220 On the Sites of Nikaia and Boukephalon. [No. 3. 



brings us to about Darapoor, wbere there is a ferry. Darapoor, an 

 insignificant village, stands upon an old but small site, apparently that 

 of a village, and is said to have been built about 150 years ago by one 

 Dara Khan. The name signifies the town or village of Darius. 

 Opposite is Russool upon a very lofty cliff, beneath which in the 

 monsoon a branch of the river flows. This cliff scarps to the West 

 that rising ground, the last glacis of a long ridge of Kunka* and clay 

 of small altitude which runs in a curvilinear figure from Bhinleur, and 

 has at some remote period, joined the salt formation westward of the 

 Hydaspes, ere severed by that river. It runs nearly South from 

 Russool to the distance of two miles, melting there into the plain ; 

 from which rises the isolated lofty mound of Moongh, a considerable 

 village. During the monsoon, immediately below the cliff of Russool, 

 rolls the Hydaspes ; but farther South, Kanda land interposes, i. e. 

 land subject to inundation, and utterly unfitted for the manoeuvres of 

 chariots or even of cavalry. The bed of the Hydaspes being here a 

 shifting sand, it is impossible to conjecture what might have been its 

 figure two thousand years ago, islands are constantly forming and dis- 

 appearing. But the character of the cliffs and heights of Russool is 

 so remarkable, that it could scarcely have escaped the minute detail 

 of Arrian's description. Nor does it seem probable that such a master 

 of strategie as Alexander, should have selected a landing place imme- 

 diately below a cliff and height, where a hundred of the enemy could 

 have set at defiance his whole array. Still less is it probable that 

 with such a bird's eye view of the river as is afforded by the mountains 

 on Alexanders side, that great captain could have mistaken an island 

 for the shore. Moreover, the cliff at Russool is so lofty that the 

 whole river lies beneath an eye stationed there. No island or series 

 of islands on the further side could have masked Alexander's prepar- 

 ations from the scouts of Poms. On landing, he would have found 

 himself beneath a cliff, crested with armed men. The great breadth 

 of the river there, admits of a boat crossing but twice between day- 

 break and night. To have landed fourteen thousand men, one-third 

 cavalry, would have required an absolute fleet of boats and rafts.f 



* Kunka is granulated Tufa, deposited by rain water in soaking through alternate 

 strata of marl and clay. 



t Suppose that upon one raft of skins fifteen cavalry could be crossed. Then 



