368 Gradus ad Aorrion. [No. 4. 



Curtius says of Aornos " ab altera parte voragiues eluviesque 

 prseruptse sunt ; nee alia expugnandi patebat via quam ut repleren- 

 tur." If we are to read either or both of the words voragines and 

 eluvies as signifying swamps or quicksands, it will be difficult to 

 match the Aornos of Curtius with any site excepting Pehoor. At 

 the season of Alexander's invasion, when the snows of the mountains 

 were melting, Pehoor must have been isolated by the Indus, which 

 is remarkable for its quicksands. 



Curtius had just before described the rock thus " in metae maxime 

 modum erecta est : cujus ima spatiosiora sunt, altiora in arctius 

 coeunt, summa in acutum cacumen exsurgunt. Radices ejus Indus 

 amnis subit : prsealtus utrimque asperis ripis." Viewed from the 

 north, Pehoor has exactly the figure of the Eoman goal. The Indus 

 washes its roots on all sides, and the banks of the Indus on either 

 side are still lined with rocky heights. 



The ancient site of Baja (Bazira) also is close at hand. And the 

 site of an Oora lies about seven miles to the south near Hoond. 

 The old site of Moosagurhi lies also about seventeen miles to the 

 north-west, and in the same direction are two villages called Tootali 

 (quasi Daedala) inhabited by the Koodoo Khail, and at the distance 

 of about six miles to the south-west are the villages Kal-Durra 

 (quasi Acadera) which are always named together. Pehoor must 

 have been early fortified, being marked out by nature as the site for 

 a castle. A few of the inhabitants of Baja and its neighbourhood 

 might well take refuge in a site so impregnable to armies previous 

 to the invention of cannon. 



But on the other hand, Arrian makes no mention of the Indus 

 as washing Aornos. His description of the site is that of an 

 enormous mountain abounding in springs and arable land and 

 forests. If Curtius is to be followed, Arrian must be rejected in 

 toto, as a fabler. Yet his minute and natural description of Alex- 

 ander's Anabasis of Aornos ; of the gradual ascent of a mountain 

 growing steeper as he advanced ; of his battle on the mountain- 

 brow, when with such difficulty he forced his onward way ; of 

 Ptolemy's cooperation with him by attacking the enemy from the 

 rear; of his mastery of the mountain summit and regular ap- 

 pro allies to the rock : — all these have an air of truth which it is 



