JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY 



No. IV.— 1854. 



Gradus ad Aornon. — By Major J. Abbott. 



Of all the sites mentioned by the historians of Alexander, none 

 has excited deeper interest, none has so entirely defied research, as 

 the celebrated Eock Aornos ;* that Rock which having thrice resist- 

 ed the assaults of Hercnles, yielded to the superior skill and indo- 

 mitable courage of the son of Philip. Yet there is no site which, 

 seems so well defined by local peculiarities, none which at the 

 outset a traveller would so confidently calculate upon identifying. 



The authorf of the best English history of Alexander thus con- 

 fidently disposes of the question : " It is on the right bank of the 

 Indus, close to the river. A traveller going up the right bank could 

 not fail to find it." 



Acting upon this suggestion or guided by more direct reference 

 to ancient authors, Edward Conolly, in A. D. 1839, ascended the 

 right bank of the Indus as high as Umb, at that time in possession 

 of the celebrated Poynda Khan, whose possessions Cis-Indus had 

 been wrested from him by the Sikhs. He, being brother-in-law to 

 Sir W. McNaghfcen our Cabul Envoy, had with him a Tosha Kliana, 

 and the distribution of handsome presents made him a welcome 

 guest upon that border. 



It is curious at this day to hear those who received him, relate 

 the impressions left by the first Englishman that had ever been 

 seen in that country. 



* We have, I believe, no means of ascertaining whether this name was Aornos 

 or Aornon. 



f The Rev. Mr. Williams. 



No. LXVIIL— New Series. Vol. XXIII. 2 t 



