390 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
thoufand Horfe, and thirty thoufand Foot, that had marched by the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon . When he came to the 
thither out of Greece ; and met alfo with other Supplies. Mouth of the Indus, he offered up Bulls to Neptune , by 
His Ships, when finifhed, confided of a thoufand Sail •, of crowning them with Wreaths, and then throwing them 
which two hundred were Ships of War, and eight hun- bound, into the Sea ; made great Feafts for his Friends* 
tired were Tranfports a . and threw a golden Phial, and certain gold Cups, into the 
He then divided his Army, going on board the Fleet Sea; befeeching the Gods to be propitious to the Fleet 
with one Part of it, and ordering the reft, under the Com- that he intended fhould fpeedily fail under the Command 
mand of Craterus and Hephatftion, to march along the of Nearchus. He likewife erected Altars to Thetis and 
Bank of the River down which he failed, to the Jun&ion Oceanus , offering magnificent Sacrifices, and befhechlng 
of the Hydafpes , and the Acefines , reducing all the Country thofe Divinities, that after him no Mortal might pafs the 
in hisPaffage, particularly th etOxydracians, and the Mai- Bounds of his Expedition d . 
Hans ; and fo proceeded to the River Indus. Among the Then returning up the River tq 'Patiala, he there found 
reft, the Brachmans buffered by his Fury •, for their King, Part of his Forces, which had marched by Land. Judging 
whofe Name was Sambus, having firft fiibmitted to him, this City to be extremely well fituated for a Port, hedi- 
and opened the Gates of his City, afterwards revolted, reded Hephajlion to make an Haven there, and to conftrud 
which coft his Subjects dear ; for many Thoufands were Wharfs, and whatever elfe was neceffary for Shipping . 
ilain, and a much greater Number fold for Slaves. Yet and, having given thefe Inftrudions, he' failed down the 
we are informed, by Plutarch, that many who were deftined other Chanel of the Indus, which brought him firft to a 
to Deftrudion, were preferved, on their anfwering, to the large Lake, where he left moft of his Forces •, and, having 
Satisfadion of Alexander, certain Queftions in Philofophy, with him no more than thirty Veffels, paffed this Way into 
which he caufed to be propofed to them b . the Ocean. The Defign of this Voyage was, that he 
While he was engaged in this War with the Brachmans, might be able to judge, whether this or the other Chanel 
Mceris King of Pattalena , an Ifland at the Mouth of the would afford the lafeft Paffage for his whole Fleet ; and, 
Indus , came and fubmitted himfelf, whom he received being convinced, that the Left-hand Chanel was the beft^ 
very gracioufiy, direding him to provide all Neceffaries he returned the fame Way, caufmg Wells to be dug all 
for his Army, becaufe he meant fpeedily to vifit his Coun- along upon the Coaft, that thofe on board the Fleet might 
try. When the Fleet, however, had fallen as low as this not be diftreffed in their Palfage for want of Water. 
Ifland, they found it abandoned, the People having re- When he returned to Patiala , he fent Part of his Army- 
tired into the Mountains, whither Alexander fent Meffen- to dig more Wells ; and, proceeded a fecond time as low 
gers, to perfuade them to return. He had now fpent ten as the Lake before-mentioned, where he ordered feveral 
Months in his Voyage, and found himfelf and his Fleet in Havens to be made, and Magazines to be eredted, for the 
a very indifferent Condition ; that Side of the Ifland near Ufe of his Shipping, and leaving alfo a Garifon for the D&* 
which he lay, being, in a great meafure, deftitute of Wa- fence of thefe Works, together with Provifions fufficient for 
ter, which obliged them to fend People on Shore, to fink eight Months, he prepared for his Return to Perfia, leaving 
Wells, who were cut off by the Indians that fled to the the Care of the Fleet to his Admiral Nearchus, to whom 
Deferts. At this Ifland the River Indus divides into two he gave Inftrudtions, when the Seafon of the Year would 
Branches, both of which retain that Name, till their Fall permit, to fall down the Left Chanel of the River Indus into 
into the Ocean : And thro’ the Branch on the Right-hand, the Ocean, and, failing along the Coaft, to proceed up 
Alexander refolved to pafs into the Sea. But the Day after the Perfian Gulph, and fo to the Mouth of the Eu- 
he left the Ifland, there arofe fuch aTempeft, as diftreffed phrates e . 
them exceedingly ; which obliged him to fhelter himfelf It is very plain, from this Relation, that, notwithftand- 
again upon the Coaft, and to fend for Pilots from among ing all the Pains he had taken, and the pompous Accounts 
the Natives ; for this proved a Navigation which none of given of his Fleets, he was very indifferently furnilhed 
his People underftood. When they relumed their Voyage, with Seamen ; and therefore we need not at all wonder at 
they met with new, and ftill greater Difficulties: For the the miftaken Notions, which fome Writers tell us he con- 
Tide rifing exceedingly high, as it always does there, all ceived, concerning this River. But there is one thing very 
the Country near the River was quite overflowed, except commendable in this Expedition ; which is, the perfonai 
fome Hills, the Tops of which appeared like fo many Pains he took to be informed of all Things, that he might 
Hands in the Water ; to which the Macedonians , leaving be the better able to frame a Judgment of what might be. 
their Boats, fwam for their Prefervation, not being at all expedted from the Building of Cities, fettling Colonies, 
acquainted with the Nature of Tides, but fuppoflng this and eftabliffiing a conftant Commerce between them, and 
fome extraordinary Accident •, for their Heads were fo full other Parts of his Dominions. This was a Labour truly 
of Fables and Wonders, that every thing appeared to them worthy of a Prince, or, to carry it much higher, worthy- of 
miraculous. When the Water ebbed, fome of their Vef- Alexander. 
fels were left on dry Ground ; fome were overwhelmed, 9. After he had thus fettled all Things behind him, he 
and funk; others turned Bottom upwards. On the Re- paffed through the Country of the Arhita, who fled on his 
turn of the Tide, thofe that ftuck in the Mud were got Approach into the Mountains, fo that he paffed the River 
off, without Hurt ; but the reft were either dallied to Arbis without any Oppofition, and fo came into the Ter- 
Pieces, one againft another, or periffied in different Ways, ritories of the Oritee , where he began to deftroy the Coun- 
to the Terror of Alexander, and ail who were about him c . try, on account of their joining with the Gedrofians ; but. 
After this unlucky Accident, colledting his Navy as he upon their Submiffion, he treated them kindly, and left 
could, and repairing as many of the Veffels as were yet in there a confiderable Body of Horfe and Foot, to wait the 
a Condition for Service, he detached two of the beft to Arrival of his Fleet, and with Orders to build a new City, 
examine another Hand that lay lower, which the Indians In his Paffage through the Country of the Gedrofians, 
called Cilluta , and he thought fit to name Scillajlis, by greater Lofs happened to him, than in all his Expedition 
which he mu ft of Neceffity pafs, in his Voyage to the through Afia befldes ; becaufe, what for want of Water, 
Ocean. On their Return, and reporting, that there was in by Excefs of Heat, ill Diet, and Hunger, he carried not 
this laft Hand, a very commodious Harbour, he ordered out the fourth Part of thofe Forces he brought into India : 
the Fleet thither ; but proceeded himfelf, without further Yet was not this Lofs fuftained through Ignorance : For, 
Delay, down the Chanel, that he might be fatisfied whe- fome tell us, he knew of the Danger very well ; but, 
Her his Fleet could pafs fafely, that Way, into the Indian hearing this Country had been formerly invaded, both by 
Sea, or not. At the Diftance of about 200 Stadia, he Semiramis , and Cyrus ; and that the former was forced to 
difcovered another Hand ; and then returned to the Fleet, fly but with thirty Attendants, and the latter with only 
where he facrificed to the Gods after a certain Manner; and feven ; he had an earned: Defire to pafs through it, and, in 
then, going back to the Ifland, he facrificed after another the Glory of his Adventure, to excel them f . 
Manner to other Deities ; affirming that he was fo directed 
a Arrian . Diodor. Sicuh Plutarch . b Plutarch, in Akxandro. c Arrian , lib. vi. Diadar. Sicul. lib. xv\\. Plutarch, in 
Alexandra . d Strabo , lib . XV, Arrian, Car/. 9 Arrian, Jufiin, Plutardk. 4 » Alexandra f Diodor. Sicul. lib. xv. 
Curt . Plutarch . 
After' 
