ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY’S PUBLICATIONS
CONSTABLE’S _Oriental Miscellany_, a series that ... has the strongest
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_Already published_
Vol. I.
BERNIER’S TRAVELS IN THE MOGUL EMPIRE. An entirely new edition, with
illustrations, and reproductions of maps from early editions. By
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, Mem. As. Soc. Bengal, F.S.A.Scot. Cr. 8vo, pp. liv +
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The old translation has now been revised and edited in very
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This is a scholarly volume, and bodes well for the success of
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The New Miscellany ... has been right worthily inaugurated by a
reprint of Bernier’s _Travels in India_, which must delight the
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An almost perfect instance of careful, painstaking, and
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The excellent editing, as well as outward get-up ... are a
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The student will know how to prize the work, and the general
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Since their first appearance in Paris, in 1670, many have been
the reprints and translations of Bernier’s _Travels_.... With
all this, however, the book itself is not easily accessible.
In offering the English Public a new edition of it, Messrs.
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The book abounds with curious scenes and anecdotes of
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for comparison with the ways, habits, and ideas of modern
India.... The running glossary of Indian terms and words is
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and remarkable places mentioned in the text; there is also a
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an excellent index.—_The Speaker._
The book is of almost indispensable necessity to the reader of
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The volume has been admirably edited and illustrated. The
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in brief but sufficient notes, which contain the results of
careful research in contemporary historians, and of an intimate
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Vol. II.
POPULAR READINGS IN SCIENCE. By JOHN GALL, M.A., LL.B., late Professor of
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M.A., LL.B., B.Sc. With many Diagrams, a Glossary of Technical Terms, and
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The authors lay no claim to originality, but have exercised a
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the book acceptable to general readers who are anxious to make
acquaintance with modern science.—_Nature._
It is hardly to be expected that this second volume of
Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_ will meet with such universal
acclamation as the first volume, which consisted of Bernier’s
_Travels_. But when rightly considered, it equally shows the
thoroughness with which the publishers have thrown themselves
into the enterprise.—_The Academy._
While the essays are such as would attract and instruct a
general reader, they appear to have been written specially with
a view to the needs of Indian students approaching the study of
science for the first time.... They are well adapted to this
end, and cannot fail to create in their readers a desire to
push their knowledge further.—_The Scotsman._
The new volume of Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_ would have
delighted Macaulay and the champions of “Occidentalism” in
Indian education in Lord William Bentinck’s day.... Messrs.
Gall and Robertson ... have prepared a collection of essays
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... it is a most commendable undertaking.—_The Bombay Gazette._
The title sufficiently indicates the lines on which the two
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it is rather a collection of scientific facts forming chapters
in what has aptly been called the romance of science....
Messrs. Archibald Constable and Company have a particular
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well edited, printed, and published, that it is easy to predict
for it a wide popularity.—_The Madras Mail._
The second volume of Constable’s _Oriental Miscellany_, just
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an undoubted want, and will hardly yield in usefulness to any
in the projected series.... While elementary principles are
explained with sufficient clearness to enable the work to be
used independently of other text-books, the compilers have
devoted much attention and space to many of the results of
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present century. The Darwinian theory, for instance, is not
only admirably summarised in itself, but we are furnished with
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This is a popular treatise covering a very wide range of
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The authors write about what they know, and they write with
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advanced in their studies.—_The Aberdeen Daily Free Press._
Vol. III.
AURENG-ZEBE, a Tragedy, by JOHN DRYDEN, and Book II. of THE CHACE, a
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of our ancestors about India in the last quarter of the 17th
century, we recommend this book to his notice. Mr. Deighton’s
copious and suggestive footnotes will render the perusal both
profitable and pleasant.—_The Times._
The volume, like its predecessors, is admirably got up, and
is enriched by a fine portrait of Dryden, and a capital
reproduction of a highly curious and interesting Indian picture
exhibiting the youthful Akbar at the chase.—_The Scotsman._
Mr. Kenneth Deighton supplies a short biography of Dryden, and
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suited to the capacity of the Indian student, are incorporated
in the volume.—_The Glasgow Herald._
Vol. IV.
LETTERS FROM A MAHRATTA CAMP. By THOMAS DUER BROUGHTON. A new edition,
with an Introduction by the Right Hon. Sir M. E. GRANT DUFF, G.C.S.I.,
F.R.S., Notes, Coloured and other Illustrations, a very full Index, and a
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RAMBLES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN OFFICIAL. By Major-General Sir W.
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_Other publications_
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An interesting survey—all the more readable, perhaps, on
account of its informal and even discursive arrangement—of
Mussulman faith, practice, and history.... A conspicuous
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propaganda, which Mr. Quilliam, a Liverpool solicitor, is now
prosecuting in that city.... It is tinged by no rancour or
contempt, and exhibits a conscientious endeavour to appreciate
the Mohammedan standpoint. As a “popular text-book,” dealing
with some of the most picturesque aspects of Islam, it deserves
more than ordinary attention.—_The Times._
Mr. Pool ... has done good service in publishing this popular
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as he errs at all, he errs on the side of too much leniency
to Mohammedanism.... Mr. Pool’s too favourable account of
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The chapter which gives information on this matter [Islam in
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As to the other parts of Mr. Pool’s book it is difficult to
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In the forty-one chapters of this volume the promise of
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The writer is devotedly attached to Christianity, but he
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This volume will be found both interesting and useful to the
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are short chapters also on the Turks, Afghans, Corsairs,
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ANCIENT INDIA
ITS INVASION BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT
CATALOGUE OR ORDER SLIPS
[_Entered at Stationers’ Hall_]
It is hoped that these slips, which have been drawn up and
printed strictly in accordance with the British Museum
Catalogue rules, will prove a convenience to Booksellers,
Librarians, Cataloguers, and Bookbuyers generally.
Their _judicious_ acquisition and use may save many a hurried
fruitless search for a piece of paper and a pencil, required at
times to note down the title of a desirable book seen in the
possession of another.
M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as
described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other
classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander,
copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432.
_Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.
M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as
described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other
classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander,
copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432.
_Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.
M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as
described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other
classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander,
copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432.
_Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.
M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as
described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other
classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander,
copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432.
_Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.
M’CRINDLE (J. W.). The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, as
described by Arrian, Q. Curtius, Diodôros, Plutarch, Justin, and other
classical authors. With an Introduction containing a Life of Alexander,
copious Notes, Illustrations, Maps, and Indices. Pp. xii + 432.
_Archibald Constable and Co., Westminster_ (London). 1893. 8vo.
ANCIENT INDIA
ITS INVASION BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT
[Illustration: Comment le Roy alixandre ploura de pitie quil ont de son
cheual Buciffal qui se mouroit
ALEXANDER THE GREAT MOURNING THE DEATH OF BOUKEPHALOS]
THE
INVASION OF INDIA
BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT
AS DESCRIBED BY
ARRIAN, Q. CURTIUS, DIODOROS
PLUTARCH AND JUSTIN
Being Translations of such portions of the Works of these and other
Classical Authors as describe Alexander’s Campaigns in Afghanistan
the Panjâb, Sindh, Gedrosia and Karmania
WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONTAINING A LIFE OF ALEXANDER
COPIOUS NOTES, ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND INDICES
BY
J. W. M’CRINDLE, M.A., M.R.A.S., F.R.S.G.S.
LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, PATNA, AND FELLOW OF
THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, MEMBER OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
NEW EDITION
Bringing the Work up to Date
Westminster
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY
MDCCCXCVI
_All rights reserved_
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xi
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION xxxv
INTRODUCTION, CONTAINING A LIFE OF ALEXANDER 3
ARRIAN 57
Q. CURTIUS RUFUS 183
DIODÔROS 269
PLUTARCH 305
JUSTIN 321
APPENDICES—
NOTES A-L_L_ 331
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 375
GENERAL INDEX 417
INDEX OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED OR REFERRED TO 430
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ALEXANDER THE GREAT MOURNING FOR BOUKEPHALOS _Frontispiece_
_By the Autotype Company from a French MS. in the British Museum
of the Life of Alexander the Great, written in the fifteenth
century._
FIG. PAGE
1. LYSIMACHOS Gold coin of Lysimachos (B.C.
306-281), struck at Lysimachia,
in the British Museum 16
2. ARISTOTLE From an intaglio gem, engraved
on sard, in the British Museum 16
3. SEAL OF DARIUS From a cylinder of chalcedony,
inscribed “I am Darius the great
king,” in Persian, Median, and
Babylonian, in the Brit. Museum 29
4. ALEXANDER THE GREAT On a silver coin struck in Thrace
by Lysimachos, in the Brit. Museum 48
5. DIODOTOS On a gold stater struck in Baktria,
in the British Museum 52
6. ANTIOCHOS THE GREAT On a gold coin (B.C. 222-187), in
the British Museum 52
7. EUTHYDÊMOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the
British Museum 53
8. THE TYRIAN HERAKLÊS On a silver coin struck at Tyre (B.C.
125), in the British Museum 71
9. EUMENÊS Silver coin of Eumenês I. (B.C.
263-241), struck at Pergamos,
in the British Museum 120
10. PTOLEMY SÔTÊR On a silver coin (B.C. 306-284),
in the British Museum 151
11. INDIAN BOWMAN From a coin of Chandragupta II. (A.D.
395-415), in the Brit. Mus. 210
12. SÔPHYTÊS From a silver coin, in the Brit. Mus. 280
13. GREEK WARSHIP From a silver coin of Sidon, in the
British Museum 316
14. SELEUCUS NICATOR Obverse of a silver coin struck in
Pergamos, in the British Museum 327
15. EUKRATIDÊS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the
British Museum 344
16. ANTIMACHOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the
British Museum 370
17. AGATHOKLÊS Silver coin of Agathoklês, in the
British Museum 371
18. HELIOKLÊS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the
British Museum 371
19. APOLLODOTOS On a silver Baktrian coin, in the
British Museum 372
20. AŚÔKA INSCRIPTION Reduced from an impression of the
Kalsi Edict by Dr. James Burgess,
C.I.E. 373
21. ANTIGONOS GONATAS Silver coin of Antigonos Gonatas
(B.C. 277-239), in the Brit. Mus. 376
22. ANTIGONOS DÔSÔN Silver coin of Antigonos Dôsôn (B.C.
229-220), in the British Museum 377
23. ANTIOCHOS II. On a silver coin (B.C. 261-246),
in the British Museum 377
24. DEMETRIOS POLIORKÊTÊS Silver coin of Demetrios Poliorkêtês
(B.C. 294-288), in the Brit. Mus. 383
25. PTOLEMY III. On a gold coin (B.C. 247-222), in
the British Museum 403
MAPS
MAP OF ALEXANDER’S ROUTE IN THE PANJÂB _Facing_ 57
MAP OF THE ROUTE TAKEN BY ALEXANDER IN HIS ASIATIC EXPEDITION 432
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
Since this volume was written, three works have appeared which not only
make important additions to our knowledge of Alexander’s campaigns in
Turkestan, Lower Sindh, and Makran respectively, but which also serve to
correct some current errors with regard to the identification of places
which lay in the route of the great conqueror, as he passed through these
obscure regions. As the works referred to have been written by scholarly
men, who possess an intimate personal knowledge of the localities which
they describe, the conclusions to which their investigations have
conducted them may be accepted with confidence, and we propose to give
here a brief summary of these conclusions so far as they concern our
subject. The works are these: 1. _Alexander des Grossen Feldzüge in
Turkestan_, von Franz Schwarz, München; 2. _The Indus Delta: a Memoir
chiefly on its Ancient History and Geography_, by Major-General M. R.
Haig, M.R.A.S., London; 3. _A Lecture on “The Retreat of Alexander the
Great from India,”_ by Colonel Holdich, R.E., as reported in the Calcutta
_Englishman_.
We begin with Turkestan, by which is here meant the provinces called
anciently Baktriana and Sogdiana. Their reduction, as will be seen from
our Introduction (pp. 39-44), occupied the arms of Alexander for upwards
of two years, from B.C. 329-327. The description of the campaigns by
which this conquest was effected has hitherto proved a task of unusual
difficulty, due partly to imperfect knowledge of the geography of the
seat of war, and partly also to discrepancies in the accounts of these
campaigns as given by Arrian and Curtius, who neither drew their facts
from the same original sources nor relate them in quite the same order of
sequence. It is fortunate therefore that Herr Schwarz, who for fifteen
years resided in Turkestan, and had occasion or opportunity during that
time to visit all its places of importance, sedulously applied himself
to study the antiquities of the country, and was thus able ultimately
to identify with certainty, almost all the places in which Alexander
is reported, by his historians, to have shown himself. His work is
accompanied by an excellent map, in which he has traced the line of the
marches and the counter-marches of the Macedonian troops, while operating
in the regions of the Oxus and the Jaxartes.
Alexander, in the early spring of 329 B.C., left Kabulistan, and having
crossed the Indian Kaukasos, arrived at Drapsaka, and from thence
continued his march to Aornos and Baktra. It has never been doubted
that Baktra is now Balkh, but opinions have differed with regard to the
other two places. Schwarz, on sufficient grounds, identifies Drapsaka
with Kunduz, and Aornos with Tash-Kurgan, near which are situated the
ruins of Khulm. Alexander, marching from Baktra through a frightful
desert, gained the banks of the Oxus, which he crossed with his army
in five days. The passage was effected, not from Kizil, as has been
hitherto supposed, but from Kilif, higher up the stream—a place which
Schwarz thinks was probably the city of the Branchidai, which, with its
inhabitants, Alexander so remorselessly destroyed. From the Oxus the
expedition advanced by way of Karshi and Jam to Marakanda, the famous
city of Samarcand. Near Karshi, at the hill Kungur-tau, occurred the
skirmish in which Alexander, on this march, received a wound. Marakanda
was situated on the banks of the Polytimêtos, now the Zerafshan or
Kohik, which flows westward till its waters are lost in the sands of
the Khorasmian Desert. Alexander marched thence to the river Tanais—the
Jaxartes or Syr-darya—which formed the eastern boundary of the Persian
empire, and separated it from the Skythians. On the Persian side of
this river Alexander founded a city, which he called by his own name,
Alexandria. It is agreed on all hands that the site of this Alexandria
was at or near where Khojent now stands. In this neighbourhood Alexander
captured seven towns, which had shown signs of a purpose to revolt. The
names of two of these have been recorded, Gaza and Kyropolis. The former
Schwarz identifies with Nau, and the latter with Ura-tübe, a considerable
city occupying a commanding position, strongly fortified, and distant
from Khojent about 40 miles. It had been founded by Cyrus to serve as a
bulwark against incursions of the Skythians. Alexander having quelled the
attempted revolt of the Sogdians, crossed the Jaxartes, and inflicted a
defeat on the Skythians, who had mustered in great force on their own
side of the river. He pursued them as far as what Curtius calls the
boundary-stones of Father Bacchus, which Schwarz has identified as a pass
over Mogul-Tau, near Mursa-rabat, a post-station, 17 miles distant from
Khojent.
On the heels of this victory tidings reached Alexander of the terrible
defeat and slaughter of his Macedonian troops by Spitamenes in one of the
islands of the Polytimêtos, and he immediately started for Marakanda, and
reached it after a march of three days. As the distance from Khojent
to Samarcand is 172 English miles, this march, made in broiling heat,
and through a country without roads, must have tried to the very utmost
the powers of endurance of the Macedonian soldiers, some of whom were
hoplites, wearing their brazen helmets, carrying their shields, and clad
in mail. Spitamenes made his escape into the desert, and Alexander could
only sate his vengeance by ravaging with merciless severity the beautiful
valley through which the river flowed. Schwarz tells us that he searched
in vain to discover the island which was the scene of the disaster, and
it probably no longer exists. It must, however, he thinks, have been
situated in the neighbourhood of Ziadin and Kermineh. Alexander, pursuing
his way down the river, passed Bokhara, the Sogdian capital, and advanced
as far as Karakul, beyond which the river disappears in the sands. He
then retired for the winter to Zariaspa. Zariaspa has been taken to
be another name of Baktra, but Schwarz shows that such an opinion is
altogether untenable, and identifies it, for reasons not to be gainsaid,
with Charjui, a place some six or seven miles distant from where the Oxus
is now spanned by the bridge of the Trans-Caspian Railway.
From Zariaspa Alexander returned to Marakanda, passing on his route
by Karakul, Bokhara, Kermineh, and Kata-Kurgan. Koinos meanwhile had
difficulty in holding his own against the indomitable Spitamenes, who
had collected at Bagai a body of 3000 Skythian horsemen, with a view to
invade Sogdiana. Bagai is now Ustuk, a Bokharan frontier fortress, 28
miles below Charjui, but on the opposite side of the Oxus. The hostile
forces at length came to an engagement. Koinos was victorious, and
Spitamenes, who fled into the desert with his Skythian horsemen, fell
a victim to their treachery. They cut off his head, and sent it as a
peace-offering to Alexander. After the reduction of Sogdiana, Alexander
withdrew to Nautaka, where he spent the winter of 328-327 B.C. This place
has been generally identified with Karshi, but Schwarz takes it to be
Schaar, which lies 40 miles to the south of Samarcand.
Alexander left Nautaka early in spring, and his next great exploit
was the capture of the famous Sogdian Rock, in the fortress of which
Oxyartes had placed for safety the members of his family, including his
daughter, the beautiful Roxana, whose charms so fascinated her captor,
that he made her his queen, in spite of all the remonstrances of his
friends. Curtius calls this stronghold the Rock of Arimazes. Some have
identified it with the steep crags which line one side of the narrow
gorge near Derbent, called the Iron Gate, which forms the only direct
approach from West-Bokhara to Hissar. Schwarz, however, says that the
Iron Gate, through which he has himself often passed, answers neither
to the description of Arrian nor of Curtius, and his own identification
of the Rock is with a mountain which ascends precipitously from a gorge
similar to that of the Iron Gate, from which it is some five miles
distant in a north-east direction. From the Rock the expedition marched
eastward into the country of the Paraitakai, the mountainous district
now known as Hissar. Here Alexander’s progress was arrested by another
mountain fortress no less formidable than the Sogdian. It is called by
Arrian the Rock of Chorienes, and by Curtius the Rock of Sysimithres.
Its identification presents no difficulty, as in all Hissar there is
but one place which answers the descriptions of it, namely, the narrow
pass at the river Waksh, where the Suspension Bridge (Pul-i-Sangin)
overspans it on the way from Hissar through Faizabad to Badshuan. This
pass, Schwarz tells us, is the most remarkable place to which he came
in the whole course of his travels. The fort having been surrendered
through the persuasions of Oxyartes, the conqueror returned to Baktra,
by way of Faizabad, Hissar, Karatag, and Yurchi, from which place he
proceeded down the right bank of the Surkhan to Tormiz, and thence to
the passage of the Oxus at Pata-gisar. On his return to Baktra, he there
made his preparations for the invasion of India. We have here only
further to notice that Alexander’s visit to Margiana, the city now so
well known as Merv, could not have been made, as Curtius informs us, from
Bokhara, which is 215 miles distant and separated from it by a terrible
intervening desert, all but entirely destitute of wells, but was probably
made from Sarakhs in the earlier part of the march from the Caspian Gates.
We turn now to Major-General Haig’s _Memoir_ on the Indus-Delta country—a
work of which about a fourth part directly concerns our subject. The
sections which are of this nature discuss the following points:—1. The
Geography and Hydrography of the Delta Country (chap. i.); 2. The Delta
at the time of Alexander’s Expedition (chap. ii.); 3. The Delta according
to later Greek Accounts (chap. iii.); 4. The Lonibare Mouth of the Indus
(Append. Note A); 5. The general course of the Indus in Sindh in ancient
times (Append. Note C); 6. Itineraries in the Las Bêlâ Country (Append.
Note D); 7. The March to the Arabios (Append. Note E); 8. The voyage of
Nearchos from Alexander’s Haven to the Mouth of the Arabios (Append. Note
F).
Our author could scarcely have chosen for his subject one that is more
beset with problems of aggravating perplexity. The Indus is notable
even among Indian rivers for the frequency, and sometimes also for the
suddenness, with which it changes its courses. As Colonel Holdich well
observes, “The difficulty of restoring to the map of India an outline
of the ancient geography of Sindh and the Indus Delta is one which
has baffled many generations of scholars. The vagaries of the Indus,
even within the limits of historic record, ... render this river, even
before the Delta is reached, a hopeless feature for reference with
regard to the position of places said once to have been near its bank.
Within the limits of the Delta the confusion of hydrography becomes
even more confounded.” In my note on Alexander in Sindh, which will be
found at page 352, I have noticed that the channel in which the Indus
now flows lies much farther to the west than the channel in which the
Macedonians found it flowing. This _westing_, as it is called, is due
to the operation of the law, first discovered by K. E. von Baer, that
the difference of the velocity of the earth’s rotation at the Equator
and at the Poles causes eroding rivers in the Northern Hemisphere to
attack their right bank more than the left, and to push their beds
sideways—while in the Southern Hemisphere, this action is reversed. From
the _Memoir_ we learn how this law, and the other natural laws by which
its action is modified, have affected the Indus. The river, we learn,
pursues from the confluence of the Panjnad a very uniform S.W. direction
for nearly 300 miles, till it reaches lat. 26° 56´, long. 67° 53´. At
this point the river changes its general direction to one due south, and
maintains this for about 60 miles, till it strikes, in lat. 26° 20´,
long. 67° 55´, the eastern base of the Lakî Hills, just under the peak
called Bhago Toro. Below this point the westing movement of centuries
has now brought the stream to the extreme edge of the alluvial land, and
into contact with the gravel slopes bordering the hill-country. As the
gravel tracts project in a bow into the alluvial land of Lower Sindh,
the river, unable to erode them, is forced to conform to their contour,
and to run in a great curve for nearly 180 miles to Thata. This curve
continues through the Delta to the sea, so that from Bhago Toro to the
river-mouth the course of the Indus forms an arc of some 260 miles, of
which the chord is about 160 miles, and the maximum depth nearly 50
miles. The general result is to give the course of the river in Sindh the
form of the letter S. And, as its abandoned channels attest, _such has
been the form in which the river has run in past ages_ as it approached
the sea. The lower curve of the S had a still bolder sweep _eastward_
when the river ran far east of its present course, unchecked by rock or
gravel bed, than it has now, when this part of the course has been shaped
by a resistance which the current cannot overcome. This S-shaped course
of the river _in all ages_ should be remembered in considering questions
of ancient local topography, such, for instance, as that of the site of
Patala. It will then be seen to be impossible that the river can have run
at the same period in its present course near Haidarâbâd, and, lower down
through the Ghâro, or ancient Sindh Sâgara; also that if Patala was at
Haidarâbâd, the western river-mouth of Alexander’s time must have lain,
not at the western extremity of the sea-face of the Delta, but much to
the east of that point. From these remarks (which I have abbreviated from
the text), it will be seen that Haidarâbâd can no longer be taken to be
the modern representative of Patala. Where then was the point at which,
in Alexander’s time, the Indus bifurcated, and Patala was situated?
Major-General Haig says that any precise identification of this site is
hardly within the limits of possibility; but, for reasons for which his
work itself must be consulted, he is of opinion that “the ancient capital
of the Delta was most likely not far from a spot 35 miles south-east
of Haidarâbâd”—a spot which happens to be 160 miles distant from each
extremity of the Delta coast, as supposed to have existed in Alexander’s
time. With regard to places which lie farther north than Patala, the
views set forth in this volume do not differ from those of Major-General
Haig. He is, however, of opinion that the kingdom of Mousikanos was of
greater extent than is usually supposed, and must have embraced the
district of Bahawulpur, which answers better to the description of that
kingdom, as _the most flourishing in all India_, than the country around
Alôr.
The Delta tract, as taken in the _Memoir_, extends from the sea
northwards to the latitude of Haidarâbâd (25° 25´ N.), and is bounded
on the east by the desert, the Purân or old course of the Indus, now
dry, and by the Korî mouth, which is the Lonibare mouth of Ptolemy; on
the west by the outer border of the plains, where the boundary runs S.
by W. for 50 miles to near Thata, from which point it turns almost due
west, and runs for 60 miles more to the sea, near Karâchî. This alluvial
tract is everywhere furrowed by ancient channels, some continuous, both
above and throughout the Delta, and others all but totally obliterated.
Our author has a notice of each of the more important of these channels.
Regarding the Ghâro, the western arm down which Alexander and his fleet
sailed, he says that it runs nearly east and west along the southern
border of the Kohistân (hill-country), that it is thus on the extreme
edge of the Delta, and that it has a course of about 40 miles in length.
Referring to the present channel of the Indus, he remarks:—
“This divides the lower Delta region into two unequal portions.
Of these, the western, and much the smaller, portion is in
the form of an equilateral triangle, having sides of about 64
miles in length, consisting of the river, the coast-line, and
the southern edge of the Kohistân plains, and including an
area of about 1700 square miles. This it will be convenient to
call the ‘Western Delta,’ a name the more suitable that all the
westward-flowing branches of the river have, or have once had,
their mouths within the limits of the tract to which it will
apply.”
A very interesting question is next discussed—that of the secular
extension of the Delta seaward—and the conclusion arrived at, which is,
however, conjectural, and below the estimate of Colonel Holdich, is that
from Alexander’s time to 1869 A.D. the advance of the Delta seaward has
been eight miles, or at the rate of rather more than six yards in a year,
this being less than a fourth of the growth of the Nile Delta in a not
much greater period of time.
We now proceed to show what new light we gain from the _Memoir_
respecting the voyage of Nearchos from the naval station in the Indus to
Alexander’s Haven, now Karâchî. We abridge the account which Arrian has
given in his _Indika_ of this part of the famous voyage:—
Weighing from the Naval Station, the fleet reached Stoura,
about 100 stadia further down stream, and at the further
distance of 30 stadia came to another channel where the sea
was salt, at a place called Kaumana. A run of 20 stadia from
Kaumana brought it to Koreatis, where it anchored. After
weighing from this, a bar (ἕρμα) was encountered at the spot
where the Indus discharges into the sea, and through this,
where it was soft, a passage had to be cut at low water, for
a space of five stadia. On this part of the coast, which was
rugged, the waves dashed with great violence. The next place
of anchorage was at Krokala, a sandy island, which was reached
after a course of 150 stadia, that had followed the windings
of the coast. Near this dwelt the Arabies, who had their name
from the river Arabis, which separates their territory from
that of the Oreitai. On weighing from Krokala, a hill called
Eiros lay to the right, and to the left a low flat island,
which stretched along the face of the coast, and made the
intervening creek narrow. The ships having cleared this creek,
reached a commodious harbour to which Nearchos gave the name of
“Alexander’s Haven.” At the harbour’s mouth, two stadia off,
lay an island named Bibakta, which, acting as a barrier against
the sea, caused the existence of the harbour.
Our author thinks that some of the circumstances described in the above
passage supply irresistible evidence that it was through the Ghâro that
Nearchos sailed into the sea. If the obstruction at the mouth of the
river was caused in part by rock, it is certain, he says, that that mouth
cannot have been situated to the east of the Ghâro, for along the whole
sea-border of the Delta, to a depth of several miles, no rock, not even a
stone, is to be found. The description again of the coast adjoining the
bar as rugged or rocky (τραχεῖα) can apply with great propriety to the
plain west of the Ghâro, consisting, as it does, of a compact gravelly
soil, frequently broken by outcropping rock, while the description would
be utterly out of place if applied to the low mud-banks of the actual
Delta coast. And further, the statement that the fleet, after leaving the
river, ran a winding course, shows very pointedly that the Ghâro must
have been the mouth by which the fleet reached the sea, since, if it had
issued from any of the mouths east of the Ghâro, there would have been
no windings to follow, the coast of the Delta being singularly straight
and regular. The fleet probably entered the sea by the creek of the Ghâro
known as the Kudro, not far from the present mouth of which there is a
small port named the Wâghûdar, accessible to riverboats of light draught.
Sir A. Burnes, however, who visited the Delta in 1831, took the Pitî
channel to have been that by which Nearchos gained the sea. He had seen
in that channel what he took to be a rock, and concluded that it was the
obstacle which Nearchos had encountered. It was not a rock, however,
but probably an oyster-bank, for when search was made for it afterwards
during a survey it was no longer to be found.
The island of Krokala, which General Cunningham erroneously identified
with the island of Kîâmârî, which lies in front of Karâchî, no longer
exists as an island, but forms part of the mainland. It lay at the mouth
of the Gisri Creek, by which the Malîr river pours its waters into the
sea. The headland which Arrian calls Eiros is to be identified with the
eminence called “Clifton,” the eastern headland of Karâchî Bay, the
“narrow creek” which the fleet entered on leaving Krokala, is Chinî
Creek, which leads into Karâchî Bay and harbour. Kîâmârî thus corresponds
with the “low, flat island” of the Greek narrative, while Manora
(mistaken by Cunningham for Eiros), exactly corresponds with Bibakta.
We must now briefly notice what is said regarding the eastern portion of
the Delta. Here the most important of all the forsaken channels of the
Indus is the Purân, which can still be clearly traced from two different
starting-points in Central Sindh, one 24, the other 36 miles north-east
of Haidarâbâd. The two head channels run south-east for about 50 miles,
and unite at a spot 45 miles east by south from Haidarâbâd. The single
channel has then a course of over 140 miles to the head of the Korî
Creek, the last 50 miles being through the Ran of Kuchchha. The eastern
arm of the Indus, which Alexander in person explored, was probably some
channel running into the Purân not far above the point where it enters
the Ran. On reaching the sea by this eastern branch, Alexander, as Arrian
informs us, landed, and with some cavalry proceeded three marches along
the coast. This statement the _Memoir_ declares to be a fabrication,
since such a march would be an utter impossibility. At the same time,
the notion of wells being dug in the locality is scouted as an absurdity.
The _Memoir_ further indicates the route by which Alexander, after
starting from Patala to return homewards, reached the Arabis or
Arabios—now the Purâli river, which flows through Lus Bela, and
discharges into Sonmiyâni Bay. The eastern frontier of the Arabios lay
near Krokala, and was very probably formed by the river called the Malîr.
Alexander, according to Curtius, reached this frontier in a nine-days’
march from Patala, and the western frontier, which was about 65 miles
distant from the other, in five days more. Our author, assuming that
Alexander would not have marched his army across the comparatively
waterless plain of the Kohistân, but would keep, if possible, within easy
reach of the river or one of its branches, thinks it obvious that the
earlier part of the route would follow the branch which ran westward—the
branch, namely, of which the Kalrî and Ghâro formed the lower portion.
From the position which he assigns to Patala, the distance traversed in
the nine-days’ march would be 117 miles, while the point on the Malîr
where Alexander encamped would be, he thinks, 7 or 8 miles east by north
from Karâchî cantonments. The distance between the Malîr and the Purâli,
it must be pointed out, is much greater now than it was in Alexander’s
time, for, like the Indus, the Purâli has shifted its course far
westward. The coast-line, moreover, at Sonmiyâni has advanced 20 miles,
if not more, since then. Our author, therefore, placing the mouth of the
river rather to the north of the latitude of Liâri, suggests that the
point where the army reached the Arabios was about 10 miles east by north
from Liâri, and 20 miles north or north by east from Sonmiyâni.
The last Appendix in the _Memoir_ is devoted to a review of the
narrative of the voyage by which Nearchos in six days reached the mouth
of the Arabios or Purâli from Alexander’s Haven. It states in the outset
that the discovery of the great advance of the coast about the head of
Sonmiyâni Bay serves to explain some difficulties in the account of the
voyage which have hitherto defied solution. We here abridge that account:—
The fleet, on weighing from the haven, ran a course of 60
stadia, and anchored under shelter of a desert island called
Domai. Next day, with a run of 300 stadia, it reached Saranga,
and on the following day anchored at a desert place called
Sakala. Another run of 300 stadia brought it on the morrow to
Morontobara or Women’s Haven. This haven had a narrow entrance,
but was deep, capacious, and well-sheltered. The fleet, before
gaining the entrance, had passed through between two islets,
which lay so close to each other that the oars grazed the
rocks on each side. On leaving this harbour next day it had on
the left a tree-covered island 70 stadia long which sheltered
it from the violence of the sea. As the channel, however,
which separated the island from the mainland was narrow, and
shoal with ebb-tide, the passage through it was difficult and
tedious, and it was not till near the dawn of the following day
that the fleet succeeded in clearing it. A course of 120 stadia
brought it to a good harbour at the mouth of the Arabios. Not
far from this harbour lay an island described as being high and
bare.
The island of Domai Colonel Holdich and others would identify with
Manora. Manora, however, Haig points out, is even now 4 to 5 miles off
from the nearest mainland, and must have been further in Alexander’s
time. He would, therefore, place Domai rather more than 4 miles due
west of the town of Karâchî, or perhaps further north. The fleet, in
its course to Saranga, must have rounded Cape Monze or Râs Muâri, but
this projection is not mentioned by Arrian. The position of Saranga, to
judge from the recorded length of the run, must have been near the mouth
of the Hub river, which is 26 miles distant from the position assigned
to Domai. The Hub mouth has been silted up, and this led, last century,
to its port being abandoned. Our author points out that if Κ were
substituted for Σ in Saranga, we would then have in Karanga a very fair
representation of Kharok, the name of the Hub port. However this may be,
he adds, there can be no doubt that the Saranga of Nearchos was either at
the Hub mouth or a few miles further north.
He then corrects a mistake into which Dr. Vincent and myself had both of
us fallen in our respective translations of the record of the next part
of the voyage—that from Saranga to Sakala, and thence to Morontobara. Our
versions represented the two rocky islets, between which the fleet passed
instead of taking a circuitous course out in the open sea, as being in
the neighbourhood of Sakala instead of that of Morontobara. Sakala, Haig
thinks, may be placed a little east of Bidok Lak—a place 24 miles distant
from Saranga, if Saranga be taken to lie a few miles north of the Hub
mouth. Between these two places the fleet must have passed the island of
Gadâni, which is now a part of the mainland, and was probably the Kodanê
of Ptolemy.
With regard to Morontobara, our author agrees with Colonel Holdich in
thinking that it is now represented by the great depression known as
“Sirondha,” which, though usually a fresh-water lake, is occasionally
quite dry. This, as the Colonel states, was at no very distant date
a commodious harbour or arm of the sea, which has extended north in
historic times at least as far as Liâri, and possibly further. He
adds that south-west of Liâri some of the land formation is probably
very ancient, and that westward along the Makran coast there are many
indications of local changes. The distance from Bidok Lak to the
depression is estimated at about 27 miles, which represents very fairly
the 300 stadia of the narrative. Liâri is now about 20 miles distant from
the sea.