1852.] On the Sites of Nikaia and Bou/cephalon. 249 



idea in the Punjaub that the Juts and Goojjurs* are degraded Raj- 

 pootres. It is difficult therefore to say what is the origin of the desig- 

 nation, Rajpootre, and to whom it was originally applied, and when 

 first invented. Most probably it was first assumed by strangers enter- 

 ing a new country, where their claims could not be disputed for want 

 of evidence, and it becomes a curious query, whether Indo-Greeks, 

 sons of Greek fathers and Goojjur mothers, carrying their arms from 

 the Punjaub southward were not the first self-styled Rajpootres. As 

 the whole system of Hindu idolatry (I speak not of their once pure 

 Deism) appears to have been introduced by the Egyptian conqueror 

 Osiris and the Macedonian Alexander, so it is natural to believe that 

 the originators of the system of mythology would reserve for them- 

 selves a choice place amongst the castes arising therefrom ; and as the 

 illustrious families of Greece boasted descent from Hercules, so the 

 Rajpootre boasts to be the offspring of Heri,f who without doubt is 

 identical with Hercules. 



Both the account of Curtius and the circumstances of the case ren- 

 der it almost certain that Alexander reached the Sootlej. Had only 

 the small and fertile Jullundur Doaba remained to be conquered, the 

 Macedonians had never broken into rebellion on account of a cam- 

 paign of a fortnight. Neither is it at all probable that Alexander left 

 so important and valuable a possession unconquered. Whether the 

 Beyass in that age coursed W. S. Westward, almost under the walls 

 of Kussoor, or joined as at present the Sootlej by a course nearly 

 South West,J it may appear marvellous that so particular an historian 

 as Arrian, and one who had made geography his study, should not at 

 all mention its evidence. But still more marvellous were it, that the 



* In Upper Huzara is still found a Chowkan branch of the Goojjur tribe. 

 They style themselves Rajpootres and Goojjurs. 



f The name Hericulea is still borne by women in Bengal. 



t The Sootlej after its confluence with the Beyass takes the new title of 

 Gurra. 



The Sootlej, — Suttadra, — Hysudrus, was regarded by Arrian as tributary to the 

 Beyass, as we learn from the following passage. Kcu rhv "Tcpaaiv enl rovra} 6 

 'Aitto-Lvris irapaXaficbv r$ avTy 5^j 6v6/j.ari is rhv 'IvSby ififidWei. lu/UjSaAcW 8e 

 £i/7Xa>pe? §}? ra> 'Ij/8<£. Arrian, lib. vi. cap. 14. If therefore Alexander was about to 

 cross at the Hurri ke pultun ferry of the Sootlej ; Anian's omission of the Hysudrus 



