VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS. 



87 



The monarch from his golden goblet pours 



A full libation to the gods, and calls 



By name the mighty rivers through whose course 



He seeks the sea." 



Alexander accompanied his fleet to the delta of the Indus, from 

 whence he obtained a view of the gulf. He then returned to 

 lead his men across Gedrosia, Caramania, and Persis to Babylon. 

 Nearchus then set sail, after oifering sacrifices to Neptune and 

 Jupiter Salvator, and ordering a series of games and gymnastic 

 exercises. The voyage thus undertaken was an event of real im- 

 portance in the history of navigation: it opened*a route between 

 Europe and the extremities of Asia. It was the source of the 

 discoveries made in later times by the Portuguese, and the pri- 

 mary, though remote, cause of the successful establishment of 

 the British in India. 



PLAN OF THE VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS. 



At the very mouth of the river they met a formidable 

 obstacle, — a rocky bar over which the waves broke with extreme 

 violence. Through this bar, in its softest parts, they cut a 

 canal one-third of a mile in length, and at high tide passed 

 through it with the fleet. They had hardly reached the open 

 ocean before a heavy gale drove them into an indentation of 

 land protected by an island: to this natural harbor Nearchus 

 gave the name of Alexander. Here he caused a camp to be 

 laid out and entrenched, and remained for twenty-four days, the 

 soldiers subsisting chiefly on shell-fish. When the gale abated 



