nor Quintus Curtius had 

 seen the country they describe, and as both wrote long after the events 

 they record, their itineraries are not very certain guides, and accordingly 

 Quintus Curtius brings Alexander to Nicsea previous to the capture of 

 Aornos, whilst Arrian reverses the order of events. Quintus Curtius on 

 the other hand brings Alexander to Ekbolima after the capture of 

 Aornos, whilst Arrian states that he took part there to reduce the rock. 



Aornos is always styled by Arrian v -rerpa, the Rock, and certainly the 

 sense of the historian would seem to apply this term to the mountain 

 upon which the Fort was built. Such a term would scarcely have suit- 

 ed the Maha Bunn, which is essentially a mountain and not a rock, 

 albeit scarped at summit with precipices. But on the other hand, it is 

 difficult to imagine any mere rock answering to the description of the 

 historian as abounding in fountains, springs and forests, with arable land 

 for a thousand ploughs and pastures for the hundreds of thousands of 

 cattle of the plains. Such are the attributes of a mountain and not of 

 a rock. I therefore infer that Aornos is a name applicable only to the 



