Full text of "The voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates, collected from the original journal preserved by Arrian, and illustrated by authorities ancient and modern ..."

See other formats

'■>, iA K^V > ^A-r* ‘

■>r' '■ ' '■( <

*; ' t»f< i T-

'K'^ .

(i I

\A, i<

•»

:.W,

>,■' ''a‘,’'

•>i

j<'^

.[ 'X

T ‘‘t

^ '' ' fs

msm

^'v n'X w

-■ r‘"M

'•iXi <'-4

,?-■>■„ -.ii*

' v'i >,

"'i

■oT^ % 5

' * ■,

tLs^ -<i -Vki

■ V . ,._«;• y.,

, : ‘t'Pjy'zr: ^

ti 1' ’’ ’■r”^ ' •’"'^

„ ,v/‘ >'•

•*"’■■'' ii-

'." Vw

'vVSrl'

fes

f:S>

'-am-

-m: ;a

sftferr: ■ 7

’•yi’''i:‘i;.vwy^ ’^f'

vvy«

ii;’’

tv.f'r

A\-f&-.-

t W> A'/<

Afh

UK IIMIINIHMI ULI I ,. , .Mllil^H I ^

ii^,'

■•v,v j

V>,f

S’ ^

|■•.('•,{l''w‘•>' , , S44y

3‘.%'-V'-V ^ *r ■'^’VV/.V

A-.A

.A 1 ■ > ’»l'

1 7';.^-,:^a'

;./

.''^■>X'i/v '

'liVyi

VI'

'£•!¥,-

■yy ‘>A'

JJ.V'V.. ... J A.

'/'v,’"';!'^<6?«i;

“iif%

; T'Vv

1^5,

. • ' ■■■.'( ' .. <1-.

“ii'-- t_ •*•>'/■■ '.\J>''t-

'm'!;

X'> ■'.•

tS>7x?S^

iMMffiilMhA ■^♦'fir4W'’'-'j 1 ‘^'<‘/ ; '■ -'■V ^ ■•;•';•’■'• '-i ' '■•^. 7’' '-.''.li y', • ■'-’I' ■ ■j::;''Ji !'. •>' '.'• - n' /', " 1 - • 'j-:, U'; ;r' .; :f.A

^Kfilllil&llilli-iifP

^fctfe|^lSii^ii5iii^Sii'lSl#l|l^

■'s

• u

'■f

ii. :»

„!J-

. «'s.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Wellcome Library

https://archive.org/details/b28761157

^ 'T'

c ^ ^ y ^/' ^ ^ " ^

y A /C >A J

^ ./^Z / ' ^ e

// A A, Arrr ^ , A /- ^ y i ^ ‘

/ - /

X A. ^ ^ r //r^n ^ ^ ^

>^/?

■> 1^ y'^f^’t^ ’ A —

e c r~ irr^'

y , Y

y'y' P Y px- — '*» P ^

Ya 3 r/^ -y Af'Hc r- A 'f - /'^^- ^ ,

-V , (y ->.

//V. AaA-^, f 'A ’- V ^

/ Yt- ^ Py*

/ ’

<f p y / p^x j /

c 'pt^ / / '^ ^ y /

'/ /i

' /

^ /7^

a^/a

/ : ^ ^ Yf

/Tc. ^_yk3- ^.,/ ^

/i^ 'T

/ '

^ Px. ^

Ah A '^f y^

A- ^ /TJL

f ' r^y.

^ AP^ / ^

/ /

fy' /'A •'7% /<{.-

^ c- y t /T.

;

/ r

oXe^^ / '^*-

r e A.'} ^; /6 -*

^ v/ ^

/: / '// e ^ >

^ i*. -<7

//< .^c._.///

p-^

4/ /y >€ / ^

■P^r.''

A, //r'^^ .V. . y *'7''"'l^' ^* '''

y^/#—

A-’X^ f /7i, A/" ^ ^ *"

^ e, '?. a -r^ 5- /^'XX.

;

, « •

C ^ ^ c-^- xyx^ ^ c--<^ *

/?^

^ Xj C xT"

// /-

i’^'K^ (/-y.

i( ^!^-c -^.-i-' fXX '

^ ^7v <;^ X<L

"Circ-^y- */ <4.

^ A4_ O- r-t, ^
^7f\. fYX ^ XXX X7< c*- - A

— 'U^e^ y^

■XiX '?y.^y'v/ /- /i- A-x- A y^-h^ y

<x A, '

< <l Ac K (T'^M /c /j a. p, e -Ce-

A A* r^'f-- / 1 t. <f ..t^ t. . '{n. /-u -c. Jy* -« <vr-v ^

^7^ y*^^ ^XJ' ^K 4> / ^z: 4. ^

/x ^ c A. ^ AO xT t *y— »--<' *

^ /

r>y

^ ^ ii A A. yA' ^ ^ ^ • X* r~ rX Ah^< a (P ^ e A- ^ - <-

<»V«

7^/

^i'^A XIa ^ /T j ^ 'ff / 7

*r—

"A, ///^'

/f%/^ // if' r AAiiA /■

//.? C. ,■ - // - /^r ’ ,y ^ ^ /^K /^. jAi h Ac A <'f

gn- CA- ■

A. ^ if C - C ^ .

A At. h' dr

A' a ft

f- ^ /K € ? ;► '/.*, r- A <X - tr < ^ ^

y- Ac-X^M^. ///y ; Jc^C^r- XcJl^AX^^^

^ j y- iAj c- / fi^'p A-y A-^^y , ^ ^ 4- ^ ^

Ai^- P*. <f ^

A ^ > J ^ A K 7 A fS^ < >'lr%. £.-
7 ^'’Cc > y .

^ ^ / AV '>? (TX^-cf f

f-ft fX c * / n, ^ 'U ^ ^ /

/<?

/l C~ T h^ ^ ^ ^

, 4C- x/ ^ ^

- A- ^ ^

At . sj

f ^'K ,

// -%

A yAc

<^ / /5^ / A / Tt-

y A.

--A. ^ ^1 ,

M. c i f ^

P<fP4

C^ 'T' Sr-jru... / y #■ A.

/< C j ix a. ^

J{ r.c^i r. c t - /‘y ^

^V'

(y^^<

^ c di. ^r /i. '/ ~ A /f^ '/ A yJ y^ ^ ^ yt^ A 'f~

cXck X- /tAAg. ,t yc/t^. ftA7,.A ^ C, ^

/ ' '

/'■

^A A. /Ay ^y A A p*~~c V A ^ f AO- H- PL<ft. y />v- « ^ /, Va

/ f C f fU^arhy ^ /A (Th (TtA <^ >T y / tn-^ ? ^

At/ - n A A A (i- 7 / d'r A -

A f t-

^ / ’<V S ( .

^rf /? A ur y«.

C- Cg

r *

X./ »»^

• / U /

^A A / a( C

■AA>

' t*- . ^ • V • ,*-( , /!« ^ t'Ta.y - — tt A c^ <c

>-rri-\ t d- t J >/A ^ 5 ^ ‘''^ 'h.- v^ (r,y^L

A^^:^AA / ^ * z^y y yx^-'y

C .. A-> // /r >* ^ yc/ y^ ^ A €. •

%y^ A y * ^A/rnf jc , . . A^ ^ j /. r. - ^

A ^

.•^ d^.

P'y-

Z' '

^ e^ K ^<5^ J r^ c (' ^

/^ — ^/y ^ f^> ^--e^ /'/i-*'ir'' ry a y j ^^j^-C'-ir'-~ -

'^ifTt A- f' / ^ ^ ^ iT^ fx/ X^ e ^ C 'f ' ’^^XTZ-f e fjr-X^

/ '"^ z • ✓ *

^ X ry- fh A- ^ ^ ^

; '^rfx. /.

/,<

/ / e'j X ^ rX

<i J %

»25 / A- <At_ -g^-'t^

^ s^y C- i

r ZL y/( ^

^ c ix r /j, fie \X /* ^

^ ,/</ /^>i / /=>r^

/ ^ -

<4-^^ <4- /

■•'/L r^-V ^ ^ r • V '‘^ / ^

tf~ie*

■'X '

f >. .

•c*,*'

■„:.a,

;■

:^. /3. 4//^.

' ^ ' "^7

/i ^ ^ A 'J^ 4- y i- e^ f- ^ ^ '/■ C

S./., ^^47} ^//ic y<^y'-ef y

f "-' - ^ S ee^ie-f

f/ fl x/iL^y"^' ^ /% Y'^ e- '"e^ f 4- "f" ^

' /Xe- ^ ^ iTh. Ac X-y r ^tk* ^

/ X fit' / XC /* A ^ ^ <? X-^^ ^ iy^

Z' >v

^ .

« *

r AT

TjX

'*■ •-. •, ’.

‘I ' A

'<.'^' ‘•> ? *. vr'

.:'ai

■ ;t

■ f"*'.-

i»

. >•?

■■ ■ f- r

fe‘'' '

..- >-4>,

. .-4 -'

*/ ".' /<

-Jt'V •-

^ .

dtJ_-

....^

.'.iV-

\ ^

APERIAM TERR AS GEWTIBITS .

fuM'£jrd , hrn ■^’/4 .

‘i

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS

FROM THE INDUS TO THE EUPHRATES,

COLLECTED FROM THE

ORIGINAL JOURNAL PRESERVED BY ARRIAN,

AND ILLUSTRATED BY

AUTHORITIES ANCIENT AND MODERN;

CONTAINING

AN ACCOaNT OF THE FIRST NAVIGATION ATTEMPTED BY

EUROPEANS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN.

By WILLIAM ^VINCENT, D.D.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

THREE DIS S ERTATIONS:

Two, on the Acronychal Rising of the Pleiades,

By the Riglit Reverend Dr. SAMUEL HORSLEY, Lord Bifliop of Rochefter;

And by Mr. WILLIAM WALES, Mailer of the Royal Mathematical School in Chrill’s Hofpital;

And One by Mr. DE LA ROCHETTE,

On the First Meridian of Ptolemy,

Pofterls an allqua cura noftri, nefcio, nos certe meremur ut fit aliqua, non dico ingenio
(id enim fuperbum) fed Audio, fed labore, et reverentia pofterorum.

Plinius, Tacito. Lib. ix. Ep. 14.

LONDON;

Printed for T. CadellJuu. and W. Davies (SuccefTors to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand.

MDCCXCVII

Meo/CAi. j

P R E F A

T T is the privilege of an Author to avail himfelf of a
Preface, in order to announce his delign, to acknow-
ledge obligations, and to anticipate objedlions.

I. On the firft head, however, I fhall be iilent, the
Work muft fpeak for itfelf; and in the expreffion of my
gratitude I fhall confine myfelf, except in one inftance, to
perfonal communications; for all that is publifhed is free
ground, and to ufe it fairly is the bed: acknowledgment.

II. To Dr. Horfley, Bifhop of Rochefler, and to
Mr. Wales, the companion of Cook, I am indebted for
two Diflertations (which would do honour to any work)
upon one of the moft: intricate queflions of Chronology;
and to Mr. de la Rochette for the folution of a geogra-

O tD

phical difficulty of no fmall importance. Dr. Ruflell,
the hiftqrian of Aleppo, was my advifer in the few at-

A 2 - tempts

PREFACE.

tempts I have made upon Arabic etymology, and con-
ferred a ftill greater favour by introducing me to a cor-
refpondence with Mr. Niebuhr, the befl of modern tra-
vellers furviving. The information I received from him,
indeed, related more immediately to another objed: than
the one before us ; but as a future opportunity may not
offer, I feize the prefent with avidity to own my obli-
gations. By Mr. Bryant I was favoured with a map
which I could not otherwife have procured j and to
Mr. Marfden, the hiftorian of Sumatra, I am indebted
for an introdudion to Mr. Dalrymple.

Such are the favours I have received from literary
frknds, but to the Gentlemen in the fervice of the Eaft
India Company I have obligations of a different kind.

Major Rennell’s Memoirs I have confulted upon all
occahons, and if 1 have not profited by perfonal inter-
courfe, the fault is mine. His civilities will not be
erafed from my mind; but I found that he was engaged
in fome geographical refearches that interfered with a part
of my own, and I held it neither juft or honourable to
afk for information upon a fubjed that he had already
occupied. I have now only to hope that the refult of
our feparate inquiries may effentially correfpond, as, in

cafe

PREFACE.

cafe of difagreement, his reputation as a geographer is
eftablifhed, and mine is only an expectancy.

From Mr, Jones, Reiident for the Company at
Buflieer and Bafra, I obtained much information in the
fpace of a fhort interview ; but he left London before
I could profecute my inquiries, and much to my regret;
as I had promifed myfelf great advantage from his inti-
mate knowledge of the country and the language, and
his intercourfe with the people in power ; circumftances
which qualify him to give a better account of the pre-
fent ftate of Perlia than almoft any other vifitor of the '
Eaft.

But Mr. Dalrymple demands the utnioft tribute of my
gratitude. 1 have had accefs to his whole colledion
publifhed and unpublifhed, and his advice upon every
queftion of doubt or difficulty. Two charts, compofed
under his direction, accompany the Voyage of Nearchus;
and as one of them comprehends a. part of the coaft
which, without his affiftance, was inexplicable, a fhort
account of the furvey on which it is founded cannot be
unacceptable.

In the year 1774, a little fquadron was equipped at
Bombay for the purpofe of exploring the coaft between

the

PREFACE.

the Indus and the Gulph of Perha. It confifted of the
following veflels :

Fox, Lieutenant Robinfon, Commodore.

Dolphin, Lieutenant Porter.

A Patamar boat, in which Mr. Blair and Mr. Mafcall,
volunteers, were occalionally employed.

From the materials collected by thefe officers, Mr. Dal-
rymple conflru.dled a chart, containing the Survey of Lieu-
tenant Robinfon, and accompanied it with a Memoir '
drawn up by Lieutenant Porter, which he prefaces with
the following obfervation :

“ The coafts here defcribed are fo little known, that
“ every particular mufl: be acceptable, as we have
“ fcarcely any account of them lince the time of Alex-
“ ander the Great.”

So perfeftly true have I found this, that there is no
one Author I have confulted whofe relation is intelligible
without the affiftance of this Memoir; and if the Jour-
nal of Nearchus can now be prefented to the Public
with any degree of perfpicuity, or any hope of afford-
ing pleafure, it is due to the liberal fpirit of the Faff
India Company, to the Prelidency at Bombay, to the

PREFACE.

ability of the officers employed upon the fervice, and to
the ufe Mr. Dalrymple has made of their information.

Commodore Robinfon is ftill living, and has favoured
me with an interview, in which many of my difficulties
were removed.

Captain Blair has in fome meafure affifted me in tracing
the whole coaft of Mehran which I defcribe, and, with
a liberality congenial to his profeffion, has favoured me
with a {ketch of the coaft at Cape Jafk, which fblves a
geographical queftion left in obfcurity by the ancient
writers ; and, previoufly to this attempt, undecided by
the moderns '.

The fecond chart, containing the Gulph of Perfia,
was of lefs difficult conftrucftion, from the ample fupply
of modern information in the pofl'effion of Mr. Dal-
rymple ; but his chief reliance is lixed upon Lieutenant
M‘Cluer’‘, another officer in the fervice of the Eaft India

* Much will be faid in the following
Work u})on the authenticity of the Journal;
but the highefh teftimony in its favour I re-
ceived from this Gentleman. He queftioned
me how the fleet found a fupply of water;
and never fhall i forget his furprife when I
anfwered, “ in the fame manner. Sir, as you
did, by opening pits upon the beach.”

^ I'he chart of the Gulph of Perfia, by
Lieutenant M‘Cluer, was not o public Jurvey^
but the meritorious operation of an inclwi’-

dual during the moments he could allot with-
out negleH of the common duties of an
officer in the different veffels in which he
ferved. It fhews how much may be done
in common voyages where diligence and
ability are not wanting. Lieutenant M.‘C]ucr
had adopted a wild fcheme of paffing his
days at the Pciew Iflands, but has now
abandoned it, and the Public may flill hope
for much nautical fervice from him. — Note
by Mr. Dalrymple.

Company,

P R E F ACE.

I » •

VUl

Company, and whom he regards as a navigator of ex-
traordinary merit and abilities. The lower part of the
gulph and the iflands in it, as to their general pofition
and bearings, have long been arranged, though perhaps
with an inferior degree of accuracy ; but the mouths of
the Euphrates and the Tigris have never been fo per-
fe6lly delineated, as by the hand of Mr. - Dalrymple.
Mr. d’Anville has laboured this point in an exprefs Me-
moir upon the fubjedl, to the full extent of that geo-
graphical learning of which he was fo eminently pof-
feffed ; but he had not the means of information, nor
accefs to thofe fources which enabled Mr. Dalrymple to
conftrudl his chart. At the head of the gulph, and in
the difpolition of the channels of the Euphrates, Tigris,
and Eulseus, Mr. d’Anville has been milled, from want
of materials which have lince been fupplied by the pub-
lications of Niebuhr, and the invefligation of our Englilh
navigators. To their labours Mr. Dalrymple is indebted
for his lingular accuracy, and I have had the fatisfailion to
find that Arrian is more confiftent in proportion to every
new light that has been obtained upon the fubjed.

III. With fuch alfiftance from others, more .perhaps
will be expeded in the following Work than will be
found. To this I have only to plead, that the utmoft

diligence

diligence has been exerted, and the greatefl; attention
has been paid to every fource of information I could dif-
cover; nor am I fenfible of negledling any, ualefs fome-
thing fhould lie concealed in the early accounts of the
Portuguefe’ upon their firft arrival in India, but their
language I do not underhand, and the nianufcript of
Reflende in the Britilh Mufeum is hardly legible, ex-
cept to a native, I collected fome politions from the
charts and drawings in that Work, in which the coafl: of
Mekran is better laid down than in any I have fcen
previous to Commodore Robinfon’s Survey. The Por-
tuguefe had a fettlement at Guadel, and one or two^
others on the coafl. Some of their accounts in Latin I
have learched in vain; and Oforius, whom Dr. Robert-
fon quotes with refpeft, I examined, but found his
period was too early to avail me.

Some apology is requifite for the other Maps I have
introduced. They are compiled from d’Anville, Rennell,

^ A few names occur in de Barros Ra- by the Portuguefe, p* 373* It appears from
mufio’s Colledlion, tom. i, p. 388; and I have another part of his work alfo, vol. iii. p. 416,
llkewife examined the Englifh tranflations of that the coaft of Guadel and Sinde were a
Manuel de Faria y Soufa (1695), and of Her- P^rt of the Portuguefe fettlements. Texei-
nan Lopes de Caftaneda (1582}, with little ra I have not met with in Englifh,
lijccefs. Soufa mentions Reflende, vol. ii. though I am told there is a tranflation of hi*
p. 294, and the plundering of Guadel travels.

and

PREFACE.

and Dalrymple ; but they are the effort of one who
never compofed a Map before. The ufe of them is
to conned the motions of the army with thofe of the
fleet, and to explain the geography of Arrian ; but the
introdudion of them might have been fpared, if I could
have procured a fmall fheet Map of Mr. de la Rochette’s,
comprifing all the conquefts of Alexander. That, how-
ever, I was forced to decline, as the price exceeded my
abilities.

I forefee likewife, that exception may be taken to the
quantity of introdudory matter, and to a variety of di-
greffions and interruptions which will occur ; but for
thefe I offer no apology. My purpofe was not to tranf-
late Arrian, but to make him intelligible to an Englifh
reader, and to invefligate a variety of fubjeds, hillorical,
geographical, and commercial. The narrative has never
yet been exhibited in a perfpicuous form ; and even
T3r. Campbell*, in his account of this Voyage, though
he is the only writer who^ has comprehended the
views and defigns of Alexander, has, almoft equally
with his predeceffors, negleded the redudion of
ancient geography to the ftandard of modern inform-

* In Harris’s Colledlioii, vol. i. p. 400.

ation.

■u.

PREFACE.

ation. I may perhaps have defcended too- much into
minutenefs on this fubjeft, but I cannot repent itj
my duty was to explain my author, and I wifhed
to have the fite of Kalama fixed as decidedly as that
of Alexandria.

To a modern navigator I may appear to have dis-
figured my charts with ancient names, but I have not
omitted the modern ones, nor negleded to mark the
longitude and latitude of any cape or ifland of import-
ance, from the lateft obfervations ; and much difap-
pointment fhould I feel, if the critical inquiries which
occur, fhould render the Work unacceptable to any in-
telligent officer who may hereafter vifit thefe coafts.
Every deduftion made in the clofet from a comparative
view of former writers, ought to be fubje(9: to inquiries
upon the fpot. Thefe I court, rather than decline ;
and if any navigator fhould make this Work the com-
panion of his voyage, I fhall be ready to retract any
opinion, or corred: any miftake, upon better information.
Geography, of all fciences, profits moft by the cor-
redlion of errors.

The orthography I have adopted will be liable to the
objedtions both of literary and nautical readers : I have
only to requeft that it may not be imputed to a love of

a 2

PREFACE.

i »

XTl

fingularity or affeSation, but to principle; for I have
difcovered feveral relations by contemplating rhe native
founds of Greek orthography, and many more I am per-
fuaded will occur to thofe who purfue their inquiries
in the country. I write, for inftance, Killoota, not Cil-
luta, becaufe the latter comes to our ear, Silleuta; and the

former is the true found to the ear of a Greek. In mo-
dern names alfo I write Phoregh, and not Fohregh ; be-
caufe the Ph preferves the relation of Phooreh with
Poora, which Arrian makes the capital of Gadroha. In
comparing Oriental names with European orthography,
I wifh every inquirer to notice, that P. B. T. ' and feveral
others, are the fame letter with the afpirate or without
it ; the diftindion is made by a mark in many Eaftern
languages, as by a point in the Hebrew. A minute at-
tention- to this has led me to more difcoveries than
*

oriCi

In writing names familiar in our Englifh charts, I pre-
fer the moft popular, but generally notice the variation
either on the firft mention of it, or occafionally as the
ufage occurs. Thus I adopt Bufheer and Bombareek, as
known to every Englifh navigator, rather than Abu-

» 3 Ph. 5 P. 3 Bh. 3 B. n Th. n T. and B in Perfic V. All the letters “J J 3
n £3 D liable to this fluduatiou.

fchsehr

PREFACE.

« • •

xni

fchsehr and Cohum-barick*, which Niebuhr pronounces
to be the Oriental orthography. I agree, however, moft
cordially with Mr. Dalrymple, in allowing that every
variation fhould be preferved till fomc eflablifhed mode
fhall be fixed ; and in no one inftance can this fluctu-
ation be more fully exemplified, than in the expreflion of
the Perfian’ ^ Kaf. This letter our Englifli navi-
gators enounce as the foft G, writing Gidda or Jidda ;
but Michaelis afierts, that in the neighbourhood
of the Gulph of Perfia it is uttered like Tfch, and
Niebuhr’ writes Dsj, as Dsjefira for Gefira. Even in
Oriental fluctuation this found becomes hard like our
G, before a, o, or u ; for Gefira pafles into Ghefira, Ga-
fira, and Gufera; and ftill farther into K and Ch% as

® Mr. Niebuhr’s orthography of this word
is liable to obje6fion, for Bundereek he
writes Bunder-regh, and regh is fand.

’ Michaelis Extrait de Niebuhr, p. 19-
Aux Environs du Golfe Perfique on pro-
nonce 9 Kaf comme tfch.

^ J’ai deja remarque . . . qu’il eft difficile
de bien ortographier dans fa propre langue,
mais plus difficile encore dans une langue
etrangere, .... c’eft ce que eft caufe que
j’avoisquelquefois ortographie tout dift'erem-
ment les noms des memes villages, fuivant
la prononciation de difFerens perfonnes, Nie-

buhr. Voyage, tom. i. p. 57. Amfterd.
edit.

And p. 74. Or ft un ecrivain Arabe a
ecrit difteremment les memes noms, d’apres
la prononciation de plufteurs de fcs compa.-
triotes, le vrai Savant ne me faura pas mau-
vais gre, .... que je n’ai pas voulu ecrirc
moi-meme les noms en charadleres Arabes.

After thefe confeffions, who can affedt
precifton in writing Oriental names ?

^ Michaelis writes Dfchiddaj Niebuhr,,
Dsjidda, for our Englifti Jidda.

Ni les Grecs ni les Eatins connoiflent le
Ton de Jch en Ailemand, Extrait, p. 31.

Dsjenk

X17

PREFACE.

Dsjenk into Kienk, Kenk, and Chienk ; under another
form, by adhering to the D, it drops the sj, and be-
comes Denk and Tenk. It is thus that Pliny writes
Jomanes, and Ptolemy, Diamuna, for Jumna, the river
of Dehli, which falls into the Ganges. With this
copious fource of variation, (and numerous others that
are attendant upon other letters,) furely Michaelis con-
fines etymology within bounds far too narrow, when he
infifts upon the appearance of individual letters to efta^
blifh a conformity. In my opinion, the ear is a better
guide than the eye. What European, upon the firfi;
view of the Oriental Bukhetunnufre'”, would difcover
that the found is familiar? It is by the ear only we find
that, with the addition of a fyllable, it is Nabuchodo-
nozer, the Nebuchadnezzar of the Scriptures. I wifii
not, however, to-difplay the parade of refearch on this
fubjedt, for I have ventured little on etymology ; if I
efcape from reprehenfion on the Icore of orthography",
it is fufficient.

To accompliili the whole Work agreeably to my own
fatisfafftion, a greater ftock of geometrical knowledge
and Oriental learning was necefiary than has fallen to

Otter, tom. i. p. 182. So the Eng- See on this fubjedl, Ludolphus AbylTi-

lifii write Ser-po-jee for the Mahratta name nia, bookiv. c. i.

Su! ra-botfchi.

^5 my

PREFACE.

my lot, and I now fubmit it to the Public, not without
apprehenhon that it is as likely to offend by minute-
nefs'h as to pleafe by arrangement and variety of in-
veftigation. It is, however, a Work compiled by the
labour of many years, and perfected to the beft of my
abilities, and it now Hands for judgment before a tribunal
from which there is no appeal.'

Minute as I muft fometimes appear, about Cape Louis and Cape Francois in
the Right Reverend and judicious Editor of that ifland; though the coaft of Mekran is
Cook’s laft Voyage will juftify me by his at leaft as interefting, and as likely to be vi-
example; for I have never fpent the time fited again, as that fouthern I'hule. Neither
upon an obfcure place that he has upon his Lordfhip nor myfelf, I truft, deferve cen-
Kerguelen’s land ; and never been fo anxious fure ; but it is the tafte of the reader which
to clear a difficulty about a name, as he has muft decide*

■ .'Tc •

i ‘-’i: > ■

■,r'.

♦ <

I ■

.v*.

•;A *

'*■

• '■' . L ■ ■•■'.

■ V v7.r:

. . r%ms - : • ' V ■ 1

-.• ■ . "V V-V- ■ '^■ .,■ , ■ '/■f'- . ■* ■ • T

' • . ' 4 f '~ ■ ; *■ » » •• •< ^ » * - ' •--.

f : f, If 1 /■ * -• 1 o

'"v>‘

I '* ", ' / ' ■' ' ,

■■.'■ .* ' '■' V ■ ' ■• . '. ,, ;i. ,' vt ' ' ■ ... ' 'i r 'i i; o

j .

I * < ' . »

X^,.4-

••.-i '.{‘Tf-

• ^ *

?•" . ...

f .., /!»'■

. -c

:!(

. ’V ,'■> -•

>.-•*1

•1

■ •*>■ ■

4*1 J

-I <? •' . ,

. V'. ' . ’ '%*■-

* .<3^. ■■ ' V'T- '■ ■ ■'*’■■ ^ '

'■/'

;,-,-x x x-. te:; , "x Wx-

i , ' r . . .. -,4 . • . MPk. i ■

’ fi » ^ - mfj f- -

. ri

.- • - <

■< ..

\ .

r 'C'
■■

’ :> ♦ ■ •' ,i!'' 'It'Xl'v ' " . : ^ ! !.‘i ' ( n '

- X •■' f.. ■ = . ■: ■ ' ., V>’ , c ■. -.4, ^

A ■/■ '.'”> ■ ■ ’ ' . " ■*‘*1 ■ i > ■*:“ '*>' • ~

■ c .' ■ ■ •\ ..:*:■■ : '1/ , ^ ^ fV:.' yr;; . ■■•7

, • -'.J ^ 1 t ^ - * -.4^* J -V ^1 fcf • *■' » •. »•* ^

/ • A '- * ' . ' . - * . • ' ‘ \

•‘ '•'■f'-X . \ * ■ . ■* . ♦ -. V . #' •....•; *<.aX* ■' ' --' '^ ' T 'iT - .

,■ X '"• • ■">• - 7 .V , ^ • V.; 4 ■';■'< ’,•'- ' ' <"4

. '.v .Xf^^x^ x.x:^n:rx^v>T^x:isi;^'•^^ :.

-- i -A' -■ ■ • , X" ' ■ > ! \ :

I' .

-f

i -X

■ ->

.» •« »

•i

' :;'A . ^x: '.x... u X :• .x XU v, , -X: ,^ , x.... • ^ x.x,v- :xT.^ . x j T •

.. ; -s'’",*" A?. ■* ' •< .'1 . - ' . /

' ;. . •' > ... ^ , . . « ■ J ,*ti. X ■*• ■■ '■' ■» '*’*.-■•■ -v ■ ^ • “ •. V , .

•> > *.- ' ■• ■ - ■ .- 4 ■ -..-k-r.,- ' ^ __ ; .f ■<■ “.,'5- _

- T— ^ . . . V . - ■ ■ r- .-rf*.- i .tti- a * y.j< ^ A '.j'j.v ■» .. XU. -:ij. X- ~> A»f.- -» V. -^ . ■

4- - 4-'^ , .v" ,-'-X-X „• , _ .... v,. . : - •-.

. - •■ t • y ’ "1' • ’•■ ■ ,. ■ . s4 . • ,.T.v ■ , *'J' ‘ ■• *; I *

* • • • w

.>\

■( i

« • ,.v ■ , *.'j- ‘ -. *; I *

- . -c ^l-r • i>v .... -'. t, / ri

.X .

•U' Xi.'';-
X

.. f

■ ,

X-'-' -'S'

X '.‘..A i =.

L y • ** • >>’ V Xf.X •. “t-. , . •. - ' • . .. ry •. . ., a*

. A.jK ^ -4^, ) ' 4?^;' ^ ‘j .x^X'

,,.. '. &A r :■ /A ... J,. x^,.^ _ >A X ^5.;^ i J; • C"

■ . . X. • rrV -X " • .vV;X _ 4,-^^ ' ;;X.:.v ..XXUi: .. .-^^v .... A._,

J". .;■
iS', .‘

X , y^XX^ X ;^'-

■ -V

:x x» U -

~ i

■ v«. ..*.4.'^ -A v;- ... A-

4j... y .k "■'’X ■, > .'X' i*>'*i*i .j'v

- :;»■ ^ ...^ ' A . . X-^-,.- . . XJL .m

i:' ; :■ '■ <■ :' ■>>;.>.■

• Aj

■ ■ ' '^ 1,.

A*. .' ■ ‘X

Ws-, ■-

. ’■* • ^ '. > • ‘ ** .'J- » ■ ’.'' • .-■% • J^- • • ' • ,

•u *

‘V .--i-i

; - '*

A'; ^=XA;r iX^

..A.V ^ . "X ^

.. . -4-. c . ■ . J •■■.; .- • A. ■ ‘■^. ;. , .. - ., .^ .

... -Tta;. Av -.41. . • ■ ■ ; »• • ■. -- *'

■ '***^ '

.• /• '•'

-. '.‘A. '

' ■ . - <’^> • s .

- .,' U. ;‘. X:< •

r<i

■' -• ..^- ;-

: ,x

'! ^X AX X “i X-y^

. _ ■ ' ■ ■ ' :.■'

- ^ ^' , ■ ., .-4 ■’■ " A -r- ■:

■ ‘X‘ , . x-X' -A -.V '>' • ;;X

.1,A.^...j,., ..

- • -. Si ■ A '•' ' • X ■'::

• •

- x.A A '\

• •, *>■'. .'v #•

■'1. ..U'

A V '■ .’’ . i-'* '';

■''-•■■■ A .; ■ '■ ,';.'/;T. *. . ’.O' 'v -■

.' .• . •'-.yv.A: A" - X>T^ '‘1"

• >':5

'Xn , •» (y

'mx

* ?;

!#■'

7%.

i . r-.

■' • ^-■' ■ '• .i . '■. . •■'i ■ .1 ■ /v ■ ' -4‘ ■■■•.' "' - ' '.■ * •».''' , r ' ■* *» ■■ . ...

^ ■ •U-;'..X - -'r’A.. A,- A- . 'V-.- A ; X^;:-* '

■ • X '.-^-.^X:^' '-A VVa A^ -,, .. V - m ^

• "A - : X ■. ' X-.XX-. . . ..' • • -x •• ■ V

*7' 7 - ^^vv 4;xx^-' . .■■xX'.vx ■•^- . ■ --^ ■ ■ X

^ V tft-H

L-'X

‘v
•' .

-- y > •

XM’

• ,H
if ’a

. 4^3 ■. ’ " .

■ iC‘.

^ v^i

X^'

.»■•■;

• y».

, -■■* V.

'- ' ^ ■ •■’ cu

. ; ■ .7^. ■ ■■ ' r

.5,

-fv .. ,

r--4

r^:,. .. -4 . .*

■ X - X ‘

•'••<'x.-U

v3'.V^ *

•i. ■•.

.' 1 * V-'.' .

4 i-i • .'•

'V' X X - 1

X ,X

".»•

>■ '. ,. .<

.4^4' >

■ ■ X '

' . •'

. A- X x^. .X..,

• ■ '<1 '. '

, .

*J ■ 4

■^4 ,.;.

. • . xX . .

■ Xi

X!K>^,'XX

X‘ ■ :

-V -'.'.v V

4 '* •' ■ “

■f ' "x ' ;/ -’-

X;,vA . . . '!■•

X,; X '

..V

.r'*

" • . ■ , \ ■■

. • • N

• ■ ■ * 4 .4

'■ '<‘X

■f ' . '

•’1 ■'^■

" '7f'

r* '. ' ■ ■ ■ **

•; . .

. '..• .

■_.■'■ , X

• 1

^<y, .

./ ,

X?Vi-

■V-

•J'm* .

■ .'• '' v* ' A. ‘. .

V /.4 V • > . .

■ ^V

4 .:/iV.

tSn

?iS’

■ >y' ^

U*5 ,

:rr< -/y

. %
N. ♦

fvX.

A*.. > ■'.

A>,y •A-.w

^ ■ T ■^. ® ■ .',^' ■, ' ..

■ ' ■ V -A . ■> -i/

, U
ri -•

■. (

i' *

;:.A"U -

:i . A

A.V.* «

• A 1

■-

vVi.**

♦ *

.. '■!« *4

. . s'.t * X .-

U '1 ',

■ *^X t* * .

.ifl

■• • a.a'Xx, ^ I • ' x^fUx'r-

4 • 'y'. ''.?v ••''■■ .*. '4j l- X-

‘. '_.’i“.' ■> ,%■'' *. \ y.’,' '<'_’ .»

' ^ X ' X i> '*'* 1

4 V

•«

4 ' - ''

■.J'Ai.fA V

T- •

«• I.

>5 ’. \ '. • >* ’ ♦.

. 1 -. 't , *" • ' 'S.

UX/' U.-'.:UxX X‘;X ■'' -■ • ...vA-a-.^

vXvUX-v^^X;^a<!Ja:- ' -■ *■

'■ i '.XX^ • i- 'X' A- • ’■ ■ ;;; ii

BuctphxlO' ,

y^fAP from l)^'\iiville . \

J^dilj-iib t'nmiAxri^ajiL.
Coast of Mekrak from
C . Robinson . I

inimded to rofm^ft dirjf<vr/i af'tho
annifs wUh difp/v^rf/sofdifFfeen

A? ftVTU Book I. I

Ibora

-Fhareh

\Haar

'':Pra

isiZy^Jems

jklxisikanus

Patal a

MOQEqL

.jiimmitfiBmiflm

llpmiiiiiiirininnnJ.

•^nmiTiiimimfH|i_

PuMxshed acco-rding to^ct of Jy l}’^Vfnc€n.t .

THE

^ ■

O Y A G E

O F

A R C H U S.

BOOK L

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

I. Intro duEtion*' — 11. Character and Dejigns of Alexander. — III. Alex^

andria. — IV. Country at the Sources ofjhe Indus. — V. Survey of
the Empire. — ^VI. Geographers Pliny ^ Ptolemy dh Anville^ Ren^
?ielL — VII. Dates. — VIII. Monfoons. Hippalus ; Ptolemy ; Mar*
dan ; Arrian^ Author of the Periplus. — IX. Itinerary Meafures.^^
X. Defence of the Authenticity of the Journal.

I. H E voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates
A is the firft event of general importance to mankind, in the
hiftory of navigation ; and if we difeover the comprehenfive
genius of Alexander in the conception of the defign, the abilities of
Nearchus in the execution of it are equally confpicuous.

Hiftorical fads demand our attention In proportion to the Inte-
reft we feel, or the confequences we derive from them ; and the
confequences of this voyage were fuch, that as, in the firft inftance,

B it

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

it opened a communication between Europe and the mofl; diftant
countries of Afia, fo, at a later period, was it the fource and origin
of the Portuguefe difcoveries, the foundation of the greateft com-
mercial fyftem ever introduced into the world ; and confequently the
primary caufe, however remote, of the Britifh eftablifhments in India.

The narrative of this voyage has been preferved to us by Arrian,
who profefles to give an extract from the journal of Nearchus ; and
notwithftanding its authenticity has been difputed (which is a
queftion that will be fully difcuffed hereafter), we may venture
to aflert, that it prefents to an unprejudiced mind every internal
evidence of fidelity and truth.

It has been the peculiar felicity of Arrian to rife in eftimation, in
proportion to the degree of attention paid to the tranfadlions he
records. As our knowledge of India has increafed, the accuracy
of his hiftorical refearches has been eftablifhed ; and as the limits
of geography have been extended, the exadtnefs of his information
has become daily more confpicuous, and the purity of the fources
from whence he drew, more fully acknowledged.

In regard to the voyage of Nearchus, a mere tranflation of the
work of Arrian would have given but a barren detail of names,
with little fatisfaftion ' to the curious fpirit of modern inveftigation,
and would in fa£t have been fuperfluous : for tranflations of this
narrative are to be found in Ramufio, Ablancourt, Rook, and Har-
ris But it is the defign of the following work, to confider
the views of Alexander in the diredlion of this undertaking, to
elucidate the courfe of Nearchus, and to identify the points in which
ancient and modern geography coincide.

* The voyage of Nearchus is not in the original collection of Harris, but inferted
in Dr. Campbell's edition of that work.

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S IT I O N S.

So far as concerns the paflage down the Indus, and the navi-
gation of the Gulph of Perfia, this has been already performed
by Major Rennell and Mr. d’Anville ; but Major Rennell ^
leaves Nearchus at the mouth of the Indus, and Mr. d’Anville !
takes him up at the entrance of the Perfian Gulph ; the inter-
mediate fpace they have both abandoned, as too obfcure, or too
uninterefting for inveftigation, though the merit of the commander
depends upon the difficulties he furmounted in this part of his voyage
more efpecially ; and the clearing up of the geographical obfcurity
was an object worthy of the talents of two fuch matters in the
fcience.

The lights they have afforded, in the parts they have executed,
the pofitions they have ettablittied, and the difficulties they have
removed, will be adopted in the following pages, without referve ;
if at any time I diffent from either, or both of them, I fhall do it
with proper deference to their authority; and if I affume an opinion
of my own, it is a privilege they have exercifed fuccefsfully, and
a privilege I have an equal right to claim, not originating in ca-
price, but in a long and ttudious contemplation of my fubje£l. To
Mr. Dalrymple I have already expreffed my acknowledgments; but
befides his affiftance to this immediate work, I derive from his
communication a variety of the moft correfl: charts, plans and de-
figns refpefting both the coaft of Mekran and the Gulph of Perfia ;
and, above all, a collection of Memoirs and Extracts accompanied
with his own obfervations, on which I rely with confidence for the
folution of every difficulty.

^ Major Rennell, in his Memoir accom- in the 30th volume of the Memoirs of the
panying his Map of Hindoflan. ' Academy of Belles Lettres.

^ Mr. d’A^mvilJe, in a Difeourfe contained

B 2

Such

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS-

Such are the fources from whence I derive my information, and
thefe,with the affiftance of Tavernier, Otter, Pietro della Valle, The-
venot, Sainte Croix, Cheref-eddin, Niebuhr, and the Ayeen Akbari,
are the principal modern authorities upon which the following com-
pilation is founded ; the more ancient ones will be feen as they occur ;
and if the refult upon the whole fhall be, that the policy of Alex-
ander in the defign is as confpicuous as his felicity in the execution,
the objefl: of the work is completed.

ALEXANDER.

♦

IL The refearches of modern hiftorians and geographers have
taught us to confider Alexander neither as an hero of chivalry
on the one hand, nor as a deftroying ravager on the other. Wc
are no longer mifled by the invectives of Seneca, or dazzled with
the inflated declamation of Curtius. As the writings of Arrian
have become better known, the juft ftandard of this illuftrious
character has been fixed : the rapidity of his fuccefs has appeared the
refult of prudence as well as valour, while his fyftem of govern-
ment and plans of empire have been found confiftent with the
foundeft policy.

Previous to the expedition of the Macedonians, the empire of
Perfia had been invaded by Cimon the Athenian, and in a more
recent period by the Lacedasmonians, under the command of Thym-
bron, Dercyllidas, and Agefilaus. The utmoft extent of thefe fe-
veral invafions was to wafte the provinces, to fupport a Grecian
army with the fpoils of Afia, and to infult the great King in return
for the calamities brought upon Greece by the expeditions of his
predeceflfors^

But

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

But Alexander, from the moment he eroded the Hellefpont, con-
fidered every country he fubdued as a portion of his future empire.
He never plundered a fingle province that fubmitted, he raifed no
contributions by extortion. From the battle of the Granicus, to the
final defeat of Darius at Arbela, although he had overrun Afia
Minor, Syria, and Egypt, the richeft countries of the empire, his
conquefts were attended with no oppreffion of the people, no vio-
lation of the temples, no infult to religion.' Order and regulation
engaged his attention equally with the conduct of the war ; his
meafures were taken with fiich prudence, that during eight years
abfence at the extremity of the Eaft, no revolt of confequence
occurred, and his fettlement of Egypt was fo judicious as to ferve
for a model to the Romans in their adminiftratlon of that pro-
vince at the diftance of three centuries.

After the defeat of Darius at Arbela, the , flight of that
unfortunate monarch, and the purfuit of the ufurper Beflus,
led Alexander to Sogdiana, Badria, and the northern provinces
of the empire. The confequence naturally was, that when
he determined to enter India, he found himfelf at the lources of the
Indus.

The detail of his vldories in the countries bordering on that
river, is foreign to the prefent work, and will be no farther
noticed than as it contributes to illuftrate the progrefs of the
fleet ; we fliall embark with Nearchus at Nicasa on the Hydafpes,
and accompany him, affifted by the light of modern geography,
till he delivered up his charge on the Pafitigris,, within a few miles
of Sufa.

The completion of this voyage with the mofl: perfed fuccefs,
was intended only as a prelude to another, in which the circum-

navigatiovi

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

navigation ^ of Arabia was to be attempted ; already had Archias \
Androfthenes, and Hiero been difpatched to explore the weftern fide
of the Gulph of Perfia, and returned with an account of the pro-
grefs they had made. Already had Nearchus actually embarked, and
Alexander had anticipated the commercial intercourfe between
India and Alexandria, when a fever fnatched him from the con-
templation of ftill greater defigns, in the thirty-third year of his life,
and the thirteenth of his reign.

ALEXANDRIA.

III. It is perhaps imputing too much to the forefight of this extra"*
ordinary man, to aflert that he had preconceived this compre-
henfive fcheme of commerce from the firft foundation of Alex-
andria ; but certain it Is, that as his mind expanded with his fuccefs,
and his information increafed in proportion to the progrefs of his
arms, the whole plan was matured in his mind before his death, and
the execution of it nearly afcertalned.

Whatever vanity is attached to the foundation of cities, and how-
ever this paffion might operate upon Alexander, utility was ftill the
prevailing motive in his mind. Harris ^ has judicioufly obferved,
that moft of the cities founded by the Syrian kings exifted little
longer than their founders ; and perhaps, if we except Antioch on

^ A voyage by the Cape of Good Hope
round Africa was alfo in his contemplation.
See Ar. lib. v. p. 230. where he tells his
army that his fleet fhall fail round that con-
tinent to the Pillars of Hercules. It is a boafl>
however, rather than a plan.

5 See Ar. lib. vii. p. 301,

® Montefquieu, fpeaking of the defign of
Alexander in founding Alexandria, fays,

“ II ne fongeoit point a un commerce dont
** la decouverte de la mer des Indes pouvoit
“ feule lui faire naitre la penfee.’* Efp. des
Loix, liv. xxi. c. 8.

7 Harris, vol. i. chap. ii. feit. 8.

the

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

the Orontes, and Seleucia on the Tigris, there was not one capable
of exifting : but the Paropamifan Alexandria % and that on the
laxartes continue to this day cities of importance ; and the Alex-
andria of Egypt, after furviving the revolution of empires for
eighteen centuries, periflied at laft only in confequence of a dif-
covery which changed the whole fyftem of commerce throughout
the world. As this city was by the founder intended to be, and
afterwards became, the center of communication between India
and Europe, it will not be foreign to our purpofe to introduce fome
particulars concerning it, as the voyage of Nearchus was the
primary caufe of its aggrandizement.

Surrounded ^ on three Tides by the fea, or the lake Mareotis^

communicating with the Delta and Upper Egypt, by means of that

lake and channels, either natural or artificial ; protected on the north

by the Pharos, between which and the main, Alexander had pro-

jedted and the Ptolemies completed, a double” harbour; the

fituation of Alexandria prefented every inducement to the view of

the founder, comprehending the means of defence, and facility of

•

accefs united in a fingle fpot. Thefe confideratlons, doubtlefs, deter-
mined the choice of Alexander ; for the whole fea-coaft from Pelu-
fium to Canopus is low land, and not vifible from a diftance ; the

^ Candahar is fuppofed, both by d^Anville
and Rennell, to be the Alexandria of Paropa-
mifus, and the tradition of the natives refers
it to Scander. It is ftill the principal city
of the country of the Abdalli, a kingdom
which has rifen out of the ruins of the Perfian
and Mogul empires. But fee d’Anville’s
Eclairciffemens, p. 19.

Cogend is determined to be the Alexandria
on the laxartes by its pofition. See d’Anville
Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 305.

® See d’Anville on the Topography of
Alexandria. Mem. de PAcad. & Geog. Anc.
tom. iii.

This defign of Alexander is not hy-
pothetical, for Hephseftion was to have
had an Heroum in the Pharos, and his.
name was to have been inferted in all,
contrads between merchants. See Ar. llb.vii.
p. 306.

“ Salmafjus fays, ** three ports.’* Plin.
Ex. 479,

navigation

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S,

navigation along this coaft, or approach to It,- Is always hazardous ;
the mouths, or Bogas (as they are called), of the Nile are at
fome feafons dangerous, even to’ a proverb ; but the llght-houfe on
the Pharos, and the two harbours within It, obviated both thefe dan-
gers ; and Alexander, who knew the difficulty of approaching Egypt
either by land or fea, eagerly feized on a fituation which prefented
him with a poll of the higheft importance in a military view, and
a harbour conftantly acceffible, at the fame time.

Thefe were fufficient motives for the foundation of the city ; but
as the views of the founder dilated with his better information, fo
the teftimony of Arrian affures us, that from the time he had formed
his fleet on the Indus, he meditated a paffage by fea from that river
to the Gulph of Arabia. He completed what he had conceived in the
moft dangerous part, and left little more to the Ptolemies than to
fill up the outline he had drawn. Had he lived one year longer, he
might have feen the barrier removed which obftrudled the com-
munication between Europe and the eaftern world, and the com-
merce of both continents beginning to flow in the channel he had
opened. He might have contemplated the dawn of that fplendour
which was to rife on Alexandria, and the fource of that wealth which
was to render her the firft commercial city in the world.

The advantages derived to every country which has participated
in the commerce of the Eaft Indies, have been fo fully difplayed by
Dr. Robertfon, that there is’ no pretence for encroaching on his
province ; but that Alexander knew the value of this commerce,
forefaw the confequences of it, and gave a diredion to the courfe

From Boccat Italian, and probably introduced on the coaft by the Lwgua Franca,
See Wood’s EfTay on Homer, p. iio, et feq.

P R E L I M' I N A R Y D 1 S QJJ I S 1 1' IONS.

in which it flowed for eighteen' centuries, is a glory which even the
more important difcoveries of modern Europe cannot obliterate.

Of his knowledge, no greater proof can be required than what
Major Rennell has produced, in that admirable Memoir which ac-
companies his Map of India; where, from the journal of Mr. Forfter,
he fliews, that Alexander in his route from the Paropamifus to
Taxila’h or Attock, actually trod the road which continues to this
day to be the northern line of communication between Perfia and
Hindoftan. This route he extended afterw^ards acrofs all thofe
ftreams which the Acefines or Chen-ab carries into the Indus, and
terminated finally at the Hyphafis, or Biah.

COUNTRY at the SOURCES of the INDUS.

IV. The province watered by thefe rivers, now denominated
the Panje~ab, or five waters, is efteemed one of the richefl: pro-
vinces of the Mogul empire. When at the boundary of it, Alex-
ander was not diftant three hundred miles from the modern Dehly ;
and wherever we fhall pleafe to fix Palibothra, its diftance cannot be
fo great as to preclude the knowledge of its name, its wealth, and
importance, from the Macedonians.

In all ages, whenever the ftate of the country was fufficlently
peaceable to admit of commerce, there appears to have been a great
intercourfe by means of the Indus, defeending from Multan, At-
tock, Cabul, Cafhmeer, to the coaft of Malabar. Whether the

Taxila is ufually confidered by geogra- Alexander marched from the Indus to
phers as occupying the fame feite with Attock, Taxila;’* an expreflion which implies dil-
hut Arrian does not countenance this opinion, tance.

He fays, lib. v. p. 199, That it was the Some allowance muft; be made for de-

principal ciiy between the Indus and the viations, in confequence of the lituation of the
Hydafpes.” And in another pafiage, tribes lie fubdued.

veflels

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

veffels navigated on the river were capable of undertaking the
voyage to the coaft, ' or transferred their cargoes at Pattala into
larger veflels, may be queftioned ; but the communication itfelf is
evident. The trade which came down the river naturally took its
courfe, rather to the rich provinces of the peninfula than to the
defert beaches of the Mekran; it extended poffibly before the in-
vafion of the MacedonianSj as it certainly did in the following ages,
round Cape Comorin into the Bay of Bengal and the mouths of the
Ganges ; thus uniting in commercial intercourfe the two great
ftreams which inclofe Hindoftaii.

In the Peucaliotis in the territory of the Malli in the king-
dom of Taxiles and Porus Alexander traverfed a couhtry
abounding in riches, and furniihing commodities from the thirty-
fecond degree of northern latitude, which are fiire of finding a
market between the tropics. The population of thefe countries,
as Rated by Strabo, Pliny, Plutarch, and even Arrian himfelf, is
doubtlefs exaggerated, but as they all draw from original fources,
and quote authors who had perfonally vifited thefe countries, what-
ever abatements may be made, we muft Rill Rippofe that the ap-
parent view of the whole RiggeRed an idea of population, and pre-'
fented an aggregate of cities, towns, and villages, of which, from
the circumRances of their own country, the Macedonians had no
previous conception.

Thefe Authors aiTert, that Alexander fubdued five thoufand
cities in India as large as Cos. Mention is likewife made of a thou-
fand cities in the fingie province of Badria ; and xArrian, who feems

*5 Pukely Ayeen Akbari, always. Moultan. Attock. Panje-ab.

*5 Robertfon, Rennell, Strabo, 693. 686. Pliny, 6. 17. 19. Plutarch, 699.

PRELIMINARY D I S (^U I S IT I O N S,

1 1

to be always on his guard, Informs us, that the country of the
Glaufse, or Glaucanifse, contained thirty-feven cities, the fmalleft of
which had five thoufand, and the largeft ten thoufand inhabitants,
and that the villages contained an equal number; the whole, amount-
ing to near half a million, Alexander added to the kingdom of
Porus

Whatever degree of credit may be given to thefe accounts, they
will at leaft evince an extraordinary population ; and, either from
the fertility of the country, or its fituation among fo great a num-
ber of navigable ftreams, the flourifhing Rate of this trad: appears

manifefl: in every age, unlefs when defolated by invafion, ' The

hiftorian of Timour exprefles the fame admiration as the Greek
writers ; the Ayeen Akbari reckons the Panje-ab as the third pro-
vince of the Mogul empire, and mentions forty thoufand veffels
employed in the commerce of the Indus ""k

It was this commerce that furniflied Alexander with the means of
feizing, building, hiring, or purchafing the fleet with which he fell
down the flream ; and when we refled that his army confifted of
an hundred and twenty-four thoufand men, wfith the whole coun-
try at his command, and that a confiderable portion of thefe had
been left at the Hydafpes during the Interval that the main body
advanced to the Hyphafis, and returned to the Hydafpes again, we
fhall have no reafon to accufe Arrian of exaggeration, when he

We ought not to be furprifed at thefe ex-
aggerations. Cheref-eddin fays, Cadimeer re-
ally contains 10,000 flourilhing villages, but is
eftimated at 100,000. Vol. iii. p. 161.

The level country is not more than twenty
leagues from mountain to mountain. The ca-
pital is Nagaz, or Syiin Nagar.

Maurice, p. 138, vol. 1. from the
Ayeen Akbari.

Porum et Taxilem reliquit in

regnis fuis, fummo in tedilicanda clalfe
amborum lludio ufus. Curtius, lib. ix,

cap. 3.

C 2

aflensj

PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S ITl O N S.

I 2

aflerts, that the fleet confifted of eight hundred vefTels, of which
thirty only were fhips of war, and the reft fuch as were ufually
employed in the navigation of the river.

Strabo'"'^ mentions the proximity of Emodus, which afforded plenty
of fir, pine, cedar, and other timber ; and Arrian informs us, that
Alexander, in the country of the AlTacani, and before he reached
the Indus, had already built veffels which he fent down the Kophe-
nes to Taxila. All thefe clrcumftances contribute to prove the
reality of a fad! highly controverted ; and even though we were to
extend the whole number of the fleet, comprehending tenders and
boats, with fome authors to two thoufand, there is no improbability
fufficlent to excite aftonifhment.

By the fame means that Alexander obtained a fleet, he acquired
information in regard to the commerce of the country, and the dif-
ferent coafts with which the natives traded. Taxiles and Porus
were both In his intereftq many of their fubjedts doubtlefs embarked

T pictHovTo^oi Arrian, lib. vi,

in inir.

implies, that they were not even
gallies of war, fuch as the Greeks ufed in the
Mediterranean, and which were called Trire-
mes, gallies with three banks of oars ; but
thefe feem to have only one deck, and to be
rowed with thirty oars on a line, that is, fifteen
on each fide ; the according to

Gronovius, were half-decked, with the waid
of the veffel left open for the rowers. But fee
Cafaubon ad Athensum. Not. 737.

Major Rennell mentions, that veiTels of an
hundred and eighty tons are ufed on the Gan-
ges ; and Captain Hamilton, p. 122, vol. i.
fays, that thofe employed on the Indus were,
in his time, frequently of tvvo_ hundred tons.

divided into feparate apartments which mer-
chants hired for the voyage, and adapted
mod commodioufly to the navigation. They
carried a maft and faib but were more
ufually towed by men. The pafTage from
Tatta to Lahore is fix or feven weeks, but the
return is made in eighteen days, or even
twelve ; the navigation is open, clear up to
Caihimeer, by means of the Cheium; and
Mr. Forier entered Cafhmeer by that dream,
which he calls the Jalum. The courfe of this
river is eight hundred miles from Tatta to
Multan only, allowing for the finuofities of the
river. See Major RennelFs Memoir.

Strabo, 691. Arrian, lib. iv. in 'dne.
Rennell fays, Emodus is not near.

with

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S IT I O N S. 13;

With him, either for the purpofe of conduftlng the fleet, or with a
view to their own advantage ; many poiTibly who had frequently
made the fame voyage, and knew the commerce of the coaft, from
whom the inquifitive fpirit of Alexander could not fail to extrad:
the information necelTary for the accomplifhment of defigns he
had contemplated fo long, and with fiich anxious folicitude.

The evidence of this does not refl upon dedudion or conjedure;
the report of Nearchus the admiral, and Oneficritus the pilot of the
fleet, is ftill extant in the writings of Strabo, Arrian, Diodorus, and
Pliny ; and though the credit of Oneficritus is impeached by
Strabo, on account of his inclination to exaggerate, he does not hefi-
tate to appeal to his authority in a variety of inftances, which
evince his general knowledge, and fometimes his intimate acquaint-
ance with the country ; but from Nearchus he proves, that all the
native commodities which to this day form the ftaple of the Eafi:
Indian commerce were fully known to the Macedonians. Rice
cotton and the flue muflins made of that material, the fugar-

Tyro aTTiO^x'rOv ry nar^of:>.ey:f. oTi
cy? ^ (TVT^ciTcvcrcciT CC'; tfopr/crat

OiVTov oe AA£|ai/.5'j;ov uxpiQwa-cHf uvccypcc-\}.^ctv~

Vi* /

TYiV OhYiV ^COpUV TU/V Sf^iTTSifOl UTU'V T'/JV Oc

otvx'y^a.^^v xvTco ^o9y]vxif (priatvy v^ipov utto Zivo;c?\evg

rs yoc^(j(pv?^xKo<;m Strab. lib. li. p. 6^,. Silinte

Croix, 20.

Nor is there any reafon to doubt what Pa-
trocles fays, that thofe who accompanied
Alexander wrote at random ; but that Alexan-
der’s own knowledge was accurate, as he ob-
tained his information from thofe who knew
the country bed, and made them commit their
intelligence to paper. Thefe papers were
communicated to Patrocles. by Xenocies the
Treafurer. — This paiTage poffibly alludes to
the furvey of Beton and Diognetus. Sainte
Croix extends it to more general information.

Rice. The cultivation of it by

flooding the lands is noticed by Ariftobulus.
Strabo, 692.

Cotton Teems to derive its name from the-
fruit in Crete, called by Pliny Mala Cotonea,.
or Cydonia, lib. xv. cap. ii. it is diilin-
guiflied by other names ; Bombax, Bambax,
Goiiipium, Xylon ; the cloth made of itj,.
Byllus. Ferunt cotonei inali amplitudine cu-
curbitas, quae maturitate ruptse oflendunt lanu-
ginis pilas, ex quibus vefles pretiofo linteo' fa-
ciunt. Pliny, lib. xii. c. 10. Byflus, referred
by Parkhurll, Lex. in voce,’ to 2 Chroni-
cles, ill. 1 ^123* T^vcrcroq pcBToc <7roiy.iXicic»

Flerod. lib. vii. Ezekiel, xxvii. 7-. Belocj,.
p. 287. poflibly printed cotton, and' vvorn by
the priells in Egypt. I'he Editor of Cham-
bers’s Ditlionary fays, it grevy originally only
in Egypt ; but certainly he is midaken. See’
Salmaf. Plin. Ex. 296.

cauifir

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS,

cane and filk ^“5 are ail exprefsly mentioned in a paflfage which he
adduces from Nearchus ; and however the Greeks or Romans be-
came afterwards acquainted with thefe commodities, the firft know-
ledge, or at leaft the firft hiftorical account of them, is certainly to
be attributed to the Macedonians. None of thefe articles had ever
been brought into Greece, or any part of Europe, by fea, and few
of them ha.d ever been feen unlefs by accident ; on thefe, however
it is evident, Axlexander depended for the foundation of the com-
merce he meditated, and for the introdudlion of thefe he was now
planning the communication which was to perpetuate the inter-
courfe between Europe and the Eaft Indies.

At this day, when we view the
caufe, we may deem lightly of a

Sugar. os TtSf'l ZC^hoif^OJV OTl 'TTOik^Cri

fJLt'hi,, OJV [AYi Qvcroo'i, This ''afTertion, Strabo

(691) quotes exprcfsly from Nearchus. He
fpeaks aiio of canes from which honey is made,
though without bees. 1 do not know that
Saccharum is ufed by any author prior to
Pliny and Diofcorides, lib. xxii. 8. Saccha-
I'um et Arabia fert, fed laudatius India. See
Salmalius Plin. Ex. vol. ii. et feq. who has a
long differtatiou upon the fubjecl, and imagines
Pliny’s Saccharum, as well as that of Diofco-
rides, to be manna; yet feems to diflinguifli
the KuXafAoq of Nearchus as the true fugar-
cane. Sacar appears to be a word of Arabick
extradlion.

Silk. The palTage in Strabo is not ex-
prefs ; but having mentioned cotton before*
he adds, roiavra, rcc bh. riva:v (phoictjv

^ocivofABvr,^ ^vjaa,

Velleraque ut foliis depedant tenuia Seres,

Virg.

The Critical Reviewers, Odober 1791,
p*. 126, interpret this of cotton, as does Sal-
mafius, p. 298. and p. 998 ; they call the
Seres, inhabitants of Bocharia, and Sir-hend,
Sermda on the Indus, the flaple for filk.

effedls, without adverting to the
voyage which required fo much

When in Sogdiana, Alexander was in the
neighbourhood of Bocharia ; but the men-
tion of by Strabo is incidental to India;

and if it were not for a pail’age in Arrian,
which feems to relate to the lame quotation
from Nearchus, I (hould not hefjtate to refer
this exprelTion of Strabo’s to filk. Arrian
fays, k-U^CiTTBp XByEi

Xim T« a,7ro tccv &C. &C. Indio.

I have fince learnt, that the Reviewers follow
the authority of d’Anville EciairciT. ; but
that great geographer’s error is, confulting
fimilarity of found in names too much. When
the locality is eflabliihed, refemblance of found
is a ffrong confirmation, but to fix locality by
found is beginning at the wrong end. I can-
not help thinking, however, that the mention
of Seres and Ssrica in allufion to cotton is
always error orconfufion ; for we rnufl obferve,
that filk, when it came to be known and cha-
raderifed, was always Serica; while the
knowledge of cotton or vegetable wool is as
old as Herodotus at leaf!:, in Greece. The
filk- worm is firft defcribed by Paufanias Eliac,
fub fine. Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 72, from d’An-
ville Eclair. Chambers’s Didionary, &c,

' preparation

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

preparation to accomplifli, and which a fingle Hoop would now per-
form in a twentieth part of the time ; but the merit of the attempt
is to be eftimated by the originality of the conception ; and we muft
allow much to the penetration of that mind, which could fxx upon
the produftions of any country as a bafis for commerce, that fhould
continue in requefl for two thoufand years, and create a demand
perpetually on the increafe.

The knowledge of India obtained by the Macedonians will per-
haps be as fully exemplified by adverting to objedls of curiofity as
utility'*. Of this, Strabo furniihes abundant teftimony, who front

thefe

The follov^ln^ particulars are extracted
from Arrian and Strabo, in order to ilievv that
the Macedonians were not only foldiers, but .
diligent obfervers. The account given is
wholly Macedonian, and nothing infer ted later
than Megafthenes, who was Ambaffador from
Seleucus to Sandrocotta ; and Sandrocotta, if
my etymology is right, fignifies a town on the
Shantrou or Chen-ab, from whence the Prince
took his title. The inquifitive fpirit of Alex-
ander is as frong a mark of his charafter as
his pafiion for conqueft. You,” faid the
Bramin Mandanis to the King, “ are the only
man whom I ever found curious in the in-
velligation of philofophy, at the head of an
** army.” Strab. p. 715.

The principal cafts of India are four:

1. Bramins. 2. Hufbandmen. 3. Soldiers.

4. Artifans. There have been always various
fcbdivifions of thefe ; both Strabo and Arrian
from Nearchus reckon feven.

I. Philofophers or Bramins. 2. Hulband-
men. 3. Herdfmen, Shepherds, and Hunters.
4. Artifans. 5. Soldiers. 6, Infpedlors of
Manners and Police. 7. Counfellors of the
Chief Magiftrate. Ar. p. 324. Strab. lib.xv.
p. 700. Of thefe the futh and fcventh clafles

were properly never diflindl cads, or at lead:
only fubdivifions of the others, and the third
was poflibly comprehended in the fecond.

Other Particulars mentioned by both*

1. Manner of hunting and taming the ele-
phant. Ar. 328. Strab. 711.

2. Wcm.en not deemed difhonoured who re-
ceived an elephant as the price of their fa-
vours. Ar. 331. Strab. 712.

3. No haves in India. Ar. 330. Strab. 71c.
Onefcritus confines this cultom to the country
of Mufjcanus.

- 4. Gold colle(5lcd in the rivers. Strab. 71 8.

5. Chintz. cii/^juxc Strab. 7^9*

6. Cotton tree, called Tala by Arrian, and
the pod defcribed. Ar. 320.

Cotton raiment, Strab. paff. Arrian, 330,
reaching to the middle of the leg.

7. Parrots. Ar. 329. Monkies, ibid.

8. Ufe of Striglls and Shampooing. Strab.
709.

9. No intermarriages between the calls,
Ar. 320. Strab, 704.

10. Knowledge of letters denied by Me-
gallhencs, Strab. 709, but alTerted by Near-
chus ; who fays, they wri.e on linen or cotton

’ cloth.

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ 1 S I TI O N S.

thefe fources drew all the information he has left us concerning the
tribes or calls of the Indian nations. Under whatever variety thefe
appear in ancient or modern authors, the four orders of priefts,
loldiers, hufbandmen, and artifans ftill predoininate. Of thefe

doth, and that their chara£ler is beautiful.
Ar. 717.

1 1 . Rice planted in water.

12. Wine from rice. Arrack. Strab. yog.

13. Food of the natives. Oryza Sorbiiis,
Pillau. None eat flelh but the hunters.
Ar. 33 1 . Strab.

14. The men wear ear-rings. Ar. 330.

15. Dye the beard, ibid.

16. Ufe umbrellas, ibid.

17. Do not exercife two trades, 326.

18. Wrap cotton round the head, 330.

19. Two forts of philofophers ; Brach-
manes and Germanre. The firf; rrjore pro-
perly Priefts and Diviners; the fecond Hylobii
or Hermits, that is, Fackeers and Jogees.
Thefe latter enter every houfe, and even the
women’s apartments. Many are attended by
women devoted to them, but without fufpicion
©f intercourfe ; penances and mortifications ;
refidence under the Banian trees. Arrian.
Strab. Their difcourfe ufually on death ;
their philofophy, that the earth is fpherical,
and the Deity, anhna mundi. .Strab. 714.
Burn themfelves, not to avoid evil, but to en-
ter on a new life. Strabo mentions Zarma-
nochegas, one of the Ambafiadors from a
Porus, King of fix hundred Kings, to Au-
guftus, who burnt bimfelf at Athens, on his
return towards India.

Epitaph.

ZAPMANOXHFAS INAOX AUO BAPfOSHS
KATA TA UATPJA INAON E0H EATTON
AnA0ANATiEAI KEITAI.

But it is remarkable the MSS. read Zotp(A,a.voq
Xftyccv, which is the Caganus or Cagan, as

ufed by the Huns and Avars. See Ducanp-e

•' O

in voce; Gibbon, ii. 572. iii, 161. and is
in reality the Ham of the Tartars, written
Can, Chan, Chaan, Kh.m, and Cawn. This
Teems the firft inftance of ufing the w'ord ; and
if fo, this is Zarmanus Khan. Perhaps' alfo
Zarmanus is related to the Germanaj of
Strabo, p. 720.

20. A..nother fort of philofophers called
Pramnte, Strab, 718. who difpute with the
Bramins, and attack their doctrine. This
fed ftill exifis, and in allufion to them, one of
the Mogul Emperors (I think Shah Jehan)
faid, “ The philofopher and the prieft can
“ never agree.”

21. Perforation of the nofe and lips.
Ar. 717.

22. Women hunt with the King. Ground
marked out. No man muft approach.
Ar. 710.

23. Women attend the King in war*
Ar. 710.

Thefe particulars (and the catalogue
might be much enlarged) all agree with our
modern accounts of India. They all contri-
bute to prove, that the fpirit of refearch was
very adive in the camp of Alexander, and
that the obfervations were in general true.
There are many likewife which have been
deemed falfe, and which, as our knowledge of
India increafes, are found to be deduced from
popular errors of the natives, or to have fome
reference to milhken fads; and what country
is not fubjed to mifreprefentation by thofe
who vifit it firft ?

diftindions^

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

diRinflions, Ariftobiilus, Nearchiis, Oneficrltus, and MegaRlienes
v/ere fully apprifed. It would be thought mere matter of often-
tation^ to produce the teftimonies of this knowledge as they lie fcat-
tered in a variety of authors ; but the accounts of Indian policy and
government, the principles of the Bramlns, the devotion of widows
to the flames, the defcription of the wild fig or banian tree, the
variety of grain the hair, colour, frame and conftitution of the
natives, with an abundance of other minute particulars, fufficiently
intimate a fpirit of obfervatlon pervading the Macedonians, as well
as that of conqueft ; and their original materials furnifh the
ground-work of that accurate inveftigation purfued at this day
with fo happy an effedl by our countrymen on the banks of the
Ganges,

SURVEY of the E M P I R E.

V. The objedl: of Introducing thefe obfervations Is to fliew that
the defign of Alexander in planning the voyage of Nearchus was
not mei'ely the vanity of executing what had never yet been at-

tempted, but that it was a fyftem
advantages to be derived from it,

’’ See Strabo, lib. xv. Pliny, and efpe-
clallv Salmafius Plin. Ex. vol ti. p. 10. 16.

Strabo mentions a grain called Bofmo-
rus, fmaller than wheat, held fo choice by the
Indians that they fnlFer it not to be planted,
lanlefs under the obligation of an oath to pafs
it through the fire, in order to preclude vege«
tation. Some of our countrymen who have
been in India might pofTibly form a conjedure
what this grain is. T'hcre is a fpecies called
Gram, found in My fore. Major Dirom.
But this is for horfes. Another called Bajero,

founded on a prefumptlon of the

a defire of knowing the coafl as<

in Guzerat. Maurice’s Indoflan, vol. i. p. 124.
But from the valine fet upon this, it was pofii-
bly fome fpecies of rice ; of which the In-
dians are faid to reckon forty forts, and fome
af which they purchafe at any price.

Mr. Dalrymple conjedures, that the un-
hufking of Paddy to obtain the rice by means
of hot water thrown upon it, as is faid to be
pradifed in fome parts of India, and poffibly
with fome particular fpecies of this grain,
may have given rife to this opinioa of
Strabo’s,

well

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

well as the Interior of his empire, and a reafohable hope of uniting
the whole by mutual communication and reciprocal interefls.

By tracing the correfpondent parts of this fyftem, we ihall be able
to evince Its reality ; for though the opening of the world to the
knowledge of mankind, as Curtlus expreffes it, proved in the event
a concern of far greater magnitude ; the furvey of the empire was
of more immediate importance to the conqueror. The line of
conqueft from the Hellefpont to the Indus was complete, but the Iiir
termediate country was by no means fufficiently explored. The
route of the army, after the death of Darius, had been moftiy to
the North of the Paropamifus, or that range of mountains, by what-
foever name diftinguilhed, which in Oriental geography feparates
Iran from Touran. India had been entered on its northern bound-
ary ; and v^hen Alexander had completed his campaign at the
foiirces of the Indus, his march and voyage down the courfe of that
river defined the eaftern limit of the empire : commencing again
from this limit, he refolved to explore the fouthern provinces,
which though they had fubmitted to the reputation of his arms,
were in a political fenfe ftill unknown.

To obtain the information neceffary for the objedls he had In
view, he ordered Craterus, with the elephants and heavy baggage,
to penetrate through the centre of the empire, while he perfonally
undertook the more arduous talk of paffing the deferts of Gadrofia,
and providing for the prefervation of the fleet. A glance over the
map wnll fhew, that the route of the army eaftward, and the double
route by which it returned, interfeft the whole empire by three
lines almoft from the Tigris to the Indus. Craterus joined the

Notwithaanding particular expeditioas to Propthaiia, Aracholia, Sec.

divifion

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S IT I O N S\

divlfion under Alexander in Karmania; and when Nearchus5 after the
completion of his voyage, came up the Pafitigris to Sufa, the three
routes through the different provinces, and the navigation along the
coafl:, might be faid to complete the furvey of the empire.

If the v/ork of Eeton and Diognetus had come down to us, or
had been as carefully extradled, as the voyage of Nearchus, we
fhould have had better geographical data for eftablifhing the interior
divifions of the Perfian empire, than any we can now obtain, either
from the reports of travellers, or the hiftorians of Timour and Nadir
Shah. They are faid to have reduced, not only the marches of
the army, but the provinces themfelves, to adlual meafurement ; and
though the rapidity of the movements and the fliortnefs of
time would not admit of an adlual furvey diftances accurately let
down, and journals faithfully kept, are, next to aftronomical ob-
lervation, the firft principles of geography. Thefe officers un-
doubtedly attended one or other of the armies upon their return,
or they might have been allotted one to each ; in either cafe, the
attention of Alexander is evident, for the furvey itfelf is attefted by
almoft every contemporary hillorian and was extant in the time
of Strabo and Pliny.

Arrian himfelf has given fome countenance to the report con-
cerning the motives which induced Alexander to traverfe the deferts
of Gadrofia. He tells us, that even Nearchus imputed this attempt
to vanity and the defire of imitating or furpaffing Bacchus and

rUuch more may be done with preclflon
in a fhort time than is generally fuppofed ; a
chain of triangles may be carried on in moll
countries quicker than an army could march,
J might fay in any country, except flat and
woody, or the defies of mountains. The

Mahomedans of India meafure every road they
march : at leall, 1 know this is fometimes the
cullom, I believe always. Dalrymple.

Sainte Croix mentions Ptolemy and
Ariilobulus, p. 20. but I have not yet found
his authority.

Semirainis ;

2.0

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS

Semiramis ; the Bacchanalian triumph of the army in its paflage
through Karmania, recorded by other hiftorians, gives fome degree
of authority to the teflimony of Nearchus ; but Arrian, though he
relates the circumftance, profeffes his dilbelief of the fad: ; and an
attentive confideration of the defigns already difplayed, fupported by
the internal evidence which the journal itfelf will fiiggeft, ought,
in an unprejudiced mind, to exculpate Alexander from the charge of
any unworthy motives. To perform what has never yet been per^
formed is doubtlefs an objed of ambition, but the utility of the
performance determines the merit of the performer..

That Alexander had a thirft after knowledge as well as cotr-
qiieft is a fad fufficiently eftablifhed 5 and the teftimony of Patroclea,
which has been already adduced, goes to prove, that the geography
of his empire, and an accurate information concerning the feveral
provinces, formed one of the principal objeds of his inquiries*
The attention of his officers to thefe points naturally took its
diredion from the example of their mailer ; and whatever com=-
plaints Strabo has to prefer againll fuch writers as Callifthenes and
Oneficritus, the journals of Ptolemy Ariftobulus, and Nearchus
form the bafis of Oriental geography, not only as it rofe by the
labours of Strabo and Arrian, but in the fuperftrudure ereded by
the mailerly hands of d’Anville and RennelL Ariftobulus com«
pofed his work at eighty years of age ; Ptolemy after . he was-
King of Egypt:, fear, flattery, and every other inducement to falfi-
fication had fubfided ; they fometimes contradided each other in

The edition of Komer. The letter to Afterwards King of Egypt.

Aridotle, complaining of his publication. The Sainte Croix, p. 19, from. Macrobius.

tight hundred talents allowed to that philofo- Arrian, p. 2,
pher for refearches in natural' hiilory,

tegard

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

•regard to hlftorical fadts ;* but as they both drew moft probably froiix
commentaries they had framed, during the courfe of their carar-
paigns, the marches of the army, the pofition of cities, rivers, moun-
tains, and the general face of the countries they traverfed, come
out with extraordinary perfpicuity, when traced by a mafter in the
fcience ; and every increafe of geographical knowledge tends to
confirm the accuracy of their reports.

GEOGRAPHERS.

VI. Major Rennet l has borne the moft honourable teftimony
both to their information and fidelity, by confeffing that, as his
own refearches advanced, he was continually led to confider the
details of thefe officers as more important, and their accuracy as

more fully afcertained. The map which he has himfelf given, cor-
reTed by the journal of Mr. Forfler, and explained in his Memoir,
correfponds not only with the route of Alexander, but with thofe
of Timour and Nadir Shah, and with the journal of Tavernier,
Goez the jefuit, and Bernier.

And from the works of Beton and Diog-
netus. Sainte Croix, p. 20.

In the route of Timour given by Cheref-
eddin, there is a regular miftake of the Ra-
vee (Hydraotes) for the Biah (Hyphafisj ;
and this miftake arifes ^rom Timour’s being
drawn fouthvvard to Ayjodin, near which city
he crofted the Biah, v\here it takes the name
of Dena or Donde ; but as Cheref-eddin upon
Timur’s return calls the Biah the river of La-
hore, vol. iii. p. 154. and as we know Lahore
ftands on the Ravee, or Hydraotes, the miftake
is eaftly adj^fted.

Tavernier, vol. ii. p. 61. mentions two
routes from Candahar ; one to the North by
Cabul, which he details; the other direct by
Moultan, which he omits. The account is bar-

ren, and makes us doubt whether Tavernier
travelled it himfelf; but he fpeaks as if he had.

Goez, according to Kircher, China Illuftra-
ta, p. 62, went from Lahore to Attock and'
Cabul, and thence through Tartary to China.
Thefe three points are all we have, but they
accord with Renuell.

Bernier came from Dehly to Lahore; Ids,
objedl is to give the pomp of the camp, and
the defeription of Calhmeer; his geographi-
cal materials are very fcanty.

Hanway’s account of Nadir Shtlh’s route is
fo totally erroneous, that though we can trace
the conqueror we cannot follow the hiftorian.
Jones’s Nadir Shah is tranfported from Can-
dahar to Carnal in a moment. Frazer, in
geographical materials, is very deficient.

Major

22 PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

Major Rennell profeffes to have laid down the weftern foiirces of
the Indus and the rivers of the Panje-ab from the map of a native;
and fays, that as his own ideas grew corred: from this communi-
cation, he w^as confequently better enabled to follow the campaign
of Alexander in that country, and trace his movements as they
arofe ; he fpeaks Vv^ith confidence as to all the tranfadions in the
Panje -ab, and hefitates only upon fome points of lefs importance
before the croffing of the Indus. But in a work appropriated to the
military tranfadions of the Macedonians, and which fhall be laid
before the Public if this fpecimen meets with encouragement, I
fhall be enabled to prove, that the accuracy of his Perfian inform-
ation is as confpicuous to the weftward of the Indus as to the eaft-
ward ; and that through the diligence of his inquiries we are now
poflefled of data which, there is reafon to believe, every future
refearch] that may be made, will contribute to eftablifh. Major
Rennell likewife informs us, that his Perfian map exhibited a feries
of the rivers with names correfpondent to thofe which occur in the
Greek hiftorians ; but he has favoured us only with that of the Bey-
pafha, fufficiently agreeing with the Hyphafis of Arrian : this re-
ferve is the more to be regretted, as the communication would have
contributed greatly to corred the errors and elucidate the ob-
fcurlty of his predeceflbrs.

The Antiquite Geographique de 1’ Inde of Mr. d’Anville Is far
from ftanding upon a level with the merits of his other works ; and
Major Rennell has obferved, with great juftice, that having
miftaken the Chelum or Hydafpes for the Indus of Alexander, he
has confequently mifplaced and mifnamed all the fubfequent rivers
of the Panje-ab. This is far from being the only error of that able

RennelPs fecond Memoir, p. 82.

1 1 . geographer ;

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS, 23

geographer ; he has confounded the rivers to the weft, as well as
thpfe to the eaft of the Indus, and by adopting the Shantrou for

one of the Panje-ab ftreams, (a name which he has obtained

from Bernier, and in which he does not difcover that Chen-ab
lies concealed,) he has confounded the Dindana, Chelum, or
Hydafpes, with the Genave or Acefmes, and placed Lahore on
that river, which, by the teftimony of all the authors he ufually
follows (Cheref-eddin Tavernier, and Thevenot), is undoubt-

edly on the Ravee. The principal fource of thefe miftakes, which
Major Rennell has not fufficiently noticed, is a determination of
Mr. d’Anville’s to find Aornus in Renas ; unfortunately for his
hypothefis, the Aornus of Alexander was to the weft of the
Indus, and Renas is between the Indus and the Chelum. The ne-
ceiTary confequence is, that d’Anville is obliged to call the Chelum,
or Hydafpes, the Indus of Alexander, and afterwards to perpetuate
a chain of error, the refult of his original miftake.

There would have been no difficulty to find a Petra anfwerable
to Aornus in any fituation to the weftward of the Indus. The
whole country is mountainous, and' infefted with mountaineer
tribes of banditti, as was experienced by Timour and Nadir Shah,
no lefs than by Alexander. Even an error in this refpeft would
carry no confequences with it ; but the raifplacing of a river
vitiates the remainder of the feries. This confufion is not no-
ticed to detract from the merits -of Mr. d’Anville, whofe geogra-
phical reputation ftands too high to be impaired by a failure in' a
fingle inftance, but to evince the danger of indulging a fpirit of

Cheref-eddin in fact places it on the ville to aiTume a river for the pofition of La'
Biah, but his error has already been adjulied, hore rather to the eallward than the weftward
p. 21 ; and that error ftiould have led d’An- of the Ravee.

fyftem.

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

iyftem, a fyftein founded upon a refemblance of ancient and mo-
dern names, never exemplified more fancifully than by a fuppofition
that Renas and Aornus are the fixme word, and never to be ad-
mitted unlefs it is juftified by local circumflances rather than fimi-
iarity of founds.

Having laboured in the inveftigation of thefe points feveral years
before the appearance of Major RenneU’s Maps and Memoirs, and
having no greater authority to apply to than Mr. d’Anville, I had
determined to abandon the work itfelf, for want of fufficlent mate-
rials to clear the difficulties which attended it : but upon the firft
view of the lafl: Map and Memoir, finding all the fources of Indus
elucidated in the moft confifient manner, I refumed my labours ;
and if this country can now be detailed v/ith perfpicuity, let the
merit be referred to that author from whom it originates.

The miftakes of dhAnville prevent the application of thofe mate-
rials which modern difeoveries have fupplied. The errors of the
ancient geographers are of lefs confequence, as both Pliny and
Ptolemy give us generally the fame feries of rivers as the hiftorians
of Alexander prefent, and, however erroneous they may be in
particulars, ftill preferve the general features of the whole. Pliny
enumerates the Kophes, the Indus, the Hydafpes, the Hyphafis, the
Hefudrus, In the order they occur, and though he omits the
Acefine^ and Hydraftes, the pidlure, however incomplete, is not
disfigured ; but when he adds that Alexander failed down the
Indus at the rate of fix hundred ftadia a-day, and yet it required
more than five months to reach the mouth of the river, he is
miftaken in his premifes ; for it will be proved from Strabo and

Antiq. Geog de lUnde, p. 17. Lib. vi. c. 17.

Arrian,

P R E L I M I N A R Y D I S QJU I S I T I O N S.

Arrian, that the paflage took up nine months, and tliat various ex-
peditions' delayed the fleet as dt arrived fuccelTively at the feveral
tribes bordering on its banks. Perhaps we ought to read the palTage
hypothetically; but the aflhrtion itfelf is extravagant. Six hundred
ftadia repeated for -an hundred ^nd fifty days produce ninety thou-
fand ; this fum, reduced by the ftandard of eight ftadia to the Roman
mile, amounts to eleven thoufand two hundred and fifty miles, and it
gives no lefs than fix thoufand by the proportion of Mr, d’Anville’s
ftadium of fifty-one toifes, while the ileal fpace upon Rennell’s map
occupies only eight hundred. Thefe exaggerations'^^ doubtlefs origi-
nate from the authorities which Pliny followed, and even Arrian him-
felf is not free from charges of a fimilar nature, though in a lower
degree ; but if Pliny had confulted his own reafon inftead of copy-
Ingiiis authorities with fervility, he could never have afligned fix
thoufand miles to the courfe of the Indus between Nicsea and the
fea, when he gives lefs than five thoufand to the whole extent of
Afia, from the Cafpian defiles to the mouth of the Ganges.

The errors of Ptolemy are of another nature, confifting gene-
rally in a miftaken calculation of longitudes and latitudes ; but
whatever caufe we may have to 'lament his deviation in particulars,
geography is more Indebted to him for having introduced, or at
leaft for having eftablifhed, this method of determining local
fituation, than It can ever fuffer by a failure in the application of

Prodltur Alexandrum nullo die minus thefe errors, and the means of cprreding them,
(quam) ftadia fexcenta navigafte in Indo, nec may refer to Mr. Goftelin^s Treatife, Geogra-
potuilTe ante menfes quinque enavigare, ad- pliie des Grecs analyfee ; where, if they do
je6lis paucis dlebus. Lib. vi. c, 17. not find themfelves fatisfied with his principles

This will be proved when the ftadium it- of corretftion, they will at leaft obtain the
felf is taken into confideratlon. cleareft view of ancient geography which has

Thofe who wifh to analyfe the fource of yet been prefented to the Public,

his

•iG

P RELI Ml NAR Y DI S'Q^U I S ITI O M'S".

his principles. The fources from which Ptolemy drew do not
fufficiently appear ; but as he was a native of Egypt, and lived at
the fame period with Arrian, a period in which the trade between
the Gulph of Arabia and India was in full vigour, we may
Imagine that he had better means of information at Alexandria,
the centre of this commerce, than Arrian himfelf had, or any other
hiftorian or geographer who lived in the interior provinces of the
Roman empire.

This being the cafe, it is a fatisfadlion to find, that however mif-
placed the fources or the mouths of the Indus appear in the maps
adapted to Ptolemy by Mercator or Gofielin, there is ftill, in a
geographical view, nothing in Ptolemy inconfiftent with Arrian.,
• The five rivers of the Panje-ab are given in their order, and
though the jundlion of thefe rivers is neceffarily laid down by thofe
who formed the maps correfpondent to the author’s text, and ac~
cording to their own knowledge or conjedture, the general fimilitudc'
is preferved, and the order uninterrupted.

The Hydafpes, Sandabalis, Rhuadis or Adaris, Hypafis, and
Zaradrus of Ptolemy, are the Hydafpes, Acefines, Hydraotes,
Hyphafis, and Zaranga of Arrian. The Adaris is only a vari-
ation in writing the Hydraotes of Arrian, the Hyarotis of Strabo,
all derived from the Indian Ivarati^* ; and the Sandabalis, if con-
jecture deceives me not, is merely a variation of writing Sand-ab,
for San-ab, ftill appearing under the form of Tchen-ab, and depend-
ing, as I am informed, upon the enunciation of a Perfian letter

See this confirmed by Ptolemy himfelf,
Geogr. lib. 1. c. 17. Dodwell Dif. in Perip.
Mar. Erythrsei, p.'^o.

5° Rhuadis is the Greek tejst in Ptolemy j
Adaris, the Latin*

See Tieffenthaller.

Thus Gezira is written Djezira, Beja-
pore, Vifiapoor, Vizapoor. So is this river
written Chen-ab, Jen-ab, Gen-ave. See
infra.

which

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I TI O N S.

which we exprefs with dliEcuIty ; but of thefe I fhall prefently
fpeak more at large.

The mouths of the Indus are as much difordered in the maps
adapted to Ptolemy as the fources ; and the origin of this dlforder
Is the fmall difference of longitude which Ptolemy gives between
Lonibare, the eaftern mouth of that river, and Syaftra, a town in the
bay of Canthus or Cutch. The difference fet down is 6nly thirty
minutes, and the refult neceffarily is, that Lonibare is advanced fo
much to the Eaft as to fall into the head of the bay, and occupy the
place which modern geographers afhgn to the river Paddar.

Ptolemy furniflies us with feven mouths, and enumerates their
names ; and it is a juft .caufe of complaint that modern geography
neither fupplies us with the means of confirming his affertion, or
corrediing his errors. It is probable that all great rivers which pafs
through level ground to the fea, as, the Nile, the Danube, the Gan-
ges, and the Indus, in procefs of time vary the channel of their
refpedllve mouths, either by inundation, obflrudrions, accumulation
of foil, and other caufes, or are diverted for the purpofes of agricul-
ture and communication. This has been fo remarkably the cafe in
regard to the Nile, that hardly any two geographers, ancient or
modern, correfpond In their account. The mouths of the Indus
labour under the fame obfeurity. Major Rcnnelfs fecond map
differs effentially from his firft ; three charts of Mr. Dalrymple
differ from both Major Rennell’s, and from each other ; and Captain
Hamilton ”, the only navigator I know who went up to Tatta, has

Capt. Hamilton, though a very pleafant, does not appear clearly from his narrative,
is not an accurate writer ; he did not go by whether he went up on the eaftern or weftern
water up to Tatta, but conduded a caravan fide of the Lari-bundar river ; but this will
by land from Lari-bundar to that city. It be farther noticed.

T 2

not

P R E IJ M I N A R Y D I S Q^U I S I T I Cf N S ,

not given any account Eitisfaftory to a geographer ; though he has
preferved one circumftance which coincides wuth Ptolemy, affurlng
us that the natives ftill call the mouths of the: Indus, Divellee, or
feven, though they are far more numerous,.

Thefe particulars may be of importance to dired the inquiries of
future travellers and navigators ; and if they afford hut. little ad-
ditional light in regard to the objed before us, will plead in excufe of
the prefent attempt to colled all that is known upon the fiibjed. The
point neceffary to elucidate is the courfe of the two main branches,
Eafl; and Weft, navigated by Alexander and to anfwer this pur-
pofe we might affume the Sagapa and Lonibare of Ptolemy, as the
Lari-bundar and Bundar Lari ,of the moderns There is fome-
thing peculiar in this modern appellation, that the fame word re-
verfed fhould be applied to the eaftern and weftern mouth of the
fame river; for Bundar is only a Perfian term for the mouth of a
river, a port, or harbour ” ; and Lari, or Laheri, is common to
both. Not daring, for want of Oriental learning, to afcertain
the antiquity of this appellation, I ought to be filent on the fub-
jed ; but I cannot help expreffing a conjedure that the. modern

5'^ In a tranflaUon of the treaty between
Mohammed Shah and Nadir Shah, given in
Frafer, p. 226, the Mogul Emperor cedes ail
the country to the Weft of the Attock, Sckd
and Nak Sunkra, to the Perfian s, but the
town of Lohry -bundar and all to the Eaft of
thofe ftreams are ftill to continue fubjed to
Hindoftan. Attock means the higher part of
the ftream ; Scind and Mehran, the lower ;
and as Lohry or Lahrl-bundar certainly means
the town on the eaftern branch, I conclude
Nala Sunkra, the canal of Sunkra^, to be the

proper name for that branch ; for Tatta and Its
dependencies are ceded to Perfia, /. e. the
whole Patalene.

ss Or on land, a gate or pafs ; Derbend,
iron -gate on the Cafpian.

I imagine, that in Perfick it is properly
Bend or Bender ; and that Bundar is a cor-
ruption ; but Frafer writes Bundar. The
vowels vary fo much, that Tchan, Tchen,
Tchin, and Tchun, are equally the ftrft fyl«
lable of Chin-abo

Lari-

P R E L I MI N A R Y D I SQJJI S I T I O N S.

^'9

Lari-bundar bears fome analogy to the Lonibare of Ptolemy, and if
any literal error could be fuppofed, I fhoiild read it Lare-bonL

Thefe two points to the Eaft and Weft, modern navigation has
nearly afcertained ; and one intermediate mouth known by the
name of Scindy Bar, and charafterifed by the Sheik’s tomb, is alfo
clearly diftinguifhable ; the others appear like openings that have -
been viewed by veflels as they pafled, rather than examined ; and
which, from the nature of the coaft, probably never approach near
enough to determine any point with accuracy ; but if the two ex-
tremes are fufficiently defined, we fhall have data to illuftrate the
account of Nearchus, and refemblance enough to make Arrian.and
Ptolemy confiftent.

As the works of thefe feveral geographers, ancient and modern,
will be perpetually referred to, it wall not be thought fuperfluous that
their refpedtlve merits have been traced. The notice of their general
coincidence and particular deviations, at the fame time that it con-
duces to the inveftigation of truth, will, if I am not miftaken, afford
much fatisfadlion to all who are admirers of geography as a fcience.

IX A T E S.

VII. Next to geographical accuracy, it Is an objedt of import-
ance to fix the dates of the tranfadlion with precifion, as the year is
miftaken by Petavius, who follows Diodorus, and the feafon by
Montefquieu^ who fuppofes the difficulties experienced by the fleet"

Tfie fame- fort of tranfpofiuon takes place 57 See Major Rennell’s Podfcrlpt. Richell,
jn a variety of names, Samydake, Samykadc ; Warrell, and fome others, appear better
Barada, Badara, Hvadfon’s Gcog. Min. vol, i. . known.

Marcian. Heracleot, p. 23.

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

to have arifen from the clrcumftance of performing the voyage du-
ring the prevalence of the South-weft monfoon.

As there are two departures of the fleet, one from Nicsea, and
another from the mouth of the Indus, it will be expedient to afcer-
tain them both ; but as the latter is moft important, we ftiali com-
mence the inveftigation by ftating in the words of Arrian that
the fleet took its departure from its ftation in the Indus on the
twentieth of Boedromion, in the archonfhip of Cephifodorus,
correfponding with the eleventh year of Alexander’s reign. This
precifion is of confequence, becaufe the lift of archons is by no
means accurate, and without the addition of the year of Alexander
there would ftill he room for doubt. Dodwell and Ufher give a
triple feries of archons from Diodorus Siculus, Dionyfius of Hali-
carnaffus, and Arrian ; and the dedudiion of Dodwell does not per-
fedly correfpond with Ufher, Ulher’s table ftands thus :

Diodorus Sic,

1. Euthycritus.

2. Chremes.

3. Anticles^

4. Socicles.

OLYMPIAD CXIII.
Dionyfius Halic-,
Euthycritus.
Hegemon.
Chremes.
Anticles.

Annan,

Hegemon.

Chremes

Cephifodorus.

Anticles.

Totb BTTi ’A;p^ovToc A^^'/jvricri Krj-

yJCTJO&py TiJ AOj;-

I'Xioi aq I'AxKi^ovsq Ts

TO l3aa.i?\£t}cnoq ' Af. Ji^dic.

335-

Dodwell differs from Ufher, In affigning
Arrian’s Hegemon to the year which Ufher
affixes to Chremes. Arrian, p. 219, fays.
The battle with Porus was fought in the month

of Munychion, in the archonfhip of Hege-
mon. Munychion anfwers to April ; and
therefore as Hegemon had entered into office
the preceding July, April was the tenth month
of his year, Ol. cxiii. 1. inftead of OLcxiii. 2.
The year by our effimation is 327 A. C.
which anfwersto Ol. cxiii. but by the different
commencement of the Attic year is in reality
,01. cxiii.. I,

PRELIMINARY D I S QJU I S I TI O N S.

The dlfcordance of thefe authors is fo glaring, that after the
laborious refearches of Dodwell, all attempts to reconcile them may
well be deemed fuperfluous. Let us therefore have recourfe to the
year of Alexander, which, from a variety of concurrent teftimo-
nies, is eafily eftabliilied.

According to Plutarch, Alexander was born in the firft year of
the hundred and fixth Olympiad, on the fixth day of Hecatom-
bseon, anfwering to the Macedonian month Lous This date
correfponds, according to Dodwell with the twenty-fixth day
of July, in the year three hundred and fifty-fix before Chrift,
Concerning the adtual day, Scaliger^^, Petavius, and Dodwell are-
at variance ; in regard to the year, they are all agreed ; and the
additional teftimony of Uflier is a confirmation. Alexander fuc«
ceeded to the throne, Olympiad cxi, i. or in the year three lum«

According to Petavius, Alexander

was born, — 356 A. C. Archon Elpines.

Philip died, — 336 A.C. Archon Pythodorus.

11th year of Alexander, 326 A.C. Archon Anticles.

Alexander died July 19, 324 A.C. Archon Hegefias.

According to Ufher, Alexander

was born Sept. 24, 356 A.C. See Ufher, p. 185, with his remarkon Lous and

Philip died, — 336 A. C. Boedromion. See alfo Dodwell de Vet.

j I th year of Alexander, 326 A.C. Cycl. Dif. iv. fe£t. 14.

Alexander died, — 323 A. C. N. B. The year of Chrilf is not marked in the

margin of Ufher, from the year 328 to 323.
If this fhould excite a curiofity to examine this fubje£l, there is a DifTertation on the Birtk
of Alexander in Baron de Sainte Croix, p, 325.

Scaliger does not accede to the fynchro- Greece became a Roman province, thepoffible
Bifm of Lous and Heccatombaeon. The dif- adoption of the Roman calendar rendered the
cordance is reconciled by others, who fuppofe Greeks negligent of their own. Dif. ii,
that the alteration in the commencement of the fedt. 15.

Attic year led Plutarch into an error. Dod- Dodwell de Vet. Cyclis, p. 721.

well obferves with great propriety, that after Scaliger Em. Temp. 416. Auguft 7.

died

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

Sred and thirty-fix before Chrifi: ; and according to Ufher on the
•twenty-fourth of September. If Ulher is right, Alexander v/as a
few months more than twenty at this period, and this is confonanr
to the teftimony of other hiftorians, and the epoch of his death.
But if he began to reign in three hundred and thirty-fix before
Chrifi, the year three hundred and twenty-fix Is confequentiy the
eleventh year of his reign. This is the date Arrian means to efta-
blifli ; and whether or not Ire has given the right name of the
archon is not very material.

This difcufifion might have been fpared if Diodorus and Petavlus
had not Rood in the way ; for though jEIIan labours under a fimi-
kr miftake, little attention is due to his errors in a matter of chro-
nology. It is furprifing that Diodorus fhould have anticipated a
year, and placed this tranfadlion in the year three hundred and
twenty-feven before Chrifi. It is ftill more extraordinary that
Petavlus fhould adopt his error. It appears at firfl fight as if Dio-
dorus had confounded the departure from Nicasa with that from
the Indus, but his narrative does not -allow this ; and he not
only commences, but finifhes, the voyage fin the year three hundred
and twenty-feven at Salmus in the Gulph of Perfia. This was
impofiible, for Alexander died in three hundred and twenty-four
before Chrifi, and the intermediate tranfadllons from the time he
received the fleet near Sufa, to the hour of his death, are as clearly
afcertained as thofe of any monarch in Europe who has reigned
within a centurju

That Is, if Alexander afeended the did not fail till Odlober, the date is ^con-
throne on the 24.th of September 336 A. C. fiilent.

tho eleventh year of his reign commences on A city mentioned by Diodorus only,

the 24th of September 3265 and as the fleet Ed. Well, p. 243.

Th€

PRELIMINARY 1) I S CLU I S I T I O N S.

The performance of the voyage, it is true, does not derive its
importance from the year in which it was accomplifhed, however
necelfary it may be to fupport the order of chronology ; but it
never could have been accomplillied with fuch vefleis as the Mace-
donians ufed, if the fuppofition of Montefquieu were founded, that
they failed againft the Monfoon. Fortunately the Monfoons blow in
the fame feafon now that they did in the time of Alexander ; and
we have the date of the month given us fo pofitively by Strabo and
Arrian, that we cannot be mlftaken in lixing the departure either
from Nicsea or the Indus* Both thefe authors followed the journals
of Ariftobulus and Ptolemy, and the information colledled by both
is fo nearly coincident, that we cannot doubt their veracity ; in faS:,
there is but one Intermediate report between the author of the Tour-
nal and ourfelves.

Strabo fixes the departure from Nicsea In the year three hundred
and twenty-feven before Chrlft, a few days before the fetiing of
the Pleiades ; an expreffion obfcure Indeed, though precife. The
ancients had two fettings of their conftellations, morning and even-
ing, and accordingly Columella f^ys, on the thirteenth or
twelfth of the calends of November, (that is, on the twentieth or
twenty-hrft of Odtober,) the Pleiades begin to fet at fun-rife ; and
a few lines after, on the fif'th of the calends of November, (rhe
twenty-eighth of Odober,) the Pleiades fet. The phrafe of Strabo
is fimple, without the addition of morning or evening, which he
adopts upon other occafions ; we mu ft therefore apply it to the
latter expreffion of Columella, which is limple likewife ; reckoning,

Strabo, p. 691. Poru.s for A, C. and the departure froiTj

Blair’s Chronology does no: mention the .Nierca is in autumn of the fame year.
V'oyage of Kearchus, liut fixer, the war with Col. lib. xi. cap. z.

confc-

PRELIMINARY D I S QU I S I T I O N S«

confequently, the fettlng for the twenty-eighth of October, and
fixing a given number for a few days, we fettle the departure of the
fleet from Nicaea for the twenty-third of Odtober, in the year three
hundred and twenty-feven before Chrift,

In regard to the fecond departure the year following from the
Indus, we have the united teftimony of Strabp and Arrian with a
fliade of difterence, which, though it might be well to reconcile, is
• not an objedl of importance. The date of Arrian is the twentieth
of Boedromion ; the date of Strabo is the evening rifing of the
Pleiades and both profefs the authority of Nearchus. Strabo’s
date may be elucidated by obferving, as Salmafms informs us, that
the rifing is the appearance of a ftar alter having been concealed
by the fun, and the evening rifing is, when it appears in the even-
ing on the fetting of the fun. The evening rifing of the Pleiades is
fixed by Columella for the fixtii of the Ides, (that is, the tenth of
Odlober,) we have therefore the intended lenle of our author exhi-
bited in the cleareft light.

Arrian has given us a fixed day with more apparent preclfion, but
with lefs real information ; for it is well knowm, to the great vexa-
tion of every one who has had to calculate the date of any fad: con-
neded wdth Grecian hiftory, that the commencement of the Athe-
nian year is moveable, like our Eafter, and may wander through as
many days from the fame caufe, the appearance of a full moon.
The full moon next after the fummer folftice w^as the day appointed
for the Olympick games, a day probably fixed upon to give the
beft feafon of the year, and the brighteft nights for the celebration

AvaroAn ett* e7rnoX-o de -/i ipavepa^ati; 7mv

fA,STiZ r^V T^V TiXtOCKYiV. Sal. p. 748.

EcTTrepsi E7r»ToA^ qt-zv opaS/7 n

&c. SaL p. jzo.

See Scaliger Emend. Temp. p. 29. who
quotes Pindar and his Scholiad.

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

of thofe games, which were the boaft and paiTioii of
The day on which this full moon was new, was the commencement
both of thp Olympian and Athenian year, and a year formed on this
principle requires perpetual calculations of the moon’s changes,
whenever a date is to be reduced to the precifion of modern chro«
nology. Fortunately for thofe who are engaged in refearches of
this kind, the indefatigable Dodwell has given us a feries of years
which comprehends this epoch ; according to his calculation, the
third year of cxiii‘^ Olympiad, which anfvvws to three hundred and
twenty-fix before Chrift, commenced on the fixteenth of July, and
Boedromion, the third month of the year, on the thirteenth of Sep-
tember; the eighteenth of that month he difcards, and confequently
the twentieth of Boedromion coincides with the fecond of Odfober.
We have already fliewn that Strabo’s evening rifing of the Pleiades
anfwers to the tenth of Odlober, and if we now prove that Arrian’s
date is the fecond of the fame month, we have an approximation
too exadl to fuffer Montefquleu’s error to millead us, and perhaps
as near as, at the diftance of two thouiand years, can be expedled.

It was in contemplation at one time to have purfued this refeareh.
farther, and examine the minute caufes which might have produced
this variation, fmall as it is, between two authors of fuch high re-
pute as Strabo and Arrian ; but upon referring the queftion to
Mr. V.-'alcs one of the moft accurate aflronomers of the age, he
was of opinion that the preceffion of the Equinoxes (which had
been fufpedled) was Infufficient to account for the error, and like-
wife expreffed his doubts whether the ancients were ever accurate in
fixing the rlfing and fetting of their coniiclkdions. Plis doubts were

DodwrII de Vet. Cyclis, p. 77.1.

See Mr. vViUes’s Anfwer in the Appendiv, No. i.

afterwards

36 PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S I TI O N S.

^afterwards found to be well grounded ; for Salmafius has demon*
ftrated, that In fome iiiftances of this kind hardly any two of the
ancient aftronorners are agreed. It is poflible, howeveig that Strabo’s
cxpreffion may be laxly interpreted to mean the evening rifing^

of the Pleiades ; foig in a finiilar inftance, the morning fetting of
the Pleiades (November the 8th) is efteemed the commencement of
winter ; after wdiich it is dangerous to fail ; but it Is not till the
eleventh that the kalendar fays, Maria claudmitur ; we fhould there-
fore efteem the rifing or fetting of the conftellations as marking
rather the feafon than the day. If fo, there is latitude given to bring
him nearer to Arrian : but let the queftion be refolved as it may,
the deviation is fo fmall, that In neither cafe will it compel Nearehus
to perform his voyage in oppofitlon to the Monfoon. As a .pofitive
day is given by Arrian, I flhall affume this in preference, and on the
authority of Dodwell, fix the departure of the fleet from the Indus
for the fecond of Odlober, in the year three hundred and twent)—
fix before Chrifl: ; notwithftanding, the advance of eight days, ac^
cording to Strabo, would be a more advantageous point to alTume.

THE MONSOON.

Vni. The Monfoon is a term fo familiar at prefent, that it is
hardly neceffary to obferve, it fignifies, in India, a wind that blows
fix months from the north-eaft, and fix months from the fouth-
v/efl:. This wind, unknown in the Great Atlantic and Pacific

Uilier fixes on the firft of 0£lober, which, might have been fpared. But fee Ulher on
allowing for Dodwell’s exclufion of the eigh- the Solar Year, cap. i. and confult the
teenth of September, brings his date to cor- thors concerning the time expended after
refpond with ours. Had Ufher favoured us Alexander’s return,
with his mode of calculation, this dedudion

Oceans,

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S IT I O N S.

'].7
^ /

Oceans, extends, with a variety of Inclinations, through all the feas
of India from Japan to Madagafcar; its general courfe only is north-
eaft and fouth-weft ; its particular deviations depend on the pofition
of mountains, capes, and bays, which fometimes obftrudt or diredt
its courfe ; and near the coaft it almoft univerfally gives way to the
land and fea breezes, which blow alternately every twenty-four
hours. We fhall have occafion to notice all thefe circumftances
during the paflage of Nearchus from the Indus to Cape Jafk, and
fhall find authorities to fupport them.

In a collection of papers furaifhed by Mr. Dalrymple, I have a
Journal of Lieutenant M^Cluer, which will enable me to give a
better account of the Monfoon in this track, than could have been
procured by any other means of information.

The veffels bound from Malabar to the Gulph of Perfia ufually
make Mufcat, on the coaft of Arabia ; and the beft time for
making this palTage is during the months of November, December,
January, and February ’h” This proves that the north-eaft Mon-
foon, which commences with fome fluctuation in October, fixes ftea-
dily in November, and continues in force for four months, when it
begins to fluctuate again in March, and does not fix fteadily to the
fouth-weft till April or May. John Thornton fays'^ In November,

“ December, January, while the wind is northerly within the
tropic, it is eafterly along the coaft of Mekran, with a currenf
fetting to the weftward.” And another navigator of this track
lays, ‘‘ Between the latter end of October and the middle of No-

75 M'Cluer, p. i ; and Tavernier, p. 2. 75

voL ii. 77 C, R.annle,ln Mr. Dalrymple’s CoIIedilon.

vemberp

)

PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S ITI O N S.

vember, the land and fea breezes begin along the coaft of
Guadel, (Mekran,) and continue four months.” He adds, If a
land wind blows either morning or evening, a (hip may depend
on a fea breeze, or at leaf!; a wind along the coaft from the north-
weft, to bring her in fliore again neither is the land or fea
breeze ever attended with fqualls of thunder or rain.” Tavernier
who made this voyage himfelf from Ormus to Surat, mentions,
that the paflage is made during November, December, January, and
February, from Surat to the Gulph of Perfia, in fifteen or twenty
days.

It has been thought neceflary to detail thefe circumftances, in
order to fhew that if Nearchus failed, as he did, the beginning of
Odlober, why it was neceflary for him to wait twenty-four days in
port, near Cape Monze, (Eirus, or Irus,) till the Monfoon was
fettled in November ; he had then every circumftance in his favour,
an eafterly wind fetting along the coaft, a land breeze to give him an
offing, without danger of being carried out to fea, no fear of fqualls
or ftorms, and a current confpiring with all thefe advantages to en-
fure his fuccefs.

Whether Nearchus was apprifed of all thefe co-operating circum-
ftances may be doubted ; but there is great reafon to believe, that
the navigation was pradifed by the natives, at leaft in detached por«
tions of the voyage, if not along the whole coaft ; and we may be
fure, if he found at Patala any pilot capable of conduding him.

7® The fea breeze blows from noon to mid-
night ; the land breeze from midnight till
noon. The weather is generally pleafant and
ierene in the N. E. Monfoon.

journal of the Houghton Indiarnan, 1756.
Mr. Dalrymple.

Rannie, p. 88.

Tavernier, vol. ii. p. 2.

He did find a pilot at Mofarna, which,
at the fame time it proves a navigation
carried on by the Perfians, Karmanians, or
more probably the Arabians, along the coaft,
evinces the attention of Nearchus.

neither

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

neither his own forefight nor the prudence of Alexander would have
been wanting to procure affiftance. The general effed; of the Mon-
foon he certainly knew ; he was a native of Crete, and a refident
at Amphipolls, both which lie within the track of the annual or
Etefian winds, which, commencing from the Hellefpont, and pro-
bably from the Euxine, fweep the iEgean fea, and ftretching quite
acrofs the Mediterranean to the coafl: of Africa extend through
Egypt to Nubia or Ethiopia.

Arrian has accordingly mentioned the Monfoon by the name of
Etefian winds ; his expreffion is remarkable, and attended with a
precifion that does credit to his own accuracy, and the authorities
from which he drew his information. Thefe Etefian winds, fays he,
do not blow from the north in the fummer months, as with us in
the Mediterranean, but from the fouth On the commencement
of winter, or at lateft on the fetting of the Pleiades, the fea is faid
to be navigable till the wfinter folftice. This fetting of the Pleiades
muft again caufe fome confufion, for though Gronovius, in his
Commentary on Arrian, fixes this for the eleventh of November,
becaufe the kalendar fays, navigation ceafes on that day ; yet Colu-
mella places the fetting on the twenty-eighth of Odober, and the
morning fetting on the eighth of November. We fiiall prefer, on

A veflel going up the Nile has always in
thefe months a fair wind againft the llream.
She comes down like a log upon the water.
See Bruce, Pocock, Norden, &c.

And in another place ; the Etehan winds,
which prevail the whole fummer feafon,
blowing from the fea upon the coafl, ren-
der navigation imprafticable, p. 335. The
mouths of the Indus front exadly fouth-
welE

This paffage of Arrian is accompanied,
in the edition of Gronovius, by a long and
angry note, as too many of his are. He in-
terprets his author, however, as intending to
fay, that as the Etefian winds in the Mediter-
ranean blow from the north in fummer, and
are generally fucceeded by an oppofite wind
in winter, the reverfe takes place in the Indian
ocean ; the fummer Etefian is fouth, the win-
ter north.

this

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS,^

this occafion again, the fettlng as expreffed fimply by both authors,
and fix the change of the Monfoon as Intended by Arrian for the
twenty-eighth of Odober ; a day which coincides fo nearly with
modern obfervation, and fo identically with the circumftances of the
voyage, as to give it a fixed preference to all others. Arrian is not
fb happy in limiting the termination of the Monfoon to the winter
folftice, for it has been already fhewm, that it continues to blow
during January and February, and does not fludtuate till March ; fo
far is this, however, from impeaching Arrian of ignorance, that it
is a proof of his attention and veracity. The fleet reached Kar-
pella before the end of December ; Nearchus had confequentiy no
opportunity of obferving the prevalence of the Monfoon after the
winter folftice ; he delivered, therefore, what he knew to be true
from his own experience, without confidering or knowing what the
winds were in January and February ; and Arrian copied as faith-
fully as Nearchus related.

We know from later writers that the ancients vrere perfeflly ac«
quainted with the nature and feafons of the Monfoon, and that from
the time of Claudius, the fleets which failed from Egypt traverfed the
Indian ocean to the coaft of Malabar, and returned from that coaft
again, by means of the Monfoons, without cbufining themfelves any
longer to the winding of the fhore. It is not, hovrever, our objed; to
difplay the advances made in later ages, but to fpecify the difcoveries
■of the Macedonians, and the fidelity of the hiftorian; yet we cannot
.avoid mentioning iome particulars that occur in the navigation

See B. de Salnte 'Croix, Note Ixii. p. 3 19, Dodvvell’s Dil'. on the Periplus Mar,

who fays, ru- rpoTra'i means the ver- Erythr.

nal equinox. I fhould be glad to give this Periplus Maris Erythr.aei, In Eiudfcnn

conErutBion, if ihe Greek language ailowed it. Col,

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

of the Indian ocean, which bears the name of Arrian, and
which, as Dr. Robertfon fays, very jiiftly deferves more attention
than has hitherto been paid to it by geographers. That it is not the
w^ork of our Arrian Is evident, for the author Is as Ignorant of the
countries inland, as he is accurate on tlie coaft ; he is equally Igno-
rant of the extent of Alexander’s conquefts, whom he fuppofes to
have erected altars and chapels in Guzerat, (Barigaza,) though he
paifed little beyond the eaftern mouth of the Indus. His errors,^
however, are pardonable, if w^e confider him, as what his wmrk de«
dares him, a merchant, or navigator in the feas he defcribes ; as one
w^ho had perfonally vlfited both coafts of the Red Sea, the coafts of
Africa and Arabia, and the coaft of Malabar from the bay of Cutchj
poITibly to the kingdom of Calecut : that we are authorifed to
afiume this, is evident from a paflage not very intelligible, where he
fays, In falling into the Gulph of Arabia keep our courfe In
the middle ; *we fail nearer the coaft of Arabia.” The adoption
of the firft perfon feems conclufive, and as his defcriptlon in-
cludes Cape Gardafui, (Aromatum Promontorlum,) Cana % and
Ras-al-gate, (Syagros,) in Arabia ; the departure of the veftels from
thofe points with the Monfoon, the cargoes they carried, the part of
the coaft they reached ; the particulars of the bay of Cutch, (Ba-
races,) of Cambai, of Guzerat, (Barigaza,) of the Ghauts, and the

W’’ithout building any proof upon what
follows, I cannot help obferving, that as the
boundary I fix for this Arrian’s knowledge is
Cottonora, fo it is remarkable that Salmafius’s
readings of Pliny or Soliinis vary on this
word ; for he fays he found Cottahonore,
f^uodtaonare, and Cottaonore. Now it hap-
pens that Cotta is a native term for a fort, as

Devi-cotta, Palam-cotta ; and Cotta Onore
gives exadlly Onore, a placa about one hun-
dred and eighty miles to the north of Calecut,
and which is as convenient a point for Arrian’?
Cottonora, as Calecut which Dr. Robertfon
aflumes,

^9 Cava-Canim, d’Anvllie ; Cape P'ar-
taque, Robertfon. Pa races. Baroach ?

Dcckan,

PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S I T I O N S.

Deckan^'", with the return from the coaft of Malabar by means of the
north-eaft Monfoon | all thefe indicate a knowledge rather proceeding
from obfervation than intelligence ; all prove that he was not a man
of letters, but a curious navigator, and a faithful reporter. To purfue
this inquiry may be thought an intrulion upon the province of Dr. Ro«
bertfon, but there is much curious matter in this tra£l, that he has
left untouched, and fome circumftances have efcaped his notice which
are* matter of furprife. Dr. Robertfon has not demonllrated that
the Ptolemies had an Immediate intercourfe with India ; he fuppofes,
on the authority of this Periplus, that velfels did pafs from the Red
Sea by coafting along Arabia and the Mekran to India. I am wil-
ling to accede to this fuppofition upon the fame authority, but I have
fearched for farther evidence®* In vain ; and as Dr. Robertfon has pro-
duced no other, it is reafonable to conclude that proof is wanting ®^
It is worthy of remark that Pliny fays, the knowledge of this navi-'

His term is Dachanabades. It is well
known that Deckan fignilies the fbuth, and the
modern Deckan, in the peninfula, is fo called
becaufe it lies fouth of the feat of govern-
ment. It is curious to find this name as old
as the time of the author. Deckan fignifying
fouth, and Abad, a city ; Dachanabades lig-
nifies the capital of the Ibuth. Where to place
this is indifferent ; as, if we were fpeaking of
modern times, we might doubt whether we
ihould call Poonah, Aurungabad, or Seringa-
patam, the principal city of the fouth. The
reigning prince took the name of his city
or province. The modern Deckan is the
country of the Nizam, his capital Aurung.
abad.

Huet (Hifioire du Commerce) drops the
profecution of this queftion at the very point
he ought to introduce it, p. 38, and p. 99,

and countenances the opinion I have adopted,
p. 313. See alfo p. 302. 246. Ed. Paris,

1727-

From a paffage in Pliny, lib. vi. c. 23,
Dr. Robertfon lays down a paffage from Ras-
al-gate (Syagros) to Zizerus, a place fome-
where in India ; but as neither Montefquieu,
Major Rennell, nor Dr. Robertfon, can find
out where this Zizerus lies, it is a great proof
of Pliny’s indillind defcription of India,
which appears upon all occafions. After
Dr. Robertfon has laboured the point as much
as it will bear, he concludes thus ; It is pro-
bable that their voyages were circumfcribed
within very narrow limits, and that under the
Ptolemies no confiderable progrefs was made
in the difcovery of India. Sed. i. p. 37.

Lib. vi. 23. Nunc primum certa nod-
tia patefcente.

gation

PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S 1 T 1 O N S.

I ^

gation was in his own days only beginning to be known, and after-
wards that the names of the cities and nations enumerated are found
in no author of prior date It is equally extraordinary that the dit
covery made of a paflage acrofs the Indian ocean by means of the
Monfoon, correfponds, in point of time, with this information of
Pliny ; for Hippalus the author of that difcovery lived in the reign of
Claudius, and with that difcovery it is eafy to connect the account of
a city called Arabia Felix in the Periplus For the author fays,
it is near the mouth of the Red Sea on the Arabian fide, and had for-
merly been the point of rendezvous between India and Egypt, till it
was deftroyed by the Homans not long before his time. What then
are we to conclude ? but that the fuccefs of Hippalus opened a new
channel for this commerce; and that the Romans, like all other trading
nations, wifhed to eftablifh a monopoly for themfelves by dcftroying
the prior means of intercourfe ? Have we not, therefore, great reafon to
fufpedt that the fleets of the Ptolemies went no farther than to thefe
marts in Arabia, where they purchafed the commodities of India^
and whence they difperfed them over Europe ? It Is not by this
meant to infer, that no veffels from, Egypt ever circumnavigated
Arabia into the Gulph of Perfia, or penetrated into India ; for there
is great reafon to fuppofe they vifited both, and explored likewife
the coafl: of Africa ; but the hlence of authors, and the little faid

Strabo, however, is of prior date, but By Casfar. Which Csefar?

a Greek, and perhaps Pliny means to fpecify The expreffion in the Periplus is remark-

Roman authors. Plin. lib. vi. 23. able, p. 32, thtok rou hfvi[xsvQv nEptwAai;

Thus in the original ; but probably a cor- utto (a^Iv fj.i}cpoT£potq

rupt text. TrAoioK riEPlKOAnizONTES ewAfov. The whole

Huet, Hilloire du Commerce, p. 302, voyage was indeed performed from Cana and
fuppofes this Arabia Felix to be Aden ; and Arabia Felix, but in veffels of an inferior fize,
Aden, he fays, fignifies delicesy p* ‘54; in and by a navigation along the coaft. This,
which fenfe it is applicable to Arabia Felix, while it proves that the voyage was performed,
I>odwelPs Diflert. in Peripl. M, Eryth. demonftrates at the fame time the little effcft
fp. 102, produced from it.

C 2

lipOii

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

upon the fubjed by the writer of the Periplus, afford ftrong pre-
fumptions to conclude that thefe voyages were not frequent ; that
Indian commodities were chiefly purchafed in Arabia ; and that the
Romans had the good fortune to reap all the advantages from the
difcovery of Hippalus, to deftroy the old channels of commerce,
and appropriate the new one wholly to themfelves, ^ Two paffages
of Strabo afford ftrong evidence of the fad ; for in the fecond
book he fays, that the knowledge of the Romans commenced
with the expedition of his friend iElius Gallus into Arabia Felix ;
in whofe time an hundred and twenty fhips failed from Myos Hor-
mus ; and in the feventeenth book he adds, that formerly fcarcely
twenty fhips dared to navigate the Red Sea fo far as to fhew'°^ their
heads beyond the Straits, ^lius Gallus’ undertook his expedition’
under Auguftus, and if he opened this navigation, the difcovery of
Hippalus under Claudius eftablifhed it. The whole of this, indeed,
is contrary to Mr. Bruce’s fyftem ; he has however, upon this oc-
cafion, fo much hypothefis, and fo little of hiftorical fadl, that I am
not bound to follow his conjedtures, in order either to confirm or
refute them. What ufe the Ifhmaelites made of the Monfoon, or
how the Ptolemies profited by it, is problematical ; but the dif-
covery of Hippalus is a fail ; and though he is barely mentioned
by Pliny, we have a diftinfl: account of him from the author of

There is a pafTage in Pliny, lib. vi. 22.
which mentions, that in the reign of Claudius,
Annius Plocamus, who was farmer of the re-
venues in the Red Sea, while he was going
round the coaft of Arabia to colledl them, was
carried out to fea, and beyond Karmania to
Hippurus, a port in India ; and that the prince
reigning there, induced by his account of the
Romans, fent an embalfy to the emperor. If
a voyage to India had been a comraon occur»

rence in the time of Claudius, would this nar^
rative affume fomuch of the. marvellous ? Pliny
adds, that this embaffy gave the Romans the
hrft certain intelligence of Taprobane,

P. 118.

P. 798,.

W? T£ ruiV TtVlOV VTTt^KVTtrSiVs p. 79^^

p. II 8, oX'^yoov 7[(xvTO!,’nocai FeW,

if any at all, had the courage to fail.

BookiC chap. 5.

the

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

the Periplus. He informs us, that fmall veflels had formerly made a
coafting paflage from Cana, (Cape Fartaque,) in Arabia, to the Indus,
but Hippalus obferving the fcite of the emporia, and the appear-
ance of the fea, ventured upon a navigation acrofs the ocean at
the feafon of the fouth-weft Monfoon Since his time, all
veflels follow the fame track ; they fail for India in the month of
July, and return, according to Pliny, in December. This flight
mention of coafting voyages is nearly all the evidence we have of a
direct Eaft Indian commerce under the Ptolemies ; and it is natural
to conclude, that, exifting in this manner, it was far more profitable
to purchafe Indian commodities In the ports of Arabia, than to
fetch them from India by a navigation fo hazardous and circuitous.

I have been led Into this difquifition, however unneceffary it may
appear, firft, becaufe it feems a point not fufficiently attended to, or
noticed by former writers ; and fecondly, becaufe it attaches to the
voyage of Nearchus In a very extraordinary manner. The coaft of
the Mekran, (Gadrofia,) which had not been heard of in Greece
before the time of the Macedonians, was vifited but little on
account of commerce, and- perhaps not at all, except by the few
vefTels which performed thofe coafting voyages juft mentioned, and
which probably never touched at any port on it, unlefs from ne-
ccfTity. As late, therefore, as the time of Strabo and Pliny, that Is,
at the diftance of three hundred and fifty, or three hundred and eighty
years, no frelh Intelligence had reached the writers of Greece or Rome.

*05

cr)(^n^a.

Libonotus. Salmafius has a long diiler-
tation to prove, that Libonotus is not fouth-
weft, but weft. Had he afked any feaman
which way the Monfoons blow in India, he

might have fared himfelf the trouble. D’Anville
more fenfibly lays it down fouth-weft. This
wind, in honour of the man who firft had the
ftcill and courage to profit by it, was after.,
wards called the Hippalus.

Strabo '

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

Strabo gives much the fame account as Nearchus ; Pliny is too la-
diftind to make us fuppofe he had any better materials ; but a
period afterwards arrived, and to all appearance after the difcovery of
Hippahis, when this coaft was again vifited ; for Ptolemy, who
lived in the reign of Adrian by refiding at Alexandria, had the
opportunity of making inquiries upon the fpot. Some merchants
and navigators evidently In his age frequented this coaft, for
he does not draw his materials from Strabo, Arrian, Nearchus, or
Oneficritus, but exhibits «a varied lift of names and fituations, in
the arrangement of which he is followed, with little deviation, by
his copyift Marcian of Heraclea. But however fome few indivi-
duals might furniih information to the geographer, the difcovery
of Hippaius now diverted the general courfe of navigation to the
richer coaft. of Malabar; there 'was no occafion, and little induce-
ment, to vifit the Mekran ; and confequently there is a chafm of
filence on this fubjedl in almofi: every geographer, voyager, and
traveller, from the time of Ptolemy till the period when the Por-
tuguefe penetrated again to this coaft of defolation. But though the
Poituguefe formed fettlements in this country, we find little
diftindt information in their accounts ; and if the Englifh Eaft
India Company had not direfted a furvey of this coaft to be made,
the expedition of Nearchus could not have been properly illuftrated,
nor the narrative of Arrian fo fully vindicated, as it may now be,
from the charge of impofture*

THE STADIUM.

IX. The application of the clrcumftances attendant upon the
Monfoon, to the voyage under contemplation, has been an eafy and .

Anno C. 138.

a pleafant

PRELIMINARY DIS QJJ I S I T I O N S,

a pleafant talk ; and If It were poffible to arrange the meafures ufed
by our author, and the diftances affigned, with the fame accuracy,
the journal might be prefented to the reader with as much precifioii
as a modern voyage : but no accuracy of this kind is to be ex-
peded ; the fubjeft furveyed under a variety of lights, and mea-
fures examined by moll numerous combinations, afford only a ge-
neral refult approximating to perfpicuity, but nothing which will
fatisfy a mind habituated to refearch, or the curiofity of thofe
readers who confult the margin of their map as regularly as the
country It contains.

The determination of local fituation, by means of longitude and
latitude, is at prefent conduded with fo much facility, and is fo fa-
miliar to our apprehenfion, that we are liable to forget the difficul-
ties to which the ancient geographers were expofed. Narratives
and itineraries were the original guides for determining diftances and
pofitions ; thefe all depended upon meafures, the meafures of dif-
ferent countries differ, and the meafures of the fame country vary
in. different ages, and in the calculation of different authors. This
is fo peculiarly the cafe with the Greek ftadium, that it is in fome
degree indefinite, unlefs appreciated by the age and country of the '
author, or reduced by fome ftandard applicable to the country under
confideratlon. It is this meafure which Arrian has adopted, with
what laxity may be readily feen by confulting Mr. d’Anville’s
Treatife on the Itinerary Meafures of the Ancients ; and if, by the
affiftance of that able geographer, fome general eftimate can be
formed, it is fuch as muft be a refult from the whole, and muft not
be expecfted to apply in every particular inftance. Extraordinary as
it is to us who live in times when, by means of the prefs, new ac-
quifitions of knov/ledge are diffufed throughout Europe in tire

courfe..

PRELiMiNARY D I S QJJ I S I T 1 O N S

coiirfe of a few months, It is a certain fad, that before this com-
munication took place, authors of the fame age In different
countries knew as little of each other’s difcoverles as if they had not
exifted. Arrian and Ptolemy are nearly contemporary, and yet fo
far is Arrian from manifefling any knowledge of longitude or lati-
tude as applied by Ptolemy to the plane or the fphere, that he feems
ignorant even of the parallel of Eratofthenes, though he is an
author quoted by himfelf. He makes but one attempt to mark the
courfe of the fleet, by mention of the fhadow falling to the fouth*°%
and unfortunately the whole track of Nearchus Is to the northward of
tlie tropic. But though Arrian has conveyed or preferved no difcovery
of this fort, he is ftill a faithful tranfcrlber from his authorities ; the
ftandard meafure, therefore, which he has ufed, we may be affured,
is fuch as he found it in Plolemy and Ariftobulus, and the va-
luation of their ftadium becomes the objed of inquiry. Mr. d’An-
ville fays with great juftice, that none of the ancient meafures
require more difcuffion than the ftadium ; he fpecifies four different
forts, and thefe will admit of variations.

French Toifes

The Olympian
The Pythian

Xenophon’s

Arlftotle’s

94^

125 or 750 feet.

Feet. Inches.

75 3 7

51 o 0

The Olympian, or common ftadium, is that employed by the
generality of writers in the eftimation of eight to a Roman mile j

GofTelin, p. 27. *“ Mef. It. p. 85.

This will be noticed in its place. The French toife or fathom is fix feet;.

Not the geographer, but the companion and a French foot is to the foot Englilh nearly
gf Alexander, and afterwards king of Egypt, as 16 to 15.

the

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

the Pythian is little noticed ; that of Xenophon is taken from the
marches of the ten thoufand, where thirty ftadia are reckoned equal
to a parafang ; and that of Ariftotle, according to Mr, d’Anville, is
the ftadium adopted by the Macedonians. It requires great con-
fidence in our guide to acquiefce in this alTertlon, for no ftadium of
fifty-one toifes is mentioned even by Arlftotle himfelf ; it is extradted
from him by inference, and the inference itfelf is extraordinary.
The circumference of the earth was eftimated by Eratofthenes at
two hundred and fifty-two thoufand ftadia, which gives feven
hundred to a degree ; but Ariftotle calculates the fame circum-
ference at four hundred thoufand ftadia. This fum divided by three
hundred and fixty produces one thoufand one hundred and eleven ;
and if we reckon one thoufand one hundred and eleven ftadia to
a degree, the ftadium can contain only fifty-one toifes. Now the
truth feems to require, that we fliould examine whether Arlftotle
Intended to give a larger world or a lefs ftadium, before we accede
to the inference deduced. If, however, we were once perfuaded
that Ariftotle had adopted a ftadium of this kind, we might find a
philofophical reafon for the application of it by Alexander ; for his
inftruftion to Beion and Diognetus to employ it in their furveys,
and for our finding It in the journal of his officers. The philofopher
was the preceptor of Alexander; and if he had any hypothefis of
his own to eftablifh, by an admeafurement of a new invention. It is
not impoffible that the pupil might have adopted the fyftem of his

D’Anv. p. 8z. Cenforinus Vitruvius, toifes and a little more ; and that the B. de
&c. Sainte Croix, quoting the very paflage, ftiould

De Ccclo, lib. i. c. 14. D’Anv. p. 83. alTert, that Mr. D. makes the ftadium fifty
See Blair’s Treatife on Geography, p. 59. toifes two feet- five inches, and then reckon

It is extraordinary that Mr. d’Anville, fifty toifes without the fradlion. Ex. Crit.
Mef. Itin. p. 83, fhould exprefsiy fay, fifty-one p. 103.

mafter,

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

mafter, either from deference to his talents, or from ambition, be-’
caufe it was new.

To confefs the truth, when I engaged in this inquiry I regarded
lightly the whole of this fyflem; and though I am not now convinced
that any fuch ftadium exifted, but rather fuppofe that it is a Greek
term applied to an Oriental meafure, ftill the general correfpond-
ence of fifty-one toifes to the meafure of Arrian, be it a ftadium or
not, does appear, upon the whole, agreeable to fad'.

In order to examine this queftion more intimately, I extraded all
the feveral dlftances in Pliny d’Anville, and Rennell, from the
Cafpian Straits to the jundion of the Jumna and Ganges ; and
though this ftadium would not accord with Pliny, calculated either
way, it approached nearer to Major Rennell’s diftances, than
Mr. d’Anville’s own, upon the whole extent of the line ; and as
Major Rennell is the noiore corred, the coincidence is ftill more in
its favour.

In purfuing the fame mode of comparifon through the voyage of
Nearchus, though it is not poffible to eftablilh a proportion of part
to part, or perhaps to meafure five hundred ftadia in any detached
portion of the courfe with fatisfadion, yet fo far do the errors cor-
red one another, that it would be ungenerous not to acknowledge
Mr. d’Anville’s merit in the difcovery of this principle, however we
may hefitate about the application of it, to the minuter divifions of
the voyage.

The diftance from the northern mountains where the Indus iffues^
to its jundion with the fea, Arrian eftimates, from the account of

Tieffenthalet reckons by miles, but his the fame?
miles are cofe, equal to 1 y^ths of a mile. Great allowances muft be made for the

What forbids the Macedonians to have done incorre6lnefs of Pliny’s numbers.

EratoftheneSj,

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ IS I TT O N S.

Eratofthenes, at thirteen thoufand ftadia; the fame fpace on Major
Rennell’s map gives by the opening of the compaflhs fomewhat more
than thirteen degrees of latitude ; we have then at once a thoufand
ftadia to a degree, and rn^ay well make up an hundred and eleven
more, by allowance for the courfe of the river, or the march of
armies ; and if, by the fame proportion, we meafure from the fea to
Nicaea, or Jamad on the Chelum, we find fomewhat more than nine
degrees, or about fix hundred and twenty-five miles Englifh, which,
with allowance for the courfe of the river, we may extend to eight
hundred and fifty or even nine hundred miles.

The fecond diftance given is the coaft of the Arabitae from the
harbour of Krocala to the river Araba, eftimated by Arrian at a
thoufand ftadia, and meafuring by Mr. Dalrymple’s fcale about
feventy-five miles.

The third divifion is the coaft of the Oritas from the river Araba
'to Malana, one thoufand fix hundred ftadia according to Arrian, and
nearly ninety-eight miles by Mr. Dalrymple’s fcale.

The fourth divifion is the coaft of the Idfhyophagi from Ma-
lana to Badis ; that is, from Cape Maran, or Malan, to Cape

Jafk, which Arrian reckons at ten thoufand ftadia, but his total and
particulars are at variance. Of this coaft we have a furvey by
Lieutenant Robinfon^ and according to his Icale it meafures nearly
four hundred and eighty miles, a diftance more difproportlonate to
Arrian’s ftadium than any of his former divifions, for it differs no
lefs-than an himdred and forty-five miles; the inaccuracy of which
we can only excufe on account of tlie extreme diftrefs of the fleet.

The fifth divifion is the coaft of Karmania from Cape Jafk to the
ifland Keifla or Katsea ; the number of ftadia given by Arrian is

*** Indie, p, 315.

Major Rennell reckons the navigation up to Moultan at eight hundred miles.

¥ 2

three

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S i T I O N S.

three thoufand feven hundred, but his eftimate is lax, and the de-
duction from it dubious. The coaft meafures fomewhat lefs than
two hundred and eighty miles Engliih by Mr. d’Anville^s fcale.

The laft meafure we can afcertain is that of the coaft of Perfis ;
and even here Arrian’s ftatement of four thoufand four hundred
ftadia muft be augmented by an allowance for four omiflions, which
cannot make it amount to lefs than four thoufand feven hundred
ftadia, between Keilh and the river Endian, the Katsea and Arofis
of Arrian. Mr. d’Anville’s fcale makes this fpace equal to three
hundred and twenty-three miles, but from the later information of
Mr. Dalrymple’s charts there is reafon to think it not lefs than three
hundred and fifty miles Engliih.

Upon a recapitulation of thefe feveral fums, the account would

ftand thus :

Stadia.

Miles Englifh.

From Jamad to the mouth of the Indus 10,000

625

Coaft of Arabitse

1000

Oritse

- 1 600

Idhyophagi

- 10,000

480

Karmania

3700

280

Perfis

4700

350

31,000

1908

Stadia multiplied by fifty-one toifes

1,581,000

ftadia.

Miles Englifh multiplied by 826 toifes

1,576,008 ftadia.

1,581,000

1,576,008

Difference - » -

4,992

toifes.

It ought to be five thoufand eight hundred. See Perfis infra* But a general efiimate
only is taken here.

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I TI O N S.

Of thefe particulars, the firft only is reduced by computation, the
remaining five are the actual eftimates of Arrian, compared with
the meafures derived from modern obfervations ; and when the re-
fult is an error lefs than five thoufand upon upwards of a million
and an half, the difference is not worth regarding. I am fenfible,
however, that feveral of the modern diftances are liable to objedlion,
and I lay no claim to precifion on this head; but they were taken in
the befl manner the charts and maps allowed, without any regard to
the ilfue, and the refult permitted to come out in its natural courfe,
without previous accommodation. One circumftance which may
appear erroneous, is, in my eftimation, the natural means of re-
conciling the two accounts more nearly to truth ; that is, I have
reckoned ten degrees of longitude from the Indus to Cape Jafk by
the fame fcale as the^ other diftances, which are in reality degrees of
latitude ; whereas a degree of longitude, in latitude 25°, is in
fad; about fifty-four miles and an half, inftead of fixty-nine and an
half. The difference which this caufes upon ten degree^ nearly
an hundred and fifty miles ; but if it be confidered that the fladia of
Arrian arife from the courfe of the fleet, while the modern miles
are eflimated, in fome meafure, from the opening of the compaffes,
an hundred and fifty miles upon ten degrees, inftead of being an
error, is an approximation to truth. Adual precifion I afled not,
neither do I think the queftion capable of being reduced to de-
monftration.

Upon the whole, Mr. d’Anville has performed an effential fervice^
to ancient geography, in pointing out a meafure of any fort which
can enable us to form an cflimate of the diftances recorded in the
journal ; and whether it be a fladium of Ariftotle, or taken from
any ftandard of the Indians, nay even if it were imaginary, or built

only

PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S ITI O N S.

only on an analyfis of the feveral meafures fpecified, it is ftill an
objed: of importance to find this anfwer upon a fpace of almoft two
thoufand miles; and that the unavoidable errors which arife upon
the reckonings of all navigators, more efpecially the ancient, can
be made to corred each other mutually, and produce a general re-
fult which is admiffible.

Two confiderations arife naturally from the difculTion of this fub-
jed; the firft regards Nearchus, whofe eftimation rifes in proportion,
not only to the difficulty, but the length of the voyage. It is no
ordinary degree of fortitude which could enable a commander to
undertake this expedition in veflels very inadequate to the fervice,
and to explore a coaft of this extent, v/here, if fhipwreck were
avoided, famine was perpetually to be apprehended.

The fecond confideration refpeds the general difficulty of recon-
ciling the meafures of different countries ; no one has laboured this
point with the fame diligence and fuccefs as d’Anville, and I am
obliged to follow his meafure in toifes, becaufe if I defert it, I can
find no guide to diredt me ; but, in fa£t, even his meafures, however
carefully reduced, ftill leave fome obfeurity behind. One great
caufe of this is, that the ftandards of different countries feldom agree
without a fraction, and in ordinary calculations the fraction is dif-
regarded ; thus, in reckoning eight Greek ftadia to a Roman mile,
there is always a deficiency of two jugera, or a third part of a
fladium. The Olympian ftadium is fix hundred feet Greek, the
foot Greek is nearly *^Vthe fame as the foot Englifh ; eight ftadia,
therefore, produce four thoufand eight hundred feet ; and two ju»
gera, or a third of a ftadium added, makes ^he Roman mile equal to

Here is another fradion. See d’Anville, Mef. It. on the Foot, p. lo, &c.

five

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

five thoufand feet Greek or Engllfh. Such Is the account of Poly-
bius preferved by Strabo ; and this, one fhould think, was In-
tended for precifion. But Mr. d’AnvIlle In his Treatife on the
Roman Mile, and In his Analyfis of Italy, by a variety of combin-
ations fixes the mile Roman at feven hundred and fifty-fix
French tolfes or fathoms ; now the French fathom Is to the fathom
Greek or Engllfh as fixteen to fifteen ; confequently five thou-
fand feet Greek ought to be equal to four thoufand five hundred and
thirty-fix feet French ; and eight hundred and thirty-three Greek
fathoms, with a fraction, ought to be equal to feven hundred and
fifty-fix fathoms French : but the refult Is not fo ; for feven hun-
dred and fifty-fix fathoms French amount only to eight hundred and
fix two-fifths Greek fathoms; confequently, either Polybius is not
correct, or elfe d’Anville’s calculation has this degree of error.
d’Anville, in reality, has paid little attention to the fraction oT
Polybius.

Another example Is, that although Mr. d’Anville regards eight
hundred and twenty-fix French fathoms as equal to one thoufand
feven hundred and fixty yards, or a mile Engllfh, which Is true
almoft to a fraction ; yet he reckons fixty-nine of our miles to a
degree, inftead of fixty-nine one-half. It is not meant to infift on
thefe as errors, but to fhew the obftacles which interpofe in any cal-
culation of extent ; and It is remarkable that Chambers’s Didfionary,
which reckons one thoufand feven hundred and fixty yards, or five

See Strabo, lib. vii. p. 322. Polyb. The Greek and Englifh foot are nearly

lib. iii. c. 39. Schvveighasufer’s Ed. vol. v. the fame. Mef, It. p. 70.
p. 576. We have it not in Polybius. More exadly as 1440 to 1351I. Mef.

With a fradlion of two feet two inches It. p. 125.
four lines, Mef. It. p. 44. 2§ feet. Mr. Wales.

thoufand

56 PRELIMINARY D I S Q^U I S IT 10 N S.

tlioiifand two hundred and eighty feet, to a mile, in order to obtain
a comparative view of our mile with that of other countries, has
recourfe to the Rhinland foot, a foreign meafure as well as the toife
I have adopted, and the Rhinland feet in an Englifli mile are five
thoufand four hundred and fifty-four.

Such are the difficulties to encounter in the redudlon of the
ftandard meafures of different countries ; and if in the attempt here
made, to obtain a comparative view of Arrian’s ftadium with the
mile of our own country, any common error ffiould occur, I trufl: it
will meet with indulgence ; or ffiould it be of magnitude, I confole
myfelf in the expedfation of its exciting others to examine the
fubjed who are better qualified for the inveftigation,

AUTHENTICITY of the JOURNAL.

X. I SHALL conclude this book with a defence of the journal of
Nearchus as preferved by Arrian, which has been condemned as
fpurious by Dodwell, and impeached in point of veracity by Har-
douin and Huet The fupporters of its credit, however, are
Salmafius, Uffier, Sainte Croix, Goffelin, and d’Anville ; and after
the mention of their names, if a new apology fliould be thought
fuperfluous, I muft plead the neceffity of defending my own Opinion
independently of others ; for if I had thought the work fpurious,

I would neither have contributed to fupport an impofture, nor
beftowed the labour of years upon the elucidation of a Ro-
mance.

Hominis mirare in mendaciis confingen- but I learn from Goffelin, that Dodwell affumes
dis audaciam. Hardouin cited by Sainte all his objedions,

Croix. Ex. Critique, p, 255. Huet Com. des Anciens, p. 34^. Sainte

I have not feen Hardouin’s edition of Pliny, Croix.

But

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS,

But Nearchus has experienced a fate fevere in the extreme ; he Is
joined by Strabo with Daiinachus Megafthenes, and Oneficrltus,
as a retailer of fables, in his account of India ; and his work has
been robbed of its exiflence, on the authority of Pliny, whofe own
narrative is far more objectionable. In conducting this charge, Dod-
well has not acted generoufly in prefixing the particular pafiage
of Strabo to the publication of the journal ; for as this bears hard
upon the veracity of Nearchus, it is prejudging the caufe, and
ought not to have been introduced wfithout, at the fame time,
ftating the evidence on the contrary fide. Juftice required it to be
noticed that Strabo has copied this journal as evidently as Arrian,
and that he is indebted to Nearchus for many faCts which, how-^
ever extraordinary they might appear in his age, have been con-
firmed by modern obfervation.

Nearchus, it is true, fpeaks of an enchanted ifland, and a mira-
culous origin of the ICthyophagI ; not indeed with a view to affert
the truth of fuch trafh, but to refute it: and if he mentions him-
felf as the only man in the fleet who did not fear enchantment, it
may prove his vanity or felf-importance, but cannot impeach his
veracity.

Two circumftances only occur which can be adduced to fupport
fuch an imputation ; one is, his extravagance in ftating the
breadth of the Indus ; the other, his error in alTerting that at Ma-
lana, in November, the fun In the meridian was feen to the north.
The former may be refeued from the charge of falfehood, by fup-

He places Daimachus in tlic firfl: rank, of Strabo. Prating nonfenfe.

Nearchus and Oneficritus only in the fecond. Hudfon perhaps, and not Dodwell.

Sainte Croix. This charge falls rather upon Arrian

is the ilrong expreflion than Nearchus.

pofing

5S PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

pofing that it relates to the river in a flate of Inundation ; and if the.
latter admits of no fatisfadory folution, It ought not, as handing
alone, to be Infifted on, to the invalidation of the w^hole work>
Dodwell, In reality, has paid no attention to thefe two points, but
I exhibit them without fear of the confequences.

The Baron de Sainte Croix has drawn out the arguments of this
great critic, and fubjoined an anfwer to each ; but as the whole
charge refts upon a fingle line of Pliny, if It can be proved that the
paflage itfelf is inconfiftent with Pllny^s affertion in other places, and
that Dodwell has not explained it in a fatisfadfory manner, not only
the principal argument, but all the collateral induftions fall to the
ground. Sainte Croix propofes to correct it by a different reading,
which turns the negative into an affirmative ; a liberty, which,,
though not fupported by authority, may be juftifiable in regard to
a text fo corrupt as Pliny’s ; but I ffiall ffiew that it Is incompatible
and therefore, if it is Incapable of corredion, it muff be rejeded
altogether.

The paffage in Pliny is this : ‘‘ The journal of Oneficritus^
“ and Nearchus contains neither the names of places where they
anchored, nor the rneafure of diftances.” Could any one after
this fuppofe, that the following two-and-twenty lines, which com-
prehend Pliny’s extrad of the whole voyage, contain little elfe but
the names of places ? and thefe evidently taken, not indeed from
Nearchus, nor from the original work of Oneficritus, but from the
journal of Oneficritus, publlffied by Juba the Mauritanian.

Oneficritiet Nearchi navigatio nec nomi- clafTe AlexanSri clrcumvedlus in Mediterranea
r.a habet manfionum^ nec rpatia. Lib.vi. c.23. Perfidis cx India, narrata proxime a Juba.,
Indkare convenitquv^ prodit Oneficritus Ibid.

Dodwell

PRELIMINARY DISQUISITIONS.

Dodwell feels tins Incorififtency, and accounts for it by making
Pliny fay, what he never does fay, that there was no uninterrupted^^^
ieries of names, like that preferved in the itineraries of Antoninus, of
the Peutingerian tables, &c. What Pliny found in Nearchus fliali
be confidered prefently ; but that he found the names of places in
Juba’s Oneficritus his own text proves ; and that fome of thefc
places^ Tuberus, Hytanis, &c. were inaiifioiicsy or anchorages, is
equally evident. He has given no diftances it is true ; and whether
the journal of Oneficritus contained diftances or not, it is im-
polTible to difcover ; but that Nearchus fpccitied diftances appears
not only by his work, which in this cafe is no evidence, but by the
teftimony of Pliny himfelf upon feveral other occafions.

There is in Strabo a paftage thruft into his text as ftrangely
as this alfertion of Pliny is difcordant with the tenor of his
affertions. “ Nearchus fays, he could obtain no native guides or
pilots in his courfe from India to Babylonia, becaufe the coaft
afforded no places to anchor at or any inhabitants capable front
experience, or knowledge of the navigation, to condudt him.”

This paffage ilands infulated between two others, with which
It has no connedllon whatever ; and how it has Intruded itfelf here
feems unaccountable. It contains, however, an expreffion which
has fome relation to the affertion of Pliny: "On
becaufe it afforded no manfiofi^s. What-? — not the Journal, but the

coaft ; and fome expreffion of this fort has given rife to Pliny’s
error.

Itinerarla continuis manfionibus, mail- Spatia.

■fionunique fpatiis. Dif. cic Arriani Nv-archo, *^7 ’SutioDCs-. Strab. p. 732-.

P- *34-

\ 2

But

P R E L r M I Nx\ R Y D I S QU I S I T I O NS.

But let us confider the paffage of Strabo. Might not a fecond^
Dodwell quote, thefe very v^^ords, to prove that Strabo bears evidence
againft the authenticity of the journal, which records two pilots,
Hydriaces from Mofarna, and Amazenes from Oaradl'a ? This would
make out a ftronger cafe than Pliny’s charge amounts to. But the
anfwer is ready ; for Strabo contradidts Strabo. He fays here-,
Nearchus had no pilot ; and he fays afterwards Amazenes, go-
vernor of Oaradla, was the pilot from that ifland up the Gulph.

The ignorance of Pliny himfelf, or the corrupt ftate of his text,^
or the vitiated medium through which he received his information,
is fuch, that it is not eafy to difcover a relation between the account
he gives, from Oneficritus and that of Arrian’s Nearchus; This alfo
forms one of Dodwell’s charges. But whether Oneficritus is the
caufe of this difference, or whether it originates from the inter-
vention of Juba, it Is not; irreconcliable with Nearchus ; for, with
fome affiftance from Salmafius, I read Arbis for Nabrus, Tomerus,
for Tuberus Oritse for Paritae, Ori gens for Oiigens, Andanis for,
Hytanis, Achaemenidas for Achsemedina«, Aradtis for Acrota-
dus and perhaps Arbis for ab eis Andnf Pnow accufd Pliny*
of ignorance, or his text of corruption, could Dodwell himfelf, if
he were living, defend him ? Salmafius goes ftill farther ; he
charges Pliny in diredt terms with not knowing the weft from the eaft^
and confequently with inverting the order of the tribes on the coaft,
and he notices a variety of other errors which it is not my bufmefs^
to infift on. Thefe are mentioned merely to ftiew that the credit of

P. 767. Athithradus.

In the margin, Tomberon. Abies oppldum,

Aradus itfelf is for Arac-i^s, Arek or Plin, Exercit. p, 1177, et fcq.

L’Arek,

FR ELI MIN A RY D I S QU I S IT I O N S.

6 X

Fiiny’s work ought not to be rated fo high as to be made the fland^
ard for others, or the teft of truth.

Another objedllon DodvNrell draws from the reckoning by mlles^.
which are Roman, inftead of the Greek, ftadlum, and which, if
Pliny had copied from a Greet work, he would probably have
adopted. Whether Juba reduced the ftadia into miles^ or Pliny, L
pretend not to afeertain ; but that it is the general cuftom of the
latter, whenever he extradls from Greek authors,, his whole work
will prove ; and d’Anville, with his ufual penetration, has fhewn in
a multiplicity of inftances that Pliny never confidered- anywariation
in this meafure, but that, by reckoning Indifcriminately eight ftadia to

the Roman mile, he has Incurred errors that are fubverfive of all geo-*
graphy. D’Anville has had the curiofity to compare feveral of thefe

'v,

computations by miles with the ftadia on which they were made^
and the refult has been, that as foon as the meafure of the ftadiunr
in the author copied was afeertained, the numbers of Pliny have
been reconciled to truth ; truth, of which the writer himfelf was^
not confeious.

But Pliny aflerts, that there are no meafures in Nearchus ; and’
whether he copies his extradt from Oneficrltus or Nearchus, it is
confefledly wdthout any meafure of diftances. This may be evi-
dence agaiiift Oneficrltus, or at leaft Juba; but is of no %veight in
regard to Nearchus, whom, however he may cite in other places,
he certainly does not copy in this extradl. In other paflages, he
adlually cites the diftances of Nearchus. This Dodwell allows ; but^
then he adds, they were not regular or uninterrupted ; that they did

The Olympic lladium being eight to a halving Pliny’s meafures an approach to the ■
2^e Roman,, and Arrian’s lladium fifteen, by real dUlance is often obtained.

not

P R E L I M 1 N xV R Y D I S QJi 1 S I T I O N S,.

not extend along a whole eoalV, or all the coafts of the voyage, lb
that a eencral eftimate might be formed ; this is the fort of meafure
that Arrian’s Nearchus prei'euts, and this is a fufficient proof that
the work is not genuine. As a general anfwcr to this, it is fuffi-
cient to obferve, that this uninterrupted feries is an invention of
Dod well’s, and we allow that Arrian’s work does contain this fort
of feries ; but a feries commencing at the Indus, and extended to
the Euphrates, according generally in its parts, and almoft perfedliy
in its total, with the adtual furvey of the coad, as eftabliflied by
modern obfervation, contains fuch internal evidence of its truth,
that it is impbffible to be invalidated by any hypothetical argument
whatfoever.

This ought to fuffiice ; but I will now adduce the very paffages
from Pliny cited by Dodwell himfelf, and make them both bear
evidence againft their own fyflem. ‘‘ Nearchus fays, that the
‘‘ :coaft of ‘Karmania extends twelve hundred and fifty miles.”
And again: ‘‘ Oneficritus and Nearchus write, that from the Indus
to the Gulph of Perfia, and thence from the marfhes of the Eu-
phrates to Babylon, are twenty-five mxiles.” In another paffage :
From the commencement of Karmania to the river Sabis, an hun-
dred miles ; from hence vineyards and arable lands to Andanis,
“ twenty-five miles more.” With the account of thefe diftances, cor-
rupted as the text is Beyond all conception, I have no concern ; but
that meafures are fpecified in each feparate inftance is apparent, -and
thofe tlie meafures of Nearchus. In whatever manner, therefore,

*^^5 GoiTelin, p. 25 ; who reads, 2500 for 2,5,
Plin. lib. vi. jc. 24. Dodwell, Dif. p. 1 32.
I quote from the Franckfort edition as
Dodwell does ; and though 1 know attempts
have been fince made to corredl thefe readings.

the corredlion arifes frequently from calcu-
lation, and not from MSS. I have many cor-
redlions prepared ; but the objcdl here is to
fhevv the fpatia of Nearchus, not to corredL
See d’Anville, paffim.

the

PRELIMIxNf ARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

the teftimony of Pliny is to be adduced, for the purpofe of Iiivali*
dating the journal of Nearchus, that teftimony deftroys itfelf ; and
whether the pafiage containing it can be interpreted or not, whether
it be depraved or con'eil:, whether genuine or fpurious, it matters
little ; for an evidence not confiftent is no evidence at all.

Dodwell himfelf conjeftures, that Pliny had feen the original
journal of Nearchus, as well as the publication of Juba, becaufe, in
the catalogue of the writers whom he confulted, he mentions the
name of Nearchus ; and from hence it is concluded, that there are no
meafures in the original, or that Pliny found none ; but it has been
proved already that, in the abftrafl of the voyage, Pliny follows
Oneficritus ; and it is now demonltrated that, upon reference to
Nearchus in other inllances, the text of Pliny proves the exlftence of
thofe very dlftances he denies. Fair reafoning, therefore, demanded the
affent of Dodwell to the folution of Ufher who fuppofes thefe
diftances to have exifted in the original, and to have been omitted
by Juba ; and if this fuppofitlon will not make Pliny confiftent,
why is he to be fupported ? or why is the exiftence of other authors
to depend upon his fuffrage ?

In conftruding this defei-ice of Nearchus, I am fupported by
Goflelin and Sainte Croix ; and bad I been acquainted with
thofe authors previous to my own refearches, I fhould have thought
it fufficient perhaps to have adopted their arguments without any
comment of my own ; as it is, I have been proud of obtaining their
concurrence, and upon the revifal of this argument have made ufe
of their affiftance without referve, D’AnvlIIe lias thought it a
fufficient anfwer to all objedlions to introduce a part of the narra-

Ar.no 438S,

Geographic d?s Grccs, p. 25.,

Examin. Critique, p. 250, et feq,
Sainte Croix, Ex. Crit. p. 256.

I tive

PRELIMINARY D I S QJJ I S I T I O N S.

live itfelf, and prefent it to the reader in the fame form as the author
gives it ; and, in fad, the internal evidence of the work fpeaks
more forcibly for itfelf than all the arguments which can be adduced
in its favour. The circumftantial detail of minute fads, the deli-
neation of the coaft with the fame features it bears at prefent, the
defcription of manners, euftoms, and habits, all charaderiftic of the
natives ; the peculiarity of the climate, feafons, winds, and natural'
produdions, all befpeak a knowledge which could have been ob-
tained from adual infpedion only, and all prefent a work which
Antiphanes, Euemerus, lambulus, Euthymanes and all the forgers
of antiquity could not have put together.

If it were requifite to purfue this inquiry farther, Salmafius affords
a copious catalogue of Pliny’s errors in regard to the whole coaft ;
and whether thofe errors arife from the authors he confulted, or his
manner of confultation ; whether we are to impute them to himfelf,
or to the mutilated and corrupt ftate of the manufcripts as they came
into the hands of his editors ; it is impoffible that a fmgle paffage in
fuch a work fhould be maintained, in order to depreciate, nay, to
annihilate a journal, in vrhich accuracy is as eonfpicuous as the in-
accuracy of Pliny is demonftrable. I lhall adduce one proof only,
and leave numerous others to the contemplation of thofe who build
fyftems upon his authority. The limit between Karmania and
Armozeia is a promontory ; but fome place the Arbii between
them, whofe whole coaft extends four hundred and two miles.”
This is his affertion in the vtwenty-fifth chapter ; in the twenty-third,

*5* Impoilors enumerated by DodwelJ, Dlf. nunt Arbios, ccccii mill. paff. toto littore.
p. 139, &c. Imnargine, ccccxxi.

*5^ Lib. vi. c. 25. A promontorio Car- 1 know not whether I render toto littore pro-
manis jungantur Armozei; quidam intcrpo- perly ; but it cannot depend on

PRELIMINARY D IS QJJIS ITIO NS. 65

he lays, fbeir coajl is two hundred miles long. But whatever its ex-«
tent may be, it is more than fix hundred miles from this promontory,
Armozon. Such is the magnitude of this error. On the contrary,
Nearchus places the Arbii, or Arabitx, between the Indus and the
Sommeany ; and a Cape Arabah in the neighbourhood ftill preferves
their name. He fays, their coaft is about one hundred miles long ;
and fo we find it. He mentions Armozeia as a diftrid: of Karmania ;
It continues fo to this day. He marks the low trad; on the coaft
and the mountains inland; fo do the beft geographers and travellers
at the prefent hour. Where there is fo much information on one
fide, and a total want of it on the other, it is not dijEcult to form
a judgment upon the merits of either party*

*5* Pietro della Valle.

JSfo\rt/ie?n

■VIJVT Of XiOpOU

9ia P^^PS^.

^Kvyrn^A

•n

THE

VOYAGE

O F

N E JR C H V S.

BOO K IL

From NICiEA to the MOUTH of the INDUS,

I. Geography of the Panje-ah^ or Country on the fve Eafern Sources
of the Indus ; IVealth of the People ; Population, Order of the
fve Rivers, — IIL Oxydracce^ Malli^ Ahafani^ Ofadii, — IV. Sogdi^
at Behker. — 'W, Mificaitus,^ Oxyca72us^ Sambus in Sewee^ or
Sihwan, — VI. P attain and the Pattalene ; Tatta coifidered both as
a Province and the Delta of the Indus,- — VIL Progrefs of Alex^
ajider to the Wefward,

The country denominated the Panje-ab*, from the Eve ftreams
which water it, was, till within thefe few years, lefs known
in Europe than almoft any other of the provinces which compofe
the Mogol empire j but the tranflation of the Ayeen Akbari has at

length

* Panje-ab; Pvennell,
K %

68 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

length removed the obfciirity, and admitted us into a knowledge of
the fituation, divifion, revenues, and population of the provinces,
the geography of the country, and the courfe of the rivers, with a
degree of precifion which reconciles the accounts of the beft ancient
geographers, and corrects the errors of the moderns. To the en-
couragement given by the Eaft India Company, and the induflry
and abilities of the gentlemen employed in its fervice, we owe this
excellent work, among a numerous colle£iion of others, which are
tending faft to difpel the gloom that hung over the mythology of
the Hindoos, and the hiftory of their conquerors. And what-
ever revolutions may hereafter attend our own commerce or
empire in the Eaft, thefe fources of knowledge opened to the
world are an acquifition not fubjexft to viciffitude, but will per-
petuate the honour of all who have been concerned in the patro-
nage or execution of them, as long' as the Englifli language ftiall be
read.

This Regifter of Hindoftan, compofed by Abu’l Fazil the minifter
of Akbar, commented as It is by Major Rennell, will form the bafis
of the following geographical refearch ; and though it may not be
perfedly correft in all its parts, its general correfpondence with the
claflical hiftory of the Macedonian conquefts is fuch, as to eftablifh
inconteftably the fidelity of Arrian and Strabo ; and allure us that
we have, in their writings, the report of perfons adiially partakers
in the expedition.

Another work has been confulted, that of TIeftenthaler, a Ger-
man, and a miflionary of the Romiih church, long refident in Hin-
doftan, publiftied by Bernouilli at Berlin, and commented by AnquetH
du Perron. This mIffionary evidently poiTeffed the language, and
drew from the fource of Ayeen Akbari. His work contains much-

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

folid information ^ ; but it is fo ill put together by the editor, and ac-
companied with fo much other matter not always pertinent to the
fubjed:, that it cannot be either read or extraded with facility*

From thefe and other fources of Information it appears, that the
Panje-ab is ftill ^ one of the richeft countries of Hindoftan ; and
though both its wealth, population, and power are doubtlefs exag-
gerated by the Greeks, it is reafonable to allow that they were all
fuperior, at the time of the Macedonian conqueft, to any period of
profperity, fince the Tartars of different tribes have haraffed the
country with invafion, or reduced it by conqueft. It is not poflible
to affert that there had been no invafion of this fort previous to the
age of Alexander ; for In the account of the Kathsei there Is evi-
dently an appearance of Tartar^ manners®, as well as a fufpicion,
from their name of a relation to the inhabitants of Kathai ^ ; there
are likewife inftances of Chiefs, not Hindoo, reigning over Hin-
doos ; and the account of feveral little independent republics, which
frequently occurs, befpeaks fomething that is more charaderiftic;
of Tartar than Hindoo policy. Notwithftanding, however, thefe
fhades of difference, the aggregate of the tribes appears perfedly
Hindoo, from the time that Alexander paffed the Indus, till his re-
turn to the Orit;^ on the ocean.

^ The work confifts of three volumes. The
firh: contains Ticfienthaler ; the fecond, Dif-
quifitions bv Anquctil du Perron ; and the
third is a 'Franilation of M. RennclPs- Memoir,
firft edition.

^ Previous to the irruption of Nadir Shah.
From that period the Mogol empire can liardly
be faid to exilh.

* Rennell ruppefes them to be the Kattry,
Qf Kuttriii tribe.

^ Not only ih their fuperior courage, but in
their manner of defence, confiding In a triple
row of waggons.

^ They bear one damp of Indian manners ;
/. e. they burn tlieir widows. Strab. p. 699.

^ Kathai was a name brought into Europe-
by our early travellers, who entered Tartary
on the north of Afia, and always found a
Kitai, Kathai, 5jc. See Carpin. Rubruquis^,
in Berf^eron’s Colleflion. ^

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

It Is confeffed on all hands that Hindoo policy, both civil and re-
ligious, favours population, agriculture, and commerce ; and though
it vrill be faid, upon the authority of Arrian himfelf^, that the
Macedonians found no gold. in India, if it is a faff, it can only be
alleged to prove, not the want of wealth, but of the aftual metal.
But the fadl is fufpicious ; for the fable ^ of gold turned up by ants
proves the exiftence of gold in the country ; and the tribes weft-
xvard of the Indus fubjedb to PeiTia, as early as the reign of
Darius, paid their tribute ” in gold. Be this, however, as it may in
refpedl to gold, the wealth of the people in thofe early ages is
felf-evideiit, from works ftill extant of the moil extraordinary
magnificence. Their temples, excavations, and public buildings,
not to be feen without aftoniiliment by foreigners, and by the na«
tives attributed to the agency of fapernatiiral powers, all befpeak a
command both of labour and riches, which can be rivalled only by
the iiluftrious relics of the EovDiians.

o / r

This teftimony of v/ealth and power is in all probability long an-
terior to the age of Alexander, and not in the country vifited by
him ; but in his age, at the fources of the Indus, we obtain fuch
authentic evidence of fiiperior riches and population, as cannot be
contemplated without aftonidiment. Greece itfelf was one of the
moil populous countries of Europe ; and whatever country could,

Lib. V. p.20?,

^ Soiiie r;joQfc:rs:i naturaliin have fuppofed
ti';at the white ant, the rnonfter of his genus,
if he met with a vein, might turn up gold. But
the tale of the ancients mull be a fable. One-
iicritus faw not the ant indeed, but his Ikin ;
St was as large as a fox^s.

Arrian hardly allows the tribes weflwatd
the Indus to be Indian.

Herodotus, libHii. p. 246 and 249.

The age of A.nakim (as Mr, Bryant
very jufdy ilyles it), antecedent to all hiilory,
frill exhibits its magnilicence in every coun-
try where it is fought for; from the Pyra-
mids of Egypt to the Druidical mafies in Bri-
tain .

If we attribute their works to natural pov/er,
their numbers are incredible ; if to mechanic
power, their knowledge is equally incompre-
heafible.

from

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

from its appearance, fuggeft to Greeks an idea of fuperior population,
muft exceed in this refpe£t all ordinary calculation.

That they did exaggerate in attributing five thoufaiid cities as
large at Cos to the territories overrun by the Macedonians-, is paft
doubt ; yet that the view of the country itfelf fuggefted this exag-
geration is Ilkewife manlfeft. But let us confider the country of
Porus at the time it was invaded by Alexander, and before the en-
largement of his power. It confifted apparently of what the Ayeen
Akbari calls the Doo-ab of Jenhat, or the tradl between the two
rivers Hydafpes and Akefines, not more than forty miles wide at
a medium, and from an hundred to an hundred and fifty miles long.
Out of fuch a territory as this, without allies, Porus railed an army
confifting of four thoufand horfe, three hundred chariots, and thirty
thoufand foot, under his own command, befides an advanced party
under his fon, of an hundred and twenty chariots, with two thou-
fand horfe, making at the loweft, with due allovv^ance for thofe em-
ployed about the chariots and elephants, forty thoufand men. And
if we now compare this force with the country vdiich was to raife,
fupport, and maintain it, what judgment ought we to form of the
population of India ? Porus, however, was only the head of one
out of many tribes in this country of the Panje-ab 5 Abilfares, a
powerful Chief, lay on the north ; the Glaufe, on the eaft ; a
fecond Porus, on the Hydraotes or Ravee ; and the Kathrei lower
to the fouth, between that river and the Hyphafis : adjacent to thefe.

See fupra ; and the extraordinary reading
tfi Pliny. Cominus for Go minus.

Doo-ab, two rivers or waters.

*3 Strabo fays it contained three hundred
cities 1 Lib, xv. 65 S.

Embifares ; the Abiffarcs of Arrian was
to join him, but failed. Diodor. lib. xvii,
p. 229.

Diodorus fays fifty thoufand. Ibid.

Sopithes

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Sopithes ; with the Malli towards the mouth of the Hydraotes ; ‘
and the Oxydracse, at the angle between the Akefmes and the Indus;,
befides the Abaftani and Ofladii, for whom we can hardly find a
felte.

Small as the territory of thefe federal tribes muft have been, the
numbers recorded of thofe who fubmitted, who were flain or fub-
dued, excite s our incredulity at every ftep ; and little remains but,
after due allowance for exaggeration, to admit a population of the^
greateft magnitude poffible.

Numbers to this extent, furpafling thofe of Greece, and equalling
thofe of China depended, as far as we can judge, not upon that
abominable pradlice of expofing children, legalifed in both thofe
countries ; for this is a fyftein that feems never to have entered into
the conception of Indian legiflators, civil or religious. Exiftence,
however lightly prized by Indian principles^*’, appears to have mul-
tiplied fafter by the mildnefs of government, fecurity from opprelTion,
and the encouragement of maxims political and moral, than by any
of thofe infringements on the law of nature ; and though perhaps

The population of China calculated at
two hundred and forty millions by P, Mailla,
and that of Japan by Ksempfer and Thornberg,
may make us indulgent to the extravagance of
the Greeks. If the cities and towns of China
Hand as thick throughout the empire, as on
the canals navigated by the Englidi, from the
Yellow River to Pekin, it does not appear how
there can be fpace for agriculture to feed them.
See ^neas AndeiTon, See alfo the accounts
of the Jefuits in Du Halde. Lettres Edifiantes,
ice. &c.

In Greece a parent was allowed to expofe
every child; in China every female, and every
third male. The legiflators feem to have re-

moved the obflacles to marriage, by holding
out an immunity from the burden of a family,
and to have trufted to the affedlions of nature
for rearing one. This policy appears to have
anfwered in thefe two inllances. But popula-
tion is not to be purchafed by outraging nature,
however anxious all legiflators may be to pro-
mote it. — I afle pardon,— not all. For the le-
giflature of France has difeovered that popu-
lation may be too great, and has in confe-
quence taken elfeflual meafures to diminifli
it. The difeovery is imputed to Mirabeau.

It is an Hindoo fentiment, that reft is
better than aftion, fleep better than refl, and
death bell of all.

too

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

too much Is always imputed to the purity of remote ages, and we
value too highly fyftems, the defeats of which we can no longer dii-
cover, it will not be thought unreafonable to attribute great efiefts to
Indian policy and manners, and 'ftill greater to the fecurity of life and
property: in ancient times at leafl, thefe were as complete In practice
as the theory appears in the Gentoo code, or the inftitutes of Ak-
bar. To this it may be objected, that a tribe of military forms one
part of the Hindoo fyftem ; and that war implies oppreffion. Againft
this, however, the fame code provides a remedy. The produce of
the field, the work of the artifan, the city without walls, and the
defencelefs village, are declared facred and inviolable Thofe only
who ufed the fword Vvcre to perifh by the fword. I find in Bernier
one inftance of this Hindoo law reduced into practice by the Maho-
metan family ftill reigning ; which occurred, when Aurungzebe was
contending with his brothers for the empire. If I could have found
in ancient hiftory that the pradice and the theory were in unifon, I
Ihould have thought it a fufficitnt ground to account for the wealth
and population of the richefc nation upon earth. To prevent war is
impoffible ; but to ftrip it of its terrors by adopting fomething fimi-
lar to this, as a law of nations Is a fubjed for the contemplation
of the legiflator, of* the philofopher, and of every individual, moral
or religious.

The mode of letting the lands and fix-
ing the tribute is one of the moft curious ordi-
nances in the Ayeen Akbari.

See alfo Arrian. Jnd. p. 325.

This was a favourite idea of Dr. Frank-
lin’s, who obtained fome articles of a fimilar
tendency to be introduced into a treaty between
America and Prulfia. Unfortunately for the
theory* they are two nations leaft likely of all
Others to try the elFed praflically.

V/e no longer eat our conquered enemies,
like the New Zealanders or native Americans ;
vve do not murder them, like the Lacedie-
monians ; or reduce them to flavery, like the
Romans. Increafing knowledge, mutual fears
and convenicncies, morality and religion, have
contributed to abolifh thefe practices. What
great refinement of fpecularion is there in car-
rying this fyfiem lUll farther ?

I have

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

I have entered upon this difcuffion In order tp vindicate the claffi-
cal hlftorians from the charge of falfehood, by accounting in fome

meafure for the numerous tribes with which this country fwarmed.
Another caufe of this may be found in the nature of the country
itfelf ; for the five ftreams which water it are navigable, during
the fummer feafon at leaf!:, a thoufand miles from the mouth
of the Indus ; and the Chelum or Hydafpes is faid to extend
this navigation two hundred miles higher into Cafhmeer, from
which province there is a communication with Thibet, Boudtan,
and Tartary.

The weftern fources connefb with Candahar and Cabul; but aa
thefe are not our concern at prefent, it will be fufficient to notice that
Lahore on the Ravee, the principal city of the Panje-ab, is the
centre*^ of an immenfe commerce between that country and Dehli;
and that one of the more eaftern branches either did communicate
or was intended to communicate, by means of a canal, with one of
the fources of the Ganges, and muft have formed an inland navi-
gation not exceeded perhaps by thofe of China. Thefe circum-
ftances are fufficient to prove the commercial fpirit of the country ;
and, in confonance with this, Abu’l Fazil informs us, that forty
thoufand veffels were employed on the Indus, which, even in the
decline of commerce, are faid by Captain Hamilton to be two?
hundred tons burden, and the moft convenient he had feen for the:
accommodation' of the paffenger and the merchant.-

Ten degrees, by the opening of the two hundred above the'mountainsi.
compafTes, from the mouth of the Indus to Previous to Nadir Shah,

the fouthern mountains of CaQimeer. Ren- Rennell,

nell makes it, by the river, eight hundred Tavernier, Thevenet, Goez, Bcmiera-

miles to Moultan. By the fame ellimate, we TlefFenthaler, Rennell, &c. &;c. all unite ia ^
slight reckon four hundred to Calhmeer, and teftilying the magnitude of this commerce.

If'

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

If fucli has been the Rate of commerce under the empire of the
Mahometans, it Is but reafonable to affume a much more flourifliing
appearance of it in the early ages, while the Hindoo policy was in
full vigour, uninterrupted by foreign intruders, and unremitting in
its encouragement and protefliion of the people. The population is
one proof of this, and the fleet colledled by Alexander is another^
The wealth he accumulated from his concj[uefl: is no where fpeci-
fied ; but Maghmoud the Ghaznavide tyrant, the earlieft Maho-
metan invader of whom we have an hiflorical account, is repre-
fented as enriched with fuch an enormity of plunder as to make
the ravages of Timour and Nadir Shah appear moderate.

The revenue of all thefe provinces or foobahs, as fettled by
Akbar, Is exhibited in the Ayeen Akbari ; but large as they are,
both elTentially and relatively, they appear reafonable In comparlfon
of the ancient accounts, whether Greek or Hindoo ; and thefe ac-
counts, though exaggerated, have doubtlefs fome foundation in faft.
All thefe provinces were overrun by the Macedonians, except Cafli-*

This foobah is very populous, highly cul-
tivated, and exceedingly healthy. Ayeen Akb,
p. 32. vol. ii. The revenue is 5595453,423
dams, which, at forty dams to the rupee, is
equal to 1,748,3071. herllng, from a country
about three hundred and forty miles long, and
one hundred and fixty in breadth.

There is a paffage in Curtius and
Athenaeus which defcribes three hundred beads
in the train of Alexander laden with treafure,
in v/hich it appears as if the conqueror had
carried with him the plunder of Perf^a out of
mere oftentation. But if this alTertion has any
foundation, it ought to be the conveyance of
the Indian treafures ; a circum dance fimilar to
die accounts of Nadir Shah. This fad, how-

ever, as fupported by no hiftorlan of credit, is
utterly dubious.

The feite of Ghazna has been deter-
mined only within thefe few years by Mr.
Forder. See RennelPs Mem. p. 114. And
froln its proximity to Paropamifus, the moun-
tains of Candahar, his army probably con-
fided of Aghvans, the fame tcibe that put an
end to the Dynady of the Sefis in PeiTia, fo
late as one thoufand feven hundred and twenty.
The commander of that invafion wrote his
name alfo Maghmoud like the Giazravide ;
it is probably the provincial dialed for Mo-
hammed,

Maurice,

I '> •

aid

meer.

76 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

meer the paradife of the Hindoos, confiftlng of a large valley Irx
the northern mountains. But Lahore, Moultan, and Tatta^^,
which form the modern foobahs, are the fcene of thofe tranfadlions
we are now to enter upon. That we may difplay thefe in their
proper light, and be enabled to follow the operations of the fleet. It
is neceffary firfl: to fhew the feries of the rivers which Mr. d’Anville
has miftaken and which mufli be reduced to order before a clear
view of the expedition can be obtained. In the performance of this
fervice, I follow the authority of Mr. Rennell, not merely by re-
tailing his Memoir, or commenting on his Map, but by fhewing that
our ancient authorities are confiftent with truth.

PANJE-AB, OR PANJ-AB.

II. The five rivers of the Panje-ab, which fall into the Indus, are In
their order commencing from the weft, the Hydafpes, the Akefines, the
Hydraotes, the Hyphafis, and the Saranges. Befides thefe, Arrian,
from Megafthenos, brings the Sinarus into the Hydafpes, the Too-
tapus Into the Akefines, and the Neudrus into the Saranges ; but
of thefe two laft he profefles to fpeak with diffidence, as they were
- not feen by the Macedonians ; and the Sinarus and Tootapus are

Abiffares is fuppofed by M. Rennell to
be the Chief of a tribe in the northern part of
the Doo-ab of Jenhat, called Kakares. But
there is nothing very repugnant in fuppofmg
him Chief of Cafhmeer. He fent prtfents to
Alexander, but never came in perfon. And
if he dwelt beyond the mountains, that may
be a reafon why the conqueror did notinvade
his country.

The whole of this is mere conjedure I al-
low ; but as the initial Ab intimates his terri-
•Jcry to be on a river, by fearching for the ety-

mology of IJfaVy I am fatislied his refidence
would be difcoverable.

Tatta was united with Moultan by
Akbar.

There is no real authority but RennelPs
Perfian map, the Ayeen Akbari, and Cheref-
eddin. Frafer, Hanway, and Jones’s Nadir
Shah will afford little affiflance to an inquirer.
Hanway is total error.

Jt is not quite evident whether into the
Saranges or Akefines.

mentioned

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

mentioned no more. Of thefe five ftrcains the Akefmes Is the principal^
being joined by the Hydafpes on the weft, and by the Hydraotes
from the eaft, receiving alfo (as Arrian aiTerts) both the Hyphafis,
Saranges, and Neudrus, from the eaft, before it falls into the Indus.
Ptoiemy caufes no fmall confufion, both to his commentators, and
to Mercator wLo has framed his maps, by giving the preference to
the Hydafpes, and making the name of t!iat river prevail over the
others. But Arrian maintains the honour of ihe Akefmes, afferting
exprefsly, that all the others lofe their name cn uniting with him ;
and that he preferves this pre-eminence till he joins the Indus. This
is the more probable, becaufe the modern Chen-ab, his reprefentative^
claims the fame privilege to the prefent day.

But if Ptolemy is miftaken in one particular, he Is In harmony
with Arrian and Strabo in giving the fame feries or fucceftion ; and
Pliny, who drops the mention of fome Intermediate ftreams, has
nothing contradiiftory to their order. In this refpecft, therefore,
ancient geography is uniform ; and if the moderns diifent, either
from one another or from confiftency, we muft impute their miftake
to that abundance of appellations which all thefe rivers feverally-
obtain, either in different parts of their courfe, or from being men-
tioned by various names in various languages,- Mogol, Tartar, Per-
fian, or Hindoo.

The Hydafpes Is the firft in order, correfponding witli the modern
Chelum,and flowing between the Indus on the weft, and the Akefmes
on the eaft. The variety of names cannot be better exemplified thair
in this inftance. Ptolemy will ferve however, not lefs upon thisc
-occafion than on all the others, as the point of connexion between i

Tieff^nthaler. Aycen Akb.'u-i.

78 COURSE OF TFIE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

rthe Macedonian orthography and the Shanfkreet, dlfperfmg light on
.both fides, and ihining himfelf like a luminary in the centre*

Hydafpes,

Bidafpes,

Bedufta,

Vetafta,

Dindana,

'Chelum,

Zalam,

Jalam,

Djalam,

Zeloom,

Behut,

- Arrian, Strabo, Pliny, &c. &c.

Ptolemy.

- Shanilcreet, according to the Ayeen Akbari.

- Shanfkreet, Tieffenthaler.

- below the mountains of Caflimeer, Tieffenthaler.

- Perfian or Mogol, Cheref-eddin,

► Forfter, &c.

- between Aurungabad and Rotas, Tieffenthaler.

r from an ifland fo named in one part of its.
^ courfe, Tieffenthaler.

- Hindoftan, Ayeen Akbari.

Such is the catalogue, confiftlng of twelve names for a fingle
ftream, and fufficient to account for any error in confequence of
their variety; but Zeloom, Zalam, Jalam, Djalam, Chelum, are the
fame found confufed by the Perfian Dj. Dindana is a name in one
part of its courfe, and Jamad in another. Behut is the appellation

37 La diverfite que Uon remarque dans les
difFereiis auteurs, ou ecrivains, ou il ell men-
tion de ces rivieres, a de quoi etonner, et
n’eft pas une mediocre embarras pour qui-
.conque veut debrouiller cette madere. Dif-
ferens noms a la meme riviere ont contribue
a y mettre de la confufion. EclaircilTemens
for laCarte de I’lnde, p. 28.

See in confequence, the error of this great
geographer. In the fame page he fays, the
Shantrou fucceeds the Tchen-av ; and after-
wards, the lower part of the Shantrou bears
the name of Jamad, from an ifle of that name
in the riverv Now in reality the Shantrou and
Tchen av are the fame, and Jamad the ifle is
in the Hydafpes, or Chelum.

ufed

COURSE'OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 79

ufed by the ‘ Mogols ; evidently connected with the Bedufta or
Vetufta of the Shanikreet, the Bidafpes or Hydafpes of the Greeks^
all dependent on the relation between the vowels A and U In
Oriental orthography, or on the connedion of the confonants
B and V with the afpirate.

This ftream is made the Indus of Arrian by d’Anville and vi-
tiates his whole ferles in confequence. But it is too clearly defined
by the Ayeen Akbari to admit of any future error. According to
that regifter it lifes in Cafhmeer, and is navigable by veffels of two
hundred tons quite up to Syrin-nagar, the capital of that province.
Where Arrian would bring his Sinarus into this ftream, whether
from the eaft or weft, whether within the limits of Cafhmeer, or
below the mountains, is undifcoverable ; but his authority is from
Megafthenes, and not from the Macedonians. Neither knew any
thing of Cafhmeer; and yet in Sinarus I think that I trace fome rela- ~
tionto the Syrin-nagar river, as it is called, nvithin the limits of that
province. However this may be, the river, after pafling the moun-
tains and defcending to the Pergunnah of Shoor, joins the Akefmes
or Chen-ab, and twenty cofe lower receives the Ravee, or Hy-

draotes,

patam. Sec. as Chander-
■ is therefore the town,
Syrin.

, Sinar-us, approximate *
not Abiffinaius for Abif- -

)f the cofe is foond in the
ii. p.2t3.- Tits breadth
s hnfked

— - 1 inch,

— I cubit or duft. ' •

— I du-'d.

— 1 coih,

— 3 iowjun.

But»

All founds received by the ear, and com-
mitted to wntlng, ddier. Wliat is more ap-
parently ditierent than the French Taiti and
the t'nglilh Ocaheice r Compare them, and the
reiemolance is clear. Ta-ec-tee, o-Ta-hee-tee.

And carried into the '\ttock, which is
the real fnJus, without joining the A.hefines.
See iiis Map, Alie, i. Partie. et Antiq. Cieo-
graph.

It fnould rather feem below the moun-
tains ; for he fiys m Oxydracis ■, Outche. But
there is no rivef there but Inch as we are ac-
quainted with.

Nagar, nagur, ragoor, is a general ter-

•2

mination, like poor,
nao^ur. Svrin-napa

- j J L}

fort, or city, on the
Syrin and Sinai
fulhciently ; andwh
laref ?

The prirciple
Ayeen Aivbari, vol,
of eight bariey-cori
makes
24 'nches '

4 duds
1000 durds
4 cole

So COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

draotc$, at Zufferabad ; when the three ftreams united, after a far-
ther courfe of fixty cofe, form a junftion with the Indus at Outdie,
the Oxydraca: of the Macedonians. This is the account af the
Ayeen Akbari, differing indeed from x^rrian, as will appear when
we come to mention the Akefines. From the fame authority we
"learn, that the Doo-ab, or tra6l between the Indus and Hv-
dafpes, is ftyled Sind-fagur by the Mogols ; and its breadth is ehi-
mated at fixty cofe, or an hundred and fourteen miles. The
medium of this breadth is, as far as I can difcover, taken at the
^point where the road croffes the Doo-ab, and as fuch, is to be eili-
inated in the accounts that follow. The Vvrhole breadth of the Pan-
je-ab, including all the Doo-abs from the Indus to the Satludj, is
-given at an hundred and eighty cofe, or about three hundred and
fifty miles ; the fpecific meafures make the cofe an hundred and
* eighty-five.

Cheref-eddin’s account does not differ much from the Ayeen
Akbari ; for he mentions, that the Chelum rifes from the fountain
Vir, or Syrin-nagar, and after paffing the mountains, takes the name
of Dindana"^^ and Jamad. It then paffes into the Genave, and
above Moultan both join the Ravee, which paffes a fecond Moultan.

But the cofe varies in India, as the mile or
league in Europe. The royal cofe is the
Ihorteil, and the ftandard for military mcn-
furation. Tieffenthaler reckons thirty-two
cofe to a degree; and Rennell, p. 5, values a
cofe at one mile and nine-tenths, i. e. one
hundred cofe is equal to one hundred and
ninety miles. TielFenthaler, who wrote in
Latin, ftyled thefe milliaria. The cofe is pro-
bably a very ancient ineaiure, and, according
to Strabo, marked as the miles were on the
Homan roads. See d’Anville Mef. Itiner.

and the term icojrcraioi. I doubt, however,
whether it is Hindoo. See a curious treatife
on Indian meafures. Lettres Kdif. tom. xv.
173, et feqq. IF I could find any Shanfkreet
account of a meafure equivalent to Arrian^s
iladium, 1 fhould conclude he had ufed the
ftadium, as Tieftienthalef adopts the mile.

Ayeen Akbari. Tif-Senthaler.

Only in refpe^I to the Biah.

That the Dindana and Chelum are the
fame appears, vol. iii. p. 156. Cheref-eddin.

The

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFIE INDUS.

•The united ftream Is afterwards joined by the Blah, and the whole
body falls into the Indus at Outche. The mention of two Moultans
accords with our knowledge of the ancient Malli and modern Moul-
tan ; and it is remarkable that Cheref-eddin fhould agree with
Arrian in making the Flyphafis or Biah join the Chen-ab before that

Arrian, Strabo, Pliny, Q^Curtius, &c.
Hindoftan, Ayeen Akbari.

Perfian, RennelL

Cheref-eddin.
d’Anville.

Shanfkreet, Tleffenthaler.

Shanfkreet, Ayeen Akbari.

Ptolemy.

Bernier, d’Anville.

The mere iiifpedlion of thefe ten names will fhew the relation of
them feverally, as connecS:ed by the fyllable Tchen, except the
Akefines ; and I cannot help thinking but that it Is an error of the
ear, or owing to a defire of mollifying a barbarous found, that the
Greeks wrote Ake-fin-es for A-chen-ifes, or A-cefm-es for
Ab-tchen-es. I find a tribe on this river, mentioned byjuflin'^^,
flyled Hia-cen-fanas, in wTich the prevailing fyllable is preferved ;

See Cheref-eddin. vol. lii. p. i6i. gnage, is as near as they could approach to the

Kefin for Ctchen or Djcn, confidering found,
that the Greeks have no Ch in their Ian- Lib, xil. c. 9.

river joins the Indus.

The fecond river is the

Akefines of
Chen-ab,
en-aub,

Chen-aub,

Gen-ave,

Tchen-av,
Tchan-dar-Bargar,
Chun-der-Bahka,
San-da-Bala,
Shan-trou,

and

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

and the initial letter, coming to us through the medium of the Per-
fian Dj, caufes all the variety exhibited in Djen, Djan, Tfchan
Tfchen, Chan, Chen, Chin, Jen, Gen, Tchun^"', Chun, Shan, San.
It is to the credit of Ptolemy that he preferves this found ; and
whether we take his San^dab-ala from San-ab, or Chan-ab, or the
whole Sanda-bala from Chanda-bahka, the correfpondence with the
Shanflereet is equally vifible. The Ayeen Akbari afferts, that
Chunder and Bahka are two ftreams which iffue from the fame-
mountain in the range called Cutwar or Kifhtewar, which unite
their waters and their names, and in the latter of thefe, I conclude,
we are to look for the Tootapus of Arrian, which, from the au-
thority of Megafthenes, he brings into the Akefmes at an early part
of his courfe.

The Akefmes Is confefled, both by ancients and moderns, to be
the principal of the Panje-ab ftreams, and his reception of the Hy-

There is a term Dsjienk, which occurs
under a variety of forms as an adjund to
rivers in Mekran and Suhana. (See Cheref-
eddin, vol. ii. fuh fine. Otter, vol.i. p. 409.)
From what language derived I know not ; but
from its frequent recurrence, it afTuredly fig*
nides a ri’ver or <Tvater, Whether Tfchen,
Chen, &c. are related to this found, which is
expreffed Kienk, Chienk, Dienk, Dcnke, &€.
I dare not pronounce, but I fufped a relation-
fhip between the two ; and if this fhould ad-
mit of proof, Tfchen is the ri^ver, in fome
ancient dialed, with the addition of the Per-
dan Ab, which fignifies the fame. Tfchen-ab
is therefore only River, River. It is an hypo-
thefis of many etymologies, that all names of
rivers are in fome original language expreffive
of water. (See Whitaker ^s Hid. of Man-
£hee«r ) And if fo, Tfchen-ab is perfedlly

fimilar to our own ufage, when we fay the river
Dee, or the river A^von, for both by interpre-
tation are. River, River. On this ground it
might be argued, that Ab*Tfchen and Tfchen-
ab are equivalent ; and that Arrian’s Akednes
is only Ab-Kedn, Ab-Kefn, Ab-Chen, that
is, Chen-ab reverfed. I do not indd on this,
as I tread on Oriental ground with hedtation
but I date it as a problem for refolution, by
thofe who are better verfed in Eaftern learn-
ing.

The Perdans generally pronounce a, be-
fore rn or n, like u, Frazer, Nadir Shah,
p. 72.

Tiedenthaler, Rennell,'

I adfume this form, rather than follow
the Latin orthography of the Greek diphthong,
in hopes of obtaining more readily an Oriental
etymology. Tootapus is Toot-ab.

dafpes

V • i

J.V>«

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS, 8j

(!a{pes or Cheluin from tlie Vv^eft, with the Hydraotcs or R.avee
from the eaft, is confirmed by all. Whether he receives the Biah
and Satludj alfo, or whether they join the Indus without commuiiL
eating wdth the Akefines, is hill a geographical problem, Arrian
every where afferts, that the Hyphafis, Saranges, and Neudrus, that
is, the Biah, Satludj, and Caul, join the Akefmes, either by
themfelves or by the intervention of the Hydraotes. But
the Ayeen Akbari brings them independently into the Indus,
confiderably below Moultan ; and this is the authority of
M. Rennell Tieffenthaler, if I underhand him right, is not
confihent wnth himfelf ; for in one place he agrees with

Rennell and the Ayeen Akbari, in another he makes the Biah
and the Satludj join the Ravee.* M. Rennell is juhified m
preferring the authority of the Ayeen Akbari to Arrian, as
Arrian confefTes himfelf that, beyond the Hyphafis or Biah, he
has no pofitive evidence to rely on, and he does not follow

his Macedonian guides, but Megahhenes^^ Mr. de la Rochette
has adhered to d’Anville in this particular, and, in the difpa-
fition of Ayjodin with the parts adjacent, accords better with
Cheref-eddin’s march of Timour, than any other arrangement I
have feen. It is extraordinary that d’Anville, who is more likely to
err on the fide of etymology than by a negledt of it, Ihould not

PP. 236. 240. 249. 252. Lib. vi. 58 Megafthenes was Tent into India by Se-

p. 238. et fcq, leucus, and reached the court of Sandracota,

Rather by implication than diredly. See I am mifled by etymology, or I difeover the
vol. ii. p. 136. name of a city, and a prince denominated from

Probably with the addition of his Perfian that city, in Sandracota. It appears to me to
■'MS. Map. be only Saiitrou Cotta, the town or city on the

Vol. i. p. 118, compared with p, 115. Shantrou.

” P. 316.

M 2

have

84 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

have obferved that Shan-trou refted upon the fame root as Shan-
his ov/n Tchen-av ; but I have mentioned this error too often.

The prerogative of this river, in preferving its name till it joins
the Indus, has been already noticed ; and Arrian adds, that it is the
only ftream of the Panje-ab not fordable at any feafon of the year,
which all the others are, after the ceflation of the rains. The pro-
vince, or doo-ab, between the Hydafpes or Chelum and this ftream,
is called Jenhut % and its breadth is eftiniated only at twenty cofe,
or about fix-and-thirty miles ; although we are here to look for the
kingdom of Porus, and a population which could produce an army
of forty thoufand men. Extravagant as this may appear, it is con-
firmed by the Ayeen Akbari ; for in an age when we have fuppofed
the population to be diminifiied, Abu’l Fazil aflerts, that the quota
of troops for Jenhut is three thoufand feven hundred and thirty
horfe, forty-four thoufand two hundred foot, with a revenue of
203,1641. fterling.

The third river is

The Hydraotes of ~ — — • Arrian.

Hyarotes, - — - Strabo, Q^Curtlus.

lyrawutti "^*5 - — — - Shanfkreet, Ayeen Akbari.

Ivaratti - — — Shanfkreet, Tieftenthaler,

Rhuadis, - — Ptolemy.

Adris, xA^darls, Commentators of Ptolemy.

Ravi, Ravee, Perfian, or Hindoftan.

I have not met v/ith the name Shantrou are all Mogol diftindions, afiigned by Akbar.
except in Bernier and d’Anville ; but 1 have The tranfpohtion of the fyllables in pro-

no doubt of its being a native corruption from per names, fo often appealed to in this work^
Chander-ab, Chander-av^ Shandrav, Shan- cannot be better exemplified than in thefe two
trav, Shantrow. words, both being profefledly from the

Ayeen Akbari, p. 132, Thefe names Siianikreet.

From

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

From this catalogue it is apparent that the termination 'Ravatti,
Rawatti, or Rawutti, furniflies the Rhuadls of Ptolemy, and the
Ravee of the moderns, as lyrawutti is the Hyarotes of Strabo, and
the Hydraotes of Arrian. It is better known at prefent as the river
of Lahore, which renders the error of dh^nville more extraordinary,
in placing Lahore on the Akefmes, a city of almoft equal celebrity
with Dehli itfelf. The roads from Cabul, Candahar, Attock, and
Moultan, all unite at Lahore, as a centre between each of them
refped:ively and the capital : and the celebrated avenue extending
upw^ards of three hundred miles from this city to Dehli, whjch
exifts perhaps no longer except in the page of hiftory, befpeaks not
merely a communication, but the importance of the intercoujrfe, and
the numbers, as much as the luxury, of thofe who travelled by this
route. The communication on the weft from Nicsea to this city,
explored by Alexander, is probably ftill open. For though the road
from Attock paffes^^ at prefent through Rotas in a more northerly line,
as I fhall hereafter flaew' the relation between Jamad and Nica^a, a
fovereignty at that ifland, whether tributary or Independent, would
naturally open a road from thence to a capital like Lahore ; and a
line from Attock drawn through Jamad being more direct than
through Rotas, it is not impollible that it was the more early means
of intercourfe. That Alexander really reached Laliore, and that
it exifted in his time, there is fomc degree of proof ; for the name
written at an early period Lehauer was ftill more anciently Lack-
onore and Lo-pore ; and Onore Pore, being terminations ex-

See the Map prefixed to the Antiqulte Rennell.

Geographique des Indes ; but by his Map Ayecn Akbari. Tieffenthaler, vol. i.

of Aafie, primiere partie, it is evident lie p. loz.

fuppofes the Akcfines to be the modern Ra- Onoor, Can onoor, Melia poor, Nurfer-

vee. poor, &c. &c.

prefti^te.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

preffive of a city or fortrefs, will afford a reafon why Alexander
found one Por-us on the Hydafpes, and a fecond on the Hydraotes^
both deriving their name from their government, as Taxlles from
Taxila, and both lofing their native diftindtion by an omifTion of
the Greeks, In Lo-pore therefore, the original name of Lahore,
there is fome ground for conjedture that we have the city of the
fecond Porus ; and the antiquity of this place is confirmed by a re-
mark of Tieffenthaler’s, that one of its twelve gates is ftill called
Taxili ; he fays it is on the weft ; and doubtlefs the road pafling
through it led to the Taxila of the Macedonians, as the Cabul and
Dehli gates lead to thofe cities. Bernier came from Dehli to this
city in the fuite of an Omra attendant upon Aurungzebe, and had
he been as curious in colledting hiftorical and geographical matter as
his knowledge of the Perfian language qualified him to be, much
information might have been derived from him ; but his page is
filled with accounts of Mogol grandeur, and the only material cir-
cumftance he relates of Lahore is, its decline in confequence of the
Ravee having changed its courfe, and now running at fome miles
diftance ; a fadt confirmed by Tavernier, and perhaps not unufual
with rivers that overflow with periodical rains. Tieffenthaler men-
tions a canal which has fince been cut from the river to the city,
but whether it has in confequence recovered its fplendour is very
dubious. It was ftill a place of importance in Nadir Shah’s time,
but betrayed into his hands ; and is now in pofTeffion of the Siks

The Indus itfelf, below Moultan, ex* worlhip of one God. Their fed is numerous;
bibits the fame ph^enomenon almoft every but the dodirine of equality prevents their
year. See infra, union, and renders their eiForts weak and de-

The Siks equally difown brahma and fultory. Mr. Haftings.

Mahomet. They profefs equality and the

the

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 87

the delfts and democrats of Hindoftan in the prefent age. Cheref-
eddin, whofe geography is corredt, wherever he attends Timour, 15
miftaken in confounding the Biah and the Ravee, an error which I
could not be convinced he had committed till I found that he placed
Lahore upon the Biah. The Ravee, according to Bernier, is as
wide as the Loire, but this depends upon the feafon when It is feen ;
the veflels, however, built upon It at Lahore are large, and fit for
the fea not indeed from their manner of building, but their bulk
and capacity.

The province between the Chen-ab and the Ravee is called
Retchna, and is thirty cofe in breadth.

The fourth river is the

Hyphafis of
Hypafis,

Hypanis,

Beafcha,

Beypafha,

Bibafis, or BIpafis,
Beah, Bea, Beand, Biah,

Arrian.

Pliny, lib. vi. 17.

Strabo, lib. xv.

Shanlkreet, Tieffenthaler.
Shanfkreet, Ayeen Akbarh
Ptolemy.

Perfian or Hindoftan.

The Bipafis of Ptolemy is, upon this occafion, once more the
centre of relation between the Beypafha of the Shanfkreet and the
Hyphafis of the Macedonians, who conftantly fix the limits of their
expedition at this ftream. The error of Mr. d’Anville, who makes
this ftream the laft of his ferles, has unfortunately betrayed Ber-

Vol. Hi. p. 154, French edition. the north of it ; bat he plundered it by his

Timour was not at Lahore himfelf ; he lieutenants, ibid.
pafTed into India on thefouth, and returned on Ayeen Akbari, vol. i. p. 191.

nouilli^

COURSE, OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

nouilli, TiefFentlialer and de la Rochette, into the adoption of his
fyftem. This is the more extraordinary, as they all acknowledge
the Setledj ; and yet could not difcover that the fourth ftream,
whatever it fhould prove to be, muft be the boundary of the expe-
dition.

This river rifes in the Pergunnah of Shoor, from that part of
the northern range called Keloo, and joins the Setledj or Satludj,
near I'eerouzpoor. Below the juinffion, the ftream is divided again
near Ayjodin into four branches called Flar, Haray, Doond, and
Ncorny. Thefe four unite once more as they approach Moultan,
and, according to Rennell, fall into the Indus about fifty miles be-
low that city. Arrian, as has been already noticed, brings them
into the Chen-ab or Akefmes, whofe authority is followed by de la

Rochette. What modern conliiniiation of this he has found I do

not difcover, except Cheref-eddin^^, whofe evidence indeed is direft ;
for the Ayeen Akbari, though it feems by implication to favour
Rennelfs opinion, fails of precifion at the very moment it is moft
wanted. Between the Ravee and this river, Alexander fubdued the
Kathsci, but in a pofition lower down than the courfe of the road
from Laliore, as I colled from Strabo’s confounding of the Kath;ni

Tieffent. vol. i. p. 53 ; but contradids
bimfelf, p. 55.

Ayeen Akbari, voL ii. p. 136.

Tlie evidence of Cheref-eddin would be
perfed if Timour had been on the fpot, or if
the author himfelf had not confounded the
Ravee with the Biali. But from his mention
of both in this place, as an evidence of report,
it is hill very flrcng. The river of Callimeer,
he fays, takes various names, as the Dindana
and Jamad, and joins the Gen-ave (Ciien-ab)
Alcove Moulton. When they have palled

Moultan, they receive the Ravee, which pafTes
by a fecond Moultan. Enfuite le iieuve Biah
les joint, et tons aupres de la vilie d’Outcha
fe jettant dans le grand fieuve Indus nomme
Abfend, i. e. Ab-fend, iieuve Send, ou
Scind.

Cheref eddin plainly marks two Moaltans
here. Is it a fluduation between the province
and the city ? or are we to fuppoie there were
dilferent heads of the dillrid like the towns of
the Mali] in the time of Alexander f
KaOciioi. Kathai.

- with

COURRSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 89

with Sopithes, who was evidently near the junction of the rivers^
wherever that may hereafter be placed^

Here the troops refufed to proceed any farther ; while Alexander^
who had obtained intelligence of a powerful kingdom on the
Ganges, fufficiently correfpondent with the different feats of modern
empire, was flill unfatiated with conqueft. The mutiny, however,
was the difobedience of Macedonians, grief and fullen refufal,
without turbulence ; and the conceffions of the king to their requefts
evince, that his diferetion was as indubitable as his valour. Here,
therefore, he built his altars .at the limit of his progrefs, and hence
he returned back to the Hydafpes, on which he was to embark
with his troops, and to explore the Indus to its iffue.

Mr. de la Rochette has placed thefe altars on the Setledj, and at
the point where the road from Lahore to Dehli croffes that river ;
but they were on the Biah, not the Setledj, and lower down than
that road, if the pofition of the Kathasi is right.

The^ province between the Ravee and the Biah is called Bari, and
is only feventeen cofe in breadth. The number of troops, which is
above an hundred and fixty thoufand with the magnitude of the
revenue, befpeak a population capable of producing the refift*
ance x\lexander experienced in this country. Here was the termi-
nation of his conquefls, and I am not called upon to proceed far-
■ ther ; but as there is only one river remaining to complete the feries,
it will not be unacceptable to the reader to fee the connedion of the
whole,

Aycen Akbari. Hb. v. The breadth of this Doo-ab Is mea*

Seventeen thoufand were flain at San- fared by the road, but the province itfelf is
gala, the capital, and upwards of feventy conhderable.
thoufand were taken in the city, Ar, 227,

The

90 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

The fifth liver Is the

Saranga, or Saranges, of •— Arrian,
Hefudrus, - - — Pliny.

Zadadrus, Zaradrus^\ Zardrus, — Ptolemy.

Schatooder, Shetooder,

— Shanfkreet. Ayeen Akbari.

Satludj,

Setlooge,

> Tieffenthaler.

Satluz,

Setlej, Setledge,

— Rennell.

Seteluj

— Perfian. Hindoftkn.

In tho Shetooder of the Shanfkreet we find the Hefoodrus of
Pliny, and in the Satludj or Satluz, the Zardrus. of Ptolemy.
Anquetil du Perron informs us, that Zardluz is the proper ortho-
graphy of this name in Perfian, and that this word written in
Greek charafters would be neceflarily Zardfus. The fource of this
ftreamisfar to the north-eaft, in the mountains of Ghaloor; defeend-
ing from which, it runs to Feerouzpoor, where it receives the Biah,
and with that falls either into the Chen-ab or into the Indus itfelf,
as already noticed. Arrian mentions a river called Neudrus,
which joins the Saranges ”, but without any attributes to enable
us to difeover what it is. It may be the Caul, which, according to ■
de la Rochette, is derived from the Setledj, and falls into it again ; or,
according to others, has a feparate fource, and joins the Setledj from
the north-eaft. As Arrian profeffes his doubt of every thing beyond
the Hyphafis, and we are not concerned in reality with the Setledj
at all, it is not neceflary to purfue the inquiry. I fhall only add,

Here is another tranfpofuion of the fyllables. ^7 Perhaps rather into the Ravee.

that

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

that Ptolemy joins the Zardrus with the Blpafis, that is, the Setledj
with the Biah, and brings their united ftream, not into the Indus,
but the Chen-ab

The province between the Biah and Setledj Is ftyled Beyt Jallnd-
har, in breadth fifty cofe.

Such is the detail of the five rivers ; and when the Ayeen Akbari
calls them fix, either in the province of Lahore or Moultan, it
always includes the Indus, without any refpecl to the Setledj, as
confifting of two flreams. It will be of fotne importance to geo-
graphy, by this enumeration of names, to prevent future miftakes ;
not that I apprehend I have completed the catalogue, for it is pro-
bable that future travellers, in croffing this country in different lati-
tudes, may’colledl many more local appellations, but an outline is
drawn which may be filled up as future difcovery fhall afford the
means. No confeqiience. Indeed, will attach to this fecondary
objedl; but it is a matter of curiofity, at leafl, to conneQ; the
Macedonian, appellations, disfigured as they are, with the native
names of rivers, and to give a fpecimen of what may be purfued
to advantage by thofe who are proficients In Oriental learning.

But after conducing thefe five flreams individually into the
Indus, fome general obfervatlons are neceffary to complete our pur-
pofe. The fources of all the ftreams which fall into the main
channel of the Indus are to the fouth of that great ridge called
Hindoo Khoo, which feparates Tartary from HIndoflan ; the Indus
itfelf, according to Major .Rennell and the Ayeen Akbari, cuts that
chain like the Ganges and Burhampooter : its ultimate fource Is

This will not appear either in Ptolemy or the Hydafpes, and not the Chen-ab, or Akc-
iVlercator’s Map, becaufe he makes the Hy- fines.

dafpes prevail over the Akefines, and there- Arrian aflerts the contrary. Lib. r,

the ftream he brings them into is called p. 199,

N 2 'ftill

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

ftill unknown. The chain of mountains coming from Candahar, the
Paropamifus of the ancients, and the feat of the modern Agwhans
or Afghans, takes a fweep to the north as far as Cabul, and furniflies
thofe ftreams which fall into the Indus from the weft. If this
chain is cut by the Indus, it towers again on the eaftern fide of
that river, and, dividing itfelf to encircle Caftimeer, emits the Che«
lum or Hydafpes from its northern ridge, while its fouthern chain
fends forth the Akefmes, Hydraotes, and Hyphafis. The moun-
tains wTich cover Cafhmeer on the eaft appear to branch again into
two ridges, called by Cheref-eddin Tchamou, and by the moderns
Jummoo, between which the route of Timour lies in his return
from Dehli, and within which, it is probable, the fources of the
Setledj will be found. < , '

The rains which fall in thefe mountains fwell all the rivers which
join the Indus from the weft, of from the eaft^ about the fummer
folftice ^*; and from this circumftance both Alexander and Timour,
who planned a fummer campaign^ experienced all the inconve-
niences of winter. The limits of thefe rains may be fixed at MouL
tan ; and from Moultan, the Indus, like the Nile, flows towards the
lea through a country rarely refreflied by the genial Thower or nu-
tritious dew, and condemned to everlafting fterility except a nar-
row margin which is,moiftenedTy the ftream.

This is the. reafon that on his return-we ** The tountry on both lides ths Indus is
iind him at the Genave, (Chen-ab,) vvithout hardly capable of cultivation at any dillance
notice of the more eaftern Banje-ab rivers. from the ftream. On the ftream itfelf we

The rains ceafe in OUober, and a cold find paftures and herdfmen | but beyond thefe
north wind blows five or TiX motiths. Bernier, paftures, on the eaftern fide, is a defert termi-
Norain in Scindi. See Strabo, lib. xv. p. 691, nated by the Sand mountains, the refidence of "
who fays, the rains in the higher country begin the Alhambetees or Jams. On the weftern
early in fpring, and iaft till the„ fetcing of fide, another defert extending to the range of r
A'rdurus (autumn)* rocks inhabited by tbe Belootches.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFIE INDUS.

III concluding the navigation of the fleet through this defert trad^
if is difficult to find a fituation for the tribes which Alexander found
to conquer. Some fcattered lights are to be colleded from the
Ayeen Akbari, d’Anville, and Rennell ; but unlefs we can fuppofe
a better government and greater induftry to have produced a fupe-
rior population, to that which modern accounts will juftify, the
conqueft muft have been of fmall importance to the con« -
queror.

If I could hope for health and leifure to attend this conqueror
through his feveral campaigns, I am perfuaded that the geographi-
cal accuracy of Arrian, whenever, he follows Ptolemy and Arlfto-
bulus, is as demonftrable to the weftward of the Indus, as towards
the eafl: ; but with- that at prefent we are not concerned. My in-
tention has been to prove, that the feries of rivers in the Panje-ab Is
the fame in Arrian, Ptolemy, and the Ayeen Akbari, and that the names
preferved In Ptolemy are all correfpondent to the Shanlkreet. This
is what the demonftration. required, at a period when the Shanlkreet,
was the native language, unmixed by foreign communication, and
uncorrupted by Greek, Tartar, or Perfian invaders. I conclude,,
therefore, that* the following enumeration is verified :

Arrian, -

Ptolemy,

Shanjkrcet,

tlydafpes.

Bidafpes,

Bidafta, or Bedufla,

A-kefin-es,

Sandabala,

Chandar-Bahka,

Hydraotes,

Rhuadls,

lyrawutti,

Hyphafis,

Bipafis,

Beypaffia,

Saranges,

Zadadrus,

Shatooder, ^ or.SatIudj.

Behker and Sewee only occur in this tra^. Their relative value is confidered here-

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOV/N THE INDUS.

N I K A I A, OR N I C ^ A.

•III. After eftablifliing the feveral rivers with their mutual con-
nedlion and relation, let us return to the Hydafpes or Chelum, to
fearch for the pofition of NicTa. The difcovery is not difficult ; for
though the prefent road from Attock to Lahore crofles the Chelum
at Rotas, and it would have been agreeable to the plan already laid
down to have condufted Alexander by this route, we are diredted
by Arrian with fo much precifion to another point, that we can
hardly be miftaken. On a bend of the Hydafpes, he fays, there is
an ifland furrounded by the river, with a fecond branch, or artificial
canal, on the eaftern fide. Below the fouthern point of this ifland,
and the reunion of the river. Torus had drawn up his forces on
the eaftern fide ; Alexander, leaving Craterus with a confiderable
body of forces oppofed to Torus, marched in the night to effedl a
paflage, under cover of this ifland, to the oppofite fhore. He em-
barked himfelf In a galley, and conveyed his troops in boats
brought over land from the Indus. He had fcarcely difembarked

them, when he found himfelf encircled by another channel, which,
being fwdled by the folftitial rains, he forded with great difficulty;

then, turning to his right, he followed the courfe of the ftream,
and, after defeating the fon of Porus, advanced to the fpot where
the king himfelf had drawn up his forces oppofite to Craterus. Here
the battle was fought, and here muft be the fcite of Nicsea

Major Rennell, in his Memoir, p. 93,
concludes that Alexander pafled the Chelum
at, Rotas ; but in the accompanying map places
^Nicsea lower down - - 28 miles.

Jamad, by de la Rochette, 60 miles,

by RennelPs firft Map, 65 miles,
by RennelFs fecond Map, 28 miles.

Arrian fays, Alexander marched one hun-
dr^ .and f-fty ftadia from his camp to the

ifland ; by a rude calculation I make it nine
miles. As the ftadium of Arrian has already
been made to appear very indefinite, I can
only fay it is not here the lladium of eight to
a mile ; for if it were, Alexander muft have
marched twice 18 miles, tranfported an army
acrofs a river, and fought two battles, in the
fpace of about eighteen or twenty hours.

The

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

TKe diftance from his camp on the weftern fide of the river to the
head of theiiland is given by Arrian, and maybe eftimated at nine miles.
If, therefore, we can find an ifland in modern geography which will
correfpond with this of Arrian, we have a' precife point given, and
have only to fix Nicasa at the requifite diftance below. Such an
ifland is found, and fituated on a bend of the Chelum or Hydafpes,
about twenty-eight miles below Rotas, and in a more direcb line
between Attock and Lahore than Rotas itfelf. The road probably
palTed at this place in earlier times, and has: been diverted to Rotas
only becaufe the ifland afforded a ftrong poft, which in India is-
always a fource of exaction,. This ifland is called Jamad by de la
Rochette, and by Major Rennell in bis fecond Map; in his firft
Map it contains a fort named Shah ■ Buldien’s Fort, equivalent, I
conclude, to Cheref-eddin’s Chehabeddin. It is remarkable that
Chehabeddin^"^ fliould oppofe the progrefs of Tim our, at the diftance
of fixteen centuries, almoft in' the very fpot where Porus had en-
countered Alexander. From the refiftance of Chehabeddin, it may
be prefumed that the ifland’ has the advantage of high ground and
woods, as defcribed by Arrian ; and that it was a place of import-
ance‘^'Tn Timour’s time cannot be doubted ; for the river, in this
part of its courfe at leaft, took the name of Jamad, and if there
was a road to it from Attock, there confequently w^as another from
this fort to Lahore.

Vol.iii. p. 4?. French edition. fubjoins a note.

Chehabeddin Mobarec etoit prince d’une Jamad. Riviere pres de I’lndos. C^eft la
ifle de la riviere de Jamad. 11 avoit un grand ‘ fuite de la riviere de Dendana, qui vient de
nombre de domeftiques et d’ofhciers, et il Cachmir.

etoit puiiTant en bien et en meubles. Cheref- And p. 49. Se confiant a la force de fon

eddin, tom. iii. p. 48. ifle, qu’il croyoit inacceflible. .

To this the tranfUtor, Petis de la Croix,

,96 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Niesea being the point at which the voyage commences, I fhall
fettle the longitude and latitude of this place by Mr. Goffelin’s
method of corredling Ptolemy ; and as it is one objedl of this work
to reconcile ancient geography with modern, the fyftem of Mr. Gofle-
lin is worthy of confi deration.

His fyftem I am not bound to adopt in all its parts, neither do I
believe that the geography of Eratofthenes was founded, as he
afterts, upon an earlier and better hypothefis, whether Chaldean,
Egyptian, or Greek. I have much hefitation alfo in acceding to
M. Goflelin’s opinion, that a ftadium is the feven hundredth
part of a degree of a great circle, for I reckon it much nearer to a
Six hundredth part, and that on the authority of Mr. d’Anville.

The Olympic ftadium is ufually eftimated at fix hundred Greek
feet, and the Greek foot is very nearly equal to the Englifti. Eight^'"
of thefe ftadia are reckoned equivalent to a Roman mile, and there
. are nearly nine in a mile Englifti. But as my authorities are French,
the calculation will be more eafily ftated in toifes than Englifti mea-
fures. The French toife, however, being fix feet, and the foot
French to the foot Englifti nearly as fixteen to fifteen, the redudtion
may be eafily made by any one who wifhes to compare it with the

’33 'TJi’is, however, is faid to be the ellima-
tion of Eratofthenes.

Some authors make it fix hundred
and twenty-five. D’Anville Mefures Itin.
p. 70. See Blair’s Geog, p. 67.

Eight one-third according to Polybius,

Strabo, p. 322 ; in which there muft be fome
error, or fomething not under ftood.

D’Anville never values this one-third of
Polybius in his calculation.

600 feet :r: 94I French toifes.

94f

752

94 1

I J

’ • 4^

850 1 toifes :

756 toifes. D’An- |
ville’s Rom. mile.J
but the mile Englilh, according to d’Anviile, is
eight hundred and twenty-fix toifes, fo that
nine Olympic ftadia are equal to a mile Englilh,
and twenty-four one-half toifes over.

Englifti

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 97

Englifh mile. Let us obferve next, that d’Anvllle reckons feventy-
five miles Roman as equal to a degree of a great circle, and then
let us inquire whether live hundred, fix hundred, or feven hundred
ftadia correfpond bell with this eftimate of a degree.

The Roman mile of 75 to a degree produces 56,700 toifes.

The ftadlum of 500 —

ftadium of 600 56,700

ftadium of 700 66,150

Hence it appears, that the computation by fix hundred ftadia to
a degree contains exadlly the fame number of toifes as the eftL
mate by the Roman mile, which In fad: it ought to do. Why,
therefore, Mr. Goflelln affumes the ftadium of feven hundred to
a degree, in order to corred; the longitudes of Ptolemy, does not
appear.

His fyftem Is this, that the chart of Eratofthenes was upon a
plain in which his principal parallel pafled through Rhodes ; but
the chart of Ptolemy was upon a fphere, and as he reckoned five
hundred ftadia eqilal to a degree of a great circle, he allowed four
hundred to a degree on the parallel of Rhodes. But Mr. Goflelln
fays, that Ptolemy ought to have allowed five hundred ftadia to a
degree on the parallel of Rhodes (for that was the eftimation of
Eratofthenes himfelf), and to have taken feven hundred ftadia to a
degree at the equator.

The method Mr. Goflelln takes in confequence of this, to correct the

longitudes of Ptolemy, is, to multiply the longitude by five hundred,
and divide the produce by feven hundred, in order to reduce ftadia of
five hundred in a degree to thofe of feven hundred. The fuccefs of

Mr. Dalrymple approves of plain, or diminution of the degree of longitude in pro-
Mercator’s charts, and the rule given for cal- portion to the didance from the equator,
culating the true longitude according to the

this

yS COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFiE INDUS,

this experiment is extraordinary; and having explained the principle it

it is founded on, I muft leave the defence of it to Mr. Goflelin him-

felf. This Is, hovewer, the mode of calculation in regulating the

longitude of the principal places, adopted in the following pages.

It is well known that the latitudes of Ptolemy are more correct

than his longitudes ; and this arofe, according to Mr. Goffelin, from

his taking feven hundred ftadia to a degree of latitude, while he

aflumed only five hundred to a degree of longitude. It is not re-

qulfite for me to enter into this queftion, or to inform the reader

that a degree of every great circle is equal ; but another difficulty I

had to encounter, which was to obtain an accurate ftatement of the
»

difference of longitude between the Fortunate Iflands, or Ferro,
(which is the firft meridian of Ptolemy,) and the meridian of G'reen»
wich or Paris, on which moft of the charts I was concerned with
were founded. I referred this queftion to Mr. de la Rochette
whofe knowledge of the fcience qualifies him to folve problems of
much greater intricacy, and his folution I have printed in the
Appendix The refult of it is this, that Ptolemy makes the
difference of longitude between Ferro and London twenty degrees,
^ wffiile the real difference, according to Mafkeline’s Tables, is
17*" 40' 13''. This is confequently the allowance to be made ; and
iiiftead of 3"" 30', which Ptolemy gives between London and Paris,
the real difference is, 2*" 25' 37".

With theie preparations before me, I make the firft experiment
upon Nicsea on the Hydafpes, that is, the ifle of Jamad in the
Chelum, from whence Ttake the firft departure of the fleet.

Mr. de La Rochette is the author of a a map for the conquefts of Alexander, which
variety of maps publifhed by Faden ; particu- 'I would have obtained for this work if I had
lariy two, one of India and one of the Pro- dared to venture on the purchafe.
pontis, which place him high in the rank of Appendix, No. II.

modern geographers. He has compofed alfo

Ptolemy

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Ptolemy has not Nicsea in his ferles, but Bucephala only®"*; as
Bucephala, however, is fuppofed to have been on the oppofite fide
of the river, the difference is inconfiderable.

Longitude of Jamad, by Major Rennell, 71'’ 50' eafl of Greenwich.
Longitude of Ferro, - - ly'* 40' weft.

True difference of longitude between
Jamad and Ferro,

Longitude by Ptolemy, - 125’* 30'

Mr. Goffelin’s method of correction follows :

Longitude of Ptolemy, 1254-

500 ftadia.

62500
250

I 89° 30' o

)

t ■

i I

» j .

Stadia, 700 | 62750 j 89 - .

5600

■ 6750

6300

• i :

I ^

450

60 minutes.,

,1 , , , : . ^

700 I 27000 j 38
- '2160

: J .J .. V > V

'• 6qoo ’

h! S<^OQ

3,-

■J I

400 reducible to feconds.

See Cellarius, tom.u, 529.
O 2

< ,

This

100 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS*

This procefs I have thought would not be unacceptable, as I have
frequently flood in need of fimilar affiftance myfelf ; and upon my
fubmlttlag It to Mr. Wales, feeing that 89"^ 38' v/as only eight
minutes more than the true difference of longitude, his obfervatlon
was, “ That Mr. GofTelin’s method of corredion fucceeded wonder-
fully in this inflance ; but that he did not immediately recoiled
whether Ptolemy had any where faid, that he affumed five hun«

dred fladia for a degree of a great circle.” For this I have like-
wife fearched Ptolemy in vain ; and am forced to conclude, that it
is deduced by inference rather than found by Mr. Goflelin, and that
the Inference was formed upon a comparifon of the plain chart of
Eratoflhenes, with the fpherical chart of Ptolemy.

N I C M A.

Longitude by Ptolemy, from Ferro,

Longitude of Ptolemy, reduced to Greenwich,
and correded by Mr. GoflTelin s method, -
Longitude by Rennell,

125" 30^

89" 38' o"

89° 30' o''

Latitude by Ptolemy,
Latitude by Rennell,
Latitude by de la Rochette,

30'' 20' c"
31° 40' o"
31" 30' o"

AtNicsea®^, therefore, we fix the departure of the fleet on the
twenty-third of Odober, in the year three hundred and twenty-
feven before Chrift. The views of Alexander in preparing the
fleet and undertaking the navigation have been fufficiently noticed

Diodorus makes the departure from the Akefmes.

Lib. xvii. 234.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. loi

already; but the anxiety which oppreffed his mind cannot be exhi-
bited better than in the defcription of Arrian or the language of
Nearchus himfelf.

Fie dreaded, fays the hiftorian, the length of the voyage, the

danger of a defert coafl, the want of harbours, and the difficulty of

fupplies ; he was fearful leaft a failure ffiould tarniffi the fplendour

of his former actions ; Hill, however, the defire of attempting fome-

thing new and extraordinary prevailed. But who was to command

fuch an expedition ? Who was capable of infpiring the men with

«■

confidence ; or perfuading them, that in undertaking fuch a fervice
they were not abandoned ^to deftruftion ? Such, fays Nearchus, was
the perturbation of Alexander when he ordered .me to attend him,
a,nd confulted me on the choice of a commander. “ One,” faid he,
“ excufes himfelf becaufe he thinks the danger infuperable ; others
“ are unfit for the fervice from timidity ; others think of nothing
but how to get home ; and many I cannot approve for a variety
‘‘ of other reafons.” ‘‘ Upon hearing this,” fays Nearchus, ‘‘ I
offered myfelf for the command, and promifed the king that,
under the protection of God I would conduCt the fleet fafe
into the gulph of Perfia, if the fea were navigable, and the un-
‘‘ dertaking within the power of man to perform.” Alexander
hefitated ; he loved Nearchus, and admired him the more for the
promptitude of his offer ; but how could he expofe fuch a friend to '
the diftreffes and hazard of fuch a voyage ! Nearchus tlill perfifted
in his propofal, and intreated the acceptance of his fervices. Att

Arrian introduces this account after the fultatlon took place before his. fird appoint- -
fleet had reached Pattala ; but as Nearchus ment than after he was adtually in coinirand.
commanded during the paflage down the Ta 0t«. Arrian was the difciple of

Indus, it is much more probable that the con- Epictetus.

length

loa COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

length the king, who had probably confulted him with the hope that

hisfpirit would prompt him to make the offer, corifented, and named
him admiral of the fleet. The appointment anfwered his expectation ;
for the men deftined to the embarkation no longer confidered the ex-
pedition as defperate, when they found a man fo much in the king’s
favour and confidence was to be the commander, and one whom they
knew he would not have expofed to inevitable danger. Alacrity fuc-’
ceeded to terror, the fhipswere equipped, not only with what was ne-
ceffary, but v/ith great fplendour ; the officers vying with each other
who fliould collect the heft men for the fervice, and have his comple-
ment ®^moft effective. Succefs was anticipated, and defpair fubdued.

The next concern was the appointment of the officers, and a lift
of names is given which it is evident does not fpecify thofe who
performed the voyage, but fuch as had a temporary command only
during the paflage down the river. The amount is thirty-three^
which fpecifies the number of gallies ; but of thefe we cannot
certify that any circumnavigated the coaft, except Archias*

' ' MzICEDONIANS.

’ . i

1. Hephseftion, fon of Amyntorf

2. Leonnatus, Eunus.

^ ' • ?

3. Lyfimachus, Agathocles.

4. Afclepiodorus, Timander. ,

5. Archon, — ^Clinias.

, mioliae are half* decked velTels, according to

It is true that Arrian, p. 236, fays, the Gronovius ; but Cafaubon ad Athen. lib. v.
Triacontcri were eighty ; but under that title, p. 203, fays, they were rotved with two banks
as a general one, he probably includes the of oars from the head to the mail, and from
Hemioliae, or half* decked veiTels. The He- the mail aft; with one. Not. p. 737.

Macedonians.

(

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 103

Macedonians.

6. Demonicus, fon of "^Athenasus.

7. Archias, V Anaxidotus.

8. Ophelias, Silenus.

9. Timanthes, Pantiades.

Thefe were all citizens of Pella.

10. Nearchus fon of Androtimus.

11. Lampedon, ; Larlchus.

12. Androfthenes, — ^ — Calliftratus.

Citizens of Amphipolls.

13. Craterus, fon of Alexander.

14. Perdiccas, Orontes,

Natives of Orefles.

15. Ptolemy, “ fon of Lagus.

1 6. Ariftonous, Pifeus,

Natives of Eordsea.

17. Metron, fon of Epicharmus.

18. NIcarchides, Simus.

Natives of Pydna.

19. Attains, fon of Andromenes.

Native of Stymphsea.

20. Peuceflas, fon of Alexander.

Native of Mieza.

21. Pithon, fon of Crateas,

Native of Alcomenae.

22. Leonnatus, fon of AntIpater.

Native of jEgse.

Nearchus was a native of Crete, but a citizen of Amphlpolis.

Macedonians.

104 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Macedonians.

■^s

23. Pantauchus, fon of Nicolaus.

Native of Aloris.

,24. Mylleas, fon of Zoilus.

Native of Bersea.

...... j

Thus far the lift confifts of Macedonians.

25. Medius, * fon of Oxynthemis.

Native of Larifla^ in Theflaly.

26. Eumenes^ fon of Hieronymus.

Native of Cardia.

27. Critobulus, fon of Plato,

Native of Cos.

28. Thoas, fon of Menodorus.

29. M^andrus, Mandrogenes.

Natives of Magnefia.

30. Andron, fon of Cabelas.

Native of Teios.

31. NicocleSj fon of Paficrates.

Native of Soli, in Cyprus.

32. Nithadon fon of Pnytagoras.

Native of Salamis, in Cyprus.

33. Magoas fon of Pharnuches*

A Perfian.

Oneficritus of Aftypalsea, Pilot, and Mafter of Alexander’s own fhip.

Evagoras, fon of Eucleon a Corinthian, Secretary, or Commiflary

to the Fleet.

Nlthapbon Gronov. does not fay in what capacity ; I conclude, how-

Bagoas. Gronovius. But why? That ever, thatit is the fame Androfthenes who went
eunuch hardly attended the array. down the gulph of Perfia to explore the Ara-

Strabo mentions an Androfthenes of Thafus, bian coaft, Ar, lib. vii. p. 301.

<p. 766, who failed with Nearchus, but he

Inftead

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

105

Inftead of this barren lift of officers, many of whom certainly
did not accompany Nearchus round the coaft, and many whofe
names are never mentioned except upon this occafion, it would have
been foine fatisfad;ion, if it were pdffible, to have preferved the
lift of thofe who were the real firft explorers of the Indian ocean ;
but out of the whole number here enumerated, the only names
which occur afterwards in the narrative are thofe of Archlas and
Oneficritus.

If the whole journal of Nearchus is preferved by Arrian, there is
fome reafon to complain of the commander for recording all that con-
tributed to Ills own glory, and to lament that he did not refcue the
fame of his brave followers from oblivion. Hephxftion, Leonnatus,
Lyfimachus, Ptolemy, Craterus, Attains, Peuceftas, and probably many
others, had evidently only a temporary or honorary command ; and
the filence of Nearchus in refpedf to the others throws a degree of
uncertainty over the remainder of the catalogue. Neither does It
any where clearly appear what number of ffiips or men accompanied
Nearchus to the conclufion of the voyage. If we fuppofe the ffiips
of war only fit for the fervlce, thirty gallies might poffibly contain
from two to three thoufand men ; but this eftimatlon of both is
uncertain, and in reality too high, confidering the little means of
fupport they found on the voyage, and the impoffibility of difcrL
minating the fighting men from the mariners.

The mariners were fupplied from a number of Phoenicians,
Egyptians, Cyprians, lonians, natives of the Hellefpont and ffigcan

'^3 It is poffible that I may eftimate the thoufand. The mariners I find no proper data
number too high, both here and on the voyage, to calculate. At other times, indeed, eighteen
See Kokaia. For the whole fieet, including hundred horfe and ten thoufand foot aro ein-
tranfports, carried no more troops than eight barked.

iflands.

ic6 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS;

iflands, who had accompanied the army either in a military or
mercantile characler ; neither is it unreafonable to fuppofe that at

the oar many of the natives were employed, induced by advantage,
or compelled by force ; for this, as a fervice which required little
more than bodily ftrength, the Greeks frequently affigned to flaves,
or thofe removed but one degree from flavery.

The fleet had been built or colledted on the Indus, and part of it
had been brought over land to the Hydafpes. The number of
•veffels is eftimated at two thoufand by the hiftorians, including
all forts, from the galley to the tender. The collecting of fuch a
fleet has been accounted for already, and the poflibility of convey-
ing great part of it from one river to the other, will not appear ex-
traordinary to thofe who are acquainted with a fimilar pra(3:ice at
the ifthmus of Corinth, or confider that Alexander was at the head
of an hundred and twenty thoufand men, and was pofTefled of
treafures, alliances, dependents, and tributaries, fufficient to com-
mand the fervices of all the native inhabitants of the country, if
requifite.

The voyage down the river is defcribed rather as a triumphal
proceflTion than a military progrefs. The fize of the velTeis, the con-
veyance of horfes a-board, the numbers and fplendour of the
equipment attracted the natives to be fpeCtators of the pomp* The
found of inftruments, the clang of arms, the commands of the
officers, the meafured fong of the modulators the refponfes of

Eight hundred (hips of war and tranfports. to dired us how far,

‘”5 We mull fuppofe fome extraordinary It is not improbable that Alexander had

means requifite, as the fpace between the fn- fupplied his cavalry with horfes from the Pen-
dus and Hydafpes is eftimated at fixty-eight je-ah. They are as good as Irakies, Per-
cofe, or about one hundred and thirty miles, fian. Ayeen Akbari.

This diftance, indeed, might be diminilhed KsAEWrak

by defeending the Indus, but we have no data So Gronovius renders

the

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

lo;

the mariners, the dafliing of the oars, and thefe founds frequently rever-
berated from overhanging fhores, are all fcenery prefented to our ima-
gination by the hiftorians, and evidently befpeak the language of thofe
who fhared with pride in this fcene of triumph and magnificence.

Arrian has given us the breadth of the Hydafpes and feveral
other ftreams which join the Indus, but informs us, he has the
authority of Ptolemy for that of the Akefmes alone ; that river he
eftimates at fifteen ftadia, the Hydafpes at twenty. The In-
dus, he fays, w^as forty at a medium, and fifteen where narroweft ;
that in Its courfe from the confluence of the Akefmes to the Delta
of Pattala it was an hundred, and lower tow^ards the fea two hun-
dred. By any value of the fladium this eflimate is doubtlefs too
high, and the variety of accounts recorded by Strabo gives room
for much uncertainty upon the fubjedt ; the higheft, he fays, was
an hundred ftadia, the medium fifty, and the lowefl feven. It is
evident, therefore, that thofe who differed as much as feven from
an hundred, either did not ufe the fame fladium, or did not meafure
the river at the fame time of the year : but it is remarkable, that if
the loweft number Is confidered as the Olympic fladium It cor-
refponds nearly with Mr. Forft^r’s account of the Indus above
Attock, where he croffed it, and eftimated it at three quarters of a'
mile Englifli Mr. Forfter pafled in July when the rains muff
have commenced in the mountains, though they had not reached
the lower country ; if, therefore, wx allow the river to have re-
ceived fome accefiion to its volume, we have a very extraordinary
corrcfpondence between an ancient and a modern account. It would
be w^ell if w^e could reduce the larger numbers of Arrian with as

P. 222. Eight to a mile Roman,

P. 239. *‘3 Renncll, p. 109.

Lib. XV. p. 700,

P 2

i > I

much

108 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

much facility ; but even Mr. d’Anville’s fladium of fifty-one toifes,
which gives fomewhat more than fixteen to a mile Englifli, muft
here fail us ; for fifteen ftadia would make the Akefines near a mile
broad ; tv/enty would give a mile and quarter to the Hydafpes ;
forty would fupply t\vo miles and a half to the Indus above the
confiuence ; an hundred produces fix miles and a quarter for the
breadth between the confluence and Pattala ; and two hundredj
twelve miles and an half for its final courfe. Shall we impute
this enormity to the amplification of the Macedonians, or to the
overflowing of the river ? In fupport of the latter, we have another
extravagance of Oneficritus recorded by Strabo, who fays, the
Indus rifes forty feet, twenty to its banks and twenty above them,
but, unfortunately for this affertion, the fleet left Nicsea in October,
when the fwelling muft have been on the decreafe, and reached Pat-
tala in July, before the next year’s fwelling could be very evident in
the lower part of the river. According to Tieffenthaler and the
Ayeen Akbari, the Indus between Moultan and Tatta runs in a
ftream comparatively narrow, but very deep, and Hamilton
aiferts, that the channel at Tatta is not more than a mile broad.
Arrian’s account muft confequently be abandoned, unlefs we make
a large allowance for the flood, and his language feems to juftlfy
this at the time when he mentions the hundred ftadia ; for he adds,
“ this is the breadth when it fpreads its waters moft.” Much

It is very pcfiible that the channel from
Laribundar to Tatta is lets at prefent than for-
merly, for the mouths of the Indus all tend to
the accumulation of obdrudiona. Hamilton’s
account is probably jufl.

VTrlp £i(.s^rov tv^cv Ivo.

Perhaps aho^oe one hundred fiadia nxihere
fpreads the nvideji

Itis rearonable to conclude, that all the vary-

ing accounts of the breadth of the river.,
which, as Strabo obferves, fluduate between
feven and an hundred ftadia, owe their dif-
agreement to the different views of the dream,
either in its lowed or its highed date. See
Arrian, lib. v. p. 200. Ctefias (if Cteftas is
any authority) fays, that the Indus where
narrowed is forty dadia in breadth, and where
wideft an hundred, but that in general, a me-
dium between ihefe may be afligned.

reafoa

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

109

reafon as there is to commend Arrian’s accuracy In general, it mufi;
be allowed that he copied in this inftance from thofe who delighted
in exaggeration, or chofe to ralfe ideas of magnificence by defcribing
not what the voyagers faw, but what at another time of the year
they might have feen.

The moft moderate breadth of the Hydafpes is found where we
fhould leaft exped: it, in Q^Curtius, who fays that it is four ftadia,
or half a mile, and if we allow, with Mr. Forfter, three quarters of
a mile to the Indus above Attock, at a feafon when it was not yet
much fwelled, there is a reafonable proportion In giving half a mile
to the Hydafpes at a feafon when the fwelling may be fuppofed
not entirely part.

On this river, at Nicsea, Alexander embarked, carrying on board
the hypafpifls, Agrians, archers, and the royal troop of horfe.,
Craterus marched with another body on the right, or weftern
fide of the river, while Hephasftion commanded a third on the
eaflern bank. A fourth under the diredion of Philip, fatrap of the
country on the weft of the Indus, followed at three days diftance in.
the rear. The troops commanded by Hephaeftion were by far more ’
numerous than the reft ; and he had like wife the charge of two hun-r
dred elephants, with orders to join Craterus and reduce the terri-
tory of Sopithes which feems to occupy the angle between the

*** It is remarkable that Curiius mentions
alfo this river— profundo alveo — ilagnantibus
aquis — occultis faxis — fine vado— in medio
amne infulae crebras— una infuk amplior c£E-
tcris. All accordant circumftances, and the lail
agreeing with Arrian, though omitted by Dio-
dorus. Q^Curtius, vol. ii. 653.

’^Ayni^cc hc7iiu\y ufed not exadly by Ar-
rian. It fornetimes means all the companions,
'ErxTjOii fornetimes the royal troop.

See the note of Gronovius in loco, upon
the divifion of forces, p. 333.

Strabo and Curtius make Sopithes ar.d
the Kathaei the fan^e. The fcite of the Ka-
thaii is known. They were between the Hv-
draotes and Hyphalis to the fouthward of
Lahore. Arrian makes them different ; but
if Sopithes was in the angle between the Hy-
draotes and the Hyphafis, Hephtellion mull
have paffed two rivers to reach them.

juudlou

no COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

jundion of the Hyphafis and the Akefines. Having diftributed the
land forces in this manner, Alexander fell down the river for
three days to a Ration, where he halted two more for the troops to
join, and then proceeding again for five days, he reached the con-
fluence of the Hydafpes and Akefmes The fleet is defcribed as
difpofed into different divifions, with orders to obferve a due diftance,
that no confufion might arife ; and the progrefs by water was regu-
lated to accommodate the motions of the army. With this objedt
in view, we can hardly cafl an eye over the map without adverting
to the coincidence of thefe circumftances with the local geography.
The diftance from the lower point of Jamad to the confluence is
from fixty to feventy miles and with three armies moving in fe-
parate divifions, encumbered with plunder, and obliged to make
roads or find them, correfponding with the finuofity of the river,
eight or ten miles of a right line is fully equivalent to the road
diftance of each day’s march. Pliny fays, the fleet paffed down the
river at the rate of fix hundred ftadia a-day. Q^Curtius'''^ mention^
exprefsly in this part of the paifage, that the rate was only forty.
Freinihem, in order to reconcile fo glaring a contradldlion, fuppofes
four hundred ; but if feventy-five or fifty miles is too much, and
five is too little, fome other remedy muft be fought. It is true, as Mr.
Rennell obferves of the Ganges, that a paffage of fifty or fixty
miles a-day is eafily performed when the river is fwoln ; but this

Major Rennell fuppofes only five days
from Nicaea to the junction.

Arrian from Mcgallhenes fays, at Cam-
billholi or Ailrobae. Whidi of the two is
right feems hard to difcover. See p. 317.

Rennell’s firll map^ 75 ; fecond map, 70.
De la Rochette, 57.

Vol. ii. p. 691.

*^4 gy reading quadr’ngenti for quadra-
ginta. See Curt, in loco.

'"'s Major Rennell, from his Latin Itinerary^
fuppofes twenty miles a dayL paffage for a
boat on the Indus.

Rennell fuppofes thirty-eight miles a-
day down the Indus, p. 290, fecond Memoir.

fleet

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

1 1 i

fleet wafi to accommodate the army, and no precipitation of this fort
can be allowed. Forty ftadia, or five miles, continued for eight days,
gives indeed only forty miles, but the deficiency is more tolerable
than the excefs, and if it might be perrhitted to Invert the numerals
of Curtius, and read LX. inftead of XL. the repetition of
fixty ftadia for eight days gives fixty miles, a diftance not greatly
differing from Rennell’s correfted map, confiPcent with probability,

* and correfpondent to the ordinary progrefs of an army in fimilar
circumftances.

The Hydafpes and Akefines at their junction are both forced into
a channel too narrow for their united ftreams ; the rapid eddies and
turbulence which arife neceffarlly from fuch a caufe afford ample
fcope for the tumid eloquence of Q^Curtlus. The more moderate
language of Arrian will, at the fame time it verifies a fad:, give
greater pleafure to the reader who prefers truth to embellilEment.

Where thefe two rivers meet, fays Arrian, one channel very nar-
row receives the waters of both. The ftream becomes violent

from confinement, and whirls in eddies terrible to behold. The

This is a conjedture not authorized by
the text of Curtius, as given either by Frein-
ftiem or Snakenborck, for both read quadra-
ginta at full length. Whether the manufcripts
they followed have the numerals XL* is not
exprefied ; but thofe who are converfant in
Greek or Latin numerals will allow fome lati-
tude for corredtion.

The march of Timour from Jamad to
the conHuence in the very track that the de-
tachment under Hephajftion fhould have
marched, is thus defcribed by Cheref-eddin,
tom. iii, p. 52. Tranllation of Petis de la
Croix.

Apres avoir acheve heureufement PafFaire
de Chehabeddin, Pon marche chq ou fix jours.

au bord du fleuve Jamad (Hydafpes), et . . .
on alia camper fur le bord de la riviere de
Genave (Akefines), a une fortreffe, vis a vis
de laquelle fe fait le confluent de la riviere de
Jamad avec celle de Genave, i. e. tlie Hy-
dafpes with the Akefines.

Five or fix days march of a Tartar army,
w'ith an objed in view, is fully equal to the
eight days allotted to the Macedonians, vvhofe
army was moving in three divifions, and one
of thefe under HephaelHon detached on an
expedition.

I.ord Cornwallis, in his march from Ban-
galoor to Seringapatam, moved at the rate of
nearly nine or ten miles a-day. See Major
Dirom’s map.

roar

!i2 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

roar and tumult of the water Is prodigious, and heard long before
you reach the fpot. When Alexander approached the confluence,
neither he, nor thofe on board his fleet, were uninformed of thefe
particulars ; yet, while they were ftill at fome diftance, upon
liearing the noife and dafhing of the waters, the rowers refted on
their oars, the modulators were filent with aftonifhment ; but as the
ftream carried them nearer, the commanders recalled both to their
duty, and direfted them to exert their utmoft flrength, that the
veflhls might not be caught in the eddies, but pufhed through by
dint of force. It turned out, however, that the tranfports from
their built, by yielding to the eddy, efcaped with little injury, ex-
cept the alarm excited in thofe on board ; but the gallles, which
from their length and fharpnefs were lefs adapted to encounter a
danger of this fort, fufiered greatly, and fome, from having two
banks of oars and the difficulty of managing thofe which were nearly
on a level with the water, were expofed to the moft imminent
danger Alexander’s velTel, however, ef:aped to a projed;ing
point on the right hand fliore, which covered him from the violence

of the flream ; but he faw two of his vefl'els fink, and with diffi-
culty faved fuch of their crews as were able to fwim. Many more
of the gallies were damaged, which caufed a delay here of fome
days in order to refit them ; and while the repair of thefe was going
on, Hephseftion, Graterus, and Philip, joined with their refpeftive
forces.

Alexander now ordered the corps of Polyfperchon^^^, the mounted

archers, and the divifion of Philip with the elephants, to be con-

Les vagues qd fe forment en ce lieu la *^0 ra'-t! ; it was a pait

font paroiire une mer agitee. Cheref-eddin, of the phalanx,
vol. iii. p,

veyed

COURSE OF TRE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS, iij

%^eyecl over the Hydafpes, and proceed under the command of Cra»
terus, while he landed himfelf and ravaged the neighbouring terri-
tory, to prevent fuccours being feht to the Malli. He returned

agiiin before the fleet moved, and then ordering Nearchus to fall
down the river for three days, he once more formed his army into
three divifions, diredting Hephseftion to be five days in advance,
Ptolemy to follow three days march in his rear, and both them and
Craterus to join the fleet again at the confluence of the Akefines and
Hydraotes, while with a fourth divifion he entered the country of
the Malli himfelf. It was in this expedition, attended with a va-
riety of circnmftances not connected with our prefent fubjedt, that
he was himfelf wounded in ftorming an inconfiderable fortrefs of
the Malli. The territory of this tribe naturally fuggefts an idea that
it may be the fame as the celebrated province, or foobah, which takes
its name from Moultan, a city v/ell known for its fituation and com-
merce in Europe as well as India.

M O U L T A N.

Longitude

from Greenwich by Rennell, 70 40
add from Ferro, - 17 40

88 20

from Ferro by Ptolemy, 127 o
Ptolemy corredted by
Goflfelin,

Latitude
by Ptolemy,
by Rennell
by the Turkifli 1
geographer, j
EtvaFs,

90 4

o \v

31 15

29 50

•

29 30
29 40

13*

*3* See Otter, tom. i. 407.

According

1 14 COURSE OF Tf-IE FLEET DOWN TI,iE INDUS.

- A

According to the rivers of Ptolemy, Cafpira on the Rhuadis ought
to be Moultan upon the Ravee ; but if it is fo, his latitude is very
erroneous, for he places it north of Encephala, whereas it is near a
degree to the fouth The foregoing eftimation is confequently
liable to all the objedlions connefled with this error.

The fortrefs, however, where Alexander was v/ounded was not
the capital, for it is as certainly on the north of the Hydraotes, as
Moultan is on the fouth. Major Rennell has noticed this with
his ufual accuracy, and the teftimony of Arrian is dired: ; for he
fays that Alexander, after having paffed the Hydraotes, returned and
croffed it again after the flying enemy, who threw themfelves finally
into the fortrefs where this tranfadion took place. It is remarkable
that the boundary given to the province of Moultan by the Ayeen
Akbari fliould correfpond with the limits affigned to the Malli by
Arrian ; for when Abu’l Fazil fays the Pergunnah of Shoor
joins the boundary of Moultan on the north, he evidently fhews
that this foobah extends to the north of the Ravee or Hydraotes,
and confequently comprehends the fpot allotted for the fituation of
this fort among the Malli.

While Alexander was engaged in this expedition, the fleet had
reached the confluence of the Akefines and Hydraotes ; and hither,
as foon as his wound permitted him to be removed, he was con-
veyed in a galley dovcn the ftream of the latter The tranfport of

fines, near the jandlion of that river with the
Chelum (Hydafpes).

See in confirmation, Ayeen Akbari, vol. ii.

p. lOO.

Alexander did not land at the aUual
junUion of the rivers, but at the camp of He-
ph^ftion, on the Hydraotes, a fmall difiance
higher up. See p. 252. Ar.

joy

See Ptol. p. 171, and Mercator’s Map
Afia, tab. X.

Second Memoir, p. 97, Major Rennell
places this namelefs fort ten miles from the
confiux of the Hydraotes and Akefine-s, below
Tolomba.

Vol. ii. p. 136.

Shoor lies upon the Chen-ab or Ake*

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN

115

joy with which his troops received him, was fome compenfation

for the dangers he had encountered ; and fo little did the monarch
hlrnfelf feem to be aiChamed of the temerity with which he had ex-

pofed his perfon, that he Is faid to have taken a Boeotian foldler into
his favour, who. In his broad dlaledt, bluntly applied to him the
fentiment of a tragic poet :

He that would do great deeds mud fufFer greatly.”

Here he was joined by the other divifions of the army, and while
he was under cure of his wound he received the fubmiffion of the
Main, now humbled by reiterated defeats; and a ^deputation from
the Oxydracas, offering to become tributaries, and to fend him a
fupply of men.

The Oxydracse correfpond both In name and fituation with the
diftrid: ftill called Outche, which Is comprehended in the foobah of
Moultan, and occupies the angle formed by the jundion of the
Chen-ab, or Akefmes with the Indus. It is fomewhat fmgular
that Arrian fhould mention thefe people as cantoned into depart-
ments, and their magiftrates as prefiding In each feparate canton,
while the moderns diftinguifh them to this day by the appellation of
the Seven Towns of Outche Thefe local circumftances con-
tinuing fimilar through fo many ages, afford no lefs pleafure to
the Inquirer than confirmation to the veracity of the ancient
liiftorians.

Ayeen Akbarl, vol. ii. p. 136, de la Rochettc*s map.

Perhaps the orthography is, Ov\J. or

See TiefFeiuhalcr, vol, i.~p. 118, and Oudj, See Ayeen Akb. vol. ii, p. 100,

This

ii6 COURSE OE TME FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Tills tribe rnnft have been In a floiiriiliing condition, for they
furnifhed Alexander with a thoufand men and five hundred
chariots, and their territory, with that of the Malli, was added to
the fatrapy of Philip. During the continuance of the army at this
place an aditlonal number of velTels had been built, and feventeen
hundred horfe were again embarked, with ten thoufand foot, and a
body of light infantry, and the whole ordered to fall down to the

confluence of the Akefmes with the Indus* It is here that Arrian
mentions the jundllon of the Hyphafis with the Akefmes, before
that river falls into the Indus. But ftill he does not mark wdth his
ufual attention where the adual jundtion takes place, neither does
he notice the arrival of the fleet at it, as at the confluences which
precede and follow. This omilTion gives us room to doubt of the
fadt, and though de la Rochette has followed Arrian and Tieffen-
thaler in uniting the Blah and the Setledj with the Chen-ab before
that river meets the Indus, *there is ftill great reafon to adhere to
Major Rennell, who carries thofe two rivers with one ftream into
the Indus dlredtly, without bringing them firft into the Chen-ab.
It occurs here likewife that the Akefmes preferves its name after re-
ceiving thefe feveral rivers, agreeably to what Tieflfenthaler obferves
of the modern Chen-ab.

- The city of Moultan, anciently called Mulatran, which gives
name to this province, and which is fituated to the fouthward of
the Ravee or Hydraotes, is confidered as one of the oldeft in India ^

I fhould rather read fifty, than matlon of an error. The number is extrava-

five hundred ; but there is no inti- gant.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 117

it has a citadel and a wall of brick four • miles in circumference^
The climate is hot in the extreme, the foil a burning fand, and rain
is feldom known. A branch or canal from the Ravee, called Mo-
nan, approaches within one cofe of the town ; the Ravee itfelf is
only two cofe diftancc, and the Indus twelve or fourteen. The
jundlion of the Ravee and Chen-ab is dlftant twenty-five miles,
and that of the Chen-ab and Indus eighty It is not impoffible
that a town of the Malli fhould have occupied this fclte in the time
of Alexander, but certainly not as a capital, or a place of import-
ance ; for the Macedonians were more ready to give confequence to
the places they fubdued, than to detradt from them ; but local cir-
cumftances by no means difallow of its being one of thofe for-
trefles attacked by Alexander upon his firft croffing the Hydra^
otes, and before he recrofled that river, to the place where he was
wounded.

From the jundlion of the Hydraotes'with the Akefines the fleet
now fell down to another ftation, at the point where the Akefines
with all its tributary waters Is united with the Indus, waiting there
for the arrival of Perdiccas, who had been employed in fubduing
the Abaftani. The fubmilfion of another tribe named Ofladii had
been received by a part of the fleet which had been built at Xathra
and came down the Indus, while Alexander had been defcendlng
the Akefines. Of Xathra and thefe two tribes nothing occurs to
diredl our Inquiries but the mention of their names; and in regard to
Xathra, the obfcurity is of confequence ; for there is reafon to con-

I TlefFenthaler, vol. i. p. 1 1 5. His miles Sixty-five miles. Rennell.

are always cofs ; lb that we may efiimate the Perhaps woAjv, p. 242,

city feven or eight miles in circumference. Arrian,

De la Rochette.

elude.

ii8 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOV7N THE INDUS.

dude, that thefe veffels which now came down the Indus were part
of the fleet originally built on that river, and left there when Alex-
ander tranfported the other part over land to the Hydafpes. Arrian
mentions this divifion as confifliing of gallies and tranfports newly
built, but it is hardly credible that the whole fleet had been car-
ried over land, and highly probable that part left behind had been
augmented at Xathra, If we had any data to fix the pofition of
Xathra on the Indus, it would afford great fatisfadion to prove the
length of the line of tranfportation, but Xathra is named only by
Arrian, and does not appear in Ptolemy, Strabo, Diodorus, or
Curtius.

At the conflux of the Akefines with the Indus, Alexander fixed
'the eftablifhment of a new city, of which, though we find no traces
in modern accounts, we may naturally confider the fituation as
highly advantageous. A city fixed here would neceffarily partake of
all the commerce that paffed up the Indus, To be diftributed by
means of the feveral fources above, from Candahar and Cabul on
the weft, to Tchamoo, and perhaps to Thibet, on the eaft; and being
the centre where all thefe ftreams unite, muft confequently derive
equal emoluments from the commerce that palled downw^ards to the
coaft. The judicious choice of a fcite for this Alexandria (for fuch
probably was its name) has been as little noticed by the hiftorians as
imitated by the native powers of India \ nothing is found in the

A fimilar conveyance of veffels over-
land appears, lib. vii. p. 300, from Phoenicia
to Thapfacus, Three Qaadriremes, twelve
Triremes, thirty Triaconteri, divided into
parts, and brought over-land by a longer
tranfport certainly than from the Indus to the

Hydafpes or Chelum.

*47 VVhatever local circumilances have con-
tributed to the fituation of Moultan, have
united alfo in preventing the growth of a city
at this confluence.

Aveen

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 119

Ayeen Akbari to prove the exlftence of any place of importance
at this jundlion, and the filence of travellers and geographers on the
^ fubjedt leaves the whole matter in obfcurity.

Alexander remained here fome time both for the eftablifhment of
the city, and to regulate the adminiftration of the provinces, for at
this jundtion he fixed the limits of Philip’s fatrapy, and the com-
mencement of a new one for Oxyartes the Baftrian, father of his
wife Roxana, which was to extend to Pattala and the coaft. Python
was. joined in the commiflion with Oxyartes, and Philip was left at

this new city with all the Thracians and other troops fufficient for*
the defence of the province.

SOGDL BEHK E R.

IV. As we are now to leave the confluences of the refpedive
rivers, which have hitherto ferved to direct us in the pofition of
cities, tribes, and countries, a fcene of difficulties opens which no-
thing but a defire of elucidating ancient geography would tempt me
to explore at greater length than thofe who have trod the fame
ground before me. Our materials are fcanty ; for Arrian and Dio-
dorus have only two fhort pages, Q^Curtius part of one chapter,
and Strabo two or three lines. In all of them there is hardly a cha-
rafteriflic feature to diflinguifli one place from another ; time and

No magnificent idea is requifite to con-
ceive the building of cities in the eaft. A fort
or citadel, with a mud wall to mark the cir-
cumference of the Pettah, or town, is all that
falls to the (hare of the founder. The habitations
for the natives are ralfed in a few days or hours ;
and inhabitants are fupplied either by force, or.

if the place is commodious, by inclination. Ti-
mouri as well as Alexander, built cities in two,
three, or five days. The foldan of Egypt
infults Timour, by telling him that the cities
of the eafl are built of mud and ephemeral,
ours in Syria, fays he, and Egypt, are of
ftone, and eternal. Cheref-eddin.

dlftances

120 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS,

diftances are equally difregarded by all. Added to . this, I feel fonie

repugnance in deferting the guidance of my conftant director Ma-

jor Rennell, by fixing the Sogdi at Behker, and Mufikanus at
Sewee ; but I do this upon the authority of Strabo’s brief account,
who affirms that the feat of Mufikanus’s government was very
near the Pattalene.

Let us firft take a view of the country as it exifts at prefent. The
Indus rolls dovvui from the confluence of the Chen-ab or Akefines
to Tatta, four hundred miles in one channel, with hardly a fmgk
point to charaCterife one part of its courfe from another, except the
ifland Behker. Behker is the termination of the modern province
of Moultan ; the general term for the tradl below is Scindy ; the
title it bears in the enumeration of the Mogol provinces is the
Soobah of Tatta ; but in the time of Akbar this Soobah was added
to that of Moultan. The Soobah of Tatta is divided into five clr«
cars. L Tatta, the Pattala of the ancients. II. Hajykan, running
parallel to the Indus, and extending north far above Behker.
III. Sewiflan, between Behker and Tatta. IV,. Nuffeerpoor, ex-
tending eaft from the head of the Delta ; and, V, Chiicherhaleh,
(as well as I can colled:,) extending from the eaflern mouths of the
Indus along the coaft towards the bay of Cutch. We have therefore

Though. I defert Major Rennell, I have
the approbation of d’Anville.

La ville royale des Sogdi, .... ne peut
mieux fe rapporter qu’ a Bukor, qui a fervi de
refidence a des rois de cette contree.

Renfermee dans une ifle deux villes fur les
rives oppofees Sukoret Louhri I’accorapagnent,

Geog. Anc. vol.ii. p. 343.

But d’Anville himfelf is iniilaken about Sin-

domana, ibid, and Eclairciffemens, p. 36 1
Antiq. de i’Inde, p. 32.

De la Rochette follows d’Anville in placing
Muficanus at Sewee.

I believe not near^ but next to»

Tlpoq C6VTV rj^r) rv Tlcx.TTizK'nvi T£ Ty

zeii'S hBysa-if rnv Hiv^vxXiccVf m

llopriKavH,

Three Hundred. De la Rochette.

two

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS* rij

two principal pofitlons on the river/ between the confluence and the
Pattalene ; Behker in Moultan, and Sewee in Tatta. We have
likewife two governments named in ancient hifloiy, that of the
Sogdi and of Mufikanus I fhall confider each more particularly
hereafter; but at prefent thefe circumftances will afford fome reafon
to conjecture that thefe drears are natural divifions of the country,
and that the reafon of this diftribution exifted as flrongly in former
times as at the prefent day ; if fo, the ancient tribes fperffied by
the hiftorians pofhbly occupied the fame ground as the modern
drears.

The nature of the river Itfelf will fuggefl other reflections, which
wall tend to throw farther light on the fubjeCl. For the Indus,
although it refembles the Nile in forming the centre of a valley
and \yatering a country where no rain falls, differs in fome points
more effentlaL. The map Is crouded with the names of ancient cities
and modern vllkiges on the banks of the Nile, while the Indus has
only two places of importance, Behker and Sewee, In a courfe of
four hundred miles.

The range of fand hills on the eaft are the refidcnce of the
Alfhambety while a chain of rocks on the weft commences from
the fea, and runs northward nearly parallel with the river till It
joins thofe of Kandahar. All the ridges of Afia afford fecurlty to tribes
of plunderers ; thofe in the neighbourhood of Kandahar are the feat
of the Aghwans, the conquerors of Perfia and the defolators of In-
dia; and this range from the fea produces the Belootches, a tribe no

Oxykanus was not on the Indus. *** Called Jams at Tatta, when Hamilton

Major Rennell, Poftfeript. was there. Jams, robbers from the call :

Ayeen Akbari, vol. ii. p. 1 45. Tief~ Balouflies, robbers from the well,
fen-thaler.

R Ids

112 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

iefs ferocious than the Aghwans. This range has Hkewife feveral
branches; one more particularly that reaches the Indus near Sewee,
and another which, I have reafon to think, forms the boundary
between Sewlftan and Hajlkaii ; and if there were any guide to
dlredt me, I fhould as readily affign Hajikan for the feat of the
Abaftani reduced by Perdiccas, as I can nearly demonftrate that the
lower branch in Sewiftan was the territory of Oxykanus and
S a mb us.

From this account of the modern ftate of the river and the-
country, let us now return to the ancient hiftorians ; the order of
tranfadions, allowing for the variation of the narrative, is the fame
in all L The Sogdi of Arrian are the Sabracse of Q^Curtlus, the
Sambeftse and Sodrae of Diodorus. We need not infift on the dlver-
fity of names, for it matters little ; but the tranfadions which
occurred, the voluntary furrender of the place, and the eftablifh-
ment of docks and arfenals, are all fimllar and accordant ; and
though Diodorus would make the Sambeftse and Sodrae dlftind
tribes, his tranfadions are too clear to leave a doubt. II. The Mu-
fikanus of Arrian is the lame both in name and order as in Cur-
tins, Diodorus, and Strabo. III. The Oxykanus of Arrian anfwers
to the Pr^efti of Q^Curtlus, the Portikanus of Diodorus and Strabo.
IV. And finally, the Sambus of Arrian has the fame appellation in
Diodorus, and is the Sabus of Q^Curtius, the Sabutas of Strabo.
A fituation is now to be found for thefe four fucceffively ; and if a
reafonable degree of probability can be afligned for placing the three
firft, allowances muft be made for the fcantinefs of materials^ if it is
impoffible to arrive at demonftration.

After viewing this queftion in a variety of lights, I have per-
fuaded myfelf that the Sogdi were at Behker, Mufikanus at Sewee,

Oxykanus

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

I2j

Oxykaniis on the weft of Sewee at the foot of the mountains, and
Sambus on that range of mountains called Ltikhy which extends
from the great weftern range, and approaches the Indus at Sewee.
The proofs or probabilities neceflary to produce the fame conviftion
in othersifhall be adduced as we purfue the cotirfe of the fleet down
the river ; but I cannot avoid noticing, that by the moft ctirfory view

of the map, a fort and dock-yard at the confluence of the Akefines,
the fame at Behker, with a garrifon at Sewee, and other citadels and
docks at the head, and two lower points of the Delta, prefent a line
of frontier exaCtly correfpondent to local convenience, and the very
nature of the country.

At the confluence of the Akefines, Craterus with the elephants
and the greater part of the army was tranfported to the eaftern fide x
of the Indus, as the country on that fide appeared more convenient
for the march of an army ; and Alexander dropped down with the
fleet to Sogdi, The diftance and the time employed are both
omitted by Arrian ; but if we place the Sogdi at Behker, the
diftance appears from Major Rennell to be fhort of an hundred and
fifty miles. In the fame order follow the Sabracse of Curtins,
and the SambefteC of Diodorus ; both defcribe this tribe as living
under a republican form of government, and defended by an
army of fixty thoufand foot, fix thoufand' horfe, and five hundred
chariots ; both fpecify the fubmiffion of this people without a battle,
and Diodorus adds, that th Maflcini'^^ and Sodra^ were borderers on
the river, who fubmitted at the fame time. In the conftruftlon of a
citadel and docks at this place all the three hiftorians agree.

In a right line by the fcale. Suckor and Sunkar ; thefe may be the repre*

*57 Eighty. De la Rochette. fentative of Sogdi and Sodras.

*58 Arrian fays cxprefsly, to ^carixuov, Curtins mentions an Alexandria four

*55 Mafiani and Sodrai are perhaps the mo- days lower down ; but it mull be referred to
dern Pekier and Sekier, in Sekier written this place, as he names no nation or feite.

Now

R 2

IZ4 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Now though we may allow great fcope for tlie ampUficatlon of Giro-
tins and Diodorus, we are ftill to confider thefe Sabracas as a tribc>
of confequence in the view of the hiftorians, and I aflc where is a
pofition to be found for fuch a tribe in the courfe of this hundred
and fifty miles before we arrive at Behker. Nothing can be more
barren of names than the line of the Indus here in Major Ren-
nell, or de la P^ochette ; and the difcordance of thofe two geo-
graphers, being no lefs than feventy miles, adds ftill to the
Gonfufion and obfcurity. Another confideration is, that Behker in
the modern divifion of the province is a circar of Moultan ; and
where the Dooabeh circars end, that of Behker begins : it follows^,
therefore, that Behker would neceffarily be the firft capital from the
jundlion of the Akefmes, and naturally the fcite of the Sogdi
or Sabrac^, the firft tribe Alexander reached after leaving that
jundlion.

BEHKER.

Longitude ^ ^

by Ptolemy, from Ferro, 1 1 8 o o
by Rennell, from Greenwich, 70 00

add from Ferro,

87 40 o

Ptolemy corredted by Goflelrn, 84 16 oj [

Latitude

o \

Ptolemy, - 2.5 20 o
Rennell, - 27 33 o

* I

17 40 o M Oriental. Otter, 34 o o

De la Rochette, 27 27 c

I take the Blnagara of Ptolemy for Behker, not only oh account
of its central fituation between Moultan and Tatta, but *its refem-
blance in point of orthography, for it is poflibly Behh-nagar or

A fpace between two rivers. Doo, two j Ab, water.

Behk-nagar,

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

X25

Bchk-nagar, in which form it approaches Behker-nagar : nagar
being the ufual adjund; to exprefs a fortiiied place, and Ptolemy bas-
in this neighbourhood, Agri~nagara, Ka-nigara, Nagar-anigramma^
&c. &c..

According to the modern divifion, the circar or Dooabeh of
Behker contains twelve mahls or places for colleding the
revenue, which amounts to fifty-feven thoiifand five hundred and
feventy-eight pounds fterling and furnifnes four thoufand fix
hundred and ninety horfe, and eleven thoufand one hundred foot.
Thefe clrcumftances are Rated from the modern account, to fhew
how rcalonably it will bear a comparlfon with the ancient,
allowing for much exaggeration, and confidering that India appears
more populous in early times than fmee it has been defolated by
invafions.

It would have been a fortunate circumflance if any of the hlfto-
rians had mentioned an ifland here, or in any part of the Indus
between the jundion of the Akefmes and Tatta ; but their filence is
unanimous. It will appear, however, that we have fomething more
than conjedure to dired us, for Otter names Bekier, Sekier, and
Tekier, as three places dependant on Maniura'^'^; in which, though
he is miftaken (for Bekier is Behker the lame as Manfura), he is ftill
right in regard to the other two, for Sekier is the Sunker of the
Ayeen Akbari, and Tekier is the fort called in that work Alore, the

Louheri

The names of the twelve mahls are the
fame in Tieftenthaler and the Ayeen Akbari.
If any one wifhes to fee what fpelling can do
to confound, he fhould confult both. TiefF,
vol. i. 1 17. Ayeen Akb. vol. ii. 103.

**’3 Reckoning the dam forty to a rupee.

Manfura Is a city encircled at a dldance
by a branch of the Mehran (Indus). 'The
city itfelf Hands on the weftern tide of the main
channel ; for the Mehran in its defeent fepa-
rates into two dreams at Calere, a clay’s jour-
ney from Manfura ; the main dream paiTes to

Manfura j

126 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Louheri of de la Rochette. Tekier is fituated either at the re-union of
the river after its reparation to form the ifland, or jnft below it ; and
Sekier afllimes a place at the point where the river divides. It is in
Sekier, written Sunker and Suckhor, that I find the Sogdi of Arriah,
the Sodrse of Diodorus,' the Sadracss of Q^Curtius ; and as Sunker
and Alore are two out of the twelve mahls afligned to Behker by
the Ayeen Akbari, this divifion has given rife to the diftindtion of^
them by Diodorus into feparate tribes. Some referve is neceffary in
alferting that Alore and Tekier are the fame, but it feems highly pro-
bable, becaufe Tekier is not mentioned by the Ayeen Akbari ; con-
cerning Suckhor all teftimonies are united. I conclude, therefore,
that the Sogdi of Arrian comprehend the whole ifland and circar of
Behker, and that the name is derived from the firft place in the
circar at which the fleet arrived.

If this fhould not be deemed conclufive, I beg the reader to
fufpend his judgment till he receives additional reafons for fixing
the feat of Mufikanus ; for the pofition of either to a certainty will
give the refpedtive fituation of the other ; and I muft likewife ob-
ferve, that the eredting of docks on an ifland is a natural conve-
nience, while there is nothing on the higher part of the river to
direfl: this operation more to one point than another.

Manfara ; the inferior turns to the north to-
wards Sarufan, and then winds back again to
the weft [read eaji^y till it joins the main
channel once more, about twelve miles below
the city. Manfura is a mile both in breadth
and length. Nub. Geographer, p. 57.

This defeription has led Mr. d’Anville into
a great error, for the whole is reprefen ted on
his map. The error arifes from his making
Behker and Manfura two different places,
which the Ayeen Akbari proves to be the

fame ; but d’Anville places Behker near four
degrees higher up the ftream, and this Man-
fura he places below Sihwan. Otter has fallen
into the fame error Vol. i. 406, 407.

Major Rennell makes the ifle thirty-five
miles in length, which does not differ much
from A1 Edrifi’s account. Manfura is doubt-
lefs a Mahometan, and not an Indian title, for
it expreftes njiStory in Arabic. See Melchiz.
Thevenot, torn, i. in Abulfedam, p. 19.

From

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

127

From this Ifland of the Sogdi Craterus was detached into Ara-
chofia and Drangiana ; but as we hear of him again at the next
Ration of the fleet, we muft fuppofe that he only conduced a body
of troops which was to penetrate into thofe countries by another
route, and which was to conneft again with the future march of
the main army through Karmania. This defign is perfectly con-
fiftent with Alexander’s fcheme of exploring thefe provinces by
marches in various directions ; and it is probable that Craterus went
no farther with this body than to mark out the line they were to
purfue, and then returned to the main army. The reunion of thefe
forces will be noticed in its proper place.

From Sogdi then, the Behker of the Hindoos, the Manfura of
the Mogols or Perfians, Alexander haftened down the Indus to reach
the city of Mufikanus, before he fhould be prepared for refiftance. I
have already faid, that Strabo is my authority for placing Mufikanus
lower down the river than Major Rennell; for Strabo fays exprefsly,
that his territory was near, or next to, the Pattalene ; and a review of
Arrian’s account, fhort as it is, convinces me that, after the tranf-
acRions which took place here are confidered, the immediate arrival
of the fleet at Pattala confirms the aflertion of StrabOr

**5 It is worthy of remark that the Nubian This ifland of Behker has two depend-

Geographer makes Manfura a centre of com- ant places, Tekier and Sekier, fo written by
munication both eaft and weft, p. 57, et feq. ; Otter, vol. i. 409. Frazer writes Buckar for
and fuch it would naturally be in all ages, Behker, Sunkar for Sekier. Treaty Nadir
unlefs the city Alexander built at the main Shah, Khoudabad feems to be Shicarpoor
jun<ftion of the rivers had taken root. of de la Rochette’s (heetmap.

MU S IK ANUS.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

i:2G

MUSIKANUS. SEWEE. SIHWAN.

V. I FIX upon Sewee for the refidence of Mufikanus, becaufe it
is the head of the firft circar of Tatta towards the north ; and con-
ceiving, as I do, that all thefe circars have their divifion or bound-
aries from nature, I am perfuaded that the fureft ground for fixing
any ancient name is to conlider the prefent diflribution of- the pro-
vinces. Sewiftan, the name of this circar, comprehends the coun-
try on both fides the river ; but on the eaft there is probably little
cultivation, as the trad: tends toward the defert and the fand hills
on the weft, there are branches from the mountains extending to-
wards the river inhabited by Belootches, and on one of thefe
branches, or at the foot of It, may be placed the territory of Oxy-
kanus, the Portikanus of Strabo and Diodorus. The termination
of thefe three names fuggefts an idea that they contain fome
allufion to the country, or fome mutual relation or connedion*
What will be alleged on this fubjed I give merely as a conjedure,
and I refer It to the Orientalifts for further illuftratlon ; but I cannot
help thinking that I difcover the name of the circar in every one of
them.

Sewee is written Sevi, Sihouan, Sihwan, and Sehwaii. It Is not
eafy to eftabllfh the identity of thefe names to the fame place ; for
though our maps make them the fame, the Ayeen Akbari men-
tions a chain of mountains extending from Sehwan to Seewee, re-
garding them as different places though in the fame circar ; and an

Tieffenihaler, vcl. i. p. 122, Vol. ii. p. 142.

obfcure

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. i2g

obfcure San marked on the maps is poffibly a corruption ot
Sehwan. Be this as it' may, Sihwan is an appellation fufficiently
known and acknowledged ; and this word, I think, may ^ be difco-
vered in Mu-fihan-u^, Ok-fihan-us, Por-fihan-us for the afpi-
rate h paffes into k in almoft all words derived from Oriental
languages. The termination is Greek for fake of inflexion only,
and the initial fyllable will poflibly.be found in the Shanlkreet to
convey an idea of the relation in which they hand. If the
diftindtion between Seewee and Sehwan could be eftablilhed, I
fhould have little difficulty’ in alTerting, that Moo-fihwan was the
chief of one, and Ok-fihwan of the other. I am fenfible etymo-
logy meets with little encouragement in the prefen t age ; but I am
likewife convinced from much ftudy of my authors, that all the In-
dian names which occur in them are capable of being traced to na-
tive appellations exifting at this day among the Hindoos at leaft, if
not the Mogols ; and. whenever the fociety in Bengal for Afiatic re-
fearches fhall dlred: their inquiry this way, they will difcover more
than can at prefent be calculated. I have proved this in regard to
the names of the Panje-ab rivers ; others have long feen it in the
Malli, Oxydracse, Peukaliotis, Giirad; and I am convinced that every
name mentioned in the hlftorians of Alexander will be found elther

S.^n may he, however, the Cahan which
T iefi'cnthaler places in this circar, p. 122.

li is remarkable that the reading of this
name difversin (i^Curtins. Podicanus, Porri*
canus I a(k hor a ilurd reading : Pcrfic'anus.

Han nr H.im, the original tide equivalent
to C,6/V/'or Lor(/, paPes into Kan, Khan, Cham,
and Cawn. Du Halde. I do not object to ap-
plying Kan Ivhan to Mufi-kaiius, if it fliouM
be proved that the Tartars had entered India
at ib early a period.

The tide of a Hindoo prince who
reigned in this circar formerly^ and whole go-
vernment extended ffoin Mekran to Cache-
mire, wa.s SiHAR. Tiefl'cnthaler, vol. i.
p. 122. writes Sihan.

In a lituation lower down, near Birun, ap-
pears a dillrid; named Mew or Kbzat by Abu’I-
feda. D’Anvillc Eclalrciiremens, p 39. Who
will trandate Moii ? I date this merely to
ihew that Mou is a native term.

ill

130 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

in the hiftory or memory of the Hindoos. I conceive that they
exift in the Shanfkreet at this hour, though they may be known
to Europeans in a different form derived from the Mogols, dif-
figured by the lapfe of time, change of language, or variety of
writing. I have the opinion of Major Rennell in confirmation of
this idea, and his judgment I efteem decifive.

If we would now follow Alexander in his defcent from the
Sogdi to the territory of Mufikanus, we muft apply to modern
fources for information. Arrian gives neither time or diftance, and
mentions nothing of the country through which the Indus rolls ;
but the maps give us upwards of eighty'’^ miles from Behker to
Seewee, and the Ayeen Akbari informs us, that the country is a
defert fubjedt in fummer to the Semoom, or fuffocating wind. The
term defert, however, muft be qualified ; for we are informed that
the Indus changes its courfe, inclining fome years to the eaft'^®, and
others to the weft; and that it is not fo abfolutely defert, but that there
are villages*’’ of herdfmen who change their habitation with theftream.
This circumftance, recorded by Strabo, proves the attention of the ob-
fervers, and the fidelity of the hiftorian; for when we find in Major
Rennell that he had fimilar information from an Engllfh tra-
veller who verified the fadl upon the fpot, we obtain a local cha-
rafteriftic fadl dependent upon the conftant operation of nature,
which fidlion could not invent, and fcepticifm cannot doubt.

Mufikanus had fent no offers of fubmiflion to Alexander, but
furprlled by his hidden approach, and not prepared for defence, he

Seventy-five. De la Rocliettc. the inclination given to the Indus by Major

In a right line by the fcale. Rennell.

*''5 Yol. ii. p, 143. *7; Ayeen .Akbari, ibid. Tieffenthaler.

North and fouih. Ayeen Akbari. The See Rennell’s Foilfcript.

fame thing occurs at Behker ; which favours

advanced

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. x n

advanced to meet the monarch upon his arrival, and furrendered his
city, territory, and elephants, at difcretion. The readinefs of his
fubmiflion, and the ackno'wledgment of his offence, procured him
a ready pardon ; for upon all occafions of this nature, the policy
and generofity of the conqueror were in unifon. He found the
territory one of the richeft in this part of India, and the city fo
commodioufly fituated, that he determined to ere£l a citadel here,
and leave a fufficient garrifon for its fupport.

Even in the comparative wealth of this place I find reafon to
think Mufikanus muft be fixed at Seewee rather than Behker, for
the comparative wealth of the two cities continues ftill the fame.
According to the Ayeen Akbari, the revenue of Behker is only two
hundred and thirty-two pounds while that of Seewee is five
thoufand two hundred and eighteen.

The erection of the citadel was entrufted to Craterus, whom we
muft confequently fuppofe to have returned from the detachment
that marched into Arachofia, and Alexander continued on the fpot
till it was completed. As foon as a proper garrifon was appointed,
an expedition was undertaken againft Oxykanus commanded by the
king hirnfelf ; his forces confifted of the archers, Agrians, and the horfe
he had on board. If Arrian or any of the hlflorians had told us on
which fide of the river the army moved to the eaft or weft, higher
up or lower down, we fhould have fome ground to ftand on ; but we
have now one circuinftance only, that he was chief of a diftrld:

'Ev^yfUC'irraTT.f, FlOUrifhlng is perhaps rvi Tavrp chief of a

a more proper term. in the country here, literally, I cannot

At forty dams to the rupee. conceive a more accurate expreflion for the

**** Havelly is added to Sewec in this chief of a circar, in reference to a foobah ;
account. Ayeen Akbari, vol. ii, p. 105. o** Tor the chief of a mahl, in reference to a

jumma. circar,

s 2 in

132 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

in the fame country, and are left to our own conjeftures for the
reft. My conjedlurc is dlredled by the mention of Sambus next, as
a fatrap appointed by Alexander himfelf over the Indians of the-
mountains ; for the mountains mentioned here correfpond exactly
with the range called Lukhy in the Ay een Akbari. They are a branch
of that great chain which extends from the feato Kandahar, a branch
of which reaches nearly to the Indus at Seewee, and affords a refi-
dence for a horde of Belootches called Kulmany. On thefe moun-
tains I have no hefitation to place Sambus ; and if in the little light
we have to diredt us we obtain one pofition, there is no reafonable
objedlion to fixing the other in correfpondence to it. By the mo-
tion of the army immediately out of the territory of Oxykanus into
that of Sambus on the mountains, it fhould appear that Oxykanus
was on the plain at the foot of that range ; and I contend that this
plain and thefe mountains muft be on the weft of the Indus, becaufe
the defert and the fandy hills are on the eafc; and there is no autho-
rity, either ancient or modern, to fhew that the range on the eaft
ever approaches the river at any one point.

But let us return to the courfemf the expedition. Alexander
marched againft Oxykanus becaufe he had received no embaffy or
acknowledgment from him ; he took two of his largeft cities by
afiault, and In one of them Oxykanus himfelf ; the plunder was aban-
doned to the foldlers, and the elephants only referved for the public
fervice. Several other cities furrendered without refiftance ; for by
this time, fays Arrian, the fpirit of all the Indians was completely
fubdued. Q^Curtius relates thefe circumftances with fome fliade of
difference ; Oxykanus, he fays, was killed, and the people he

‘^M^akhi. Tieffenthaler.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 133

calls Prasfti. I defire to make but one more obfervatlon. Oxyka-

nus was not on the river ; for if he had been, Alexander need not

have landed to march againft him ; he was near Sambus, and Sam-

bus was fatrap of the mountains. , The conclufion is, therefore, that

he was on the weft of the Indus, and highly probable that his ter-

ritory was at the foot of that range called Lukhy, confequently
that Mufikanus and Oxykanus were both chiefs in the circar of
Sell wan.

Sambus, the next object of Alexander’s purfuit, has a variety of
' names, which prove only the doubts of hiftorians, and obfcurity of
the tranfadlions ; for this chief is the Sabutas of Strabo, the
Sabbas of Plutarch, the Ambigarus of Juftin, the Ambiras^ of
Orofius, the Sabus or Samus of Q^Curtius. This recital is pre-
ferved in order to excite the attention of the Orientalifts ; for the
idea of locality is affuredly attached to one or other of thefe appel-
lations, if the true etymology can be obtained.

Sambus is reprefented as a fatrap, or chief, of a tribe of moun-
taineers in the neighbourhood of Mufikanus, and in hoftility with
that prince, as all the inhabitants of mountains conftantly are with
their neighbours on the plain. He had made his fubmiffion to
Alexander, and received from him a frefli appointment to his
fatrapy ; but upon receiving intelligence that Mufikanus had
made his peace with the conqueror, he had abandoned his country
and fled. For this flight no reafon is ailigned ; but it is natural to
fuppofe, that in the reconciliation of his enemy with Alexander he

*^5 See Snakenbrock’s Notes on Q^Curtius, tive chief. The title of Satrap and the name
lib. ix, c. 8. of Satrapy aflbrd a proof of his being confi-

i+.G \Yg ought to confider Sambus as a na- dcred as a fubjedt of the Perfian monarchy.

4 forefaw

134 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

forefaw fufficient reafon to diftruft both ; and as conquerors allow
. none of their tributaries to be injured by any but themfelves,
Sambus might reafonably imagine, that either his future incurfions
would be prohibited, or his former ravages muft be accounted for ;
in either cafe it was his intereft to retire ; and if he had fubmitted
to Alexander before the rediuTion of Mufikanus, it is probable that
a participation in the plunder of that prince’s province had been a
principal inducement to effed: his fubmiffion. When or where this
tranfadion took place does not appear, but if we place it at Sogdi,
the delay of Mufikanus in making application for terms, is a fuffi-
cient motive for the condud of his rival, Invafion is too often for-
tunate in finding the j^ealoufy of the natives favourable to the
fchemes of the invader, and the petty interefts of oppofite parties
co-operating to their mutual deftrudion.

If Sambus w^as at the head of the tribe, I fuppofe, his fubmlffiDn
was of importance ; for the Belootches who poffefs the range of
mountains called Luhky ftyled Kulmanles, are faid by the Aycen
Akbari to confift of twenty thoufand families, and able to
bring ten thoufand horfe into the field. Their country, though
covered with hard rock, black and barren, muft be interfperfed
' with fertile vallies ; for befides the horfes raifed for their own
fervice and for foreign fale, camels alfo are produced here in
great abundance, fufficient, not only for -the fupply of Scindi, but
of the interior provinces. From this account of a fmgle tribe, we

See a fimilar condud of the fecond
Porus upon the reconciliation of the firfl Porus
with Alexander. Porus on the Hydraotes had
been an enemy to the other on the Hydafpes,
and K^d fent deputies to the camp as the army

was advancing. After the vidory, and the
admiffion of the conquered into favour, this
fecond Porus fled upon the approach of the
conqueror to his own territory, fib. v. p. Z23.
VoL ii. p. J42.

f .

cannot

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 135

cannot be furpiifed at finding the general influence of the Belootches
extending far to the weftward at prefent, or even to Cape Jafk, ac-
cording to Niebhiir ; neither can 'we think lightly of the Arabitae
who inhabited the fame tradf in the age of Alexander, and had
the fame means of making therafelves either feared or refpedied.
Q^Curtius from Clitarchus, ftates the number of natives who
perlfhed by the Macedonian invafion at eighty thoufand, befides
prifoners ; an exaggeration doubtlefs, but ftill indicating the relative
magnitude of the tribe ; and that it was more numerous in the time
of Alexander we may conclude ; for if the plain country was more
rich and populous, the number of banditti maintained out of its
fpoils would be larger in proportion.

In the Sindimana of Arrian, the capital of Sambus, I find an
allufion to Scindi, the moft general and common name of the coun-
try on both fides the Indus'®*; and. though there are flrong ob-

jedlioiis

The bed MSS. read Sindimana, not
Sindomana. Gron. Arrian, p, 254.

^93. Nubian Geographer condantly

makes the* proper didindtion between Scind
and India, and between both and China ; the
Chinefe he calls Sin, and del'cribes their com-
merce on the Indian Teas nearly in the fame
manner as Marco Polo, with whom' he is ai-
med contemporary. 1 take this opportunity
of mentioning thefe dilllndlions, becaufe I be-
lieve the Arabic writers derived the name
Sin from the Sinae of Ptolemy, and applied it
to the farthell people eafi, as he had done.
When the Portuguefe palTed the Cape of
Good Hope, the only navigators they would
find mud have been Arabians, and from them
they derived the term Sin, which has produced
the word China, no'^ current throughout Eu-
rope,

>89 gy NIebhur’s account of the Arabs,
who have in all ages paHed the gulph of Perfia
towards the ead, it would be no difficult mat-
ter to form a connexion between the Arabs
and Arabitae ; but Niebhur does not make the
fame dillinftion of Brodia and Bioachee
which Porter does, feeming to conlider all
the wandering tribes in Mekran as Be-
lootches.

The whole account in Curtins is con-
fufed as ufual. For fird Alexander enters the
country of Sabus, and rhen falls lour days
down the river to attack his capital. This is
perhaps an error from want of didin(5lion be-
tween Sindonalia and Harmatelia. See Arrian,
p. 254. As to the eighty thoufand flaughtered,
1 doubt all ancient numbers, but none more
than thofe of Q^Curdus.

136 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS,

jedions to placing any city of Importance fufficlent to be confidered
as the head of Sclndi In the mountains, It Is not aflumlng too much
to fuppofe that the Belootches might have a city at the foot of them.

I fpeak with great diffidence upon the identical fituation of Mufi-
kanus, Oxykanus, and Sambus ; but I have no doubt about the
fettlement of them all in Seewiftan and the mountains adjacent ;
and I maintain that Mufikanus cannot be at Behker, as there is nei-
ther mountain or hill that approaches the river near that ifland*
If M. de la Rochette’s Map can be depended upon in regard to this
drear, his difpofition of Lukhy or Lacki exadlly eorrefponds with
the topography I wiih to adopt.

Sindimana made no refiftance, for though Sambus had fled, he
had no hoftile defigns againft Alexander. He was probably alarmed
for his perfonal fafety on account of the fubmiffion of Mufikanus;
but the gates of the city were open, and the officers of the fugitive
chief delivered up his treafures and elephants without hefitation.
From hence the army advanced to another fortrefs called the City of
the Bramins, and as Diodorus mentions his Harmatelia with the
fame attribute, it is doubtlefs the fame. This city is faid to have
revolted, by which we may underftand that it was concluded In the
original fubmiffion of Sambus, and upon his flight prepared to de-
fend itfelf. It was taken without difficulty, and the Bramins, who
were the advlfers of refiftance, were put to the fword. While thefe

rope, a term unknown to tlie ChieeXe them-
felves. Marco Polo, who entered Xrom the
north, never obtained this word^ but calls
China, Mangi, probably from the Mant-
cheoux Tartars. The Arabians penetrated
from the wed ; and though Ptolemy’s know-
ledge extended not to China, his Sin^ were

the termination of his chart, and thefe were
the Arabic Sin. See the Voyage of two Ara-
bians to China in the twelfth Century, pub-
lilhed by Renaudot, and in Harris’s Coi-
leflion.

See his Sheet Map cf India, publifhed
by Fadto.

trail factions

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFIE INDUS.

137

tranfaftions were going on, Intelligence was brought that Mufikanus
had revolted. Python, now fatrap of the province, was ordered to
proceed againft him, while Alexander feized the cities in his territory.
Thefe, we may conclude, lay between the country of Sambus and
the river, and lower down than the refidence of Mufikanus ; but
whether Alexander returned thither, or joined the fleet below,
does not evidently appear ; he found Mufikanus, however, a pri-
foner in the hands of Python, and executed him with the Bramins^
who were the promoters of his revolt.

While Alexander was preparing for the profecution of his voyage^
he difpatched Craterus, at the head of two divifions of the phalanx
and a body of archers, with orders to take up on his march fuch
of the companions and other Macedonians who had before been
ordered to proceed through Arachofia and Drangiana. The whole
of thefe forces, with the elephants, were to dired: their courfe by
an inland route to Karmania, and join the main army again in that

province. The primary objed of this route appears evidently to be la
correfpondence with the plan Alexander had laid down for furveying
and exploring the extenfive provinces of his empire; and a fecondary
defign fuggefts Itfelf, which is, that he was already acquainted with

the fterility of Gadrofia, which’ he intended to encounter himfelf,
and therefore lelTened the hazard of diftrefs in proportion to the
diminution of his numbers.

During this interval, Mserls the chief of Pattala and the Pat-
talene, came up the river, in order to make his fubmiflTion, and to

M8a-iK.cx.vog Ts cxyBrai Trpo^TTyOoJi'of) implies that executed him ev 'Tj) dv'Tu yrif which does not (juitc
Muilkanus was brought in.' If, therefore, imply his city,, but his territory.

/ilexander was now in his city, M^ifikanus had We have the name of this chief from

left it and fled into the country, from whence Curtius ; and I preferve all names for the in-
kc was now brought as a prifoner. Alexander veftigatlon of future inquirers.

furrender

.138 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

furrender himfelf and his territory to the difpofal of the conqueror.
His oiFers were graciouily accepted, and he was fent down again to
his government with orders to prepare every thing for the accom*
modation of the amiy upon its arrival.

The proper difpofitions were now made for departure. He-
phseftion was ordered to take the command of the main body not
embarked, and move downwards on the eaft fide of the river,
while Python conducted the Agrians and light-horfe on the wefL^L
The king proceeded with the fame troops on board as before. He
had advanced only three days, when intelligence was brought that
Misris had left Pattala, and flpd into the defert with the greater part
of his people. The progrefs of the fleet was Immediately quickened,
in order to obviate the difliculties which might arife from this^de-
fedlion ; but before it reached Pattala, the city was without inhabit-
ants, and the country without hufbandmen.

I cannot however enter upon the Delta, without recalling the at-»
tention of the reader to the geographical difliculties we have already
encountered ; for in the paiTage down the river I find every circum-
fiance to corroborate thepofition I have aflumed from Strabo, and the
reafons which induce me to place the Sogdi at Behker, and Mulikanus
at Sihwan. The teftimony of Strabo is pofitive, that the territory of
Mufikaniis joins the Pattalene ; it is upon this teftimony that I firft
found reafon to dilTent from Major Rennell, and upon which I build
the whole explication, detailed perhaps too much at length for the ordi-
nary patience of readers, but of great coiifequence to hifiorians and

This is inferred from the commiflion bliihed lately.

Python received to colleft inhabitants for the ^^7 nib. xv. p. 701, Ilpj ann 7^ Flarra-^
cities already fortified ; and v/hich can be no ad ipf^B Pattakriam.

,®ther than thofe Alexander had taken andeftii-

geographers^

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS

1 39

geographers, and highly conducive to the elucidation of our claffical
authorities. I muft now obferve that Major Rennelfs map gives an
hundred and forty miles, and de la Rochette’s an hundred and
fifty, by the fcale. In a right line from Sihwan to Tatta. This,
with the finuofity of the river, may be eftimated at two hundred
miles ; and if we fhould now add eighty or ninety miles more to
carry back Mufikanus to Behker, I a(k what reference can Arrian’s
three days’ voyage have to fucha diftance? — but there are more than
three' days ; — for he proceeded three days, and after that hurried
down to Pattala, I allow this, and I will allow two or three days
more for the rapid part of his courle ; but I muft obferve, that for
the firft three days he could not proceed more than fifteen, or at the
utmoft more than twenty miles a-day, if he kept pace Vs^ith the
forces on flrore ; and v/hen we have taken fixty miles out of an
hundred and fifty or two hundred, we leave a fufficient refidue for
the conclufion of his courfe, when he may be fuppofed to have
proceeded with the fleet alone, leaving Hephseftion and Python to
follow with the greateft difpatch in their power. All thefe circum-
fiances confidered, there is every reafon to conclude that Arrian Is
in harmony with Strabo ; and as both thefe authors drew from ori-
ginal fources, whenever they agree, little attention is due to Dio-
dorus, Curtius, or Plutarch. Upon this occafion, however,
though there is fome confufion, there is nothing in any one of thofe
writers contradictory to the deduction here made.

It may be objected, that by placing two chiefs in this province,
and a third on the mountains near It, wc comprehend too much in
proportion to the fpace .allotted ; but by -the revenue Akbar derived

*93 One hundred or one hundred and twenty, allowing for the couiTe of the river.

froul

r 2

140 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

from this foobah in general, and from the circar of Seewlftan onlj^
there is reafon to fuppofe, that as long as there was any commerce
upon the Indus all thefe circars were rich, and all the parts of them
cultivated which were capable of cultivation. There is ftill greater
reafon to believe, that in the early ages they were all more populous
and more opulent ; for a number of fmall ftates, fuch as appear
every where during this irruption of the Macedonians, univerfally
indicate population, commerce, and wealth. In the ftate of
India, at this day, every chief who has a fortrefs is a khan or
fovereign, and perhaps at this very inftant there may be more
than two fuch fovereigns in this identical diftridl. It is Seewiftan
itfelf that the Ayeen Akbari fpecifies as having forty thoufand
velfels on the Indus, and its revenue as amounting to forty-eight
thoufand five hundred and eighty-three pounds.- It is probably
not lefs than two hundred miles in length by an hundred and eighty
in breadth, and contains nine mahls or fubdivifions ; thefe are fully
equivalent to the territories or cities, which two fuch chiefs as Mufi-
kanus and Oxykanus can be fuppofed to have poffelTed.

But a weightier charge may be alleged againft me, for fetting up
my opinion in oppofition to Major Rennell. No one can bear
ampler teftimony to the accuracy of that able geographer than
myfelf, for no one has ftudied his map and his memoirs with more
attention ; and if I diffent from him in this one inftance, I do it with
that deference which is due to his abilities, and the fuperior oppor-
tunities he has had of obtaining information.

In the snclent world, Greece, Italy Holland, Switzerland, America.

(before the Romans were mailers) , Sicily, and At forty dams to the rupee. '

Gaul, are inflances,^ In the modern world, '

Before

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS, 141

Before we proceed to Pattala, I lliall explain another geogra-
phical problem, which, though not abfoliitely conneded with
the progrefs of Alexander, pertains immediately to the country
where we now are. Mr. d’Anville and Major Rennell both exprefs
their furprife at finding a traft called Indo-Scythia In Dionyfius
Periegetes, Ptolemy, and the author of the Periplus of the Ery-
thraean Sea. This trad; feems In their opinion to extend upwards oa
the weftern fide of the Indus, and Its inhabitants are by fome
means or other to be drawn out of Scythia or Tartary ; but I con-
ceive the whole to be an ancient error of the fimplefl nature. We
find in this trad two tribes of Belootches, one called Sethians, and
the other Hendians"'°'^ or Sindhians, which, though ill defined, feem.
by their names to be one tribe on the mountains and the other oa
the river; we find a third tribe of Belootches lower down, and
nearly in the parallel of Tatta, called Nomurdies, who can raife
three hundred horfe and feven thoufand foot If then we may be
allowed to add antiquity to thefe names, the Nomurdies and Sethians
will be metamorphofed in Nomades and Scythians without hefi-
tation ; and we fhall find the Indo-Scythians of Dionyfius and
Ptolemy in the Hendo-Sethians of Abu’l Fazil, without taking a
flight with Mr. d’Anville to bring ITuns out of Tartary, in order
to fet them down on the banks of the Indus.

Indo-Scythia belongs to the lower part
of Scindy, according to d’Anville. Anc.
Geo. vol. ii. p. 346. Eclairciflemens, p.42.

Perhaps d’Anville, by including Minna-
gara in it, (a conftant miftake of his about
Manfoura or Behker,) is difpofed to extend it
en the call fide of the Indus.

The river Arabis, at which vve fhall foon
arrive, has the name of Hend in d’Anville and
de la Rochette ; pofTibly, therefore, the Hen-
dians and Arabita^ are the fame.

Ayeen Akbari. Tieffenthaler, vol. u
p, 119.

Ayeen Akbari, vol.ii. p. 142.

YL P A T-

course of the fleet down the INDUS.

VI.

P A T T A L A.

Longitude „ , J

by Ptolemy, from Ferro, 112 50 o
by Rennell, from Greenwich, 67 36 o
add from Ferro, - 17 40 o

Latitude
Ptolemy,
Rennell, .

Ptolemy corredted by Mr.
Goffelin’s method,

85 Oyy

80 00

o f /f

21 *00
24 47 O

Ayeen Akbari, 24 10 o
De la Rochette, 24 43 o

Ayeen Akbari, - 102 30 o

C Abul-feda, - 92 31 o

Otter, Li-, . .

i Etvals, « 92 30 oj

Rennelfs eftimation is taken from Braminabad, where probably

are the rains of Pattala*

We are now to enter the Pattalene, where frefh difficulties occur,
which, if they cannot be conquered, may be greatly diminiflied by
a faithful comparifon of our authorities.

Pattala, in the Shanfkreet, fignifies the region below, or HelL
If we are difpofed to interpret this appellation in a good fenfe, we
may fuppofe the Flindoos fignified by it, the country watered by
the Indus in the lower part of its courfe. But if we prefer the other
fenfe, there will be nothing improper in the application ; heat and
burning fands, and want of rain, all juftify the allufion ; and the
entrance into this country from Hindoftan, through the defert of
Eehker, or the other defert ftill more extenfive, parched, and dan-

Maurice Ind. Ant.

gerous.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

*43

gerous, In the route from Guzerat, fuggefls Ideas of hell with
great facility to the mind of an Hindoo.

The Pattalene Is a Delta, like the Lower Egypt, but the dlmen-
fions of It feem very ill defined. The bafe of this triangle lies
nearly north-eafl: and fouth-weft ; and if it were poffible to give the
extent of it exadlly, we fhould obtain a great defideratum in geo-
graphy. Ptolemy and the author of the Periplus alTert, there are feVen
mouths to the river, and the modern name of Divillee is fald to have
the fame allufion ; but although Alexander navigated the two ex-
treme branches eaft and weft ; and though there Is reafon to believe
that the commerce on the Indus* pafled up and down both thefe, if
not fome of the others, in ancient times, I have never yet met with
a traveller or voyager who pafled up the eaftern branch except
Alexander himfelf. The extent between the two outer branches is
given by

Mile-6 r!5g'.

Arrian, at - - 1800 ftadia, - equivalent by d’Anv. flad. to 113

201
210
150
104
125

143
1 1 8
1 70
215

In the difagreement of thefe feveral accounts, none of which, as
far as comes within my knowledge, are founded on aftronomical

By applying d’AnvIIle^s folutlon to Meafured from Pandrumme to Larl-

Pliny, hia meafure is nearly the fame as bundar. Allow for Ptolemy ’s degrees in lati-
Arrian’s, tude 24,

Pliny

Rennell’s firll memoir,
Rennell’s fecond memoir,
D’Anville,

Dalrymple Pritty’s chart,
Dalrymyle, by another chart,
De la Rochette,

RennelPs map, by fcale,
Ptolemy, •

220 Roman miles,

210 Engllfh miles,

150 Englilli miles,

30 leagues if degree,

1 08 geog. miles,

124 geog. miles,

1 1 8 Englifh miles,

170 Englifli miles,

3 degrees 10 minutes,

obfervation,.

144 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

obfervation, nothing appears nearer approaching to probability than
the eftimation of Arrian ; it is likewife, perhaps, the only one that
is built upon meafurement ; for if the coaft is capable of a furvey,
it is almoft to be depended upon as a certainty that it was rneafured
by Alexander’s furveyors.

The meafurement of the fides is as difficult to obtain as that of
the bafe of this triangle ; nor does any thing appear like authority
•on this head, except what is found in Major Rennell, that it is an
hundred and twenty-five miles by the courfe of the river from
Laribundar to Tatta, and Laribundar is from fifteen to eighteen
miles difiant from the fea ; this, with four miles from Tatta to the'
head of the Delta, makes upwards of an hundred and forty-four
miles for the weftern branch of the Lower Delta, and is reduced to
fixty-eight geographical miles by the fcale The eaftern branch
by the courfe of the river is ftated in the fame author at an hundred
and feventy miles. This is the beft information attainable on the
fubjedl ; for, as the authority of other maps is unknown, they are
lefs to be depended on.

But there is another extraordinary fource of obfcurity which be-
longs to no Other fpot upon earth ; for as the Englifh charts give
Larl-bundar for the extreme point weft, and by a peculiar inverfion
Bundar-Lari for the extreme point eaft, fo does the Ayeen Akbari
give Cutch for the country eaftward, on the bay of Cutch or
Scindy, and another Cutch for Mekran on the weft. Mr. d’Anville
looked like wife for the Sangada of Arrian fo me where on the coaft,
but could find only the Sangarians or Sanganians, a horde of pirates

Curtius fays, four hundred ftadia, and De la Rochette writes it Kartfch.

then three days fail added. Lib.ix. p. 9.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE TN'DUS.

145

iu the bay of Cutch eaftward, whereas Sangada is evidently to the
weft of the Indus. May not this fuggeft an idea that Sangada was
anciently applicable to both fides of the river, as Cutch is at prefent ;
and that • the name^ has furvived on the eaft, while it has periftied
on the weft ? In regard to the name of Cutch, Major Rennell is
certainly not miftaken, when he conje£lures that Cedge or Gedge
may be the native root of Gedrofia, the Cutch or Gedge-Mekran
of the moderns.

It has been already obferved, that Alexander had conceived a plan
of that commerce which was afterwards carried on from Alexandria
to the Indian ocean. I think this capable of demonftration by his
condudt after his arrival at Pattala, and I fhall enumerate fome cir-
cumftances in confirmation of this aftumption.

Alexander, in his paflage down the Indus, had evidently marked
it as the eaftern frontier of his empire. He had built three cities, and
fortified two others on this line ; and he was now preparitig for the
eftablifhment of Pattala at the head of the Delta, and planning two
'Other pofts at the eaftern and weftern mouths of the river. The
forces to be left under Python, who was fatrap of this country,
were chiefly Afiatic ; fufficient, probably, for the defence of this
frontier, if Alexander had lived to give vigour and ftability to his
-empire, and capable of maintaining the pofts he had eftabliflied
for the protedion and extenfion of that commerce he had in
view..

With thefe objeds before him, he had, immediately upon his ar-
rival at Pattala, dlfpatched his light troops in purfuit of the fugi-

Derived, in all probability, from Kiz, Cheref-eddin and the Nubian Geographer.

Kij, or Kidge, the capital of Mekran. See

lives

146 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFIE INDUS.

tives who had deferted the city ; and inoft of them, upon promife

of fafety and protediqn, returned. His next care was to explore
the deferts on both’'*^ fides, to find water and to fink wells. This
is one evidence rather of a commercial than military tendency,, for
fuch, all who have travelled in the deferts will efleem it,, and fucb
.was the opinion of Arrian, who adds, that it was with a view to
render the country habitable.

The conftrudion of a fortrefs at Pattala was committed to He-
phaeftion ; and as foon as that bufmefs was in fome degree of for-
wardnefs, Alexander prepared to explore the weftern branch of the
river to its mouth. The general courfe of this navigation is no
difficult matter to conceive; but the particulars afford doubts, which,
from the deficiency of materials, and the variations in thofe we
have, are not eafy to be refolved. If vv^e place Pattala near the head
of the Delta, which we muft, the fcite of Braminabad now in,
ruins, within four miles of Tatta, will fufficiently correfpond. This
city, before the inroads of the Mahometans and Mogols, is faid to
have been furrounded with a wall that had fourteen hundred
baftions ; and the wealth and importance of fuch a capital, while com-
merce flourifhed on the Indus, plainly indicate the judgment of
Alexander in choofmg it as a pofition for a fortrefs. If his departure
was from this point, his progrefs was down the Larl-bundar river,
or Darraway ; and the mention of two iflands, one near the mouth
and the other out at fea, will afford reafon to fuppofe that the firft is
that upon which Lari-bundar ftands in our beft charts. This,

More probably on the weft only. Major Rennell’s laft map places Lari-

’■*5 It indicates, likewife, the population of bundar on the weft of the Darraway, or rather
ancient India, as fuperior to the modern ; a Fitly branch,
point fo often inftfted on in this work.

however^

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

*47

however, is not clear ; for Captain Hamilton, who defcribes LarL
bundar as a village of an hundred houfes with a fort, and who
himfelf conducted a caravan fi'om hence to Tatta, does not in-
form us on which fide the river it is placed. From the courfe of
his march we fhould fuppofe it to be on the weftern fide, as Ren-
nell has defcribed it ; otherwife he muft have croffed the river,
which is not noticed. There is, however, one circumftance to make us
think his route lay within the Delta, for he mentions the tombs
of the ancient kings evidently at Braminabad, four miles from Tatta,
as if they lay in his road ; if fo, Lari-bundar is not on the weft of
the Indus.

Mr. Dalrymple^'® is fatisfied in regard to the pofition of Lari-bundar
on the eaftern bank, but thinks its infular fituation dubious ; neither
would it have been necelfary to infift on this point, unlefs from a de-
fire of fixing one of thofe iflands obferved by Alexander in his paflage
to the fea. He fet out from Pattala with all his gallies, feveral
of his half-decked veffels, and his beft failing tranfports; difpatching
Leonnatus at the fame time at the head of a thoufand horfe and eight
thoufand infantry, with orders to proceed within the Delta and
attend the motions of the fleet. It had been found impoffible to
procure a native pilot, as the inhabitants had fled, and upon the
fecond day a ftorm arofe, which, blownng contrary to the ftream,

In 1699.

Vol.i. p. 114.

I conclude this from Major Rennetl’s
map, which places Dangham, an intermediate
llation of Hamilton’s, on the well of the Dar-
raway.

Anquetil du Perron mentions thefe tombs
as ilill exiting, and tefllfied to him by letter
irom Mr. Erlkin, Englitli Pvefident at Tatta.
in 1760.

Private correfpondence, December 22,

1794.

This is a confirmation that the Delta in
this part was not interfedled with rivers or
canals, and countenances the opinion I have
formed of Hamilton’s march.

As this was nearly the month of
Auguft, the fouth-well monfoon was in its
full vigour.

2 endangered

2 COUUSF of the fleet down the INDUS.

endangered the fafety of the fleet. Some of the gallles perlfhed,
and the remainder was with difficulty faved by running them on
fliore. During the delay occafioned by this misfortune, and the
repair of the veffels, fome light troops were fent in purfuit of
the natives, and a few were taken who were ufed as pilots in the
profecution of the voyage. When thefe difficulties were furmounted,
the fleet proceeded ; and as it now approached the fea, the ftream
appeared enlarged to two hundred fliadia'^''^ ; an exaggeration which
no computation of the ftadium, no allowance for the overflowing of
the river, can juftify. It is true that the feafon might have fwelled
the waters nearly to the higheft, and the monfoon contributed to the
obftrudion of their difcbarge j but that a river, which is not more
than a mile or a mile and a half broad, fhould from either of thefe
caufes be fpread to the extent of twelve or thirteen miles is not
confiftent with probability.^ The numbers in Arrian are poffibly
erroneous, (for all numbers in Greek hiftorians are to be fufped;ed) ;
but if they are corred:^ and copied from the journals Arrian
followed, we mull either make "great allowanee for the different
breadth of the river in that age, or fuppofe (as is much more pro-
bable) that the Macedonians on board were fo alarmed at the
cataftrophe which befel them the following day, that they amplified
in proportion to their terror..

212 Arrian adds, "'Erepxi »» c-wcTi^ywiro, By the lowcft ftadium.

others <were conJiruSied. But perhaps we ought The Indus, like all the other ftreams

to read, at ETs^ai, the others 'were repaired, if fubjefl to the folftitial fwell, accumulates ob-
cvvni'ny\iVsi'vo will bear that fenfe ; for time ftrudUons at its mouth. In the records of mo-
would fcarcely allow the building of new ihips, dern hiftory, the fands are much increafed,
and the country affords no timber. and Tavernier fpeaks of the mouths as hardly

Arrian. navigable ; and fuch is the Rofetta, or grand

July or Auguft. branch of the Nile at this day.

That

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

149

That day produced a violent gale from the fea, and great hazard
to the fleet, which had e\’idently moved with the tide of ebb, and
been involved In the turbulence raifed by the oppofition of the wind
to the ftream. To avoid this, they took flielter, by the advice of
their native pilots, in one of the canals or creeks which had been
formed for the convenience of the neighbouring country. As the
tide fell, the velfels were left aground ; but upon the return of the
flood, thofe only that had fettled upright in the mud, or ooze,
efcaped unhurt, while all that lay Inclined upon the harder
ground were expofed to the moft imminent danger, and feveral
were loft.

The furprife of the Macedonians on this occafion, and their Ig-
norance of the tides, has been ridiculed by Voltaire, who thinks It
incredible that Alexander fhould not know the nature of tides, as
he muft have feen the Euripus when in Bseotla, and muft have
knowfi that Ariftotle wrote upon the fubjedl. Major Rennell has
corredled this petulance, by fhewing that the tide in the Indus is
the Bore which operates along the whole coaft, and which in
the neighbouring bay of Cutch, and round the whole peninfula of

' Aici) pvxof y 2L nullfih. >

The gallies were probably,

in the nautical phrafe, jharp built y that is, with
deep keels ; a veflel of this kind is ill adapted
for taking the ground y and when flie is left upon
an hard furface lies down almoll on her fide ;
the confequence is, that upon the return of
the tide, (he fills with water before (he floats.
I am informed that the circumftance here no-
ticed is exadlly fimilar to what takes place in
the mouth of the Seine, between Havre and
Rouen, where the tide rifes with a rapidity
greater than any experienced in our own coun-
try, except perhaps in the Severn.

The Bore, with all its attributes, is

defcribed by the author of the Periplus Maris
Erythriei (page 27, Hudf. £d.) in the gulph
of Cambay, or Guzerat, which he writes
Barugaza ; and I invert Barugaza into Ba-
Guzara, or Guzerat; for Guzerat is only a
corruption of the Arabic Gezira, and is a
peninfula. In this view I contemplate the
Barugaza of the Periplus, and the Ba-gaflra
of Arrian, as the fame word ; for Arrian ap-
plies Ba-gafira to Cape Arraba, which is a
peninfula alfo. The adjunct Ba will be no-
ticed hereafter ; and as the Orientals them-
felves tranfpofe the fyllables, writing Gefira
or Gerifa, fo does the Periplus add another
tranfpofuion, Rugaza for Guzara, or Guzarat,

Guzerat,

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

150

G uzerat, is defcribed as one of the moft alarming effects which the
fea produces.

The damage was repaired as well as the fitiiation of affairs would
allow ; and two of the tranfports were fent down to explore an illand
called Killuta [Killoota], where it was faid anchorage and fhelter
would be found, and occafion might be taken for profecuting the dif-
covery Upon a favourable report the fleet proceeded to this
llation ; and Alexander, taking v/ith him fome of the beft failing
vefi'els, proceeded to a fecond ifland which lay clear out of the
river, and afcertained the exiftence of a paffage. The diftance of
this fecond ifland from Killuta is eftimated at two hundred ftadia, or
about twelve miles ; and if our modern maps or charts were to be
depended on, vrc could find pofitions for both thefe iflands. One of
Mr. Dalrymple’s charts gives an ifland named LaiUbundar (from
the town), which would anfwer to Killuta, and another fmall iflet
which might correfpond with the fecond ; Mr. de la Rochette^s map
feems to have followed this as authority ; but as Mr. Dalrymple
publifhes the drawings he receives, without making himfelf anAwer-
able for their accuracy, and as he has himfelf doubts concerning
Lari-bimdar, nothing can be determined pofitively on the fubje<3:.
From the nature of the river, vre may conceive that new accumu-
lations have obfcured the ancient face of the coaft, new channels
may have been formed by art or nature, and old ones obftrufted ;
and if we were to give a preference, it would be to abandon the
pofition of Killuta here affumed, and eftabliih upon future ob-

More will be faid on the fubjed; of this
ifland when it comes under confideradon again
upon the departure of Nearchus.

Cilluta, Cilluta Scilluftis Pfiltucin. Curt.
Loccenius, in loco j but fee infra. Otter men-

tions Deboul, Divil Scindi, here, in lati-
tude 22 30", which it certainly is not; and
Lahuri La-rri on the eaflern branch, two days
journey diilant, which is vague. .Vol. i,
p.406.

iervation

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS,

151

fervatlou the fclte of the outer iflet, as the extent of Alexander’s
progrefs.

The Weflern Mouth of the Indus called Saga pa by Ptolemy :

Longitude
From Ferro, ^

Rennell, from Greenwich,
add from Ferro,

Latitude

1 10

0 / V

19 50 0

_ 0 / n

24 43 0

84 2 o

Ptolemy corredted by Goflelln, 78 5

From this point he returned back to Killuta, and facrificed to the
gods ; he proceeded the next day a fecond time to the outer ifland,
and facrificed there alfo ; after which, he ilretched out into the
ocean, as he aflerts''^'^ himfelf, to determine whether the fea were
open, or there were land in the neighbourhood ; tmt, as I imagine,
fays Arrian, not a little inftigated by the vanity of having it re-
corded, that he had navigated the Indian ocean; At the extent
of his courfe, he facrificed a third time to Neptune with ftill greater
folemnity, throwing the golden veflels he had ufed in the ceremony
into the fea, and praying for a profperous iflue to the expedition of
Nearchus.

The objedt of this excurfion being completed, Alexander re-
turned with the veflels which had accompanied him, up the river
again to Pattala, where he found the citadel completed, ,and Python

Probably in his letters, which were ex- Spartan government ! But where are we to
rant in the lime of Arrian. find it? Both Diodorus and Curtius are igno-

Tw i'lw In oppofition to rant of the voyage down the eafbern branch,

the Mediterranean. Diod. xvii. p. 2^1.

To Hyala, fays Diodorus, a city with a

returned

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS,

returned from his expedition. Hephaeftlon was left to fuperliitend
the conftruflion of a naval arfenal here, with orders to fortity it, and
prepare it for the reception of a fleet which was to be eftabllfhed -at
this Ration, while Alexander himfelf fhould undertake another
excurfion to the fea by the eaftern branch of the river.

Thefe two branches only are mentioned by Arrian, and the reafoa
evidently is, that thefe were the only two explored by the Mace-
donians. I have met with no author prior to Ptolemy w^ho men-
tions the feven mouths ; and modern geography, though it pre-
ferves the reeord of the river ftill having feven ifllies, affords nothing
fpecific upon the fubjed. On two of Mr. Dalrymple’s charts^
double the number of creeks or inlets may be colleded, with their
names j but whether they are natural or artificial, ancient or
modern, feems, from all the information we have' at prefent, im-
poflfible to determine.

Major Rennell brings out the eaflern channel much farther towards
the eaft in his fecond map than In his firft.; the channel itfelf, or the
place at which it iffues, is named Pandrimmee or Pandrummee, in
his and feveral of Mr. Dalrymple’s charts ; and the ftream is called
Nulla Sunkra. But Nulla, Nalla, Nala, Nallah, is a Perfian terna,
.and feems as if it was never applied properly except to an artificiaP^®
cut. The authority for making this the eafternmoft branch at pre-
fent ftands high ; for we have in Frazer the tranflation of the
adual treaty between Nadir Shah and the Mogol Emperor, in

The author of the Periplus fays there
are feven mouths, but two only navigable ;
the others are (hallow,., or choked by the
marfhes they pafs through.

Nullah or Nallah is a Perfian word, de-
rived from the Hebrew VH ^ hollow,

valley, or courfe of a torrent— the torrent it-
felf. Lev. xi. 9. Deut. ii. 24. Ifaiah, xxx. 28.

XXXV. 6. xxxiv. 9. But there is an authority,
Jfaiah, xi. 1-5 . where D’ hnj is applied to
•the feven dreams of the Nile. Bifhop
Horfely.

Frazer’s Nadir Shah, p. 226.

Otter, who reports this treaty nearly in the
fame manner as Frazer, writes it Nale Sen-
guere.

whicli

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 153

which Nala Sunkra is made the new boundary of the two empires.
It is not a little remarkable, that previous to this treaty in 1739 the
boundary of Indoftan and Perfia was nearly the fame as in the age of
Alexander ; for till this took place, the Mogul empire extended to
the range of mountains on the weft of the Indus, the refidence of
the Belootches, and in Arrian’s journal the river Arbis or Arabis,
which fprings from that chain and runs parallel with it at no great
diftance, w^as the limit of India and of Indian manners
' Nadir Shah had pafled the fources of the Indus and the Panje-ab,
and he preferred the Attock river as a boundary to any other ; he
prefcribed this, therefore, to the conquered Mahommed, and at
the fame time carried his claim to the drear of Tatta and its
dependencies. Including the whole Delta, as bounded by the eaftern-
moft branch, or Nala Sunkra, and eftablifhing Lohry-Bundar
(evidently beyond that line) as the extent of the Mogul empire.

There is nothing but the term Nala which hinders me from efta-
bliftiing this as the very channel navigated by Alexander ; and
though no modern accounts have ever been attainable to afeertain
the paflage down this branch, yet I have no doubt that while com-
merce flourifhed on the Indus this was the immediate courfe of com-
munication, as trade always flowed to Guzerat and the coaft of
Malabar naturally, rather than to any port on the weft of the
Indus. If the prefent Nala be a genuine ftream, there is no difficulty
in adopting it ; if It is an old channel cleanfed, it might alTume the

The Oritae partook of Indian manners, is what our Englifh authorities call Bundar
but were not Indians. Laree, to diftinguifh it from Lari-bundar on

a39 Written Seuheri by Otter, vol. i. the weftern branch, or Daraway. Better
p. 409, perhaps for Leuheri. Lohry is knowledge of the language will poffibly dif-
Tari-bundar, thus fpelt in the treaty; this cover the application of this term to both.

name

154 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

name of Nala ; and if it is a new cut, it cannot be of very late
date ; for the commerce on the Indus is ruined. In any view, it
muft be nearly parallel with the ancient channel, and at lead: part of
the courfe purfued by the Macedonians. Alexander himfelf affumed
the office of exploring this paffage ; and no commander was ever
more perfonally entitled to the honour accruing from the fuccefs of
his defigns, or contributed more by his own exertions to the accom-
plifhment of them : In battle he conftantly fought at the head of
that body on which the fortune of the day depended ; in all expe-
ditions he perfonally executed that part which prefented the
greateft difficulties ; and in every fcheme of magnitude, after pro-
curing the beft information, he was the firft to try the ground him-
felf, before he committed the execution of it to others.

It was in conformity to thefe principles of condud that he now
determined to explore the eaftern branch of the Indus ; conqueft was

at an end, for the barrier of the empire was determined on ; and

evidently no objed was before him, but either the fafety^ of the
fleet in the choice of a pallage, or that ftill greater fyftem of com-
merce which he had meditated, to conned the interefts of Europe
and India, and of which the fuccefs of Nearchus was to be the
origin and commencement.

He departed from Pattala apparently with the fame efcort as
before, and fell down the ftream till he arrived at a lake or bay,
which was of great extent, and received its fupplies from other
waters in the adjacent trad. But as we know the Indus receives no
tributary ftreams after it paffes Behker, we muft conclude that thefe

He fent Craterus through the midland He vifitcd the ftagnant pools from the

provinces, and marched himfelf through Ga- inundation of the Tigris and Euphrates, and
drofia, planned the barrier at Pallacopa,

waters

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 155

waters in the neighbourhood can be no other than different channels^
which branch from the main river and interfed: the Delta in different
diredions ; thus is Arrian, who mentions but two channels, com.-
pelled to bear witnefs to the exiftence of more, And would not
this be the cafe with the Macedonians themfelves ? They navigated
only two ftreams, and therefore defcribed but two ; they have ne-
verthelefs recorded the circumftances which occurred, and thefe cir-
cumftances prove more to us than to thofe concerned in the tranf-
adion.

This lake is evidently no more than a bay into which the
eaftern channel falls, and muff be fearched for in vain at the diftance
of twenty centuries, confidering the nature of the river, and the
accumulations at its mouth. It is defcribed by Arrian as very ex-
tenfive, and abounding in all the fpecies of fifh which are common
to the neighbouring fea. At the head of this bay Leonnatus and
the greater part of the forces were put on fhore, while Alexander
proceeded with the gallies to take a view of the ocean. He obferved
the paffage here more open and convenient than that through the
weftern branch ; and though he did not afterwards fend the fleet
down this channel, we may colled that he intended to ufe It as the
means of communication with the coaft of Guzerat and Malabar, by
the tranfadions which took place ; for as foon as he had anchored
he landed with a body of horfe and, proceeded three days march
along the coaft, making obfervations on the country, and direding
wells to be funk.

Q^Curtius, who knows rothing of the prous, but were cured with oil. Lib ix.
puffage down this branch, finds a lake on the p. 9.

other, where thofe who bathed became le* Probably fifty or fixty miles.

X 2

The

156 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

The general title of this trad: is Cutch^'^'^, and gives nam^ to a bay
'on which it lies ; the country is a defert inland, and feldom paffed
but by the caravans which ufed to travel between Guzerat and the
Indus. Our modern journals ftill mark the wells which have been
funk to make the defert paflable. Parallel to the coaft runs a range
of mountains called Chlgoo ; and the ftrip of land between thefe
and the fea is the refidence of the Sanganians a race infamous
for their piracies in the accounts of all our early voyagers. Along
this level Alexander advanced, and the wells he funk fufhciently in-
dicate the objed of his expedition.

If I underftand Arrian right, Mr. Rennell is miftaken when he
fuppofes Alexander to have advanced wcftward along the Delta upon
his landing in the diredion that his fleet was to fail, for the fleet
did not put to fea by this channel ; and mention is afterwards made
of a detachment that appears to have landed on the Delta, with
orders to examine the coaft, to fink wells and then join the main
army at Pattala

Upon the conclufion of this excurfion, Alexander embarked his
horfe again, and returned to the head of the bay where he had left
Leonnatus. Here he direded a ftatlon to be fixed, with a naval
yard and dock, leaving a fufficient garrifon for its protedion, and
provifion for four months.

I enter into this detail of minute fads, in order to evince the
reality of that forefight and prudence which I have all along attri-
buted to this great commander; his charader has been ufually efti-

Kartfch. De la Rochette. Tijv Uct^uT^mv,

Hamilton had a battle with them. Poffibly the Xylenopdis of Pliny.

Poftfcript, p. 294. Lib. vi. p. 23.

^7 Groiiovius’s Note> p, 259.

mated

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 157

mated by the vidlories he gained and the ravages he fpread ; but the
regulation of his empire, the fecurity of his frontier, the extent of
his commercial views, the furvey of his provinces, and the fhare
he took himfelf in every thing that concerned his government, lie
obfcured by the fplendour of his arms and the extent of his con-
quefts. We are now to attend him back again to Pattala ; and
if I could give a fatisfaflory account of this eaftern branch, I
fhould fatisfy the curiofity of the moft accurate inquirer : but
Major Rennell, who fays it is an hundred and feventy miles in
extent, does not carry the Nulla Sunkra to Tatta, but much higher.
Mr. de la Rochette’s map gives it a dire£lion I could adopt, and
makes a confiderable bay at the mouth of it ; but as I know not
the authorities he follows, 1 am conftrained to hefitate while I feek
for evidence. The lower part of the Delta is interfered by a va-
riety of channels which it is impoffible to. fpecify ; it is without
wood, and abounds in camels ; the upper part near Tatta was fertile
in the beft rice, and other produce of Importance, while the coun-
try had any commerce ; and cultivation being probably in a higher
Rate at the time the Macedonians vifited the country, the fupport
of three garrifons for its proteftion was neither fuperfluous or
oppreflive.

Alexander did not ftay long at Pattala after his return ; he had-
previoufly determined to penetrate into Gadrofia, and explore the
coaft, in order to facilitate the fuccefs of Nearchus ; and from the
circumftances which occurred, we may colled: that he moved near
a month earlier than the fleet. Strabo mentions that he was ten.
months in his palTage from Nicaea to Pattala ; if, therefore, he had.

As does d^AnvLUe Antlq. Geog>

fet.

158 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

fet out on the twenty-third of Odober in the year three hundred
and twenty-feven A. C., he came to Pattala in Auguft three hun-
dred and twenty-fix ; but the dates in the fame author prove rather
nine months than ten ; and the concurrent teftimony of other fads
favours this eftimate rather than the other. We cannot allow much
lefs than a month for the tranfadions which took place at Pattala,
including the navigation of the two ftreams ; if, therefore, he left
that place at leafl; a month before Nearchus, as will prefently appear,
he muft have arrived there in the latter end of July or the begin-
ning of Auguft, and left it early in September.

We fhall be under no necelfity of attending upon this expedition
farther than it is conneded with the progrefs of the fleet ; but as
there were two opportunities of communication embraced, and a
third attempted, we muft accompany the army into the country of
the Arabitae and Oritse ; after which, it will be fufiicient to fketch
.the general courfe of the route into Karmania, where Nearchus
joined Alexander again, and reported the account of his fuccefs.

VII. I place the departure of the army from Pattala in the be-
ginning of September, at which time Nearchus received his final
orders, which direded him to take charge of the fleet, to prepare
every thing neceflary for the voyage, and to proceed to fea as foon
as the feafon would permit.'

Alexander proceeded into the country of the Afabitse, lying evi-
dently in that range of mountains before defcribed, which com-

in ten months — but how fo ? — the pleiades fet
the 28th of Oftober, and the dog-ftar rifesthe
26th of July, vvhich makes nine months as
nearly as is requifite. How can we account
for here, but by that perpetual error

which pervades all the numerals in Greek
authors ?

mence

^5* Strabo, Lib. XV, p, 691.

They fet out a few days before the fetting
of the pleiades, and fpent the autumn of that
year, the winter, fpring, and part of the fol-
lowing fummer, in their palfage down the
river ; they arrived at Pattala about the riling
of the dog liar, completing their navigation

)

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

159

mence from the fea and extend parallel with the Indus up to Kan-
dahar. Thefe mountains are ftill occupied by different tribes of the
Belootches, whofe habits to this day referable the manners of the
people defcribed by the Macedonians. They dlfperfed at the ap-
proach of a fuperior force, and collefted again from their faftneffes
as foon as the enemy was paffed.

Thefe Arabitae are mentioned by Arrian as an independent tribe,
like the Berootches of the prefent day ; as in fadf all the inhabitants
of mountains either In Perfia or Hindoftan have generally been.
Their country feems to lie on one of the branches of the great chain,
and extends intO' the plain as far as the river Arabis, which was the
limit of India in the age we are treating of, and either at this river
or at the mountains the boundary continued, till Nadir Shah, by his
treaty with the Mogul emperor, removed it to the eaftern ffream of
the Indus. Major Rennell’s fecond map defines this country and
the ridge which ends at Cape Monze, agreeably to Arrian’s account,,
and, from a variety of correfponding clrcumftances, there is every
reafon to fubfcribe to his opinion.

And' here, as I fhall have no better opportunity to mention a va-
riety of fadts, which will contribute to the perfplcuity of the nar-
rative, I fhall Introduce a general view of the coaft, and the pecu-
liarities connefted with it. The nature of the two coafts of Ma-
labar and Coromandd Is nov^r. well known in Europe, as confifting,
of a tradl of low land towards the fea, below a line of mountains,
which encircle the whole centre of the peninfula ; the fame circumr-
ftance feems to take place again on the bay of Cutch, where the-

Thofe who wlfh to fee a catalogpe of the extraordinary one in iVIr. Baldwin’s journalj,
robbers inhabiting one part of Afia, Taurus, publifhed with Major Capper’s route from
Amarjus, M, Cafius, &c, &.c. may fiiid a very Bafra to Aleppo.

i6o COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

Chlgoo mountains appear running inland, parallel with the fea, till
they join the range of fand hills which form the eaftern branch of
the valley in which the Indus flows ; the centre of this valley is
occupied by the flream, and at no great diftance on the weftern fide
another barrier is raifed by the chain of black and rocky mountains
fo often mentioned ; one ridge of which terminates not far from the
weftern mouth of the Indus at Cape Monze, the Eirus of the Ma-
cedonians. Out of this chain, at no great diftance from the fea, a
branch ihoots off again, running weft or north-weft parallel with the
coaft and inclofing the level country of Gadrofia, parched and
barren in the extreme. The modern name of this trail is Mekran,
or Cutch Mekran, and is fpecified in Commodore Robinfon’s
journal, publifhed by Lieutenant Porter by the name of Bloachee, and
Brodia. Bloachee is a corruption of Balotchee, and I imagine the

coaft is fo called as far as the influence of the Belootches extends,
and, where that ends, Brodia. That this branch fends off fhoots
towards the fea at particular points feems probable ; but that Its

general courfe is parallel with the
dore Robinfon’s journal, and
Indiaman, 1755, which I owe to

It is nearly evident that a fecond ridge
fhoots from this chain, forming the refidence
of the OritcC.

Curtius fays, that Alexander waited at
Pattala for the return of fpring ; not knowing
that the change of the winds caufes the differ-
ence of feafons. He adds, lib, ix. p. lo.
that Alexander made nine days’ march into
the country of the Arabites, and nine more
into Gadrofia; fubjoining, almoft immedi-
ately, five days’ march to the river Arabis.

coaft, is afcertained by Commo-

another of the Houghton Eaft
the communication of Mr, Dal-

I could have made ufe of his eighteen days,
if he had not deftroyed his own confiftency.

Gedje-Mekran ; Rennell : from Kiz or
Kidge, the capital.

*55 The boundary between Bloachee and
Brodia is fixed by Lieutenant Porter at Guadel;
p. 5.

156 <i The land, as in all other parts of the
coaft [of Bloachee], is extremely low by the
fea fide, and, very high in the country.”
C. Robinfon. Lieutenant Porter, p. 2.

rymple.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. ]6i

rymple. In all this level country no river has a longer courfe
than from the mountains to the fea ; in which it refembles tlie

coaft of Malabar, where almoft all the rivers rife weft ward of the
Ghauts. One branch of this range, I imagine, verges towards the
fea, not far eaftward of Cape Jaflc, feparating Gadrofia from Kar-
mania ; but no fooner are we paft that promontory than we find
the fame face of the country return, a level trad; along the coaft
called the Kermefir, or hot country, with a range of mountains
inland. This range, Mr. d’Anville fays, is never cut by any river,
but ftretches on uninterrupted till it joins the mountains which en-
circle Perfis and Sufiana. Here the Tigris ftops its farther pro-
grefs, and fends it off with various curvatures till it joins the moun-
tains of Armenia. Thefe general properties attending the whole
range of coaft almoft from the mouths of the Ganges to the Tigris,
prefent one of the boldeft features in the geography of the world,
and become of more importance, as thefe mountains conned with
.that extraordinary chain which extends on the north of Perfia
acrofs the fources of the^ Indus, forms the barrier of Hindoftan,
and penetrates through the extremity of Afia, till it falls into the fea
of Amoor, on the north of China.

There is no part of Arrian’s hiftory where thefe general circuin-
ftances conned with the tranfadions of the Macedonians, which is
unworthy of the attention of geographers ; and, on the particular
coaft of which we are now to treat, nothing which the moft accu-
rate mveftigation of moderm inquirers has not confirmed. He has

Mr. de la Rochette marks the Tanka- It is not fo on the coaft of Coromandel,

Banca as rifing beyond the mountains ; but, as the Nerbudda, Kriftna, Ganga, and Caveri,
no memoir accompanies his map, J know not S^c. all rife above the Ghauts, aad near the
on what authority. Otter, however, counte- weflern range,
nances this opinion.

traced

i6i COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS.

traced the line of thefe mountains, from Paropamifus to the fea,
with as much precifion as the Ayeen Akbari ; and he has brought
the army to that pafs over them, which continues to this day the
route of intercourfe between the Indus and Mekran ; if intercourfe
there can be, where the roads are expofed to banditti, and where
there is little power or attention In government to protedt the in-
terefts of commerce,

Arrian does not indeed exprefsly ftate, that Alexander pafled a
line of mountains in this march ; but it may be colleded from
what he has faid above, that the range in the country of Mufikanus,
or Sambus, extended to the fea. He advanced with a body of horfe
and light troops, leaving the remainder to follow under the com-
mand of Hephasftion; the natives fled into the defert on his approach;
in purfuit of them he paflhd the Arabis a narrow ftream with little
water, and advancing through the defert all night, reached the habit-
able country in the morning. This was the refidence of the Oritse,
Here he left his infantry to follow in due order ; and, fpreading his

See the Nubian Geographer, p. 57, et

feq.

The exigence of this range is indif-
putable, for the Ayeen Akbari fays, there
is another range, one extremity of which is
in Kutch, (the coaft weft of the Indus,)
and the other joins to the territory of the
Kulmanies, where it is called Karch. It Is
inhabited by four thoufaud Belootches.”
Vol. ii, p. 143 .

It has already been fliewn that the Kulma-
nies are on the parallel of Sewiftan, and pro-
bably occupy the territory of Sambus ; this
range, therefore, that runs from thence to
Kutch, (the coaft,) can be no other than the
one occupied by the Arabita^ or Oritte. I am
perfuaded with Major Rennell, that there are

two of thefe ranges, one belonging to each ;
and nothing hinders me from afterting it but
the appellation of Karch, which affords a fuf-
picion that Kar has fome relation to Har,
Haur, Flor-eitae, Or eitae.

“ The land at the back of Crotchy is pretty
high, and extends fo to C. Monze.’* Lieu-
tenant Porter, p. 2. 1 ftiall fhew hereafter

that Crotchy is the Crocala of Arrian ; and
C. Monze, Eirus, or Irus : and I coniider
this evidence of Porter as full proof of the
exiftence of a chain previous to the river
Arabis.

See fupra, the Hend of d’Anville and
de la Rochette, and the Arabitae ; perhaps the
Hendians of the Ayeen Akbari.

cavalry

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 163

cavalry over the country, flew all that refilled, and brought in a great
number of prifoners. The army then halted at a fmall Itream for the
arrival of their light infantry and the jundlion of Hephaellion. As
foon as they came up, Alexander himfelf moved to Rhambacia
the principal village of the Oritas ; he found the fituation advan-
tageous, and directed Hephaellion to fortify it as a poft, while he
proceeded again to the confines of Gadrofia. Here the Oritse who
had fled, after being joined by the Gadrofians, had taken poll in a
pafs that was narrow and difficult of accefs (apparently on the
fecond of thofe chains already mentioned) ; and this pafs they
determined to defend. Upon his approach however they difperfed,
and the Oritse fent offers of fubmiffion. He ordered the chiefs to

Probably the ftream we fhall hear of
again under the name of Tomerus.

Ram, or Rham, has doubtlefs a fenfe
in Shanfkreet. There is a Ram Raja in the
Mahratta country ; another Ram mentioned
in Nadir’s treaty ; and Ram-nagar in the
Ay een Akbari, as lying in the courfe of the
mountains north of Gadrofia. I fee no reafon
why this laft may not be Rham-bacia ; but I
find no Ramnagar in the maps. See Snaken-
borck Not. ad Curt. lib. ix. p. lo.

I have before appealed to [C. Robin-
fon] Lieutenant Porter, for the exifience of
a range which falls in at C. Monze, or Irus ;
and I think we have his authority for a fecond
ridge between the Oritae and Gadrofia, which
falls in at Cape Moran, or the rocks of Kin-
galah, Moran, 1 have no doubt, is the. Ma-
lana of Arrian, which he fays is the wcflern
limit of the Oritse ; and a bluff head-land,
mentioned here by Lieutenant Porter, is, I
apprehend, the termination of the ridge.
Moran is marked by d’Anville with the title

of Malan ; and confidering how eafily / palTes
into r, both to the ear and by pronunciation,
no doubt remains that the Malana of Arrian,
the Malan of d’Anville, and the Moran of
Porter, are the fame. See Lieutenant Porter,
p. 3. I have met with Malan and Mahlan in
other journals. Mr. d’Anville, p. 44, Antiq.
Geog. quotes Thevenot ; and Thevenot men-
tions Malan, p. J94, Eng. ed. but with fuch
obfeurity, (for he did not fee it,) that it is not
eafy to afeertain whether he means to fay it is
twenty or forty leagues from Scindi.

Cudjerah appears a low point, but ter-
mlnates in a bluff, as by its laft appearance
with C. Moran.” Lieutenant Porter, p.
The land from Sommeany, [the mouth of
the Arabis,] runs extremely low next the
fea, but the back is very cragged, and con-
“ tinues fo to Cudjerah.” id. ibid. All
thefe teflimonies indicate a ridge tending to
the fea at Malana ; and here, where Arrian
places the boundary of the Oriiai, we ought
to find it.

y 2

colledl

1 64 COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN TFIE INDUS.

colleft the fugitives, and fend them to their refpe£live habitations,
under a promife of fafety and protedion.

Apollophanes was appointed fatrap of the province, and Leon-
riatiis was left with the Agrians, a body of archers, horfe and in-
fantry, and the whole of the Greek cavalry in the fervice. Thefe
forces were intended to fupport the regulation of the province, to
faperintend the eftabliihment of the city, and to w^ait the arrival of
the fleet on the coaft. Alexander upon- leaving Pattala, had de-
figned to have proceeded along the coaft and attend to this fervice
himfelf, by digging wells and colleding fuch fupplies as the country
afforded ; but he had been diverted from this purpofe by the flight
of the ArabitcC and Oritas ; and as he was now at the entrance into
Gadrofia, where he forefaw the difficulties he was to encounter, 'he
was defirous of proceeding with all difpatch, and left the protection
of the country and the fleet to Leonnatus. That officer approved
himfelf worthy of the charge ; for fcarce had Alexander left the*
province before the Oritae, with the neighbouring tribes, collected
again into a body and attacked the forces left for its defence. A
victory over fuch an enemy as this was perhaps no great atchieve-
ment ; but as Leonnatus flew fix thoufand natives, faved the pro-
vince, and relieved the fleet, his fervlces were rewarded with a
crown of gold W'dien he afterw^ards joined the main army in Sufi-
ana Neither ought we to undervalue the merit of this fer-
vice ; for this part of the coaft, before wm enter Gadrofia, ap-
pears neither deficient of inhabitants or the means ot fupporting

See Arrian, p. 260. credible, for th-efe tribes are all mounted.

Eight thoufand foot, five hundred horfe. He probably joined in Karmania, but

Cart. lib. ix. p. 10. The reverfe is more received the crown in Sufiana,

them.

COURSE OF THE FLEET DOWN THE INDUS. 165

them. The natives, as pofieffors of a mountainous country, were
probably hardy, and accuftomed to a life of pillage, neither unac-
quainted with the ufe of arms, nor without courage to maintain
their independence. They are defcribed by Arrian as not being
an Indian tribe, for India ends at the Arabis ; but as being the lad
people whom Alexander found with Indian manners. As foon as
he entered Gadrofia, he was properly in Perfia ; and the diftrefs he
experienced in that province fhali be no farther noticed than as it
is connected with the navigation of the fleet, to which we mud now
return.

'♦A

IJautic lilies

■JJautic Miles

tj/’Acriati

which name extends to du
whole peninsula Sc Cape

KANASIDA ian

is the first harbour ui the Indian Ooean
visital ^ an ^European J^leet
Zemait. 66^.8'.o"iEastfrom Greetvyirh
LaaOtde 24..S0.O JVbreh

Bay ro the East
of ■

Cape AiTuiait

KOPHAS ^^Arriaji

T P S A or Fto iT

Krokala

KROTCHEr

Girtiiitjef

JlAJ'

£ast of
ipe Guadel

DISA

E.A1SI A

i. iow
JSanaj -
t ISLE
is of Arrian

Gnttar

C. Arruhah
Arab a

Aiabao'inrD.
Alambateir of Ptoll
Guadel Cape

Mautic MjQes

K U I Z JA
Guid s a
Guitar Bav

Tmm Pliuuiered
by Ucarclais

Isle seen
h'O/n Alba

Hoa Point

A .:^y A

, Sar<«''c“ ,
T3o®*

llibnete ia _
C/ulnev Isle 1 (t

effS'

Exp LA XA TION

Modern Auofies in Ttalick letrtrs

from fhc Indus to Ou. Persian Gulph.
copied by Permifsion lor A^/!rWork oiilv'
ff(mva.Af S compiled by M’^Dalrymple

Ancient names in lijoman letters

Dubious Hamrs with atv

Heones placed bp Arrians measures *

TCanies of places ascertained have a under than

The Anriciif part bv f/.l

& fremt B oolc 111 .

Jief^at Ell

(5 O East Longitude from Greenwicb

Euhlished aecordinp to Act of Parliament Jam'. jPipcpp IntDC Yinre/d

THE

VOYAGE

O F

N E A R C H U S,

BOOK III.

COURSE from the INDUS to CAPE JASK.

L Coaji of the Arables^ or' Arabitce. — 11. Coaf of the Orita,^-^
III. Conf of the lEihyophagu — IV. Differtatlons,

I HAVE already fixed the departure of the fleet from the Indus
on the fecond of Odtober, in the year three hundred and
twenty-fix A. C. and though I might have taken advantage of
Strabo’s authority to poftpone this date to the tenth, I ftlll prefer
the precifion of Arrian to the general date of the Geographer.
The north-eaft monfoon, which commences in November and be-
comes fettled in December, makes a later day more agreeable ; but
as we fliall Immediately fee that Nearchus, after having cleared the
river, was obliged to lie in harbour twenty-four days, till the feafon

was

f - - •

i6B

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

was favourable, and other circiimftances of the voyage mark the
eommencement and vigour of the monfoon, the method purfued to
fix the date is not liable to objeflion.

The reafon for proceeding before the monfoon commenced. Is
afcribed by Strabo to the difcoritent of the natives; and we may ob-
ferve, that though Mseris, the chief of Pattala, had previoufly made
his fubmllfion to Alexander, he fled on the approach of the fleet,
and no mention is afterv/ards made of his return, or his being
brought in by the troops who were fent in purfuit'of him. His
flight into the clefert, we may conclude, vcas on the eaft of the
Indus ; for had it been on the weft, we fliould have heard of fome
attempt to recover him, v/hen the army proceeded in that direcftionj
but as no fuch circumftance occurs, we muft fuppofe that he re-
turned as foon as he heard of Alexander’s departure, and endea-
voured to recover the province he had loft.

This tranfadtion throws light upon the narrative of Arrian, and
reconciles the difficulty arifmg from the departure of the expedition
before the feafon. Arrian *, however, is fo far from acknowledging
it, that he mentions the performance of the games and facrifices
ufually adopted on fuch occafions, which intimate neither hafte or
confufion at the adlual moment of embarkation. But there is one

* The pafTage in Strabo is too exprefs to be
omitted.

THAyvTo? TViV avroc fictra

icTTii^'iciv T« TrAfc, rSv

'7T\'BV[A0irU'J UiKtiO^V OVTOJV, T’UJ'J Oi paf'oixpcuv
avrok'f y] i^_t7',avv6'JTajy' yaOa^^^vcrat yap a7i-£?\0oyTog

Ty l3ixc-i?Jcijc^ i'Aev^p.pic.tcra,t. Lib. p.y2I.

Nearchus fays, that after Alexander was
upon his march, he fet fail- himfelf on the

evening rifing of the Fleias, though the wind
was not yet favourable. But the natives at-
tacked them and drove them out, having re-
fumed their courage on the departure of the
king, and wiihing to recover their independ-
ence.

If thefe circiirn dances were in the journal of
Nearcltus, wh.ch there is every reason to be-
lieve, Arrian cannot be jufiiiied in fuppreiTing
them.

particular

'FROM T H"'E 1 N-0 tJ S TO CAPE JASK.

169

particular relating to the departure, v/hich, if Arrian intentioiially
fupprefl'ed the flight of the Macedonians, feems to indicate the
-reality of it ; which is, that the fleet, according to his ov/n account,
did not take its departure from Pattala, but from a ftatioii near the
mouth of the river. This ffation is doubtlefs the poft Alexander had
formed, and probably at Killuta "" (Killoota) ; for there, our author
fays, he had found water and good anchorage, with protedlion both
from the tides and the monfoon. If I had any adlual data for fixing
the Debil-Scincly of our modern maps at the mouth of the Lari-
bundar river, or could afcertain its fize and pofition, I fhould have
little hefitation.'in alTertIng its identity with Killuta, for DebihScindy
is only a Perfian or 'nautical corruption of or ^ Dive-ii-Scindi,

the ifland of the Scind, or Scindi.

Were I to form a pofition for DIve-il-Scindi from fuch obferv«

‘ atlon as I can 'colledt, it fhould lie on the eaft of the Lari-bundar
entrance, running up from ten to fifteen miles from the bar, and
then feparated from the Delta by a branch or channel of the main
ftream, which fliould entitle it to Its infular name and fituatlono
The courfe of its fhore where it formed the eaflern bank of the
river ought to Incline north-eaft and fouth-weft. Whether this is
really fo I pretend not to afcertain ; but If ever it fhall be afcertained,
or if ever the mouths of the Indus fhall be laid down with the fame
^ accuracy as thofe of the Ganges and the Euphrates, I dare to pre-
did ^ that, with due allowance for variation on the coafl, and the

* aVo ra wc meet with in Oriental orthography;>

3 Dice is either Tamoulian or Malabar, gives the change of <v into b, in Dib-ii-,
Selen-dive is Ceylon. Lack-dives, Mal-dives, Scindy. //is written r/, <2/, or of.
Anje-dives, are all clufters of iflands. Din ^ D’Anville^s account of Debil Sindi, from
in Guzerat is another form of corruption, Pimentel, favours thcfc conjedlures. Antiq.
See d’Anville Eclair.; and Selen-dib, which de PInde, p. 38.

■Z

accumuIatloD

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

Anno 626.

A.c. oa. 2
oa. 3> 4, 5.

170

accumulation of two thoufand years, thefe ccnjedures will not be
very diftant from the truth.

But if Nearchus took his departure from a ftation ^ at this ifl and,
and not from Pattala, (as will immediately appear,) though it does-
not amount to proof that he was driven from thence by the na-
tives, it affords great reafon to fufped it, and to confirm the
aflertion of Strabo, who copied from the journal of Nearchus as Vvmlf
as Arrian.

Wherever we place this ftation, it was only an hundred and fifty'
ftadia or little more than nine miles from the mouth of the river ;
for Arrian gives two diftances, one within uhe bar 'and 'another from-
the bar to Krokala, each of an hundred and fifty ftadia; and as the'
latter correfponds within a mile to the adual meafure of the coaft,’
we cannot without injuftice fufped the former of inaccuracy.

When the fleet weighed from this ftation, the firft day’s courfe down
the river ^ was only fix ^ miles, and ‘they anchored at a creek ® or inlet
called Stura (Stoura ‘°), where they continued two days; on the follow*

^ 'this is the place intimated by Pliny as
the Xylenopolis, from whence the voyage,
commenced. Unde ceperunt exordium. Lib.vi.
c. 23. But the whole is dubious.

^ I have before examined d’Anville’s fla-
dium of hfty-one French toifes, and fhewn its
general conformity upon the whole voyage ; J
pretend not to afeertain its accuracy in parti-
culars, nor fhall I trouble myfelf or the reader
v/ith fraUions ; one thoufand one hundred and
eleven of thefe ftadia, with a fraflion, make a
degree of a great circle; fifteen of thefe
ihadia, with a fradtion minus, are equal to a
Roman mile of feven hundred and fifty-fix
toifes; and fixteen, with a fraUion plus, are
equal to a mile Englifh of eight hundred and

twenty-fix. I fhall negledl all thefe fractions,
becaufe accuracy is unattainable in the appli^
cation of individual diftances. To ftate this
precifely where precifion cannot be obtained, is
affedfation. 1 ufe the toife, a French meafure,
becaufe Mr. d’Anville’s is the beft calculation
on this fubjecl;

^ Arrian has no where given us the name
of the vveftern channel, but Ptolemy calls it
Sagapa, and places it ia longitude 110° 20',
latitude 19° 50'.

One hundred ftadia.

® (AcyeeXv, a large nullah.^

I, fhall preferve generally the Greek or-
thography for the ccntemplatiom of Oriental
etymologifta.-

ing

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK. 171

ing day they weighed again, but came to an anchor at Kauniana “
before they had proceeded two miles. In the creek here they

found the water fait, or at leaft brackifh, even upon the tide of
ebb. The next day’s courfe was little more than one mile to oa. 6.
Koreatls ; and fcarce had they weighed from hence before they were
checked by the violent agitation now vifible at the bar ; for as they
had proceeded with the tide of ebb, the wind was confequently in a
direddon exadly oppofite. This brought them to an anchor again
immediately ; when, after waiting till it was low water, they ob-
ferved that the projeding fand (which probably formed the bar)
was foft and oozy near the fhore, and little more than a quarter of
a mile in breadth. This they determined to cut through, as the
readieft and fafefl; paffage into the open fea. They had fo far effeded
their purpofe during the recefs of the tide, that upon the return of
the flood they carried their veflfels through it in fafety, and after
a courfe of about nine miles reached Krokalathe fame day. Here oa. 8.
they remained the day following. oa. 9,

** In the prefent defolation -of this coail and
the Indus, it is not probable that any relation
to Stoura, Kaumana or Koreatis, fliould be
difcoverable ; they appear all to be names of
nullahs cut for purpofes of agriculture or com-
munication j and thefe nullahs, we may con-
clude, have been all obllruiled. I preferve the
names, however, for the confideration of fuch
as may hereafter vilit this country. The
names in. Gronovius’s bell MS. are written
Kaumara and Koreeflis. Koreacatis, Dodwel,
Geog. Min. Freinfhem. Curt. ix. 9. 9.
and ix. 9. 20, mentions, on the authority of
.the academicians at Coimbra, the violent tides

on this coaft, and the neceffity of thefe nul-
lahs, or for tbe fafety of vefTels which

navigate either the coall or the river.

Thirty lladia.

A day not fpeciiied, but allowed.

Twenty dadia.

iffjux. Scindi bar is known to all navi-
gators on this coaft, and I imagine e^ery mouth
has its bar.

** I have allowed two tides for this, oc
twenty-four hours ; it poHibly was one only.

Mouth of Lari-bnndar river, in latitude
24° 44^ Rcnnell, Poftfcript.

Allowed two days.

ARABIES,

PROM TPIE INDUS TO CAFE JASK.

KrOK ALA*
Crotch EY.

06t. 9.
Firll flation.

A RABIES, ox^ ARA'^B-ITA*.

Krokala IS the Grotchey *^bay of Gommodore Robinfon ; and It is
with inhnite concern I repeat the complaint of Mr, Dairy mple, that
the views which were taken during this gentleman’s furvey of the
Goaft never reached his hands, I prefent to the reader, however, a
Plaii"“° of this Bay, by Lieutenant Mafcall, taken in 1774; and I feel
great fatisfadxion in exhibiting the hrft harbour in the Indian ocean,
in which an European navy ever rode. Krokala fays -Arrian, is a
fandy ifland, ,and fuch an ifl'and5,dry “ at low w^ater, we flill find in

*9 Written Caranchy Carrangee, Sec. and by
Gronovius, KfAeAa (Crocela),. from his beft
MS. The Greek language has no ch.

FurniOied by Mr. Dalrymple. Lieute-
nant Mafcall was an officer on board Com-
modore Robinfon *s ffiip. [See a Plan of this
Bay in Chart, No. i.]

From the mouth of the Larry Bunder
** river is feen part of the high land over
Crochey. There is nothing remarkable
“ between that place and Crochey. The
land by the waterrfide is low, interfperfed
** with fhrubs ; but up the country there are
feveral hummocks of moderate height.’*
Lieutenant Porteri Com. Robinfon, p. i.
This is the riling to the ridge at Cape Monse,
which I have marked before as the eaftern limit
of the Arabitae. ** Crochey. (the town) was
formerly under the Bleaches, but is now
feized by the prince of Scindy.” Id, p. 2.
It is live miles from the bay, and one from a
creek which falls into the bay. The people
are deferibed as civil. Poffibly the Belootches
are not worfe robbers than., their more refined
neighbours.

Major Renneli fuppofes Crotchey to ^
be the port of Alexander. Poflfcript. But
that is impoffible, as the Beet evidently
palTes Cape Mons,e before it reaches that
port.

I here follow, the authority of Lieutenant
Mafcall’s drawing ; but Lieutenant Porter’s
journal fays, there are feveral iilands to the
northward ; and that the entrance into the-
bay is generally between a promontory, on
which a white tomb Hands, and the largeft of
the iilands. This illand can hardly anfwer
to the v'^croc ixiA.iA.cd^Y]^ of Arrian. Lieutenant
Porter» G. Robinfon, p. j . For by the plan
it appears high; and Lconclude the low illand,
mentioned by Arrian to be that fand in the,
heart of the bay, dry at low water. Probably,
the lirft iHe mentioned at C. Eirus by Arrian>
and marked as a Ihoal by Palrymple, is like-
wife dry at low water, dr vifible fome tides.
It is fufficient, however, for Arrian’s alTertion,.
that this Ihoal Ihould markfuch a fpot, which,
though vifible formerly, may be now con-
Hantiy covered by the fen.

this-

A R A B I E S. I7J

tills bay; It lies in latitude 24® 28' twelve leagues from Sclndi

bar, and, according to Captain Prittie’s chart, ten nautical m'iles
from Lari-bundar river. The latter diftance is fo nearly correfpond-
ent with the meafure I affign to Arrian, that I regard it as a full de-
monftration' of the identity of the place, and a high teftimony of
the accuracy of the journal. If I were curious to reduce the two
diftances to a coincidence, I- might add fome fractions to the ftadia,
and fuppofe the cut through the fand to have (hortened the courfe.

But I mention once for all, that where I find a general correfpond-

ence I flrall not infift upon minute difficulties.

But if the diftance from the bar to Crotchey is eftabliffied, the
courfe from the point of departure to the bar muft be of neceffity
allowed ; both are given at an hundred and fifty ftadia by Arrian,
and if one is true, the other can hardly be erroneous. However,
therefore, I may be miftaken in my pofition of Killuta, or my eon-
jedlure of its identity with Dive-il-Scindi, I afford means for the eor-
reftion of my error by any future navigator who ffiall vifit the river
with a knowledge of the prefent work. I conceive the cut through
the fand to be made at the point where the bar formerly joined the
weftern fhore of the Lari-bundar channel ; and in any pofition about
nine miles above that, which affords fecurity from the tide of flood
and' the prevailing monfoon, I confent' to place the ftation from
which Nearchus departed.

^^^However extraordinary or fuperfluous an
attempt of this kind may appear to modern
navigators, the difficulty of carrying a fleet
of Greek gallies out to Tea in oppufiticn to the
monfoon, is at leafl: as great as the danger
Xerxes would have encountered in doubting
Athos ; and even after the neck of that

promontory was cut, he had two more to
pafs. '

The faverrafi/xov of Arrian,

I am perfuaded it is on the eaftern fide of
the channel; but recommend it to iuture in-
quiry. •

FROM THE INDUS TO UATE JASK.

.174

At Krokala, Arrian places the commencement of the territory of
the Arables, and its termination at the river Arabis. The afpedt of
the inner country from the fea, .as given by the modern journals, is
perfectly agreeable to this ‘pofition and the rifing of the land from
hence to Cape Monze, confiftent >with .the idea I bad Formed from
confideration of the author’s text.

WelghIngTrom Krokala''^, the fleet proceeded to the weft, having

Irus. ^ promontory named Irus on the right, and a low ifland almoft
Cape level with the fea on the left ; this ifle runs parallel with the

MoNZE, 1 2.6 • t 1

oa. 9. coaft, and fo near as to leave only a narrow channel winding be-

~ ’ tween botb They cleared this paftage, and .doubled the Cape,

apparently under the protection afforded by the iflet againft the
prevailing wind ; the coaft, as foon as they had pafled the ftreight,
prefented a bay or harbour under cover of a fecond ifland called
Bibada, not more than three hundred yards from the en-
trance.

Crotchey town is fituated about five or
fix miles from the place where the Ihips lie.
It is fortified with a mud wall, flanked with
round towers, and has two ufelefs cannon
mounted. It formerly belonged to the
Bloachee^ (Belootches) ; but the prince of
Scindi finding it more convenient for the ca-
ravans out of the inland country, which can-
not corne to Tatta, on account of the branches
of the Indus being too deep for camels to pafs,
he obtained it from the Belootches by ex-
change, and there is now [ *774] a great trade,
lieutenant Porter, p 2.

This prince of Scindi is a Mahometan of
.Abyflinian extraction ; his refidence at Hydra-
bad on the Indns, near Nufierpoor, which
lies not far from the head of she Delta, Rennell,
Foflfcript, p. 291.

From Porter’s account, I colleCt that Ha-
milton’s route mull have have been .within the
Delta, for his caffila or caravan confifted of
fifteen hundred beads, as many men and wo-
men, with two hundred horfe ; all thefe mud
have croffed the Indus, or Lari-bundar river,
at lead once, if not twice, had they marched
to the wedward of the dream, which, by
Porter’s account, appears impraClicable ; if
fo. Major Rennell’s pofition of Lari-bundar
and Dungham is on the wrong fide of the
river.

r^vov koXttov* Fretum finuofum.

I would render it with an allowable
licence, a curnjtng <vjitb the

land*

a? /

fKOtHq dvo cc'/T6'/Jci(^ai*

This

175

✓

A R A B I E S.

This harbour Nearchus thought fo large and commodious that
he honoured it v/ith the name of Alexander, and determined to
avail -himfelf of the fecitrlty it afforded, till" the ibafon fhould be
more favourable for his progrefs. A' camp' therefore was formed on
flaore, and fortified with an inclofure of ftones to guard againft any
attempt of the natives ; and^this precaution was no more than ne-
ceffary, as they were now within the confines of the Arabitae, whom
Alexander had attacked and difperfed not many days before their
arrlvah' Security both from the natives and the feafon they found; but
the people fufiered greatly, having no water but what was brackilTi''^,
and little food to fupport life except mufcles oyflers, and another
fpecies of large fhell-fifh which - they colledlcd on the fliore.

Such an harbour as this^ort of Alexander is defcribed, ought to
be more dlfcoverable on this coaft at prefent than in reality It is ; for
Lieutenant Porter flightly mentions, that as foon as you are round
the Cape there Is a kind of bay \ but with whatever indlflerence an
Englifli navigator might view this, it was really an haven to a
Greek fleet of gallies, affording good- anchorage under fhelter of the
ifland ; and however flight our modern intelligence is of the har-
bour itfelf, the pofition of it is indubitable ; for Elrus is Cape
Monze, and Blbadta, Chilney Ifle. Upon this point there can be
no hefitation, fmce the publication of Mr. Dalrymple’s laft chart of
the coafl. Previous, to that, I had looked in vain for the two

fAtyocq Tc xaXo; o v. -A large and good
harbour. In what fenfe our author ufes this
expreffioa will appear at the Arabis, or Som-
meany. ^

29 V

aAjU.t’po!.

Mvxq Any fhell-iilh, fays

Saltnalius, which has two fhells to open and
Ihut. From i^vitvy nidtere. Exercit. Plin.
p. 1129. Gronovius in locO'.

lu)Mvx<; is explained by neither; but is, I
conceive, the Kima cockle. See infra.

iflands

FROM THE INDUS TO Cx\PE J A S K.

176

illands defcribed by Arrian, where I could find one only; but the
new chart gives a fand (dry perhaps only at low water) in the very
pofition off the Cape as laid down by Arrian, and Chilney for
a fecond ifland correfponding exactly with the Bibafta of that
author.

S A N r, A D A

Place.
Bib ACTA

lae.

Port of
Alexan-
der.
061. 10.
Ninth day.
Second
nation.

Cape IMonze, according to Major Reiinell lies in longitude eaft
from Greenwich 65*" 46', and in north latitude 24*" 55'. Com-
modore Robinfon’s chart does not mark the longitude.

Chilney Ifle appears immediately as you are paffed the Cape,
lying off fhore to the fouth-weft in the very dired:ion for covering
the fleet in the bay, and of a height fufficient to internipt the blall
of the monfoon ; for it is near a league long, and rifes as it is

exhibited in this form :

It is the more material to

fix this point accurately, as we cannot depend fully on any
other till we come to the river Arabia. From Cape Monze to
that river the coaft falls in with a fweep or hollow, round which
WQ muft trace the courfe of the fleet clofe in fhore ; but we can-
not hope to afcertain the fcite of ftations where we have in
the journal itfelf names only without habitations ; and where, if
ever habitations arlfe, the neighbourhood of the Belootches
will hardly allow them to be permanent. The place and diftridl
around are called Sangada by Arrian, and the fituation of the
camp was evidently on the narrow ftripe of low ground which

Mr. Dalrymple’s chart does not autho-
rife me to fay that this fand is ever dry. But
the pofition is fo^precifely conformable to
Arrian’s narrative, that there can hardly be a
doubt but it was above water, and vifible to

Nearchus two thoufand years ago.

Poftfcript.

Longitude 6o^ 40' from Gibraltar, north
latitude 24® 57'. De la Pochette.

extends

A R A B I E S. 177

extends clofe to the fea, all round the fweep from Cape Monze to
Sommeany, or the Arabis, with a chain of high land at its back,
which terminates at the promontory, .

In this camp Nearchus continued four-and-twenty days ; during
all which time the monfoon continued without wavering, and with
imremitted violence. This interval brings our account down to the
third of November before the fleet could again proceed ; a date
that accords admirably with the day alTumed for the original de-
parture from the Indus : for the monfoon changes in the middle of
November, and there is always an interval of fluctuation between
the termination of one and the commencement of the other. Some
remiilion of this fort might regularly occur about the third of this
month ; and it will appear by the fhortnefs of the courfe for the
following days, and the very clofe adhefion of the fleet to
the coaft, that the fluctuation had taken place ; that the wind
was ftill adverfe in general, only affording momentary remiflions ;
that feveral days’ courfe was lengthened as they approached
the middle of the month ; and that they did not obtain the
full force of the north-eafl; monfoon till nearly about the com-
mencement of December, Is it poffible to advert to thefe cir-
cumftances without confelTing the internal evidence of authen-
ticity which this journal contains ; or without fubfcrlbing to the
teftimony of Strabo, who alferts, that Nearchus was driven out
of the Pattalene by the natives ? What elfe could have induced
that commander to encounter the hazard of navigating in fucb
a feafon, and the danger of Impending famine, but the dread of
not being able to proceed at all, unlefs he efcaped while it v/as
in his power ?

A A

Dom^.
Third ftation.
Thirty- third
day.
Nov. 3,

173 FROM THE INDUS TO^ CAPE JASIC

In the name of Sangada, or at Saranga the next ftation but one^
Mr. d’Anville is defirous of finding the modern Sangadians, or San-
garians a tribe famous for their piracies ; but their fclte is on the
bay of Cutch. It is not impoffible, however, that they have in all
ages frequented the whole coaft ; and that places out of their own:
country, if infefted by them, might take their name. All the pi-
rates on the coaft lie concealed behind the head-lands to furprife-
the veflels as they come round. The pirates of Severndroog, on
the Malabar coaft, are mentioned as pirates by Strabo and the-
author of the Periplus ; and it is equally probable, that the piracIes^
of the Sangarians are as ancient ; if fo, the Port of Alexander,,
clofe round Cape Irus, was exactly one of the pofitions they
would occupy in order to feizeveffels coming from the eaft; and^had.
Nearchus failed with the monfoon, he. might have found here aa
enemy unexpedled.

From this port, upon a relaxation of the wind, the fleet ventured
once more to proceed on the third of November ; the courfe, how-
ever, was apparently clofe in with the coaft, and the progrefs fhort
of four miles. They took refuge under an ifle called Domse^h The
coaft itfelf was without inhabitants and without water ; but the-:
latter was found, and of a good quality,, at the diftance of little more,
than a mile from the fhore.

Captain Hamilton was attacked by them, Sixty ftadia.

and beat them off. They are mentioned alfo There is a fmall illand marked in Com--

by Porter, who fays they come apon the coaft modore Robinfon’s chart by Mr. Dalrymple.
of Erodee, or Mekran, as far as Churbar j but Whether I fhould call this Dom^, as I have
their refidence is Jefferabad. named it in the chart. No. i. or referve it

I do not find JefFerabad mentioned in Ren- for two rocks mentioned afterwards, is du-
nell, except a town of that name on the eaft of bious.
the Ganges. I fuppofe this to be in Cutch^s Twenty ftadia.

©!■ Guzerat,

The

A R A B I E S. 179

The following day they proceeded nearly nineteen miles to
Saranga, and arrived not till night. Water was found here at half
a mile from the fliore.

Weighing from Saranga, they reached Sakala and anchored
on an open coaft, when finding this poffibly unfafe, they feem to
have advanced again the fame day and paffing two rocks
fo clofe to each other that the oars of a galley might touch
both, after a courfe of about nineteen miles they came to
Morontobara, a harbour v^^ith a narrow entrance, but fafe, ca-
pacious, landlocked all round, and protected from the wind in
every quarter. They thought it no fmall atchievement to have
paffed thefe rocks in fafety, for the waves ran high, and the fea
was in great agitation,

I fhould wifli to Identify thefe rocks wuth the rock of Lieutenant
Porter, which he lays down ten miles from Cape Monze ; neither do
I think the diftance a great objedtion ; for though I make it more
than four-and-tw^enty miles by Arrian, It is evident that Nearchus
kept as clofe as poflible to the fhore, making an arc of a circle,
while Lieutenant Porter defcribes the diameter. But there are
two'^"' rocks in Arrian, and only one in the Englilh journal ; this
circumftance excepted, there appears no great difficulty in affign-
ing the fame pofition to both. I place Sakala and thefe rocks
at no great diftance from Saranga, becaufe the fleet appears
to have anchored at the former, upon coming In fight of the

Three hundred ftadla, twv oco'rri'hn^ implies the contrary.

Day allowed. Within thefe thirty years there were three

They did not pafs between them, if we may Needle rocks at the weftern end of the IHe of
judge from txTjrAwVavTec, and yet Wight; there are now only two.

Saranga,
Fourth,
nation.
Nov. 5,
Thirty-
fourth day.

Sakala.
Moron to-
BARA, or
Moronto-

BARBARA.

Fifth and
fixth nation.

Nov. 6.
Thirty- fifth
day.

A A 2

rocks,

iSo FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

rocks foon after It had weighed on the fifth of November; and
Morontobara I place feventeen or eighteen miles by the bend of
the coaft to the north«weft of the rocks. This harbour, or fome-
thing to reprefent it, I have no doubt will be found, if evor this coaft
fiiould be explored again; for the defcription of it is very precife in
Arrian, and its name (which in the language of the natives fignifies
the Port of l^/’ornen) is the only one of Arrian’s on this coaft^
wdiich is retained by Ptolemy and Marcian of Heraclea*

That the courfe of tho fleet was clofe in with the fhore is appa-
rent from the particulars already fpecified ; and that the monfoonv
-was not yet changed is equally evident from the danger encountered'
in paffing the rocks at Sakala, for if the wind had been at north-eaft
it would have been off the coaft; but it is clear, from the turbulence
of the fea, that it ftill blew from the oppofite direftion, and lay full
upon the fhore. Both thefe affumptions will be; juftified -ftili
more by obferving that the following day, when they left Moron-
tobara, they preferred an intricate courfe between an ifland and

I by no means inM on Lieutenant Por-
Ifeer’s rock for thefe two ; though the circum-
Itances are probable, his rock, in point of
dihance, agrees better with Domse.

Morontobara will hereafter obtain an ety-
mology either Arabic or Shanlkreet ; and if
ever this coailJhould be vihted again, the har-
bour may perhaps be found, or the place oc-
cupied by it be afcertained,

0 (5’e fAjiyaq ^ tvx.VKXo(^ Hj jSaSJj ux.7\vro<i'~

I eta-TrX^q lij avrov

Literally, the harbour is large, well pro-
tedled from wind on all lides, runs far
within the land, and is perfedly quiet 5 the

*'*■ entrance into it is narrow/^ I render
svfcvKXoq fheltered, and |3a6y\ running inland^,
from Homer’s ^a^vKoXiro; ; and I with a re-
ference to be made from this pafiage to th®
defcription of the Port of Alexander, which
the author calls only i^Lsyag >c, xaAo?, large and
good, and which a bay might be without being
entitled to the other charaderiftics fo particu-
larly given to Morontobara.

There is every reafon to believe that it .
was an arm of the Arabis flowing round an
ifland, now perhaps choked; or,- if capable
of invefligation, of no fervice in the prefenS
flate of nautical knowledge,

the

)

A R A B I E S.

i8i

the malnj (fo narrow that it appeared rather an artificial cut
than a natural channel,) ta^-the open paflage without fide of the
ifland.

The harbour of Morontobara, vfitli all Its conveniences, prefented
nothing to tempt men to a longer delay, who for almoft forty days had
found but a fcanty fiipply of provifions, and feem to 'have fupported
life by fiich cafual means as the Ihell-fifh on the coaft afforded ; they left
it therefore on the following day, and proceeded towards the river
Arabis having an ifland on their left, and the main on their right.
The paflage through this channel w^as fomewhat more than four'
miles but fo narrow, as to appear like a work of art ; the coaft
was woody, and the ifland in a manner overgrown with trees of all
forts. They did not clear the paflage till the following morning,
when they found the tide out, and the water ihoal and broken ;

they

7, S.

River
Nov.
Seventh
ftation.
Thirty-iixth
and thirty-
feventh day.

Arbis, Arabius, Araba, Artabis.

See a very long' note of Salmafius, Piin.
Ex. 1177, to prove that Arbis is the true or-
thography ; but C. Arrubah or Arraba proves
the contrary.

Seventy lladia.

Gronovius has noticed the error
of former editors, who render this word ufually
by riipeSi fcopulus , locus /copulo/usy Uttus fcopu-
lofunii &c. and in this inllance, per angujia
<iur£dam loca ; but he has not with his general
accuracy defined the proper meaning. 1 fhall
every where render it either furf, or the Jhoal
which caufes the furf ; for the whole coaft,
both of the continent and iftands in the Indian
ocean, is expofed almoft conftantly to a very
extraordinary furf. See Marfden’s Sumatra.
And if it is not furf in this one inftance, it is
ihe breach of the fea arifing from the ftraits,
or narrownefs of the paflage ; xarce rfvnv.

The word occurs frequently in the journal, and

is ufed and from

frangOy cu?n Jlrepitu allido, Lennep. in voce.
And fo dorfuniy 2i jundara njertcbrariirriy

( potius_ dtsjunSliirdy) capability of feparation,
from Thucyd. libtiv. p. 10. Scholiaft.

o9sy TO ycSriov >ia7\tirciiy uq aVo triq

^ax^ccq rv)q ’TTSTfuq* Xhis fccms to favour the
editors’ rendering rupes, fcopulus. So alfo,
Ir/ ■7r£T£fc;(l'fJS toVoc, Tsspl ov 'Tre^g^-bynvroc^
V) ^aKuacuy 0 y\ r^jq

opix’b, • Notte ad Polybium. Schweighjsii-
fer, vol. V. p.' 573. But, notwithftanding
this high authority, I am difpofed to
think, that, in Arrian at leaft, it is the furf
fimply, and ufed frequently without refer-
ence to the rock, or rocky ground, which
the furf breaks on ; for at Kokala the furf ran
fo high upon the arrival of the fleet, that the
people could not land ; on the following day,
however, they all got on fhore, hauled up the
vefifeis, and formed a camp; If the rocky

ihore

iS2 FROTvl THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

they got through however without damage, and, after -a courfc
o£ betvv een feveii and eight miles, anchored at the mouth of the
Arabis.

This river is the weilern boundary allotted to the Arabics by
Arrian. According to d’Anville and de la Rochette It ftill retains
the name of Araba with the additional appellation of II Mend.
Their authority for Araba I know not, but I have no doubt that it
is a native term, from the prefervation of it in Cape Arrubah

which lies not far to the weftward ; and that II Mend is a title
which, if due, it has acquired from the Perfians. At this point we
mull paufe, to confider the courfe of the fleet from the Indus.
Three pofitions are clearly eftablilhed ; Krokala correfponding wdth
Crotchey or Carantchy, Eirus with Cape Monze, and Bibadla with
Chllney Ifle, where I fix alfo the Port of Alexander ; thefe, with
the mouths of the Indus and Arabis, give five fixed points on a
coall of about eighty miles. The rocks off Sakala are poflibly
without great difficulty reducible to Lieutenant PorteTs rock; and
Morontobara is fo charafteriftically diftinguifhed, that it cannot be
miftaken if the coall ffiould be vifited again. Dom^, Saranga,

fhore had been the obllru6llon, that circum-
flance would have exifted the fecond day as
well as the firlt. But a ftronger inflance will
occur at Cape Jafk, which is, by the teilimony
of all our navigators, a low fandy point : but
there, alfo, the terhi is applied ; where

Mr. d^Anville isfo milled, by reading rufes or
fcopulus in his authors, that to find a rock he
recurs to the afiifiance of JBombareek, which is
at feven or eight miles diftance by his own ac-
count.

I rather apprehend that d’Anville has
been mifled by the Nubian Geographer, who
mentions an Kendmend and Araba, with this

addition— Atque hinc intratur in regiones In-
dorum. But both the Hendmend and Araba
of the Nubian Geographer are in Segefian,
far to the north of our Araba. See Nub.
Geog. p. 134.

D’Anville, however, may have other au-
thority, and certainly can interpret the Nu-
bian Geographer better than his corredor.

Arrabah, or Arraback, by Lieutenant
Porter.

I have fome fufpicion that Sakala will be
found to fignify either rock or mountam in fome
of the Oriental languages. The Nile rifes
from a Sakala, according to Bruce and Lobo.

and

A R A B I E S.

183

and Sakala, It will not be thought negligent to leave undefined
upon a coaft that is no^v almoft delolate, and where5 if villages
have formerly exifted, they may have been deftroyed by the In-
curfions of the Belootches.

The number of ftadia given by Arrian and Strabo from the Indus
to the Arabis is a thoufand ; and, what is not very iifual in Greek
authors, the particulars anfwer to the total. Thefe reckoned by
Mr. d’Anville’s ftadium make fixty-three miles and an half ; but
there is an omiffion of diftance between Krokala and the Port of
Alexander, and another minute one between Saranga and Sakala.
The addition of thefe might polhbly make the eftimation fomething
fh'ort of eighty miles, which accords fufficiently with the belt charts
I have feen. When we reflect that a Macedonian fleet fpent near
forty days in completing a navigation of this length, we may form
a judgment of the- courage requifite to undertake and execute the
whole voyage. We difcover, at the fame time, the difficulties wffiich
arofe from fetting out before the regular feafon ; and while we ad-
mire the perfeverance of Nearchus under the difadvantage of adverfe
winds, and the preflaire of famine, we have the fatisfadlion to find
that the dates affumed are corroborated by the circumftances of the
navigatioUi

The mouth of the Arabis is placed by Ptolemy in longitude 105^,
and latitude 20° 15", and by Mr. Rennell in longitude 65° 34' from
Greenwich, latitude 25*^ 26' and about 44 weft from the weftern
mouth- of the Indus..

5’' Sakala and Saranga do not appear as
places inhabited, by the journal ; and Domae is
an ifle. Whether future inquiry may make
this Lieutenant Porter’s rock, remains for in-
vedigation. I am induced to embrace a con-

trary opinion, both from the diflances given,
and the diftiudion between an ifle and a rock.

53 Mr. Rennell has placed the Arabis to
the eaftvvard of Cape Monze in his flrfl map,
but correded it in his fecond.

Arrian

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A 3 K. • •

Arrian mentions an ifland at the mouth of the river, which
Lieutenant Porter does not notice; but fajs the bar runs out a long
way, and is dry in fome parts at low water. There is ftill a fmali
town called Somraeany, at the entrance, and labouring under the
fame difficulty for water which is noticed by Arrian, who mentions
that they were obliged to go up the country above two miles to find
a well Lieutenant Porter fays^ every things is fcarce, even
- water, which is procured by digging a hole five or fix feet deep,
and as many in diameter, in a place which was formerly a fwamp;
and if the w^ater oozes, which it foraetimes does not, it ferves
them that day, and perhaps the next, w^hen it turns quite brackiffi,
owing to the nitrous quality of the earth.” We fhall find the
fame identical circumftance introduced by Arrian at a future period
of the voyage. Minute fafts of this nature exemplify the authen-
ticity of the journal better than all the arguments that can be pro-
duced againft Hardouin and DodwelL

It does not appear from Arrian that the place was inhabited when
Nearchus was there^ but he calls the harbour large and commo-
dious, and fays that fhell-fifli, with others of various forts, were
found here in great abundance. Marcian mentions two cities upon the
river Arbis, Perfis^^ and Rhaprava on the coafi: between the river and
^ Morontobara; the diftance between the two latter he ftates at a

Arrian’s iidanci is high.

Perhaps a pool.

^iyxz >Cj, The fame expreilion as

that applied to the Port of Alexander. V/e
may judge of one by the other ; for Lieu-
tenant Porter mentions no harbour here but
the mouth of the riv'er.

Perils he writes Perlith, and calls it the

capital of Gadrofia, which cannot be in this coun-
try. It ftiould feem that he had heard of fuch a
city, but did not know where to place it. It is in
reality the Pura of Gadrofia mentioned by Ar-
rian and others, and the found of which is ftill
preferved in Phir, Phor, and Phor-eh . Ptolemy
has a Parfts witli evidently the fame confufion,
p. 167, Written /ic'/irpoTioAK nd^aiq.

15 thoufand

O R E I T

185

thoufand and fifty ftadia, which by no means agrees with Arrian,
and gives reafon to fufped that he confounded the Port of Women
with the Port of Alexander, for his next ftation is Koiamba, where
he fixes the limits of the Pattalene poffibly the Krokala of Arrian;
and lafily, Rhizan and Rhizana for the termination of the coaft, as
it fliould appear, at the Indus. In the whole of this account Mar-
cian follow'S Ptolemy in his lift of names, but is fo barren of fa<fts,
and fo vague in his diftances, that little information can be ob-
tained from him. Plis w^hole length of the coaft amounts to four-
teen hundred and fifty ftadia.

II. O R E I T O R I T iE.

No mention is made of any ftay at the Arabis, we muft
therefore make the fleet fail the following day, and proceed twelve
miles and an half to Pagala. The courfe is defcribed as clofe along
the coaft, and a furf at the place where they finiftied their progrefs,
but the anchorage was good. The men were forced, however, to
continue on board, and only a few landed to procure water. Such
a fpot as this can be charadierifed only by its diftance ; and our mea-
fures, which anfwer fufficiently along the coaft of the Arabics, will
now be lefs capable of accuracy in many particulars, till we reach
the gulph of Perfia.

Orit^,
Pagala.
Eighth
ftation.
Nov. g.
Thirty-
eighth day. '

They failed the next morning, and after a courfe of almoft nineteen
miles reached Kabana in the evening. The place w^as only an open

Marcian evidently intends to place Koi- but I fufpefl he has confounded the limits of
ainba at the mouth of the weftern channel ; the Arabics with thofe of the Pattalene.

Kabana.
Ninth ftation.

Nov. 10.
Thirty- ninth
day.

B B

and

jU from the INDUS TO CAPE JASK-

and defert fliore, on which a violent furf broke, v;hich hindered the
veffels from approaching the land. The progrefs of thefe two days
fufficiently indicates that the wind was not yet fettled at north-eaft,

and in the prefent day’s courfe they experienced dired;ly the re-
verfe ; for a flirong gale came on from the fouth-weft, in which two
of the gallies and a traniport foundered, but the courfe was fo near
the fliore that the men were faved by fwimming. If we advert to
our date here, which is the tenth of November, we find fuch a
coincidence with the turbulence accompanying the change of the
monfoon, as cannot fail of exciting our admiration, while we ob-
ferve, at the fame time, that no inftance'of a fimilar calamity occurg
afterwards in the journal.

They left this defolate place at midnight, and reached Kokala next

Tenth nation, moming, after a courfe of about twelve miles. The coaft here was
Nov. II.

Fortkth day. fuch, that the veffels could not be drawn on fhore, but rode at anchor
without the furf. The fuffering of the people was however fo greatj
from being confined on board two nights that it was found ne-
ceflary to difembark them, and form a camp on fhore, which

In vefTels like thofe of the Greeks, Od. M. 32. For there,

which aHorded neither fpace for motion, or perhaps, the cables were coiled ; but, when a
convenience for reft, the continuing on board whole crew was to fteep on board, this was ,
at night was always a calamity. The gallies impoflible, and the fuffering was in proportion
of Alexander had perhaps a deck; but the to the confinement. This makes Ulyffes com-
are exa^ily the veffels of Homer^s plain, that reftraint on fhip- board rendered his
age, the fore part and waift open for the limbs rigid and unfit for gymnaftic exercife;
rowers, with a deck raifed over the hinder and the fame confinement. Captain BHgh fays,
part; this in Homer is called and formed chafed the limbs of his people, againft which
an elevation on which the fteerfman ftaod. On he found no other remedy b-ut wetting their
this deck, or under it, the perfons on board clothes in fea water,
fometimes ilept> which the poet calls fleeping

Nearchus

ORE! T iE,

187

Nearchus fortified as ufuaL It Is worthy of remark that, during the
three days’ paflage from the Arabis, we hear of no provifion being
procured except water; neither do the places where they anchored
appear villages or Inhabited country ; if, therefore, the ftock of grain
which they brought out of the Indus was exhaufted, as it probably
was in an Interval of forty days, we can find no means of fupport-
ing life, but fuch a fupply of fbell-fifh as they might have procured
at the Arabis, where we are informed It was in plenty. But it
fhould feein they knew that relief was at hand, for here it was that
Leonnatus joined them, who had been left in the country by Alex-
ander, with a particular charge to attend to the prefervation of the
fleet. He had, after the departure of the main army, fought a
battle with the Oritse and their allies, in which he had defeated
them, killing fix thoufand of the enemy, and lofing only fifteen*^®
of his own horfe, with Apollophanes new-appointed fatrap
of Gadrofia, He now joined Nearchus, bringing with him a fupply
of ten days’ provifions, colledled by the order of Alexander, and
poflibly fpared out of his own immediate wants. Not that this
province ought to be reprefented as a defert like Gadrofia, but the
circumftances of the time, and the refiftance of the natives, rendered
this fupply rather proportionate to the eondition of the country, than
the wants of Nearchus. The attention of Alexander is ftill con-

I never feel myfelf bound to account for In another pafTage of Arrian, lib. vi.

thefe dliproportionate numbers. Leonnatus had p. 267, this Apollophanes is faid to have }%een
with him at this time, poffibly, a large force of depofed from his fatrapy, when Alexander was
native Afiatics. If a thoufand of them had halting in the capital of Gadrofia. See Gro-
been killed, they would not have been thought nov.p.338. In the journal, Arrian follows Near-
worth notice, Thefe fifteen are Macedonians, chus ; in the hifiory, Ptolemy or Arifiobulus,

BB 2 fpicuous;

188 FROM TFiE INDUS TO CAPE ] A S K.

fpicuons; and a fecond unfuccefsful a-ttempt^"" he made in Gadrcfia,
when he would have hazarded famine hinafelf to preferve his fleet,
ouglit to exculpate him from the charge of ufelefs vanity in pene-
trating through that defert region ; a charge vfhich even Nearchus
is fliid to have countenanced.

To fearch for correfpondent pofitions to thefe three defert ftations
would be fuperfluous; for as the next is the river Tomerus^^ at
the diftance of one-and-thirty miles, the two rivers give us the
boundary of the four days’ courfe, and as they are knowui points,
the meafures fpecified are fufficient to mark three places, w^hich,
being uninhabited, can be of no importance. I ihould have v\^iflaed
to have placed Kokala with precifion, on account of the tranfadlions
which took place here ; for befides the fupply obtained from the
army, Nearchus difcharged feveral of his people, who appeared not
to have fufficient fpirit or fortitude for the enterprife, and received
others in exchange from Leonnatus : he likewife repaired here
feveral of his veffels w'hich had fuifered in the voyage or the ftorm.
This proves that the weather grew more moderate during his con-
tinuance at this place, for upon his firft arrival the furf was too
high to admit of drawing them on fliore. If therefore we fhall,
with Rooke allow ten days for the completion of thefe aiEFairs, it
brings the account to the twenty-firft of November; at which period
the wind, if it had fixed at north-eaft, wmuld be off fhore, and the

See infra, <^4- jg exprefsly faid they were drawn

The Tomerus is apparently the river alhore. The author afterwards, at the To-
upon which inland /Alexander halted, when he merus, ufes the term

invaded the territory of the Orit^. And pro- Rooke finds ten days in his author, I

bably it pafies by Haur, the capital of that can only find mention of ten days’ provifion 5
tribe, who derive their name from Haur, but J think the allowance juft.

Horitse, Oritae.

furf

O R E 1 T 189

furf confequently dlminiflied. This accords exaftly with the fol-
lowing day’s progrefs, for upon leaving Kokala they falledg for the
firft time, upwards of thirty miles, and it is the firll time Arrian
fpecifies their failing with the wind fettled in their favour.

The fatisfaftion of meeting with a fupply of provifions would
not be a little heightened by a fight of their countrymen again, after
having experienced unfavourable weather and the danger of famine
for fix weeks ; additional confidence alfo would arlfe, not only from
the change of the feafon, but froiil a confideration of the attention
paid to their prefervation by Alexander : the vid:ory of Leonnatus
contributed likewife to render the Macedonian name refpedable to
the barbarous tribes they were now to vlfit. All thefe circumftances
confidered, with the certainty of finding future fupport from the
army, if polfible, we may reafonably conclude that Nearchus em-
barked again with more confidence than before, and that the fupply
of men he recHved from Leonnatus came on board with alacrity.

I have looked in vain for authority to give the number of gallles
or other vefiels of which the fleet confifted. The number of com-
manders appointed at Nicsea was thirty-three, and by thefe I efti-
mate the gallies. There was alfo a greater proportion of half-
decked veflels, and tranfports in abundance. < That Nearchus had
tranfports as well as gallies appears by the wreck of one on the pre-
ceding day ; and if we were to allot him all the gallies, it would.

ay^a.i\. See Hom. Od. ^Book 421.
0(Kfa7) 'Z.i^vfov, Schol. ccKiwi; 'nviovroc, Trpoq
•rriv axe 7i7^£ov aV’ cAaTTo;'. Stephan, in

voce ,

But there is another derivation from xipciv-
/X'o yB)ipapi(A.svovy aAA 'Z,B(pvpov. Purum

^^ephyrum. And that derivation feems pe-
cnharly applicable in this pafiage. It was the

north-call monfoon fettled j and without fiudlu-
ation.

Q^Curtius mentions the deftrudiicn of
fuch velfels as were fuperfluous before t)ie
departure from the Indus. It is much more
probable that, if any were fuperfluous, they
were laid up at Pattala, or the other dock-
yards cdablifhed in the Pattalene.

perhaps,

Tome'rus,
Eleventh
ftadon.
Nov. 2 1.
Fiftieth day.

190 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

perhaps, not appear like exaggeration. The gallies were all of thirty
oars ; if therefore there were only one man at an oar, we cannot eftl-
mate lefs than fixty or feventy men to each veffel, which makes the
whole number about two thoufand exclufive of thofe on board the
tranfports. This number does not appear unreafonable ; and con-
jecture is only allovvable where accuracy is not to be obtained. None
'of the original officers appointed at Nica^a appear in the courfe of
the navigation, except Archias and Oneficritus. Leonnatus joined
the main army in Karmania, and muft have brought the firft ac-
count of Nearchus’s progrefs as far as the Tomerus.

On the twenty-firft of November the fleet proceeded with a fair
wind, and made good a courfe of thirty-one miles to the river
Tomerus The length of the courfe correfponds, as obferved be-

I ^

fore, to the change of the feafon. Commodore Robinfon, Lieutenants
Porter and MacCluer, Tavernier, and Thevenot, all agree in fixing
this change to the middle of November, All the circumftances of
the voyage confpire to prove the difficulties previous to this period,
and the advantages obtained after it was paft. We are arrived at
the laft ten days of the month ; and after the commencement of
December there is no fluctuation. Tomerus is defcribed as a winter
torrent, with a lake at its entrance. It appears to anfwer exaftly to
the ftream Alexander had found inland very ill fupplied with water,
at which he halted after his purfuit of the Oritse ; and feems to
come from the ridge of mountains which form the barrier of the
whole coaft to the north 5 where, in the feafon, rain falls in

See Sequel. days which I might have added. In all that

In making the fleet fail on the tenth day afle<as a fyflem, it is more honourable to give
from Kokala, and before, on the twenty-fourth, than to take.

from the Port of Alexander, I have given two It is written in the Greek.

abundance,

O R E I T 4^.

1 91

abundance, though none Is feen in the low country between them
and the fea. Lieutenant Porter repeatedly mentions the lownefs
of the coaft, and the appearance of the high country inland. As
the fame circumftance in regard to the rains occurs in Scindi from
Moultan downwards, and in Egypt univerfally, is it not reafonable
to conclude, that the fame caufe operates generally in the regions
bordering on the tropic, and that mountains are as neccfl'ary for
condenfation^ as vapours are for the caufe of rain I

At the Tomerus, inhabitants were found living on the low
ground near the fea, in cabins, which feemed calculated rather to
liifFocate their inhabitants than to proted: them from the weather ;
and yet thefe wretched people were not without courage. Upon fight
of the fleet approaching, they colledled in arms on the fhore, and drew
up in order to attack the ftrangers upon their landing; perhaps they
were not unacquainted with fimilar vlfits of the Sanganians. Their
arms were fpears, not headed with Iron, but hardened in the fire, nine
feet long, and their number about fix hundred. Nearchus ordered
his veffels to lay their heads towards the fhore, within th| diftance
of bow-fhot, for the enemy had no miffile weapons but their fpears.
He likewife brought his engines to bear upon them (for fuch
.it appears he had on board) ; and then dired:ed his light-armed
troops, with thofe who were the mofl active and the befl: fwimmers5

So does the journal of the Houghton
Indiaman. A journal curious, becaufe this
fhip kept the coaft in fight from Scindi to
■Gomeroon, and back again ; while moft of the
veffels which come from the eaftward to the
gulph of Perfia ftretch acrofs the ocean from
Guzerat, or the coaft of Malabar, to Mafcat
in Arabia, Dairy mpLe.

/Sfaxsa, marlhes or marftr ground.

KaAu'caK Sucli are the cabins

defcribed by Cook in a thoufand inftances,
into which you muft enter crawling, and when
entered you cannot (land ere6l. A Hottentot
village is ftyled a Krahj. What is the der-U
vation ?

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

f 92

to be ready for coinmencing the attack. On a fignal given, they
were to plunge Into the fea ; the firft man who touched ground was
to be the point at which the line was to be formed, and was not to
advance till joined by the others, and the file could be ranged three
deep. Thefc orders were exadtiy obeyed tlie men threw them-
felves out of the fliips, fwam forward, and formed themfelves in
the water, under cover of the engines. As foon as they were in
order, they advanced upon the enemy with a fhout, which was re-
peated from the fliips. Little oppofition was experienced, for the
natives, ftruck with the novelty of the attack, and the glittering of
the armour, fled without refiftance. Some efcaped to the moun-
tains, a few were killed, and a confiderable number made prifoners.
They were a favage race, fhaggy on the body as well as the head,
and with nails fo long and of fuch ftrength, that they ferved them
as inftruments to divide their food (which confifted indeed almofl:
wholly of fifh), and to feparate even wood of the fofter kind. Whether
this circumflance originated from defign, or want of implements to
pair their nails, did not appear ; but if there was occafion to divide
harder fubftances, they fubllituted ftones fharpened inftead of iron,
for iron they had none. Their drefs confifted of the fkins of beafts,
and fome of the larger kinds of fi^h^^

Nearchiis ftaid at the Tomerus fix days, during which time he
drew fome of his veffels on fiiore and repaired them ; and this

Will not the reader -think that T defcrlbe defcrlbes from Oriental authority : ** Cette
the landing of a party, from the Endeavour, in ** nation eft barbare et feroce, portant les
New Zealand, under protedfion of the ftiip’s cheveux Iong& et fans ordre, lailTant croitre
guns ? ** la, barbe, et reffemblaat a des faanes ou

Tliefe OritcO are the next tribe to the “ a des cursd’ Vol. i. p. 119.

Arabics or Belootches, whom TiefFenthaler thus SeaRfkins poffibly.

interval

I T

/jd.

^93

interval being fpeclfied, may make the former allowance of ten days
at Kokala appear too large. It is, ho.wever, a conjecture I have fol-
lowed rather than formed; and confiderlng that they were with their
countrymen, had much bufmefs to tranfad, and had fortified a
camp, I can hardly fuppofe there is an excefs.

The fleet left the Tomerus on the fixth day, and, after a paflage
of nearly nineteen miles, reached, Malana in the evening. At Ma-
lana, Arrian fixes the boundary of the Orit;^ ; and the diftance from
the Afabis, the eaftern limit, to this cape, being- accurately fpecified
by Mr. Dalrymple’s chart, enables us to compare the ftadium of
Arrian with our modern meafures precifely. The opening of the
compaffes gives eighty-five geographical, or nearly an hundred Bri-
tifh miles, and Arrian’s total fixteen hundred ftadia. This is fo
exact a coincidence with the ftadium of d’Anville, on a coaft where
' there is little indenture, that it may be deemed a ftrong confirmation
of the meafure aflumed by that able geographer. It is true that the
particulars aftigned to each day’s progrefs give but fifteen hundred
ftadia ; but, in the courfe from Pagala to Kabana, the manufcript of
Gronovius reads four hundred and thirty, inftead of three hundred,
which makes the v/hole fixteen hundred and thirty; and this Arrian
expreffes by a round number. So fatisfied am I with the precifion
of my data here, that I have no fcruple in fixing Pagana, Kabana,
and Kokala, by the meafure of each day’s fail ; and as I obferve
Arrah Cudjerah, and Kingalah in Commodore Robinfon’s chart,

M A L A N A .
Cape

M A L A N ,

or Mora n,
Nov. 27.
Fifty-fixth
day.
Twelfth
ftation.

D’Anville’s ftadium gives fixteen to a Commodore, and in pofitions which I could
mile Britifh, with a very fmall fradlion. perhaps adopt; but it varies fo eftentially in

There is a chart by Lieutenant Mafcall, other points, that Mr, Dalrymple does not
who was a volunteer under C. Robinfon, which efteem it highl/,
places thefe three names difterently from the

C C

1 lliould

J94

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

I fliould have been happy to make them correfpond in pofitlon as
well as number ; not that thefe obfcure places are important, but
becaufe minute coincidences are fatisfadiory in geography. The
Or liSQy who inhabit this coaft, Arrian defcribes as dreffed and armed
like the Indian tribes ; but their cuftoms, manners, and language
mark them as a different race.

The territory of the Oritse Is well defined by Arrian, bounded
on the eaft by the Arabis, on the north by a chain of mountains
running inland parallel with the coaft, and on the weft by a ridge
fhooting off from the grand chain, and touching the fea at Malana,
or Cape Moran. This cape does not appear to project far or rife
high, and 1 imagine is connecftcd by high ground with Cape Arru-
bah about thirty miles to the weftward. There can be little
doubt that the name of Cape Arrabah preferves the original ap-
pellation of the Arabite Belootches of antiquity, for though It is
not within the limits afligned to that tribe by Arrian, the influence
of thefe mountaineers has extended itfelf along the coaft through
the whole province of the Oritse, and as far as Cape Guadel. We
have the fulleft evidence of this from Lieutenant Porter % who fays

If it fliould be thought neceiTary to in-
veftigate this point, a (hort table will Ihew all
the particulars at one view .

Stadia.

Miles.

to Pagala,

2CO

— 12^

to Cabana,

5 300

— C 19

or by the MS.

1 430

— ( 27

to Kokala,

200

— 12f

to Tomerus,

5C0

—

to Malana,

300

— . 19

1500

— 94?

lumber of MS.

130

— 8

1630

I02|

The land from hence (Sommeany
Arabis) runs along extremely low next the
“ Tea; but the back is very cragged, and con-
“ tinues fb to Cudjerah/’ Lieutenant Por»‘
ter, p. 3. ■

Arrabah, Arraback.

A plan of the bay, formed by the pro-
jedion of Cape Arrabah, is given in the
chart furnifhed for this work by Mr. Dalrym-
ple; but as Nearchus did not anchor here,
we are no farther concerned than to mention
it.

*3 P.6,

exprefsly^

cxprelsly, that the coail: as far as that cape is now called Bloachee
(the country of the Bloaches or Belootches), and from that cape to
the giilph of Perfia, Brodla. The Belootches, therefore, in carrying
their arms weftward, carried their original name with them, whicli
is ftill preferved in Cape Arrabah ; and perhaps, if we could invefli-
gate the name by which they diftinguifii themfelves, we fliould find,
whatever they may be ftyled by their neighbours, that they ftill
retain fome relation to this original appellation in their native
language.

Mr. d’Anville places Haur as the modern capital of this pro-
vince on the river Tomerus, correfponding with the ancient Ora.
In this, I conceive, he follows the Nubian Geographer % who car-
ries a route from the Indus through Manhabere, a town on the
Arabis, and through this Haur to Firabuz in the Mekran,

' or Gadrofia. Orsea is mentioned by the author of the Periplus,
but with fo little precifion, that nothing fatisfaftory can be colledled
from him. It is evident that this writer 'had perfonally vifited tim
coaft^ of Arabia and Malabar; but he doubtlefs failed wnth the fleet
fi^om Egypt, which at that time crofted the ocean by the afliftahce
of the monfoon, and never approached the coaft of Gadrofia. He

Eclairciffemens, p. 42. Antiquit, p.

Al. Edriii. "Nub. Geog. Lib. Relax,
p. 58.

Et via qu^ ducit a Dabil (Debil- Scindi) ,
ad Firabuz tranfit per Manhabare, et inter
Manhabare et Firabuz media ell url^s quadam
parqja habitat a, Haur appellata, Urbs autem
Firabuz eft incolis et mercatoribus frequens,
pertinetque ad provinciam Mekran. Nub.
Geog. p. 58. — If the Nubian drew his in-
formation from Arabic fources, from whence
did the Arabians draw ? This Arabic work of

the twelfth century, if refined of its drofs,
would be found to contain much pure metal,
Mr. d’Anville , could have performed this fer-
vice.

The Dabil of Al Edrifi he places threey?<7-
tions from the mouth of the Mehran (the In-
dus), that is feventy-five miles, which makes
it nearly agree with Pattala. I fufpe<5l that
Deb-il-Scindi, in its Oriental fenfe, compre-
hends the Delta, however afterwards applied
to a part of it. Nub. Geog. p. 57.

CC 2

therefore

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

196

therefore mentions only the bay of Terabdon which the
ancients place between Cape Jafli and Guadel, and then, with the
incidental notice of Or;sa, pafles to the Sinthus He feems to
have miftaken the fite of this place ; for he fays it is at the mouth
of a river, and in the bay, whereas that imaginary bay terminates
at Guadel, and this is far to the eaftward of it. This error, if he
really means Orasa for Ora, is excufable only on account of his not
having vifited this coaft; for whatever he faw himfelf, he defcribes
graphically. Ora is laid down by Ptolemy in longitude ! 02°
latitude 23° 40'; but as little would be gained by the method I have
purfued in corredling his error, it is here omitted. The general name
of Gadrofia is extended fometimes by the ancient geographers to
the whole coaft between Karmania and the Indus, as that of Mekran
is by the modern Orientals ; but the diftindtion ought to be made, of
what is defert and what is habitable. The country of the Arabics
and Oritas appears full of inhabitants, and no notice is taken of the
army’s experiencing any diftrefs before Alexander croffed the moun-
tains Into Gadrofia ; from that line it appears that the defert com-
mences, in paffing which the army encountered greater difficulties
than in the whole courfe of the fervice.

In detailing the coaft of the Oritac, I find only three fixed points,
the two rivers Arabls and Tomerus, with Cape Malana or Moran.
Thevenot In his paflage from the gulph of Perfia, mentions Cape
Malan, but he never came in fight of it ; and his evidence, there-

Perhaps the Paragon Sinus of Ptolemy,
On this fubjeii, fee infra»

Sinthus is the name he ufes for the In-
dus; and this proves his acquaintance with the
native appellations Scind and Scindi.

By Mercator’s map it does not di.^er
much from the Ora of the Periplus. The
confufion feems to be general.

D’Anville Antiquit, p. 44.

Thevenot, Eng.ed, p. 194. Part II.

fore.

O R E I T 197

fore, amounts to nothing more than proving the exiftence of the
name ftill in the language of the country ; and that Malan is the
Moran of Porter cannot be doubted, either from its fituation or the
fimilarity of found. The Interchange of the liquids / and r occurs
in numerous inftances, exclufive of the deception to which the ear is
- fubjefl in receiving foreign founds. The three other ftations on this
coaft I can fix only by the diftances given ; they all appear unin«
habited ; and when we find names given to obfcure places fo rea-
dily by Arrian, we are led to conclude that he had natives on board,
to whom they were familiar.

As Lieutenant Porter mentions three names on this coaft as well as
Arrian, which are Arrah, Kudjerah, and the rocks of Kingalah
it is poffible that Kudjerah may be the Kokala of Arrian ; for we
are to remember, the Greek language has no found correfpondent to
our Engliih ch^ and Cochela is not very diftant in found from Gud-
jerah. Refemblance of this kind, where diftances or local fituation
agree. Is ftrong prefumptive proof. Kabana is fuppofed to be Kin-
galah by de la Rochette.

The extent of this coaft, given by Strabo, Is eighteen hundred
ftadia ; and if he drew from the original journal as well as Arrian,
it is extraordinary that they fhould differ to the amount of an hun-
dred and feventy ftadia in fo Imall a number : but this is perhaps
only an additional inftance of the little dependance upon all nu-
merals in Greek manufcripts, rather than a proof of difagreement
between the authors. Arrian’s ftadia, as corredted by the manii-

Porter’s are three names merely, and this notre petit vailTeau pouvoit ctre a I’ancre.
is an Oriental pradlice ; for thus Niebuhr Voyage, tom. i. 230. Amilcrd. Ed.
fpeaks of the eoaft between Suez and Jidda, Hinglah, Mafcall,

On appelloit ancrages tous ks endroits ou

feript

i9'B from the INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

fcrlpt of Gronovius, produce nearly an hundred and two miles ;
Strabo’s, an hundred and thirteen ; and both accord fo nearly wuth
the chart of Commodore Robinfon, which gives fomewhat more
than an hundred miles, that nautical menfuration, without the affift-
ance of inftruments, can hardly be reduced to greater conformity.

Flere I fhould have clofed the account of the Oritse, but at Ma-
lana w^e find a circumftance recorded by Arrian which demands no
fmall degree of attention ; for here it is that he introduces the men-
^ tion of a phsenomenon, which, however familiar to the navigators
of the prefent day, was, in his own age, a matter of no fmall cu-
riofity. The fun, he tells us, was feen by Nearchus in the meridian
to the north, and the fhadows fell to the fouth. I (hall tranflate
the whole paffage, before I enter upon the difcuffion of a fubject
Vvhich has expofed my author to much reprehenfion.

As they failed along the coaft of India, that is, the country of
the Arabitas and Oritse [for the IcThyophagi are not accounted an
Indian tribe], Nearchus fays, that the fhadows had not the fame
eftedl as In thofe parts of the earth wnth which they were ac-
quainted, for when they flood out to fea a good way to the fouth-
ward, the iiin was either vertical at noon and no fhadow was
to be feen, or fo far to the north that the fhadow fell to the fouth.
The northern conflellations, which are always above the horizon,
fet almoft as foon as they rofe; and others which they w^ere ufed
to contemplate, w^ere either clofe to the horizon or not vifible at
all. In this Neaixhus appears to aflert nothing improbable; for at

9+ This MS. Gronovius found at Florence, ority. It is poffibly the MS. brought by
in the Grand Duke’s Colleid:ion. See Praefat. Aurifpa from Conftantinople in 1403. See
ad Left. It evidently contains readings of Rofcoe’s Life of Lorenzo, p. 30,
the hril importance ; and the reconciliation liberty to make this con*

'Of numerals is no fmall proof of its fuperi- fiilent.

Syene

O R E I T ie.

Syene in Egypt, when the fun reaches the fuinmer tropic, they
hiew a well, in which at noon there is no fhadow; and as the fame
circumftance occurs in Meroe,it is probable ^that in India alfo, which
lies towards the fouth, the fhadow fhould be fubje£t to the fame
law, and more particularly in the Indian ocean, which extends
ftill farther to the fouthward.”

In this account there is apparently little to perplex ; but when we
confider, that at Malana Nearchus was in north fatitude 25'' 16^,
where thefe circiimftances could not occur, it is not very eafy to
difcover the reafon for introducing them at a place not within the
limit of the tropic. We muft recolleft alfo that we are now ar-
rived at the latter end of November, when the fun was to the
fouthward of the equator; and therefore, whatever licence we may
affume in rendering the text, w^hen it afferts that they flood out far
to the fouthward’, we may be affured that no Greek veffel ever
hretched fo far from the coail as to verify this ph^snomenon in the
' manner fpecified by the hiftorian.

Neither Alexander himfelf, or any detachment from his army,
were ever farther to the fouth than the mouth of the eaftern branch
of the Indus ; and there, at the fummer folftice, the fun might be
vertical : but, from all we can colleft, Alexander did not reach that
point till the latter end of July, when the fun was again on his
journey to the fouth; neither is it perfedlly afcertained that the
mouth of the Nulla Sunkra is within the tropic : Mr. RenneU’s
lafl: map and Mr. de la Rochette, it is true, bring it within that

5*' See GofTelln Geog. des Grecs, p. 32 ; within the tropic, Plin, lib. ii. c. 73.
who, mentions that Oneficritus places Pattala

line;

200

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

line ; but till it fliall be determined by obfervation there is flill
room to doubt.

If this phsenomenon, however, was to be recorded, it is extra»
ordinary that it fhould not have found its place at the point fartheft
fouthward which the Macedonians ever reached ; and that it fhould
be referved for Malana, Vv^hen the fleet was nearly two degrees to
the north of the tropic, and the fun fouthward of the equator. I
would fave the credit of Arrian, if it were allov^^able, by fiippofing
that he fpoke for Nearchus in this paffage generally, rather as a cir*
cumftance known than experienced ; but truth compels me to con-
fefs, that to my apprehenfion his language is too exprefs to admit of
general interpretation: it is Nearchus fpeaking of what he had feen®^
himfelf, and I cannot acquit Arrian without making Nearchus fub-
jedl to the imputation.

Nearchus, it is true, is enrolled by Strabo in the fame lift with
Oneficritus, Megafthenes, and other writers upon India, as in-
dulging too much in narrations which are fabulous ; but we have at
this day far better means of comparing the accounts of thefe authors
with the adlual ftate of the country than Strabo had, and I muft
acknov/ledge that I have found Nearchus a moft faithful and un-
erring guide. If I cannot excufe him in the prefent inftance, I can
join him in his error with companions fo illuftrious, that I hope the
reader will pardon me for entering upon a digreffion in which the
knowledge of the ancients in geography is materially concerned.

Mr. Dalrymple^s chart, by C. Prittie, mouth, it is confequently within the tropic. I
places Pandrummee in latitude 2 3° 13' ; and in only mean to fay it is not fixed by ob-
his chart of Scindi, latitude 23®. fervation.

Jfj therefore, Pandrummee is the eafiern Atojctu

The

O R E I T

TOl

The increafing length of fummer days and winter nights, in pro-
portion to the approach towards the pole, was known as early as the
age of Homer, and the correfponding phaenomenon of the fun
calling no fhadow at the fummer tropic had evidently been ob-

ferved by the Egyptians previous to all the aftronomy of the
Greeks with which we are acquainted. The fpherical figure of
the earth alfo, we are now told, was no fecret to the Indians,
Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Phoenicians; or if their difcoveries, as an-
tecedent to hiftory, are the lefs regarded, we know from fa£ts that
Thales was acquainted with this important truth. If fcience had
proceeded regularly upon thefe principles, the properties of a fpherc
might have led men to contemplate the proportion of thefe phseno-
mena as well as the phasnomena themfelves, for they wanted neither
knowledge or induftry to obferve them ; but they failed in the re-
fult and combination of their obfervations. Thus it happened, that
although Thales was acquainted with the fpherical figure of the
earth, and Anaximander had defcribed the known world on a globe,,
yet it was not till three hundred and fifty years after Thales that
Eratofthenes drew a line parallel to the equator, which fuggefted
the doctrine of latitudes to the fchool of Alexandria, and finally
enabled Ptolemy to apply both longitude and latitude univerfally ta
the fcience.

Arrian Is contemporary with Ptolemy, but fo little was he ac-»
quainted with this great difcovery, or rather the application of it,
that he has in no one inftance made ufe of the term. It is evident,
however, that he had a knowledge of the phenomenon produced by

59 See Bruce on the Obelifks, Norden, Po- Syene was made for the ufe of Eratofthenes :
cock, and Blair’s excellent treatife on the Rife but there is much reafon to give it a higher
fcf Geography, who mention^ that the well at antiquity,

D D ' th©.

202 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

the fun in the tropic, from his mention of Syene in this palfage ;
and he could not be ignorant that fouthward of Syene the fun might
be feen to the north ; for he has in another palfage noticed the
folftitial rains in Ethiopia (Nubia or Abyfiinia), as the true caufe of
the inundation of the Nile ; and whoever verified this fa<T, which
was known to Strabo as well as Arrian, muft have obferved the
fhadow falling to the fouth. Arrian difcovers his knowledge of all
thefe circumftances in reafoning upon this extract from Nearchus,
and Nearchus feems to have been as cautious in giving this fad; as
Arrian is in repeating it, when he fays it took place, not adually
upon the coaft, but at fome diftance out at fea. So likewife Arrian
does not aifert that Malana lies upon the fame parallel with Syene,
but carries the parallel out into the ocean. As all this was really
true, if the fleet had been at Malana during the fummer folftice,
neither of thefe authors is culpable for any thing more than for
afferting that as feen, which only might have been feen at another
feafon ; and if it were not for the pofitive alfertion
dvTOi(n)j they 'Jaw it themfelves. The whole paffage might be
received generally or hypothetically, and the credit of both be
eftablilhed.

But if they cannot be defended, it will at leafl; be fome palliation
of their offence, and a matter of no fmall curiofity, to fhew how
generally the vanity which gave rife to this error, exifted in the
writings of the ancients. Great travellers and great conquerors
never thought their accounts or their progrefs fufficiently magni-
ficent, unlefs they were carried to the boundaries of nature* Alex-

As he fays himfelf in Meroe. Meroe, Strab. lib, ii. p. 98.

according to Btuce, is Abyflinia.^ ^

ander

O R E I T iE.

203

ander is conveyed by his miraculous hiftorians to thofe regions on
the north, where perpetual cold and darknefs reign ; on the eaft and
fouth, to, the utmoft limits that the heat allows to be inhabited.
But without recurring to fuch admirers of the hyperbole as Cur-
tins, we mull refled: that Orpheus carries his Argonauts to the
Cimmerians, who never fee the fun. And where do they dwell ? —
that is no eafy matter to dlfcover : but their country is excluded
from the folar rays by the Alps, the Rhipsean mountains, and the
rock of Gibraltar Homer claims the fame privilege for Ulylfes,
for he conveys him to a region which enjoys the polar day*°^, which
his commentator aflTures us mufl; be the country of the Cimmerians,
and yet the poet informs us that this was in the territory of the
Locflrygons, and Lseftrygonia is In Italy, juft three days fail from
Circe and the bay of Naples. Caefar fpeaks with the caution of
an hiftorian when he fays there was no night in the extremity of
Britain, or the Iflands lying north of Mona. Such, he fays, was
the information he received, but he had no opportunity of afcertain-
ing it ; he obferved himfelf only, that In Britain the fummer days

Curt. lib. ix. c. 9. Ne naturam
quldem longius poffe procedere. Brevi in-
cognita nifi immortalibus vifuros.

The whole of this fubjeft is worthy of dif-
culTion at large, if I could have ventured to
indulge in it.

Orph. Argonaut. 1. 1116.

»o4- The reader may think I indulge a vein
of ridicule, but it is ferious truth. Orph.
Argonaut.

ETrara Ki[xtAs/ioicri
Nvja ©ovjv iTTuyovTBq 01 re

exf/,fxcp'A it, 7-1 <7rvfi^pof^8 '/is?A0io*

*Ev {MV yxp PiTTccicv opocf Xj KAATllOS.

*Avro7S(xq itpyaa j iTnPcexXtrctt ’TrsAupv)
AcraoviTTia'X^aaaa v}£pac ^Xey^v)*

AbuXoV aV X^V7rT8(7i (pdoq rXVVVIXlEq ‘ AhiTBiq

Klip0i(7i fXE^OTriCTT-iV, X^Xvq ^ BTTlKBKXnXi 112^,
The uniting of the Rhipaean mountain,
Caipe, and the Alps is given up even by the
commentator.

Eyyvq yup vvx.r6q re xp^aroq Uen */^£t'9o(.

Od. K. 86.

Bel. Gal. lib. v. c. 13.

If, by no night, he intends to fay that it
is not abfolutely dark, he is not guilty of an
error.

He feems to mean the Hebrides.

D D 2

were

204 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

were longer than on the continent. Pytheas of Marfeilles went
farther north himfelf, he was at Thule, or Iceland ; and here, he
fays, .the day and night were each of fix months continuance; a
fad which is true only immediately at the pole,, whereas Iceland'
unfortunately is not within the ardic circle.

I have not introduced thefe feveral accounts for the purpofe of
exhibiting them in a ludicrous view, but to fhew that travellers,,
poets, and hiftorians, have all confpired in placing a true phasno-
menon in a falfe latitude. They had all heard that this took place
fomewhere m the north, and they have all fixed it at the extremity^
of their own knowledge, or the knowledge of the age they lived
in.- If, therefore, I cannot acquit Arrian or Nearchus of a fimilar
error, I have at leaft, according to my promife, given them fuch
companions in their error as to^ reconcile the reader, in fome degree,
to a vanity which feems* to have pervaded fo great a proportion of
our ancient authors, and which may be thought pardonable at leaft,
though by no means worthy of imitation. I truft that the general
veracity of Arrian in his detail of fads will not be impeached by*
this one lapfe, and to prevent fuch an imputation is the only ex-
eufe I have to plead for this digreffion. — I now return to condud
Nearchus along the coafl: of the Idhyophagi a, part of his voyage
where he experienced every calamity but adverfe winds, and where
BO commentator has ventured to trace his progrefs..

*C9 Pytheas is reprobated as a fabulifl; by
Strabo, i. 64. ii. 104. 4 but he has found fa-
vour with his countrymen 4 for Huet thinks
him not quite a dealer, in ii^Uon, and Goffelin
difeovers that, though he fpeaks little truth,
he exhibits a knowledge drawn from purer
fources, and a fpecimen of that geography
which, though antecedent to all hidory, was
better than that of the Greeks, This is a fydem

of GolTelin’s, and by no means the valuable
part of his work. Geog. des Grecs, p. 45;^,
et feq.

Pytheas fays, the tropic of Cancer becomes'
{or dands in lieu of) the ar6:fc circle ; which
Goffelin explains, by fuppoling that he means
the tropic of Cancer is always vidble above the
horison. Strab, 114. Gof. 48.

IIL I C T H

I C t H Y O P H A G I. 20^

ni. IGTHYOPHAGI. '

This defolate coaft, extending from Malan to Cape Jafk, Is not
lefs than four hundred and fifty miles In a right line, and nearly fix
hundred and tv/enty-five miles, or ten thoufand ftadia, by the
Gourfe of the fleet. It is not meant, however, to infer that an hun-
dred and feventy-five miles, the difference between thefe two num-
bers, is wholly imputable to the *courfe of the fleet along the fhore ;
for the coaft lies generally ftralght, and the indenture of the bays is.
not deep. We may fuppofe that the preffure of famine augmented
the' efforts of the navigators ; while the acquifition of a pilot, and
the advantage of the prevailing wind, contributed to lengthen eacff
day’s courfe. We fhall find, therefore, that their progrefs was now
fometimes a thoufand ftadia, or upwards of fixty miles a-day ; and
as proofs will arife, that they did not always adhere fo clofely to^
the fhore as in the other parts of their voyage, it may be prefumed'
their means of judging diftances were diminifhed, which caufed>
part of the error in their reckoning ; and which error naturally
tended to increafe their eftimation of the meafure.

It Is neceffary to premife thefe circumftances, becaufe the ftadlum-
^of d’Anville is lefs applicable to this coaft, exactly In proportion to
the difference between four hundred and fifty and fix hundred anci
twenty-five ; and as no fuch. variation occurs In the former part of
the voyage, and none fo great will occur in the gulph- of Perfia, It
becomes more requifite to point out ih.h caufes of variation here; the

Strabo fays feven thoufand. four hundred^ p. 720. This will be examined more cor»
redtly hereafter.

principal'

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

principal of which are, the dlftreffes that caufed dlftances to appear
longer, at the fame time that they engaged the mind too much to
allow of accurate calculation.

A coaft which furnllhed nothing but fifh, which afforded no cha-
rafterlftic diftlnd:lon to Its inhabitants but the name of Fifh-eaters,
prefented no confoling ideas to a body of Greeks, with whom the
want of bread was always confidered as famine and though turtle
is mentioned as found on this coaft by Arrian, and a tribe called
Turtle-eaters by Marcian of Heraclea, it is not to be fuppofed,
that becaufe turtle affords a delicious repaft in modern eftimation,
that it was by any means acceptable to a Grecian palate. I rather
fufpe£t that Ifthyophagl and Chelonophagi ftand in the Greek text
as appellations bordering on contempt, or at leaft as intimations of
mifery ; and though I can find no exprefs teftimony of antipathy
conceived by the Greeks againft this fpecies of food, neither can I
find any evidence that they made ufe of it, as is noticed in regard
to the fliell-fifh found in the Port of Alexander and the river
Arabis. We fhall have reafon to obferve as we proceed, that fifh is

almoft the only means of fupporting life, or furnifhing the con-
veniences of life, fuch as they are, to the natives ; that their houfes
are conftrudled with the larger bones of fifh, and thatched with
the refufe ; that their garments are of filh-fkins ; that their very

Tirocj the general iterm, means bread,
as bread with us is the general term for food.
There are many inftances of the Greeks con-
fidering the want of bread as famine ; ^nd a
very particular one in Roman hiftory. At
Avaricum Csfar’s troops had plenty of meat
but no bread, and this was confidered by him
as a fufficient reafon to offer to his army a pro-
pofal for quitting the fiege.

Hudfon. Geog. 'Min. Mar. Herac.

The whale, which we fhall hereafter find
frequented this coaft, might fupply ample ma-
terials, as we fee by the jaw fufticiently com-
mon in England. Shells, or rather large
conchs, are mentioned, lib. vi. p. 262, as
forming part of thefe houfes, perhaps the
roof.

bread

ICTHYOPHAGL

207

is a iiiliy fubftance pounded and preferved ; and that even the
few cattle they have, feed on fifh. The fame obfervations occur to
modern travellers who have vifited this coaft. Thevenot, Taver-
nier, and Niebhur, feem to comprehend the coaft of Perfis and
Karmania as under the fame circumftances with that of the I£i:hy-
ophagi ; and Edward Barbofa, who was pilot on board one of the
Portuguefe fleets which firft vifited this coaft about the year one
thbufand five hundred and nineteen, has the following remarkable
paflfage : They have few ports, little corn or cattle ; their coun-

try is a low plain and defert ; their chief fupport is fifh, of
vrhich they take fome of a prodigious fize ; thefe they fait,
‘‘ partly for their own ufe and partly for exportation ; they eat
their fifh dry, and give dried fifh likewlfe to their horfes and
other cattle So invariable has been the mifery of this coaft

for two thoufand years I and fo pofitive are the aflertions of modern
voyagers in correfpondence with the teftimony of Arrian !

The modern name of Mekran appears to be the Perfian or Indian
appellation for the whole of this coaft from the Indus to Kerman
or Karmania, fo called in the firft inftance from its commencement
at the Indus or Mehran, and augmented afterwards by the title of
Kutch Mekran, from Kidge or Kutch the capital ; diftinguifhed,
however, by the more modern divifion of Bloachee and Brodia, the
limit of which is at Guadel : but in the time of Alexander the title
of Ifthyophagi was confined to the inhabitants of the coaft, while
the country within land, from the confines of the Oritas to Karma-
nia, was ftyled Gadrofia, almoft equally defolate, and as incapable of
fupporting an army as the coaft.

Ramufio, voL i. p. 295.

This

io8 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

This country Alexander had evidently entered before the fleet
had reached Kokak, as Leonnatiis joined Nearchus at that flation,
having been left behind for that purpofe when the main army had
advanced into Gadrofia. The difficulties this army experienced are
foreign to the prefent purpofe, but the attention Alexander paid to
the prefervation of the fleet is connedbed with the voyage ; and a
reference to his condudb will tend more effedbually to ^^exculpate him
from the charge of vanity imputed to him In this part of his expe-
dition^ than any other arguments which can be produced.

It Is mentioned exprefsly, that when Alexander entered this
province it was his Intention to proceed along the coaft, to examine
what harbours it aflbrded, to fink wells, and provide whatever elfe
might afford accommodation for the fleet ; but he foon found that,
from the nature of the countBy, this was impradllcable. He fent down
Thoas, however, with a fmall body of horfe to make obfervations,
which amounted to no more than a confirmation of the mifery of
the few inhabitants to be found there ; and that even water, which
was fcarce was brackifh alfo, and obtained only by opening
holes in the fand or beach. The army, therefore, was obliged to
advance inland ; and here the length of the marches to reach water
harraffed the men and killed the beafls. It happened, however

Arrian, lib.vi. 262. Strabo, lib. xv,

722.

When we find in Otter, tom. i. p, 409,
no lefs than five rivers fpecified in this pro-
vince, we may be led to think, that more is
faid of the want of water than is true ; but I
fhall (hew hereafter, (fee article Cyiza, river
Hydriakus,) that two at leail of thefe rivers
were fait or brackifli, and from the nature of
the foil all alon^ the coaft, defcribed both by

ancients and moderns as fait or nitrous, it
may be prefumed that all the waters in the
country partook of this quality. Such Ar-
rian reprefents them here, and fuch Lieute-
nant Porter fays they are at Sommeany, If
the Sommeany river itfelf were not brackifh,
the natives would not have caufe to open the
fands for better, and the water in thefe open -
ings ceafes to rife freftt the fecond or third
day..

that

I C T H Y O P H A G I. 209

that at one ftation he met with a fupply of com, and this, not-«
withftanding his own wants, he deftined for the fupport of the
fleet, fixing his feal upon it, and ordering It to be conveyed down
to the coaft ; but diftrefs prevailed over the fear of punifhment ;
the efcort broke the feal, and fupported their own lives by the
fupply entrufted to their charge ; neither did Alexander, knowing
their fufferings, think this a time to punlfh their offence. He made
a fecond attempt by fending down Cretheus with another fupply of
no great importance, and a third when he difpatched Telephus with
a fmall proportion of corn ready ground, having previoufly directed
the natives in the upper provinces to collect dates, fheep, or even
fait provifions, if by any means the prefervation of the fleet could
be effedled. Sixty days did the army ftruggle with their diftrefles
before they reached Pura the capital of this defert ; and during
one part of their progrefs fo imminent was the danger, from the
failure of water and the Ignorance of the guides, that had not
Alexander put himfelf at the head of five horfe, (all that were ca-
pable of fervice,) and pufhed down to the fea-fide, where he found
water by opening the fands, it is confidently afferted that the whole
army rnuft have perifhed. They proceeded along the coaft for feven
days, fupplied by the fame means, till the guides recovered the
track, and conduced them fafe to Poora

There Is fomething in this account winch induces us to think that
one diftrefs, the want of water, would have been lefs experienced
on the coaft than within land ; and during thefe feven days it is

Strabo. Arrian fays exprefsly, from Cheref-eddin, vol. ii. p. 417. French edition,
the time they left Ora. Poora, which is the Poreg or Phoreg of the

I (hall write Poora, which is ihe Greek Nubian Geographer, feems however ftill a
pronunciation. place of fome relative importance,

The prefent capital of Mekran is Kidg<™.

E F

probable

210

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

probable that Alexander, feeing nothing of his fleet, defpaired of
its fafety ; for he could not know that Nearchus had been detained
near a month by the monfoon, nor properly calculate the reafon of
his delay. It is certain that Nearchus found water in the fame man-
ner as the king ; both were directed by the natives, and feveral
voyagers acquaint us, that wherever palm-trees grow, however
arid the foil, there is always water to be found, by opening the
ground to the depth of from ten to fifteen feet.

I cannot account for the fixty days attributed to this march
through Gadrofia; the diftance through a fandy defert could not be
much longer than by fea ; and how four hundred and eighty
miles *** fhould require fuch a length of time feems a confiderable
difficulty. Arrian mentions that the marches were protraded to the
deftrudlion of numbers; and Strabo fpecifies that they were two hun-
dred four hundred, and even fix hundred ftadia, that is, fome-
times as high as thirty-feven miles a-day ; a length incredible ; and
the more the length is increafed, the lefs it agrees with the number
of the days.

As no folution of thefe difficulties occurs, I fhall only ftate the
pofition of the army at Poora and the fleet at Malana, according to
the dates given by the hiflorians ; and this feems neceffary, as we

The palm grows in Egypt ; and when
the Egyptians had poifoned the water in the
Kalifh of Alexandria, Csefar opened wells on
the coaft.

*** Four hundred and eighty miles give
eight miles a-day ; a march not too fliort in
an impradicable country, if it can be made to
accord with the other forced marches ; and
perhaps we ought to compenfate the particular
length of fome days march, with the general
diiSculties which rendered others fliort.

There is fomething unaccountable in
Strabo’s ftadia, for if they are thofe of d’An-
ville, two hundred are only twelve miles and
an half ; no very extraordinary day’s march ;
and if they are the Olympian ftadia, fix hun-
dred make feventy-ftve miles ; a march which
is impoftlble.

Miles Englifti. Miles Roman,
200 ftadia of d’Anville, izf Olympian, 25

400 ditto, 25 Ditto, 50

600 ditto, — 37 A Ditto, 75

I C T FI Y^O P FI A G L . 211

fhall have no farther reference to Alexander till Nearchus found him
in Karmanla. He had left Pattala a month or fix weeks before Near-
chus, that is, fome time in Auguft ; what time he continued in
the country of the Arables and Oritse does not appear, but from a
circumftance which occurred in Gadrofia, and the fixty days em-
ployed in that province, we fhall bring him to Poora”*^ in the latter
end of November ; and as Nearchus reached Malana on the twenty-
feventh of November, we may conjecture that the feven days’
march of Alexander along the coaft of the ICthyophagi, at the
weftern extremity, took place during the very time Nearchus lay at
Malana, or had juft commenced his courfe at the eaftern limit of
the fame tribe. I have entered into thefe particulars in order to
conned the motions of the fleet and army, and have no fmall plea-
fure in finding that they correfpond with each other. Another ob-
jed was to prove, in oppofition to all the hlftorians, that the pene-
tration through the defert wxas not a mere idle fuggeftion of vanity,
but part of that great defign which Alexander had conceived of
opening a communication by fea with India : the three attempts
which he made in the midft of his own dlftrefs to aifift the fleet,
eftablifh this point as the firft objed of his mind ; and the lofs
which he fuffered fell perhaps chiefly upon the Afiatics, who
now compofed the bulk of his army, for the Macedonians do
not appear to have been weakened, either upon their arrival in
Karmanla, or from the tranfadions in which they were afterwards
engaged.

See Anamis, infra. he is miftaken, as he difagrees both with the Nu-

»2'4- Otter* tom. i. 40S, mcntionsKie, or Guie, bian Geographer and Cheref-eddin. Jt fliouJd
as the capital of Mekran ; but as he makes Kie feem that Phoreh is the ancient, and Kidsj the
and Kiji, or Kidsj, two diftindl places, and dif- modern capital. ‘
eindt they really are, it is highly probable that

E E 2 We

2i2 ‘ FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

ICTHYO-
P H A G I .

Bag AS I R A,
Nov. 28.
Fifty- fcventh
day.

Thirteenth

nation.

We left Nearchiis at Malana on the twenty-feventh of Novemberj
where he ftaid only tliat day, and, weighing at night, proceeded
thirty-feven miles to Bagafira. There was a good harbour here,, and
a village called Pafira about four miles up the country. The
fite of this ftation anfwers to a creek in Porter’s chart to the eaft-
ward of Cape Arraba, and which, in Mafcall’s chart, obtains the
name of Jerkumutty but the diftance is only fifteen miles. We
cannot, however, well be miftaken, becaufe the next day’s fail is
round Cape Arraba; and as no diftance is fpecified for the doubling
of that promontory, the thirty-feven miles applied to the whole are
fufficiently correfpondent : the text does not juftify this allotment,
but as the Cape is a fixed point, there is little danger of an error.

Upon the mention of Ba-gafira, I rnuft be permitted to notice^
that the term Gafira indicates an Arabian navigation on this coaft
previous to the age of Alexander ; for it is neither more or lefs
than Gefira, fignifying in Arabic an iftand or peninfula confefledly,.
and, as I apprehend, a cape likewife. It is remarkable that, on the
coaft of the Idhyophagi, this term occurs twice, in Ba-Gafira the
firft ftation but one, and Da-Gafira the laft but one. It occurs, like-
wife, in the Periplus of the Erythraean fea, with the tranfpofition of
a fy liable, where Ba-rygafa is either Guzerat or the gulph of
Cambay, and Ba-rygafa corrected is exaftly the Ba-Gafira ap-
plied by Arrian to the bay eaft of Arraba. I appeal, then.

‘*5 De la Rochette places Pafira to the
weftward of Cape Arraba infiead of the eaft-
ward ; and his whole diftance from the To-
meras to the Cape is reduced to nothing. Has
he not miftaken the jerkumutty creek for the
Tomer us i Pafira is poflibly a corruption of
Bagafira.

This chart of Mafcall’s is not from his
own obfervation, and therefore far from cor-

redl. Jerkumutty is ill applied ; it belongs to
Churmut, the Calametta of the Portuguefe,
the Kalama of Arrian. From the firft view of
the two words, who would conceive that Jer-
kumutty and Kalama were related ?

The fluctuation or corruptions of this
word are endlefs ; for we find Gaflra, Gefira,
Geriza, Geziret, Dsjefiret, Guzerat, &c. &c.

ICTHYOPHAGI.

2IJ.

to the profeffors of Oriental literature for the interpretation of
Ba, for it is a component part of many names on this coaft, as
Ba-lomus, Bar-na, Ba-dara, A-la-ba-geion, Ba-geia, Ba-dis ; and,
wherever it is etnployed, I can point out a gulph or bay, as it is
ufed in Ba-rygaza for the gulph of Cambay, and in this paflage of
Arrian, for the bay formed by Cape Arraba. I had looked for an
oppofition in Ba and Da, fufpedting that Da, Dah, or Dagh
fignlfied the head of a cape, and Ba the 7ieck or faUhtgdn of the
land^ in contradiftlndlion ; but my friend Dr. Ruffell, whom I con-
fulted, gave me no hope of finding any fuch primitives in Arabic,
where they ought to be looked for. I have only to add, that as a
bay‘^^ occurs almoft to a certainty in every inftance where Ba is ap-
plied as an adjundl, it is an extraordinary coincidence of found with
our native term ; and I look with no little curiofity to an etymology
of it, if it fhould be difeovered in Arabic, Perfic, Pehlvi, Shanfkreet,
or any native dlaledl of the coaft.

The fleet weighed from Ba-gafira early in the morning, and
ftretched out round the cape, which projedled far into the fea, and
appeared high and bold* After doubling the head, they were
obliged to ride at anchor without landing the men, as the furf ran
high upon the flmre : fome of the people, however, were with
difficulty landed, in order to procure water ; this was effedled by
opening pits upon the beach, but the quantity was fmall and bad.
Though Arrian has affigued no name to this cape, there is no poffi-
bility of a miftake in calling it Cape Arraba, a name which ftill
preferves the title of Arables, given to the Belootches by Arrian, whofe

Dagk, in TurkiOi, is a iiLOuntain ; and Our word Bay, is from Beagan to curve

Dahr, in Perfic, a head officer; if derived or bend. Junius in voce,
from any root fignifying a head it would an- Pclrofum Httus, according to

fwer in this inftance ; but that is not allowed the iranftators.
by Mr. Jones or Dr. Rufiell.

influence.

Cape

Arrubah>.

Arraba.
Ar R u B A K.

Nov. 29.
Fifty-eighth-
day.

Fourteenth

ftation.

214-

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

influence, as I have before obferved, reaches much farther weftward
at prefent than this promontorya The Ifland Karnine, Vvrhicli Arrian
places two day’s fail from hence, correfponds fo precifely with
Afhtola the only ifland v/orthy of notice on the coaft, that there
can be no error in aflhming both names for the fame fpot; and if
the ifland is right, the cape cannot he mifplaced.

The next day’s fail was only twelve miles and an half to Kolta;
and that of the day following fomething more than thirty-leven to
Kalama

I have before taken notice that the meafures on this coaft tend
almoft regularly to an excefs, and the numbers fpecifled between
Malana and Kalama prove this. Fourteen hundred ftadia produce

Sbcteenth^* eighty-fcveii miles; and if I had added a diftance for doubling the.
flation. cape, the difproportion would have been ftill greater. In eighty-

feven miles there is an excefs of twenty-two, for Commodore Ro-
binfon’s furvey gives only fixty-five ; and in my account there
can be no miftake, unlefs I have been too defirous to make Malana
and Moran the fame, which is hardly polTible, as ' the previous
meafures all correfpond. We muft impute, therefore, this excefs
either to the circuitous courfe round the cape, which feems more
than requifite, confidering the wind which blew ; or to the error of
Nearchus’s reckoning. I incline to the latter, becaufe I confider the
cape and Kalama as fixed points ; the former from the circuraftances of
the navigation, the latter by the mention of an ifland lying off fliore
at this point. For I have been enabled to difeover the pofition of

Ptolemy has an ifland in this Tea called there is every reafon to fappofcj that, how«
Afihaea, placed by his longitude indeed oppo- ever mifplaced, Aflh^a has a relation to
fite to the river Arabis ; but as there is no Afhtola.

confpicuous ifland on the coaft except Aftitola, Kalama, Kalyba. Gron. MS.

1 1 Kalama

Kolta,
Nov. 30.
Fifty-ninth
day.

Fi fteenth
ftation.

K A L A M A .

Dec. I.

I C T H Y O P H A G I. 215

Kalama by extraordinary good fortune, and find that the Churmut
river of Robinfon is fynonymous : if this is capable of proof,
what latitude ought not to be given to conjedtural reconciliations?
What credit is not due to Mr. Dalrymple, who recommends the
prefervation of all names as they ftand in authors who have vifited
the fpot ? In a Portuguefe manufcript of Reflende, in the Britifh
Mufeum, we have a map of this coaft, in which Paflaum (Poffem)
is laid down very well, and the next Ration on the eaft, Rio de
Kalameta. Kalameta [Kaulmet] is evidently the medium between the
Churmut of Robinfon and the Kalama of Arrian. I confider this
ftation, therefore, as fixed with the utmoft precifion ; and the illand
Aflitola, or Karnine, mentioned by Arrian as lying off this place,
completes the evidence.

That Karnine is the modern Afhtola, there can be no doubt ;
for though the journal places it about feven miles from the coaft,
while it is in reality double that diftance, this ought not to appear
a difficulty, for Nearchus did not vifit it. It is vifible from Cape
Arraba, and perhaps during the whole paflage to Kalama ; but, in
judging diftances by the eye, poffibly Nearchus was not fo fleilful
as our modern feamen. Lieutenant Porter defcribes Afhtola as nearly
three miles long, with two or three bays on the north lide, where
turtle may be caught in great abundance : the paffage between this
and the main is clear ; but on the fouth fide there is a rock with foul
ground, and overfalls for twelve miles. From the fame memoir we
have an account of the coaft from Cape Arraba, on the eaft fide
of which a bay runs in fo deep as to make the cape appear like

Karnina. Kanina. Gron, MS. opt, It is in that bay I place the anchor-

Lieutenant Porter, p. 4, age.

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK

ixB

Ka REIS

Coast.
Kys A

Village.

Dec. 2.
Sixty-firll
day.

Seventeenth

ftation.

Kissa.

an ifland with a fmaller one that has fhoal-water on the weftern
fide. The coaft from hence to the v^eftward is very craggy for
feven or eight miles, being, as I imagine, the termination of that
branch which fhoots from the great chain inland, to the fea, form-
ing the boundary between the territory of the Oritse and Gadro-
fia; and the rife to this branch poflibly commences at Moran.

At Kalama, the natives were difpofed to be hofpitable ; they fent
a prefent of fifh on board, and fome flieep ; but the very mutton
was fifhy, as were all the fowls they met with on the coaft : neither
is this extraordinary, for there was no herbage to be feen ; and
the animals, as well as the inhabitants, fed on fifti. A few palm
trees were obferved about the village, but the dates were not in
feafon

From Kalama they fet fail the following day, and, after a courfe
of little more than twelve miles, anchored at Karbis, which is the
name of an open fhore, with a village called Kyfa, about two miles
from the fea The inhabitants fled upon the approach of the
fhips, and nothing was found in the place but the boats which the
wretched fifhermen of the coaft ufed, and fome goats which they
feized and carried on board. Corn they fearched for without fuc^
cefs, and their own ftock was almoft exhaufted.

An additional reafon for its name, Ba-
Gafira.

in the text. Green.

It is not impoffible that the appearance of
this fruit may be adduced to determine the fea-
fon of the voyage ; for thofe who have been
on this or the neighbouring coafts, cannot be
ignorant of the time of year, when the date
is green. I know not how to fuppofe that
this can be the cafe in a northern latitude*
however near the tropic, in December ; nor.

on the other hand, could T eafily abandon all
the data, by which I have determined the fea-
fon of the voyage, from a contradidlion of
this kind. However the naturaliOs may de-
termine this point, the monfoon, which regu-
lates my whole procefs, is, in my eftimation,
a foundation which cannot be removed.

Gron. MS. opt. K’ffa.

Probably what they had obtained from
Leonnatus,

The

ICTHYOPHAGI.

217

The following day they doubled a cape which prcjedled nine
miles into the fea, and, after getting round, anchored in a fafe
harbour called Mofarna.

As Mofarna is the ftation at which the voyage is to affume a new
appearance, it becomes neceffary to eftablifh the fite of it with
precifion ; and in this there would be no difficulty if there were any
harbour, bay, or bight within a day’s courfe from Cape Paffence.
The cape we cannot be miftaken in, as the ifland of Karnine, or
Afhtola, fixes Kalama, and the courfe from thence ; while the pro-
jedtion of r Arrian’s namelefs cape correfponds almoft exactly with
that affigned to Cape Pafl'ence or Pofmee by Lieutenant Porter : but
there is, in fadt, no harbour here, or what might be deemed an har-
bour"^'’ even for a Greek fleet, reprefented in the charts ; and Commo-
dore Roblnfon affured me that the chart of his furvey is accurate. If fo,
modern geography can afford us no affiftance, and wc muft only fup-
pofe that, if fuch a harbour formerly exifted, it is now choked up.
That there was one can hardly be‘ doubted, for Mofarna is compa-
ratively confpicuous, being mentioned both by Ptolemy and Marcian
as the boundary of Karmania and Gadrofia. Where to fix that
boundary inland may be a difficulty ; but Arrian, who calls the
country inland Gadrofia, and the coaft Idlhyophagi, takes no notice
of Karmania till he comes to Cape Jafk. On the contrary, Ptolemy
and Marcian confider the whole coaft as Karmania from Mofarna to
Cape Jafk ; and from thence to the river Bagrada in the gulph of
Perfia. Be this as it may, my prefent purpofe is to fhew that Mo-
farna muft be placed at fome Ihort diftance to the weftward of Cape

Passe NCE.

POSM EE

Cape.

MoSA R NA
Harbour.
Dec. 3.
Sixty-fecond
day.

Eighteenth

ftation.

No day fpeci-
fied by Ar-
rian, but al-
lowed.

Iv KK>.vcrru IS Arrlan^s cxpreffion ; It means land-locked, or at leaft fo ftieltered as
to be a quiet harbour.

F F

Paffence,

2i8

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

Paffence, in confequence of the fleet having doubled the cape that
day, and come to an anchor near it in the evening. xArrian gives na^
number of ftadia for this day’s work, except his mention of the ex-
tent of the promontory; and as we have met with the fame omiffion
on the doubling of Cape Irus or Monze, v/hen the fleet anchored
immediately in the bay which joins it, we may conclude the fame
circumftance took place upon the prefer^t occafion.

There is a paffage in Lieutenant Porter^s memoir, which, if I
underftand it right, confirms the pofition I aflume for Mofarna*
Cape Pofmee appears like the top of an old barn in coming from
“ the eaftward, but varies according to its different points of view,
which I have endeavoured to delineate as exadl: as poflible and
from whence is formed a frnall bay, at the bottom of which is
a fmall town called according to the name of the cape, chiefly
‘‘ inhabited by fiflaermen.” Now if it is allow^able to interpret
(from whence^) from Cape Pofmee, that is,* to the weft ward of
Pofmee, this pofition would anfwer exadlly ; but it is evident the
chart does not authorife this, for the chart places the village of
Paffence or Pofmee eaftward of the cape, and in the bay formed by
the projection; and here, if the text of Arrian had not been pofi-
tivG to the contrary, I fhould have placed Mofarna.

I ftate the evidence on both fides, and I confefs^ my difappoint-
ment in not being able to reconcile the. apparent difference, as this
village is ftill a point for the caravans to make from within land;

and the dingies"^*, or veflels of the country, ftill refort hither
for dates, cotton, dried hides, and falt-fifh ; a trade which gives a
relative importance to the place, conformably to my ancient
authorities^

Lieutenant Portsn.

I'C T H Y O P H A G I. 219

At Mofarna, Nearchus found a pilot who undertook to condud:
the fleet to the gulph of Perfia ; he was a native of Gadrofia, and
from the name (Hydraces) given him by Arrian, I imagine, an in-
habitant of Hydriacus, a town near the bay of Churbar or Chewa-
bad, which I ihall hereafter have occafion to mention. The minute
circumftance of meeting with a pilot at this place denotes fomething
more commercial than any thing that has yet occurred on the coaft;
and Arrian fuggefts, that from hence to the gulph of Perfia the
voyage was more pradicable, and the ftations better known.
Upon the acquifition of Hydraces, or the Hydriacan, two circum-
fiances occur, that give a new face to the future courfe of the
voyage ; one is, the very great addition to the length of each day’s
courfe ; and the other, that they generally weighed during the night :
the former depending upon the confidence they acquired by having
a pilot on board ; and the latter, on the nature of the land breeze.
I muft recur to both thefe circumftances as foon as the fleet leaves
Mofarna ; but, at prefent, I (hall take the opportunity of laying
down the detail of this coaft from Mofarna to Badis,’ where it ends,
by forming a Table from Ptolemy and his copyift Marcian, com-
pared with the order of Arrian’s ftations, fo that the whole of our
ancient authorities may be exhibited at one view.

Ta aTTo T8^£ aVsTt %a?vE7ra iiy, ccXXci in oppofition to thofe obfcure coarts or villages
/xaAAai' n sfs sTTi rov ko^ttov rov where they had hitherto landed. Names more

U^a-iKov. Which Rooke tranrtates : Lefs difi- familiar ; at leafl; I have not witten non-
cult to be pajfedy though much more famous in fenfe.

fory. Porter bears evidence to the better appear-

1 am not fure that I render right, ance of the country between Churbar and Jartc, ^

but I apprehend it means, places better known, p, 9.

F F 2

TABLE

aao

FROM THE INDUS

TO CAPE JASK.

to 43Z of Arrian’s ftadia.

I C T H Y O P H A G L aai

In this Table I have given the number of ftadia as they appear in
Arrian and Marcian ; but as all Greek numerals are defeftive, and
as I have already partly accounted for the inaccuracy of Nearchus’s
reckoning on this coaft, fo I imagine the numerals in Marcian
are ftill lefs to be depended on, his total rarely agreeing ’with his
particulars, and his order of names not being corredf. Equally in-
accurate are the longitudes of Ptolemy, and yet, from a comparifon
of the three, the whole may admit of regulation, and the errors be
made mutually to corredt each other : of this fomething more will
be faid. If I prefer the authority of Arrian, it is not from predi-
ledtion, but becaufe Nearchus’s journal, ftanding upon each day’s
work in the order it arofe, muft be more authentic (if we have a
faithful copy of it) than any thing Ptolemy could obtain from the
information of others.

The Table commences from Mofarna, and ends at Bombareek,
the Karpella of Ptolemy-

It does not appear that any fupply was procured for the fleet at
Mofarna but water and perhaps fifh ; but taking the pilot on
board, they weighed anchor in the night, and proceeded forty-
feven miles to Balomus. The length of this day’s courfe is fuch
as has not occurred before, and muft therefore be imputed to the
charge Hydraces had taken of the fleet ; and we fliall find, on fome
of the following days, their courfe extended to even fifty-five or
fixty miles ; not that it is intended to alfert that thefe meafures are
corredf, but only that their progrefs was much increafed and per-

Marcian himfelf acknowledges the great Dried fiCh he fpecifies as an article of trade ;
difficulty of giving diftances accurately, from a and adds, Water is to be procured here in
variety of caufes, in the proem to hb work, the fame manner as at Sommeany. Goats
well worth confulting. ** alfo, but very lean, and not reafonable,’*

Ka. v^wp h w«£ov. The people are Bloch ees, W wry ciwh

And if Paffence is Mofarna, Lieutenant Seven hundred and fifty Itadia,

Porter’s memoir is in perfed correfpondence,

haps

Balomus.

Dec. 4.
Sixty-third
day.

Not fpecified,
but allowed.
Nineteenth
ftation.

222 FROM TFIE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

haps their ideas magnified in proportion. The circumftance of their
failing in the night is likewife to be noticed, for though this may
have occurred accidentally before, we fhall now find it a prevailing
praftice; and as this is an additional proof of the advantage gained by
the acquifition of a pilot, it is important to confider the caufe which
led to the adoption of this prad:ice.

I know not that I am authorifed to fay, it is an univerfal caufe,
but doubtlefs it is general, that in every region within the limits
of the trade winds or monfoons, a land breeze blows during the
night, and a fea breeze during the day. Mr. Marfden, in his
Hiftory of Sumatra has given a curious and philofophical ac-
count of the means by which thefe effedts are produced. With the
caufe I am not concerned, but the effedt is, that, ‘‘ on the weft
coaft of Sumatra, the fea breeze ufually fets in, after an hour or
two of calm, about ten in the forenoon, and continues till near
fix in the evening ; about feven, the land breeze comes off, and
prevails through the night, till towards eight in the morning,
when it gradually dies away This is Mr. Marfden’s account ;
and if his reafoning upon the caufe is juft, as apparently it is, it
muft produce the fame effe£t wherever the fame circumftances exift ;
and that this effedt takes place upon the coaft where we are now em-
ployed, is a faft capable of proof.

Captain David Rannie mentions the land breeze upon this
coaft, as well as thofe of Malabar and Guzerat ; and he adds after-
wards exprefsly, if a land wind blows from thefe coafts, either
in the night or morning, a fhip working along may depend upon

a fea breeze, or at leaft a wind along the coaft, from the north
1

From p. 15 to p. 19. j5^

In Mr. Dalrympie’s Colledtion, p. 87^ et feq. P. 88.

“ weft-

I C T H Y O P H A G h

22J

weftward to carry her in fliore again, and neither is the land
or fea breeze ever attended with fqualls of thunder or rain, as the
land wdiids frequently are on every coaft of India.”

Here is a colledlion of circumflances dependant on the invariable
courfe of nature, which throws more light upon the journal we are
contemplating than could have been expedled to be obtained at the
diftance of fo many ages the tranquillity of the fea, the advantage
of different breezes, and the fecurity of navigation, all contribute to
the accompliihment of this voyage, as a prelude to the communica-
tion with India, in veffels of fuch a fort as mufl probably have
perifhed on any other coaft of equal extent but there is a pecu--
liarity in this evidence of Captain Rannie, that accounts for a cir-
cumftaiice in the voyage which, without it, would have been in-
explicable. We have feen the fleet pafs two capes, Arraba and
Pofmee, with fome fymptoms of alarm or difficulty, and both no-
ticed in the journal ; but we are now approaching a third at Guadel,
which Arrian never mentions. We fhould reafonably be furprifed at
this, as the doubling of a cape is always an atchievement. in the efti-
mation of a Greek navigator; but having now a native pilot on board
who was doubtlefs acquainted with the nature of the winds, it is
evident he took advantage of the land breeze to give the fleet an
offing, and an head-land was no longer doubled by creeping round
the fhore to its extreme point. This is clearly the reafon why we
hear nothing in Arrian of Ptolemy’s Alabagium or Alambateir,.

“ Before yoa come to Cape Guadel,
if the eaftern monfoon leave you when you
“ crofs the tropic, your befl courfe is to ftand
in for the fhore, and fo ply it up ; becaufe
** there you (hall have the land breezes in the
nightj and the fea breezes in the day many
times, and alfo a current fetting to the
vvedvvard, until it meet with the current ofF

1 1

** the gnlph.’^ J. Thornton, in Dalrymple^s
Colleftion, p. 66.

From, the Arabic article A1 in this word,
I find freih proof of an Arabian navigation oh
this coafl:; and I am perfuaded that Al-abagium
and Al-ambateir will be found to have an
Arabic etymology.

the

224

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

the prominent feature of this coaft ; the difficulty was furmounted
without danger, and therefore paffed over without notice. I anti-
cipate this obfervation as it is connedted with the knowledge of the
winds, which we have here acquired, and with the fkill of Hydraces,
who was now on board.

Balomus is not noticed by Ptolemy or Marcian, nor is their Zo-
rambus mentioned by Arrian ; if, therefore, it had flood in the jour-
nal poflerior to Barna, inftead of prior, there would have been little
doubt of its correfpondence with Zorambus. Even now, there is
reafon to fuppofe it the fame, from the refpedlive omiffions ; and if,
upon thefe grounds, it fhould be thought right to reduce the three
to a confiftency by an inverfion of the order, Nearchus might claim
the preference, as his journal is kept from day to day. The refem-
blance of names would juftify the following corredlion, upon which
the preceding Table has been conflrudled.

Ptolemy and Marcian,
Mofarna.

Badara, or Barada.
Zorambus.

Kophas.

Derenobila,

Alambatier.

Arrian.

Mofarna.

Balomus.

Barna.

Dendrobofa.

Kophas.

rcmmmmmmmmmmmmimm

Ptolemy ajtd Marcian
reduced to Arrian.

Mofarna.

Zorambus.

Barada.

Derenobila.

Kophas.

GuadeL

The diftances are omitted in both ; thofe of Arrian becaufe they
are evidently too large, and thofe of Marcian becaufe they do not
correfpond. The real diflance by the chart is not more than feventy
miles, or, with allowance for the coaft, eighty-two ; whereas the
particulars of Arrian make the total one hundred and nine, and thofe
of Marcian fixty-two.

Balomus

I C T H Y O P H A G L

Baloinus is a village on an open fhore, and no day is fpecified in
the journal till they arrived at Dendrobofa. A day is, notwith-
ftandlng, allowed to each ftation which is named, as an error is of
lefs importance on this fide than on the other, and may be eafily
corrected, if the excefs is too great, when Nearchus joins the
army again in the gulph.

The next ftation is Barna, twenty-five miles from Balomus, a — —
village only, but recommended byfome circumftances of diftin<3;ion; Dec.^5^.*
for here the inhabitants were found not fo utterly favage in their
manners and appearance, and fome cultivation was obferved both of ^arada.

B A D A R A

fruit-trees and gardens. The palm is mentioned without any notice of Ptolemy.

* Twentieth

of its fruit, and the gardens are defcribed as producing flowers and ftation.

myrtle of which they made chaplets ; indulging, for the firft —

time perhaps fince the voyage commenced, one of their native

luxuries. .

/ * 4

From Barna the fleet proceeded'^' twelve miles, to Dendrobofa; and
here the fhips could not approach the ftrore, but rode at anchor. This
circumftance may induce us to fuppofe, that the whole courfe from
Mofarna to this place is the courfe -of one night, and to the evening

DenD RO'-

bosa.
Dec. 6.
Sixty-fifth

day.

of the followinc; day ; if fo, it makes thirteen hundred and fifty Perhaps De-

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ RENOSILLA

ftadia, or eighty-four miles. Both the diftance and the time em- of Ptolemy.

^ Twenty- firft

^l? beft M'S. reads inftead of Kivy-r/mTif . -

The pleafure which the Greeks received their o^xvn headt not the head of the villagers,
from wreaths and chaplets in their convivial J am forry to lofe a circumitance which bears
hours, is too notorious to infift on. The ex- fo much refemblance to the manners of nio-
prefiion, as it ftands in the printed copies, is, dern voyagers; but I think the middle verb,
a.(p oru>v rya IttA/- EwAfYui/Tc, confirms the reading of Gronovius.

fcovro ; rendered, fores 'e qd bus pagan re corollas *53 nepTr^w-ram? intimates a cape or pro-
texebant •, but which fhould rather be, corollre jeftion here; poflibly the high land of Daram
texebantur paganis ittnedendre , A piece of gal- mentioned by Lieutenant Porter; and confe-
lantry either way, not unlike that of Britifh quently Ba has the fenfe nftigned.
failors and Otaheite women. But Gronovius’s

G G

ployed

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK. .

ployed are to be admitted with fome referve, and with this ob-
fervation, that there muft be an excefs In the diftance, as eighty-two
miles would carry us to Alambateir, or Cape Guadel; and Arrian
has ftill four hundred ftadia to Kophas, which precedes it. That the
courfe is only the work of one night and day I am inclined to be-
lieve, though I mark it otherwife In the margin, for the reafon
already given ; and this is the more probable, as the fleet is faid
immediately afterwards to have weighed from hence at mid-
night.

That Dendrobofa is the Derenobilla of Ptolemy^ 'and
that Ptolemy’s order ought to be inverted, receives the fandion
of Hudfon ; who fays, he once thought the fame. Why he
changed his opinion does not appear, but the name dlflfers no
more in reality than Deren-obofa, Deren-obola, Deren-obila, and I
imagine Deren, the conftituent part of the name. Is ftill preferved in
the Daram, or Duram, of Lieutenant Porter, who places this as a
high land on a part of the coaft between Cape Paflence and
Guadel, in a fituation which would correfpond with Deren-obofa ;
as I conjedure Shied and Muddy Peak would agree with the other
names of Arrian, if they had been inferted in Commodore Robin-
fon’s chart.

From Dendrobofa the fleet weighed at midnight, and reached

K^p°h A NT A Kophas after a paflTage of twenty-five miles. And here a variety
Dec. 5. Qf difficulties arife, which I defpair of folving to the fatisfadion of

Sixty-feventh ^ ^

*5® Ptolemy appears to ufe this name as
a plural, Kupuna. It occurs but once in Ar-
rian, and then without an article ; but Marcian
ufes it, aTTo ^8 which marks Kophas

as the right name.

the

Twenty -
fecond
ftation.

The change of letters in this word is
juftified by the organs of fpeech, and exem-
plified in T/pjjv, Greek ; Tener, Latin ; Ten-
der, EngUfb,

*55 Hudfon Geog. Min. Marcian, p. 23.

I C T H Y O P H A G 1. 227

the reader. I place Kophas to the eaftward of Alambateir, or Cape
Guadel, becaufe Ptolemy, Marcian, and Arrian, all concur in the
fame affertion ; but de la Rochette carries it to the weftward, into
the bay formed by the projedion of that headland. This can hardly
be juftified in oppofition to all the ancient authority we have, how-
ever obfcurc it may be. This cape is the moft confpicuous feature
upon the whole coaft, and forms the termination eaftward of a vaft
Imaginary bay, which Ptolemy calls Paragon Sinus, and the author
of the Periplus, Terabdon. The weftern extremity they place at
Karpella fo that if the exiftence of this bay were eftabliftied, It
would be near three hundred miles acrofs ; but it does not exift.
The coaft rifes gently, indeed, about half a degree towards the
north, during its whole courfe ; and though there are two or three
fmall indentures, there is no general curvature whatfoever. The
miftake of Ptolemy (of far lefs magnitude than his error in regard to
the peninfula of India) admits of a folution nearly felf-evident ; for
the fleets from Egypt which failed with the monfoon from the pro-
montory Syagros in Arabia, if they ever made the coaft of Gadro-
fia, made it at this cape of Alambateir, as a point of eminence, and
left all the coaft from Cape Jafk on their left out of fight ; this na-
turally raifed the idea of a curve inwards, becaufe no land was feen;
and if Ptolemy knew any thing of fuch veflels as failed from the
gulph of Perfia, or if any did in reality fail, they alfo, from the
moment they doubled Cape Jafk, took advantage of the monfoon^
and did not creep along the fhore like the fleet of Nearchus, but

*57 Upon confultlng other paffages of Pto- dian Gulph 'd" apparently giving fupport to
lemy, it does not appear that he ufes xoXtto? the idea of calling ^hat fea a gulph which lies
precifely as a bay. H.is xoXtto? in the between the coall of Arabia and Scindy, in

gulph of Perfia, is not a bay ; but Francklin, which the entrance into the gulph of Perfia is
when at Malkat, ufes a peculiar expreflion — difregarded. See Francklin^s Tour, p* 35-
Cape Rofalgat, which is oppofite the Sdn-

GG 2

flood

228 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

flood off from one headland to another, and avoided the interruption
which the land winds or the nature of the fhore prefented. It is,
therefore, the difcovery of Hippalus, the knowledge of the mon-
foons, which preceded the age of Ptolemy, that gave a different
idea of this coaft to the mariners of his time, from whofe inform-
' ation he drew his plan of this great bay; and it is modern geography
alone which has deflroyed his curve, and reflored the right line of
Nearchus. So confiftent is truth, and fo erroneous is conjecture.

We lhall find, however, that the general arrangement of names
in both thefe authors correfponds ; and though it is highly extraor-
dinary that no notice of Cape Guadel occurs in Arrian, ftill as Pto-
lemy places Kyiza immediately to the weftward of Alambateir, and
Kophas to the eafl, we muft admit that the Kyiza of Arrian, coming
next in fucceffion to Kophas, naturally concludes Alambateir be-
tween the two, and reconciles both authors happily to each
other.

CAPE GUADEL.

AL AB AG EION ALAMBATEIR of Ptolemy.

Longitude

Latitude ^

by Ptolemy

lOI

by MacCluer,

and from Ferro,

17 40

Robinfon, 25

Ptolemy correCled by Goffelin,

oj 1

Marcian, as the copyift of Ptolemy, the Arabic Al is vlfible. This is Ptolemy’s
is always included in this ehimate. own word. Alambateir is from Marcian, and

The Weftern point of Guttar Bay is the Latin copies ; and Ambateiris not without
called Ba G El A ; and the etymology of that a relation to Bageion, if it were difcover-
word would explain Ala-Bageion, in which able.

There

I C T H Y O P H A G I. 229

There is fome great error in the copies of Ptolemy here, for
Kyiza is placed 15' to the eaft of Alabagium, although it is to the
weft of it ; and Bagia Prom, in the fame longitude with Alabagium.,
though it is a whole degree to the weft.

The head of Cape Guadel ftr etches out parallel with the coaft like
the Pharos of Alexandria, and being joined to the main. by a neck
of land not half a mile over, makes two bays, one to the eaft ward
and the other on the oppofite fide ; that on the weft is largeft and
moft ilieltered, with twelve or thirteen fathoms at the entrance, and
fhoaling to the upper part. The town* of Guadel is fituated clofe
under the north fide of the cape ; that on the eaft is fmall, and not
well flieltered, in which, however, w^e rnuft luppofe Kophas to
lie, and poflibly near the point marked at its entrance from the eaft.
Mr. Dalrymple has enabled me to prefent the reader with a plan of
this bay, and the foundings will ftiew, that in whatever part of it
we place Kophas, there is a fufiicient depth of water for Greek
gallies ; poftibly, at the favourable time" of the year when Nearchus
lailed, fuch fhelter as the ftiore itfelf afforded was ample fecurity.
Between this bay and the other on the weftern fide there is a necks
w^hich joins the peninfula to the main, and which has been fortifted
by a wall with towers. There are ftill the remains of a town
built with ftbne, but the prefent inhabitants live in mat houfes, and
trade, which has been formerly confiderable, is now ruined by the
miferable ftate of the country Water is procured here by open-
ing pits on the beach ; goats, fheep, and fowls are likew^ife to be

purchafed. c Thefe circumftances, infignificant in themfelves, are of

(

Poflibly a work of the f^ortuguefe, who Lieutenant Porter’s Memoir,

had a fettlement here, if not of more ancient Hamilton mentions this decline in his.

date. time.

fome

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

130

fome confequence to navigators ; and induce a probability that con-
veniences were not lefs attainable here in former ages than at prefent.
Good water is a commodity fpecified in the journal, which adds,
that the place was inhabited by fifhermen, who were poffefled of
fmall and wretched boats, which they managed with a paddle inftead
of an oar. The expreffion is charafteriftic, for Arrian fays, it was
like digging the water with a fpade ; and whoever has feen the New
Zealand canoe, in Cook’s firft voyage, can hardly conceive the idea
reprefented with more precifion.

No where have I found more difficulty to render the narrative
confident, than from Mofarna to this place. Mofarna I have fixed
by the neighbourhood of Affitola and Cape Pofmee, and Kophas Is,

I hope, eftabliffied by means of Ptolemy, and the pofition he gives
to Alambateir ; the diftances appear incapable of correction ; on this
head I have confefled my inability to obtain the truth, and muft hope
for indulgence where the means of information are fo deficient.

Two Iflands are noticed by Ptolemy and Marcian In this neigh-
bourhood ; one called Pola, Polla, or Palla, at fome diftance from •
the coaft, for which I can find nothing equivalent ; and another
named Libe, Liba, or Zibe, clofe to Alambateir ; the latter I con-
clude to be nothing more than this very peninfula of Guadel before
us, which may have been an ifland till connected with the main
by the increafe of the neck of land, or might be confidered as fuch,
like the Pharos of Alexandria.

From Kophas, in the eaftern bay of Guadel, the fleet failed
early in the evening, and, after a courfe of fifty miles, reached

Seen poflibly as an ifland at fea, from About the firft watch ; fix o'clock. This

the lownefs of the coaft, is the third inftance of weighing at night.

Kyiza,

I C T H Y O P H A G I.

a$i

Kyiza, which, by the dlftance fpeclfied, ought to be the Noa Point
of Lieutenant Porter, forming the entrance of Guttar Bay from the
eaftward : but if we are to fuppofe that the eight hundred ftadia,
mentioned for this day’s work, exceed as much as thofe of former
days, we mull place Kyiza on the coaft fomewhat Ihort of Noa
Point ; and for this there is a fulFicient reafon from the next day’s
courfe of four hundred ftadia, which would be evidently too much
for the termination we mull allot. Marcian (if his numbers are
of any value) places Kyiza at fifty miles from Alambateir, or
Cape Guadel.

A plan of Guttar Bay is given in the general Chart, No. I. and
will, by the allowance here made, anfwer in pofition to the tranf-
ailions which are to take place on the following day.

At Kyiza the men could not land, as It was an open Ihore with a
great furf ; they therefore took their meal on board at anchor,
and then weighing, proceeded upwards of thirty miles to a fmall
city placed on an eminence, at no great diftance from the fhore.

This namelefs city is not without features to diftinguilh it ; for
Lieutenant Porter fays, though the land round the bay is fo low,
that you can neither fee the other fide nor the bottom of the bay,
from Noa Point ; yet there is a hummock or two vifible which
appear like illands, and one of thefe hummocks we may afllime for
the eminence of Arrian upon which this city was fituated. “ We

See the Table, where it Is afTumed that
Nearchus reckons, between Kyiza and Talme-
na, from the extreme points of each bay ; that
is, from the eailern point of Guttar Bay to
the wedern point of Churbar.

Kuidfa, or Kuifda, as this word would be
written in Greek letters, approaches very
near to Khudar ; the Oriental orthography
according to Otter, vol, ii. p. 409.

At eight ftadia to a mile, Marcianos
numbers agree with Arrian’s. Fifty miles.

there was a furf, it is an ad-
ditional reafon for placing Kyiza previous to
Noa Point.

E^£t7rvo7roi£ovTo, is not precife enough to
fpecify an evening meal, but is apparently fo.

Kyiza.
Dec. 8.
Sixty-eighth
day.

Allowed.
Kyeza.
Ptolemy.
Twenty-
third ftation.

A SMALI.

City.
Dec. 9.
Sixty -ninth
day.

Twenty-

fourth

ftation.

“ found,”

232 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

found,” fays Lieutenant Porter, fmall town at the bottom of
the bay, inhabited by fifhermen,” Is it not a whimfical coinci-
dence, that at the diftance of two thoufand years, an Englifh navi-
gator fliould find a town without a name, as well as Nearchus ?
i do not build upon this; nor do I affert, that the town I am looking
for ftands where the prefent town does ; this is doubtlefs Guttar ;
but I can place Nearchus’s town any where in the bay that the
polition of a hummock will juftify, and I rather fuppofe on the
weflern fide, as Lieutenant Porter appears to have viewed the hum-
mocks as he entered the bay from the eaft. . '

When the fleet reached this place, it was totally without bread or
grain of any kind; and Nearchus, from the appearance of ftubble In
the neighbourhood, conceived hopes of a fupply if he could find
means of obtaining it ; but he perceived that he could not take the
place by affault ; and a fiege,' the fituation he was in, rendered im-
pradicable. He concerted matters, therefore, with Archias, and
ordered him to make a feint of preparing the fleet to fail, while he
himfelf with a fiiigle veflel, pretending to be left behind, approached
the town in a friendly manner, and was received hofpitably by the
inhabitants. They came out to receive him upon his landing, and
prefented him with baked fifh, (the firft inftance of cookery he
had yet feen on the coaft,) accompanied with cakes and dates
Thefe he accepted with proper acknowledgments, and informed
them he wifhed for permlffion to fee the town : this requefl was
f granted without fufpicion ; but no fooner had he entered, than he

ordered two of his archers to take pofl at the gate, and then mount-

fpeak from authority, but I think the date is
171 n"his does not fpecify the feafon of the gathered in April or May.
npe fruit. They might be dried. I do not

r C T H Y O P H A G L

^3J

lag the wall contiguous, with two more and his Interpreter, he made
the fignal for Archias, who was now under weigh, to advance.
The natives inftantly ran to their arms ; but Nearchus, having taken
an advantageous pofition, made a momentary defence till Archias
was clofe at the gate ; ordering his interpreter to proclaim at the
fame time, that if -they wifhed their city to be preferved from pil-
lage, they muft deliver up their corn, and all the provifions which
the place afforded. Thefe terms were not rejedted, for the gate was
open, and Archias ready to enter ; he took charge of this poll im-
mediately with the force which attended him, and Nearchus fent

proper officers to examine fuch ftores as were in the place, promifmg

the inhabitants that, if they adled Ingenuoufly, they fhould fuffer
no other injury. Their ftores were immediately produced, confiding
of a kind of meal or pafte made of fifh, in great plenty, with
a fmall quantity of wheat and barley. This, however infufEcient
for his wants, Nearchus received, and, abftaining from farther op-
preftion, returned on board with his fupply. The fleet hauled off
to a cape in the neighbourhood called Bageia, and there anchored
at PxO great diftance, as I conclude from the town.

The circumftance of a cape here determines, in my opinion, the

correfpondence of all particulars relating to this place ; for this cape
muft be the weftern point of Guttar Bay, and all the circurnftances
unite in giving a pofition to this namelefs town on the weftern fide
of the bay, as I have done.

Bageia.

Prom.

Tvventy-tiftli

nation.

‘7* This is not more extraordinary than that
cattle ftiould eat fidi, as mentioned above; or
than the Caviar of the Wolga. Lieutenant
Porter reports, p. 13> that at Mafcat in Ara-
bia they make a mixture of fifh and dates with
kind of earth and water, wiiich the cattle

eat as their common food, and it is extremely
fattening.

See infra.

No diftance is mentioned, and it appears
like immediate anchoring, after leaving the
town.

11 H

Lieutenant

Li eutenant Porter writes, The bay is large and deep, with ihoai
water, and in croffing right over from Noa Point, a lump is feen on
the oppofite fliore, with an ifland nearly under it, and a little bay
called Bucker Bundar*^% where the natives fifh, and where the San*
ganian pirates often lie in wait for the final! veflels that trade along
the coaft.” To this lump I had looked for the eminence on which
the town flood, but it is inland, and ftands on the high ground
behind.. I have little doubt, however, that this lump diredled
Nearchus as the firft point feen acrofs the bay, and led him to the
town itfelf. And if it is thought extraordinary that he does not
mention a bay here, it is not more fo than his omiffion of Cape
Guadel, and it ought to be obferved, that when he calls Bageia a
cape, a cape neceflarily implies an indenture on one fide or the
other.

From thefe various dedu£iIons I confider this namelefs town and
Guttar Bay as identified and I now return to attend the fleet on
its progrefs.

But before I enter upon the remainder of the courfe from Bageia
to Badis, it is neceffary to take a general view of the coaft, in order
to difpofe of the intermediate ftations which Nearchus, from the
diftrefs of the fleet, had little opportunity of defcribing ; and on
which, confequently, the fcantinefs of the journal leaves great ob-

“73 Memoir, p.7.

“74. ^ relation may be fafpeifled between
Bucker and Bageia, Buckah.

*75 There can be no poffibility of error,
unlefs it Ihould be thought worth while to pay
attention to the ftadia of Marcian, He reckons
twenty-five miles from Alambateir to Kyiza,
and fifteen from Kyiza to Kafia, i, e. Bageia,

This would make Bageia and Noa Point the
fame ; and place the namelefs town of Arrian
eaftward of Noa Point. Even upon this fup-
pofition, there can be no greater error than
the breadth of the bay ; and the numbers of
Marcian are too diiputable to, ground this
alteration upon them.

fcurlty«.

235

I C T H Y O P H A G I.

fcurity, Kophas, Alambateir, Kyiza, and Bagela, correfponding in
the three authors, condu£l: us fafely to this point; and thus far there
can be no error, unlefs I have affumed Bagela for the weftern point
of G Uttar Bay inftead of the eaftern : but the reafons already given
are more than fufEcient for the occafion.

I am now to take the departure of the fleet from this ftation of
Bageia, and the firfl: ftep to Talmena is the greateft difficulty ; for
the diftance given by the journal between Bageia and Talmena is a
thoufand ftadia, or fixty-three miles, an eftimate which carries Tal«
mena beyond Ghurbar Bay, and which, If a remedy is fought by
commencing the courfe from Noa Point, encroaches as much on the
previous meafures as the contrary fuppofition does upon the fubfe-*
quent part of the coaft. I had, however, originally fixed Talmena
at Ghurbar, Kanafida at the Tanka, Kanate at Kalat, Troefi at a
creek, and Dagafira at a headland previous to Muckfa ; but by
means of frefh Information collefled from Otter, I have been In-
duced to alter this arrangement, and abandon the meafures of the
journal. The following difeuffion I fubmit, with fome degree of
hefitation, to fuch as may be difpofed to examine a queftion which,
though not important, has at lead refearch and novelty to recom-
mend It.

The three following ftations In Arrian are Talmena, Kanafida,
and Kanate; and in the feries of Ptolemy there is- a Kandriakes,
anfwering to Talmena ; if, therefore, we affiime Kandriakes for
Talmena, we obtain three fucceffive names, of which Kan Is the
initial component part. Now it appears from Otter, that the

The Chart, No. I. will p;lve all thefe one is p)]oced between Ivanandi and Kanate,
pofitions. ■ which is polhbly tlic modern Godeiin.

There are four In reality, for a namelefs

II U 0

Oriental

236 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A S K,

Oriental accounts which fpeclfy the rivers of the Mekran, employ
the adjun£t Kienk or Kenk, as the Perhans ufe Ab or Rond, to ~
exprefs a river ; thus we have Kiourkienk, Nehenk, and Kie-
chenk all of which d’Anville has adopted in his map of
Mekran, and given them the courfe affigned by Otter. The fame
term is found in Sufiana, for Cheref-eddin'^* mentions a Hoo-chenk
and a Dou-danke eroded by Timour in the neighbourhood of Sufa,
the pofition of which will be afeertained in its proper place : but

this term takes two different appearances in its derivation from the
original form, Dsjenk pading, by one procefs, from Sj into Chienk,
Kienk, Kenk, Ken, Kende, and Kande ; and, by another, from D
into DIenk, Denk, and Danke. In its drft form, it is conneded
podibly with Tchen, Chen, the root of the Chen-ab or Akefmes;
with the Ganga, the Ganges, the Kifhen-Gonga, the Sevi-Gonga
of India ; and v/ith the Gihon of Sogdiana : in its fecond, Denk
furnidies the Dou-Danke of Sufiana, and the Samy-Dake of Pto-
lemy, which is the Danke or Tanka river of the modern charts on
this coaft. This term, in one or other of thefe fhapes, appears the
mod ancient expredion for a river of any that occurs ; and it
may be eafily fhewn that Ptolemy knew of its various orthography
and its meaning; for he writes both Samy-Dake and Samy-Kade,
and he interprets Kand-riakes by Hudr-iakes, evidently from"TJ<i;p,
the Greek term for -water. Upon confulting Otter, I dnd a dream

Ab-Sebirin, Ab-Argoun, Roud-chiour.
Chienk, Chenk, pats into Kienk, Kerk,
by an Oriental variation, as Kirbe, Girbe,
Jirbe, the fkin for water ufed in caravans, and
Chienk, Jienk, into Dienk, Denk, by the
fame analogy as Jumna into Diamuna,

Afie premiere partie.

See in Sufiana,

Written Tanqua by Reffende. Portu^g.
and Tanqua Banqua, the white river.

If it be really conneded with Gihon,
as I fuppofe, it is as old as the book of Ge-
nefis.

ICTHYOPH.AGI.

^37

Iti this neighbourhood called Kle-Chek which may be inter-
preted the river of Kie or Guie, an inland town at fome diftance ***
from the coaft, and I cannot help thinking that Ptolemy’s Kandrla-
kes is a tranfpofition of the fame word Kande-Kie, or Kandre-Ki^
for Kle-Kande. Otter fays, this river falls into the fea between
Khudar and Pichin. PIchin is not difcoverabl^, but Khudar is
Guttar Bay, -which the fleet has now juft left, and it Pichin is to
the weftward, we have the mouth ,of this river falling into the fea
between Guttar and Churbar, correfponding with the Kandriakes of
Ptolemy. If it were now poflible to identify the Talmena of Arrian
with this Kandriakes, the journal would be ' clear ; but Talmena has
no allufion to a river; itfignifies a ruined fort, and that is an object
w’hich -might occur in one part of the coaft as well as another.
What remains, then, but to confider the feries of both authors, and
examine how far they correfpond ?

Ptoleiny.

Bageia,

Kandriakes,

Tyfa,

Samy-Kade.

A?Tian.

Bageia,

Talmena,

Kana-fida,

Kan-ate,

It is true that Otter confiders Kie-
Chek as a fort; and yet he writes, Le Kiour-
Kienk recoit aiiffi Peau de Kie-Chek» Chek is
Chenk, or Kienk.

Five days or a week ; one hundred or
one hundred and twenty miles.

ii« O’Anville gives Pichin a htuatlon fuch
as is required ; but I apprehend has only Ot-
ter’s authority ; for I do not find Pichin in Al
Edrifi.

Mina, Minau, at the Anamis, and Mi-
!javi, at Bafra, are expreffive of a fort. Tal

is, in Hebrew, a ruinous heap; and from
hence, perhaps, Arabic or Perfic. That fuch
ruins were as common on the coaft formerly
as at prelent, there can be little doubt ; for the
Belootches from the eaftward, and the native
Gadrofians are both tribes of plunderers. The
very next ftation at Kanafida is noted by the
journal as a mined city. Thus has rapine
joined with avidity to defolate this coaft in all
ages. See Parkhurft in voce nbn »

OyO inhabited place ; but the laft is du-
bious.

This

2jS FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

) This is their order, and if the firft agrees with the firft, and the
two laft can be difeovered to correfpond mutually, the fecond may-
be confidered as the unknown quantity we are fearching for. Per-
mit me, then, to read Kana-Difa for Kana-Sida ; and I find
Kienk-Difa, the river of Dis, Tiz, or Tidsj. This is the Tyfa of
Ptolemy, the Tefa or Teifa of Marcian, the Teiz of Dairy mple, and
the Tearfa of Porter. All thefe different modes of writing are ex-

preffive of a town fituated in the bay of Churbar, celebrated by AI
Edrifi for its commerce with Keifh, an ifland in the Gulph, and
Oman in Arabia, both fufficiently noticed by Cheref-eddin and other
Oriental geographers. Otter brings the Kiour-Kienk, or fait river‘s®,
into this bay ; and unlefs Sida fhall be found to exprefs falt^ there
can be little doubt but that it is a tranfpofition from Difa or Diz.
By a fimilar procefs the modern Tanka may be found in the Ka-
nate of Arrian, and the Samy-Kade of Ptolemy; for Kanat and
Kade come by one method from Kienk and Samy-Dake, Danke and
Tanka by another: if, therefore, upon thefe grounds Kana-Sida cor-
refponds with Tiz or Churbar, and Kanate .with Samy-Kade or
Tanka, Talmena confequently anfwers to the Kandriakes of Pto-
lemy, and the ferles in both authors is confiftent. It is not neceffary
to infift on this reafoning as indlfputable ; but if we find the initial
Kan thrice repeated in fucceffion, and three rivers locally agreeing
with this, and ftill preferving the traces of the adjunft, it is fome
light gained in a region of obfcurity, and may lead to the juft
diftribution of the ftations on the coaft, if it fhould ever be vifited

*33 The licence requefted for thefe tranf-
pofitions is ftated fully hereafter at Agris.

P. 58.. Taiz ; a fmall but populous
city. Ed urbs parva, Celebris tamen et popu*
loia.

Roud-Chiour the fait river, near Kunk
in Loridan ; and Kurk itielf is related to
Kienk. In thofe countries where the foil is
fait or nitrous, there are fait rivers everv where.
See Marco Polo Ramufio, tom.ii. p. 8.

again.

agnin. More rivers than thefe three I cannot diftinguifh in
Octer ; for his Kiourkies and Souringuiour are only the fame,
or parts of the fame ftream, Kiour-Kienk ; and what their courfe
may be Inland is of no confideration to the journal. Otter’s autho-
rities, in this refped, are much embarrafled ; and I am not without
fufpicion that he has miftaken Kie for the capital inftead of Kidge;
I once thought them both the fame; but A1 Edrifi writes Kia and
Kir as diftinft places, and Kir he feems to eftimate as the principal
city; if fo, he writes Kir for Kirge, and Kirge is Kidge. All
the geography I am acquainted with makes Kidge the capital of the
province, called from hence Kidge or Kutch Mekran in the
Ayeen Akbari ; and Kedge, Gedge, or Gedrofia, by the ancient
hiftorians : for Mekran is the country related to the Mehran or
Indus ; and Kutch Mekran implies the weftern fide of the Indus
towards Kutch or Kidge. This is a point, indeed, not ne-
ceffary to difcufs, as it is not connected with the voyage ; neither
is it infilled on farther than as the fufpicion of a miftake. Otter
has made a fimilar lapfe in regard to Ahwaz in Sufiana, and
this gives an additional reafon for fuppofing that he may, in this
province alfo, have been mifled by the fludluation of Oriental
orthography.

Having now obtained a probable folutlon of thefe difficulties, and
found three rivers which may afford the means of reconciling Arrian
with Ptolemy, and both with modern geography, it remains to con-
duit the fleet along the coaft to the three following ftations of Tal-

There is a fourth, Makefhid, to the Otter, tom. I. p. 408.

weft ; of which fee infra^ Nub. Geog. p, 56.

mena^

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

240

TaLMEN A.
Dec. 10.
Seventieth
day.

Twenty-fixth
ftation.
Kan D Ri-
A K E s and
li u D R I -

ares of
Ptolemy.

mena, Kanafida, and Kanat^ with a fourth between the two laft,
which is namelefs, and without any diftance fpecified.

The fleet weighed from Bageia at midnight and proceeded a
thoufand ftadia, fixty-two miles and an half to Talmena* This
diftance, if taken from Noa Point, is not greatly in excefs, but this
aflumption the tranfadions recorded do not authorife ; and there is
reafon to apprehend that the error of numbers lies fomewhere about
Guttar Bay, or Kuiza. ' Whatever it may be, the finking of it here'
relieves the remainder of the courfe to Badis ; and we might build
fomething on the four hundred ftadia of Marcian to diminifh the
excefs, if we could find their proportion with other flations ; that,
unfortunately, is impoflible. No circumftances relating to Talmena
are recorded In the journal, but that it was a fafe harbour ; and this,
at leaft, has nothing difcordant with the ffation allotted to it at the
mouth of Ptolemy’s Kandriakes, the Kie-Kenk (Kie river) of Ori-
ental geography. Nothing In Otter’s account forbids the iffue of
this flream to be fixed between Guttar and Churbar Bay, and nearer
to the latter than the former. We muft not pafs this place, how-
ever, without obferving that Hudrakes, the pilot of Nearchus, feems
to derive his name from this Hudriakes. It is faid exprefsly that
he was a Gadrofian ; and if we are right in affuming this flream
for the river of Kidge, it is a native of Kidge who is now on board.
May w^e not lament that the brief narrative of the journal has fup-
preffed this circumftance ? Or will it afford ground for an argu-
ment, that the filence of the journal upon this head furnifhes matter
agalnfl the arrangement ? Either way, this mufl be left to its fate,
that we may return to the profecution of the voyage. •

Again at night.

From

I C T II Y O P H A G L i4t

From Talmena, the diftance to Kanafida Is eftimated at twenty-
live miles, a fpace not greatly in excels ; and Kana-Difa has been
interpreted the river at Tiz or Tidsj, which Otter calls the Kiour-
Kienk, or fait river. The remembrance of the town ftlll exifts in
the bay of Churbar, and the cape at the entrance is ftill called
Tiz -mee, by the fame analogy as Cape Paffence or Poflem is
ftyled Pof-mee : is it not remarkable that two navigators, at the
diftance of fo many centuries as Nearchus and Commodore Robin-
fon, fhould find the fame place in ruins ? Nearchus does not men-
tion a river here, and probably did not advance far enough into the
bay to fee it ; but they found a well ready dug, which faved the
trouble of opening the fands, and the wild palm tree, from which
they took the tender fhoots of the head to fupport life ; fo that
the little fupply of corn they had procured at Guttar Bay could
have relieved only a momentary want. The plan of this bay, with
its double curve, is given in the Chart, No. I. and I am difap-
pointed in finding no river marked here by our Engllfh navigators^
in which they agree too well with Nearchus. My authority for
bringing the fait river into this bay is Otter, whom d’Anville inter-
prets agreeably to my fuppofition : but proof is ftill wanting,'^and the
initial Kana is the only evidence Nearchus affords that the ftream
exifts In this place.

PafTaum. Portug. , xoVroyrt?, Teems to imply cutting the tender

*5® Strabo mentions, p. 722, that the army head of the plant, rather than the fruit ; for
of Alexander, in paffing the defert of Ga- fruit at this feafon there could be none, though,
drofia, was preferved from famine by the fame 1 mull recall the conjedlure in note 171 ; for
means. ^aTro tuv 0911 vj actiTvip'iaf Tn Tt I nOw find the date is an autumn fruit, and

KapT^ii ra iyKi(poL7^i. According to the tranf- fpecified as ripe in Odober by Cofmas Indi-
lation, Frudus et cerebrum faluti fuerunt. copl. Tab. p. 338. Montfauc. N. Coll. Pa-
So Xenophon, Anab. lib. ii. c, 3. feems to trum. Strabo mentions the preferved date:
ufe lyxsipaAo? for a part of the fruit : but I think 'Ot :a,'aioi (pyAarTaert rlt huxvaiof KocpTrlv hj st>j
in this paflage cf Arrian, TiiTu'v T^c iyxs(px?\iii; wAelw P.72'6,

II At

Ka N ASI D A,
or

Kan a-Disa.

Dec. II.
Seventy-firfl
day,

Twenty-
feventk
Nation.
Tyza of
Ptolemy.

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASKU

^242

At the time Churbar was vlfited by Commodore Robinfon’s little
fquadron, the natives were defiroiis of the Englifli fettling at Tiz^
where they fhewed him the ruins of a Portiiguefe fort, and in-
formed him that Churbar had been a place of confiderable trade in
ghee filk, twiled cotton, and lEawls, till a fix years’ drought had
reduced the land to a defert Water, however, was eafily pro-
cured here, and good; with llieep, goats, and vegetables. Their horfes
alfo were of a fine breed ; and wTile the Englifh lay in the bay,
there were two veffels in the harbour fent by Hyder Ali to take ad-
vantage of the market deprefled by the drought, and to feek a
fupply for his cavalry even in this defert region of the Mekran.
Such was the attention of that extraordinary man, whofe fpirit
foared as high as Alexander’s, and whofe conquefts might have
been as rapid, if, like Alexander, he had met with no oppofition
but from the native powers of India. The inhabitants of Churbar
informed the Englifh, that there was a large and extenfive city
properly walled round, about a w^eek’s journey from the coaft*
This intelligence agrees well with Otter’s fite of Kie and argues
fomething for the river fuppofed to fall in here, or in the neigh-
bourhood ; for in this trad:- there can hardly be a city unlefs where
there is a river to fupply it.

From Kanafida, Nearchus proceeded four-and-twenty hours with-
out intermiflion to a defert coaft, where he was obliged to anchor at
fome diftance from the fhore, as the diftrefs of the people was now
rifen to fuch a height, that, if he had fufiered them to land, he had

*9’ Half liquid butter. Tlz to Kir^ agreeing fufHciently with th^

Lieutenant Porter, p. 8. week’s journey of Porter. Nub. Geog.

I am more perfuaded that it is the fame, p, 58,

' by A1 Edrifi’s giving five days diftance from

reafon

I C T H Y O P H A G L

243

' reafon to fufpecl that they would not have returned on board. This
defert fliore has neither name or diftance, and the day and night
allotted to the courfe, as well as the number of ftadia given to
Kanate, the following ftation, apparently comprehend both the fpace
and time to that place. A day, however, will be allowed here in
conformity to the ufage I have adopted, but the meafure will be
carried to Kanate'. The point I would affume for this anchorage is
Godeim, at the weftern extremity of the fecond curve in Churbar
Bay. Godeim is a headland very level along the top, with fteep
clifis next the fea ; from whence Ccdat or Kalat Is feen, which is a
remarkable objedf, and fomewhat fhort of which Is the mouth of
the Tanka Creek. It is obfervable, that headlands of this kind fre_
quently attradl the fleet to an anchorage ; but whether for the pur-
pofe of furveying the coaft before doubling them., or any other
reafon, does not appear.

This ftream, therefore, naturally correfponds with the Kanate of
the journal; and if Kalat had been at the Tanka, Kanat-e might have
been thought not unconnected with it. Seven hundred and fifty
ftadia, or forty-^feven miles, anfwer almoft exaClly from the eaftern
point of Churbar Bay [Kanafida] to the Tanka ; and as there is
nothing in Arrian to forbid the application of this meafure to the
two days’ courfe, I fhall confider this as a ftation afcertained. It
has already been fhewn how^ the Kanate of Arrian and the Kade of
Ptolemy are allied, as well as the connexion of both with Dakek
the Danke or Tanka at tliis place. This connexion is verified by
the copies of Ptolemy giving Dake or Kade indifterenth', which

Lieutenant Porter, p. 9. He fays, terp. Sainy-dake, Sarny daka. Samy-dokhes
Godeim looks like an ifland till you are near river, interp. Semy-dakhia. i^nd lo Hudfon
it; and d’Anville has an ifland here. May Marci.'ini Ferip, p. 22. Sainy-dake, Samy-
not this be the Pola of Ptolemy ? kade, Samy-dokhes, noting the fluctuation of

Ptolemy, p. 157. Samy-kade, in- Ptolemy.

\ I 2 U

A desert:
Shore.
Dec. 12.
Seventy-
fecond day,
Twenty-
eighth
flation.

Ka NATE,
Dec. 13.
Seventy-
third day.
Twenty -
ninth ftation.

•i44 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

is not a various reading, but derived from tbe flufluatlon of Oriental
orthography. Whether this v^ill be admitted as proof of the iden-
tity I cannot fay, but fuch It appears to me; and on a coaft involved
in fo much obfcurity, every approximation to probability is clear
gain.

The journal affigns no attributes to Kanate but that of an open
fliore, with the mention of fome fhallow watercourfes, intended
poffibly for the purpofes of agriculture, and the bettering of an
arid foil. Porter calls the Tanka a fmall river, and the artificial
cuts of Arrian befpeak a river alfo ; for on this coaft, wherever,
there is not a river, no fuch circumftance could occur. It would be
well if this ftream could be identified with any of thofe fpecified by
Otter ; the Nehenk is the one I looked to, but he carries that far to
the eaftward, and fo is he interpreted by d’Anville : his Kiour-kies
is that neareft the fite of the Tanka, but he joins the Kiour-kies
with the Kiour-kienk, and^ brings them united to Tiz. There is
reafon to fufpe£t that both are the fame ; for Kiour-kienk is the fait
river, and Kiour-kies is the fait [river] of Kie. We muft abandon,
therefore, the inland courfe of thefe ftreams for want of inform-
ation, and content ourfelves with the iffues we find upon the coaft.
The mouth of the Tanka in this place is indifputable ; for it is the
Tanka-Banka of Reffende ; and the Portuguefe had a fort about
three miles up the ftream, the ruins of which, with a Bazar and
wells, were reported to Lieutenant Porter when he was on the
fpot with Commodore Robinfon '"‘"k To this river a long courfe
inland is afligned by de la Rpchette, on what authority I know not ;
but it can hardly rife beyond the mountains, as he makes it, if we
may judge by the fize and fhallownefs of its mouth.

Artificial cuts; Ar- White River? from Bianca Ital. Portug.

rian, p. 343, ^04 Lieutenant Porter, p. 9.

I C T H Y O P H A G L

24f

It does not appear by the journal that the people were fuffered to
land at Kanate ; neitheit is there any mention made of a fupply
being procured. A fufficient reafon for concluding, that the courfe
was hurried on falter than the time I have allotted, and for which
due allowance will be made.

Upon this ground I aflign another day for the paffage to Troefi ;
the courfe made good was fifty miles ; and here, at laft, a fcanty
fupply of provifions was obtained. The place prefented feveral
mean and wretched villages, deferted by the inhabitants upon the
approach of the fleet ; but a fmall quantity of corn was found, vath
fome dried dates, and thefe, with the flefli of feven camels which
the natives had not carried off upon their flight, afforded a repaft,
of which perhaps nothing but the utter diflrefs of the people could
have induced them to partake. Whether the Greeks had any parti-
cular averfion to camel’s flefh, more than what is common to all
mankind, who naufeate what they are not ufed to confider as food, I
have not difcovered ; but it is evident that Nearchus means to give
this Inftance of famine In the extreme, fuch as we at prefen t un-
derftand by the eating of horfe-flefh in a befieged town : I feel
Indeed fome concern for the friends with whom I have fo long
failed, that I do not hear of their feafling on the turtle with which
this coafl: abounds. Porter mentions the turtle in great abund-
ance at Afhtola ; and Marclan fixes a tribe of Khelonophagi, or
turtle-eaters, in the neighbourhood of the fpot, where the fleet now
but the Greeks feem to have confidered men reduced to live

All bread-food was certainly exhauded. BaXavct? U (pcivizuv* The copioufnefs of

If any thing was on board to fuppoit life,' it the Greek language did not fupply a term fo?
could only be the filh-pafte procured near this fruit. It is literally the acorn of the

wholly

T ROIS.

Troisi.

Pec. 14.
Seventy-
fourth day.
Thirtieth
dation.

t46 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

wholly upon fifh, turtle, or camels, as ftamped with barbarifra; and
the terms expreffive of thefe tribes are ufed always as indications of
contempt or averfion.

I do not here mean to draw a conclufion, but I cannot help no-
ticing it as a remarkable coincidence, that Nearchusfliould finda fupply
of dates at this Ration, and that Porter fhould fay^^\ Between the
Tanka and Muckfa, we found the land bear a better face than any
we had hitherto feen, as the vallies in moft places were full of
date trees.” If this does not apply to the fpot, it is at leaf!
defcriptive of the coaft.

What the name of this Ration is, or where it is fituated. Is no
cafy matter to determine ; for Arrian’s ufage of the Vv^ord leads pro-
perly to no dlRinftion of it in a Greek form. He writes Troifin,
which, if plural, leaves great room to doubt of its origin ; and
Gronovius is difpofed to read Taoi. In point of order. It cor-
refponds with the Pafis of Marcian, which Ptolemy writes Mafis,
Magis, Magida, and Mazinda ; and which Marcian feems to fix at
a river called Sarus and Salarus : but this does not admit of proof,
for Ptolemy’s Magis is five-and-tHirty niiles to the eaRward of his
Sarus. This is of fome confequence to note, becaufe by thefe
means I may ta.ke his Magis previous to the cape which I aflume for
Dagafira ; and carry his Sarus weRward to a creek marked In Com-
modore Robinfon’s chart, which anfwers to the Ifkim of d’AnvilIe''%

de la Rochette, and Reflende So far Nearchus correfponds with
Ptolemy’s pofition of Magis, that he intimates no river at Troefi.

Memoir, p. 9. It is very ill defined in all.

The reafon for afTerting this is, that RefTende writes ifqui. Ilk, Efk, and

Marcian gives no diftance between Pafis and Ulk are names of rivers in our own country,
the jSalarus, and all fignify water.

Upon

ICTHYOPHAGL

2:47

Upon finding Makichid mentioned as the name of a river in Mekran, by
Otter, I thought I had difcovered the clue; for the corruption or fludtu-
ation of the text in the three authors would have juftified any reading
in Arrian: but if Otter’s dlfpofition of the Makichid is juft, it is far to
the eaftward, and can have no relation to the Magida of Ptolemy.

Out of the uncertainty caufed by thefe various authorities, I can
extricate myfelf only by adhering to the meafures of Arrian, which,
with allowance for the excefs attending the whole of this coaft,
enable me to place Troefi fliort of the cape which fucceeds firft weft-
ward of the Tanka, and to fix on that cape for the Dagafira of Arrian.

The reafon for this will be affigned hereafter; but I fhall firft con-
dudl the fleet to Badis, and then take a review of the coaft.

From Troefi to Dagafira the courfe was fhort of nineteen miles.

The fleet failed at day-break*'*; and as this is the firft inftance P^casira,

-L^ C C # I ^ ^

fince Hydrakes was on board, it may not be improper to obferve. Seventy-fifth
that if we fix the hour between fix and feven in the morning, the Thiny-firll
land breeze would hold good for an hour or more to fecure an offing,

The fhortnefs of the courfe was determined either by this circum-
ftance, or by another which occurs frequently, the appearance of a
cape. This, indeed, is not noticed by Arrian ; but Dah-Gefira

yVo T'/;v to;. Sub aurora, before thc fun rofe.
On all other occafions from Mofarna, failing
in the night is mentioned, or the time is
omitted altogether.

In all etymology, I fpeak, fubjeft to
the corredtion of thofe who underdand the
language, or have been upon the coad : but I
have before fuggeded that Dahh or Dahr
might fignify a head, and Bah or Bahr, in con-
tradidindlion, the interior part, or hay. I fhall
now add that Bahr fignifies a fea, as Eahr-ein
the tnjjo feas\ Bahr Nedsjef, the dry fea or
lake at Mefchid Ali. Niebuhr : but I ought not

to omit that another fenfe of Bar occurs in
Montfaucon’s Preface to Cofmas Indico-
pleudes, where he fays it fignifies a continent^
as in Zangue-bar, Mala-bar, kc. In this
fenfe, Bar-Gazira is literally X'ya-o-vY.c-oct a
Cherfonefe, fuch as Guzerac and Arraba and
Guadel are. This, though contrary to my
own hypothefis, I think it right to date. Per-
haps if not the true etymology, it may lead
to the difeovery of truth. See Montfau-
con N, Colle'5fio Pat. Pra^fat. ix. Cofmas^
p. 132.

expre{re.s

24S FROM THE INDUS TO CAFE JASK.

exprefles the head of a penlnfula or promontory, and there are two
capes between the Tanka and Muckfa, From the didance between
Dagafira and Badis, I prefer that which is the more eaftern. One
circumftance only is noticed here, that of meeting with a few ftrag-
gling natives, from whom it does not appear that any aihftance was
obtained. Unimportant as this may appear, it preferves a pidture
of the coaft ; and the habits of the natives are the fame at the
diftance of twenty centuries. Every where along the coaft,”
fays Porter, there is 'a family here and there which keeps a few
goats and camels, and fubfifts upon their milk'^'h” And again,
at Muckfa, he adds, A few miferable people live on this defolate
place on the fhell-fifh they pick up at low water, without any
grain or dates, unlefs at the time of year they are in feafon.”
Such were the wretched inhabitants Nearchus found here ; and Gro-
novius is almoft angry that he honours them with the title of
Nomades (herdfmen wandering in fearch of pafture) ; he infifts
upon It, that they are mere vagabonds ; but Porter’s camels and
goats feem to juftify a better fenfe of the expreffion. In one view,
their mifery feems rather upon the increafe ; for if they are not
provident enough to preferve the date, they are funk below the
condition of their anceftors. Strabo mentions the fruit in its dry
ftate, and Nearchus evidently procured dried fruit at Trosfi. The in-
habitants are called Brodies by Porter ; but Niebuhr confiders them
all as Belootches, quite to Jafk and cohneds them with the
Arabs on the oppofite fide of the gulph. If this conneflion could
be eftablilhed, it would not be impoflible to extend It through the
whole Mekran, and to unite the Arabitse on the Arabis, with the

✓

Porter, p. 8. Abbas the Second, Niebuhr fays he was a

There is a prince of Jafk whofe roman* Balludsj. See Tavernier.

!ic hillory makes a figure in the reign of

Arabs

ICTHYOPHAGL

<24^

Arabs of Oman Neither is it unreafonable to fuppofe that the
Arabic names ‘on the coaft are a proof of this; for as the Arabs

were the earlieft navigators of the Indian ocean, fo were they better
qualified to bear the hardihlps of the defert than any other nation ;
and if a life of rapine is charafleriftic of the Arabians, the Arabitse
or Belootches, in this refped, have in all ages maintained a perfed
claim to confanguinlty.

The diftrefs of the people, and the Impoflibllity of procuring a
fupply at Dagafira, urged a hafty departure of the fleet. They
failed in the evening, and continuing their courfe all that night and
• the following day without intermiflTion, they reached, after a ilretch
of almoft fixty-nine miles, a promontory projedlng far out into
the fea, with a furf beating upon it to a great extent. This they
did not dare to approach, or to double the cape while it was dark.
They rode at anchor confequently during the night,’ as near fhore
as the furf would permit, and the following morning got round
into a bay, where they found the town of Badis, and where they
were at laft relieved from the mlferies they had experienced on this
defolate coaft. This promontory is the boundary between the
country of the Ifthyophagi and Karmania; and at Badis they found
corn, vines, and fruit-trees of every kind except the olive, a town
inhabited, and the inhabitants ready to relieve their wants.

’■‘5 There is an Ommana, mentiored by
Ptolemy and Marcian, to the weftward of
Pafis, (fee tlie Table, p 220.) and placed,’ by
the author of the Periplus, fix days’ fail calt
from the gulph of Perfia. (See Peripl. Maris
Erythrasi, p 20. Hudfon Geog. Minores.)
The author mentions the connedlon of this
Ommana with Kana in Arabia, and Barygaza
in India, as a kind of central emporium. The
place probably did not exlii in ihc time cf

Nearchus, but feems to owe its rife to the ex-
tenfion of the Arabian commerce towards the
ead. The name intimates that it was a colony
of Arabians from Oman, the immediate pro-
vince on the wed; of the gulph, always cele-
brated for its commercial Ipirit, and contain-
ing Mu feat, hill the greateil Arabian mart on
the ocean, which is the Mofeha of the Peri-
plus, See Niebwhr’s map of Oman.

K And

Badis*
Two days,
Dec. 17.
Seventy-
feventh day.
Thirty-third
ftation.

250 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

And now having conducted my friends into a place of fafety, I
muft return to furvey the coaft. The firft point neceffary to fix is
Badis. Badis I place at the cape called Muckfa by Robinfon and
Porter, and which will prefently appear to be the real Jafk. The
name is written Kan-Theatis, Kan-Thapis, Kan-'Eatis, and Kau-
Ratis, by Ptolemy and Marcian; and if we prefix Kan to the Badis
of Arrian, it bears no little refemblance to every one of thefe va-
riations. Kau-Ratis""*^, in conformity to the other three, is neceffarily
Kan-Ratis and this differs fo little in the form of the Greek
letters, that there is no violence ufed in aflerting, that Kan-Batis and
Kan-Ratis are the fame. Now Kan marks a river ^ and Ba-dis, if
my conjeffures are right, a bay : both thefe circumftances are ap-
plicable to the fpot, for there is a river five miles within this cape ;
and at this river I conclude the fleet anchored on the morning of the
feventeenth.

The fludiiating orthography of the Greek text will juftify ftili
greater liberties than I have taken ; and when it is confidered how
much the native names of every coaft vary in modern charts, how
difficult it is to write foreign founds received by the ear, and how
feldom two perfons exprefs the fame found by the fame letters, there
will appear no extraordinary licence in the changes adopted upon
the prefent occafion. I never wifh to lay more ftrefs on thefe con-
je(Tural criticifms than they deferve ; and if this explication had
flood alone, I fhould think it of little weight ; but if it fhall be
found to accord with the nature of the coaft, with the beft digeftion

in Cod. Kerv. Hudfon. the midake is natural.

Marciani Periplus, p, 22. the text. I only go a flep farther, and read in Mar-

The difference in Greek letters, between cian, Kxv-Qcctu, for ; or, in capitals,

and is fo evanefeent, that Ka\'-BATII for KAN* PATH,

I C T H Y O P FI A G L

251

of the meafures attainable, and with the general courfe of the fleet,
even thofe who fet little value upon etymology will allow it to
contribute its due fhare to the mafs of evidence which may be
procured from other quarters.

In order to fix Badis geographically, it is neceflary to encroach
on the limits of Karmania, and to find in the firft place what is the
^Karpella of Ptolemy ; for as d’Anville, by conceiving that Karpella.
and Badis are the fame, has confufed the account of the ancient
hiftorians, fo is it a moft extraordinary coincidence, that modern
charts and modern navigators have varied equally in fixing Xh6
proper- fite of Cape Jafk. It happens, that upon the approach to
the gulph of Perfia there are two capes about twenty-feven miles
afunder ; the eafternmofl of which is the Cape Muckfa of Robinfon,
Porter, &c. and the weflernmoft their Cape Jaflc. Here is the
origin of that embarraflment which involves the whole queftion in
obfcurity, for in reality Muckfa is the true Jafk, and their Jafk is
Cape Bombareek. It is this Bombareek which is the Karpella of
Ptolemy, and confequently when d’Anville brings Badis to this
point, he fixes it twenty-feven miles farther to the weft than it
really is.

I fhall fettle the ancient geography firft ; I ftiall then proceed to
confider the miftake of the moderns, and give the reafons for pro-
nouncing it an error with fo much confidence as I have done.

Ptolemy’s feries comes down the gulph of Perfia to Karpella.
This lays me under the neceffity of going ftill farther out of the
province I am treating of ; but at the fame time it gives inc an
opportunity of identifying Karpella with Bombareek to a dcmon-
ftration. Armozon is a cape oppofite to Muflendon, on the

K K 2 Arabian

FROM TME INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

Arabian fliore, where is the narroweft part of the ftrelght at the
entrance of the giilph ; between which and Karpella are two re-
markable eminences, one called Strongylus, or the Round Moun-
tain, by Ptolemy, near Armozon, and the other Karpella, from
which the promontory derives its name. The former of thefe is
the modern Elbourz, which fignifies a fire tower of the Parfees ; the
latter is the Bombareek rock, which communicates its title to Cape
Bombareek, as Karpella did of old. It is true that Strongylus is not
enumerated in the feries, but ftands at the foot of the account ; its
latitude, however, marks its place.

Armozon,

0 / //

23 40 0 .

Strongylus,

^0 t rt

23 00.

Karpella,

0 t //

22 30 0 .

The inaccuracy of thefe latitudes is of no importance ; but let
them be true or erroneous, they equally prove that Strongylus is
between the two capes: and as there is not a third, Karpella muft
be Bombareek. The Bombareek rock is in reality fix or feven miles
north of the cape, and upwards of two miles from the fhore ; but
as the land is low, it makes a confpicuous figure from a per-
foration at its top^ and appears, when the land is not feen, like an

Now it is very remarkable that Kar In Hebrew, fignifies a
hole through which the white light appears ; and if I could find the
means of afeertaining a fimilar fenfe of this word in Arabic, Perfic,

Karpella i» really in lat. 25° 42^ 30'', that Mr. d’Anville has an ifland here,
or 25° a or flit In the

It is from this deception of mariners lid of a box, for admitting money.

mp :

w -

,V'

' . A*.

«ii

• i

5*^^

7 "'■■

X'\- '’■ >'

r <

§,

*1.

^ ' ''-v

ti* . • ,:

^ '•’>. '

t-v.*' ■

* ^ • » w- ^ .

-•t

? J'

•VvV

i?'-

1 /

• *'

», ■

It-.'

i/"

f '

■• 'j y-
■'> *' ^

. i-

•.V.

-r,

<•

cr.i

I -

.jf •

^ t

»r

•4f-

< ';

*«■

/ •

• .,, ^ ._

i.-

'.-if.

I •

PuilLshed a-cwrdinq to Act of Far h ament Jmiv.lA by J)!' Tin rent.

I C T H Y O P H A G I. 253

or PeMvi, I could fhewthat Pella might be allied to three Hebrew
origins, all expreflive of divifion or reparation. Whether this idea
would be applicable to the cleft of the rock itfelf, to the termination
of the province, or to the divifion of the two feas, muft be left as a
matter of doubt. In any fenfe, it contributes to identify Karpella
with Bombareek.

Bombareek is written Combarick and, as Niebuhr informs us,
more properly Cohum-barick, fignifying loofe and fuchis the

nature of the foil from Muckfa all round this angle of the coaft to
Elbourz with a range of mountains at no great diftance inland.
Muckfa and Karpella are both low points, and the latter not eafily
difcoyerable at a diftance but by the rock, from which it therefore
naturally takes its name. If, then, the Karpella of Ptolemy is fully
afcertained, I may proceed to ftiew the fluctuation of the modern
accounts in regard to Cape Jalk ; for the fuflfrages are nearly equal,
whether it is at Karpella or Muckfa. Lieutenant Porter fays,
Muckfa has been frequently miftaken for Jalk ; and Commodore
Roblnfon’s chart gives the name of Muckfa to the fame cape as
Porter ; but Captain Blair who was on board the fame fleet,
mentions that he was on fhore at both capes, and that the natives

Palah, cut, fevered,

divided.

jVs. Palag. Applied to the dividing or
bounding of countries. See Parkhurft in
voce. All have properly Ph.

Combarrack, Gombarrat, Mumbarack,
&c. &c.

Pietro della Valle writes. Sable delie,
Rick, or rather Regh, will appear as a
component part of Bunder-Regh, Regh-ian,
Ac,

There are feveral Elbours in Perfia
one particularly atYezd.

Niebuhr, if I am not miftaken, agrees
with Captain Blair ; for he fays Kohum-
bareck is three three-fourths German miles
north-weft of Jafk : but this is not certain;
for his text ftands, d Peji uers le nord. J read,
a Vouejl vers le nord, becaufe north-eaft agrees
neither with one Jafk or the other, tom. i,
P-72*

uniformly

254 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

uniformly agreedTn calling the eaftern cape, Jaflc, and the weilern,
Bombareek : now what is the name of any place but that which the
natives give it ? Captain Blair, upon a perfonal interview, favoured
me with a variety of circumftances relating to this coaft ; and, with
a liberality that does credit to the officer and navigator, drew up a
fketch of the topography, from materials in his poffeffion collected
on the fpot, which I have caufed to be engraved, and inferted in
this work. In this ffietch, his Cape Jaffi is the eaftern promontory,
and his Bombareek the weftern ; and in this he is fupported by
Cutler and Pietro della Valle ; on whofe authority I rely,
notwithftanding the evidence on the contrary fide is highly
refpediable. ' - r

In the Chart, No. II. is introduced a plan of the” bay formed by
the eaftern cape, from a manufcript of Baffin and Sommerfon pre-
ferved in the Bodleian Library, and publifhed by Mr. Dalrymple.
In this plan the town of Jaflc is given, and a river five miles from
the cape, near which I fuppofe Nearchus to have anchored, and upon
which the town of Badis poffibly flood in that age. This chart, it

Nous doublames le cap, qu’lls appellent
en Perfan Combarick, c’eft a dire, fable delie )
et la nuit fuivante nous laifTarnes derriere nous,
la pointe de Gialk. Piet, della Valle, tom. vi.
p. 251.

This language manifeftly marks the fame
Combarick and the tame Jafk as Captain
Blair’s ; and Pietro della Valle is the bell of
evidence, as he v/as in the neighbourhood of
Ormuz during the liege, and makes frequent
mention of the Englifii fleet in Jafk road,
aay << To the northward of Cape Jafques
comes in a river, diflant about five miles.
Any veflel, not drawing above ten or eleven

feet, may run into it as a good haven. It
is as fecure as a wet dock.” N. Cutler’s
coafting pilot in Dalrymple’s Colledlion of
Memoirs, p. 83. See, in the fame ColIe6lion>
J. Thornton, p. 69. Both copy a note of
John Hatch^ mailer of the Bee, affixed to
Baffin’s plan. The river is marked in the
copy of that Chart engraved in No. JJ. with
the town of Jafk to the north. 1 fuppofe
Nearchus to have anchored near the mouth of
the river, and nothing forbids the CAiftence
of a town on that flream two thouffind years
ago.

I C T FI Y O P H A G L .

<255'

is true, does not ftyle the eaftern cape, Jalk ; but It calls the bay,
Talk Road : the town, however, being clofe upon it, naturally
communicates its name to the bay and cape neareft, rather than to
the weftern point, which is at twenty-feven miles diftance. This is
the Jafk road in which the Engli£h fleet lay in the year onethoufand
fix hundred and nineteen, when it came to aflift the Perfians in the
redudtion of Ormuz ; and, during the north-eaftern monfoon, it is as
fafe as a harbour. All this evidence colledied, with the information
obtained by Captain Blair on the fpot, fets the queftion fo far at refl,
that I ihall in future call the eaftern point regularly Jaik or Badls,
and the weftern, Bombareek or Karpella.

The miftake committed by d’Anville, in fuppofing Karpella and
Badis to be the fame, is founded upon, and fupported by another
error ; for he read in the tranflation of Arrian, that there was a

rock at this point, and, in order to eftablifh the identity of Badis
with Karpella, he went fix or eight miles north to fetch the Bom-
bareek rock to the cape. Unfortunately for this fyftem, the Greek
text fays nothing of a rock^ but ufes that term which I interpret
furf or breakey's^ and which, with Gronovius to fupport me, I can
maintain againft ail the tranflators. Let the reader refer to Captain
Blair’s fketch, and he will fee breakers to a great extent at Jafk, but

Memoir, p. 1 40.

11 parle d’un rocher efcarpe far cette cote ;
or la terre da cap eft aflez bafle, mais I’anfe
qui lui fuccede eft terminee par un rocher
blanc, fort pres de terre, efcarpe, plat fur le
fommet, et qu’on prendroit de loin pour une
forterefte ; fon nom eft Bombareca.

In this fhort account there are four inaccu-
racies. I. There is no bay (Anfe), but only
a creek. 2. The rock is not at the termi-
nation of this creek, 3. It is not near the

land (pres de terre), but upon land. 4. Its
diftance, though not here fpecified, is made
to appear much too near Karpella. Added to
thc-fe, the principal feature of Bombareek, its
perforation, is omitted. All thefe errors are
incurred, to find a rock at the cape, where
there is no rock, except in the tranflation of
Valcanius : for it is Vulcanius tjui parle d'‘un
rocher efcarpe , and not Arrian.

See this fully ftated above.

none

!2s6 from the INDUS TO CAPE JASK,

none at Bombareek ; and when he is aflured that thefe were In-
ferted from this officer’s own materials, and not previoufly con-
certed to anfwer my purpofe, let him judge for himfelf concerning
the corrednefs of Arrian, and the exad pidure of the coaft he
gives, as it appears at the prefent hour.

dt will afford no little pleafure to confult the draught, and to
compare it with the text of Arrian ; to view the right angle at
Bombareek, and the acute projedion of Jafk ; to obferve Bom-
bareek without breakers, and Jafk encircled with them all round,
and this to a confiderable diftance from the point. Afterwards, let
us refer to the teftimony of Arrian, which is repeated twice, and
is contained in the following words : They anchored,” fays he,
‘‘ not clofe to the ffiore, but rode in the open fea, upon account of
the furf^ which was of great extent.” A digreffion then enfues,
comprehending an account of the natives, and fome general cir-
cumftances of the voyage ; after which, he refumes the narrative,
with particulars of the fame tenor. ‘‘ As foon as the fleet reached
“ the boundary between the coaft of the Idhyophagi and Kar-
“ mania, they rode at anchor at a diftance from the fhore becaufe
a violent furf beat along the line of the coq/l^ and extended out a

So I render TpufiTirarom

\JpfA,i^CVTOH <38 a 'Crpo? T35 vjv STTi

avB^acrui pf,srtiofOi i'tc uyKV^BUVf

p. 344.

Neque vero ad terrain appulerunt, erant
enim frequentes ad littus fcopuli, fed jadis in
falo anchoris fubftiterunt.

ei<; sf T»ji/ UTTO ruv ^l^^vo(pxywv

0 'Er^ccro(;) Ivtuu^ch »vci

A;^fA»cravTOj Itt’ ay^v^Bcvv tcrctXtvcravj oTi

<wup£7Bra.To EC To -JiTEAayoc T|0r;%£t»3, p. 347*

Poilquam vero ex Idhyophagis in Carma-
mam perventuni cfti, primum anchoris in falo

jadis conftiterunt, quod afpera in mare petra
porreda effet.

This tranflation of by fcopuli and petra
is the very origin of d’Anville’s error. He
looks for a rock where there is none, till he
has brought it from eight miles diftance, and
then it is not in the fea, but on a fandy plain
near three miles from the fhore.

I render furf ; and there can be no

error in my conftrudion greater than this. It
is either the furf itfelf, that is, the breach of
the water, or elfe the fhoal or breakers on
which it beats.

confiderable

I C T H Y O P H A G 1/ ^57

confiderable way into the fea.” Thefe, as nearly as I can render
them, are the very words of Arrian, and a fingle glance at the Jafk
of Captain Blair’s ficetch feems now to determine the queftion paft
contradidlion. The extent of the furf naturally implies the extent
of the projeTion ; and if extent is not the peculiar feature of Jafle,
in oppofition to Bombareek, there is no truth either in the plan of
Baffin or the fketch of Blair : add breakers to this proje^Hon, and

the picture is complete. But we may advance one ftep fariher ftilb
for Arrian fays exprefsly, that from this cape the courfe 'was no
longer weft, but north-weft. This is true of Jafk, but not of
Bombareek ; for from Bombareek the courfe would be almoft due
north. Let us hear modern authority upon this point. Cutler, in
his Coafting Pilot, fixes the fame points for Jaik and Bombareek as
Captain Blair; and he aflerts''^', that ‘‘ from Guadel to Jafl^ the coaft
lies weft by north, and eaft by fouth but from the point of
Jafk to the low point of Bombareek the courfe is 7iorth-weJir
Thefe are the grounds upon which I venture to alTert, that*
d’Anville is in an error at the commencement of his difcourfe ; but
it is an error arifing, not from want of refearch or difcernment, but
from the materials he had to work upon ; and from a falfe con-
fidence common to too many of his countrymen, who place their
truft in tranflators, inftead of referring to the original text. The at-
tention paid to this ftation of Badis will not be deemed fuperfluous,
when it is confidered that the geography of Ptolemy and Arrian
are thus rendered confiftent, and the true limit of Karmania fixed.
Neither will the modern navigator be difpleafed to obtain the true
Cape Jafk, which, if native information be the beft, Is fixed immutably

P. 69 and 70. in Mr. Dalrymple’s CollefUon, He writes Jafques and Combarick.

L L by

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JA^SK.

by Captain Blair. It is no ordinary pleafure to have my own2
doubts fatisfied ; for, having originally affumed Muckfa foT' Badis, B
had afterwards changed the arrangement in deference to d’Anvill^ .

I now revert to my firft opinion upon the authority here* pro-'
duced ; and I know not of any one fuggeftion to the contrary,
except that Badi's and Bareek bear a diftant 'refemblance. The p re-
cifion which has been attained by fhefe inquiries will enable me now
to reduce two previous ftations to probability, which were pafTed in
hafte ; fOr Dagafifa falls in, by the meafures of Arrian with the
firft cape v/eft of the Tanka, and Troerr muft of courfe be about '
eighteen or twenty miles eaftward of Dagafira. My firft arrange-
ment of the ftations from Kyiza had been very different, but thb
meafures are more corredl by the prefent allotment, which is
founded on the information of Otter compared with Ptolemy, and
is upon the whole as accurate as any ftatem®t can be expedted in a -
trad! of the greateft obfcurity. Troefi is the only' place I havev:
reafon to doubt^ and the corruption of ' the text renders it arhopelefsv
fearch. I would have^ carried it either to the Mafis of Ptolemy or
the Salarus of Marcian, where a river is ftill marked by Commodore ‘
Robinfon, if the cape had not flood in' the way ; but I can deter- -
mine little what? is right, except from the order - given to- it by '
Arrian. The fame muft ' Be confeffed of Ptolemy-s-Rhogana and
Ommana. The journal,’ indeed,' is not concerned^ with them ; but :
I would wifh to affign them a fite, though it is not eafy to difcover
one, unlefs they lie between the two -capes eaft-. of the .Tanka, andf

confeqvience of this fiuOoajioni. this Eleven ^ hundred fladia> nearly fixty-

part of the narrative has been reviewed and nine miles,
written three times over.

theiu-

the Agris oi Ptolemy interferes with the difpofition. I fliall
add but one particular more, as a general confirmation of the af-
rangement I have adapted, and fubmit the whole to the judgment of
the reader. It is this,: — ^The rivers of my ancient authorities are all
found upon the modern charts ; if, therefore, an individual pofition
fhould be wrong, the^general delineation is neverthel^fs right ; and
I add, upon the comparifon it will prove that Kan is equivalent to
Kienk, and that both indifputably mark a river.

Kan-driakes, ^

Kana-difa,

Kana-Te,

Sarus,

Kan-Ratis, or Bads,

the Kie-Kienk, between Guttar and Churban

the river at Tiz.

the Tanka.

the Ifcjui, or Ifkim.

the river at Badis, or Jafk.

Thefe five ftreams appear in Arrian, Marcian, and Ptolemy, and
five only, without addition, on the modern charts i four of them

The Agris of Ptolemy is written Agri-
fa, Ss Hudfoninforms us, by the old interpreter
of that author; and Agrifa it appears in Mar-
cian ; in the Table I have ventured to form,
Agarifa, and then tranfpofe the fyllables fo as
to extratl Agafira or Dagafira from it. If
the reader (hould doubt the propriety of thefe
tranfporitions, I mull obferve that the cor-
ruption is not merely European, but Oriental
alfo. Gezira is a town of fome note on the
Tigris, near Merdin, and takes its name from
being furrounded on three fides by a winding
of the river. Dr. Howe), who came by this
route from Bafra to Conflantinople, fays, the
natiijcs call it JelTeera or Geraza. (See his
Journal 1788, p. 79.) If he had written
both words, as he ought to have done, with
the fame letters tranfpofed, we Ihould have had
the very tranfpofition from the natives for
which I contend: — Gerifa, Gefira ; jelfeera,
Jerceffa. The errors which arifg between the

eye, the ear, and the mouth, in hearing,
writing, and pronoundng, ate beyond calcu-
lation, befides thofe which proceed from ig-
norance. Two inftances are before me which
may caufc the reader to fmile. The Englifli
tranflator of Bernier’s Travels makes the
French phyfician fay, that he was hofpitably
entertained by the Englilh at Calcutta, who
treated him with an excellent liquor called
Bouleponge. The tranllator never once fufpeiSled
that his countrymen made a of punch.

A fecond occurs in Pietro della Valle. His
French tranflator fays, he embarked in an
Englilh Ihip at Gomroon, called the Vubalt,
This flrange word is nothing more than the
Whale. But the Frenchman, having no w in
his own language, wrote two u’s, or rather
Vu, and then turned an Italic into z. b i
thus Jfljale became Vubali. Etymologills are
often ridiculed ; but I claim no fmall fhare of
credit for th^ refolutioa of this difficulty.

L L 2

occur

•Xoo

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

occur with the adjund Kan. Is it arrogance to fay that thisr
amounts to demonftration ?

At Badis''^^ is the boundary between Karmanla and the defolate
coaft of the Idhyophagi ; and at this limit I muft paufe, to con-
fider the fum of Arrian’s meafures, and to compare them^ with the^
adual extent of the coaft. This labour indeed is fliortened by the
Table already given from Mofarna, comprehending feven th'oufand
four hundred ftaftia out of the ten thoufand which form Arrian’s
total between Malana and Badis ; but this total, like many others,
differs from its particulars, for the numbers from Malana to Mo-

farna ftand thus :

To Bagafira,
To Kolta,
To Kalama,
To Kyfa,

To Mofarnap

*35 After conj enuring that the adjuniEl' Ba^
marks a l^aj, or that part of a cape which joins
the main, I ought not to contradid this by a
new fuppofition ; but I cannot help noticing
that in Hebrew fignifies a limit ot bounds
iiry % and for the connexion between Hebrew,
Arabic, and Perfic, fee the queftions pro-
pofed by Michaelis, &c. to Niebuhr and his

Stadia,

« goo

- 200

- goo

- 200

150 Rook^^®, 400^

1750

250 from Rook^

. 2000

7400 to Badiso-
9400

fellow-travellers, in the firft volume of Ara-^
bia.

Rook’s addition is fair; for one hun-
dred and fifty fiadia are affigned to the cape
alone; but I obferve, where a cape is marked
and nodiftance afterwards given, the fleet ap»

, pears to anchor as foon as it is round. See
Eirus,

ICTHYOPHAGI. 261

To this fum Rook adds fix hundred ftadia, for a diftance

omitted betv/eeii Kanafida and Kanate, to mak^ up the ten thou-

fand of Arrian. Thefe fix hundred I have omitted, from the preffure

of numbers too high on that part of the eoaft, and comprehended

the whole two days’ courfe iri the feven hundred and fifty ftadia to

Kanate. Nothing, however, is gained by this ; for though It

eafes the meafure on the eoaft, it ftill difagrees with the total. It

Is not a little remarkable, that Strabo’s""^® meafure of the whole eoaft

fhould be the precife fum that Arrian reckons from Mofarna, feven

thoufand four hundred ; and as Marcian and Ptolemy extend the

limits of Karmania to Mofarna, if I had found the fame number in
Adarcian, I fliould have concluded Strabo had been mifled by fome
boundary of the fame kind : but MarciaiPs total from Badls to
Mofarna Is four thoufand fix hundred, and from Karpella one
thoufand more. I fhall produce a reafon likew.ife prefently, why I
think Marcian reckoned by a different ftadium : but let us firft ob—
ferve, that by Arrian’s total,

10,000 ftadia produce — ■ 625 Eritiflr miles,.

Strabo’^3 7,000 — - — 462 1

Commodore Robinfon’s chart, — 480

62 c

. 480

fo that the excefs upon the whole eoaft, by Arrian’s numbers, is 145

^37 By 211 error of the prefs. It appears nine ledged here ; for the former meafure was
hundred. taken to Karpelia, twenty -feven miles weft of

Gronovius doubts Cafaubon’s ftatement as I did not at that time know the real

of Strabo’s fum. Arrian, p. 344. diftinclion betwe'm thefe capes. After due

The four hundred and eighty miles are allowance made for both thefe errors, and
continued here, to correfpond with the fame fome conilderations of fmaller moment, there
number in Book I. Art. Stadium : but an is ftill room for farther difeuflion, if I had not
error was there noticed, arifing from the dimi- already dwelt on thefe minute paiticulars too
nution of a degree of longitude in latitude 25, long,
and there is a fecond error to be acknow*

mileSj-

t62 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

miles, and Strabo’s comes miicli nearer to the truth. It is not poffible
to account for Arrian’s excefs by the fmuofity of the coaft ; for no
fhore of equal extent has fewer curves : but if the excefs cannot be
juftified, it juftifies the fyftem Thave adopted all along this trail of
the lilhyophagi, of fhorteiling all his meafures where the nature of
the courfe or charailer of the coaft required it. It is mot juft to
charge Nearchus with a defign of lengthening this navigation, in
order to enhance the difficulty or the danger: hut diftrefs and
famine make every paflage appear' longer than it is, as mariners
affure me ; and when the fleet under the guidance of Hy drakes
kept at a farther diftance from fhore than Greek -pilots would have
dared, it is probable that meafures were afcertained with lefs c or-
reitnefs, or inflamed by conjeiture. Marcian, in the proem to his
work, has fully ftated the difficulty of obtaining, dorreil diftances by
means of Itineraries and journals ; fome meafure by a right line,
fomehy the curvature of the coaft, and all in general exceed the
truth. That this, therefore, fhould take place in the narrative befor.e
us,%ill not appear extraordinary to thofe who know that the length
of the Mediterranean was eftimated by the longitudes of Ptolemy
till the laft century, and that it was curtailed of ne^x twenty-five
degrees by obfervation no farther back than the reign of
Lewis XIV.

The general excefs of Ptolemy Is too well known to require a
comment here ; but the effe£t of it upon this coaft will explain the
cftimates of Marcian upon a principle that has never been noticed

three, fent up the Levant for that purpofe^
The meridian of Paris to the Straits of Gib-
raltar about one thoufand feven hundred and
twenty. Some doubt ftill remains between
Gibraltar and Algiers. Blair’s Rife and Prog,
of Geog. p. 154.

hitherto

Mercator’s in Ptolemy gives the
Mediterranean near 65° ; d’Anville’s little
more than 40”.

Scanderoon, Alexandria, and Conllantino-
ple were determined by Mr. Ghazelles, about
the year one thoufand fix hundred and ninety -

I C T H t O P H A G r.

263

Hitherto Hy geographers. Ptolemy places Karpella in longitude^^* 94'',
and Mofarna 103'' 15'; the interval is confequently q'" 1/ degrees
of longitude ; and, upon the fame interval, Marcian reckons five
thoufand dix hundred ftadia, which brings his eftimate to fix hun~
dred and twenty-two ftadia for a degree of Ptolemy’s. Let us then
advert to the common calculation of the Greeks, fix hundred and
twenty ftadia to a degree, and we immediately difcover, that
Marcian’s ftadium is the Olympian, of eight to a Roman mile, and
not the ftadium of Arrian, which is nearly fifteen to the fame mea-
fure. It is evident threfore that Marcian, as the copyift of Ptolemy,
has taken his degrees for a ftandard, and formed his own rneafures
by this calculation of fix hundred and twenty ftadia to- the degree.
In order to apply this eftimate then to the cafe before us, let us next
take the rneafures between Mofarna. and Badis.- The ftadia of
Arrian are feven thoufand four hundred uppn this interval, and
thofe of Marcian four thoufand fix hundred : but as Arrian’s ftadia
are fifteen to a mile Roman, they produce four hundred and ninety-
two miles Roman ; and as Marcian’s are eight to the fame mea-
fu-re, they give five hundred and feventy-five miles Roman. From
this deduction, therefore, dt Is manifeft that the eftimation of the
coaft by Marcian Is more in excefs than Arrian’s ftatement ; and
upon repetition of this experiment upon- the- whole extent from

In latitude 25°, which is the medium of profeiTed geometricians,
this courfe, a degree of longitude contains in D’Anvilie reckons fix hundred, Goffc-

reality but fifty-four one-half geographical lin feven hundred, for a degree of a great
miles ; and upon this, fome farther inquiries circle : the ordinary and ufual eftimate is fix
might be grounded : but the objeU here is hundred and tvventy.

only to obtain a general deduftion, and the- Equaloto fout* hundred' and fixty-two

reafoning, as -far as I am a judge, is con- miles Englifti, The fradions arp omitted,
€iufivc : but I refer it with gr^at deference to

264 FROM THE INDUS^TO CAPE JASK,

Karpella to the Indus, I had the fatisfadtion to find that the iffbe
was nearly the lame.

By this method, If I cannot reconcile Arrian’s account to truths
I at leaft account for his error ; and I fhew that his error is lefs than
that of other ancient geographers. Even in his error, I find the
means of elucidating his narrative ; for there is little reafon to ob-
jedt to the pofition of the ftations in the order they appear, but the
difcordance of the meafures. This difcordance affedfs, in reality,
only one place upon which there remains any juft reafon to doubt;
that is, TrCfefi. If this be carried to the Sarus, Dagafira muft
be fixed at the fecond cape weft ward of the Tanka, inftead of the
firft ; and this encroaches as much on the meafures between that cape
and Badis, as the contrary fuppofition does on the diftance between
the Tanka and the firft cape. Working as I have done upon fcanty
materials, I truft that merit will rather be imputable, for the fervice
performed, than blame incurred, for the degree of obfcurlty which
remains Some obfcurlty remains upon all nautical meafure-
ments ; and if modern navigators, with the afliftance of inftruments
which divide to a fecond, ftill differ in their obfervations, what al-
lowance ought not to be made to the ancient difcoverers, who had
only the eye and the hand to diredf them, and who confequently
drew the b'feft of their conclufions from conjecture ?

The time employed on the coaft of the ICthyophagi Is twenty-
one days, according to the account in the margin, which reduces
each day’s courfe to an average of twenty-two miles on the real

cpy}(M 8K (V a-TTOifft, Tor? It is no eafy matter to determine accurately

^iz^iov sivcti TO? Tuv toc^Imv to the number of ftadia upon any coaft, Marciaa

dxgi,Qe<rtcc7ov Hcracl. p« 3»

meafure*

s . I C T H Y O P FI A G H 265

liieafurCj and twenty-nine ^upon the meafures of Arrian. The efti-'
mate of time may be correfted, when the fleet opens a communi-
eation with the army-in Karmania. The allowance, .therefore, of
a day upon fome particular intervals, where there was no evidence
in the journal, cannot materially affedl the corredlnefs of the ac-
count. As- the fleet failed witln a pilot on board, and with the- ad-
vantage of the monfoon^ . more days ^ may have been allowed than
iiecelTary-, and lefs extent given to the average of each day’s courfe ;
but there are data to correct the flatement, which will be produced-
on the arrival of the fleet at the Anamis.

The manners' of the wretched inhabitants' have, occafionally^
been already noticed; but Nearchus dwells- upon fome farther par-
ticulars, which, from. their conformity with modern information, are
worthy of remark. Their ordinary fupport is fi(h, as the name
of Icihyophagi, or fifh-eaters. Implies ; but why they are for this
reafon fpeclfled as a feparate tribe from the Gadrofians, who live
inland, does not appear. Ptolemy confiders all this coaft as Kar ma-
nia, quite to Mofarna ; and whether Gadrofia Is a part of that pro-
vince, or a province itfelf, is no matter of importance : but the
coaft muft have received the name Nearchus gives It from Nearchus
himfelf, for it is Greek, and he is the firft Greek, who explored it.
It may perhaps* be a tranflation of a native name ; and fuchfranf-
lations the Greeks indulged In, fometimes to the prejudice of geo-
graphy But thefe people,' though they live on fifh, are few of
them fiftiermmn ; for their barks are few, and thofe few very mean
and unfit for the fervice. The filh they obtain, they owe to the

^^5 Keliopolis in Syria, Polytimetus a river in Sogdiana, Plecatompylon in Parthia, &c.
are allinftances of this pradice.

M M

flux

266

FROM THE’ INDUS TO CAPE jASK.

flux and reflux of the tide ; for they extend a upon the fiiore^

fupported by flakes of more than two hundred yards in length ;
: within which, at the tide of ebb, the flfli are confined, and fettle in
the pits or inequalities of the fand, either made for this purpofe or
accidental. The greater quantity confifls of fmall fifli; but many large
- ones are alfo caught, which they fearch for in the pits, and extrad; with
nets. Their nets , are compofed of the bark or fibres .of . the palm, which
they twine into a cord, ^and form like the nets of other countries.
The fi£h is generally eaten raw, juft as it is taken out of the w^ater,
at leaft fuch as. is fmall and. penetrable ; but the larger fort, and thofe
of more folid textifre, they expofe to the fun, and pound them
to a pafte for ftore : this they ufe inftead of meal or bread, or forni
them into a fort of cakes ^"^h or frumentyo The very cattle live on

Thofe who are acquainted with the coa^
of Kent will recoiled a fimilar pradke in
Sandwich Bay, called Tegwell Bay from this
circumftance, where the nets are of much
, .greater extent ; Arrian fays two ftadia (equal
; perhaps to two hundred and eight yards Eng-
liOi), meaning to exprefs a great length. l am
aware that the exprefiion may be judged to
interfere with the fmall iladium of d’Anville,
but every thingis fmall or great by comparifon ;
aiid if the ordinary Greek net was lefs than two
liundred yards, this is confequently large.

The ufe of the net was found, 1 think,
in every iiland of the South Sea vifited by
Captain Cook, and on every .coaft except
New Holland. Specimens of the natives*
fldll in the art of net-making are found in the
Britilh Mufeum. This, among other endow-
ments,^ tends to prove them of a fuperior
origin to the Blacks of New Holland or New
Guinea, they are probably Malay, as the vo-
cabularies of their language feem to prove.

rendered by Vulcani as. Ma^
jores ^ero duriorefque. ad folem torrefites Jirnul ac
penitus tojli fuerint mohntes in farinam redigunt ^,
that is, they grind them and make a palle or
caviar of them. Gronovius objedls io grinding
them, as they have no mills. He propofes to
read xaT5c9Ac4,vTEc, poundings or KocTa,z'\u;tiT£Cf
breaking fmall\ both which manners of pre-
paration are j unified, by Strabo’s mention of
mortars made of the vertebra of the whale.,
and the pafte or meal noticed by Arrian : and
jiccTcx.ykvrzc, grinding^ may be thought not to
.depart from its proper fenfe, if we confider
the people fpoken of, though they had no
mills. The fame kind of pafte is made to
the prefent day on this coaft, on the coaft of
Arabia, and in the gulph of Perfta.

Polenta^ a thin cake or pafte of
meal, ftill ufed .in Italy by the name of Po-
lenta, according to Barretti. (Letters to
S. Sharp.) The ancient Polenta was fome-
times not a folid.

dried

I C T H Y O P H A G I,

2-§7

I'd

•4

dried for there is neither grafs nor pafture on the coaft. Oyfters,
crabs, and fliell-filli are caught in plenty ; and though this circurnr- -
ffance is fpeclfied twice only in the early part of the voyage^ there '
is little doubt but that thefe formed the principal fupport of the
people during their navigation/ Salt is here the 'produdtion of na-
ture ; by which we are to underhand, that the power of the fun in -
this latitude is fufficient for exhalation and ehryftallization without ‘
the additional aid of fire ; and from this fait they formed an ex- -
traft which' they ufed as the Greeks ufe oil. The country, for "
the moft part, is fo defolate, that the natives have no addition to their
fifh, but dates : in fome few places a fmall quantity of grain is fown| -
and there, bread is their viand of luxury, and fifh hands in the rank -
of bread. The generality of the people live in cabins, fmall and
hifling ; the better fort only have houfes conhrudled with the bones
of v/hales ; for whales are frequently thrown up on the coah, and
when the flefh Is rotted off they take the bones, making planks
and doors of fuch as are flat, and Teams or rafters of the ribs or
jaw-bones: and many of thefe monhers^are found fifty yards in
length. Strabo confirms this report of Arrian ; and adds, that the
vertebras or focket-bones of the back are formed into mortars, in
which they pound their fifh, and mix it up into a pafte, with the
addition of a little meal.

’'E7\cho'.', oil. But how oil from ’ fait ?
fays Rooke. Read for '"aae? ; for .what

elfe is oil made from but olives? If olives
were found upon this coaft, the reading might
be juft ; but olive oil was fuch a luxury to the
Greeks, that if a fingle tree had appeared on
the coaft Nearchus would not have omitted the
mention of it. He afhrms the direfi con-
trary.

M M 2

Ev 'njvi'y'/ipaK;, See Ar. 335*

Strabo fays the bones only.

If they had the art of fplitting whalebone,
a very commodious covering might be ob-
tained, for the jaws of this fifh furnifli a thou-
fand plates from twelve to fifteen feet long,
eight or ten inches broad. Lcttice’s Tour in
Scotland, p. 421.

From a part In the jaw.

' To

a68 FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE J A S K.

To this fcanty lift of provifions our modern voyagers add little.
Barbofa, Thevenot, Tavernier, and Niebuhr, all mention fifh on
this coaft as ftill the food of the natives, and from hence all up the
eaftern fhore of the gulph of Perfia ; to which Lieutenant Porter
adds a few goats and flieep, neither cheap or good ; and once only
he mentions vegetables at Churbar, which were good but very
fcarce. Whether camels are ufually eaten on this coaft, as they are
in Arabia, is not afcertained ; thofe which Nearchus >procured at
Troefi he feems to have employed, as the inhabitants of a befieged
town may fometimes be reduced to feed on horfe-flefti : but beyond
this inftance I find nothing ipecilied, Marcian mentions a tribe
called Camel-eaters in Karmania, df they axe mot rather Camel-
feeders ; and another ftyled Turtle-eaters at Samydake*'^, on the
coaft of the IdthyophagI: it fliould rather feem that ail thefe names
imply difguft at the manners of the natives^

Whether whales are found on this coaft at prefent, or whether
houfes are ftill built of their bones, I find no authority to determine.
The filence of Lieutenant Porter appears in evidence againft it, for
it is a peculiarity which would be as likely to command the attention
of a modern as an ancient navigator ; and whether the animals feen

by Nearchus were whales, or not, may poflibiy be difputed, for the

Greek v/ord may be applied to any fifh of great magnitude. The
iize of Jifty yards feems to confine the expreffion to this animal *

KccixrM^oa-fiolf if eater?, would be rather

Kc-'[^r,>.o'p^'yoiy Whe yj7'M\o'pay'jiy &C.

5-55 Written : fo Ilule apology is

wanting for the„addltion or fubtradion of an
initial letter.

BiKoat U wcnty-nve

Uthoms.

otfZ auo'.(pcpofjLei'Oi\

,1 never rcfled on this pafiage without ad-
verting to Thevenot’s.defcripiion of the water-

fpouts feen by him nearly in this very fea.
FartIL p. 185. Eng. ed. however,

is faid not to be the word which ufually ex-
preffes that phecnomenon, but TvCt^v. Yet J fee
nothing In either to apply one more particu-
larly than the other,^ except the modern
dliHndion. I do not mean to infer that
Nearchus miilook a water-fpout for the blpw-'-
ing of a whale ; but the comparifon, in this
•fea more efpccially!, is remarkable.

and

I C T H Y O P H A G L

and though blowing Is not peculiar to the whale, the clrcumftanccs
which are immediately fubfequent will beft determine the judgment
of the reader.

For Nearchiis fays, that on the morning he was off Kyiza or
Guttar, they were furprifed by obferving the fea thrown up to a
great height in the air, as if it were carried up by a whirlwind. The
people were alarmed, and inquired of their pilot what might be the
caufe of the phsenomenon; he informed them, that it proceeded from
the blowing of the whale, and that it was the pradlice of the crea-
ture as he fported In the fea. His report by no means quieted their
alarm ; they flopped rowing from aflonlfhment, and the oars fell
from their hands. Nearchus encouraged them, and recalled them,
to their duty, ordermg, the heads of the veflels to be pointed at the
feveral creatures as they approached, and to attack them as they
would the vefTel of an enemy In battle : the fleet immediately
formed as If going to engage, and advanced by a fignal given;
when fhouting all together and dafliing the water with their
•oars, with the trumpets founding at the fame time, they had the
fatisfaflion to fee the enemy give w'ay ; for upon the approach of
the veffels the monflers a-head funk before them, and rofe again
a-ftern, where they continued their blowing, without exciting any
farther alarm. All the credit of the vidlory fell to the fhare of
Nearchus, and the acclamations of the people expreffed their acknow-
ledgment, both of his judgment and fortitude, employed In their
unexpedled delivery.

The fimplicity of this narrative befpeaks its truth, the circum-
jftances are fuch as would naturally occur to men who had feen

£17

oaci'j a,i

of war.

k^.(^x'Kk\ airoiciv

i7r«AAAa^:Zi»

As loud as they could iliout ihc alala, or cry

animals

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

animals of this magnitude for the firft time; and the better kiiow-*^
ledge onr navigators are poffeffed of^ who hunt the whale in his-
polar retreats, fliews that he is fometimes as dangerous an enemy as-
he appeared to the followers of Nearchus.

The mention of this engagement might have been fpared in a ‘
work dedicated to geographical refearch, but thofe who are ac-
quainted with Arrian v/ould not have pardoned the omiffion ; and"
it is one part of my intention not to defraud Nearchus of any
honour due to him, either for his fortitude or his nautical abilities* -
This tranfadion is almoft the only part of the voyage that Diodorus^
thought worth recording; and if the readers of his age had a relifh
for this fort of hiftory, why fhould he not have indulged their tafte?:
But there is a fecond tale too fingular to be paffed without ob-
fervation, for we are informed that the Idhyophagi derive their
origin and manners from a race of men who frequented thefe feas^,
and who having by chance or enchantment landed on an ifland
named Nofala, were there entertained by a Nereid, and afterwards'
transformed into fiih. Fortunately for the metamorphofed, this
fpot was under the protedion of the Sun, who, difpleafed equally
at the cruelty of .the nymph as her licentioufnefs, ordered her ta
depart the ifland. She fubmitted to the decree, and was preparing
for her exile ; but, as a laft effort, flie hoped by a difplay of her
charms to entangle the god, and involve hirtl in the fame fa^e^'^
as his predeceffors in her favour had experienced. How great was
her mortification, when fhe found him inattentive to her allurement-s,
and employed in a fecond transformation of her lovers into their

■*5^ This is Gronovlus’s interpretation of an obfcure paiTage.

native

I C T H Y O P H A G L

riji

'4\ative figure? From thefe men, fo happily reftored, the Ifthyophag!
'derive their origin.

. Arrian is_oflended at Nearchus, firfl: for recording this fable,,
and then for refuting it : but the ftory is perfectly Greek ; for the
Nereid is only Circe, or Calypfo, conveyed to the Eaft Indies, and
Apollo is Ulyffes, -but with more continence. The cataftrophe of
the piece, which confifts in the delivery of the metamorphofed, is
■'brought about with more dignity by Apollo’s refifling the
temptation, than by Ulyffes’s yielding to the folicitation of the
.enchantrefs.

The beft excufe for Introducing this tale is, that' Nearchus had
loft one of his tranfports manned with Egyptians, and the report
was current in the jfleet that the veffel had -difappeared at an en-
chanted Illand ; Nearchus ordered out a party to vlfit this ifle, and
call aloud the names of thofe whom he fuppofed to have been
fliip wrecked. Not content with this, he went himfelf to the place,
and compelled his people to land, much againft their Inclination ;
but they found neither their loft companions nor the Nereid.

Poffibly even this excufe will not be admitted ; for no Iflancl
^.occurs on the whole coaft after leaving Aftitola, ..except a very fmall
^one In Guttar Bay, which miift have been feen on the day the
•namelefs town was taken, and which lay too clearly in view to
-caufe thefe Idle terrors. If any illand exifts, it ought to unite the

Thefe are the Myrmidons of Theffaly,
the Sparti of Thebes, tranfplanted to an In-
dian foil. Nearchus imputes the fable to his
Indian guides : but it is Greek ; unlefs fables
fimilar to tlie Greek mythology are current all
over the world. •

Strabo mentions this ftory, p. yzG, with

fimilar circumdances; but without the ‘Nereid.

UlyiTes refided the eup, but not the
paflion of Circe. Od. K. 347. His refufal
of the cup forms an allufion for the moralill ;
his pafiing a year with the goddefs is fup-
prefied. See a very elegant frontifpiecc on
this fubjedi in Rouireau's' Emile.

Polla

272 F,ROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

PoIIa of Ptolemy with this Nofala^^"^; but the coaft is now too welt
known to give ns hopes of finding one ; and if not found, the
whole is a tale calculated to raife the importance of Nearchus, and
Ihevf that he was the only man in the^ fleet who feared' neither the
blowing of a whale, nor the enchantment of a Nereid.

Upon a review of both thefe ftories, we fhall be induced to re-
fled: that Greek mariners were fubjed; to vain terrors and fuper-
ftitions like thofe of our own country ; and in both, if we find
this failing not incompatible witiP determined bravery, we ought to
allow due merit to eVery commander who knows how to fupprefs the
one, and call the other into adion,

I cannot take a final leave of this coafl: without' obferving, that
the whole diftance from the Indus to Cape Jaflc comes out as near
as may be, fix hundred and twenty-five miles, equal to the efti-
mation of Annan on the coaft of the Id:hyophagi alone ; and this-
number of miles Nearchus was from feventy to feventy-five days in
paffing : if, however, with due allowance made for fetting out
againft the monfoon, and twenty-four days loft at Cape Monze, we
reduce the whole to forty days, we may form a comparative
view between ancient and modern navigation ; for it appears from
the journal of the Houghton Eaft Indiaman, that ihe made the fame^
run in thirteen days, and upon her return was only five days from

Xsfofala lies one hundred lladia, or fix
fiiiles^ from the coaft. Arrian.

3.63 (( There are very few iflands on this
coaft.” M^Cluer, in Mr. Dalryrnple’s
Colledion, p. 98. But in feveral charts of
the gulph of Perfta one illand, ai>d in fome
two very fmall ones, are fpeciiied a little to
the eaftward of Cape Jalk. They are appa-
rently nothing more than hummocks upon a

low coaft ftiewing themfelves like iftands at a
diftance ; and laid down as fuch by thofe who
never approached near enough to afcertain
them. D’Anville has thus made iftands of.
Godeim and Bombareek,

Some days were loft on the juniftion
with Leonnatus, and at the Tomerus, bat
not more than were necelTary for repairs.

Gomerooa

1 C T II Y O P H A G 1. 2:7)

Gomeroon to Scindy Bar. But fo far is this from diininifliing
the credit of the firft navigators, that it is enhanced by every diffi-
culty they had to furmount ; weak veifels with inexperienced ma-
riners, no provifions but fuch as an unknown coaft might furnifh,
no convenience for .fleeping on board, no pilot but fuch as they
might cafually pick up on tlieir courfe ; no certainty that this fea
was ever navigated before, or even navigable; and no refources fuch
as the moderns have, without number, in their arms, their inftru-
ments, their experience, and the accumulated acquifitions of know-
ledge, whether pradlical or theoretical. Under all thefe dlfadvan-
tages, if the objed: was attained, and the voyage completed, it is
not the length of the courfe that ought to ralfe the name
of Columbus higher than that of Nearchiis ; the confequences
derived from the dlfcoveries of both are equally important, and
the commerce with the Eaft Indies upon a level with that of
America : but if the communication fixed at Alexandria is the
origin of the Portuguefe dlfcoveries, and the circumnavigation of
Africa, Nearchus is in fa(ft the primary author of difcovery in
general, and the mafter both of Gama and Columbus.

There is one extraordinary circumftance attending this expedition,
which is, that we find no mention of mutiny or difeafe among the
people: the former would be naturally checked by their fituation,
for they had no fecond hope if they failed in the execution of their
enterprife, and no chance of prefervatlon but by obedience to their
commander ; the latter was lefs likely to occur, from the circum-
fiances peculiar to the navigation ; and the maladies arifing from
famine or bad provifions appear not to have had fufficient time
to exhibit their word effects ; as far as can be co!le<£l:ed from the

Gombroon, Gambroon, S:c» the b inferted, ns In Cymeru, Cambro- Britons.

N N journal,

*7/1

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

journal, they were never without fhell-fifh till within a few days
of their arrival ; and fcorbutic diforders, which are the fcourge of
the mariner in the protraded voyages of the moderns, are never
noticed by the ancients. The proximity of land, the frequency of
fleeping on fliore, and the properties of their vefTels, which were
not decked, feem to have operated to the exclufion of a difeafe,
which two hundred years experience is only now teaching modern-

navigators to combat^ and this experience nothing but the perfevering

difcipline of Cook could have reduced to pradice.

It is not apparent that the palTage from the Indus to the gulpb
of Perfia had ever been performed by the natives, for however great
the commerce on that river was, and however extended, its progrefs
naturally bent towards the coaft of Malabar and the peninfula. The
natives there, were all Indians; while oh the weft, the name termi-
nated at the Arabis, and all Indian manners with the boundary of
the Orit^ at Malana. This appears to me a proof that no com-
merce from the Indus was carried farther by the Indians ; the other
natives, whether Orit^ or Idhyophagi, had no embarkations even
for foiling, and the Perfians were never navigators. If any veflels.^
therefore, vifited thefe coafts even In that early age, they were pro-
bably Arabian ; bht of this there can be no latisfadory evidence.

Z66

fXBv yscp T'/ig Ecdxg A>,

i^xyopoi;. 0

roTq nxsdvTa KO-TSfrias-

Anonymous author, cited by Dodwell in his
DifTertation on Scylax, p. 47.

Alexander was the difcoverer of the eall.

The reafon for this conjedure has been
noticed upon the mention of Dagafira ; and I
fufped Sakala, Kokala,. Gogana, Malana,
Talmena, &c. to be all Arabic, if their £gm-
hcation were traced. When I meet with a
river called AEgofpotamos, I can difeover the
language of the nation fromv whence the name

is derived as readily as I can affign Cape Fi-
niiterre. Cape Clear, or Chrillmas Sound, to*
the refpedive people who have bellowed thefe-
appellations.

“ There is a ftriking analogy between the'
manners aferibed to the ancient Idhyo-
phagi and thofe of thefe Arabs [on the
‘‘ eaflern coaft of the gulph of Perfia].

. They ufe little food but hfti and dates
“ they feed alfo their cattle upon
Niebhur, Eng. ed. vol. ii. p. 138.

Thai

I C T'H Y O P H A G I. ,7r

That ibrnething paffed upon the fea, and in all appearance from

port to port, there feems to be ground for fuppofmg ; for Hydrakes
could not have been worthy of employment without fome fort of
experience ; and there is a fliadow of evidence that the pirates to

eaftward of the Indus, who have been pirates In all ages, acci-

dentally vifited the coaft, either for the purpofe of intercepting the
traffic, or of plundering the property of the inhabitants j and yet
what temptation could they prefent, unlefs flaves were a commodity ?
If fo, their perfons might be felzed, provided there were any record
of a market to point out where they were difpofed of, but the whole
teftimony which can be collected amounts in no degree to a proof
of a navigation like that of Nearchus from India to Perfia ; and as
this Is the principal link in' the future chain of communication with
Europe, the merit of examining it feems wholly due to him as the
original undertaker. I am not ignorant of a much longer voyage
in this very direction Imputed to Scylax by Herodotus from
Padtya (the Pekeli of Rennell) Into the gulph of Arabia ; but
whether this voyage was performed by the Perfians, or that other
round the Cape of Good Hope by the Phoenicians from Egypt, as
recorded by him, is a- point highly problematical in the opinion of
every one who confiders the ftrudlure of ancient veffels, and their
whole method of navigation : I believe the record of both, as pre-^
ferved by Herodotus, to be evidence that the Perfians or Egyptians
knew, from communication with the interior of the refpedtive
countries, that they were bounded by the ocean, and afforded the
means of navigation ; but that the voyages were actually performed

2C8 Herod, lib. iv. p. 300. Cafpatyrus, to be on the Ganges. See Dif-

■*69 The province Peckeli, or Piickeli, on fere, on Scylax.
the Indus; but Dodwell fuppofes PaCtya, or

N N 2 requires

276 FROM TH E INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

requires more evidence, more particulars, and a clearer detail of
fadts, to enable us to form a judgment. The bare aflertion that the
thing had been done might lead Alexander to think it pra£ticable ;
but the Perfian voyage produced no confequences whatever, and the
Egyptian navigation led to nothing, unlefs we fuppofe the Portu^
guefe difcoverers influenced by the aflertion/"^®, that a paflage round
the Cape was prad;icable.

Scylax ought to be a Greek by the place of his nativity, Cary-
anda, or at leaft an inhabitant of Afia Minor ; but we have no

remains of his journal, and no other evidence of his voyage but ’
the report of Herodotus, which^ is very deficient in circumftances
to confirm its own' authority ; and collateral evidence there is none,’
In regard to the circumnavigation of Africa, there is one particular
much infifted on by Larcher, Gefner and other commentators^
which is, the appearance of the fun to the north ; a. phsenomenorr
dependent on every navigation within the tropics. The referve of
Herodotus in faying that others may fuppofe this probable,
though he doubts it himfelf, is a caution worthy of fuch an hifto-
rian, and more perfuafive than the boldefi: aflertion. I muft, how-
ever, notice a peculiarity in this paflage which feems to have'
efcaped the fcrutiny of his commentators; for he informs us in
another place^^"^, that he went up the Nile himfelf as far as Elephan-

Whether it will be thought probable
that the Portuguefe. navigators, or the, coun-
cil of Portugal, or any of the learned 'of that
country, knew any thing of Herodotus, I
pretend not to judge; but it is a remarkable
coincidence, that the hrfl edition of Hero-
dotus was in — — H74,

Gama's difcovery of the Cape,

See P ref. to WeiTellng’s Herod.,

The Syclax, publiflied „in the. Geog.
Minores by Hudfon, is proved to be an im-
pofture by Dpdwell, ,

See Gefner de Navigationibus extra Co® -
lumnas Herculis, Prael, I. 6.

Lib. iv. p. 298. Ed. Wef. .

Lib.ii. p 115.

tiaejT,

I C T H Y O P H A G I.

tine, in order to afcertain fome circumftances relative to the head of
that river, about which he thought himfelf impofed upon by
fecretary of the priefts at Sais. Now is it not extraordinary,, that if
he reached Elephantine he ihould not have vifited' Syene the very
place at which he reprefents his doubts to exift ? Is it not ftrange,-
that though he lived prior to the conftru£i;ion of the w^eir^® at Syene,

The modern Aflbuan, vifited by Po-
cock, Norden, Bruce, kc, &c. Su*ene is
Af-fooan with the article. D’Anville, Geog.
Anc.

I know no teftimony of the well at
Syene older than Strabo, lib. xvii. 817. but
conclude that older may be found. Pliny,
lib, ii. cap. 73,. feems-to intimate, that it was
dug by Eratofthenes at the time he was mea-
furing an arc of the meridian. The follow-
ing obfervations are kindly communicated by
the Bifliop of Rocheder :

The well, befides that it was funk perpen-
dicularly with the greateft' accuracy, was, I
fuppofe, in Ihape an exafl cylinder. Its
breadth mull have been moderate, fo that a
peifon, Handing upon the brink, might fafely
Hoop enough over it to bring his eye into the
axis of the cylinder, where it would be per-
pendicularly over the centre of the circular
furface of the water. The water muH have
Hood at a moderate height below the mouth of
the well, far enough below the mouth to be
fheltered from the adUon of the wind, that its
furface might be perfedlly fmooth and mo-
tionlefs ; and not fo low, but that the whole of
its circular furface might be dillindlly feen by
the obferver on the brink. A well formed
in this manner would afford, as I apprehend,
the moH certain obfervation of the fun’s ap-
pulfe to the zenith, that could be made with
{he naked eye j for when the fun’s centre was

upon the zenith, his difc would be feen by re-
Hedlion in the water, in the very middle of the
well ; that is, as a circle perfedlly concentric
with the circle of the water : and I believe,
there is nothing of which the naked eye can
judge with fo much precilion as the concen-
tricity of two circles, provided the circles be
neither very nearly equal, nor the inner circle
very fmall in proportion to the outer.

Plutarch fays, that in his time the gnomons
at Syene were no longer Hiadovvlefs on the-
folHitial day. This is very Hrange. Era-
toHhenes died, according to Blair’s Tables, in
the year before ChriH 194; and Plutarch
died in the year of ChriH 119. The interval,
therefore, between them was only 3 i 2 years ;
and the change of the obliquity of the ecliptic
in this time (the only caufe to which I can re-
fer the alteration) was no more than 2 36'',
A gnomon, therefore, at Syene of the length
of twelve inches, if it caH no fhadow on the
day of the folHice, in the time of EratoHhe-
nes, fhould have caH a fhadow, in the time of
Plutarch, of the length only of
not quite -i.^cth of an inch. The lhadow of a
perpendicular column of the height of lOD
feet would have been of an inch. But I

can hardly think the ancients ever thought of
conHrudling gnomons of fuch a fize. We read,
indeed, in the Comedians, of fhadows of ten,
twelve, and even twenty feet long. Thefe -
feem to have been the Hiadovvs of gnomons;

butt

278 FROM TFIE INDUS TO'CAPE JASK.

he fhould mention nothing of the fituation of Syene itfelf under
the tropic ? Had he been there in fummer, he muft hiinfelf have
feen the phasnomenon he profeffes to doubt, or at leaf! the fun ver-
tical ; and if his vifit was at any other feafon, is it not remarkable
that he fhould not have heard of this circumftance ? Elephantine is
an illand, or a city on an ifland, in the Nile, oppofite to Syene and
yet Herodotus does not quite fay he was aftually at Syene. From his
mention that the Catarafts are four days’ fall from the Elephantine
he vifited, may we not fufpeCt that it was fome ifland lower down
(for there are many), or that the ifland called Elephantine by
Pocock is not the Elephantine of Herodotus ? and that the hiftorian
was not nearer Syene than within three days’ fail ? for it is in reality
lefs than one day’s fall or journey by land from Syene to the
Cataracts. I mention thefe particulars, in order to fhew the great
obfcurity which attends all the difcoverles, whether real or pre-

but they were evening lhadovvs, when the fun
was low, and people were going to Tapper ;
and this afFords an argument that the gnomons
of the ancients were of a very moderate fize ;
for in the latitude of 40°, at the feafon of the
equinoxes, the fun’s altitude, one hour before
funfet, could be 11° 26'; and a gnomon, of
the height of zCeet fths of an inch, would call
a fhadow on the horizontal plane precifely
ten feet long. Half an hour before funfet, a
gnomon of the height of one foot would call
a (hadow ten feet long. And in the fame la-
titude, at the fame feafon, a gnomon of the
height of fix feet would call a fhadow of the
length of ten feet fo early as eleven minutes
after three in the afternoon. I think the
fmall variation that took place, between the
time of Eratofihen.es and that of Plutarch,

would be more eafily difcovered by the well
than by any gnomon the ancients can be fup-
pofed to have ufed.

Pocock, B. ii. p. 117. Bruce.

Bruce mentions the ifland, but does not
call it Elephantine. Vol. i. p. 150.

279 << diftance from the gate of the
town [AfToan] to Termiffi or Marada, the
fmall villages on the Catarafl, is exadly fix
Englifli miles.” Bruce, vcl.i. p. 156,

See alfo a very curious account of the well
and the latitude of Syene, which Bruce fixes
at 24° o' 45", and confequently not under the
tropic, p. 160; but more than half a degree
to the north. Bruce, however, allows for
the approximation of the ecliptic to the
equator. The circumference of the fun’s dife
is to be taken into the account.

tended,

I C T H Y O P H A G I.

279

tended, in ages antecedent to hiftory; and ^notwlthftandmg all that
Mr. Goffelin has produced, to prove an early ftate of navigation
and geography, previous to the knowledge of the Greeks, and
founded upon better principles ; notwithftanding the erudition dif-
played by Gefner in his xreatife on the navigation of the Phoe-
nicians in the Atlantic ; there is nothing appears fufficiently fatif-
fadlory to eftablifh the authenticity of any one prior voyage, of
equal importance, upon a footing with this of Nearchus ; or any
certainty to be obtained where the evidence is all circumftantial,
and none pofitive. From a journal like the Periplus of Flanno,
a knowledge of the coaft of Africa will enable us to form a
judgment of his progrefs ; but a bare affertion of the performance
of any voyage, without confequences attendant or connedted^
without collateral or contemporary teftimony, is too flight a found-
ation to fupport any fuperftrudture of importance. I fhould think
it time well employed to vindicate the honour of Columbus againfl
the ufurpation of Vefpucius ; but I would not beftow a moment in
annulling the claim of Madock and his Cambro-Brltons to the dlf-
covery of America. The reader may conceive that this vindication
of Nearchus partakes more of the partiality of an editor than the
inveftlgation of truth : but I appeal to the ancient geographical-
fragments flill extant ; the Periplus of Hanno, the furvey of the
Euxine fea by the real Arrian, and that of the Erythraean fea or
Indian ocean by the fidlitlous one ; and I fay that all thefe, as well

Publifhed with his edition of the works Dodwell errs as frequently on the fide ot
©f Orpheus. fcepticifm as others do on the fide of cre-

D-odwell doubts the authenticity; but dulity. ^

^8o FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

as the journal of Nearchus, though they have their errors, difficul-
ties, or even abfurdities, ftill contain internal evidence of veracity,
and are well worthy of examination ; whiie the expedition of the
Argonauts of Pytheas or Scylax is merely a fpeculation of
amufement.

There is, however, another way of inquiry into the difcoveries
attributed to the eaiiieft times, which is, by examining the commo-
dities fuch difcoveries would produce. Tin, the ftaple of Britain,
is mentioned in the moft ancient authors neither as a rare nor a very
precious metal ; this muft have been introduced to the nations on
the Mediterranean, either by a tranfport over land (fuch as is men-
tioned by Diodorus or through the medium of a Phoenician
navigation : the exiftence of the metal, therefore, in Greece and
Afia is a proof that the voyage was performed in fome fenfe or
other. The fudden influx of gold into Judasa^^'^ is equally a proof
of a commerce extended into the Indian or jEthiopic ocean, beyond
the limits of tlie gulph of Arabia. The materials ftill found in

Gefner, in his Preface to the Argonau-
ticks of Orpheus, is confident that there is no
exprefiion that indicates they are pofterior to
the age of Homer. If the fad is fo, it muft
be confefi'ed that the mention or knowledge of
Ireland, which occurs in that work, is an ex-
tent of geographical fcience moft furprifing ;
tor Homer’s information went no farther than
Italy, and even there it was only mytholo-
gical.

Lib. V. p. 361. Ed. Wef.

Diodorus here mentions tin found in Spain,
but not in great quantities ; and it is highly
probable that the grand fource of that metal
was always in Britain.

284 j|. bufinefs of this work to

follow up thefe feveral incidents j but Bruce
has moft admirably illuftrated the commerce
of Hiram, Solomon, the Arabians and Egyp-
tians on the Red Sea, and moft indubitably
proved that it tended to Africa rather than
Afia. When the haughty fpirit which pro-
cured fo many enemies to this illuftrious tra-
veller fhall be forgotten, neither his know-
ledge nor his veracity will be longer impeached.
There is much fcope for curious inveftigation
upon the whole of thisfubjecl, which Dr. Ro-
bertfon has not pi-ofecuted to its full extent.
See Ezekiel, chap. xxviL

Egypt

I C T H Y O P H A G I. 281

Egypt, that contributed to the prefervatioii of the mummies, are
fome of them fuppofed to be Oriental ; raid if fo, Egypt muft have
had, even antecedenri^^ to hiftory, a communication with the Eaft, '
either diredly by commerce of their own, or indirectly by means
of intermediate nations, perhaps Arabian. In all thefe cafes, we
have a right to aflume the navigation from the view of its effeCts ;
but the voyage of Scylax from India to Egypt, or that of the
Phoenicians from Egypt round the continent of Africa, have neither
produce nor confequences; and thought his is only a negative proof
of their nonentity, it is as ftrong as the nature of the cafe wnll
admit : if no fecond navigator had doubled the Cape of Good
Hope, the difcovery of Gama might have been-deemed‘ problema-
tical. Were It poffible to afcribe thefe two voyages to the age of

Several authors agree in opinion,
that the ancient Egyptians pofTeffed them-
felves of the trade of the Eaft by the Red
‘‘ Sea ; and that they carried on a confider-
“ able trafEc with the Indian nations before
the time of SefoUris, who was contemporary
** with Abraham.” A file. Or. and Progrefs
of Writing, p. 41 ; who quotes Rollin,
p. 59, 60. and Univ. Hifiory, vol. i. p. 513*
and might have added Huet.

I pretend not to inveftigate any faft ante-
cedent to hiftory ; but I can believe the
Egyptians (from the increafing evidence we
now have of their arts, through the means of
Pocock, Norden, and Bruce) to have' been
capable of any enterprife. Navigation, how-
ever, docs net appear as one of their purfuits,
for we cannot imagine thofe who never appear
upon the Mediterranean, to have made any
great efibrts upon the Indian ocean. ' All the
veftVls we find in early ages on the Mediter-
ranean are either Greek or Phcrniclan. Phoe-

nicians navigated the Red Sea for Solomon,
and not Egyptians, 2 Chronicle ix. 2i. ; and
if the Egyptians had pofiefted a trade on
that fea, they would not have fuftered rivals
to interfere. The paftage round Africa is rot
attributed by Herodotus to Egyptians, but
Phoenicians: but I decline all difquifiiion on
thefe matters previous to hiftory ; and mean at
prefent only to maintain, that if we have the
real journal of Nearchus in Arrian, it is the
firft authentic document of a voyage .of im-
portance to navigation.

It is not impofiible that all thefe
aftertions of circumnavigation arofe from the
idea of the ancients, that the ocean fur-*
rounded the earth like an ifland ; an idea in
fome degree true : but unfortunately for one
of thefe atTcrtions, that of Patrocles, who
maintained there was a paftage from the In-
dian ocean into the Cafpian fea, it has turned
out that the Cafpian is a lake. See Strabo,
lib. xi. p. 518.

0 O

I-Icrodoius,

282

FROM THE INDUS TO CAPE JASK.

Herodotus, his teftimony is fuch, that it ought to preponderate
agalnft every argument of mere fpeculation: but he probably records*
only the vanity of two nations, one the moll proud of its ein-*-
pire, and the other of its fcience ; both capable of attributing to
tliemfelves an a£lioii done, if it were poffible to be done ; and of
this, the poffibility was perhaps known from internal information,-
My own opinion is decidedly againft the reality of both thefe
voyages ; but whatever be my own judgment, it fhall be fubjedl to
the decifion of thofe who profefledly confider the queftion in its
full extent ; it is here only incidental : but I mull ftill repeat, that
it is the aflertion of fails without circumftances, while the voyage
of Nearchus Is detailed In all its parts, and is the earlieft^^^ authentic
journal extant. If, then, I am right, this Is the firft voyage of
general importance to mankind ; If I am miftaken, it is ftill the firft
of which any certain record Is preferved.

This difcuffion may appear more appropriate to the conclufion,
than the progrefs of the enterprife ; but the fail Is, that, at this
point, the great difficulty of the whole paffage was furmounted ;
the remaining part, up the Gulph of Perfia, was neither expofed
to the calamity of famine, nor hazardous from the nature of the

coaft. We fhall have fome opportunities to remark, that as there
was commerce among the natives, there were confequently
pilots to be obtained ; and fo fatisfied was Nearchus of the

Gefner. Hanno which we have is of late age, according

It is prior to the Periplus of Hanno, if to Dodwell, and a copy or extract poffibly from
it is the fame Hanno, contemporary with Aga- the Carthaginian journal, as Arrian’s is from
thocles as generally fuppofed, for Agathocles Nearchus. ^

died anno 289 A. C., The Gfeek Periplus of

facility

)

i c T II Y O P H A G 1. alj

facility of his future charge, that he refufed being exonerated of
the command.

The narrative itfelf alfo will, in foine degree, be relieved from
,a barren recital of dlftrefles, and a dubious arrangement of geo-
graphy I our claffical guides will be more intelligible ; and our
modern conductors, Dalrymple, d’Anville, and Niebuhr, more fatif-
factory. I have already mentioned d’Anville’s diflertation on this
navigation of the Gulph of Perfia ; and if I performed no other
fervice than introducing this work to the knowledge of the Englifh
reader, it would be an undertaking of meritc

0 0 2

^ ' *. • ' ^ f • ^

'} ' H,^‘ I ,

. -^n,'

•'; I

i-_ •

f .

j :

I .

■i J-. ws; ■•{•'

■M ■

} .

'f'i^

• A.

*» • •

: ■ -'■’ »

» ->1

'“W-

^ . ■ V '-■‘■V

'U»

t;."

- ■;■.• ,. . '^;V-.:' :y. '< '’Uyori 'iila

* ' * ^ ’ ■ » ' " - ■

' •' '■ hy/'lhi ^yVf-Ai ai iSi A>Mf iltlH ^

>/;niV:^ -ihK-ild) .i ^ct5 05’''u{v'ty-

iijt'i ?''^!^i'-'7’^'-:k/fftvif4 tfiirr .H.V4

-? • .^. ’ • • * f ‘YV, > y Jt — • > - ^ -2

' * . ' j ' y •' -• ^ *■ ^ 5

.>u!j at> x^<;i}RJ!'j^^^^ .TiMSt^ ■■ "-

‘ndm oa Ar^ f(ru;3iy::}q i ii Biik aiht:H. |r) ir^-iiO ;>cCi io johsyg! ^afi -,i

*’■ * -.■* ^ V I* ^

^<5 ygfeiwoo:* fj'Al ^t4'rvA^

•- V^-T'-- .-‘.T ' ■-.*- \ . ^ ■-' 'r-J

<1 • , .

’ll

^4.

■ A

' » 4 .

V:' ■*

(- -L' • •?. ^' , <’ - ■

K i-,.- i ’

- !>■ '

- \- \> •

; '

• S; ^

-i-

* c/ ^ •

■/fi

,r'~vW-

J»f ' -v

’'J. ' ’ -•

. J/: --, : '.o -,; . ■- . . ..

’••i-

T! K ■• .

• •.

j -j. ■•' ■•'■ ' ■ ' ,v ' ^ ^ .

'■ ■ ■ p^^f: "^'y-ry ,,

cv:-. . -i -. ' V .

v‘ K

’ . ■ s

h^v-

L-. '> ■

’ Mi

• V-4^ • '

» ^ : •?■.•' T*' r '-

c^.-. . *^ >.
•• . - -^;

-■t -‘tt

. '-''St

T 3

’ V >

I ,

/>? :

‘ ^

' • V .

' ■■>■ ^

- i

- i ....

\ '

‘.i-.T^u*^ ^•

/'^' -*

'. . t ^ ' »•

■ ;' • '

'. > ' . ' 1

' y

' ^ ■ :■■■•<. '•■-» y\ ■ ^

' ' . ■ *<aW; ' .

4 -■ y y . ^ .

■ ■ -f :.c^^t:r 4

y ^ yje •

> >
. s

r . V

•' s

. *< •

’. • 3 . s.
#. >-

- • •»r 5.

'..>•■■• ,-'S>

’ ' -V

'.r

■ . V

* y ^v'

^ . A

■•v.'T'i.

;>j«;, ■=’«. . '

• ■'

i'; ^

••C,

••■•V-.

*) t.

, N

■' a.

fct

;y-' '. '* y

* ' ' '■.' ^

-v>:

\ ’ ■ J

- V

/. I

♦

. /’

r-- * ’

•• Y-

r ■ f

/ J

■ ■ " ■' ’t

■ •‘- i . : p :‘»i

• ■■■

') ■-

;.r

V V '4^aV
li!)'? - -a^lfeA,

‘ .' ^ -e

— ’ »•

■ o y . .' y

■‘sVy J ^

'■

■ i- ..'■ ■ ■ i

f' * ' t -t . f •'»-

' ■■■• • ■■■ • . •■ ‘ .

, . ■ f 'J

’ h

"S '

'»

■

f .. ' V

.\ .i'V'.

.J . •’ ■

’A,..-' - . -atiMt, . sf . 'wv'e'- ■', ■, 1 , ■-, A .' ;;•■-•■ ■ -,. . . , ti .i ,

-;aa». ■■ ■ .:-^'-'^'?^t. -‘ r. '«> ■»■' . ,■ : - ■ r <■ t\ , ■ ■ . ';■. '>»•■?.. ..‘.‘.isiAL:= ■’ '' '-■ .-' ■ •* •■■-

V “ ' ■ ‘a ' ^ ^ ■ .4^' ' . *' H:- I ? .; y.j ^ '■'

"V, , . .-.

r ■ ■ ■ ' ) 4 \

. ^ 'yyty

t - M;*i

Trout a Cliai t M^DaJr\’Tnple’s

^iioaviiious .

DoracTs^

Ti.jiK of Ja.sk Hat

or Hoad /TKfTw HaCfiii ^ Sotrunerson

fi^ruitjris o/

J)aliymplc

^rm/r

iXautic i01cs

waJi to Gauiada

^Mido' IGyh
Siindtreek

■^StiLfan

^Pfirchv
0 Ohio
Xslaud^

<'r Ditma Aj
Unuius

Taol&?

Or^lZt/

^J^un

ifetanis IIV oGAr.
i' to Ord

Jihou
Ktoark'^
Kiiredjj :|

qphiflia < (o^Jdlia
Fcot^,

s ai^t aal ^
Ahu tfckixkr/\^^\

7^.'/*toUtii\'sLtf}i^: to7' Soyih’t tm>u/ia/ion
of ld~f Simi.s-nffsaiuiisd

or'Ti^/7s “JQ" .itmt axhe pLtnii' Tirettim briwem i7u
J7itsli'S^ WfA-tem 3SnieIi or Ms TT^ris, dris proi'es
die .WiorfAhdU!a?i to be Ms TI’&rt’7Aioiidi .

Hadis

'^Atu/ioraj^f

ofATearchtts

.Kii'rrSAWef

\fro7n the On.

Zexarine
Aerfia ^
Kiemxm

..ihoals

./greater?,

Kerm
Cock 1
Arabia

C.Aftiboi'vS^,

^''^dydbon alta^eKV
Aodiada ofTiol^

.iT' /lis Aoimd -To rSoTf noma

' Oivitna
Gcraua/-
Tviiiie^
_ 'Tunm

/a ^

T^faval Camp ^
^ ofAFcarclnis

I '^De.c. SAi A C

[sic sacfb) yep tune

or Coin ,
Coins

iomhtrreek ofA^Chier

^-V\ii02 0O; j

prooi-^^\\

Desert-

Sliore

AahejovQi

ZitToinbo

AtsmuL

EiMntr^
''.Aiiowres ^

AcUssf

Afohfiure.*^Q\

Surdy
Scludt Sure

hunosa

SJuvedf) ^

Kornan letter

AncireA jVdmes tn
Modern Mmnes m
Dubious ACtones ?

So -East Lono'itudc f^n Gi

;eiiwicli

X°1I

CJJSIRT of lUf GULPH ofV^S. S lA
copud h’ permifsion fvr(/tif\\'oj:\i ouV
frojn alrnuple’s collection
Names by MV.

To /hmt Mook IT.

a/' me Atirt/u k-Aortrrh- ' • zi. r ..

arms or die EuMas '• --^CTa or J lniy

Published aeeordinij to Act oC .Parliament hv D^ Vineent .

THE

VOYAGE

O F

N E JR C H V S.

BOOK IV.

GULPH of PERSIA.

1. Karmanla. — II. Perjis. — •III. Sujh^ or Sufiana ; with the Mouths
of the Tigris^ Euphrates^ Eulaus^ and Paftigris,

WE are now to enter upon the navigation of the Gulph of
Perfia, comprehending the coaft of Karmania, Perfis, and
Sufiana ; and, fortunately for this part of the voyage, our materials
are as ample as could be defired. Mr. d’Anville has publllhed a
Memoir ‘ exprefsly upon the fubjedt, which I fhall ufe fo freely as
to preclude the neceffity of fpecifying the paffages immediately re-
ferred to, unlefs where I am conftrained to diffent from his arrange-

* Vol. XXX, Memoirs of the Academy of Infcrlptions, &c.

ment ;

286

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

ment ; and this I fhall always do with the refpedl due both to his
claffical and geographical pre-eminence : but our Engllfh navigators
have, within thefe few years, explored this gulph fo fuccefsfully, as
to leave little more for the inveftigation of others. With thefe
Mr. d’Anville was of courfe unacquainted ; and, for want of the
information they afford, was neceffarily miftakeii in fixing fome
points of importance, more particularly at the head of the gulph,
and the mouths of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Eulseus.

I have a variety of charts furniflied by Mr. Dalrymple, accom-
panied with obfervations of his own % and illuftrated by perfonal
communication with him; but efpecially four by Lieutenant M^Cluer,
a moft adtive and intelligent officer, which render all that concerns
hydrography almoft as perfpicuous as we could hope to find it on
any coaft of Europe : two of thefe comprehend the lower, and two
the upper part of the gulph ; the later publication In both inftances
is the moft correS, and in both inftances agrees beft with Arrian,
This Is no accidental correfpondence, for Nearchus, by adhering to
the coaft, is necelfarily more minute than a modern navigator who
purfiies his courfe unreftrained; but the more fuch a navigator enters
into the detail of the coaft, and the more intimate knowledge he
acquires of it, the better ought his information naturally to coincide
with a journal of fuch difcoverers as the Greeks. Mountains, rivers,
bays, fhoals, and iflands are in their nature eternal ; if thefe are marked

* Charts from Mr. D.
Four by IVUCluer.
..Two by Harvey.

Two by d’Apres.
Gne, Niebuhr.

One, Van Keukn.
Two, Thornton’s^
One, Claude RuiTelL

One, Anonymous by Dalrymple, contain-
ing the mouths of the Euphrates.— Befides a
variety of plans and topographical IketcUcs,
One, Lieutenant Caat.

One, Kaempfer.

One, Engelbert,

One, Friend .

^ K A R M A N I A. 2S7

diftindly by Nearchus, they will hill be difcoverable by their fea-
tures ; if otherwife, I would abandon the journal as a fidtion. The
iffue is, however, exadlly what we could defire ; for fuch is the
conformity of it with the modern accounts, that there will not
remain a doubt ^ upon more than one or two ftations in the w^hole
gulph.

In regard to the geography of the country, I have not only con-
fulted claffical authority, and the beft modern travellers; but, where
I could obtain it, have fought for perfonal information from thofe
who have been refident in the country. To Mr. Jones I am more
efpeclally obliged, who wKs head of the Englifh fadtory at Bufheer
for feveral years, and afterwards in the fame office at Bafra. This
gentleman, from his knowledge of the Perfian language, his con-
nexions and intimacy with the principal perfons in powder, and his
frequent vifits to the interior part of the country, is better qualified
to decide in points of doubt, than almoft any European who has
been in Perfia ; and I ought to add, that, without any previous
knowledge of the author, he was as ready, as he was able, to com-
municate information.

With every afliftance, however, that can be obtained, it is not
in my power to give the courfe of the rivers with that corredtnefs
I wiffi ; and though d’AnvIlle has performed a great fervice, in
ihewing that the rivers of Perfis, beyond the mountains, never
reach the lea, but are loft in lakes, exhaufted upon agriculture, or
abforbed by fands ; and though he has llkewife proved that the
rivers, which fall into the gulph, are all derived from the range

3 This is to be underilood of places which on an open can be afcertained only by

have a name and charadlers. All anchorages meafuremcn^ (fuch as it is) and circiimftances.

which

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

which runs parallel with the coaft, and forms the back ground ot
the Kermefir, or hot level country next the fea, he is ftill un-
doubtedly miftaken in the courfe and names he gives to fome of
thofe in the upper part of the giilph ; and I am not fully furnifhed
with materials to corredl liis errors. The caufe of this lies in the
nature of the journals themfelves. Of thefcj I have confulted a
great number ; but every one of them takes its diredion from the
point where the author landed, to Schiras, or from Schiras to the
coaft ; and there is not one that goes along the Kermefir below the
mountains, nor perhaps ever will be one ; for it is a matter of doubt
whether any European, except Hepheftion and the forces he com-
manded, ever trod the whole extent of this 'ground | and as this is
the only route which could cut the ftreams from the mountains at
right angles, and afford the means of eftablifhing the order in whicli
they fucceed, it will be long before this defideratum in geography
can be fupplied. Pietro della Valle went from Mina to Lar; but
from Lar, north-weft to the Arofis or Endian, there is no method
of continuing the route but by fragments of routes from A1
Edrifi, or by enumerating the principal places which lie in that
dIre(3:ion.

I miuft no\v return to the fleet, which I deft at Badis, that is, in
the bay of Jafk, in order to condud: it along the coaft of Karmania.
Bctdis I have concluded to be either the town of Jafk, marked in
Baffin’s plan and Captain Blair’s fketch, or upon the river laid down
by Baffin in the bay, about five miles from the head of Jafk, if
there ever has been a town in that fituation. Cutler^ has noticed

^ Cutler, p, 83, m Dalrymple’s Col- to have copied from Baffin ; and Thornton not
Jedion. 'rhornton, p. 65. ibid. Both leem corredlly,

- . 14

this

this liver as a fecure harbour for any veflel not drawing more than
eleven feet, and here a fleet of Greek gallies might have lain,
though, from the fliortnefs of the time Nearchus fl:aid, we ought
rather to fuppofe he rode in the open bay. No day is fpecified here,
but as this was the firft place where it was poflible to procure a fup-
ply, after the diftrefs they had experienced for fome time paft, it is
neceflTary to allow a day, both for receiving the fupply on board,
and to give fome relief to the people. After weighing, the follow-
ing day the fleet proceeded fifty miles, and came to an anchor again
upon an open coaft. This anchorage, as it has no charaderiftic to
diftinguifli it, but that the cape on the Arabian fide of the gulph
was in view, I have a right to fix by the meafure of the courfe, if
it coincides with a fight of that objefl:. The journal, in fadf, gives
an hundred miles between Badis^ and the river Anamis or Mina ;
and notwithftanding d’Anville’s map gives the fame diftance be-
tween Karpella and the Anamis, there is great reafon to fuppofe
that he has both extended the meafure between the two, and carried
the Anamis nearer to Gomeroon than it ought to be ; for his own
map of Afia allots only ® one degree, while that compofed for the
memoir allows a degree and an half for the fame fpace. The fufpicion
on this head is confirmed both by Niebuhr and Pietro della Valle.
Upon reference to the charts it will immediately appear, that there
is a cape on the Perfian coaft, nearly oppofite to Muffendon on the
Arabian fide ; and the ftreight between thefe two points is exadlly
the part where the entrance into the gulph is narroweft. It mea-

Firft iUtiorj
in K A R M A -
N I A.

B A D I S .
Dec. 17.
Seventy-
feventh day.

An open
Shore.
Dec. I 8,
Seventy-
eighth day.

s Both Gronovius and Salmahus, from an is in Perfis. Sec Gronovlus in loco, p. 347,
error in Pliny, leem to fuppofe that Badis is Salmaf. Flin. Ex. 1188.
the Sabis of Ftolemy and the Sabai of Diony- ^ See the general map of Afia, firll
fins ; but Sabis is an inland town, and Sabai part.

p p fures

290

G U' L P H OF PERSIA.

fares here only thirty-four ^ nautic miles in M^CluePs chart, and
Mufiendon is fo high as to be vifible, not only on the coaft oppofite,
but almoft all the way from Karpella. The cape on the Perfian fide
is improperly named Bombarcek by M^Cluer, an error he fell into
from confidering the real Bombareek as Jafk : but this cape is the
Armozon of Ptolemy, as appears evidently by his feries, though it
has no name in our Englifh charts on which I can depend. It is in
the curve previous to this cape that I fix the prefent anchorage on
an open fhore ; and in the paffage from Badis to this point, the
fleet muft have paffed the Bombareek rock, though no notice is
taken of it, nor of Mount Elbourz, not far from which they muft
have anchored, Bombareek, which is the orthography I adopt, is
no otherwife proper than as the term moft in ufe by our navigators;
but it paffes through a great variety of appellations, all, as I have,
before obferved, corruptions of Cohum-ba-regh \ and appears from
the fea as is here reprefented, ^ level plain of

ioofe fand, between two and three miles from-

the fliore, but is not an ifland, dowm

in d’Anville and feveral of the older® charts. Thi&

is the rock which gives name to the cape, and at the cape there is a
fmall creek, but fo entirely choked up'°, that it will not admit a boat;,
it is reprefented in Commodore Robinfon’s chart, in the chart com«

^ Pliny fays, fifty Roman miles. D’An-
ville makes it about twenty-four miles and an
half Englilli. See Plin. lib. vi. c. 23. c. 26.
D’Anville Mem. p. 144.

Pliny is rearer the truth than d’Anville
choofes to allow. Arrian fays, it is a day’s
fail. Six or feven of the charts before me
agree with M^'Cluerj and d’Anville hazards

fome dedudions of importance., if he is mif-
taken.

^ Gombareek, Gombarreek, Gombarat,.
Bombarack, Bombarick, Mumbarick,

® This has arifen from a deception of the
fight when the objed was viewed at a diftance,
and the coaft was not high enough to appear..

*° Lieutenant Porter, Lieutenant Blair.

pofed

K A R M A N I A. 291

pofed for this work, and in Captain Blair’s Iketcli : if Badis were to
be fixed, therefore, at Karpella, this creek muft be afliimed for the
pofition of the town, but there is no town here at prefent ; and,
from the fleriie fand in the neighbourhood, it does not appear that
a town could exift. This circumftance, added to the infignificance
of the creek, contributes to extinguifh all idea of fixing Badis here,
while an ample bay, a town, and a river, added to the acute angle
of the cape at Jalk, dired us to prefer that as the true pofition of
Badis.

Mount Elbourz, or Ehours, the Strongylus of Ptolemy, the
Round Mountain of Semiramis, as it is called by Marcian, lies,
according to Ptolemy, thirty nautic miles north of Karpella.

I D’Anville gives it nearly the fame diftance, and Samuel Thornton

I fomething more ; but it is in my eftimation only twenty-four miles,

to which if. we add twenty-feven from Jafk to Karpella, the total is
fifty-one miles, differing only one mile from Arrian. My authority
for this is the journal of the Houghton Eaft Indiaman", which may
poffibly reckon from the Bombareek rock rather than the cape.
Even in this cafe, the diftance will fall fhort only eight miles ; this
is the extent of the difference, and many of the meafures on the
coaft of Karmania will partake of the fame deficiency. It may feem
extraordinary that fuch a rock as Bombareek, and a mountain like
Elbourz, which had evidently attracted the notice of mariners in the
age of- Ptolemy, fhould be paffed in filence by’ the journal ; but

I fimilar inftances are not unfrequent ; errors of addition there are

I none, but omiffions have already occurred, and there are fome more

' 1

•* ** Mount de Choufe is eight leagues '' bareek.** Journal of the Houghton^

? to the eaftward [northward] of Bom- 1755.

'I ' P P 2 to

■ i

5'^

2^2

G U L P M OF PERSIA.

to occur ** in the courfe of the navigation : but it is obfervable,
upon more occafions than the prefent, that a rock, an headland, or
a river, however unnoticed, attracts the fleet to an anchorage; and
this is probably the cafe with Elbourz in the inftance before us*
Arrian feems to confider the gulph of Perfia as commencing at a
line drawn between Cape Muflbndon and the fhore where the fleet
now rode : and this naturally directs us to Elbourz Itfelf, which
Marcian defcribes as clofe to Armozon. His language is fo precife,
that I {hall adduce his very words : Near Armozon lies the

Round Mountain of Semiramis ; oppofite to which Is Mount
“ Pafabo in Arabia, and the promontory formed by it : thefe two
mountains, with their promontories, form the flreights at the
entrance of the gulph of Perfia.” Pafabo is the Sabo and Afabo
of Ptolemy, the Muffendon of our modern charts; and Strongylus,
or the Round Mountain, is the Elbourz of d’Anville, transformed by
our Engllfh navigators into Ehowers, Howres, Howfe, and Chowfe*
M‘Cluer has very improperly brought Bombareek to this cape and
mountain, but I admit his delineation of the coaft; and here, at-
trafled by the Strongylus, I bring Nearchus to an anchor. The
ancient name of MuiTendon is Makse and Maketa, as well as
Afabo, and the cape itfelf is the termination of a very high and
broken ifland partaking of the nature of a 'craggy ridge on the
continent of Arabia, called the Black Mountains by Ptolemy. Thefe,

The ifland at Bender-Regh, Sec,

A^fMo^ovro^; ivravQa. ‘zua.^ax.urcn to

r^o‘)/}uAov 0^05 ayTiXsicrOcct

Karcc tvocli^ova /^paQiav UacocQu) 0^0$
iiSii cin^ojrrj^iov) iKanpo. ogvj rt k-^ a;{^ojTVPiOi

' Maician IIudA

Geog. Min. p. 21.

Written Mufieldom, Muilendom, Mo-
chandan, Mogandan, &c. See.

*5 Makse, more properly the people.
M'Ciuer, p, 16,

with

K A R M A N I A.

^93

With their adjunft Afabo, exprefs the Black Mountains of the
fouth ; for towards this point they lie in refpefl: to the Arabians,
who conferred the title upon them. Several fmall and rugged iflets
lie off this cape, called the Coins, from forming the angle of the
ftreights, as I imagine, and the whole prefents a frightful appear-
ance, if the delineation of Reffende in the Britifh Mufeum may be
credited. /

The fight of Muffendon gave rife to a difpute which renders this
anchorage important, for this promontory Oneficritus propofed to
explore, with the intention, it fhoiild feem, of extending the voyage
to the Gulph of Arabia. He afferted that they v/ere in diftrefs,,
and likely to be driven about the gulph they were now entering,'
without knowledge of the coaft, or any determinate point to which
they might direcl their courfe. Nearchus refifted this propofal
with the utmoft fteadinefs ; he reprefented to the council of officers,
that Oneficritus appeared ignorant of the defign of Alexander, who
had not put the people on board becaufe there were no means of
conduding them by land ; but that his exprefs purpofe was, to ob-
tain a knowledge of the coaft, with fuch harbours, bays, and
iflands as might occur in the courfe of the voyage; to afcertain.

f/,tXecvcc opY> Ptol. p. 15^*

Sabo, with the article in Arabic, Af-
Sabc. D’Anville Geog. Anc. vol. ii. 228.
Sabo fignilies South. Bruce, vol. i. p. 381.
So in Scripture, the queen of Seba is called
the Queen of the South, Mat. xii. 42. Mar-
cian writes the name Palabo probably by a
corruption of the text.

xard Tox xoAttox

It is rot very evident what Oneficritus
means ; but as Alexander was mailer of Egypt*
he might confider the gulph of Arabia as a
fea known to the Egyptians, and more likely
to afford them fafety or protection than the
Guiph of Perfia, which had never yet beea
vifited by his countrymen.

This difpute is not only detailed la
the journal, but recorded in the hiltory,
p. 301.

whether

294

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

whether there were any towns bordering on the ocean ; and
whether the country was habitable or defert. He added, that they
had now almoft obtained the objedt of their expedition ; and that
they ought not to hazard the completion of it, by the purfuit of a
different defign : that the cape in view proved, that the coaft below
it tended to the fouth, where the country might be more diredlly
under the influence of the fun, more torrid, parched, and deftitute
of water ; and that, fince Ahey had reached the coaft of Karmama,
they were no longer in defpair of fupport. Thefe were^ all reafons,
he alleged, for purfuing the courfe they were now in, rather than
deviating from it ; and if Alexander had completed his expedition
by land, there was reafonable ground for hope that a communi-
cation with the army might be obtained, when all the dangers they
had experienced would be rewarded by the approbation of the
king, and the applaufes of their countrymem

This addrefs had its due effedt upon the council ; the advice of
the admiral was adopted ; and in this inftance, fays Arrian, I am
perfuaded that the fuccefs of the expedition, and the prefervation of
all that had embarked in it, is imputable folely to Nearchus : an
encomium to which no one can refufe to fubfcribe who is acquainted,
with the coaft of Arabia, and confiders the total unfitnefs of the
fleet for fuch a navigation.

Pietro della Valle, who refided fome time at Mina, a town on the
river Anamis, in this neighbourhood, has furnilhed fome general
circumftances that demand attention; for he not only mentions the
river atv Mina, which he calls Ibrahim **, and which muft be the
Anamis, to which the fleet is now direding its courfe, but notices

Probably a Mahometan title from fome Imam, or fovereign.

two

K A R M A N I A.

fwo or three little ports between the prefent anchorage andGomeroon*
not that they are ports, he adds, but that every village where a veffel
can land her cargo, or whence there are a few veffels fent to fea,
obtains the name of Bender; and, in this fenfe, Kuhefteck and Ben-
der Ibrahim are ports as well as Bender Abbaffi or Gomeroon.
Such a port as this was probably Neoptana, a place which the fleet
reached the following day, after a courfe of forty-four miles ; and
Bender Ibrahim, the port at the river Ibrahim, or Anamis, feems to
occupy the very fame ground on which Nearchus formed his naval
camp, when he arrived at that river the fucceeding day: the diftance
from Neoptana is ftated at about fix miles, making in the whole an
hundred miles from Badis.

Upon a review of this diftance, I am more confirmed in fixing
Badis at Jafk, and the firft anchorage from thence at Elbourz, for
the meafure of about fifty miles, comes out confiftent both by the
journal and our modern accounts ; and if the fpace from Elbourz
to the Anamis does not correfpond fo happily, it muft be obferved
that M. d’Anville h?.s lengthened that diftance in the map of his
memoir, in order to accommodate it to his interpretation of the
journal : this at leaft I fufpedt, though I cannot find the means of
corredlion, for our Englifh charts are too hydrographical to notice
fo fmall a ftream,. and it muft be confefled that the manufcript of
Reffende, \vhich was confulted, carries the Obremi, as Ibrahim is
there written, much nearer to Ormuz.

The river Anamis is fixed by Arrian In the country of Har=-
mozeia, an appellation which immediately fuggefts the refemblance
it bears to Harmuz or Hormuz, the celebrated ifle of Ormuz, in the

The diftance is greater in the map conftruited for his memoir than in that of Afie,
premiere partie.

neighbourhood*

Neoptana.
Dec. lo.
Seventy-
ninth day.

A N A M 2”$
Rive .
Dec. 20.
Eightieth
dav.

i k

296 G U L P H O F r E R S 1 A,

neighbourhood. The fame title is given to this tra£l; by Ptolemy^
of which his Cape Armozon is the boundary; and the means by
which the name paffed from the continent to the ifland are com-
mon to almoft every ifland in the gulph. This tra£t is ftyled
Moghoftan, or the date country, in Oriental geography, extending
to Karpella, or perhaps Jafk ; and as we are much concerned with
the interior part of it, on account of the journey taken by Nearchus
from the Anamis, to the encampment of the army, it is fortunate
that we have the information of fo circumftantial a traveller as Pietro
della Valle to diredt our inveftigation.

Pietro della Valle was a Roman of noble family, who, after re-
fiding fome years in Perfia, came down from Schiras, wdth an in-
tention of embarking at Ormuz for the Eaft Indies ; but upon his
reaching the coafl: he found the forces of Perfia collected, which,
with the affillance of the Englifli fleet, were to wreft the poflhflion
of this Oriental emporium from the Portuguefe. The confequence
neceffarily was, that all communication with the ifland was prohi-
bited, and that, in order to avoid the infolence of the foldiery, he
kept at a diftance from the coaft, taking up his abode at Mina, the
capital of the diftrid:, v/here he continued during the latter end of
the year one thoufand fix hundred and twenty-one, and the com-
mencement of one thoufand fix hundred and twenty-two. He
had here the misfortune to lofe his beloved Maani, a Chriftian lady,
and a Neftorian, whom he had married at Bagdat, and in whofe
flory are interfperfed a variety of pathetic incidents, painted with

Tom. V. in fine.

The writings of Petrarch formed a
fchool of romantic lovers in Italy ; and Pietro
was an academician of the foclety called Hu-
mourijisi at Rome. His narrative is often

poetical, and Madam Maani’s horfe Dcrvifeh
is upon a level with Argus, the dog of Ulyffes,
without the appearance of imitation. Gibbon
Ryles him, not without reafon, an author into-
lerably prolix and vain.

the

• K A R M A N 1 A.

297

tlie romantic gallantry of an Italian lover, and furpaffingin reality all
the lucid fidlions of a modern novel. I have not thoucrht it in«
confiilent with my defign to mention thefe particulars, becaufe the
geographical information dependant on them is Important, He ac-
quaints us, then, that Mina is the capital of Moghoftan, and this
its name implies, for Mina fignifies a fort, and Moghoftan is a
diftrift of the ancient Karmania, extending from Cape Jafk to the
north of Gomeroon“h he adds, that the heats are infupportable, and
the climate moft unhealthy ; but a more particular circumftance he
notices is, that the river which rifes in the neighbourhood falls into
the gulph at about two days’ journey from the city, and this river
can be no other than the Anamis of Arrian, and the Andanis **
of Ptolemy. If Arrian had followed the inflexion of this word,
which I hoped to find in him, we fhould have read Ana-mina ;
but he has written Anamis, and confequently Ana-min I can-
not be perfuaded, however, to believe, that there Is no connexion
between the ancient and modern name, unlefs It fliall hereafter ap-
pear that Mina is of a more recent date. The name of Ibrahim,
which the river now bears, is evidently a perfonal derivative, and
moft probably from the fepulchre of fome Mahometan faint in the
neighbourhood ; but the ancient appellation is confonant to the
prefent ufage of mariners, who drop the native names of rivers,
and call them from the town in their neighbourhood, as the Buftieer
river, the Bafra river, &c.

Gambron, Niebuhr. Combru, P. della Addanlus by Hudfon, which he ruppofes may
Valle. Gambroon, Cameroon, See. &c. be the Anamis.

Mina, Minau, Minave. Mina fignifies Kara rev 'cjarctfxlv "AN AMIN, p. 348.

a fort ; as Minave the fort of Bafra. i Another fort of folution would account for

From forty to fifty miles. Ana. By tranfpofition, Anamis is A-

** There is in Marcian a Tnanes, rendered min as.

’ \

I infifl;

GULPH OF PERSIA.

I infift the more upon this name, becaufe If Mina was formerly
the principal place of the diftrid:, as it now is, it points out the
reafon why Nearchus pitched upon this Ration in preference to any
other for a camp. He had here a communication with an inland
town of eminence, from which he might hope to derive fome intel-
ligence of the pofition of the army, and open fome means of com-
munication with the king : and as the communication was adually
eifeded afterwards from this very point. It Is hardly imputing too
much to the intelligence which we may reafonably fuppofe he ob-
tained upon the coaft.

He informs us himfelf, that he found the natives hofpitably dif-
pofed, and the country abounding in every kind of fupply, but oil.
The difembarkation here is expreffed in terms of joy, that intimate
the previous confinement of the people on board for many days ;
a grievance almoft intolerable, confidering the conftrudion of a
Greek veffel, and a deliverance from which was the greateft of all
refrefhments. A naval camp was eftablifhed here immediately, by
drawing a line from the river to the beach, and fortified by a double
rampart with a mound of earth, and a deep ditch, which feems to
have been filled with water from the river. Within this inclofure,
the veffels were hauled on fhore, and all the proper meafures
adopted both for their fecurity and repair. It was the intention of
the commander to leave his people in this camp, under the' com-

UlyfTes, in all his wanderings, never ap- waift. are properly the cables at

pears to have flept, -crapa 'ts-pvf^vvo-ia. in the the ftern, but perhaps the after- part of the

after-part of the fhip, when he could find an- veffel likewife; w'hether, when they flept on

other bed. In Homer’s gallies there was an board, they flept on ' the

after-deck called on which the fleerf- ’'npoi- [deck], or under it, does not clearl/
man was elevated above the rowers in the appear. Eithervvas bad lodging.

maud

KARMA

I At

mand of proper officers, while he tried himfelf to obtain an inter-
view with the king : but before we accompany him in this attempt,
it will be^ neceffary to confider the country around him with that
which he was to penetrate, and the probable fite of the Macedonian
^ camp at the time.

It is eafy to recognife the name of Ormuz in the Harmozeia of
Arrian ; but we are not therefore to fuppofe, that the local cir-
cumftances of both are exactly the fame. The prefent Ormuz is an
ifland known to Nearchus by the name of Organa, and to the fub-
fequent ages by the title of Gerun ; and however fanciful a recur-
rence to tranfpofition may be deemed, Oregana converted into
O-gerana is probably the medium for uniting them both. The ap-
pellation of Ormuz, afterwards given to the ifland from the neigh-
bouring trad! on the continent, is agreeable to an ufage prevalent in
the gulph of Perfia, which we flrall have occafion to notice upon
other occafions ; and the flight of the inhabitants from the continent
to the iflands, in cafes of oppreffion or invafion,| is to this day a
fettled practice, as we are alTured by Neibuhr D’Anville finds
two periods, when the Harmozeians on the main might have fled to
Gerun, and carried their name with them to their new abode. One
in the beginning of the thirteenth century, when Bahud-din, a na-
tive chief on the coaft, fled from an inroad of the Atabek Tur-
comans, who about that time eftablifhed themfelves in Pharfillan and
Kerman ; and another in the year one thoufand two hundred
and feventy-three, when the delcendants of Gengis-Khan were
mafters of the Perfian empire To thefe two periods I muft add

So Smaragdus is from Zamrud, Zma- Perfis and Carmania.

ragd. Bruce, vol. i. p. 207. Cheref-eddin, vol. ii, p. 418. Frenck

See Niebuhr under the head. Abu-Schaehr. edition.

3. third '

a third : In the year one thoufand four hundred and feven when
Mahomet the fon of Timour was fent down from Schiras by his
father to this coaft, in order to fubdue Mahomet Shah, the fovereign
of Ormuz, Ormuz was at that time evidently on the continent, for
the fon of Timour took feven fortreffes which were the defence of
the Shah’s kingdom, and compelled him to fly to Geroum exaft-
ing even there from him a tribute of fix hundred thoufand dinars.
This tranfadtion proves, that the ifland was not yet called Ormuz
in one thoufand four hundred and feven; while it is alrnofl evident
that Gerun was the place of retreat for the inhabitants of the con-
tinent on thefe three different occafions; and, according to the ob-
fervation of Niebuhr juft mentioned, this is the cuftom of the coaft.
The fluftuation of this word in European orthography juftifies much
greater liberties in regard to names, than any which occur in this work.
Ormus, Ormuz, Ormutz, Hormus, Hormoz, Hormuzd, Harmozeia^^,
Armozufa, Armoxufa, Armuza, are all applied either to the ifland or
the neighbouring continent, and I conclude have all a derivation com-
mon alfo to Hormifdas, which is Oromafdes or Hormudfeh the
good principle in the fuperftition of the Parfees, and a name affumed
by feveral princes of the fourth dynafty, and fome of a later date,-
Mr, d’Anville has obferved that there are four diftrids, two on
the gulph and two inland, that take their titles from different Per-

writes Harmuz with Ptolemy* and Arrian,-
Gol. ad Alfrag. p. 1 1 2.

Mem. p. 156.

D^Anville derives thefe divifions from Go-
lius ad Alfraganum ; but Niebuhr fays, no-
knowledge of fuch a divifion now remains.
See Gol. Not. ad Alfra, p. Niebuhr^

vol. ii. p.-i66. French edition,

fian

Really one thoufand three hundred and
ninety-feven ; for there is an error often years
in the chronology of Cheref-eddin.

Geroum is called by Petis de la Croix
in the margin, Gomeroon ;.but it (hould rather
be the idand : not but that Geroum and Go-
meroon may be mutually connedled, like Or-
muz, on the main, and Ormuz the ifle.

. It is worthy of notice, that Alfraganl-

fian monarchs, Cobad Sabur, Darab and Ardefhir, from
Artaxerxes as he is ftyled in Greek, Cobad, Sapor, and Darab;
but, perhaps, if we fhould judge thefe rather to have a derivation
in common with the name of thofe kings, than to take a name
from them, Armoza may be added as a fifth and related to-
Hormifdas or Oromafdes by the fame connexion. All this is, how-
ever, a fpeculation rather curious than neceffary, and our concern is-
with the trad; called Harmozeia by Arrian, Armuza by Ptolemy
and with his Cape Armozon, which Strabo has marked precifely
as lying at the very point where the ftrait is narrowed. At this
promontory I fuppofe the diftrid of Arrian to commence ; how far
it extended towards the north, or whether it comprehended Gome-
roon (Bender- Abbaffi) within its limits, cannot now be deter-
mined ; but there is fufficient ground to conjedure, that it ter-
minated within the limits of the modern Moghoftan at the river
called Rud-fiur by Pietro della Valle, and extended inland to the
foot of the mountains. Every where along this coafl: a range runs
in a line at no great diftance from the fea, inclofing the Kermefir, a
'narrow ftrip of level country rendered hot beyond meafure, and un-
healthy, from the want of circulation. As Harmozeia was a difirid of
Karmania, in the fame manner Lariftan'^'^ and Moghoftan are, in modern

Thefe names feem all to arife from the
fourth dynafly of Perfian race. Heylin Cofm.
lib. iii. To this dynafty, perhaps, all the my-
thology and all the learning of the Parfees
difcovered by Anquetil du Perron may be re-
ferred .

Thus Darab-chierd is Dario-certa. Pietro
della Valle, tom. vi. p. 130.

It ought, however, to be noticed that Ar-
mozeia is in Karmania, not in Perfis.

Ptol. p. 157.

Strab. p. 763.

Larillan, from Lar, a town much to the
weftward of Gomeroon, in the trad below the
mountains. Pietro della Valle retired to Lar,
after a fevere illnefs, which enfued upon the
death of his wife, and had the good fortune to
find there a Perfianwell Ikilled in phyfic. His
route, if we were concerned with the interior
of the country, is well worth purfuing. See
infra*

eftimationjy

eftimatlon, fo diftinfl; from Kerman, that the province can hardly
be fald to commence till you are paft the mountains. Moghoftan,
or the land of dates, by its name implies the means of fupport, and
though the air is unwholefome, according to modern accounts, the
foil does not appear to be barren. The whole diftridl was flourifh-
ing while the Portuguefe maintained their commerce at Ormuz; and
Pietro della Valle, in his time, found an Englifh factory efta^
blifhed at Mina for the purchafe of filk. The whole of this coaft
is defolated at prefent by the diftradied ftate of Perfia ; and, accord*
ing to Niebhur, fubjedt to Arab Scheiks, who have taken advantage
of thofe troubles to pafs from the oppofite coaft, and eftablifh petty
governments from Ormuz io Budieer.

At the river Anamis, then, Nearchus took his meafures for dif*
covering the fituation of the army, and he had the fatisfadlion to
find, upon inquiry, that it had arrived in fafety, and was not at a
greater diftance than five days’ journey from the coaft. A day’s
journey is ftill an Oriental meafure, and may vary in its utmoft
difference from twenty to thirty miles. Taken at a medium, there-
fore, Alexander was now an hundred and twenty-five miles from
the coaft ; out of this fum, if we be allowed to condudt Nearchus
to Mina we have two days’ journey to fubtradl from our uncer-
tainty, and only feventy-five miles inland from Mina, upon which
a doubt would remain. My reafon for condudting Nearchus to
Mina is not wholly conjedtural ; for, in the firft place, it is the
capital of' the diftridt, which would naturally attradt him ; and, in

Or at leafl: merchants. frequent occafion to difpatch meiTengers to the

Niebuhr fays Mina is only fix leagues coaft: but N. B. Six leagues is the exprefllon
from the fea ; but I depend upon Pietro della of the tranflator. Niebuhr himfelf fays, fome
¥alle, who refided there fome time, and had leagues. See French edition, vol. ii. p. 165.

the

K A R M A N 1 A.

die next, we a(9:ually hear that the commander of the dlftri£l, upon
the arrival of the fleet, flew up to the camp to anticipate the Intel-
• iigence of its arrival. The feat of empire is fubjedl to the caprice
of the monarch in the eafl, and has frequently been changed ; but
in the provinces or fubdivifion of provinces, the principal town

having generally rifen from local convenience, is not fo much ex-
pofed to fluctuation : this Induces me to think, that a place like
Mina was the ancient capital, as well as the modern. We are, then,
to look for Alexander in Karmania, at fome convenient fpot three
days’ journey from this town.

We left him at Poora in Gadrofia, which d’Anville"^® confiders
juftly as the Pureg or Phoreg of the Nubian Geographer, and
Arrian calls the capital of the province. The modern capital, ac-
cording to Cheref-eddin, is Kidge ; and- d’AnvIlle has another
Pohreg or Forg, on the weftern fide of Karmania, in which he
is juftified by the Nubian Geographer, if I underftand him right,

In Hindoftan, Pallbothra, Canouge,
Agra, and Dehli, have been theieats of em-
pire in different ages : but Labor has con-
tinued unchangeably the head of a province.
Ecbatana, Perfepolis, and Sufa, have all
ceded in Perfia to Ifpahan but, Candahar,
Herat, Balk, Lar, See. are hill principal
places.

Geog. Ancienne, vol. ii. p. 283. written
Fahrag, Fohreg, Pohreg, Puhreg, Puregh,
Pureh. In all Perfian words, p and f are in-
terchangeable. Fars is Perils, G, ch, and
H, are all final afpirates, and hardly diftin-
guilhable. See Nub. Geog. p. 129.

^5* Vol. ii. p. 417.

Kidge becomes Kudj'; from whence the
Kutch of Europeans, and the Kutch Mekran
of the Ayeen Akbari ; and is fonietimes
confounded with Tidge, which is v-'^n the

coaft. Petis de la Croix, from the hillorians
of Gingis Khan, mentions that the army of
that prince of ravagers almofl periHied in this
province. Pet. de la Croix’s Hift. of Gingis,
p. 337. Tiz is a place on the coaft in the
bay of Churbar, and poffibly Petis de la-
Croix has confounded the two.

Otter fays, Kie or Guie, vol. i. p.

Called Purg or Furg by Pietro de la
Valle, vol. V. p, 361. Lefs difference would
appear in all thefe names if they ■s-ere written
with the PH inllead of the f, which letter, in
other Oriental tongues as well as the Hebrew,
is the fame. £) or with no other dif-
tinflion but the point. Phorg, Phoorg,
Phooreg, Phooreh, pats cafily into Poora, the
Greek pronunciation of llQvpu by this method
of writing..

' and

3^4

G U L P H OF P E R S 1 A.

and by Pietro della Valle, wlio was upon the fpot At Poora he
was joined by Stafanor and Phratapliernes from the upper provinces,
who, divining the difFiculties he muft have encountered, haftened to
his relief with provifions, and a convoy of camels and other beafts;
the whole' was diftribiited among the officers and their different
troops as far as the fupply would extend, and the army proceeded
to Karmamia as foon as it was recovered from its fatigues. The
march was probably a proceflion of joy and triumph, for the army
was not only crowned with victory, but delivered from famine ;
but that it was a pomp of licence, revelry, and voluptuoufnefs, as
painted by Plutarch and CX Curtius, is a fidlion, as Arrian aflures
us, not fupported by Ptolemy, Ariffobulus, or any other hiftorian
of authority^ They both mention the exhibition of games and a
folemn facrifice in gratitude for the deliverance experienced. Thefe
were eafily magnified into a Bacchanalian proceflion, by a fertile
imagination, and exaggerated on the fide of exultation, as much as
the diftrefies in Gadrofia had been amplified by terror. That their
fufferings were lefs than they are reported to be, appears from their
future tranfadions; for there is no evidence of extraordinary weak-
nefs or diminution, the expeditions proceed as ufual, and the future
plans daily increafe in the magnitude of their objed.

If now, therefore, we caff an eye to the map, and confider the
fituation of Mina and the Gadrofian Fohregh, we can hardly be
miftaken in drawing a line through Giroft a town of Karmania,
which will ftaird as a point of union between the fleet and the army.
My reafon for fixing upon Giroft, or fome place in its neighbour-

3* Mina lies In 26^ 35' north latitude, ac- It has two caftles.
cording to Pietro della Valle, vol. v. p. 397. Ojirift of Otter, vol. i, p.311.

hood

K A R M A N I A.

30s

hood lying on the fame line, is, becaufe of its agreement with the
diftance of an hundred and twenty-five miles almoft to a fra£tion^\
if d’Anville’s map is corred;. There is no town in Karmania, either
upon this route or near it, except Valafe-gerd or Valafe-cherd,
which poffibly has a better title to antiquity, if we may judge by
its termination, for its final fyllable is the fame, though differently
written, with that of Tigrano-certa and Pafa-garda both ancient
cities ; the objedion to Valafe-cherd is, its too great proximity to the
coaft. Now, it is remarkable that Arrian, Strabo, Plutarch, and
Curtius, none of them affign any name to the town where the in-
terview took place, but Diodorus Siculus fixes it at Salmus, and
adds, that Nearchus arriving when the king was in the theatre and
exhibiting games to the army, he was introduced upon the ftage,
and requefted to relate the account of his voyage to the affembly,
Salmus is a name fo void of any collateral fupport, that the learned
commentator^'^ of Diodorus abandons it in defpair, and I have
fearched every authority in my poffeffion without finding the moft
diftant fimllaiity of name to fix it. In a cafe of defpair, I offer the
following conjedure as a mere fpeculation (without building in the
lead upon it) for the amufement, I hope, not for the contempt of the
reader ;

It meafures almoll, as exadly as the the modern terms -abad, -patam, -poor. Sec,
opening of the compafTes will give, one hun- Fat-abad, Jehann-abad, Melia-poor, Mafuli-
dred and twenty-five miles Roman, of feventy- patam, &c.

five to a degree ; and this, compared with the Pafa, written Phefa and Befa, which fig-

road dillance, would amount to one hundred nifies the north -eafl: wind ; becaufe it is cooled
and twenty-five miles Britifli, as near as pre- by that wind in a hot climate. Gol. ad Alfra-
cifion itfelf could demand. gan, J14.

54 Written both ways by the Nubian W’efleling. ad Diodor. lib. xvii. p. 243,

Geographer ; where cbferve, -gerd pre- Urbis nomen quam in Carmania

ferves the relation with Pafa-garda, and fuifle ex Arriano conAcias, Jib. vi. .28. Ab
-cherd with Tigrano-certa. This termi- aliis negligitur.
nation fignifies Fort, Town, or City, like

R R

The

GULPH of PERSIA.

3c6

The Nubian Geographer mentions Maaun, a frnall city, but
much frequented by merchants, at one Ration, or five and twenty
miks,'diftance from Valafe-cherd ; and it is, I conclude, the fame
as d’Anville’s De-Maum which ftands between that town and Giroft.
Is it, then, too much to fay, that, in the Sal-moun-ti of Dio-
dorus, we dlfcover Maaun ? I know not the origin of d’Anville’s
De- more than the Sal- of Diodorus^ but Sal in Flebrew, and, if
I arh rightly informed, in Arabic or Perfic, -has two fignificatlons 5
by one it imports the Jhelter of a tent or houfe ; by the other, a
rampart. Would it not then, in either fenfe, apply? as firft, the camp
at Maaun, and fecondly, Fort Maaun ; or, if it fhould be faid I
take advantage of a Greek inflexion to obtain Moun-, I muft
obferve, that words of this form, though they have not the letter
N in their firft appearance, always aflume It by inflexion, and have
it conftantly implied. I give this merely as a fpeculatlon, without
pretenfion to Oriental learning ; but I am perfuaded that an Orlen-
talift who wmuld purfue inquiries of this fort would find his cu-
riofity amply repaid. I fhall draw no confequence from It, though
I prefer Maaun on this account, but fix the interview at Giroft, in
which I adhere to the correfponding diftance, and the opinion of
d’Anville. If it ihould hereafter appear that Diodorus has, under
fuch a difguife, preferved the name of this place, he has one offence
the lefs in his barren account of this expedition. Giroft is ftykd
the capitaF^ of Karmaiiia by Petis de la Croix in his commentary
on Cheref-eddin ; which how^ever it is not, for Seirdgian is the ca-

P. 130. Canat-Alfciam, hinc ad Maaun
urb-em parvam fed commerciis minime infre-
fjuentem, dado. Ab hac ad urbem Yalafe-
gerd, qnae et Valafecherd dicitur, dado.

=» r\bbD> a rampart, from Vd b)S> to
diade or dicker, as a houfe or tent. Park-
bur d in voce.

SAAMOTr, pronounced Salmoos, and
formed like Pedinus Pedinuntis, Selinus Seli-
nuntis ; written in Latin originally,. Pedinuns,
Selinuns, and fo ZaAp-yj'Tof.

The Nubian Geographer. Giroft autem
magna ed habetque in longitudine duo fere
milliaria, P-129.

pital i.

K A R M A N I A,

307

pital : he adds, that It Is four days’ journey from Ormuz, and lies
in latitude^* 27'’ 30'. It is noticed by Golius as a large and pleafant
place, abounding in corn, fine fruits, and good water, and much
frequented by the caravans; it is a place alfo of fuch importance, that
when Mirza Mehemet, the fon of Timour, invaded the kingdom of
Ormuz, he made it a poft^'^ for his brother, who commanded one
of the divifions of the army. According to the Nubian Geographer,
there is an inland Hormoz-regis, or Hauz, lying between Phoreg
and Giroft which would induce a conje£lure that, at the time of
Mirza Mehemet’s invafion, the kingdom of Ormuz extended inland,
or originated beyond the mountains, which line the coaft ; and that
the name paffed in the firft infhance from the inland town to the
coaft, and then from the coaft to the ifland. If this conjediure be
founded, it correfponds admirably with Arrian, for Nearchus found
no city, but a diftridt called the Harmozelan country, and probably
the feat of government was at that period the inland Hormoz, exift-
ing as a kingdom or province of Ormuz, mearly in the fame man-
ner as in the age of Timour. The march of Mirza Mehemet’s
army in four divifions, for the invafion of this kingdom, throws
much light on this fubjedt, if it were neceflary to purfue it farther.
One circumftance, however, muft not be omitted, which is, that
the pofition of Giroft depending on the Gadrofian Poora, or Phoreg,
it is remarkable that the Nubian Geographer places Phoreg at the
commencement of the great defert which extends to Segeftan, and

I believe Petis de la Croix’s latitudes are tween Phoreg and Giroft, and afterwards that
from Abu’lfeda. See Chcref-eddin, vol, ii. it is to the weft of Giroft, which is impofiible.
p. 418. D’Anville has placed Hormoz between the

Golias ad Alfraganum, not. p. Ii8. two, and therefore probably read for

Diftant one day from Harmuz ; if fo, it is the Occidentemy the eaft for the weft,
inland Ormuz. Cheref-eddin, vol. ii. p. 417*

There is an error in the Nubian Geo- P. 129. '

grapher, who fays, ftrft, that Hormoz is be-

R R 2 at

GULPH OF PERSIA.

303

at two hundred and ten miles diftance from the capital of that
province. It is the lower part of that defert which Alexander had
juft pafled ; and this furnifhes an additional proof to the dire(ft;ioa of
his march, and a ftronger reafon for conducting it to Giroft inftead
of Seirdgian the capital, becaufe, if he had inclined to the north,
his courfe would ftill have been through the fame defert.

Upon the arrival of the army in Karmania, intelligence was re-
ceived that Philip, the new-appointed fatrap of India, had been
aflaflinated by the native troops in his pay, and his death revenged
by the Macedonians. Eudemus and Taxiles were ordered to take
charge of the province till a new fatrap fhould be appointed. Sta-
fanor, the fatrap of Aria and Drangiana ; Pharafmanes, the fon of
Phrataphernes, fatrap of Parthia and Hyrcania;. Oleander, Sitalces,
and Heracon, with a confiderable force, and the 'army of Parmenia
out of Media, all joined Alexander in Karmania, where Oleander
and Sitalces, being accufed of oppreflion and facrilege, were tried
and executed. Craterus alfo arrived with the elephants and heavy
baggage, having experienced none of the difficulties in his march
through Arachofta and Drangiana which Alexander had en-
countered in Gadrofia ; and yet by a view of the map, and a
reference to the geographers, we can hardly difcover the means of
his avoiding fome part of that defert on the eaft of Kra*mania,
which the Nubian Geographer fays is the largeft in theworld.
All thefe circumftances, though foreign to the voyage itfelf, are ne-
eeffary to be mentioned at leaft, becaufe they account for the delay
of Alexander in the province, where fo much bufinefs appears to

His account is not clear. At Poora there was alfo the appointment

See d*Anvil!c Geog. Anc. p. 2S7. of Siburdus to the fatrapy of Apollophanes,
7oL ii. over tlae Orits.,

have

K A R M A N I A.

309

have been tranfafbed, befides the recovery of his troops after the
..fatigue and diftrefs of their march.

Thus having confidered the march of the army and Its prefent po^
fition, I ihall next examine the dates. Nearchus reached the Anamis on
the twentieth of December, and it is no matter of difficulty to ffiew
the correfpondence of that date with the movements of the army.
It has already been proved that Alexander left Pattala In the end of
July, or beginning of Auguft ; and before the conclufion of that
month, there is fufficient evidence to ffiew, that he had paffed the
country of the Arabies and Oritse, and had entered Gadrofia. The
proof of this is, a circumftance mentioned of his encamping in
that province, after a diftrefsful march upon the bank of a torrent,
wffiich fwelled fuddenly from rain that had fallen in the mountains^
and fwept away all the baggage of thofe who, for the convenience
of water, had pitched their tents too near the courfe of the flream*
This fafl: is recorde4 both by Strabo and Arrian; and it proves that,
though no rain falls in Gadrofia, the folftltial rains were not yet
over in the mountains which encircle that province on the north..
Now Strabo fays, that the rains end about the rlfing of Ardiurus^'',,
that is, the fecond of September; and confequently the army muft
have been in Gadrofia, and fuffered this calamity, in the latter end
of Auguft. If, therefore, we add another fadt to this, upon the
authority of Arrian, that the army w^as fixty days in pafling Ga-
drofia, we bring its arrival at Poora to the end of Odlober. The
bufmefs tranfadled here and In Karmania may reafonably be fup-
pofed to have occupied fix weeks, to which an additional circiun-

70 Strabo, p. 691. Ufher, from Euf\^mon, fays on the fifth of September. See Ephe^
jneris de Anno Solar. Maced.

ftancCg^

GULPH OF PERSIA.

jio

ftance, not noticed by the hiftorians, muft be added, that is, the
remounting of the cavalry ; for all the horfes had periflied in the
defert. Thus far a comparifon of fails would authorife the fixing
of a date to the firft or fecond week in December ; but we have a
pofitive proof of the feafon much ftronger ; for when Alexander,
after receiving Nearchus, recommenced his march to the northward,
he difpatched Hephseftion, with the greater part of the army, the
baggage, and the elephants, to proceed along the fea-coaft of Kar-
mania, becaufe it was now Winter and the climate was there
milder and fupplies were more eafily to be procured: that
is, Hephseftion pafled the mountains, and traverfed the modern
Moghoftan^'* and Lariftan, or Kermefir, while Alexander, with the
remainder of the forces, proceeded inland to the northward of the
mountains, and directed his courfe to Pafagarda. The diredt men-
tion of winter in this paflage correfponds fo precifely with the
twentieth of December, which the narrative of the journal pro-
duces, that there cannot poffibly be an error of more than a few
days. Such an error, I have before intimated, muft lie on the fide
of excefs; and I am difpofed to take off the ten days and fix

Arrian, p. 270.

aAefivct re See a very long and angry
note of Gronobius’s upon this uord, becaufe
Facius and fome others had read, iKmvx n yjv,
ibid.

If we fuppofe Hephsedion to have pafTed
the mountains at Mina, which is probable, he
marched to Lar the fame road by which
Pietro de la Valle was carried fick in a litter
to the fame town. See vol. v. fub fine.

Niebuhr fays, from Bender Abbafli to
Relam,; it is an arid plain called Kermefir, or

the hot country, by the Perfians. Vol. ii.
p. I43. Englifli edition. Pietro de la Valle
confirms this, by mentioning that it feldom
rains at Lar, except a little in May, May is
the coldeil month. Vol. vi. p. 20. et feq.
Strabo is very precife in his agreement with
Niebuhr, p, 727 ; for he fays, the fea coaft
along the gulph, as far as the river Oroates,is
barren, hot, and expofed to violent winds for
three hundred or four hundred lladia inland :
from thence, a fine country to the north, for
eight thoufand Itadia !

Nearchus’s

K A R M A N I A.

311

Nearchiis’s arrival at the Anamis on the tenth of December, in
the year fix hundred and twenty-fix before the Chriftian sera, in the
eleventh year of the reign of Alexander.

The pleafure of being once more on land, after all the diftrefles
they had experienced, is painted in ftrong colours by Nearchus
and as they were now in a friendly country, without apprehenfion
either of famine or danger, the people were foon difperfed over the
neighbouring trafl:, either from curiofity, or a defire of fupplying
their feveral wants. One of thefe parties accidentally fell in with
a ftraggler, whofe drefs^*^ and language difcovered him to be. a Greek;,
tears burft from their eyes upon feeing once more a native of their
own country, and hearing once more the found of their own language.^^
Inquiries commenced with the eagernefs natural to their diftrefs,,
when they learnt that he had not long left the army, and that the
camp was at no great diftance. They inftantly hurried the ftranger
with all the tumult of joy to Nearchus ; in his' prefence, the fame
happy difcovery was repeated, with affurances that the king was"
within five days’ journey, and that the governor of the province^
was upon the fpot, from whom farther intelligence might be
obtained.

75 p. 348.

The claflical reader will call to mind the
fame natural fentiments attributed to Philode-
tes by Sophocles, 1. 222.

rioia? 'tyciTfocq Vfxaq uv yivovq 'wor\

Tvy^oiiA av I'.ntuxy fxlv yap E?\7\d^oq

1.T0?\r,q vTict^^fi 'TupQC'(piXif:ury/q

^(L'yriq S' axbuoct /3yAo|W.ai.

Of what clime ? what race ?
Who are ye ? Speak ; if 1 may truft that garb^
Familiar once to me, yc are of Greece,

My much-loved country : let me hear the:
found

Of your long-wllhed for voice.

Fr ANCKLIN*.

And* afterwards-,

n (piXTurov (pa>vr'f^oc» <prj to XuQsy/
rifC/J-pSiyfACi T0i« S avSiOq BV f/.aKsu,

Oh happinefs to hear !

After fo many years of dreadful filence.

How welcome was that found !

Fra NCR LI K.

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

jii

This circumftance of good fortune occured on the day of their
arrival. Nearchus inftantly determined to undertake the journey,
and tlie next day ordered the (hips to be dravrn on fhore, and the
camp to be fortified. While he was engaged in thefe tranfadfions,
the governor, who was not unacquainted with the anxiety of Alex-
ander on account of the fleet, and thinking to recommend himfelf
by carrying the firft intelligence of its arrival, hurried up to the
camp by the fhorteft route, and gaining admittance to the king, in-
formed him that the fleet was fafe, and that Nearchus himfelf was
coming up in a few days. The joy of Alexander may be readily
conceived, notwithftanding he could fcarcely allow himfelf to give full
credit to the report. Impatience fucceeded to his doubts; day paffed
after day without confirmation of the fadt; and at jength when due
allowance had been made, and calculation v/as exhaufted, he
difpatched parties difierent ways in fearch of Nearchus, either to
find him out if he were upon his road, or, if found, to protedt
him from the natives : but when feveral of thefe parties returned
' without fuccefs, concluding the governor’s information was a delu-
fion, he ordered him into confinement, not without the feverefh
reproaches for rendering his vexation more acute from the difap-
pointment of his hopes.

In this ftate of fufpenfe he continued for feveral days, manifefting
by his outward deportment the anguifh he fuifered in his heart.
Nearchus, however, was adlually on the road; and, while he was
proceeding with Archias and five or fix others in his company, for-
tunately fell in with a party from the army, which had been fent
out with horfes and carriages for his accommodation. The admiral
and his attendants, from their appearance, might have been paffed un-
noticed. Their hair long and negledled, their garments decayed, their
'Countenance pale and weather-worn, and their perfons emaciated

K A R M A N I A.

by famine and fatigue, fcarcely rouzed the attention of the
friends they had encountered. They were Greeks, however, and
of Greeks It Vv^as natural to inquire after the army, and where it
•was now encamped. An anfwer was given to their inquiry; but
ftill they^were neither recognifed by the party, nor was any qiiefdon
afked in return. Juft as they were feparating from each other,
Afluredly,” fays Archias, this muft be a party fent out for our
relief;. for on what other account can they be wandering about
the defert ? There is nothing ftrange in their paffing us without
notice, for our very appearance is a difguife. Let us addrefs them
once more, and inform them who we are, and learn from them
on what fervice they are at prefent employed.” Nearchus
approved of this advice, and, approaching them again, inquired
which way they were directing their courfe ? We are in fearch of
Nearchus and his people,” replied the officer ; — and I am
Nearchus,” faid the admiral ; “ and this is Archias ; take us
under your condud:, and we will ourfelves report our hiftory to
the king.” They were accordingly placed* in the carriages, and
condudled towards the army without delay. While they were upon
their progrefs, fome of the horfemen, impatient to carry the news
of this happy event, fet off for the camp to inform the king, that
Nearchus and Archias were arrived, with five or fix attendants, but
of the reft they had no intelligence. This fuggefted to Alexander,
that perhaps thefe only were preferved, and that the reft of the
people had perifhed, either by famine or fhipwreck; nor did he feel
fo much pleafure in the prefervation of the few, as diftrefs for the
lofs of the remainder. During this interval, Nearchus and his at-
tendants arrived. It was not without difficulty that the king dif-
covered who they were, under the difguife of their appearance; and

s s - this

G U L P II OF PERSIA.

this circumftance contributed to confirm him In his miilake, imagining
that both their perfons and their drefs befpoke fhipwreck, and the
deflrudion of the fleet. He held out his hand however toNearchus^
and led him afide from his guards and attendants, without being
able to utter a word ; as foon as they- were alone, he burft into
tears, and continued weeping for a confiderable time ; till at length
recovering, in fome degree, his compofure, Nearchus,” fays he,
I feel fome fatisfadtion in finding that you and Archias have
efcaped; but tell me where, and in what manner, did my fleet and
my people perifh Your fleet,” replied Nearchus, ‘‘ is all fafe,
your people are fafe, and we are come to bring you the account
of their prefervation.” Tears, but from a different fource, now
fell much fafter from his eyes ; ‘‘ Where, then, are my fhips?” fays
he. “ At the Anamis,” replied Nearchus : “ all fafe on fhore, and
“ preparing for the completion of their voyage.” “ By the Libyan
“ Ammon, and the Jupiter of Greece, I fwear to you,” rejoined thq
king, “ that I am more happy at receiving this intelligence, than in
“ being the conqueror of all Afia ; for I fhould have confidered
“ the lofs of my fleet, and the failure of this expedition, as a
“ counterbalance to all the glory I have acquired.” — Such was the
reception of the admiral, while the governor, who was the firfli
hearer of the glad tidings, was ftill in bonds : upon the fight of
Nearchus, he fell at his feet and implored his interceffion. It may
be well imagined that his pardon was as readily granted as it was
afked.

The joy was now univerfal through the army ; a folemn facrifice
was proclaimed in honour of Jupiter the preferver, of Hercules, of
Apollo the averter of deftrudion, of Neptune, and every deity of
the ocean ; the games were celebrated, and a fplendid proceffion

exhibited,

exhibited, in which Nearchus was the principal ornament of the
pomp, and the objed: which claimed the attention of every eye.
Flowers and chaplets were wreathed for his head, and fhowered
upon him by the grateful multitude, while the fuccefs of his enter-
prife was proclaimed by their acclamations, and celebrated in their
fongs. At the conclufion of the feftival, the king informed
Nearchus, that he fhould no longer expofe him to the hazard of the
fea, but fend down fome other officer to condudl the fleet to Sufa,
I am bound to obey you,” replied the admiral, as my king,
and I take a pleafure in my obedience ; but if you wifh to gra-
tify me In return, fuffer me to retain my command, till I have
completed the expedition. I fhall feel it as an injiiflice, if, after
having llruggled through all the difficulties of the voyage, another
‘‘ fliall finifh the remainder almofl without an effort, and yet reap
the honour of completing what I have begun.” Alexander,
fcarcely permitting him to conclude his requeft, granted all that he
defired, and fent him down again to the coafl, with a fmall efcort ;
not fuppofmg that there was any danger in the neighbourhood of
the army, or in a country which feemed to be fufficiently fubdued :
but in this he was raiflaken ; the Karmanlans refented the depo-
fition^® of their fatrap, and had in confequence taken up arms,
and felzed fome of the flrong places in the province ; while
Tlepolemus the new-appointed governor had not yet had time
to eflablifh his authority. It happened, therefore, that Nearchus
encountered two or three parties of the infurgents on his march,
and reached his deftinatlon at Lift, not without confiderable dlffi-

See a note of Gronovius’s upon does not mean *■* put to death, but ** de*

vmtiy on this paflage ; who proves, that it “ pcfed/* 352'

CultVo

S S 2

3i6 GULPH of PERSIA.

culty. Upon joining again the companions of his voyage, he'
facrificed to Jupiter the preferver, and exhibited the ufual games
for his fuccefs.

The interview of Alexander and Nearchus needs no comment f
but 1 cannot fet the fleet afloat again till I have obferved, that there
is nothing in the original to contradid the conjedlure I have made^
that Nearchus took the route of Mina to crofs the mountains, in
his way to Giroft that he had^ paffed them, and was on hia fiftE
day’s journey, when he met witlr the party which condufted hinx-
to the army ; and that the enemy he encountered on his return
were probably ftraggling bodies who had fecured themfelves in the
paflTes above Mina^''; it appears likewife that the ftrong polls they
had feized were in tire fame part of the country, and perhaps oc-
cupied with a view of intercepting the communication between the*
army and the* coaft. '

By refcinding ten days from the journal, I brought the fleet to the^
Anamis on the tenth of December ; and if we allow Nearchus ta^
have fet out on. the thirteenth for the camp, ten days for his jour«-
ney, and three days for his continuance there, brings our account
to the twenty-fixth : he did not, however,, fail immediately on his'
return ^ his facrifice and his games occupied one day at lead 5 the.

The king celebr3.ted sn ayava. yLUcxiitov
yviA-viKov } Ne<trcVius’s was only yvi.inxSv. The
or trial of mental talents. Teems alway s
to have made a part of Alexander’s games ;
tlie yv^wcQv^ that is, the trial of bodily
ftrength, or addfefs, was fuitable to the
iituation of Nearchus; he had probably no
^HcriKQ\i bards, orators, or muficiams in his
company,

Niebuhr writes this name Minau ; and
fays it is fome leagues from the coaft. He
iid not vifit it; and therefore his diftance

1 1

muft be from report. Yol. ii. P..142. Sng.
edition. But 1 have no dired: authority for
fixing either Mina^ or the Anamis precifely*
If d’Anville is corred, the fite I give for the.
river is too much towards the fouth ; and if I
am miftaken, the meafures of Arrian miftead
me. His error, if proved, muft lie between
Neoptana and the Anamis. Some of our
Englifh officers who have been at Gomeroon
muft be able to determine the pofkion of the
river Ibrahim.

launching

K A R M A N I A.

317

launching of his veffels and preparation for failing may be fup-
pofed to employ two more ; fo that there can be no material error
in affuming a date of forne importance, the firft of January in the ^

year three hundred and twenty- five A. C. for his departure from the
Anamis. We may conclude, alfo, that Alexander and Hephseftion
proceeded on their feparate routes^* a few days previous to this date;
and this fuppofition will be lufficient to juftify Arrian’s affertion,
that the march of Hephseftion commenced in winter.

The fleet is now to take a new departure with the commence- —

O A R A C T A

ment of the new year ; and the firft day’s progrefs is nearly nine- Island.
teen miles,, to the Ifland of Oarafta ; in the courfe of which, a
defert ifland was feen called Organa, the celebrated Ormuz of mo- Firft Ration,
dern geography. Slight as the mention of this place is in the jour-
nal, It would be inexcufable to pafs in filence one of the moft
extraordinary marts of commerce in the world. Oamdta is the mo-
dern Kifmis ; between which and the Mina river, or Anamis, lie
two fmalliflands called Ormuz and'Arek: the latter is ufually written
L’Arek with the article ; it is not mentioned by Arrian ; and,
upon confulting the map, it will immediately appear that the courfe
of a Greek fleet would neceflarlly lead to Organa, or Ormuz, which
is neareft the coafl:, rather than to L’Arek, which is the more diflant.

They ate all three mentioned by Ptolemy ; but with lo much con-
fufion, that fome ingenuity is requifite to developc them. Mer-
cator’s chart exhibits a Tylos and Arathos^^ towards the entrance oT

Thefe two routes join again, according to I,arefdsj of Niebuhr*

Pietro della Valle, within a ftiort diftance Tab. vi. Aha.

from the modern Schiraz. Vol. v. p. 3;!. The Tyrusaud Aradus of other authors*

®* Dsjifm, Dsjes, Dras, of Niebuhr. Kifmis, Dionylius Per. They are in reality the iftands
Khefem, written Queixomo of the Portiiguefe. of Bahrein, however mifplaced.

the

3i8

.G U L P H OF PERSIA.

the gulph, intended for two fmall iflands, but tran^pofed to the
coaft of Arabia ; and an Aracca, or Ifland of Alexander, far to
the north. I fhall firft account for this variation of names. Sal-
mafius®^ fays, that Arrian is miftaken in placing the* tomb of Erythras,
a king who gave name to the Erythrsean Sea, in Oara£ta ; for
other authors allot it to Ogyris, the fmaller ifland ; and Ogyris, he
informs us, is the Organa of Arrian.

Unfortunately, modern fcepticifm has deftroyed the credit of
King Erythras. It is now an opinion generally received, that the
Red Sea is the Idumsean Sea, or Gulph of Arabia, taking its name
from Edom or Efati, the Arabian patriarch; and Edom fignifies
The Arabians were doubtlefs the firft navigators of the Indian
ocean, and as they entered that fea by paflTing the ftraits of Bab-el-
mandeb®'', they carried the name of the Red Sea, from whence they
commenced^* their courfe to the utmoft extent of their difeoveries.
Hence the Indian Ocean received the title of Red ; and the Greeks,

The error is not Mercator’s. He places
them according to the longitude and latitude
of Ptolemy.

Plin. Exercit. p. iiSo. et feq.

Edom Hebraice rubrum figni-
ficat ut teltatur Mofes. Genef. xxv. 30. Nec
vero eft abftmile quod hodie dofli contendunt
mare Rubrum inde efte didum. Nam a mari
Kubro allui terram Edom vel ex Scriptura
compertum. Vid. i. Reg. ix. 26.

Sanguis ab per aphagrefin. Bochart,

vol. i. p. 769.

King Solomon made a navy of iliips in
Ezion Geber, which is befide Eloth, on the
fhore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

^he weedy Sea is the term here
ufed to exprefs the Red Sea, and appears pro-
perly applied by the account of other authors.
Firkharft iii voce. But there k another

derivation, lignifying an end or extre??iify ; and
perhaps, therefore, Im-fuph may mean one of
the heads or bays of the Red Sea, as divided
into two parts at its northern extremity. See
Queftions of Michaelis. Niebuhr.

The Arabs, or at leaft the Orientals, de-
light in thefe appellations. Thus, the Euxine
is the Black Sea, the Propontis is the White
Sea, the Mediterranean is the Sea, and
the Indian Ocean the Green Sea.

The gate of death, or mourning. Cofmas
Indicopleuftes, though he gives an account
of Ceylon, feems never to have pafted this
ftreight.

I cannot cite my authority, but I know
there is evidence to prove, that the vaft coun-
try of Siberia derives its name from a village
called Siberia; near which the KulTians ftrft
eutered that country.

who

K A R M A N I A,

319

‘W'ho tranflated every thing rather than Introduce a foreign word^
made it the Erythraean Sea. Not contented, however, with this,
they ufually found a god, a hero, or a king, whofe name or ftory
muft be connefled with the derivation ; and hence we have Ery-
thras for the prefent purpofe. But neither Arrian nor his country-
men ever confidered that Erythras, in order to give his name to
the Erythraean Sea, ought'''' to have reigned, or to have been buried,
fomewhere on the Gulph of Arabia ; for that is the original Red
Sea, and the fource of that name, which was afterwards applied to
fo large an extent. Without refpedl, therefore, to Erythras, the
utmoft we can fuppofe is, that there was a tomb on this defert ifland
vifited by the natives of the coaft ; a fuperftition prevalent all over
the Eaft from the earlieft ages, and ftill in full vigour, as well among ^
the Mahometans as the other cafts. Ogyris, therefore, we will
aflume, as one of the nam.es of Organa, from Dionyfius Perie-
getes ; Tyrine as a fecond, from Strabo, Pliny, and Phlloftratus®'^ ^
and Turun as a third, which is a title of the moderns. Now it is
remarkable, that Voflius propofes to read the Tyrine of Strabo either
O-Gyrine or Gyrine fimply, to make out a correfpondence be^
tween the two ; and I have before ventured a conjedlure, that the
Organa of Arrian fhould have its fyllables tranfpofed, by reading

It is not meant to alTert, that the Gulph
of Perlia is not comprehended in the general
title Erythraean.

D’Anville Diflert. p. 147.

Philoftratus is here quoted from d’An-
villei but he has not been negledled, though
little was obtainable from his account. Who-
ever will take the trouble to refer to that work.

win find that Apollonius, or his hiflorian, has
built that part of his novel'which relates to-
India, entirely on the accounts of the Mace-
donians. He enters India by the fame route,
and returns by the fame ; and from this line
the author did not dare to depart.

VYIC7QV or, Tvp'ivYiv, for

See d’Anville, ibid.

O-G’rana^,

320

GULPH OF PERSIA,

O-GVana®*, or O-Gerana. Thus it is evident that Gerun, the name
of the ifland previous to its taking the name of Ormuz, is a native
title as early as the days of Alexander ; prefenting, under one form^,
Gyrine and O-Gerana, and under another, that of Djerun, Tyrine,
and Turun®^, by the change of D into t. The palace of the kings
of Ormuz on this ifland was called Turun-baque, as d’Anville in-
forms us ; which, if written Turun-bach or Turun-bah, might be
rendered the garden of T^urun and Turun is no more than the
name of the prince, derived®^ from the place of his refidence,
Turun, Tyrine, Djerun, Gerun; a pradice univerfal in the Eaft. Sal-
mafius does not appear to know any thing of the modern Arek, and
therefore confounds it with Oarada ; and the fame prevalent con-
fufion among authors has turned Tyrine into Tyros and Tylos
Aracca into Aradus and Arathos : hence it is, that the names of
Tyrus and Aradus have been tranfplanted from Phoenicia on the

Strangely as thefe tranfpofitions may ap-
pear to a claffical eye, the reality of them is uni-
verfal almoil in Oriental names; whether from
the ignorance of the natives, or the millake of
inquirers, is dubious. Aftrakan is by the in-
habitants pronounced Afftarchan, by the Per-
iians Agitarcan. P. della Valle, tom. iii. p.205.

So Tfor, Turus, Tyrus ; and Sor, Sour,
Sarr-anus; fee infra Tarfia. See Michaelis’s
Extraft from Niebuhr, p. 34,

D’Anville mentions a Turun Shah, who
was an hiftorian. Turun Shah is king of
Djerun. He wrote a hiilory of Ormus, tranf-
lated by Texeira into Portuguefe ; by him
called Torunda. Dalrymple.

Thus Taxiles from Taxila, For us from
Lo-Pore,

*00 Tylos, in Arrian, p. 301. is the mo-
dern Bahrein, where the pearl- hlhery is eda-
blilhed on the Arabian fide of the gulpb, and
asfuchd’Anvllleronlidersit in his ancient geo-
graphy : but Ptolemy’s Tylos is in the lati-
tude of Ormus ; and, though carried to the
Arabian fide, manifeftly confounded with Ty-
rine, or Gerun. If he has any thing like
Bahrain, it is Ichara.

Strabo fays, Tyrus and Aradus are ten
days’ fail from Teredon, and one from Mac^*
Mr. GolTelin makes a pleafantfuppofition, that
they are ten days’ fail from MaccC and one
from Gerra. Geog. des Grecs, p.^zS. This
is not a miftake, but an hypothefis. See an-
other equally bold, p. 53.

Mediterranean

K A R M A N I A. 321.

Mediterranean, into the Gulph of Perfia, as if mariners*®^ brought
from thence had carried the names of their country with them.
There is, in fa£l, , a. double error, for the Tylos of Arrian is un-
doubtedly the largeft of the Pearl iflands, now called Bahrein
and one of the fmaller is named Arad by Niebuhr at the prefent
hour. This Tylos and this Arad give the Tyrus and Aradus of
Strabo, the Tylos and Arathus of Ptolemy however mifplaced, and
both feem to have been brought down to the mouth of the Gulph
by an accumulated confufion with Tyrine and Aracca'^®, the modern
Ormuz and L’Arek, The fite affigned by Strabo, and the latitudes
of Ptolemy, wdll prove this affertion as clearly as the diftorted map
of Mercator, and the error of Strabo in deducing the Tyrians and
Aradians of the Mediterranean from thefe iflands in the Gulph of
Perfia, is confonant to .the perpetual rvaaity of the Greeks who
reduce every thing unknown to the flandard of their own fabulous
hiilory.

The ifland of Ormuz is a barren rock, evidently formed by a vol-
cano, the veftiges. of which ftill remain on a mountain, which ex-

loi There are different- pofitlons affigned to
thefe two iflands by different authors, Eufta-
thius. See. : but a view of Mercator’s map,
tab. vi. Afia, fhews at one view the fource of
the error. Aracca, Ptol. p. 149. Tylus, Aradus,
p. 156. in the margin, Tyrus, Arathos,
iflands in the Gulph of Perfia. If farther in-
formation is required, I - refer to Salmafins,
p. 1180:— -a very long and uninterefling
difl"ertation, with much learning and many
errors : he confulted every thing but modern
authority ; and that alone could have fet him
jright.

Strabo fuppofes cxaftly the reverfe,
p. 766. and P..784.

Sec Arrian, p. 301.

Bahrein is the Ichara of Ptolemy. Ofo-
rlus, vol.ii. p. 329.

See his map of the Gulph.

Liquidas r et l omnes feiunt efle
maxime permutabiles. Bochart. Phal. p. 689.

Ptolemy’s Aracca is near Bufheer, and
is poflibly the Ara or L’Araof d’Anville, the
Schitwar of the Englifh charts. Hill mifplaced.

*<'9 Tyre is from Tfor, Tor, Tur. And
Michaelis’s Extradt from Niebuhr, p. 34.
fays, Niebuhr found a Tor in the Gulph of
Perfia, of importance to geography. I can-
not find it in Niebuhr, as Michaclis quotes
from the German edition.

T 1’

tends

322

G U L P e OF PERSIA.

tends from one end of the Ifland to the other; the foil Is a white falt^
hard enough to be ufed for building; the fort and the houfes were con-
ftruded of no other materials; there is no fpring or water but fuch as is.
faved from rain, and rain falls feldom; no plant or vegetable^ but a few
at the king’s palace “% fet in earth, brought from the continent ;
and the Portuguefe, to fecure a fupply of water, were conftrained to
maintain a fort on Kifmis ; the heat is intolerable ; in fummer the
inhabitants lie plunged in water, for manyc hours ; in 'winter they
fleep on the terrace of the houfe in the open air. Yet even here
could commerce fix her feat, and the Portuguefe who took it under
Albuquerque, in the year one thoufand five hundred and feven,
kept poffeffion till one thoufand fix hundred and twenty-two, when
it was again reduced under the power of Perfia by Abbas the Great,
with the affiftance of the Englifh fleet. It had, from the conve-
nience of its fituation, become, in the hands of the Portuguefe, an
emporium fecond to none but Goa; and it is remarkable that they
preferved the race of native kings from the fame policy which has
made the Englifh fupport the nominal princes in Bengal, and on
the coafl of Coromandel. When the place was taken, the laft king,
was conveyed as a prifoner up to Ifparhan through Ear, at the time
Pietro della Valle was refident in that city. He had the generofity
to communicate his kind wifhes to the unfortunate prince, and vifit-
Ing Ormuz himfelf a few months afterwards, bears teftimony to the
bravery of the Portuguefe in its defence. Abbas intended to anni-
hilate the city, and tranfplant the commerce to Gomeroon, which

*19 The king’s palace was on the fouth-weft hiftorian. His hlftory, I underftand, hasb^en
£de of the ifland with the garden Turun-bach, tranflated into Portuguefe by Texeira. DaU
noticed before. D’Anville mentions a rymple.

Tur un-Shah, or king of Ormusj who was asj ' ,

iie thenceforth ftyled Bender-Abbaffi, the port of Abbas ; but he
broke his faith with the Englifh, who were to have had half the
produce of the duties for their aihftance, and Bender-Abbaffi foon
became deferted from the ufual oppreffion of the government.
While Ormuz was the feat of commerce, it invigorated all that part
, of the Perfian empire which borders on the Gulphj and however its
fall impaired the power of the Portuguefe, its conquerors gained
nothing by their fuccefs : the Englifh commerce declined till they
almoft abandoned it from difguft, and the neighbouring provinces of
Perfia funk under their natural aridity. A few veffels ftill continue
to frequent the Gulph from the fettlements in India, but the trade is
of no very great importance. In the ruin of Perfia, fmce the death
of Nadir, a Perfian, with the title of Mulla Ali Shah, is mafter of
Ormuz, as Niebuhr informs us ; but his refidence feems to be at
Gomeroon, as I colled): from the journal of the Houghton India-
:man, which mentions a fimilar name at that city This is the
;laft account I find of this once celebrated ipot; and in this fituation
.it is likely to continue, unlefs the Perfian enipire fiiould again re-
vive, of which there feems no immediate profped:.

Ormuz has -two fafe ports, one on the eaft and the other on the
.weft fide; it is three leagues from the coaft of Perfia, and three or
four in circuit. Mr. d’Anville fays it is lefs than "L’Arek ; but all
our Engiifh charts reprefent it larger ; and as M^Cluer vifited both,
his teftimony has great weight. According to Dalrymple'"^, its

That journal is dated one thoufand feven L’Arek is one league and a half from

hundred and fifty-five ; and Niebuhr was in Ormuz. Cutler, p. Dalrymple’s Col-

Perfia nine or ten years afterwards. If it is le^lion.
the fame man, he has had a long reign, cor>- P. 38.

./idering the time he lived in.

T .T ^

latitude

G U L P M OF PERSIA.

latitude is 27® 4' 2Z^ north. The beft paflage is between Ormuz'
and the maiiij and by this I conclude Nearchus failed, not only
from its fafety, but becaufe he kept the fhore in view. In his time
Ormuz was without inhabitants as L’Arek is at prefent, unlefe
when frequented by parties of Arabs, who xnake it a ftation both
for fifhing and piracy. Here alfo, among other places of fepulture,
the tomb of Erythras is fometimes fixed ; and however the ifland
itfelf may be dlfplaced, the name of Aracha and Arakia is pre-
ferved by Pliny and Ptolemy. It is a little ftrange that Pietro della
Valle *'^5 who made a tour to this fpot, mentions fepultures, not
indeed of kings but former inhabitants ; and all thefe iflands being
fubjedt to the depredations of Arabs from one fhore, or Perfians
from the other, it is highly probable^ as they ajBford alfo afylums
for any chief or tribe oppreffed on either fide, that they are both
occupied and deferted occafionally. The tombs alfo of moft eaftern
nations being built of materials more durable than their houfes, places
of fepulture would of courfe prefent themfelves to all who landed
on a deferted fpot. Such may be the origin of the mythology con-
cerning the tomb of Erythras ; and the fight of tombs in various
iflands may have caufed different voyagers to attribute it to different
places. I fhould indeed carry Erythras and the tradition concerning
him to the weftward of Oaradla, inflead of the eaft ; for there are

two iflets there called to this day Great Tomb "* and Little Tomb,

<■

and if thefe are Portuguefe names, there will be reafon to fuppofe,

Cutler, p. 85. goats on the defert iflets of the Gulph.

Pietro della Valle mentions that the Salmaflus very raflily converts both

Captain of the Englifti veflel on board which names into Oarada. 1180. Plin. Exer.
he failed, fent his boat afliore at L^Arck Tom. vi. p. 232.

with dogs, which returned loaded with game I am ignorant of the etymology. NIe-.

and goats. We fhall find Arrian mention buhr writes Tunb.

that

K A R M A N I A* J25

that the tradition of a tomb ereded to fome hero^ king^ or faints
continued down to the age of the Portuguefe difcoverles.

By viewing the ifland L’Arek in the different charts, fufhcient

reafon appears why it is not noticed by Arrian ; for as the courfe of
the fleet is direded round Ormuz, and confined to fomewhat lefs
than nineteen miles,, it neceffarily terminates at the eaftern point of ^nno 625.-
Kifinis, without notice of L’Arek. Mr. d’AnvIlle fuppofes two
anchorages, including one at Bender-Ser, previous to the arrival at
Kifmis ; but the diftance in his own map requires no great allowance
to be made, and the general meafure fpecified by the others is more
favourable to the eftimation I have aflumed.

The Oaradla of Arrian is written Ouoroftha or Woroclha by
Ptolemy, being thus united with the Wrodt or Vrodl of the
moderns ; and Oracla*^'’, which is the older reading, in Pliny, is as
manifeftly a corr\jption of the fame, as the Doradfa*^ of Strabo,
however diftorted from a different caufe. The modern name is
Kifmis, varied by a multiplicity of orthography, and deriving
its meaning poflibly from the Perfic, in which language Kifmis
fignifies fmall grapes without ftones, for the ifland is mentioned
by Arrian as affording the fruit of the vine, and veffels from diK
ferent parts of the Gulph flill lade raifins in its ports. Niebuhr has
added a name that throws every other at a diftance, Dsjesiret

*‘^5 I do not find d’Anville’s authority for
the modern name, hut fuppofe it to be
Oriental.

The commentators who knew nothing of
Qracla correfled it Organa, which was known j
hut never was a more unfortunate addition
than wbat follows in Pliny. Orgai^a habitatur

tantum, aquofa. See d’Anville.

See Strabo, 767. Salmaf. 1180.
Kefeni, P. della Valle; Kiflimee, ICiih«
ma, Kilhmich, Queixomo, Portug. &c. &c.

Thevenot, part ii. p. 69. Kng. edit.
Their officinal name in England is Sultana, or
Sultanie grapes.

Oar ACT A.

Second
Anchorage.
Ninety- third
day.

January 2*
Day allowed.

326 G U L P H O F P E R S I A.

Dras 5 and though we fee that he exprefles Kifmee by Dsjefme^
we are at a lofs for the final Dras, and fhould have been obliged to
the Oriental fcholar for an etymology.

The point of Kifmis, which we fuppafe the fleet to have reached,
cannot be far diflant from a fort occupied by the Fortuguefe while
mafters of Ormuz, which was neceffary for fupplying them with
water, and which they defended bravely, under the command of
Rui Freira, againft the forces of Perfia, till the Englifh*"'^ joined in the
attack with their artillery. The officer in command here, when Near-
chus arrived, was Mazenes a Perfian, who offered himfelf volun-
tarily to take charge of the pilotage, and upon the acceptance of
his fervices he came on board, and did not quit the fleet till after its
arrival at the Pafitigris.

No diftance fuits lefs than the follGwing courfe from this point to
a fecond anchorage in the fame ifland, which from mention of an
iflet in the offing mufl be the Angar or Angan of our modern charts^
and requires a courfe of almofl thirty miles, while the journal allows
but twelve and a half ; and this is the more extraordinary, as the
meafure of two miles and a half given for the diftance between
Angar and the coaft, is as corred: as the correiled chart of M^Cluer.
This iflet, as the journal informs us^ was inacceffible, and facred to
Neptune ; inacceffible., perhaps, from fome native fuperftition, like

Dsjesiret Dras is the Perfian name.
Dsjesiret Tauile, Arabian. It is called Loft
or Left by fome Europeans, from a town of
that name ; and >Kifmee by others, from
'Dsjifme, another town. Niebuhr, vol. ii.
.p. 185. French, ed. Amfierd. ed. Arabic,
p. 268.

In the year one thoufand fix hundred
and twenty -one, and when P. della Valle was

here the following year, he was well received
by the Englifii, who caroufed all night, and
formed a hunting party for him the next day,
on the ifiand of L’Arek.

Called Amazenes by Strabo, p. 767.
fufficiently confuting his^own afiertion, p. 732.;
where he makes Nearchus fay^ he had no
guide : but the pafiTage is fufpeded.

that

K A R M A N I A.

J27

that attending the retreat of the Nereid in the Indian Ocean, and
facred to Neptune in a fenfe we do not underftand. The Greeks
attributed the names of their own deities to thofe of other nations,
adorned with fimilar fymbols; and as there is a pagoda**’' on this fpot
at prefent,, it is by no means impoffible that the reprefentations on
its walls, if antique, might ftill unravel the fuperftition alluded to
in the Greek Neptune

Nearchus makes the ifland of Oaradla fifty miles long, which
Mr. d’Anville confiders as fpecifying that part of 'the coaft only
which was paffed by the fleet ; but this folution is not juftified by
the text, and in reality no great allowance is neceflary, the charts
make it Abort of a degree, and a circumftance which occurred on
departing from Angar, prevented the weftern extremity from being
noticed: we might rather have expected, perhaps, that the fleet fliould
have navigated the channel between Kifmis and the main, than ftand
out to the fouthward of the ifland in the open fea; and fuch a
courfe as this we have feen preferred upon approaching the river
Arabis ; but by making the eaftern point of Kifmis, it appears as if
Nearchus was in doubt which route he fhould prefer, and was de»
t^rmined in his choice by procuring the alTiftance of Mazenes.

There is ftill a pafTage open between Kifmis and the main, though
little ufed, and between Angar and Kifmis. Angar has good
water, with plenty of wild fheep and goats, as feveral of thefe
iflets feem to have, for the fupply of mariners, fifhermen, and pi-
rates. We (hall hereafter find one fpecified by Arrian, under the
protedion of Mercury and Venus, and poflfibly both the goddefs

117 M^Cluer, Lieut. Cant. Eight hundred ftadia.

In reality Pgfeidon ; for Neptune is an M'Cluer, p. 17. Dalrymple’s Preface^

Italian deity. p* 1 1* The ide is a league in length.

and

An IsL A K D
January 3.

Ninety-
fourth day.

Gr EAT
Tom BO.

J28 GULPH OF PERSIA.

and Neptune were prefiding deities, who prefervecl the animals

landed on thefe fpots, till the breed was eftabliihed. Both the bay
in which Angar lies, and the ifle itfelf, are vaguely defined; but the
fecond chart of M^Cluer is probably corredt.

No day is fpecified before their departure from the anchorage at
Angar, but I allow one here, as in the former part of the voyage,
and leave the correflion, if any error fhould arife, to the conclufion
of the narrative.

Weighing from Angar, the fleet proceeded, apparently, with an in-
tention to double the weftern end of Kifmis, and return upon the coaft
of the main ; hut having failed too late on the tide of ebb, three
of the gallies grounded on a fhoal of Ballidu, v/hich runs out from the
weftern point of Kifmis, and were fo long detained, that they did not
join the reft of the fleet till two days after. In confequence of this ac-
cident, fuch of -the veffels as were not fo near the fhore, or fo far
involved in the difficulty, drew oflf to the fouth- weft ward, and ex-
tricating themfelves from the fhoal with great exertion, got once
more into deep water.

A glance at the chart will prove the corre<3:nefs of the journal in
this inftance better than difcuflion ; for they got on fhore by ftand-
ing too much to the north-eaft, and efcaped by bawling off in an
oppofite diredion. This brought them, contrary to their intention^
to, the ifle at prefent called Great Tomb, or Tumbo, after a courfe of

^;£X7E?>^Jy(7a^ raV p'HXtAr, ej It IS evidently -in this inftance oppofed to
vcc /SaOea P* 353 » ^ rupicojls j and, what is ftlll a greater confirmation,

locis enavigantes ; potius, e brenjihus, we have this fhoal laid down in all our charts

I have already fufficiently noticed the perpe- as a land, and net as rocky or broken
iual error of the tranilators in regard to ground.

K A R M A N I A. 329

forty miles, which marks the dlftance*^^ as nearly juft as it could be
fixed by obfervatloii.

Another diftance is given of about nineteen miles from the con-
tinent, which does not correfpond ; for the neareft part of the main
meafures thirty-five miles ; but if we take the fpace between the
weftern end of Kifmis and Great Tumbo, it is as exactly nineteen
miles as the opening of the compafTes will give ; and it is reafon-
able to eftimate Kifmis as continent in refped: to fuch an iflet as
Tumbo.

The two iflets called Tumbo if the appellation is Portuguefe,
have doubtlefs fome allufion to a fepulture, either ancient or modern,
and poffibly fome Marabout, or Imam, is reverenced here, as a fucceflor
either to an Hindoo faint or deity, or even Erythras hlmfelf. Such
fucceffors to the deities of Rome and^ Greece we find in the Roman
catholic countries; and fuch, as it is faid, are not unfrequent in the
Eaft.

The Great Tumbo is defcribed as an ifle one league in length,
From eaft to weft, with half that extent in breadth ; it is reforted to
by Arabs who come to fifh, and has a fandy bay to the eaftward,
where the landing is convenient. Water, and probably goats, may
be procured here ; but it is uninhabited, and remarkable for a fhoal
running out fix or feven miles to the fouthward ; its latitude is
26° 12''^^ or, as correfted by Mr. Dalrymple, 26° 24' 17".

The following morning the, fleet, after weighing, dire£l:ed its
courfe towards the main ; and a view of the fhoal off Kifmis on

The firfl is alfo called Naze, and the thetically of the two Tombs. Niebuhr writes
fecond is Nabgion, Nabgian, Nabejou, &c. themTunb.

Namin by Niebuhr. Lieutenant M'Cluer, from Lieutenant

It is to be underflood that I fpeak hypo- Cant, p. 40.

u u the

330

G U L P H OFFER S I A.

S I D O D 0 N E .

January 4.
Minety-fifth
day.

SiSI DON E
of GrORO-
vius.

the right, with the ifland Pollor on the left, dire£t us evidently into
the bay formed by Cape Sertes on the eaft, and Cape Buflion on the
weft, in the firft chart of M‘Cluer. Other charts tranfpofe thefe
capes, as Mr. d’Anvllle has done, for his Buftion, both town and
cape are on the eaftern point of the bay, and his Gherd [the
Certes or Sertes of our Englifli charts] is on the weftern extremity.
A variety of the authorities before me place a town on the eaftern
promontory, and, whatever its name be, here I place the Sidodone
of the journal. In this I am direded principally by the fhoal oflf
Bafidu, or Bafladore, at the weftern extremity of Kifmis ; for if It
is natural that a Greek fleet fhould feek the coaft again as foon a6
it was clear of the ifland, and had purfued a courfe the day before
for that purpofe, till deterred by the fhoal ; It is plain, the fame
objefl: was in view upon departing from Tiimbo, and that the
courfe pointed as direftly to the main as the extremity of the
ihoal would allow. On this fhoal there is one obfervation worth
recording ; which is, that according to the inftru£tions given
to the Englifh officers who navigate the gulph, the fhoak^^ off
Baffadore, though it ftretches out a great way to fea, is a bank of
fand, and not dangerous,” This accords perfectly vrith the ac-
cident which befell the fleet, as well as the efcape from It, and con-
firms the aflertion made all along, that the Greek term rendered
rocky ground, is every where miftaken 5 for wherever there is
fhallow water, a rippling, or a furf, there only, in this journal, it
is applicable.

The ifland Pylora feen in this day^s courfe to the left, fortu-
nately retains ftill its ancient name, and is written Peloro, Poiior,

Niebuhr, in Dalrympleh Colle»aion, It is vlfible at fcven leagues dillance.

p, 52, M^Cluer, p. 19,

Belior^

K A R M A N I A.

33^

Bellor, in the feveral charts ; It Is defcrlbed as fix miles long, and
three In breadth, with a reef of rocks on the north«weft fide, lying
In latitude 26° 22' The fleet did not anchor at it, as It was faid
to be delert, but pafled on to SIdodone, where no fnpply was found
but filh and water ; the country being poor, and the people living
like Iclhyophagi. Strabo, who finds a Tyrus and Aradus in the
gulph, is faid by Gronovius and Ortelius to turn Sidcdone alfo into
a city of the Sidonians, for fuch was the fafhion of Greeks to re-
duce every found to a relation with fomething within their own
knowledge. The pofitlon of SIdodone is not difficult to determine,
if our charts are corred:, for many of them place a town at the
point called Sertes by M‘Cluer, and the diftance from hence to the
weftern point of the bay anfwers to Arrian’s meafure of nineteen
miles to Tarfia I have already noticed the difagreement of
d’Anville and M‘Cluer, in the tranfpofitlon of the two capes, which
is well worthy of confideratlon ; for though SIdodone is an obfcure
place, and the difficulties minute, the fixing of a pofition is ma-
terial, as an error at the beginning might vitiate the whole feries.
To prevent deception, therefore, I muft firfl: ftate, that M‘Cluer
mentions Surafs, or Sarafs, as a place he anchored at to the eaftward
of his Certes ; this anfwers nearly to the Sannas of d’Anville, which
he makes the termination of a range of mountains ; and here there
is a town, for fuch M^Cluer marks ; and here he procured flock for
his voyage. The next point weftward he calls Certes, and adds
that it is vifible from the Tombs, on leaving which you are to fleer

Thus Nyfa and Meros, or Merou, were Jarfey, for Certes or Ghirde, appears

names they found in India, and immediately in one of Thornton’s charts,
made out a connexion with Bacchus, P. tS.

U U 2

weft

GULPH OF PERSIA.

33'^

weft for the ifle of Polior. If, therefore, we obferve that Nearchus
was at Tumbo, we have here his courfe pointed out to the cape, and
his ifland Pylora on the left, as diftinftly as if M^Cluer had been on
board the fleet. M^Cluer next points out a fecond cape twenty
miles to the weftward of Certes, which he ftyles Beftion (the Tarfia
of Nearchus) ; and between thefe two capes, he fays, there is a
town called Charrack. Now M‘Cluer may have mifnamed Certes,
Beftion, and Chaxrack; but the geography is precife, and this town,
whatever name it bears, is placed at his Cape Certes by all the other
charts, and by d’Anville himfelf. Whatever error, therefore, we
may find in names, there is none in faft ; for a very fmall diftance
allowed, in placing the town a little to the weftward of this Certes,
will give the nineteen miles of Arrian from Sidodone to Tarfia;
and in this, part the journal is peculiarly corredl. In regard to
names, I do fiifped IVPCluer of miftake, but I am not qualified to
decide. Charrack for inftance, I doubt, becaufe Charrack Hill,
the moft confpicuous feature on the coaft, is feen to the weftward of
his Beftion ; and therefore I do not difcover a reafon for placing a
town of that name between the capes, or rather at his Certes, which
is above forty geographical miles from Charrack. This town, how-
ever, is called Buftion by d’Anville; and the Certes of M^Cluer,
Cape Buftion : and now, though I am certain I have my geography
right, I find it impoffible to harmonife the names to any one fyftem
I fhall therefore give the authorities on both fides, and leave the
decifion to future navigators on the fpot.

Charrack (pronounced according to the See this difference at large in Dalrym-

CH in chariot) Is the 'fsjarrac of Niebuhr^ pie’s Colleflion, tab.v.
and the fite fixed we it of Tarfia,

Two

K A R M A N I A.

333

Two Charts.

Eq/lern Point*

Wejlern

Point.

Certes, or Sertes,

M^Cluer.

Beftion,

M^Cluer.

Sertifs,

Harvey.

GJrde

Harvey.

Sertes,

Cant.

Buftion,

Cant.

Sertes,

Mafcall, 1773.

Buftian,

Mafcall, 1773.

Serte

Van Keulen.

Batanas,

Van Keulen.

Eaftern Point.

Wejlern

Point.

Buftlon,

D’Anville.

Gherd,

D’Anville.

Biftana,

Beilin.

Gueldre,

Beilin.

Baftion,

Holmes.

Sertls ?

Holmes.

Biftana,

D’Apres, 1745.

Gueldre,

D’Apres, 1745.

Biftana,

D’Apres, 1776.

Gueldrd^,

D’Apres, 1776.

Ras-ehHeti

Niebuhr.

Ras-el-Dsjerd,

Niebuhr.

In determining this queftion.

therefore, 1

the

French authorities

agree on one fide, and the Englifh and Dutch on the other ; and
here a ^[ueftion arifes, whether all the French geographers do not
follow Thevenot, as d’Anville confeffedly does. Thevenot’s words
are thefe : We were got off of the other end of Keis, and then
the wind flackened much. Half an hour after we came off, and
‘‘ on a place of the main land, where the fhore opens towards the
‘‘ eaft, and forms a gulph in fhape of a half circle, and the ouhnoj}
point of that circle is called Gherd.” I have not the French

Harvey has made two points of Glrde coaft ill defined ; but there can be little doubt
and Sertifs, which are evidently the fame. that his Dsjerd gives by the s, Sertes and

*4-3 Niebuhr is not perfpicuous. Ras el Certes, and by the d, Derd and Tarfia.

Heti is too clofe to Ras-el-Dsjerd, and his

edition;

J34

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

Tarsia
Cape.
January 5.
Ninety -fixth
day.

Kata I a
Island.

edition ; but d’Anville, who quotes it, writes, La terre ou jinlt cc
deniicircle ejl appellU Ghcrd, Now, though this is not definite, for a
fernicircle has two terminations, ftill d’Anville determines on Gherd
for the weftern cape, in which he is fupported by Niebuhr, whofe
teftimony is of great weight, and his Dsjerd is evidently the weftern
cape and Tarfia Upon the whole, therefore, I incline to think
MGIuer’s topography right, and his names wrong; and as his
miftake in affixing the name of Bombareek to the wrong cape has
been noticed before, there is lefs fcruple in fuppofing him liable to a
fimilar error in regard to the whole of this bay.

At Sidodone water was procured for the fleet, which, after weighing
in the morning, proceeded fomewhat lefs than nineteen miles to a
cape named Tarfia*""*, and the fame diftance from that point to Kataia,
an ifland at the weftern limit of Karmania. Thefe diftances agree
fo nearly with our nautical authorities, and the intervention of the
cape marks fo precifely the nature of the coaft, that it is impoffible
there fhould be any error of confequence in fixing the pofition of
Sidodone. Kataia ftill retains fome refemblance to its ancient name
in the various forms of Kaifh, Keifh, Guefs, Queche Qas
Ken, or the Zeits of the Dutch maps. It is an ifland evidently
more marked by navigators than others in its neighbourhood ; and
yet, as it lies twelve miles ‘from the coaft, there is no apparent

»44 clafilcal reader will be more eafily
convinced of this fluctuation by reference to
the writing of 1’yrus. The Phoenician word
is Tfor, with the two intials ts, correfpondent
to Niebuhr’s dsj ; and Tfoi becomes by the
T, Tv(-ocf Tyrus; by the s, Sor or Sar, the
root of Sour Souria ; Ivfia, Syria; and found
in Virgil, — Sarrano indormiat oftro ; where
the fcholia write, a Sara murice. By the

fame analogy, Tferd-Tarlia, Serd-Serles,
Certes, Gherd, .Sjerd.

I conceive that Tarfia is preferved in
the Ra'-el-Dsjerd of Niebuhr.

»46 With the French pronunciation.
Niebuhr.

Eight by M^Cluer’s chart; nine by
Thevenot.

reafbn

reafon for its attraftion of Nearchus, unlefs it were the hope of
procuring there a fupply of goats for the fleet.

Kataia, fays Arrian, is a low defert ifland; and Thevenot
mentions it as about five leagues in circuit, very low and flat.
M'Cluer adds, it is a very beautiful ifland, better planted with trees
than any in the gulph, and about the fize of Polior, but not fo
high. This is farther confirmed alfo by Lieutenant Cant, who calls
it a low fruitful ifland Nearchus found it uninhabited ; but fre-
quented by vifitors from the continent, who annually brought goats
here, and, confecrating them to Venus and Mercury, left them to
run wild. What deities of the Perfian or Arabian mythology are
alluded to by thefe titles is not eafy to determine, but the pra<9;ice
indicates the navigation of the gulph in that age ; and if the gods
were to protedl the breed for a time, we muft fuppofe it was ulti-
mately Intended for the ufe of man, upon the fame principle that
Juan Fernandez was flocked by the Spaniards in the South Seas.
Nearchus has not informed us whether he violated the afylum of
thefe animals, but this appears the natural inducement for his
leaving the coaft to make this ifland, as he had obtained no fupply
either at Tumbo or Sidodone ; and we do not read that the facrilege,
if committed, was revenged by Mercury or Venus in fo fevere a
manner, as the companions of UlylTes were puniflred for fcaltiag on
the oxen of Apollo.

Keifh was at one period poflelfed of a flourifliing commerce, and
great influence in the gulph; for d’Anville informs us from Tcxcira,
that even Gerun itfelf was part of its territory, and granted to the

ocT^iTtyfsc, D’^nvillc. But without any attfibates except

*5° Part il., p. 173. itstUllancc from Kiirris.

'5* Al-Ejdrifi, p. 56. mentions Kis alto.

Hormofians

GULPH OF PERSIA.

Hormofians of the continent when they were opprefled by the in-
vaders on the main, and tranfported to Gerun their treafures and
their name, as to a place of refuge. The Information of Niebuhr
refpefting this pradice of the natives on both fides the gulph, flying
from oppreflion to the iflands, throws great light upon this fub-
jed: ; fuch emigrations feem to have exifted in all ages, and
fome appear to have taken root and flourifhed, like thofe in Keifh,
Ormuz, and Karack, till they were involved in the revolutions of
the continent ; while others ferved only for a temporary retreat,
abandoned again as foon as the ftorm had blown over. Keifh re-
tains ftill fome fuperiority in the account of our Englifh navigators
who have vifited it, by whom It is defcribed as flourifhing, well
planted, and capable of fupplying refrefhments to the veflfels which
frequent this fea. Its latitude Is fixed by Mr. Dalrymple at

/TO f n

26 34 52 .

A line drawn from Katala to the main, feparates the provinces
of Karmania and Perfis ; and that this line is not merely imagi-
nary, may be concluded from a remarkable hill on the main,
called Charrack in our Englifh charts, which is probably the
termination of a range running inland, and forming a natural
boundary. Somewhere at the foot of Charrack, and nearly
oppofite to Keifh, flood the town of SiraflT, noticed by Al-Edrifi
as a feat of commerce in his time, and connedled with Keifh,
as Gomeroon was afterwards with Ormuz. In the ninth cen-
tury Siraff**' was a port of Importance; for it feems in that early

•5^ Moft probably upon the inroad of Ti-
mour’s tons, about the year fourteen hundred.

See the voyage of two Arabians from
Renandot, in Harris’s Colledlion, vol. i.
p. 523. The (hips of SirafF went to Mafcat to

take their departure, i.e. they found that
coaft the bed point for taking the advantage
of the monfoons. Alfragani mentions its de-
cay in his time. Go), p. 116 ; but perhaps
Golius himfelf, and not Alfragani,

age

K A R. M A N I A.

337

age to have been in the poffeffion of the Arabians, and the centre of
an Oriental commerce which extended to China; both Kataia and
Siraff fell into decay, as Ormuz rofe into confequence long before
the Portuguefe were mafters of that ifland ; and though Sirafl' is
now in ruins according to d’Anville, Charrack (the Tsjserak of
Niebuhr) exifts very nearly in the lame fite and is ftili the refi-
dence of an Arab Sheik. The meafures upon this coafl: proving as
erroneous from deficiency, as thofe on the coaft of the Idthyophagi
from excefs, it becomes neceflary to fpeclfy the default, for
which no better excufe can be given than the fituation of Nearchus
in both inftances. If diftrefs magnified the length of his former
meafures, eafe and fecurity appear to have diminilhed thefe on the
coaft of Karmania. The detail Hands thus ;

Britijh Miles deduced from „

yj . ,0 From Badis

Arrian s otadia.

Stadia,

N, Miles
by Chart,

to an open Ihore, Armozbn

, 800 '

r Neoptana,

\ Anamis,

7001

100 j

Oaradta,

300

18^

Oarafta, fecondftation, 200

Tumbo,

400

374-

Sidodone, 600 (allowed)

37t

Tarfia and Kataia,

600 ^

23 U

‘

3100

296

Allowed at Sidodone,

600

3700

There is juft ground of fufpicion that Charrack, Tsjarak, Sharak, Sarak, is aflually
Saraf, or Siraf. See the account of this town and its commerce in Renaudot and Harris ; and
the circumftance of houfes built with the bones of whales, Renaud. p. 95 . Eng. edit.

X X

Thefe

33^

G U L P H OF PERSIA,

Thefe three thoufand feven hundred ftadia agree with the total
both of Strabo and Arrian ; and the diftance allowed at Sidodone"
not only makes the fum accord, but correfponds with the meafures
of the former days. Unfortunately, however, three thoufand feven '
hundred ftadia produce only two hundred and thirty-one miles
Britifh, and the opening of the compafles gives two hundred and<
ninety-fix nautic miles, or about three hundred and thirty-nine Bri«
tiih; we have, therefore, a balance againft Arrian of one hundred
and eight miles which he has not accounted for,- and no compen-
fation is at hand to which we can have recourfe, for the diftance
omitted at Badls cannot amount to ten miles The great error
lies between Badis and the Anamis, or round the coaft of Garafta, for
fome of the latter meafures are fufficiently correct; and as Arrian
has allowed only fifty miles for the length of that ifland, which is in
reality little fhort of feventy, this, with the other miftakes de-
pendent on it, though it will not compenfate, may contribute to
reconcile the difference. It is not, however, my intention to juftify
the ftadium of d’Anville in particular inftances ; but having fhewn
its general correfpondence with the courfe of the whole voyage, I
ftate fads upon the prefent occafion as they appear. Some ad-
vantages*^^ might have been taken in meafuring with the compaffes,
of which, though I availed mylelf in detailing particular ftations, I
have avoided” in colle<ft:ing the total. One circumftance may be
mentioned in Arrian’s favour, which is, that all his numbers are
hundreds without regard to inferior denominations, and this proves

It is, I imagine, from ^Cape Jafk only ifland to ifland, I have fometimes taken from
to the centre of the bay. the neareft fide of each. This makes fome

In meafuring the total, I neceflarily diflances corred in detail, but difeordant in the
took from point to point. In meafuring from total,

that

K A R M A N I A.

that he fpeaks generally, thinking little of modern, accuracy, which
divides to a minute or a fecond.

The coaft of Karmania or Kerman, next the fea, is generally a
low and narrow ftripe below the mountains arid, and hot in the
extreme ; this tradt is called Kermefir, and compared by Niebuhr to
the Tehama of Arabia, a fpecific term among that people alfo,
to diftinguifh the margin bordering on the fea, from the moun-
tainous region inland. Kermefir, however, is not confined to Ker-
man, but prevails as applied to a territory of the fame charadter,
tending much farther to the weftward, through the maritime part of
Perfis. This whole coaft, from Gomeroon to Cape Bardiftan, is now, he
informs us, under the power of a tribe of Arabs called Beni Houle,
divided into little principalities under Sheiks, independent of each
other, and all weak by perpetual diflenfion. There is little agri-
culture among them, as they depend for fupport on fifliing and
hunting, and export little except wood, or fuch commodities as the
country yields without cultivation. The Sheiks he Ipecifies are
thofe of Seer Mogo, Tsjasrack, Nachelo, Nabend, Aftoe, Tsehrie,
Schllu, and Konkoun, which are all places on the coaft, with a ter-
ritory not worth defining; and the inhabitants of which live, like
our ancient Idlhyophagi, principally upon fifti, either frefh or pre-
ferved. Juft fuch a town Arrian reprefents Sidodone to have
been in the age of Alexander ; and though the decline of the Per-
fian power had not been of fufficient continuance to allow of

Sannas and C. Nabon are the termlna- adlons of this tribe with Nadir Shah. Vol. ii,
lion of ranges at the fea, coming from the c. 2.;.

chain which runs parallel with the coaft. UoXixvlcj 'wdnuv d.7roya, on

Schiech. Niebuhr, {>Lri v^ccroi P*353*

*59 See alfo Otter, who relates the tranf-

XX 2

Arabian

340

GULPH OF PERSIA.

Arabian intruders, as Is the cafe in the prefent defolation of that
empire, the manners of the people are very fimllar to thofe of the
modern inhabitants, and their connexion with Arabs, I am per-
fuaded, might be traced, by analyfmg the names preferved in cur
claflieal hiftorlans. That part of the province called Moghoftan,
towards the mouth of the gulph, with the ifland of Kifmls, and
thofe in its neighbourhood, derived infinite advantage from the fet-
tlement of the Portuguefe at Ormuz, and forefaw the ruin of their
own happlnefs in the preparations of Abbas for the fiege ; they
were confequently difaffefted, and Incurred the fufpicion of their
fovereign as ftrongly as the Portuguefe provoked his hatred. The
confequences have proved the juftice of their reafoning ; agriculture
is loft when commerce produces no demand, and manufaflures
perifh where there is no protection* Before the capture of Ormuz^
the Englifh loaded filk, both raw and manufactured ; they find no-
thing there at prefent but falt"^\ fulphur, Kerman wool, and copper;
native commodities, but not wrought. The nature of this country
from Gomeroon to Lar, the capital of Lariftan, which is the diftrict
next to Moghoftan, cannot be defcribed better than it is by Pietro
della Valle ; he infifts much on the total want of rain, a circum-
ftance fimilar to that on the coaft of Mekran and mentions, that
at Lar itfelf, where there is neither ftream nor fpring, it fometimes
does not rain for feveral years following. I fufpeft that Lariftan
terminates weft upon the coaft, near Kataia,, as did the ancient limit

Bruce has great fuccefs In applying
this analylis to Tome of Ptol.myn names in
the Ps.ed Sea, Orneon, Portus Albus, &c.
vol. i.

Journal of Houghton Indiaman, 1755.
V'oP V* hne.

The correrpondence of the modern ac-
counts with the an-ient is worthy cf remark,
Strabo fays, it never rains in Mekran below
the mountains. Lieutenant Porter writes, that
when he was at Chuibar there had been no
rain for fix years.

K A R M A N I A.

34*‘

of Karmania ; or, perhaps, at Sanas : but I find no authority to
determine this point with preclfion. Both thefe diftridts are vifibly
comprehended in Kerman, and* are, as I conjecture, confined to the
tradt below the mountains^.

Both Ptolemy and Marcian fix the limits of Karmania’ at the river
Bagrada ; but as they difagree Vv^ith Arrian ' In carrying the eaftern
boundary to Mofarna,. and this river on the weftern border is not
very clearly determined by modern geography, It will, if not eflen-
tial, be fome gratification to curiofity at leaft, to examine Ptolemy’s
lift of rivers, and try if any light can be derived from the order he
has given them. There is nO’river on the main oppofite to Keiih, or
Kataia, in any of our charts, and this proves that the limit affigned
by Arrian and Ptolemy is not the fame ; in looking, therefore, to
the weft, we find a confpicuous point at Cape Nabon and a river
which falls into the gulph clofe to it ; here I fix the Bagrada of
Ptolemy ; and, by reckoning from Anamis to this ftream, I can dif=^-
cover five rivers out. of his feven, if not more. -

Marda72* Fiolemy*

1. Saganus, Andanis,

2. Addanius Saganus,

3. Akhiadama, Agedana Illand, Akhidana,

4. Korkis,, Karius,

5. Kathrapus,, Atapus, Araps,

6., Dora, Dara,

7. Bagrada, Bagrada,

Arrian* Modern*
Anamis, Mina.

f Bender-Ser ?

\ NaganaGuda?r
Rud Shiur.
Sarafs ?
Dara-bin.
Nabon.

I. The Saganus of Marcian is evidently tranfpofed, which juftifies ■
the liberty I have before taken with this author, in reflifying his

*^5 The Nabon river is a very large ftreanij and conrequently fitter for a boundary. M r. Jones,
Tuanes, MS,

tranfpofitioas, ,

342

G ULP H O F PER S 1 A.

tranfpofitions, and reducing them to the order of Arrian ; for Im
this inftance, though he is the profeffed copyift of Ptolemy, he de»
ferts his original; I affume, therefore, his Addanius for the An-
danis of Ptolemy, the Anamis of Arrian, and the Mina river, or
Ibrahemi, of our modern charts,

2, 3. Saganus fucceeds therefore according to Ptolemy, and
.either at this river, or Achindana the next in order, I place the ftrcam
which comes in very near Gomeroon at Bender-Ser. I cannot find
two rivers, or even torrents, at this place in any chart ; but in
Reflende’s manufcript delineation of the coaft I fee two ftreams,
one oppofite to Ormuz and a fecond more to the fouth ; thefe may
be the two of Ptolemy, but more likely the Bender-Ser and Ibra-
hemi which Reflende mentions, in another part of his work, by the
name of Obremi. D’Anville has a river in this pofition which he
names Nagana-Guda, bearing fome diftant refemblance to Saganus^
and Akhiadama, or Akhidana ; or both perhaps, have a relation to
Marcian’s Agedana, which he calls an ifland.. It is not impoffible,
fince Mareian mentions nothing correfpondent to Ormuz, that his
A-Gedana is the O-Gerana of Arrian, the Gerun fo often cor-
rupted ; and if fo, his own Akhiadana and Ptolemy’s Akhidana are
the correfpondent river on the main, oppofite to Ormuz, where the
ftream of d’Anville lies. Upon this fuppofition, we account for one
ftream at ieaft out of the two,

4. In Karius or Korius, we may trace fome refemblance to the
Rud-chiur of our modern maps ; a ftream of fome importance,

Saganos. Pliny, lib. vi. 25. Brit. Muf.

1(58 Pietro della Valle palTed one fmall Corius P. Mela,

flream in his road from Mina to Rudftiiur. See Pietro della Valle, vol. v.

Vol. V. p. 419. P* 373*

K A' R M A N I A .

34J

a‘s It has a longer courfe than the others, forms the boundary between
Moghoftan and* Lariftan, and falls into the Kifhmis Channel, not“
far from Kunk^ or Kongo, a’ town, from its healthinefs, much
fitter to have become a mart than Gomeroon, if it had not been
lituated in the Straits.- Chiour, Kiour, or Schiur fignifies fait,
and Rud-Chiur the Salt River; if, therefore, w^e obferve that the •

^ Greeks had' no found like Sch it will be readily allowed that they’
could not approach nearer the Oriental name than Koor-ius, or '
Kor-ius, and this confideratlon; united with the order and locality
of this river, ought to eftablifh its identity. If farther confirmation'
is wanted, we find in Pliny that he mentions it by the very name-
of Salfos

5. Kathraps, Kathrapus, or Kathrapis, correfponds with the Araps, .
or Arapis, of Ptolemy; but as no ftream of modern geography con-
nects with it, it ferves only to juftify the liberty we may take with'
names ; or, if it has a modern reprefentative, it is pofTibly a torrent
from Mount Sannafs, or Sarafs; and Saraps is not a greater variation'
from Araps than the Kathraps of Marcian.

6. Dora or Dara, prefents a fimilarity of found with the
Dara-bin, or Derrabin, of our prefent charts, laid down almoft op-

Schiour, Chiour, and Kiour, enters into
the compofition of many names of rivers; for
many are fait in Perfia, Karmania, and the
Mekran.

Otter has a Roud-guird in his route from
Hamadan to Ifpahan. Vol. i. p. 192. And
Guird, he fays, fignifies en^virons.' It is pof-
fibly Guird for Kiour ; but, if othervvife,
Guird, environs, is from Gerd, Gherd, or
Certa ; and lignifies a town, not a river. The
place, however, where he was, was calkd
Guerdge, the ionxsn\ and, if fo, Roud Guird
is only the river of the io^-wn.

Pietro della Valle, when he writes
Chiur, naturally fuggells the Italian pronun-
ciation, anfwering to Kiur in Englifh.

Lib. vi. cap. 25.- He perverts the
order. See Salmaf. Plin. Ex. 1181.

D’Anville carries this title of Salfos up "
to Sitacus ; but if we obferve that it is joined
with others evidently in Karmania and at the
eaftern part of the gulph, why fhould ic be
tranlported into Pcrfis, and fo far to the weif-
warri ? See Mem. p. 159.

Daras of Pliny, ibid,

pofite

pofite to the Iflands Buflieab and Scliitwar. Here I mnft coiifeis
I looked for the fite of Ptolemy’s Bagrada, as lying neareft to the
Katala of Arrian ; but the refemblance of found induces me to fix
Dara at Dara-bin, and if fo, Bagrada mufi; be carried to the next
ftream weftward, which is at Cape Nabon. The Darabin is in the
neighbourhood of Arrian’s Mount Okhus, and afforded a fafe an-
chorage to the fleet, apparently in the mouth of the river. That
mountain extends along the coafl from this river to Cape Nabon,
and is called Dahhr-Afban by Niebuhr Dahhr is as evidently,
therefore, the Dara of Ptolemy as Dahhr-Afban is the Darabin of the
moderns^

y. Bagrada I place at Cape Nabon, or Nabend, for the reafons
already fpecified ; and if I find no modern name to correfpond with
it, it muft be confidered that navigators do not give us the native
names of rivers in the gulph, but denominate them from the places
where they difembogue. The Bafra river is known to every ordinary
mariner ; the Schat-el-Arab is a name that we muft fearch for only
in the map of the geographer, or the chart of the enlightened na-
vigator. It is not improbable, therefore, that if the queftion were
put to the natives, their name of the Nabon river might ftill retain
the traces of Bagrada.

This difquifition on the rivers of Karmania ought not to be con-
fidered as foreign to this work, for one great objed; of it, is, to recon-

See M^Cluer’s charts Harvey’s, d’ Apres,
&c.

*7® And Capper, who follows Niebuhr’s
orthography.

‘79 D’Aiiville carries the Bagrada to the
Agradat of Strabo in Ccele-Perhs ; but HOiM
implies the country between the mountains,

and not on the fea coaft. ,By the name of
Dara, which precedes, and which I confider
as demonftrably fixed, from its relation to
Dahhr-Afban, I am fully perfuaded that Na-
bon is the Bagrada, See d’Anville’s Mem.
p. 159.

cile

K A R M A N I A. 34j

die ancient geography with modern ; and if a monument is by
thefe means raifed to the corrednefs of Ptolemy on the coaft. It h
fome compenfation for the charge of error Imputed to him in regard
to the illands, a juft diftribution of thefe was, till within the laft
century, a defideratum in geography ; and if they are now difpofed
with precifion, the world is indebted to the attention of Englifli
navigators, and to no one more than hPCluer

I (hall clofe this account of Karmania with noticing, that Arrian
informs us the Karmanians had the fame manners, habits, and i

cuftoms as their neighbours in Perfis, and refembled them likewife I

both in arming and forming the troops they contributed to the i

fervice of the empire. The modern Perfians confider them as a

people, acute, fubtle, and prone to rebellion ; and their province I

was the laft retreat within the empire for the ancient Parfees, or wor- j

flilppers of fire. -This unhappy caft, under the name of Guebres,

I Abbas endeavoured to exterminate, when the refidue was difperfed
over India, and a numerous tribe of them are now fettled at Bom-
; bay, where they bufid thofe eelebrated fhips which, in conftrudlon.

I and durability, prove the fervice they might have rendered their

I ^ own country. Never, fince the world began, did any government |

I gain by perfecution.

II. P E R S I S.

In condu6ling the fleet from 'Its entrance into the gulph. It has

ibeen no difficult talk to afeertain every ftation at which it anchored^
the aififtance I have derived from d’AnvIlle, and the corre£tnefs of
our Fnglifla charts, I have acknowledged at every ftep, and it is a

See if/fray Inderabia. j

Y Y pleafure 5

J-L A Po R T . -
Ka I K AN-
DROS

Island.
January 6.

Ninety-
feventh day.

pleafiirc to add^ that the more corredl they are, the more clear
the coiTefpoiidence of the journal with the adtual hate of the coaft
at the prefent day. We are now to enter upon the province of
Perfis, and though I cannot promife equal perfpicuity in regard
to fome ftations of little importance, the general defcriptiou
of the coaft is perfect, and the principal harbours as fully
afcertained as they are in modern geography. One inftance of
this- will be more particularly apparent in the hacion which imme-
diately fucceeds.

The fleet weighing from Kataia arrived, after a courfe of twenty-
five miles, at Ha, an anchorage on the coaft covered by the ifland
Kaikandros. The name which M^Cluer gives to a place very
nearly correfpondent is Gillam from which if we fubtrad: the
initial letter, which is the reprefentative of an afpirate, we find
Illam fufficiently allied to Ha ; and if the antiquity of Gillam could
be afcertained, the identity would be complete. In Kaik-ANDROS
alfo the modern name of Andarvia may be difcovered, which is one
out of a multiplicity of titles beftovred upon an ifland in this
fituation, ftyled Inderabia by M^Cluer, Inderabi’^"" by Niebuhr, An-
garvia, Indernea, and Indernore, by the other charts : and perhaps
when we refled: that the Greeks have no sh, we may be induced
to fufped: that the Kaik-Andros of Nearchus is equivalent, to *^^Keifli-

It is the fame as Lieutenant Cant’s in its neighbourhood, p. 120.

Gella, which approaches nearer to Illaj or’ Kill Kiavus is likewife mentioned by

Jla; but Cant’s Gella is ill placed. Ilia be- Otter, vol, ii. p. 213. but fabulous,
comes Hilla and Gilla, like Han, Khan, Cawn. After making this conjedure, I found in
Hendoo Gentoo. Golius, . that Caicavus is Ca‘vusy who

Anderipe, Inderuca, Hinderabi, &c. obtained water and milk in this ifland or
It is poflibly alfo the Lameth of Ai-Edrifi, as Keilh. Gol. ad Alfrag. 117.
he mentions Siraf and Tfafac, /, e, Tsjarack^.

Andarvia j

' P E R S I S. 347

Andarvia ; an additional title this llland might have obtained from
its proxi’iiity to Keifli, or its dependence on it. From the eafterii
point of Keifli to Andarvia, fays d’Anville, it is nearly fix leagues ;
and he alfumes the eaftern point as a fpot where the fleet might
have anchored, in order to acquire a diftance approaching to the
twenty-five miles of Arrian : but d’Anville would have been better
pleafed to find that M‘Cluer, in his fecond chart, has extended the
diftance from twelve to twenty geographical miles between Keifli
and Inderabia, and twenty geopraphical miles fupplying upwards of
twenty-three miles Britifh, make an agreement with Arrian fuffl-
ciently correct. M‘Cluer writes to Mr. Dalrymple : ‘‘ I have
altered the fituation of Inderabia, as 1 found it too near Kenn
And in this teftimony we have a fatisfadtion in obferving, that the
more corredl the modern chart is, the better it correfponds with
Arrian. M^Cluer has rendered a fecond fervice in laying down this
ifle nearer to the main than it appears in moft of the other charts,
for fo Arrian defcribes it, as covering the road and making the
anchorage fecure. Inderabia, according to Lieutenant Cant is a
low ifland, not inhabited, but affording frefh water; “ the channel
between it and the main is about a mile broad, with water from

I have been the more confirmed in this
opinion by obferving in Ciolius, p. 117. which
I have been enabled to interpret by the afiifi-
ance of iny friend Dr. Riifiell, that Keis is the
proper name of a man ; and that the Arabs,
fabuloufly perhaps, like the G*'eeks, derive the
name of the ifland Keis from Keis cbn Amee-
rat, Keis the fon of Ameerat. In this man-
ner, Keis might be eafily made an scceflary
to Andarvia alfo. Andarvia, written fo many
ways, approaches the C^reek more nearly in
Portugiicfe, Anderoya ; for fo it appears in
Reflende.

This licence is juflifiable wherever a
coincidence can be obtained by it ; and I ufe
it freely when occafion requires, becaufe the
point of anchorage is never afcertained by the
journal in the feveral iflands.

This diftance is taken from the two ex-
treme points neareft ; fo that by taking an
anchorage in Kcnn, you may have twenty- five
miles exa(‘K

P. 13. Pref. to Dalrymple’s Colledllon.

Keifli, written Kenn in feveral charts,
but I believe alwavs improperly.

P. 44-

2 “ fevea

Ok H US
Moun-
tain.

An Island.
A Port.
January 7.

Ninety-
eighth day.

J4S G U L F H OF P E R S I A.

“ feven to fifteen fathoms, neareft the ifland its mean latitude

' /'O t 'f

IS 2.6 49 37 .

From Kaikandros to a fecond ifland, no diftance is given, and only
two miles and a half to an anchorage on the coaft; from this anchorage
again, to a harbour under a mountain called Okhus, no meafure is
fpecified. The ifland, Mr. d’Anville complains, was laid down in-
corredly ; but he read in the old Portuguefe charts, Ilha de L’Ara,
or Lara, and fo I find it In Reflhnde and Thevenot V/e have
now, however,, two iflands accurately placed in M^Gluer’s fecond
chart, which agrees better with Arrian than his firft, and by the
pofition of thefe we mufl: determine the courfe. Taking, therefore,
a meafure proportionate to the correctnefs of the journal for fome
days paft, I allow, from the centre of Inderabia to Pvlount Okhus,
about three hundred or three hundred and fifty ftadia, that is, from
eighteen to twenty-one miles, and I include the whole courfe In one
day. The two iflands are called Schitwar'^* and Bufheab, and the
latter is written Schech-Schaiib by Niebuhr, equivalent to Abu-
Schaiib or Bu-Sheab ; for Schech is old^ and Abu, father^ and both
are titles of refpedf, as we ufe Seigneur, or Sir, In Europe. Schitwar,
the fmalleft of the two, and the. one diredlly in the courfe of the
fleet. Is the ifland which Arrian means, and which he fays was In-
habited, and poffefled of a fifhery for pearl ; a circumfiance not
unworthy of remark, as feveral travellers inform us, that pearls
were formerly taken at Karak'^"’ and other places on the eaftern fide
of the gulph, as well as on the celebrated bank of Bahr-ein, If L

*90 Thevenot faw the two iflands at a p. 173. Thevenot mentions likewife that it is
diflance, and therefore brought them into one ; very near the coafl, and a paflage within. It
and fo M‘Cluerfays the trees on Schitwar feem is poffibly the Araka of Ptolemy,
to be on Bufheab. It is feventy leagues Capper writes this name Shudwan.

from Karak, according to Thevenot, Part ii. *5^ Thevenot, ibid.

P E R S 1 S.

349

ain right, therefore, in aiTumlng Schitwar for Arrian’s namelefs
illand, the remainder of this day’s courfe is clear ; for the forty
ftadia he allots for croffing from hence to the main, is nearly equal
to the breadth of the channel beween Schitwar and the eaftern point
of the river Darabln, where I fuppofe the firft anchorage to be ;
and the fecond, only by croffing the river to the weftern point, or
fome convenient bay adjoining. This is the apparent reafon why
no diftance is mentioned here, while the meafure between Inderabia
and Schitwar is an omiffion. ATCluer marks an anchorage in a
bay, and a town called Schitwar juft to the weflward of the

mouth; here I conclude the ftation of the fleet was, and here we
can find a mountain to correfpond with Okhus. That the town on
the main fhould bear the fame title as the ifland is a circumflance
fimilar to that which takes place at Ormuz, and is founded probably
on the praftice recorded by Niebuhr, already noticed, of the in*
habitants on the coaft flying to the iflands, in their neighbourhood,
or the ifland receiving its name from a town on the main. This is
the fecond infcance, and two more will occur, with a! third, that
poffibly may be accounted for upon the fame principle.

The mountain Okhus is nothing more than the termination of
an high range of coaft extending from Cape Nabon to the river
Darabin, called Dahhr-Afban by Niebuhr, as already noticed, and
diftinftly fpecified in M^Cluer’s firft chart ; I have not been able to
trace the connexion of this range inland with the great chain, which
runs parallel to the coaft ; but there can be little doubt of the fad:,

Chetwar.

*54- Harvey’s chart places Schitwar point on
the eaftvvard of the river, but marks a fmall
town where M‘CIuer’s Schitwar or Chetwar is.

Harvey 1778.

See M^Cluer’s firft chart. Two of
Claude Ruflel. Ksempfer. Van Keulen,
D’Apres 1776. Harvey 1778.

350 G U L P H OF PERSIA.

as the two rivers Darabin and Nabon at the two extremities ought to
be the produce of this mountain, throwing olF its waters on both
fides, and forming two ftreams, which appear to have fome pre-
eminence above the torrents to the weftward. In Dahhr-A.{ban
we have the Dar-abin of our charts, and the Dara of Ptolemy, which
he places indeed in latitude 28"* 40' ; but as he has given a more
northerly dlredtion to the gulph than It really has, this Is readily
accounted for.

At the mouth of this river, and on the weftward fide then I fix the
ftation under Mount Oldius ; and I muft obferve that M^Chier’s
fecond, or corredted chart, coincides with the feveral circumftances
in Arrian more nearly than any of the others, or even than that
which is Inferted in the prefent work.

Of the two iflands, Schitwar lies nearer to the coaft on the fouth-
eaft of Bufheab, and the channel between Schitwar and the main
was not pafled either by Cant or M^CIuer ; but they both Intimate,
from the information of their pilots, that the paflage is clear, as well
as the other between this ifle and Bufheab, which is lefs than a mile
broad. Bufheab is the largeft ifland in the gulph except Kifiimis
it is low as well as Schitwar, but has fome high land at the back; it is
well planted and inhabited, four leagues long, and four or five miles
broad, and lies in latitude 27° i' 30''. Schitwar is faid to be ftill
more fruitful, which is a fufficient reafon why it was found inhabited
by Nearchus, and polfibly why a pearl-fifhery was eftablifhed in its
neighbourhood. The narrownefs of the channel reduced to lefs

See Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 192. French relation to a river here. See Salmaf. Plin.
edition. Ex. p.2!6.

*9"^ Ochus is the name of a river which falls And 1 fuppofe Bahrein,

into the Oxus, and I doubt not contains fome

than

P E R s r s.

than three miles by Arrian^ makes me adhere to M^Cluer rather
than any other authority ; and as he leffens the ufual diftance
fpecified between Bufheab and the main, there is great reafon to
believe that he is near the truth in laying down Schitwar, though
he was not through the channel himfelf,

Niebuhr places Nachelo, the refidence of a Sheik, in the river
Darabin ; and if I held found any refemblance In this name to
Okhus, I fhould have looked to this place for a ftation ; but in the
pofition taken there can be no error of confequence to the journal,
except that an addition to the diftance Arrian gives between the
Darabin and Cape Nabon would be convenient, as his account is at
prefent fomewhat in excefs»

From Okhus to Apoftani the courfe was twenty-eight miles,
which carries the anchorage rather more than half way from the
Darabin to Nabon; and here we are to find a road, as feveral veffels
were feen at anchor, and there was faid to be a village at the diftance
of near four miles up the country. A more hopelefs caufe for
refearch has not yet occurred, for the high land upon the coaft pro-
mifes little for the fite of a village, and the nature of the fhore
prefents no appearance of fhelter. D’Anville finds a bay called Eftor-
nadi at the foot of the mountain, from what authority does not ap-
pear, and from want of good charts has no river either at Darabin
or Nabon. Fie places Affelo and Apoftanos in the fame place,
which is evidently incorredt, as Aflelo or Afto, is fixed by all the
beft charts to the north-weftward oi Nabon, while Apoftani is evidently

ApOST ANI,
or

ApOST AN A.
January 8.
Ninety-ninth
day.

A day
allowed.

Memoir, p. 20. So d’Anville writes, and Anamin, Ilan,

Okhus,- N’-Okhe-lo ?‘ &c. from the Latin authorities, he follows.

Has he not confounded AlTelo with the See Niebuhr. M‘CIuer writes Aftola,

Affetow of cur charts ? like the idand on the coaft of Guadel.

twenty-

, 35^

G U L P H OF P P: R S I A.

twenty- five miles to the eaft. But before we can determine upon a
fite, we rauft difpofe of a town called Chewra, Chetow, or Sherouw,
which takes a variety of pofitions from the eaftward of the Darabin,
almoft to Cape Nabom

The refemblance of thefe names, however written, would induce
a fuppofition that they all relate to the fame place ; but Sherouw, or
Sherouve, in the Dutch charts placed eaftward of the Darabin, is the
Shirav, or Siraf, of the Eaftern geographers, oppofite to Keifti, and
formerly a place of great commerce ; and Chetow is the place
written Chetwar by M‘Cluer evidently related to the ifland Schitwar,
and placed by him with an anchorage juft to the weft ward of the
Darabin. The fame fite Is given to Afletow, in Lieutenant Har-
vey’schart 1778, and Af-Setow is Setowar and Chetwar in
another form. This fame chart, which marks a village here, marks
a fecond without a name half way between the Darabin and Cape
Nabon ; and this fecond is the place called Shevoo by Captain
Simmons “ About half way from hence [the Darabin] to Cape

Nabon is Shevoo where good water may be got.” Thefe are
his own words, and here, unlefs Shevoo is mifapplied, we get a
fituation from Harvey, and a name from Simmons. The pofition of
this village, be its name what it may, anfwers to the Apoftani of
Arrian, and the facility of obtaining good water here, is a fufficient
reafon for finding it frequented by the country veflels in the age of
Nearchus, or at the prefent hour. The general diftance given from

In a chart comparing Harvey with The reafon for fuppofing Shevoo may

Cant, and C. Ruffell by Dalrymple. be mifapplied is its refemblance to Sherouw

Ives, p. 205. mentions Shewee previous and Chetow, at Sherouw below Darabin. Van
to Nabon, as a fmall hfliing-town. His ac- Keulen writes, — hier is Heater van kuylen,
count is not diftind. in pits or tanks.

See Dalrymple’s Preface, p. 13, note.

Moun|;

P E. R S I S.

3SJ.

Mount Okhiis to Nabon by the journal Is fifty-three miles divided
into two courfes, one of four hundred and fifty the other of
four hundred ftadla^ and agrees with M^CIuer’s corredied chart
wuthin three miles ; we cannot, therefore, commit any error that
affects the feries, in placing Apoftani by the meafure given, or
reducing it to the Shevoo of Captain Simmons. The name itfelf
has a Greek appearance, but is undoubtedly not Greek ; nothings
therefore, forbids us to fuppofe it may be Abu-flan like Abu-
fchaib, Abu-fliahhr, and other fimilar compounds on the coaft; or to
affume a corruption juftified by its locality, and derive it from Afban.
My own opinion inclines to the latter ; and if this fhould meet with
the approbation of Oriental readers, we are obliged to Mr. Niebuhr for
firft producing the name of this range, which folves three problems
at once ; the Dara of Ptolemy, the Darabin of modern geography^
and the Apoftani of Arrian, all from Dahhr-Afban

From Apoftani the fleet weighed at night, and proceeded twenty-
five miles to a bay, on the borders of which were feen fcattered
villages, adorned with palm-trees, and others yielding fruits
fimilar to thofe of Greece. Here Nearchus anchored, under the
^projedflon of a cape which rofe to a confiderable height. The cape
is manifeftly Nabon, and the bay Is formed by the mouth of the

Xwenty-eight and twenty -five miles.

The Sheiks' country. Abu and Sheck are
equivalent in Abu-Schaib, Schech-Schaib.

In addition to what has been already
faid upon Bah and Dah, it appears from Lu-
dolphus, that they have an oppofition in the
Abyfiinian language ; as Bahr, the fea ; Bahr-
Nagalh, the governor or king of the fea
coaft ; and Dahr is in the fame dialed! Dabcr,
or Dabra, a mountain ; both,, by that author,

fuppofed to be connefled with the .Arabic.
In my own opinion, the primary fenfe of
Dahr is head\ and thence, Dara or Darius, a
king. Dar, a head cflicer ; Dahr, x\\Q/umniit
of a mountain. See Ludolphus Abyffinin,
book i. c. 4. book lii. c. 4. And Bruce pafjhK.

Salmafius fays, only nuts,
almonds, and fuch as have a fliell without and
fruit within, p. 108, et feq. But fee Theo*
phrallus ; «^7rjAy? TAAP'-a ibid.

A Bay at
Cape
Nabon,
January
Hundredth
day.

river

354

GULPH OF PERSIA.

river whicli bears the fame title. The point of this cape^'^ is Ycry
remarkable, being flat table land, which extends a confiderable way^
and then breaks ofi:' to a fliarp floping point, which makes the table
land appear lower than it is ; the river which comes in here runs^-
parallel with the coaft, and is at prefent the refidence of an Arab
Sheik, who is mafler of a few Imall velfels, which he employs in
piracy. Thevenot^*^ mentions it as a place ftill abounding in palm-
trees, with a village on a low bank of the river ; and the high land
commencing near the cape extends far inland. The term ufed by
Arrian expreffes the anchorage of the fleet under cover of the table,
land at the foot of the mountain ; which, with the circumflances of
a bay, villages, and fruit-trees makes the * correfpondence exadl.-
It has been obferved already, that here is the Bagrada of Ptolemy,,
which he places in latitude 28° 4, and the head of it in 30° 6\ but by
its courfe at the cape it ought to incline in the contrary 'diredlion,,
though I can find no information either in travellers or voyagers to
give it any fixed pofition. That the coaft is little frequented appears
by the difcordance of the charts, and the routes inland tend to Ben-
dereek, Lar, or Gomeroon, either on the eaft or weft, with little,
attradion even for merchants either to Nachelo or Nabon. The
latitude of Nabon is fixed by Dairy mple for 27° 27" 26k

inhofpitable rocks and deferts, capable of
affording tlie kind produUion of vegetables,.
See. &.C, Ives, p. 205. In the river, a fhip
of nine hundred tons may ride. The Portu-
guefe had once a fettlement here, ibid.

Pietro della Valle mentions fome Arme-
nians who intended to land at Nachelo in order
to go to Schiras. Vol. viii. p. 20. This route
falls into the ancient road to Siraff. Nub.
Geo,, p. 125.

Upoa-

Lieutenant M^CIuer,,, p, 21. Lieute-
nant Cant, p. 2Z. In Mr. Dalrymple’s Col-
leftion.

D’Anviliei but I have not found the
paffage in Thevenot.

Mr. Jones mentions the Nabon as a.
large river; and fuch it ought to be from the
extent of the mountains. Ives notices the
fame circumllance, p. 205. Here Providence
feems to have allotted a. fpot of groun4 araidft

P E R S I S.

355

Upon departing from Nabon, the fleet proceeded upwards of
thirty-feven miles to Gogana, a diftance which anfwers within a
mile to the pofition of the modern Konkun or Coneoon, remarked

^ ^ nrlt day. -

by M‘C!uer for a high ground over it called Barn-hill from its ap- Day allowed,

pearance5 and as being the northernmoft town in the bay'''^ v;hich
\

curves to Verdiftan. Between Nabon and Konkun lie AiTelo and
Tahrie ; whence, he fays, this bay runs deep up to Konkun.

The whole of this day’s courfe is flieltered from the north-well
blafts by the projeclion of Cape Verdiftan, and the foul ground in
its neighbourhood. This ground is noticed by the journal, as
lying round the anchorage in a circle, and difcoverlng itfelf with a
dangerous appearance at low water. Gogana Is defcribed as a place
inhabited upon the fide of a winter torrent called Areon, in the
mouth of which the fleet anchored with great difficulty, both on
account of the narrownefs of the entrance, and the dangerous fhoals
which almoft preclude an approach to It. This torrent does not
appear in any chart or map, except d’Anville’s, in which it is
doubtlefs placed from the authority of the journal, and probably
exifls in reality, though, from the little knowledge we have of this
trad: or the infignificance of the flrcam, it has not drawn the

attention of our Engliflh navigators. It is feme fatisfadlion, how-
ever, to find a name refembling Konkun fo nearly as Gogana ; and
as Niebuhr makes it the refidence of an Arab Sheik, it is perhaps of
more eflirnation with the natives, than with thofe who frequent the
gulph, and whofe only objedl Is commerce.

Aftola, Taurie, M^Cluer, p. 2z. See Niebuhr alfo, who fays it is the moll dan-

vefTel mud be cautious of Handing gerous part of the gulph..

** up too far in this bay,” M'Cluer, p. 22.

The

Z Z i

GULPH OF PERSIA.

SlTAKUS
Rive R.
January li.
Hundred and
fecond day.
jpay allowed.

3S^

The courfe of the following day was fifty miles to the Sltaku^^
which it would be well if the journal had increafed confiderably^
for the coaft itfelf rneafures that diftance, without allowing for the
circle that muft be taken round the fhoal off Cape Verdiftan. It is
not probable that an Englilh veflel fliould ever determine whether
there is a paffage within the breakers ; but within, undoubtedly^
Nearchus muft have failed, to make the ftadia confiftent : and though
M‘Cluer makes an anchorage almoft in the centre of them, a paffage
elofe to fhore muft be dubious, unlefs it could be proved that it is
ftill pradlicable for native veffels. There is an ifland called Mon-
golia lying to the eaftward of Verdiftan, only three miles from
the main, within which if there be a paffage, it muft have been
feen by the fleet : but that it is paffed in filence, or the cape itfelf,
is no proof that Nearchus ftood out to fea ; for omilfions of this
fort are frequent. It is only meant to argue, that if there is a paffage
within the fhoal, the meafure of Arrian is corredt ; if there is no
paffage, it is the firft on this coaft w^hich has been deficient. Mon-*
gella is the Palmeira of the Portuguefe, the Om-en-chale o£
Niebuhr, though he marks no ifland, and his Raf-el-chan, or Cape
Chan, is the Kenn of our Englifh charts, the Kaneh-Sitan of
d’Anville, remarkable for the hummocks over it, which form a
landmark to veffels upon their approach to Verdiftan : here is
the anchorage of the journal at the Sitakus, a ftream which d’An-
ville calls Sita-Reghian ; and I fhall conclude my obfervations
on the courfe with noticing, that as the tide rifes ten feet
here, it is poflible that Nearchus found his. way through the

Om-en-chale of Niebuhr.. ' Rather an ifland. Om-en-chale, an-

Si Mongella northward to the bay, fwering to an Om-en-chale on the continents

** in by Kenn, I never have examined in any Nieb, vol. ii. p. i68. French edit,
veffel.’^ M'Cluer,. p. 25;. M^Cluer,

breakers^

PERSIA

357

breakers fboals, and oozy channels, he fo graphically defcribes :
fuch, he fays, was the nature of the coaft, and fiich it appears In the
charts at the diftance of two thoufand years : but if the approach
to this ftation was difficult, the anchorage was indifferent ; the fleet,
however, wanted repair, the veffels were confequently drawn on
fhore, and the time employed in refitting and careening was no lefs
than one-and-twenty days ; during which interval, they received a
large fupply of corn, fent down by the command of Alexander*
From this circumftance we may conclude, that the detachment
under Heph^ftion was in the neighbourhood; and, (as I colled; from
Alfragani“^, Golius, d’Anville, and Otter at Giouar, or Firouz-
abad, an inland city, the capital of the diftrid: Ardefhir, celebrated
for its gardens, vineyards, and rofes, as pre-eminent in Perfia as
thofe of Pseftum in Italy. I fix upon this place, becaufe I learn
from Otter, that the river of Giouar receives a ftream called Sita
Rhegian which may be interpreted the fandy Sita, and, with a
final afpirate, becomes Sitahh, or the Sitak of Nearchus. The
Eaflern writers mention, that Alexander took this city by inundating
it with the w^aters of the river ; this could not happen ; for Alex-
ander himfelf was on the other fide of the mountains ; but his
army under Hephseftion might have taken it by this method ; and
the permanence of the tradition affords fome fort of proof, that
Hephseftion was at this city, as I have ftated. The roads which
branch out from this centre evidently mark it as a capital; and when

ftioals; broken water; city. Gour fignlfies a fcpulchre.

Ttvaysa, fhoals with ooze or mud. Otter, vol. i. p. igi. ( found this ac-

Gol. ad Alfragan, p. 114. Founded by count by accident in Otter, llrangely placed
Ardexir, Ton of Babec, fon of Safun. An El- in a route from Hamadan to Jfpahan.
burz3 or fire-tower of the Farfees, was in this Ralguian. Otter,

358 GULPH OF PER'SIA.

we refleS that Siraff and Kelfh were formerly the Gomeroon and
Ormus of the gulph, we fee the neceflity of the communications
extending from this centre to the coaft at Siraif, and inland to
Shiras ; to Lar on the eaft, and to Reghiari on the north-weft ; in
this latter line it is evident that Pleplia^ftion^ with his divifion of the
army, moved. We have before attended him acrofs the mountains
from Giroft to Lar, and we have here a route from Lar through
Giouar and Kazeroii to Ragian on the river Tab or Endian,
which is the boundary between Perfis and Sufiana. In Sufiana
Ilephccftion rejoined the main army under Alexander, who feems
to have moved by the loute of Velaz-Gherd, the weftern Phoreg
Pafagardse, and Perfepolis, till he fell into the march by which
Timur came from Sufiana to Shiraz, and trod this ground in a con-
trary direftion, till he reached Sufa or Shuller, the ancient as well
as the modern capital of the province. Thefe marches of the two
divifions will be farther oonfidered hereafter upon the arrival of the
fleet at Sufa ; at prefent they are only noticed, in order to connedl
the motions of the fleet and army, upon occafion of the fupply re-
ceived at Sitakus. The time which the fleet continued here is
longer than any interval hitherto employed upon the refitting of the
veflels ; and we ought for this reafon to fuppofe that they waited
for the approach of the army, or the colledlion of the fupply. The
reafon of this muft evidently be, that the diftance from Giroft to
Giouar is upwards of three hundred miles, a march which, in
this climate, could hardly require lefs than four or five and twenty
days, even if Hephgeftion moved on the fame day with Nearchus ;

In the route of Al-Edrifi, from Shiras
Siraff, we difcover the road fxojn Lar to

Giouar, though Lar is on the left, and not
mentioned , See infra*

eleven

399

P E R .S I S.

eleven days’ navigationj therefore, and twenty-one days in port^
give a period alrnoft neceffary for the fervice required ; and this,
allov/ance combines the motion of the fleet and army In a manner
agreeably to reafon, and not contradi-dtory to the hiftory of the
tranfadlions.

Cape Vertliflan with its fhoal tending out to- Kenn, is one of
the mofl; prominent features in the gulph ; Englifli veffels, how-
ever, which are generally bound to Bulheer, or Bafra, having na
other bufinefs but to avoid it, we have no right to expedt any
immediate account of the coaft itfelf at this point : but the an-
chorage at Sitakus, d’Anville has elucidated with particular
attention ; Kaneh Sitan, he informs us, fignifies the habitation of
Satan ; and the river Sita-Reghian has evidently an allufion to
the fame prince of darknefs ; an extraordinary inftance of his early
influence in this country, and the duration of his empire. Whether
Nearchus found the territory of Satan an agreeable refidence for
one-and-twenty days, I pretend not to determine ; but,, from the.
good-will I bear him, I regret to find him in a place with' a name
of fuch ill omen. Reghian is not quite perfpicuous, as there is
another Reghian on the Tab or Endian, and a Bender-Regh, which,
is the Rhogonis of Arrian. It is probable that the etymology of.
the word, which fignifies fand, will explain all three ; but I have
looked in vain for more Reghians than one in the Nubian Geo-

Tpwetve days inclafive.

Bardeftan, Bardeftrand, Van Keulen,
Babeftan, D’Apres, 1745- Burdillan, Cap-
per; who calls it a mountain,

^5) See M‘Cluer, p. 24, 25, All his di-
jc^ions are how to avoid it with fafcty.

Lieutenant Cant gives a bay here, and
Harvey, a river. Claud RuefTeBs chart calls
the river Jareu.

The Sitlagogus of Pliny, p. 136. lib. vi.
22. deferves no notice; be fays it is navigable
up to Pafagarda.

grapher.

GULPH OF PERSIA..

360

grapher. The Giouar of that author on this river throws great
light on the march of Hephseftion, and the fupply received by the
fleet, becaufe the meafures taken from Sliiras, Kazeron, Siraff, and
Reghian on the Tab, all correfpond with fome degree of correftnefs,
and the ufe Mr. d’Anville has made of thefe in his firfl: map of
Afia bears the higheft teftimony to his judgment and j>enetration*
It is upon this occafion that he introduces his remarks upon the
rivers of Perfis, demonitrating that none of- them beyond the moun-
tains ever find their way to the fea; and fhewing that tliofe which
have occurred in Arrian bear the chara£teriitic mark of torrents, as
he deferibes them, never rifing beyond the great range, and fed only
by the rains which fall there too periodically to fupport a perennial
ftream. When we fee the face of nature painted fo juftly, who
fhall affert that the journal before us is the produdlion of a Greek
fophift in his clofet ? One circumftance only furprifes me in d’An-
ville, which is, that he fhould miftake the Bagrada of Ptolemy, for
as he has himfelf placed the Taoke of that author, with great ap-
parent propriety, at Gennaba, and his Cherfonefus at Bufheer, or
Bender-Rifcher, his Brifoana ought to be the river at Kierazin, to
which it bears a relation, however corrupted ; his Aufinza""^^ natu-
rally becomes Atifizan, or Vefdi-ftan, and Bagrada of courfe is the
next river at Cape Nabon. In tracing Ptolemy’s catalogue thus
from Cape Jafques to the termination of Perfis, I perfuade myfelf
that I not only add perfpicuity to this immediate work, but perform
a fervice ufeful to geography, and acceptable to every lover of
the fcience.

Al-Edrifi does not mention the river. Nabon but the torrent Areon> too minute for
433 Written Staufinda by Marcian, p. 19. all our charts and maps to notice.

^24- There is no othe’r between Verdifian and

The

P E R S I S.

An Interval of one-and-twenty days palled at Sitakus, brings our
account to the firft of February^ and on this day I fix the departure
of the fleet for Flleratis. The courfe Is nearly forty-feven miles^
which terminates at the Gilla or Haliiah of M^CIuer, with a fuffi-
clent degree of correftnefS) and where d’Anville finds the Klerazin*^*
of the Turkifh Geographer. The fleet anchored in the. mouth of a
canal called Heratemis, cut from a larger river at no great diftance,
which is doubtlefs the ftream that comes from Kazeron ; and
Kazeron as undoubtedly is the root of all the corruptions which
appear under the form of Klerazin, Hieratls, and the Zezarine of
the Englifh charts. The ftream itfelf^ in its fource at leaft,
which is near the foot of the mountains, is poffibly that called
Abghine by Thevenot, and was pafled by him in the neighbour-
hood of Karzerum^^^ (as he writes it), in his route from Schiras to
Bender-Regh. The variations occurring in this name flow two dif-
ferent ways from the fame fource, for Kaferoon firft becomes
Kazerene, Kezarene, Zezarene, Brizoene ; and fecondly, Kcra-
zene, Kierazin, Kierad-fin, Hierat-fin, Hierat-is, and perhaps
Heraten-is, or Heratemis : but I do not maintain that both are the

Hieratis,
February s .
Hundred and
twenty- third
day.

This is the only mark I find in his chart.
Gilla is a town. Haliiah, or Flalilat, a hill,
which ferves as adiredlion for entering Bufiieer
harbour. It takes its name from the town
marked Halila in Niebuhr.

See Koufherof Thevenot, Niebuhr,
Kazeron has an additional title, the
country of Sapor ; and is the head of that
divifion of Perfis called Sabur, or Sapor, by
d’Anville. Gol. ad Alfragan, p. 115. not.
It is not, however, the capital, for that he
calls Sabura.

Nothing certain can be fixed on the in-
terior courfe of thefe rivers.

Thevenot, part ii. p. 149. It flows
within a mile and a half of the town, and
was apparently pafTed by a bridge about fix
miles lower. The town is large, but ill
built.

Written Kazarun by Al-Edrlfi, p. 125.

This is, I conjedure, the relation whicii
Ptolemy’s and Marcian’s Brifoana has with
Kezarene ; but it is mere conjeflure,

fame.

3 A

36a

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

fame, for Kazerooa ia upwards of fifty miles inland, and’ the;
Kierazin of the TurklOi Geographer is on the coaft ; but I fuppofe^
both to be connefled by means of the diftricl or the river. D’An-
ville has obferved,. that Kierazin oa the coaft appears not in the^
modern niaps^, but that the name exifts in our Englifti charts under,
the form, of Zezarine, applied to an.iftet nearly fifty miles out at
fea. This is true ; but at the time he wrote, neither this ifte, nor
another called Kenn,,^were laid down with any degree of corretf-
nefs. We. have fince obtained their pofition, from an obfervation of'
Captain Moore ; Kenn in latitude 27° 54 J and' Zezarine ih^
28’' 8V Kenn is a rounft bank of fand fcarcely half a mile ih.
length, and Zezarine '"'^'^'fomethihg larger, wdth a rock in the middle;-
both are fixteen or feventeen leagues from the coaft. Kenrr is like-
wife called the Cock, or Perfia, and'Zezarihe, Arabia, by the native-
pilots. And here is a circumftance worthy of remark, which, though,
it efcaped the notice of d’Anville, fpeaks highly for the penetratiom
manifefted in his reference ; for Zezarine, the ifle, is as certainly
connefted with a Zezarine on the main, as Kenn is with his Kaneh-
Sitan, the Kenn of our Ehgliih charts. There is another folitary ifle^
called May, upwards of fixty leagues from the coaft, in latitude'
25"^ 50', which I mention, in order to fhew the perpetual' connexion
of thefe little fpots with the main ; for Al-Edrifi fixes a Mai in the
road from Shiras to Siraff, to which this iflet ismearly oppofite, and,

After making this conjefliire, I was rasln^ unites it with Kezaieen and Zezareen^,
gratified in finding a demonftration of it in mod perfectly. The connexion, therefore, of
Otter, vol. i. p. 310. where he writes Kiaziran,^ the town with the river and^ the Ihoal is
Kiaziroun, as the dri<d Oriental orthography bjiflied.

of Kazerun, This, at the fame time it proven Dalrymple’s Colleftion, p. 46.

the perpetual tranfpofition of fyllables (fo often Keyn and Zazareen, M^Cluer^.

noticed), as of Kiaziian for d’Anville’s K.ie«

ta-

)

T E Ji S I S. 36 j

to xvliich It IS probably related. I expefted to find a Kiera^iin alfo
ill Ai-Edrlfi, but his routes are always the journals of the caravan^,
and we feldom have any delineation of the coaft.

Arrian has no particulars of Hieratis ; but that It w^as on an ifland
formed by a channel from a river in the neighbourhood, and that an
ifland of this fort, refembling the delta of a river, Ihould not appear in
our Engllfh charts is not extraordinary, becaufe it wmuld naturally
be confounded with the coaft ; but Mr. d’Anville places an ifland
here, which he writes Cou flier, and which is the Coucher of The*-
venot. He did not land here ; but he fays it is a pretty large Ifland,
and enables us to form a conjedfure of its diftance from Buflieer, by
mentioning that he paffed that port between two or three o’clock in
morning, and w^as off Coucher at half an hour after feveni I trace
an account which correfponds with this in Niebuhr, who upon his
arrival at Kormudfch, in his route from Buflieer to Schiras, men-
tions an arm that runs up from Buflieer Into the interior of the
country, then turns itfelf to the fouth, and falls again into the gulpli
lower down towards the eaft. At the place where this ft ream ought
to fall in, his map prefents us with Khore-EflTeri, and as Khore fig-
nifies a channel, or divifion, I have little doubt but this is the Hera-
temis of Arrian, and that Khor-elTer'"'^® is the Koucher of Thevenot.
It is true that Niebuhr is not accurate in his account of the arm
which xomes*'^^ from Buflieer, for there is no fuch arm, as
Mr. Jones alTures me, who refided at Buflieer many years ; and it is
extraordinary that Niebuhr fhould infert this arm in his own chart^'^^

Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 81. perly a large arm which he makes fail into

Khore-EfTeri is literally the channel of Bufheer Bay. See his map.

ElTer, and ElTer doubtlefs has a relative fenfe, Vol. ii. p. 97. Amfl. edit.

I ufe his own term, but it is more pro-

3 A 2 and

MeS AM-

B RI A Town.
Pad A R.GUS.

Pad AG R US
River.
February 2.
Hundred and
twenty-fourth
day.

364 GULPH OF PERSIA.

and yet give us Captain Simnions’s chart*‘^% in which no river larger,
than a brook is to be found. As Niebuhr never faw this Khore-
Efferi therefore alFthat we can collect, is^ that he gained intelligence
from inquiry among the natives, that the circumftance of a river
inclofing a delta between two of its mouths exifted, and that the-
eaftern channel was called Khore-Efferi. This, for want of further
information, he was obliged to lay down with uncertainty; but that:
feme ftream, attended with thefe circiimftances, does fall into the"
gulph, wuthin tho diftance of from ten to twenty miles eaft ward of
Buflieer,., I make little doubt, and fuch a ftream will anfwer to the^
Hieratis and Heratemis of Arrian. Mr. Jones is acquainted with a:
fhallow arm of the fea running inland near Halila; and though he
doubts the circiimftances here attributed' to it, it is not impolEble. -
that this arm ihould fend' off a channel to the eaft ward..

From Hieratis the fleet proceeded the following morning to Me-

fambria, and anchored at the mouth of the torrent called PadarguSo.

The whole place, fays Arrian,, is a peninfula, which points out

Bufheer or Bender Rifcher moft correifly ; and here there is no^

diftance given, a circumftance/^'* recurring conftantly whenever the

fleet paffes a cape, and anchors immediately under the fhelter it^

affords. I fhould conclude,, therefore,, if d’Anville does not ftand in.

my way, that Hieratis was at no great diftance from< the back of this ^

cape to the eaftward that they had anchored there only becaufe

they could' not double the cape the preceding evening, and had failed I

into port as foon as they had day-light. Thefe circumftances do not

greatly difagree with the , fituation Thevenot gives to Koucher, and !

^ -

*^3 Vol. ii. p. 75.

*5® See anchorages after palTing Mount Elrus, Jafk, and Tarfia,.

eontribute

P E R S I S. 365

contribute to relieve the obfcurity attendant upon this part of the
coaft.

Bufheer varies as much in its orthography as any place within
the gulph, for it- is written Rufheer and Rifcher, now generally
applied to the old town, or a fort, which, with the addition of
Bender, or port, gives it all the different forms it has in the charts
but laft of all comes Niebuhr, who writes it Abu-Shahhr^®\ with
Rlfchahhr at a greater diftance than it ought to be ; and thus, pro-
bably from- his better knowledge of the language, we. have the
proper name at laft.

Whence^ the Mefambrla* of Arrian Is deduced does not Im**
mediately appear, for though the word is expreffive of noon in-
Greek, we may be affured its origin Is not from that language.
Arrian defcribes it as a Cherfonefe, and Ptolemy and Marcian ufe
that term- only without the addition- of a name; this induces me to-
conjedlure that botb merely tranllated the native term Mefambria.-
Now it will appear hereafter that Mefen fignifies an ifland, and is
applied as fuch to a Mefene on the Schat-el-Arab, to another in
Mefopotamla, and to a Mu^an in. the Sinus Mefanlus of Ptolemy.
This word, therefore, with the addition of Bar, a contlnent^^^^ which^
we obtain from Montfaucon, produces Mefen-bar-ia, correfponding:;
literally with the Greek term Cherfo-nefe I give this only as
conjedlure, though the circumftances of the place perfuade me that
it is fomething more ; and, in fupport of this opinion, I refer to?
Captain Simmons’s plan of Bufheer, by whofe affiftance I can

Reixel by the Portuguefe, who had a
fort here. Abbefeer, Van Keulem.

Or Abu-Schaehhr.

^53 jupraf p. 2^8.

From a continent ; an'

ijlandy a peninfula,

Publifhed by Mr. Dalrymple, and
copied in Niebuhr, Voyage, tom, ii.

carry'

366

G U L P H OF P E R S 1 A.

carry Nearchus to his moorings In the port, as readily as if I were
upon the fpot ; for In that plan there Is a place marked as the water-
ing village, within a mile of an infignificant ftream correfponding
with the Padargus of Arrian, and inithe interval between thefe two
points I fuppofe the fleet to anchor.

Buflieer has been latterly much more frequented by the Engllfli
than Gomeroon, or any port in the gulph except Bafra, for they
had a fad:ory'here as late as the year one thoufand feven hundred and
fixty-five, and I know not that it is yet abandoned. The town
occupies the triangle at the cape, with a fort ufually called the Old
Town, and iometimes RIfeher, at the back of the >Gape, near five
miles diftance. The cape is joined to the main by a neck, the
narrow(^ft part of which is at the torrent Padargus, forming the
Gherfonefe mentioned by Ptolemy and Arrian; but Niebuhr*’^ ob-
ferves, that the country is fometimes overflowed, fo that the town Is
fituated alternately on the continent and on an ifland ; but it is
not a little remarkable, that out of three witnefles who have been
on the fpot, two fhould aflert that the town is w^alled, as it
appears in Captain Simmons’s drawing ; and a third, MGluer,
maintain, that there are not the leaft marks of defence about the
place. It ought not to be omitted that the gardens or plantations
which decorate Captain Simmons’s chart are noticed by Arrian In
a pointed manner, as if the goodnefs of the foil had produced the
fame cultivation fo many ages ago, as cheers the country In the
prefent declining ftate of Perfia. This, however, Is^ denied by

Thevenot calls it an ifland. Part ii.
j). 172.

*5’' Dalrymple’s Preface, p. xviii.

Captain Simmems and Niebuhr.

ev avTff pcrjTTOi n 'ZJccnoia

iipiIjTo, p. 354*

MGIuer^

/■N,

P E R S t S, 367

M‘Cluer, who calls tlie neck a fandy defert, and never cultivated,
'which is a fecond inftance of contradiction in two eye-witnefTes,
and' refpeCting the fame place. Mr. Jones alfo confirms the tefti-
mony of M‘Cluer, and contradicts the alTertion of Niebuhr, where
he mentions that the neck is overflowed. The country as far as
Bufheer is ftill called Kermefir by Niebuhr, that is, the low land,
though we fee in the drav/ings here the high land of Halila, as we
do at feveral other points along the coaft, at Kenn, Nabon, &c.
but which are not fufficient to invalidate the title, or perhaps worthy
^ to compare' with, the grand ridge Vv^hich runs inland in a line
with the coaft. This diftriCt, Niebuhr informs us, is inhabited by
Arabs, not of the tribe of Beni-Houle, which prevails from.Gome-
roon to Konkun, but by two clans of long ftanding, and a. third
which has intruded itfelf into the government, named Matarifch,
the head of which was in his time Sheik Nafer, a chief who had.
degraded himfelf by marrying a Perfian, and profeffing himfelf of
the feCl of Ali. He pofTefled a large territory in Kermefir and the ■
ifland’ Bahrein^ but was a feudatory of Kerim Khan, the mafter of
Shiras. The harbour is commodious, and veffels ride clofe to the
houfes, which induced Nadir Shah to have a fleet here in the
latter end' of his reign, when he had quarrelled with the Sheiks on-
this fide of the gulph, and wanted- to interfere with thofe of Oman-
and Mafcat on the oppofite coaft.

The mean latitude of Bufheer is given by Mr. Dalrymple at
28'' 38' 2g'', which- perhaps ought to be read 28° 58' 20'', for

260 Every route and journal bears teftimony M‘Cluer does not fpeak fo well of it.
to the courfe of this ridge, and the branches See Otter, vol.ii. and J. Hanway’s

from it. Confult Thevenot, 'Favernier, Nadir Shah ; but he had no better fuccefa
francklin, Cheref-eddin, and Al-Edrifi, Ras- againfl: the Arabs than others who have at*
al-Acbe, fummitatem mentis, p. 125. tacked thenar

Niebuhr, Ene. edit, voh ii. p. HC.

M‘Cluer

T A O K E
Town.

G R A N I S

River.
February 3.
Hundred and
twenty- fifth
day.

368 G U L P H O F F E R S 1 A.

M^CIuer carries it above 29° as well as d’AnvilIe, and Anvil! e lias
fhewn as much judgment in correding this pofition with bad in-
formation to work upon, as in any part of Ms valuable memoir.

When the fleet left Mefambria it proceeded only twelve miles and
a half to Taoke, for which I do not allow a day, nor do I think
one due. Neither will the diftance to Taoke agree, though the
double diftance of twice twelve miles and a half to Rhogonis, or
Bender-Regh, approaches very nearly to corrednefs ; for the bay
of Bufheer is fourteen or fifteen miles acrofs to the northern point
called Rowhla and Rohilla by M^Cluer ; and the river Granis, for
which he allots a place, is not five miles from Bender-Regh. If,
however, the two diftanees agree, though neither of them fingly is
corred:, we may account for it from the circumftance of their em-
ployment In the former part of their courfe, which was the exami-
nation of a dead whale, that feems apparently to have floated up to
Rohilla point, and to have grounded on the fands in its neighbour-
hood. Some of the people approached near enough to meafure this
monfter, and reported it to be fifty cubits long, with a hide a
cubit in thickaefs, befet with fhell-fifti, barnacles and fea-weeds,
and attended by dolphins larger than are ever feen in the Mediter-
ranean. As this is the fecoad appearaace of the whak in thefe feas,
I have not thought myfelf authorifed to omit the circumftance ;
but as this animal was feen dead, and in a ftate of decay, he might
be deemed rather an inhabitant of the ocean driven up the gulph by
the wind or currents. The condition in which he was found I leave
to the dlfcuffion of the natural hiftorians, or thofe acquainted with
the appearance of the animal in his native regions.

(poXi^urov, Scaly, in common ac- Patellae genus. Limpets per-

ceptation, but I have not dared to admit it. haps.

The

P E R S I S.

36 Q

llie mouth of the river at which the fleet firfl anchored is noticed
in our Englifh charts, and fixed by d’Anville for the Bofchavir,
down the borders of which Thevenot travelled in his route from
Shiraz to Bender^Regh ; and Taoke anfwers to the Tauag of the
Nubian Geographer, who places it not upon the coaft, but, as
Arrian does, a few miles up the ftfeam, thirty-fix miles from
Kazeron, and the fame diftance from Gennaba, on the river of
that name. Ptolemy has a Taoke, which is farther to the north ;
and Strabo mentions a palace of the kings of Perfia on the fea-coaft
of Pcrfis, by the name of Oke which is either a corruption or an
integral part of Ta-oke. Thevenot''*^^ defcribes the river as large,
broad, and deep, and adds, that it falls into the gulph near Bender-
Regh ; but that its mouth is to the fouthward of that town, and
corx*efpondent to the Granis of Arrian, appears irom the circum-
ftance of Thevenot’s croffing it to the right for the laft time, in his
way to that town, after having travelled on its bank at intervals for ,
fome time, and crolfing it repeatedly in the higher part of its courfe:
in winter, he fays, it is not fordable

This river Is marked with great precifion in M^CIuer’s fmall chart
of the head of the gulph, with a place called Nuchlat at its en-
trance, and here, allowing for the error of half the courfe, there

Two hundred fladla, almofl thirteen was built by the Greeks, and formerly im-
miles. pregnable. Greeks or Pcrfians are to them

Called Ab-Shirin by d’Anvdlle. The alike, and it is, poflible here may be the re-
diftance correfponds not at all. mains of I'aoke feen from Bang, which is

ra xara 'r^v ''Gjiy.v, Lib. XV. p. 728. Ptolemy’s Taoke, and yet approachable by
D’Anville. the river, agreeable to Arrian’s account.

Part ii. p. 148. Eng. edit. Capper, 232.

Colonel Capper’s journal mentions a We do not find the title of Bender

ruin ftill vifible from the fea, inland on the Bofchavir, which d’Anville gives to this road in
mountains of Bang, which the natives fay any of our EngliHr charts.

can

370

G U L P H OF P E R S I A.

can be no mlflake In fixing the Granis of Arrian. Whether the
Granis is the fame ftream as the Bofchavir of d’Anville and Theve-
not I cannot pofitively determine, but that it is the river that comes
from Gra, and takes its name from that place, I have the teftimony of
Niebuhr ‘‘ On the fecond of March,” he fays, “ we paffed a
river which joins feveral others, then takes Its courfe towards
Gra, and difcharges itfelf into the Gulph of Perfia, between
Abu-Sehahr and Bender-Regh.” This is the river M^Cluer marks
by Nuchlat* it is the only one between Bufheer and Bender-Regh,
and it can be no other than the Granis of Arrian. So far as con-

cerns the mouth of this ftream I have no hefitation, but a great
difficulty arifes from the pofition of Gra and Kazeron inland. By
their fite, the river at Kazeron ought to come to the weftward of
Bufheer, and the river at Gra to the eaftward, but I carry the Ka-
zeron ftream to Hieratls, and that of Gra to Taoke or Nuchlat ;
and this I am perfuaded is their courfe ; but I dare not affert it ih
oppofition to d’Anviile, Niebuhr, and other evidence. It muff,
therefore, remain a problem in geography till the interior of the
country is better known, for I can find no route that crofles thefe
feveral ftreams at right angles; and, till' that ihall be accomplifhecl,
their relative fituation cannot be determined.

RhOGON IS.

February 3.
Hundred and
twenty, fifth
day.

From Taoke, I make the fleet proceed the fame day to Rhogonis^.
the modern Bender-Regh and the Bundereek of our charts ; its
name implies the Sandy Port or Harbour, for fueh it is, and the foil^

Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. gi. Amfl. edit, correfl j for d’Anviile places Kazeron, as- 1
This pafTage is totally inconfiftent with his d®, at the head of the ftream Hieratis. Nie~
map, where he brings the river from Gra into buhr’s map is fo incorreft on the coaft, that
the bay of Bufheer. there is rcafon to doubt its precifion inland.

This is true only if Niebuhr’s map is Bender Rigk. Niebuhr,

about

P E R S I S. 37s

about It Is all fand. Thevenot, who came down from Slilim to
embark here for Bafra, informs us, that the town Is built along the
fea fide, at a place where it runs into a narrow channel, long and
winding, but is not deep ; and if he had wifiied to deferibe a cir-
curnflance in conformity with Arrian, he could not have fucceeded
better, for here the journal indicates a winter torrent and a fafe
road which in our charts is protedted by an ifland in the form
of a fliuttle. On this head, the journal is filent. It is remarkable
that Thevenot (hould add, that it is a day’s fail from Bender-Rlflier,
or Buflieer, as I have made it ; and though I allow that four hun*
dred ftadia, or twenty-five miles, is a Ihort day’s work, yet it fhould
feem that, as It is from port to port, the natives confider It as fucli
in the prefent age, as well as in the time of Nearchus. In the term
Regh or fandy, we difeover the Rhog-onis of Arrian, and a
river called Rhog-omanls by Ptolemy, which d’Anville fuppofes to
be the Ab^Shirin of Cheref-eddin, a ftream that enters the gulph
about twenty miles to the north of Bender-Regh, marked Gunowah
by rvPCIuer, and from which d’Anville derives a branch, that Is
to correfpond with the torrent of Arrian at this ftation. On what
authority this is built I know not, and the teftimony of Thevenot
without it Is complete.

Bender-Regh was apparently the port of communication between
Shiraz and Bafra, but was always out of the way of flilps bound up
the gulph, which took their pilot at Bufheer, or Karack; befides
this, there has been another reafon of late years for their not fre-

The road is formed by an illand, and nant Mafcal’s in Mr. Dalrymple^ poffeffion.
covers a narrow winding channel as Thevenot It is the fame term as occurs in Bom-

deferibes. The river falls in as near as polTi- ba-reek, Bom-ba-regh, Sable delie of Pietro
ble to the fouth-weft angle of the town. Thus della Valle ; and this name is ufually written
it isdeferibed in a manufeript draft of Lieute- -Bendereek, like Bombareek.

3B 2

quenting

quenting It, for It was fubjeft to a petty tyrant Mir Mahenna''^^
whofe hands were imbrued in the blood of a father, a brother, of
two fillers, and of his own children, and who wanted nothing but
extent of dominion to make him as great a murderer as Zingis
Khan or Nadir Shah. It was this Arab who took Karack from the
Dutch in the year one thoufand feven hundred and fixty-five, after
they had been in poffeffion of it about eleven years The Dutch
appear never to have found the advantage of holding this ifland
equal to the expence of maintaining it ; or elfe we may well fuppofe
it would have been better fortified than to permit fuch a chief as
Mir Mahenna to wreft it from them. There was, indeed, fome
trade here, and fome confluence of the natives from both fides of
the gulph ; for they are willing to fettle wherever they can find pro-

teftion ; but the reduced condition of Perfia, and the perpetual
fluctuation of authority at Bafra, mufl:, as long as they fhall continue,
keep the commerce of the gulph in a precarious fl:ate, and prevent
the rifing of any eftablifhment, either here or on the other iflands, to
the dignity or rank of Ormuz. Karack is the larger of two
iflands which lie between latitude 29° 10' and 29^ 22', off the head-
land between Bufheer and Bender-Regh, abounding in fifh and dates,
but without corn ; and here it has long been the pradice of the
gulph to take a pilot for Bafra. The fmaller of the two is named
Corgo in our charts, and Khoueri*^'' by Niebuhr; at the north end
is the watering place, where forty Englifh were cut off by Mir

Niebuhr fays, he did not kill his fa- in Fofkat’s Vocabulary, iignifies au dehorsy
ther, but fahered him to be killed in his pre- the cff ijland. ?

tence. M‘Cluer. But Thevenot fays it pro»

See the detail of this in Niebuhr, French duces corn.

edition of Amfterdam, p. 149. vol. ii. Khoueri means di-vifion or diJlriSl \ the

Charedfch of Niebuhr ; and Charedfch ille, perhaps, fe^arated from Karak.

Mafienna

P E R S I S,

373

Mahenna in the year one thoufand feven hundred and lixty-eight»
They were however enemies, and do not fo much Inflame the ac-
count of his cruelties, as his domeflic tragedies. Tyrant as he was,
with all this blood upon his head, he was not yet thirty years old
in the year one thoufand feven hundred and fixty-five, when
Niebuhr was at Karack ; but this monfter was afterwards obliged
to fly from Bender-Regh to Bafra, on account of his cruelties, where
his head was cut off by the Mutafillim, and fent to Bagdat
Mr, Dalrymple has publifhed a plan of both thefe iflands from a
French manufcript, taken In the year one thoufand feven hundred
and eighty-feven.

From Rhogonis, the next day’s courfe was twenty-five miles to
Brizana, a winter torrent, where It was difficult to find anchorage,
on account of the breakers, ffioals, and furf upon the coaft. Thefe,
however, were furmounted upon the tide of flood, but upon the
ebb the vefTels were all left dry. If, therefore, we ffiould be curious
to Inveftigate the queftlon here, what might be the draft of a Greek
pentecohterus, or velTel of fifty oars, there are fome data for deter-
mining It, for the flood rifes in the upper part of the gulph nine or
ten feet; and if this rife carried them over the breakers, we can hardly
allow the largeft veflTel in the fleet to have drawn more than from
fix to eight feet water.

At Brizana I anticipate the objeftlons which will be made to my
fixing the Brifoana of Ptolemy at Kierazin, which, from its fimi-
larlty of name to the Brizana of Arrian, demands a pofition here ;
and one part of the objedlon will be very ftrong, for neither Pto-

Niebuhr, vob ii. Voyage. French They could not draw more, but might

edition of Amfterdam, p. i6i. note; pro- draw lefs, and that I believe is the truth,
bably about 1770.

lemy.

Brizana
River.
February 4.
Hundred and
twenty-fixth
day.

374

GULP!! OF PERSIA*

lemy, nor Marcian his copyift, take any notice of a Bnzana here,
but have only one name bearing a refemblance to it, and that not in
this place. Before I attempt an anfwer, I muft premife that I built
nothing on the fimilarlty of found, which I derived from Kefareen^
and I will now ftate the queftion on both fides as fairly as circum-
ftances permit.

If the Brifoana of Ptolemy is to be the Brizana of Arrian, Pto-
lemy has mifplaced it, and not Arrian ; a kind of tranfpofition
which I have before fufpedied on the coaft of the Icthyophagl; and
the reafon w^hy a preference is to be given to Arrian is felf-evident,
becaufe a journal kept, and a courfe defcribed from day to day, is
much lels liable to error than the account of a geographer refiding at
Alexandria, and reducing the relations which he received from
wnitten journals, or the oral information of navigators : but I do not
think this tranfpofition took place ; for if d’Anville be miftaken in
placing Ptolemy’s Taoke at Cape Banc, though even that is hardly
credible ; neither he nor I can be miftaken in his Cherfonefe, for
that is the very term ufed by Arrian, and there is but one Cherfonefe
on the coaft, w^hich is at Bulheer : and I now fay that, on the
authority of Ptolemy himfelf, his Brifoana fucceeds Bulheer, or the
Cherfonefe, and not the Cherfonefe, Brifoana. His order ftands
thus :

Taoke, - Cape Banc.

Rhogomanis, - Bender-Regh«

Cherlbnefus Prom. Bullreer.

’ lonaca, » ,

Brifoana, - which ought to be Klerazin.

‘file latitudes, it is true, do not anfwer, but they are remarkably
corrupt in this feries, for the mouth of the Bragada, the laft name

P E R S I

37S

on his lift, Is In 21° 54, and the fource In 35° 15'. What flream
can there be In the Kermefir, the fource of which is fourteen degrees
from the mouth ? I rely, therefore, on the order,, and not on the
latitude; and in this I am juftified byMarcian, for he meafures from
Taoke to Rhogomanla, from Rhogomania to the Cherfonefe, from
the Cherfonefe to Brifoana, fix hundred and fifty ftadia. Another
cTrcumftance confirms this ; for the Brizana of Arrian lies between
the Arofis and Rhogonis, and Marclan, in the fpace between.' Taoke
and Rhogomania, mentions the ifland Sophath, the Sophtha of Pto-
lemy, which ifland is Karack ; this therefore muft prove, that the
Rhogonis of Arrian and Rhogomanis of Ptolemy are the fame; and
if we are right as far as Rhogonis, w^e are hardly wrong in the re-
mainder of the ferles. Thefe are the reafons w^hich induce me flill
to place Brifoana at Klerazln or Hieratls ; and if I err, It is
from, rriy defire to make Ptolemy confiftent with himfelf..

In fettling, the extent of this day’s courfe by the journaF, I fliould’
be happy to find a nearel* correfpondence than I do ; Arrian calls it
twenty-five miles, but the diftance to Bender Delem, where d’Anville
places Brizana, is upwards of thirty-five miles, and the diftance to
the Gunowah of our Engllfh charts is not twenty ^^%>fo that one la
In excefs, and the other too ftiort to determine this pofitlon with cer-
tainty. Two rivers evidently fall into the gulph, one to the fouth
and one to the north of Cape Banc, the Taoke of Ptolemy. That
on the fouth d’Anville is furprifed to find written Guenara ; What,
would he think of our Engiilh Gunowah ? And yet this is a cor-
ruption more to the fight than the ear ;. for Guenow^a is Gennaba,
with the w for the Perfian b or v, and the open found of the vowels

D’Anville has not difcufled this point, but he afligns Brifoana to Kierazin..

Not fifteen in d’ Anville’s map.

produced"

G U L IMI OF P E R S I A.

37^

produced the infertion of R in Giicnara, in whatever chart it ap-
peared. Gennaba makes a confpicuous appearance in Al-Edrlfi,
Cheref-eddin, and Alfragani ; I fhould prefer it therefore, it
other circumflances agreed, to Bender Delem ; and as there is no
diflance given for the next day’s courfe, we may be the more at
liberty to place Brizana either at the one or the other. There is a
fecond confideration of more w^eight, which is, that our charts are
lefs to be depended upon on this part of the coaft than the lower ;
for as veffels now always go from Karack to Bafra, and always did
go either from this ifland, Buiheer, or Bender-Regh, they have
rarely touched upon the tradl; now before us, and, unlefs the wind is
foul, do not make it. This is noticed by M^Cluer and he adds,
in a letter to Mr. Dalrymple, that he found it neceflary to fliorten
the diftance between Karack and Bafra Bar, ten miles. I mention
this as a ground of uncertainty in refpedt to this coaft : but M^Cluer
allures us, that Bender Delem is ftill a place of refort for the country
veffels, which favours d’Anville’s opinion ; and though M^Cluer
does not place it upon the river north of Cape Banc, ftill that river
muft be the Brizana of Arrian, though we cannot reconcile the
diftance. The beft proof of this is, the pofition of Taoke*®^ by
Ptolemy, for he ends the province of Sufiana with Oroatls, the
Arofis of Arrian ; and Ee commences Perfis with this promontory,
which, though not prominent, is the firft charadterlftic feature on the
^ eoaft : this is the Cape Banc of Niebuhr, the Bang of our Englifh
charts ; and though Ptolemy omits both the rivers Delem and Gue-
nowa, which fall in on different fides of it, a circumftance not ufual,

Memoir, p, 31. The route in AI-Edrifi is Kazerun,

486 pj-gface, p. 16. Rozaic, Taug, Gennaba, p. 125.

ftill

P E R S I S.

377

illll his Rhogomanis and Clierfonefe following, leave no doubt upon
the propriety of fixing his Taoke at this cape, as there is no other
till we come to Bufheer ; and as we have not in any account, ancient

or modern, notice of any Ration between Delem and the Arofis, there
can be little hefitation in affigning this for the Brizana of Arrian.

Mr. d’AnvIlle fuppofes Bender Delem to be at the mouth of
the river, which its name implies, but our Englifli charts carry
it feventeen miles to the northward of it : and that Bender Delem
is an objed: in the navigation of the gulph, I conclude from
Thevenot, who,, failing in a country fhip from Bender-Regh to
Bafra, undoubtedly purfued the fame courfe as that by which Ma«
zenes carried Nearchus ; but as Thevenot notices Bender Delem
while he paffes Gennaba or Guenowah, in filence ; the former
is to be preferred for Arrian’s Brizana, however the diflance may
fail. The river called Guenowah in our charts is fuppofed by
d’Anville to be the Ab-Chirin''^’^ of Cheref-eddin ; and fuch, by
the march of Timour, it appears ; but the names of all thefe rivers
are loft to Europeans, becaufe our navigators name them all from
the town they are near, in the fame manner as Gunowah receives its
title from Gennaba. It is in this refpedl that the geography of
Cheref-eddin is valuable ; for whatsoever river is pafled in the route
of the army may be depended upon at the point where It is pafted,
however he may be miftaken in the report of its courfe above or

Giannaba of Al-Edrifi.

Sciniz of Al-Edrifi, 17.^ » A mari
non mnitum dilTita.

In the word Ab-Chirin there is fomething
to call in quelHon all our rcafoning on this
point ; for if Brizana is a corruption of
Ab-Chirln, by dropping the a, as in Bufheer,
Bufheab, &c ; and if Ab-Chirin be really the
river of Gennaba, or Guenowah, then this
anchorage mull: be fouth of Cape Banc, and
«iOt north ; that Brizana is a refenrblnnce of

.3 c

Ab Chirin, the river Chlrin, T think for this
reafon : Chirin would be written Dsjirin in
Perfic, and the dsj palles generally into z ;
by tranfpofition we Ibould then find Zirin or
Rizin, and from the latter Ab-Rizin ; from
this again, Brizina or Brizana. i do not dare
to infill upon this ; but if the courfe of the
Ab-Chirin lliould hereafter be fixed, I fhould
certainly alTume Brizana as its reprefentative.
Vol, ii. p, 185,

below;

Ar-osis
River.
February 5.
Hundred and
twenty-
feventh day.

below ; and this circumftance makes his work preferable to that of
Al-Edrifi, who gives the towns on the route, but ufually negledls
the rivers. If rivers are the veins of the earth, they are the finews
of geography. I leave this ftation unwillingly without fatisfadory
elucidation ; but, all circumftances confidered, I at prefent fubfcribe
to d’Anville’s fettlement of it at the river Delem.

From Brizana, the next day’s courfe is to the Arofis, a river fuffi«
ciently confpicuous, as being the boundary between Sufiana and
Perfis ; a privilege it maintains in modern geography as well
as ancient ; and Arrian adds, that it was the largeft of all the rivers
which Nearchus had yet met with in the Gulph of Perfia. It is
called the Endian in our modern charts, from a town at no great
diftance from its mouth; and Ab-Argoiin by Cheref-eddin; out of the
component parts of which, Ar-ofis preferves but a fingle fyllable, and
that perhaps not legitimately,: for Ab-Argoiin is as I fufped, Ab~
Ragoun, the river of Ragoun or Ragian, a town of confiderable
Importance on this ftream, near five-and-thirty miles from the fesa
In its lower part it is called Tab""^^ by the Oriental vmters, who
always fpeak of it as a ftream of confequence, and Ab in this
word is apparently the river, pre-eminently above others on the
coaft. Endian is a village, or rather a knot of villages, fifteen or
fixteen miles from the fea, from whence this ftream derives the
name by which it is known to the Europeans. ’ The courfe and na-
ture of the Arofis will be confidered hereafter, with the other'
rivers of Sufiana, when we come to treat of that province ; at pre-
fent our concern, is vath the coaft, and as no diftance is given from.

Araghian. D’Anville. On the Tab*
there is a bridge a bovv-lbot from the town,
AI-Edrili. Ragian terminat Fares et, Ghu-
feftan eftque urbs pulchra, p. 123.

The Tab receiv^es feveral rivers out of
Khourjilan. Otter, vol. ii, p. 49, Who
adds> tliat the province is very hot, but<

abounds in dates, grain, fruits^ itigar, &c.

Ex parte meridionali Chureftan fuit^
amnis 'Fab, dividens ipfam Chureftan a Fares,
et omnes aquas Chureftan in unum confiuenteS'
e-xonerant fefe in mare prope urbem Mahruian,
non procul ab arce Mohdi.Geog. Nub. p. 123^

Brizana.

:379

E R S I S.

Brizana'to the Arofis, and one much too fliort from Rhogonis to
Brizana, an obfcurity refts upon this part of the courfe, which is
not fufficiently elucidated by our modern charts. It is however ne-
ceffary, as we are arrlyed at the 'termination of the province, to
confider the total of Arrian’s ftadia, and examine how far they
agree with, or differ from, the adual extent of the coaft. The
numbers, fuch as we have them in the journal, ftand thus:

From the Cefitre o/'Kataia, or Keish

Ancient Name.

Modern Name*

Stadia.

Miles

Englifh.

Stadia

allowed.

Miles En^
allowed

To Ih or Kaikandros,

Indcrabia,

400

To an ifland

Schitwar,

—

320

To the main

To Ochus

Darabin,

....

To Apoflani,

A (ban. Shevoo ?

450

To a bay,

Nabon River,

400

To Gogana,

Kenkun,

600

37I

To Sitakus,

Kenn,

800

To Hieratis,

Kierazin,

750

46i

To Mefambria

Bufheer,

...

400

To Taoke,

Nuchlat,

200

12I:

To Rhogonis,

Bender-Regh,

200

121

To Brizana

Deism,

400

To the Arofis

Endian,

—

800

4240

2641

1560

97I

Stadia allowed,

1560

Total of ftadia,

5800

Miles allowed.

—

9li

Total of miles,

—

3621

Diftance by the chart.

^55 Prom the point of Schitwar {ax^ri) to
the eadern fide of the Darabin.

From the eaftern fide of the mouth of
the Darabin to the vveftern.

Allowed from the eaflern fide of
Kouflier, but dubious.

198 Brizana is Delem, this day^s courfe
is too fhort by ten miles, compenfating for
half the difference on the coaft of Eerfis,

between Arrian and the charts.

The diftance allowed is taken from the
charts between the Endian and Delem, and is
one reafon for fuppofing Brizana to be at De-
lem ; for if it is to be referred to Gunowah,
it meafures eleven hundred ftadia, — a day’s
courfe never occurring in the gulph, or in any
part of the voyage -except on the coaft of the
l^lhyophagi, in cafes of extreme diftrefs.

From

'ic 2

From this table we are firft to obferve, that 362^ miles Engllilr
amount to 5800 ftadia within a quarter of a mile, and yet, with^
the allowance made from the meafure given by the EnglKh chartsv
I am not enabled to bring the total up to the adual extent of the
coaft ; for the mere opening of the compaffes gives five degrees and
an half, equal to 382 miles Engliih, fo that there is ftlll a deficiency
of twenty miles, without allowing for the coiirfe of the fleet. The
total of Arrian Is 4400 fladia, difagreeing, as ufual, with his par-
ticulars ; neither can his omiffions be compenfated by 160 fiadia
for the omiffions taken from the chart, and reduced into ftadia,
amount to 1560. Thefe I have meafured carefully, but precifion
is unattainable ; and though fome advantages may be taken in. mea-
furing Angle intervals, in order to obtain a nearer correfpondence, I
fhall not force it upon the total, but truft to^ the indulgence of the
reader; hoping that twenty miles upon the 382 will be deemed a
minute error, in comparifon of thofe we ufually meet with in
ancient geography, Strabo accords with Arrian, or at the utmoft
vfithin 100 fladia; but Pliny makes the coafl 550 miles, an excefs
which caufes this Angle province to tranfcend the meafure of the
whol'e gulph. I fhail do a pleafure to thofe who have not feen.
d’Anville’s Memoir, in producing here a fpecimen of that geo-
grapher’s penetration.- Doubtlefs, (he fays^°^) Pliny drew, from^
the fame fource as Arrian and Strabo, for he read 4400 fladia,,
and then converting thefe Into Roman miles of eight fladia, the^
divifor produced exactly 550 miles, as it flands In his text.” If

Filny had calculated the omiffions, and found the whole amounting

3®® Strabo, p. 727. There is an error in dred and twenty-five miles. According tOr
the reading, but it feems to indicate four thou- d’Anville’s method,, he muft have read nine
ftnd four hundred or four thoulhnd three hun- thoufand ftadia, equal to five hundred andr
dred ftadia. fixty-tvvo miles, in reality.

He makes the whole gulpk eleven hun- Lib. vi, c, 25,,

P E R S I S.

3e'X-

to 5800 ftadia, as I have proved they do^ his produce miift have
been 725 miles ; an enormity equal to his meafure of the Indus.

In regard to the rivers of this province, I cannot pronounce any
thing certain on their courfe inland. I truft to every traveller for
the ftream he paffes in his route, but there are great difficulties la
giving them the courfe found in their works, and which they muft
ufually derive from the information of the natives. The nature of
the country will naturally produce temporary torrents from every
valley between the mountains ; but how thefe are afterwards com-
bined, and under,what name they reach the fea, muft be dubious^,
till travelling ffiall be more fafe and frequent than, it is at prefenh
Of the Darabin and Nabon rivers we know nothing but their
mouths. The Sitakus feems well arranged by d’Anville, as the
ftream that comes from Giauar, and collefts all the torrents in the
dlftriil ; but the Kierazin is fubjedt to all the difficulties which have
been already ftated.

The Boffiavir of Thevenot is elucidated with great attention in
his route, but it falls- into the fea juft to the north of Buffieer, as
d’Anville gives it. I ftill fufpedt it Is joined by the river from
Gra, and becomes the Granis of Arrian: it is by Thevenot’s ac-
count no ordinary ftream. The Ab«Chirin of d’Anville, which he
brings in at the Guenowa of our charts, Is not, as far as I can.
judge, corredt ; It feems to be the ftream of Delem, the Brizana of
Arriaru Of the Arofis more hereafter. Almoft all thefe ftreams,
Arrian calls Winter Torrents; and, fo far as they all rife from the.
range of mountains Inland, fuch they are : but the rains fail in this
range, as far as can be collefled from the variety of materials before’
me, in April, May, and the early part of June; there is llttlirain in

See Niebuhr’s map, vol. ii. Amft. edit, another name for BuHieer, the Bujheer Rin^er^
Where, however, this jundion is not verified. ,,

Ifometimes rafped that the Bofehavir is. only

the

382

GULPH OF PERSIA.

the Kermefir, or hot country next the fea, and fome years none at
all. Thefe circumftances feem to give a common charafteriftic
to all thefe rivers, and to qualify them with the name of Winter
Torrents, though their, rife is in fpring, and confequently Nearchus,
who was upon the coaft in February before the rife commences^
fpeaks agreeably to the nature of the country, when he mentions
fome of them as too low and fliallow to float even a Greek veffel in
that feafon.

Nearchus has preferved likewife moft admirably the general fea-
tures of the province, which he divides into three parts; that
divifion which lies along the fide of the gulph, he fays, is fandy,
parched, and fterile bearing little elfe but palm-trees, which cor-
refponds exaflly with the Kermefir, and the accounts of all our
modern travellers ; but as you advance to the north or north-eaft,
and pafs the range of mountains, you find a country enjoying an
excellent temperature of air and pleafant feafons, where the herbage
is abundant, and the meadows well watered, where the vine flou-
rilhes, and every kind of fruit except the , olive Here the
kings and nobles have their parks and gardens ; the ftreams are
pure and limpid, ilTuing into lakes which are ftored with aquatic
fowls, of all the different fpecies. The pafture is excellent for
horfes and domeffic cattle, while the woods fupply an ample variety
both for the fupport of man and for the chace. Such is the pi<ff;ure
fet before us, and fuch ever was this country while it was under the

The fame diviiion is made by Strabo and Even in the prefent decline, the coun»

Dionyfius Perieg. try is fo beautiful, that Francklin, after palling

Strabo, p. 727. the lafl afcent, and obtaining a view of this

307 Xhis Minute circumftance, noticed by part of the province, burfts out into a vein of
Arrian, is mentioned alfo by Le Bruyn. poetry, the effedl of his fudden tranlition from

Sheib Bewan, rivulet Bevvan, near the parched level of Kermefir, and the rude-
Noubendgian, is one of the four Eaflern para- nefs of the mountains,
difes. D’Anville, p. 176,

protedlon

P E R s r s.

3^3

protedllon of a regular government. The lakes alluded to are doubt-
lefs the Lake Baktegian and a fmaller one near Scbiraz ; and the
ftreams which terminate in thefe, and never find their way to the
fea, are as evidently the pure and brilliant waters he defcribes with
the fame luxuriant fancy a poet of Schiraz^*® might have painted them
at the happieft period of the empire. But how is this pidlure now
reverfed! War and tyranny has fpread defolation all around : It Is
not the deftruftion of Perfepolls we lament over in furveying
the ruins of Chelminar, or Eftakar, while we accufe either the
ebriety or infolence of a conqueror; it is not the tomb of Cyrus at
Pafagardse plundered and overthrown by an avarice natural to foldlers.
in the hour of vidory, or natives in defpair ; but it is the fate of a
province we deplore, which once furnifhed the braveft troops of Afia,.
which abounded in every gift that agriculture and induftry could
produce, which rofe above the barbarifm of the Eaft, and was cele-
brated for its poets, Its philofophers, Its beauteous race of women,,
its men, as comely in their perfons, as polite^'"" and elegant in their
manners ; its merchants, who trafficked to the extremities of the Eaft;.
and its fuperior culture of the vine, the only excellence which defpot-
ifin has not annihilated. At the prefent moment, the villages have
ceafed, and there are no travellers in the highways. The capital Is
in the poffeffion of a Kurd a robber both by birth and profeffion;.

Schlraz is famous for the beft Perfian

poets.

Arrian, p. 131, fays, that Alexander
burnt it in revenge for the burning of the
Greek temples : but it is hardly a better caufe
fbr turning incendiary than the fuggeftion of a
courtezan. Strabo fays nothing of Thais, but
accords with Arrian, p. 730.

3^*^ At the prefent hour I cannot find that,
comparifon with other Afiatics, the Perfjans
have declined from this pre-eminence, except
that they are accufed of fraud and diffimula-

tion. Two vices, the natural produce of
derpotifm> and polite manners in a date of de-
cadence.

Kerim Khan, in Niebuhr’s time, in the.
year one thoufand feven hundred and fixty-
five. Francklin defcribes Kerim Khan as a
benefa6tor to Perfia, and in a better light,
than Niebuhr; but Francklin was at Schiraz
in the year one thoufand feven hundred,
and eighty feven, after the death of Kerim,
and the tyranny of his fucceffors made him
regretted..

and:

3^4

GULPH OF PERSIA,

and of the diftradion confequent upon the death of Nadir Shah
there feems to be no end.

There is ftill a third divifion of Perfis towards the north, com- ^
prehending the mountainous country, which is wild, rugged, and
inhabited by barbarous tribes, where the air is cold, and the fum-
mits covered with fnow The barbarians are the ancient Uxii,
or modern Afciacs; and the range called Louriftan divides Perfis from
what the ancient hiftorians in a large fenfe called Media. Ifphahan,
the modern capital of the empire, is juft to the north of this chain,
and not in Perils. Thefe mountains extend equally on the north of
Sufiana^‘\ and fend down thofe ftreams which pafs through that
province either into the Tigris or the Gulph of Perfia ; while the
more eaftern part furnillies the torrents which water Perfis, and all
fink into lakes, or are exhaufted by derivations for the purpofes of
agriculture. One of the largeft of thefe ftreams, called Bend-
Emir flows near Perfepolis, and correfponds with the river
pafled^*^ by Alexander in his approach to that city, when he came
from Sufiana, as the fort Kalaa Sefid, taken by Timour, anfwers to
the fortrefs where Alexander defeated Ariobarzanes in his ap-
proach to that river. Arrian, in his third book, has unfortunately
confounded Perfepolis with Pafagard^^^° 5 but the former was the

Kv^Tiof ^ Strabo, p.y 29*

nu^a-irufcyii/o^ , P. 73^'

2*5 Strabo has fometimes confounded Suh-
ana with Perfis, as p. 727 ; but he diliinguiflies,
p. 728.

2*® The Araxes of Strabo, p. 729; but he
errs ftrangely about the courfe of it. See
d’Anville’s Memoir.

2*7 Thevenot fays the fame, part ii. p. 123.
Tavernier, vol. i. p. 726.

See Arrian, p. 130. Cheref-eddin,
7ol. ii, p. 18^, Alexander feems to have

marched more to the north than Timour, in
order to attack the Uxri, Afciacs.

The archives, and a great part of the
treafure, were kept at Perfepolis, Strabo,
p. 730 9 and fo it appears, from Alexander’s
hade to reach it before the treafury diould be
plundered, or conveyed away. Arr, lib. iii.

2’'° The error is natural, for Parfa gardes is
Perfe-polis, literally tranilated. The Ptrfe-
polis fixed at Eflakar is determined by Alex-
ander’s march.

xelidence

SUSIS, or SUSIANA. 3S5

refidence of the Perfiaii monarchs, and' the latter apparently their
place of buriah It is near fixty miles diftant from Perfepolis, In the
trad called Koile-Perfis [Perfis between the mountains] by Strabo,
which ought to produce other torrents and another lake^^* for their
reception, by the nature of the country; and fuch may poffibly be
found if we obtain a better knowledge of the interior. This town
is fuppofed ftill to exift under the name of Phala, or Phafa-gerd,
which Gollus interprets the city of the north-eaft, becaufe it is
cooled by the refreflaing gales from that quarter, which is implied in
Phafa.

SUSIS, or SUSIANA.

-.To delineate the province and rivers of Sufiana is a taflc of no
ordinary difficulty. The ancient geographers are at variance, and
the moderns do not appear to have obtained a fufficieiit knov/ledge
of its prefent ftate, to corred the errors, or reconcile the contra-
didions of their predeceiTors : in regard to the interior, the following
difcuffion muft labour under fimilar obfcurity, but our knowledge of
the coaft has been much enlarged fmce the publication of Mr. d’An-
ville’s Memoir ; and if for this reafon I am enabled to corred his
mlflakes, and to explain difficulties for which he had no clue, I
ffiall be thought lefs adventurous in combating Cellarius and Sal-
mafius, who have inveloped the queftion in erudition, and negleded
modern authority altogether.

The fad is, however, that the ancient geographers cannot be un-
derftood or reconciled, without reference to the adual ftate of the

3^* T'here is fomethlng like this in d’An- which was changed Into Cyrus p. 729. This
vllle’s maps, Afie premiere partie, Sec. Strabo is noted by d’Anville, and refuted,
xneiiiions an Agradatus, or A.gradates, here,

3 D country;

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

country j for they have applied difl’erent names to the fame rivers^
and the fame name to different rivers; and the fame writer has
varied his appellations as often as he has copied different authorities.^
Of this I fhall produce proof in regard to Arrian himfelf ; and
though I might have reduced what is neceffary for elucidating the
paffage of Nearchus into a lefs compafs, I truft that the length of
the following difcuflion will be acceptable to fuch as think the recon-
ciliation of claffical geography an objedt of importance.

After the whole bufmefs was completed, I was informed by
Major Rennell that he had been long engaged in difentangling the
fame intricacies, and treading the fame ground; a caufe of no fmall
apprehenfion to me, if his conclufions fhould appear upon publi-
cation to differ from mine ; of no fmall gratification, if they fhould
be found to coincide. I fhall at leafl have a generous adverfary to
encounter; and as I have no prediledlion for any fyftem, I can,
upon better information, retrafl; as freely as I have afferted. Truth
alone ought to be the objefl; of refearch; and thofe, who are not
fo fortunate as to attain it, ought to fubfcribe to thofe who
do.

Sufiana is fometimes regarded as a diftrld of Perfis, and fome-
times enumerated as a diftind: province. We can hardly trace a
time in which it had an Independent fovereign of its own, unlefs it
be in the mythology of the Greeks ; and nature feems to have
eonneded it with Perfis, by a variety of local circumftances, as

I fabfcribe to the fentiment of the mo- ne pas defendre fes opinions avec opiniatrete.
deft and ingenious Niebuhr : Niebuhr, tom. i. p. 85. Arabic edit. Am-

11 n’y a point de defcription de voyage fans Herd,
defaut, n'y aucun voyageur exempt de tout 2^3 accounts, Memnon, fon of

prejuge, ainft le parti le plus fage c’eft de Tithonus, was the founder of Sufa.

1 3 mueli

SUSIS, or SUSIANA* 387

much as by vicinity. It is feparated on the north from Media by a

range of mountains common alfo to Perfis, of which the general

appellation is Louriftan ; poffefled in all ages by independent tribes,

which were confined within their own limits, when the government

was ftrong; and, when it was weak, returned with increafed avidity to

a life of rapine. So far as can be colleded from the tranfadions of

Alexander, the Uxii and Parataceni were upon the fouthern face of

thefe mountains ; the Coffsei and Elymaitas on the north; the Uxii

lie, on the left, between Sufa and the Arofis ; the Parataceni, on a part

where the mountains have a much greater breadth, on the north of

Perfis. This range, where it rifes on the weft, approaches, but

does not touch the Tigris. In this interval, Mr. d’Anville brings

down the GunedhI, which Is the Gy tides of Herodotus fo much

humiliated by Cyrus, and which he conduds into the Tigris juft

above its jundion with the Euphrates at Gorno. The rivers or

canals of Sufiana are conneded with this ftream, and in this fenfe
it forms the boundary of the province on the Tigris ; but as foon
as the mountains rife, they run In one uninterrupted chain, cover-
ing not only Sufiana and Perfis, but extending much farther to-
wards the eaft. This chain fends down all the numerous ftreams
which water the fertile plains below ; and there is an error common
to Strabo, Al-Edrifi, and Cheref-eddin, that all thefe rivers join the
Eul^us, and communicate, by means of that jundion, with the
Tigris. This opinion, however, is in one fenfe true ; for all the

Elymlotse, the Elam of the Scriptures. Gyndes to Opis ; there are fuppofed to be two
Uxii, Afciacs. Parataceni, Badiari, Koffiei, cities of this name, but neither anfwers. In
Kidiij Co/s'f. his fifth book, p. 397. where he gives the pod-

3^5 Otter, coming down from Bagdat, marks road from Sardis to Sufa, and where he Teems
them at adiftance, where they firft begin to to fay there are four Statlimi from Opis to
£hew themfelves between A mara and Gorno. KifTia, [the mountains of Sufis,] it Teems to

2^'^ fierodolus, in his hrfl: book, brings the agree with Gorno, or Tome place near it,

3D 2 rivers

38S

OULPH OF PERSIA,

rivers are united inland by canals, and the policy of the govern^
ment in all ages, while there was a government, appears to have
paid as much attention to this objed, and to agriculture, as Egypt
itfelf. The fad admits of proof under the later dynafties, and the
journal of Nearchus will furnifh fome evidence of its antiquity. It
is not unreafonable to fuppofe, that this communication was ex-
tended to the Arofis alfo, and by that flream to Perfis ; and if this
were true, the intercourfe between Perfis and Mefopotamia, by an
inland courfe, was complete.

The A R O S I S.

The Arofis, which is the Oroatis of Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy,
and which Cellarius fuppofes to be properly the Arois, Ares or
Araxis is the boundary between Perfis and Sufiana ; its modern
names are almoft as numerous. T’Ab, or the river, is the title it
takes by way of pre-eminence among the Pcrfians, for it is the largeft
river of the province, a circumftance peculiarly noticed by
Nearchus. It is ftyled Ab-Ar-goun by the hiftorian of Tiinour ;
whether from a town of that name upon the higher part of its courfe,
or whether by corruption from Rhegian fometimes written Ar-
Rhegian, I cannot trace : and Endian is the name it bears in our

Who Ihall give us the etymology of
rivers? Bruce found a Skelti, and an Arvon,
or Avon, in Abyffinia. Aar is a river in
France, Arno in Italy. What language fhall
be found that (hall furnifh names common to
Abyffinia, Media, Italy, France, England,
and Scotland ? I have an obfcure realon for
thinking that Ar, or Aar, ufually denotes
confluence.

Araxis is a name common to a variety
of rivers in difi'erent provinces of the Eafl.
The Armenian Aras, which falls into the

Cyrus, and fo into the Cafpian Sea, is the molt
celebrated. This is the fontem indignatus
Araxis,

oa-ot U Tci> l^u) 'zuovTov is the CX-

preflion of Arrian, not very accurate.

y\,goun I find as the proper name of a
man. Otter, vol. i. p. 189. Ergoun, Ton of
Ibka, fortified KafviD ; but it mufl; be ob-
ferved that the termination ain pafles into ou7i ;
for Otter writes Kiefirain for Kaferoun, and
thus Arreghian may become Argoun.

Niebuhr writes it Hindiaa.

modem

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A. 389

modern charts, from a town upon its banks, a few miles diftant
from the fea.

This river is formed from a variety of fources, which fpring out
of the mountains of Louriftan ; and as the chain is of greater breadth
in that part of its range, the river feems to be large in proportion,
Alexander and Timour, in their march from Sufa to Perfis, both
inclined to the mountains, in order to attack the Uxii, or Afciacs,
who lie in that dired:ion ; and they both pafled the fources of this
ftream, at a confiderable diftance from the fea. In the march of
Timour, I can difcover feveral fources on the weft of this river,
which the commentator upon Cheref-eddin carries into the Eu-
Iseus but which, I agree wdth d’Anville, ought to be carried Into
the Arofis. Alexander and Timour both proceeded acrofs this
river, to attack a fortrefs in the mountains, which formed the
northern frontier of Perfis, and which is called Calaa-fefid by
Cheref-eddin. This fortrefs correfponds with the poft Ariobarzanes^^^
defended againft Alexander; but at the fame time Alexander marched
through the mountains on the north, he detached Parmenio, with the
grofs of the army, by the ordinary^^^ road to Perfis. This is the road
which continues to this day, if there be any road, which Al-Edrifi
defcribes as cutting the Arofis at Ragian, about thirty miles from its
mouth, and where, he fays, there is a bridge called Baccar, at a
bowfhot’s^^^ diftance from the town. Pie gives a variety of routes

Timour at Kerdidan, 70 miles from
the mouth, according to d^Anville. See Che-
ref-eddin, vol. ii. p. 185.

Cheref-eddin calls the river of Sufa,
Ab-Zal ; in which d’Anville fays he is mif-
taken.

Calla-al-Sefid, the canal or cut of Sefid ;

alluding to the dyke upon the Bend-Emir.
Otter, vol. ii 5^1.

Ue Bruyn mentions a tradition of this
fiege dill exiffing among the natives.

Kara r^v a^^a^irov rr,v Ic (pe^aaava

Arr. lib, iii. p. 1 30.

337 Nub. Geog. p. I 26,

through

GULPH OF PERSIA.

39^

through Perfis^ all verging to this point ; and, from the fize of the
llream, here probably was the firft place v/liere it would admit of a
bridge.

The mountains which give birth to the Arofis do not approach
the fea, nearer than the neighbourhood of Rhegian ; but feem to
leave a low country on the coaft, correfponding with the Kermefir
on the gulph. This muft have always left Sufiana open to the Per-
fians, and have been the means of keeping it in dependence, as was Its
conftant ftate; but on the north the range fweeps round till it unites
with that chain which forms the back ground of the Kermefir, and
this chain, according to d’Anville, no river paffes. The fources,
therefore, which Alexander and Timour found in the neighbour-
hood of Calaa-fefid, all contribute to form, not the 'Arofis, but the
5end-Emir, or Noble River, which paffes on in the vicinity of
Schiraz and Perfepolis till it Is loft In the lake Baghteghian, or ex-
haufted in adorning and fertilifing the beautiful country of Koile-
Perfis^^^ We have now the Arofis dlftlndl, according to d’Anville,
and I have found nothing in ancient or modern hlftory to contra-^
didt his fyftem ; nor do I think that any future dlfcovery wall inva-
lidate it, farther than perhaps to find a different iffue for fome of
his minuter fources. This Arofis is the eaftern boundary of Su-
fiana, where Nearchus is now anchored; and deferring the interme-
diate ftreams for the prefent, I fhall proceed to confider the Eu-
phrates and the Tigris united in the Schat-el-Arab, which forms the
wejlern limit*

Coele-Perfis, like Ccele- Syria, Perfis between the mountains.

SCHAT^

• t

S U S I S, or S U S' I A N A,.

SCHAT^EL-ARAB, or MOUTH of the EUPHRATES and TIGRIS united.

The Euphrates and the Tigris both preferve to this day, among
the natives,- the fame appellation affigned to them by Mofes in
the book of Genefis, for he ftyles the one Hu-Pherat, or Pherat,*
and the other Hid-Dekhel two names which are ftill preferved-
In the country with no greater variation than Ph’rat and Deghel, or
Dejel. Thefe two rivers, like the Ganges and Burrhampooter,^ rife
at no great diftance from^ each other in Armenia ; and, after fepa-
rating to embrace the great trail: called Mefopotamia, unite again^.
like thofe two ftreams, at Gorno or Khorna, about an hundred and
thirty miles diftant from the Gulph of Perfia. D’Anville haS'
ftrangely curtailed this diftance; for in his map of Afia he makeS’

Gen, li. 14. Pherat is ufed frequently
In Scripture with the pronoun,- as

T :

Hu-Pherat, ^rhe- Pherat, or that Pherat, by
way of pre-eminence ; and is derived by the
commentators from mD ta produce fruit i orr
account of its fertilifng the country by canals,-
&c. from and to biirft or fpread^ bc-

caufe it o^-erfows its banks, and from

to divide y becaufe it fsparates or
bounds the defert. The Greeks, as Hoffman
juffly fays, more fuo, derive Euphrates from

Hid-Dehkel Is written Eid-

Dekhel, and by the Samaritan MS.

Hid-Dekhel, as we are informed, from “qp{
to dart forth y “in to pe~

netrate ; with the addition of which im-

plies fwift motion ; a fenfe agreeable to the
opinion of the Greeks, who interpret the
Tigris, fometimes fwifty and fometimes an
arro^{}. It is remarkable that the pronoun
llu Ihould preferve itfelf in the Greek Eu-
phrates, which it certainly does, unlefs £u is

from Ab, Av, Au, <water or rinjcr', and that
none of the authorities Ihould fuffer us to
write Hi-Dekhel, fo as to fearch for a primi-
tive of Dekhel rather than Khalal. [See Bo-
chart. Phaleg. 1 1 9. Dikla, urbs palmarumy
Chald. Deut. xxxiv. 3. Qascre annon Mefo-
potamia regio Palmarum? Dekhel is affuredly
the Deghel of the Arabs, the Diglath of Jo-
fephus, and Diglito of Pliny ; and from De-
gel (according to Bochart) the Greeks made
Deger, Teger, and Tigris.] An idea oc-
curred to my own mind, that as Hu expreffed
the maky and Pli the femaky Kb*!

ilia,) there might have been fome alluffon to
the confluence, or the marriage of the rivers,
or that Deghel was marked by the feminine
pronoun, as Pherat is by the mafculine ; but
I am forced to abandon this faggcftion by
authority that I ought not to difpute.

Trom the mouth to Baffora 100 miles,

to Khorna 75

US'-

Ives, p, 227,.

it.

GULPH OF PERSIA.

392

it lefs than feventy miles, and in his two latter maps has extended
it to fomething lefs than an hundred : but M‘Cluer can hardly be
miftaken in making it feventy up to Bafra only ; for he navigated
this channel more than once, and has given direftions for the courfe
up to that city. Khorna fignifies an horn in Arabic, evidently -
marking its connexion with the Greek, Latin, and Engliih; and
here the river divides upwards in that form. From Khorna, down
to the divifion of the flream again which embraces the Delta, is the_
part properly called the Schat-el-Arab, or river of the Arabs. From
that divifion downwards, the weftern, or diredt channel, ftill navi-
gated by European vefleis, is called Coffifa-Bony, or Bouna, in op-
pofition, as I conceive, to the fartheft channel eaftward, called
Deree-Bouna from Deree, an ifland, at its mouth ; and in treat-
ing of this weftern flream, I fhall be obliged, for the hike of per-
fpicuity, to call the wdiole channel from Khorna to the fea by the
name of Schat-el-Arab. The jundtion formed at Khorna v/as cer-
tainly known to Ptolemy, and, I am perfuaded, was the grand con-
fluence in all ages ; but Pliny and Arrian as certainly give two
mouths, one to the Tigris and another to the Euphrates ; the latter,

I lhall hereafter fhew, was the Khore-Abdillah with which d’Anville
feems unacquainted ; and hence he has been led into a variety of

He makes it ninety from point to point,
that is by the windings, p. 33. Ives, p. 227,
makes it 100.

The aera of Dil-kharnim, or Alexander,
from his figure with the /jorns of Hammon, as
is fuppofed by fome, is well known in Afia ;
and in this compound we find the plural of
Kharna, or Khorna.

7'he Greeks and Latins defcribed rivers by
p* bull, as fome Imagine from the roar of wa-

ters ; but Achelous loll an horn by Hercules,
that is, as mythology informs us, had one of
his fources intercepted, and other rivers are
Ilyled Tauri formes.

Bouna, or Bourna, I furpedl to fignify
a fream. Bournabafchi is the head of the
frea??!) in Chevalier’s account of the Troas.
Wdience is the connexion with our Enp-iilh-
Bourne ? which fignifies a freamy qy a hounds
ary.

errors,

S U S 1 S, or S LJ S I A N A.

393

errors, which disfigure his learned Memoir upon the Mouths of
thefe two Rivers. I fhall, however, firft confider the great Delta,
and afterwards return to treat of thefe difficulties.

The Delta of Sufiana is much more properly than the Delta of
Egypt inclofed and divided by feven ftreams which are called,
I. The Coffifa-Bony ; 2. The Bamifhere ; 3. The Caroon,
or Karun ; 4. The Selege ; 5. The Mohilla ; 6. The Gaban ; and,
y. The Deree-Bouna. Thefe are names which I obtain from a
very curious anonymous chart of Mr. Dalrymple’s, and are appa-
rently the titles by which thefe channels are known to the Karack
pilots. This chart explains the journal of Nearchus as perfedfcly as
if it had been compofed by a perfon on board his fleet. Three of
thefe ftreams, after cutting the Delta, pafs through a ffioal which is
called the Ali-Meidan, (the ?^ace-g?^ou?id of All,) as is fuppofed from
its level furface, extending out twelve, and in fome places feventeen
miles, from the coaft of the Delta. The Meidan is rarely^^"* or never
dry, even at the time of ebb; but the channels which pafs between,
it have a confiderable depth of water ; thefe are ilyled Khores, that
is, dimits or divifions of the fand ; and thus Khore Gufgah is the
iffue of the Bamifhere channel, Khore Mulah of the Karun, .and
^Khore Waflah of the Selege. The general name of the land they

Small channels are fometimes cut for
purpofes of communication or agriculture ;
but they vary with the fliiiluation of the .go-
\'ernment. Thefe are natural channels.

Ten Areams according to Pliny, lib. vi,

,c. 27.

Khore Halte. Niebuhr.

348 |sJitbuhr writes this Backmefchir, which
is done by adding k to the guttural in Bah-
mifer, the natural confequence of a deep

found in the throat ; fo Han, Khan, Cavvn.
Shufhan, Hufan, Khufan, or .Khoofan, fliew-
ing the relation between the ancient Sufa and
modern Khoofiftan.

The Backmefchir of Niebuhr, as next in
order to his Khore Sable ought to be the Karun:
but of this, from Mr, Jones’s intelligence, 1
have reafon to doubt.

Only dry in part, that is where the
water is lefs than two fathoms. Mr. Jones.

E lepafatc

39.1- GULP II O' F P E R S 1 A.

feparate on the Delta is called Gabaii, of which I am not able to
give the limits ; but the traft betv/een the Coffifa-Bony and the Ba«^
miihere^^* is particularly called Meuaii and correfponding

with the Mefene of Xiphilinus, and Khore Mufah, with Ptolemy’s
river Mofaeus which none of the modern geographers know
where to place. At the head of this Mefene, near the Haffar Cut,
was placed the Spafini Charax, or fort of Spafmus. Mr, Dalrym-
pie’s anonymous chart has a fort there at prefent called Old Haffar
Fort, with another on the oppolite diore ; both exifting when
Thevenot went by this courfe up to Bafra, and both intended by
Spafinus and all his fucceflbrs in power, either to guard the
channel or to exadt a tribute. I mention this place for two reafons 3
firft, becaufe Alexander is faid to be the original occupier of this
fite 3 and, fecondly, becaufe Cellarius is at a lofs, and d’Anville Is

I fufpen:, but have no means to prove
3t, that Babh-Milhere is related to Bahh-
Mefene, which extended perhaps to theKarun.

See M'Cluer, p. 30. with Dalrymple’s
query, Mucan or Mufan? and fee p. 32. note.
Marcian writes Ma-yc&jy for Ptolemy^s Mc^ascis,
fee p. 17,; fo that the difference between Mu-
gan and Mufan is ancient as well as modern.
Salmafius reads Mcoyam.

See Cellarius in Suiiana, and d’Anville’s
Differtation. To make Khore Mufah exadlly
correfpond with the Mofeus of Ptolemy, it
muft be the iffue of the Karun, as it is in
M^CKer’s chart. The Orientals write Moufa,
pronounced Moofa, for Mofes ; the Greeks
wrote Mojvcrvi:;, Mooufes, and in this form we
eafily find the Mofscus of Ptolemy. Mufah,
or Mufa, is pronounced, as we fhould ut-
ter Moofa, and not Mufa, or Mufe. An
Arab would dcubtlefs attribute Moofa to Mo-

fes, and the name of the prophet was fufH-
ciently current in the Eall to fix his title here,,
even previous to the age of Ptolemy, but it is
a name common to many places, as well as one
fpecified by Niebuhr in Yemen, It will be
proved hereafter, that Ptolemy reckoned the
Dorack channel as the mouth of the Eulseus ;
and then as he mentions but three [the Tigris,
Mofaeus, and Eulaeus], The Mofaeus would
regularly be the Karun, and fo anfwer indi-
vidually to Khore Moofa ; a proof of this is,
that his Oroatis, or Arofis, fucceeds next to
his Eulaeus.

Pafinus, Pafines, &c. Sec, It is the
name of an Arab before the time of Pliny, like
a Sheik Soleiman of the prefent day.

It is not necefiary to fix on this identical
fpot for the fort ; by Pliny’s account it ought
to be nearer the fea.

not

not witliout his doubts ; but before I enter into this queftion, 1 muft
digeft the courfe and order of the channels. The ScIiat-el-Arab
would naturally have but two, which are the two weftern ones, the
Coffifa-Bony and the Bamifhere. The Bamifhere was a channel
frequently navigated by the country veffels till within thefe few
years ; wdien it was obftructed by an Arab Sheik, with a view of
drowning the country on the Cofiifa-Bony ; but operated contrary
to his expedlation, in clearing that channel, and removing the
fands at its mouth. This tranfaftion took place while Mr. Jones
was refident at Bafra, and is recorded by Niebuhr as happening
to the Khore Sable which is perhaps his name for the Bami-
fhere.

The five v/eftern channels feem to derive their origin from the
Eulseus, or river of Sufa ; this ftfeam divides in the interior of the
province; at what point is difficult to determine: but I can dif-
cover clearly, that on approaching the Delta the weftern branch
takes its title from Karun, a town ten or twelve miles above the
Delta, as the eafiern channel does from Deurak, Dorak, or DereCj,
another inland town, that extends the influence of its name down
to the coaft. The weftern branch, upon its approach to the Delta,
fubdivides into four ; the firft carries its name of Karun through
the Delta to the Tea. This was the channel navigated by the coun-
try veffels in Thevenot’s time, from Bender-Regh to Bafra; and the
three others arc the Selege, the .Mohilla, and the Gaban. The Do-
rack ftream of the Eula2us, after feparating inland, comes to the
caft, and, as it touches the Delta, joins on one fide with the Gaban
liver, and vv^ith another arm, which we may call a fixth channel,

Sable r<3cms an European tcrnu, and French .

^ 3 E 2 encircles

G U L, P H OF P E R S I A.

encirGles an iflarid named Deree, from this Deree, or Doracb
ilream ; and there is a tract within land ftyled Dorac-Stan, or Dor-
gheftan, from the fame origin. Now it is remarkable that Ptolemy,
notices a Dera inland, which Cellarlus knows not how to fix;
wherever it Is, it gives a title to this river, as Karun does to the
weftern branch ; it communicates its name alfo to Deree, the iflandy
where w’-e are to look for the Kata-Derbls of Arrian, which
d’Anvilie has miftaken ; and in Dorgheftan I find the Margaftan of
Arrian, which he calls an illand at Kata-Derbis. The Dorack river
is no very confiderabie ftreara, and according to Mr. Dalrymple’s
chart, dry at low water ; it was probably of more importance for-
merly, either by natural or artificial means, when the navigation of
the province was the objed; of government. Between the mouth of
this channel and the Khore Waftah there is a Ihoal, cerrefponding
with the Ali-Meidan, called Carabah, or broken ground, becaufe
the foundings vary in an inftant. The native pilots fay, there is a
town funk under water here, and that the lead is fometimes dropt
upon the tops of houfes, and fometimes into the ftreets, which
makes the difference fo immediate. This is a circumftance con-
neded with the paffage of Nearchus, either through or over this
fiioal, as will be noticed in its proper place. And again to the eaft-
ward of the Dorack, there is another fhoal named Barcan ex-
tending to the mouth of the Arofis. The extent of all thefe fhoals
naturally obliges veffels to be careful how they approach the coaft,
and the ground of the Delta being proportionably low and level, is
rarely vifible except by the rufhes which grow upon it. When
Thevenot went up the Karun, he compares the country to Holland ;

Mr. Jones, The Sinus Arenofus of Ptolemy, or that part of it nearefl Deree.

and

S U S 1 S, or S U S I A N A,

397

and a Holland it would be, with induftry and a good government ;
for a foil, which is the accumulation of fiime, ought naturally to be
fertile. In his time, there were only a few mean villages difperfed
here and there, with a fmall quantity of cattle and fome plantations
of the date tree, which is the ftaple of the country. Within
thefe few years, it was poffeffed by the Arab tribe of Kaab^^^, under
a Sheik called Soleiman ; he feems to have bettered the cultivation,
and, by the poCTeffion of a piratical fleet, to have rendered himfelf
formidable to the Tiirkiih government of Bafra on the one hand,
and to the Vakeel of Schiraz on the other He was afterwards in-
volved in a quarrel with the Englhh, on account of two confider-
able velTels which he had taken, but at laft fell by the hands of his
own people Such is the nature, and fuch are the inhabitants of
the Delta, and fuch are the branches of the Tigris and the Eulseus
which form it. There may have been a time when thefe two rivers
flowed into the fea without farther connexion than their vicinity ;
but there is now a canal which joins them, called the HafFar, which
comes out of the Schat-el-Arab, about eight-and-twenty miles below
Bafra, and runs eaftward till it touches the Eulaeus, or Karun, juft
at the point where it approaches the Delta. This canal is older than
the time of Alexander, for Nearchus mentions that part of the fleet
paflfed through it into the Tigris, when Alexander came down the Eu-
Iseus to the fea. I fhall treat more of this hereafter; but I muft remark
at prefent, that inland navigation is the charadteriftic of the province;
and that neither Cellarius or d’Anville have fufficiently attended to this
objedl. Cellarius, who allows that the Mofasus of Ptolemy muft be

358 Kiaab of Otter, and Kiab. 359 Niebuhr. Jones.

between

‘G U L P H OF PERSIA*

between the Tigris and cannot compreliend how this

canal of HaiTar could pafs betv/eeii thefe two rivers, without ex--
haufting itfelf into the Mofeus ; but he might now fee, by a
glance at Mr. Dalrymple’s chart, that we have a Tigris and
EuIikus with the Mofaeus between them, and the HafFar
canal paffing at the head of the Delta from the Tigris to the
Eula^us.

Mr. d’Anville has been led into a greater error ; for he places
the Mefene wefl of the Schat~eb Arab, inftead of eaft. And what
induced him to adopt this fyftem is by no means apparent, as he
knew well that the ancient geographers place the fort of Spafmus in
Mefene, and he has himfelf placed this fort eaftward of the Schat-
el-Arab, though he places Mefene on the weft. Upon confidering
this opinion, I am induced to think that Mr. d’Anville is milled by
Ptolemy’s Sinus Mefanius ; and if that can be accounted for, the
whole coaft may be adj lifted, and all the ancient geographers made
confiftent with each other.

D’Anville’s' Mefene is the Gczlrat Khader of Tbevenot, the
Dauafir of Niebuhr, lying between the Schat-el-Arab and the
Khore Abdillah; but Ptolemy’s Sinus Mefanius is certainly not the
coaft of this tradt ; for his two mouths of the Tigris are manh

Et quia Mofeus intervenit Tigrim et
Eulseum, oftiuni quoque ejus, fi in marl eft,
nt tradit Ptolemreus, propius utique ad Tigrim
accedit, quam Euhei. Qiiod vero foiTa ilia ex
Tigri in Eul a:um baud longe fupra oftia, uti
ex Arriani verbis apparet, duda fuit, dubites
qui fofia per aliud fiumen, Mofteum puta,
tranfverfa duel potuerit, ut non efllueret per
fiumen iliud : nifi fupra foffam Mofasus vel

Tigri vel Eul^o fe adfuderit. Cellar. lib. iiio
c. 19. Sufiana, p. 483.

36^ Ptolemy notices only three of thefe
mouths, which correfpond,

Coftifa-Bony.

36+ Dorack is the Eulasus of Ptolemy.
Karun.

Memoir, p.i8o.

ifeftly

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

399

feftly the Scliat-el-Arab and the Khore Abdillah, as appears by his
placing Teredon between them ; and his Sinus Mefanius as mani-
feftly cornmences not between them, but at the mouth of the Khore,
and extends down the weftern fide of the gulph. On looking
down the gulph in this direction, I find the bay of Grane ^^^3 with
three iflands at the entrance ; one of thefe neareft the fliore is called
Muchan; this, I apprehend, gives name to the Sinus Mefanius;
and when I look into Ptolemy for the termination of this on the
north, I find the longitude affigned to it is 79°, fpecifically the fame
as his weftern mouth of the Tigris, that is, the Khore Abdillah,

Thus Mercator interprets the text, and thus the longitudes and
latitudes appear in Ptolemy :

p. 144. Sinus Mefanius, « *

Long.

r 0 /

79 0 —

Lat •

0 f

30 10

p. 154. Sinus Mefanites, - i

1-79'’

0 —

10'

p. 149. Oftium Tigris Occldentale,

79°

0 —

34'

p, 14J. Teredon,

80“

0 — -

31°

p. 149. Oftium Tigris Orientale,

31°

p, 149. Vallum Pafini,

81“

31°

0^'

p. 149. Mof32US,

40'

The error of thefe longitudes is foreign to the inquiry ; but their
relation and congruity prove that the termination of the Sinus
Mefanius Is at the weftern mouth of the Tigris ; that Teredon
is between the w'eftern and eaftern mouth, confequently that
the Khore Abdillah is Ptolemy’s weftern, the Schat-el-Arab his

There is a Graan noticed by Ptolemy, of Sufiana ; it can have no relation to this
but in long. 82. which brings it to the middle Graue. See p, 157,

eaftem

400

GULPH OF PERSIA,

eaftern Tigris ; and that the fort of Pafmus is between the Scliat~eh
Arab and Mofeus or Kaiun.

This bay, confequently, cannot be on the coaft of d’An-
ville’s Mefene, for it is fouth-weft of the Khore inftead of
iiorth-eaft ; and if we could obtain the interpretation of Mucan
we Ihould probably find the reafon why it is attributed both to this
ifland at the bay of Grane, and to that tra£t which is inclofed be-
tween the Schat-el-Arab and the Karun, which is the Mofaeus of
Ptolemy, and which gives name to the Mefene of Xiphilinus, Jofe-
phus, and other hiftorians.

With the Khore Abdillah d’Anville was not properly acquainted;
he fuppofes it the ancient mouth of the Euphrates ; and fuch it Is
according to Pliny and Arrian, but no ancient author of eftimatlon
except Ptolemy ever made it a mouth of the Tigris. This is the
firft fource of his miftake, and he now makes this a mouth of the
Tigris, which in another part he labours to prove the Euphrates.
The Mefene of Pliny is fo confufed, that I fhould he thankful for
a confiruflion of the paffage. Mr. d’Anville fays, he carries it
above Seleucia ; if fo, it is another region with which we have no

Une bande de terre, ifolee par un canal.
D’Anv. Geog. Anc. tom. ii. p. 201. If this
be true, it accounts ‘ for both, and for the Me-
fene of Pliny.

369 Tigris .... luftratis montibus Gor-
dyasorum circa Apamiam Mefenes oppidum,
citra Seleuciam, Babyloniam, exxv. M. palT.
divifus in alvdosduos, altero Meridiem ac Se-
leuciam petit, Mefencm perfundens : altero
ad Septentrionem flexus ejufdem gentis tergo
Cauchas fecat. Ubi remeavere aquae Pafi-
tigris appellatur. Pofiea recipit ex Media
Choafpem.

In the courfe of four lines here is a defukory
flep from the Curd mountains to the mouth ;
but d’Anville, by the help of Apamia, finds
out this Mefene. See Geog. Anc. torn., ii.
p. 200. Cellarius, vol.ii. p. 462. See Am-
mian. Marcel, lib. ,xxiv. p. 399; where Me-
fene evidently means a tradl between the two
rivers : but this Mefene is above ^'Babylon,
unlefs, by joining it with Mare Magnum, we
fhould prefer the lower. By nhi remeavere
aquee, he feems to mean as high as the tide
flows, in which he is not correct, for.thetide
'flows above Khorna.

■%,

concern^

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

401

concern. But let us confider next the Mefene of Xipliilinus. Thefc
are his words : After Trajan had taken Ctefiphon, he deter-
‘‘ mined to navigate the Red Sea, that is, the Gulph of Perfia.
.... There is an ifland there formed by the Tigris, called Mef-
fana, under the government of Athambilus ; this Trajan reduced
“ without difficulty, but was himfelf brought into great hazard from
the feafon of the year, the violence of the ftream, and the inun-
dation of the tide. The inhabitants of the fortrefs of Tofpafmus
“ relieved him, however, by their friendly reception of him into
the place. This, fortrefs is under the government of Atham-
bilus.” D’Anville places the fort of Spafmus where I do, but
the dlftridl of Mefene on the other fide of the Schat-el-Arab.
This paflage proves that the fort is in Mefene, and the Mefene
between the mouths of the Tigris ; that is, between the Tigris and
the Mofaeus. It is poffible I may be miftaken in afligning a pofition.
to the fort. But there is no error in replacing the Mefene eaft of

Poflquam Ctefiphontem cepit [Trajanus]
llatuit mare rubruin trajicere .... appellant
Meffanam quoque infulam Tigris in qua
Athambilus regnabat, nullo labore cepit atque
iis in locis propter vim hyemis et rapidum
Tigrum jellumque maris in magnum periculum
venit. Qui vallum Tofpafini habitabant (nam
ita ab incolis appellabatur eradtque in ditione
Athamblli) Trajanum amice receperunt. Xi-
philin. Traj. p. 55. Ed. Bafil.

Tofpafini is, I conclude, a corruption from
the Greek to Soroccrivy for, we learn,

that the fort was ereded upon a mound of
raifed earth, to give it fecurity both from an
enemy and inundation ; for the whole of the
Del^i is a level. See Cellarius, vol. ii. 448 ; who
reads ro> Toa-Trao-ird contrary to ray fuppofidon.

37* Trajicere,

37^ Rather in the territory of AtharnbiluSi in
ditione.

373 See the map to his Memoir, and that
of the Tigris and Euphrates.

374- See Jofephus, lib. i. Antiq. c. 7. Ste-
phan. 'ZTra.aUd 'CtoAk h Tn (xiav tS

Tiy^vrog MBcrrjvr, <^0. all adduced by Cellarius,
vol. ii. 48S. but he is not contented to be
right. He adds, Aberrat autem in eo qued
in media Mefena ilia, quam Tigridis oftia
conllituunt, pofuit.

I build much upon the modern name of
‘Mu^an, and the Khore Moofa, and perhaps it
ought always to have been written Mofena, or
Moofena, from Mu^an, which the Greeks
made Mefene, bccaufe they had a MelTene of
their own. It is their pradlice in a thoufand
inftances. I have, however, found reafon to
fuppofe that Mefen fignifies an ifland, or per-
haps more properly land furrounded by the
arms of a river. See note 368.

the

402

G U L P li O F ? E R S 1 A,

the Schat-el-Arab inftead of weft. The juft eftlmatiou of Mr. d'An-
vllle’s name has led me into this diicullion. I have now done with
the Delta of the Tigris, and proceed to the Euphrates.

KHORE ABDILLAH, Tuppofed MOUTH of the EUPHRATES.

The FAiphrates appears always to have formed its principal
jimdlion with the Tigris at Gorno, or Khorna ; but as, from the
moft early ages, it fent oiF canals on both fides, for the purpofes of
agriculture or communication, fo it has happened that one of thefe
which pafled by Old Bafra^ and fell into the Khore Abdillah, has
been miftaken by Pliny and Arrian for the real mouth. Arrian is.
fo perfuaded of this, that when Nearchus anchors at Diridotis, or
Teredon, in the Khore Abdillah, h,e calls it anchoring in the Eu-
phrates: and he fays in another part of his work, that this mouth,
or khore, is almoft choked in confequence of the derivations which
drain the flream above. The Khore Abdillah, upon the Englifti
charts, appears larger than any khore of the Tigris; and this circum-
ftance, with which d’Anville was unacquainted, would have confirmed
him, if he had known it, in his fyftem, that it is the original
mouth of the Euphrates. It is remarkable that Ptolemy gives no
mouth to the Euphrates ; his weftern iflue of the Tigris, that is, the
Schat-el-Arab, is in ^'‘^latitude 30° 34', and his jundtion of the Eu-
phrates with the Tigris is in latitude 34*^ 20', making a difference
of 3"" 46' ; evidently much too large ; but as evidently pointing out
the confluence inland, as Khorna does at this day. Strabo doubt-
lefs thought the Khore Abdillah to be the mouth of the Euphrates,
by placing Teredond^^ on its bank ; but Solinus”^ afferts, that the

P. 149- P. So.

37® So Mercator underllands it, as appears Tigris Eaphratem defert in

by his diftorted map, finum Perficura.

Tigris’

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

403

Tigris carries the Euphrates into the Perfian Giilph, and Pliny, who
joins it to the Pafitigris, (by which he means the Schat-el-Arab,) evi«
dently alludes to the original mouth at the Khore Abdillah, which
the Orchoeni had obftrudled ; and fo long had it been obflrudted
in his time, that he no longer places Teredon on the Euphrates, but
fays it lies below the confluence of the two rivers

Let us now advert to the Khore Abdillah itfelf, which Vv^Ill afford
a clue to unravel all thefe difficulties. The ancient kings of Affyria,
Chaldea, and Babylon underflood the value of inland canals, as
well as the Egyptians, Indians, Chinefe, or the modern commercial
ftates of Europe. In Egypt, and on the fide of the Euphrates, all
that was gained out of the defert was juft fo much added to the
empire ; and thus, as we find a cut parallel to the Nile for near four
hundred miles, fo Niebuhr is of opinion, that there was a canal
running weflward of the Euphrates from Het^^‘ more than fix days’
journey above Babylon till it fell Into the fea at the Khore Ab-
dillah. This is an extent of more than five hundred miles ; and^
however great, is*^ not fuperior to the magnificent defigns of the
age to which it is attributed. It Is countenanced, likewife, by

Lib. vl. c. 27. Euphratem prasclufere
Orchoeni, nec nifi Pafitigri defertur in mare,
C.2S.

Her is on the wind of the river, near
Kunaxa, where the ten thoufand fought Ar-
taxerxes, according to d’Anville.

The language of Al-Edrifi is very
flrong in coniirmation of this opinion. After
bringing down the Euphrates to Het and En-
bar, he adds,

Reliqua vero pars Eufratis fluens e Rahaba
a tergo defeni in varia dividitur brachia quo-
rum ununi perget ad Tfarfar aliud ad Alcatfr
Khader], aliud etiam ad Sura quartum

denique ad Kufam [juxta Pallacopam], et
omnia ilia brachia varios in lacus fefe immer-
gunt, p. 197.

If we can interpret this as a canal com-
mencing at Rahaba, that place is not far from
Thapfacus, two hundred and fifty miles higher
up than Niebuhr carries his canal.

That age of the Anakim, or Giants, as
Bryant fiyies them, produced the Pyramids,
the Lake Mteris, the Obelifks, the walls of
Thebes, Babylon, Tiryns, and Orchomenus,
with other monuments of magnificence in va-
rious parts of the world. Were thefe the
effeU of numbers or mechanic powers ?

3F 2

the

404

G U L P PI O F P E R S r A.

the accounts we have in Herodotus and Diodorus, of the refervoira^
formed above Babylon, to withdraw or feed the ftream at pleafure
by the exiftence of the two lakes below Babylon, near Mefchetf*
Hoflein and Mefched Ali the Pallacopas of Arrian ; and by a
variety of cuts, fome of which remain to this day, and ftill fertilize
the defert ; the remains of towns alTo noticed by almoft every
traveller in the caravans Between Bafra and Aleppo, all contribute tO'
the probability of the fadt. They fxourilhed while the canals flowed,'
they have perifhed by the devaftation of the Arabs, and the negledt
or inability of the government to maintain the fupply of waters.
If fuch a canal as this exifted, it comnnunicated with the parent
ftream at various points ; and fuch a communication as this, d’An«
ville has pointed out at Nahar Saleh, about five-and-thirty miles
above Khorna ; he brings this down parallel to the Schat-el-Arab,
gives it another' communication with that channel, near Bafra,
and afterwards conduds it into the Perfian Gulph, in the diredion.'
of the Khore Abdillah p this is the ftream he concludes to be the’
ancient courfe of the Euphrates, and fuch it was in' the eftimation of
Pliny, Strabo, and Arrian. ^ D’Anville, with the aflTiftance of
Pexeira, finds this channel now dry, and ftyles it the Choabedeh^^^,
which I fufped to be only corruption. of Khore Abdillah, and thiS'
dry channel certainly exifts, for Mr. Jones^ when refident at Bafra,
has ridden alongjt many miles*

Khore Abdillah takes its modern, title from a name of no little'
importance in. Mahometan mythology, for Abdillah^ is the fon of

Bahr-nedsjef is the name of this lake.
Niebuhr, voL ii. 184. Amft. edit.

See Niebuhr, ibid. £1 Khader, ten or
twelve leagues from Mefched Ali.

By means of a cut called Oboleh, or

Obolla, fuflioiently noticed in Oriental geo-
graphy.

Which he derives from Bedeh, a tent of ^
the Bedouins.

Annas,.

SUSIS, or SUSIANA, 405

Annas who was porter to the prophet himfelf ; his tomb is la
the neighbourhood of Zobeir, and this Khore Is a CrifTsean Gulph^^®
for fuch votaries as come to pay their devotions to his relicks. At
Zobeir, or Ghibel Senam, in its neighbourhood, d’Anville places
Orchoe, becaufe Pliny fays, the Orchoeni diverted the ftream of the
Euphrates; but Pliny only adds their name to the fame circumftance
mentioned by Arrian, in the neighbourhood of Pallacopas, or Bahr-
Nedsjef, and every ancient teftimony whatfoever, except Ptolemy,
places Orchoe in the fame fituation Ptolemy fays, it is near the
gulph; but this affertion feems fo indefinite to Mercator, that he has
carried it up to the lakes; and there, the latitude^^'' affigned to it au-
thorifes him to place it : but d’Anville is not content with bringing
Orchoe here, unlefs he annihilates Old Bafra. Bafra Bozra, and
Bofara, is a name applicable to any town in the defert, It fignifies
rough or ftony ground; and thus we have a Bofara in Ptolemy near
Mafkat, and a Bozra familiar In Scripture, denoting an Arablan-
town in the neighbourhood of Judea, taken by the Maccabees,v
Such a Bafra, Niebuhr not only fuppofes in the fite of Zobeir, tea
or twelve miles weft of the prefent Bafra, but confirms it by the
common belief and tradition of the country ; he adds, what amounts'

Niebuhr, voh il. p. i8'2.

It brings them within fifteen miles.

390 Niebuhr writes Dsjabbel, which fignifies
a fnountain. Thus ^tna ftill preferves its
Saracen name Ghibello. It is, therefore, a
folecifm in reality to fay Monte Ghibello, but
this folecifm pervades ail countries ; the un-
known language gives a name, which fi-gnifies
mountain, and the language in ufe adds an-
other mountain to it.

5®* See Salmafius, p« 703. Cellarius^

Hondias, &c. &c.

32° 40', p. 149.

Gol. ad Alfrag. p. 120. Terra crajjh-
et lapidofa. But fee under

Botfrath defertum a Batzar claufit, quia clau-^
duntur aquae.

Bozra is mentioned as early as the age- of
Abraham. Gen. xxxvi. 33. If. Ixiii. i. &c,
&c. From hence Bazar for an emporium, and^
urbs munita, quia circu?nclauditur 5 to which
the Burfa of Carthage is allied.

406 G y L P H OF P E Pv S I A.

to proof, that Haffaii, Zobeir^^\ and Telia, are buried here, and
their tombs vifited, who are all mentioned in Oriental writers as in-
terred at Bafra, Zobeir gives his name to the prefent town^^^, and
his tomb is ftill frequented. This, then, is the ancient city by
wTich the channel paffed, which is ftiil called Dsjarri Zaade, and
Haffe Zaade, by the natives ; and this is the channel which, enter-
ing the head of the Khore Abdiljah, was the mouth of the Eu-
phrates, in the opinion of Strabo, Arrian, and Pliny. Where it
left the Euphrates above, whether at Nahar Saleh, as d’AnvIlle fup-
pofes, or whether it was a continuation of the grand canal Niebuhr
defcribes, is a problem ftill to be refolved. I am myfelf perfuaded
that it was a canal, and not the natural courfe of the river; for
though Nahar does fignify a river, its fenfe in this country is
iifually reflrained to works of art; thus the great canal is diftin-
guiflied, which joined the Euphrates and Tigris in Mefopotamia,
called Nah’r Malcha, the Royal Canal ; and a great number of
others which branch out of the Euphrates on both fides. To what
degree this ftream was choked in the age of Pliny or Arrian, is not
eafy to afcertain ; it might only have ceafed to be navigable ; for
that it continued to convey water to Old Bafra, as late as the be-
ginning of the Mahometan asra, is evident ; as that place was ftill
inhabited, and ftill a city. When the fupply failed, the defert was
no longer habitable, and another Bafra rofc on the banks of the

Schat-el-Arab, the foundation of this new city is attributed to

Niebuhr, vol.ii. p. 181. tinued. The fame canal is mentioned by

Tavernier confounds Zobeir, or Old Texeira.

Bafra, with Teredon, and mentions a canal to I fay ufually rcfcrained ; becaufe Nahar

it in his time, which is either the Oboleh of is applied to the Euphrates itfelf, in Jolhua^
d®AnvilIe, or the canal of New Bafra con- i. 4, and Gen. xv. 18,

1 1 Omar,

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

Omar, the fecond khalif In the fourteeenth year of the Mahometan
sera

From the refpec^t due to Mr. d’Anville, this fubjeQ: has been,
treated at large, but the real obje£l is to illuftrate the Khore Ab-
dillah, which is intimately connefted with the courfe of Nearchus,
and the two lakes above, which concern the voyage of Alexander
on the Euphrates, down to Pallacopas ; , and I muft now requeft the
reader to take a view of that tongue of land between the Khore
Abdillah, and the Sohat-el-Arab, called the Dauafir, the lower part
of which I muft fink under water, to find the lake Nearchus failed
through in his return to the Pafitigris.

Nearchus, according to the journal, anchored at Diridotis in the
mouth of the Euphrates, the Teredon^^^ of other authors ; that is,
at the entrance of the Khore Abdillah, which they confider as the
Euphrates. From hence he returned back, acrofs a lake into the Pa-
fitigris, to a town called Aginis. The length of this lake is thirty-
feven miles, according to d’Anville ; but .this will be confidered here-
after. I now obferve that the Dauafir muft be curtailed, or at leaft
carried back fo far as to give the waters the appearance of a lake
rather than a river; and for this defalcation we ftiall find abundant
evidence in the account of later writers. Thefe proofs I referve till
Nearchus arrives at the fpot; but I muft now examine the Tigris and
the ftreams of Sufiana inland.

Gol. ad Alf, p. 120.

Ue^irl^og hg aAo,- oi^[xoi fior'i- xTic^zvy-Tizi
Ti'UTipg Te^ij^oveg zyyvg q^bvojv*

Dionyf. Per, 980^

The

GULPH OF PERSIA.

The TIGRIS and PASITIGRIS Inland.

The name given to the Tigris by Oriental authors is Degela
which Bochart informs us -they would write almoft Indifferently
Degel, or Deger ; and from hence fprung the Greek Teger, or
Tigris by their ufual affimilation of found to fenfe. Al-Edrifi
does not change this title upon the junftion ot the two rivers at
Khorna, but makes it prevail quite to the iffue of the Schat-el»Arab
into the Perfian Gulph. The breadth of this river at Bafra is near
a mile, according to Niebuhr but ATCluer’s chart makes it almoft
double that breadth, and, in fome parts of its defcent, ftill more.
It is extremely rapid in its courfe, particularly when the waters
come down fwelling from Armenia ; and the tide, which rifes about
nine feet, prevails confiderably above Khorna. The junfrion of
this river, by means of the Haffar canal, with the Eulaeus, I have
noticed, and d’Anville fuppofes the Aphle of Pliny to be a cor-
refpondent title, which is highly dubious ; for Pliny finds the Chal-
dean lake higher up, and contrads the ftream again into a channel
before it reaches the fea ; confequently, if his Aphle is Haftar, it
muft be at the lower end of the lake inftead of the upper; but if
we are not inftruded by his pofition, we may be by his ufage of
a name ; and that obligation we owe him alfo for preferving

DIdsjile. Niebuhr.

And, from him, Cellarius.

They knew that Tigris, or its root, fig-
nihed an arrow ; but as they had got a Lycus,
or ^olfy higher up, they were fome of them
not difpleafed to find a Tiger in this ftream. ‘
Capper ftates it at a mile and a
quarter.

Pietro della ValJe does not efteem it fo
rapid as the Euphrates.

According to Niebuhr, much higher in
the Euphrates than the Tigris, which feems
extraordinary, as the Euphrates ought to have
the higher level, for all the irrigations are de-
rived from the Euphrates, and none from the
Tigris, by Arrian’s account,

Diglito

Diglito as an appellation of the Tigris. This canal of the Haflar,
Arrian afferts, is artificial, and fuch the natives efteem It at this
day, as appears by its title Kalla-el-HafFar'^°^, the Haffar cut. At the
point where this cut leaves the Schat-el-Arab, about eight-and-
twenty miles below Bafra, d’Anville makes Nearchus enter the Pafi-
tigris, but Arrian knows nothing of a Pafitigrls equivalent to the
Schat-el-Arab, which is the Pafitigris of Pliny Strabo mentions
that fome had applied this term in the fame way as Pliny, ^ to the
union of all the ftreams, but he does not countenance this opinion
himfelf’^^k This is a fource of great error, and arofe from the
Greeks affimllating all founds to their own language, and thinking
to find a Perfian term explained by an etymology of their own,
in which they interpreted it all : but Pafi-Tigris Is compounded like
Pafa-Gardas, and Pafa, Phafa, Phefa, or Befa^°^, as Golius informs
us, fignilies north-eaft. If this is a derivation we may rely on,
Pafi-TIgrIs Is the north-eaftern Tigris, the channel or fource from
that quarter. Such it is In refpedl to the Schat-el-Arab, as will ap-
pear hereafter ; but Arrian’s Pafitigris Is the Karun, while the
Pafi-tigris of other authors is the Schat-el-Arab This variation
has led Salmafius into a miftake, unworthy of his erudition; for he
finds a Pafitigris inland, in the neighbourhood of Sufa, and not
knowing how to account for it, attributes this title to the Arofis,
and gives two rivers of the fame name, as boundaries of Sufiana,
though it has but one, and that no boundary, but central. Cel-
larlus certainly faw a dilliculty In acceding to this opinion, and

Herodotus, lib. vi. p. 447. mentions Strabo, p. 718.

Ampe as the place where the Tigris falls into B and V in Perfic are equivalent,

the gulph. Whether this has any relation to Befa dicitur quod nomen alias, hifee Boream
Aphle, Abadan, or HafFar, may well be notat, ventum ibidem gratiffimum. Gol. ad Al-
doubted. frag. p. 1 14.

Euphrates non nifi Pafitigri defertur in See Indie. Hill. p. 357. Lib. vii. p. 282.

mare. Lib. vi. See vol. ii. p. 484.

' 3 G ,

410

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

yet has not ventured to depart from it. D’Anville^” has fancllfied
this error by his fuffrage.

An attentive review of the paffages which give rife to this
opinion will reconcile all the hiftorians to one another, and to truth.
Let us firft confider the Euteus in Its fource. Geographers are
generally agreed that the Choafpes and Eulaeus are the fame. It
is protable they are ; but it Is probable alfo they are from two
fources united either at or above Sufa, which pafs clofe to the
city in one ftream, on its weftern fide. Daniel mentions his
being at the gate of Shufhan on the Uhlai, or Eulseus, where the
expreffion is Oubar*"^ Ulai, which the lxx and Jerom tranfiate, at
the gate of Ulai ; but the letters are Aubal Aulai, and Aub-al-Aulai
is the or river, of Aulai, Eulai-us. I produce this as

a teftimony that the Eulseus was clofe to Sufa, but the Pafi-
tigris was at fome diftance to the eaft. On this Eulseus, Alexander
embarked In his defcent to the fea ; on this river weft, Timour
encamped in his march from Dez-foul^*\ in view of the city;

and

[the city of Dcchet, or Oeds)]. This bridge,
he fays, was built to raife the water a mile
high! in order to furnifhTufVer. This ac-
count is too Oriental ; but it proves at leail
the connexion of the flream at Dez with the
Ifream at Tollar, and confirms the opinion,
that one is the Eulxus and the other Choafpesps.
uniting at Toftar. The bridge at Haviza
was, in the fame manner, both bridge and
dyke. Otter, vol. ii. p. 50. But Otter evi-
dently does not underfland his authorities.
He makes Ehv-az and Haviza two diflinfl:
places; and this bridge he carries both over
the river Dechet-abad and Abi-defek, fee'
p. 50. and p. 54. Now Dechet-abad is the
city of Dechet, and Abi-defek is the river of
Defek ; and Defek and Dechet are both Dez,
or. Dedsj,

Desi^-

Oroatis. Quint-Curce decrit ce fleuve
fons le nom de Pafitigris. Mem. p. 166.

Otter brings the Eulceus from Kiouhi-
Zerd, Khoo-Zerd, the green mountain. It
is the fame which, I apprehend, Al-Edrifi calls
Adervan : and as he fays this mountain, or
this part of the range, is thirty miles north of
Sufa, here is confequently a length of courfe
fiifficient to render this river navigable. Otter,
vol. ii. p. 54.

Cap. viii. 2,

So, in Indian Gen-Aub is one method
of writing Chen-ab.

Dez-Phoul, the bridge of Dez, or
Dedsj, I conclude, was eredled on the ftream
that Otter calls the river of Dechet- abad

«■

SUSIS, or SUSIANA, 411

and If I interpret my author right, this river Is the Ab-zal,
which, according to d’AnvIlle, takes its courfe weft, and falls into '
the Tigris, juft below Khorna^'^; but with Cheref-eddin it is con*
ftantly the river of Sufa"^**; and on his authority there is rea*
fon to conclude that this is one fource of the Eulceus, and comes
into that river clofe to Sufa, conferring Its name at the fame
time it contributes its waters ; and that the river it joins, is, in its
fource, the Kho-afpes. Kho-afpes, according to Mr. d’Anville, fig-
nlfies the Moinitain of the Horfe; which name the river takes from
pafilng under a mountain fo called ; but 1 Interpret Kho-afpes by
Kho-ab, the mountain ftream ; and I find the river on which
Timour encamped in view of the city is called '^'^Tchar-Danke ;
Danke, as being common to feveral other ftreams, feems an adjunct

By a reference to Ofter, vol. ii. p. 54.
it will be equally dubious ; but there is ftili
proof, that the communication is open one
way to the gulph, and the other to the Schat-
el-Arab.

I have met with another fenfe of Tchar
in Ludolfus or Bruce, but cannot now re-
cover it. Is it not the Hebrew Tfar^ a

rock ?

* Phoul, or Poule, is a bridge conflanlly in the writ-
ings of Le Bruyn and Thevenot.

4 Sapor Zuleftaf is the Sapor of the native Perfian dy-
nafty reftored by Ardefhir, or Artaxerxes, anno 228 ;
which dynafty continued above 400 years, and v.'hich the
Perhans reverence more than any other, as re-eftablifhing
their power after the ufurpation of Alexander, the Seleu-
cidae and the Parthian race. It is much to be queftioned
if they have any authentic annals prior to this family.
Ardelliir, Kobad, Sapor, Darab, occur in this lift, who
jjive name to the four diftridts of Perfis, and Hormifdas

to a fifth in Karmania. Only it is to be obferved, that
Harmozon and Armozeia are names prior to the whole
race.

4 There is another of thefe bridges at Haviza. They
ferve as dams, bridges, and roads at the fame time ; and
there is a third on twenty boats, at Aiker Mocram, Afkief
Mukierrem. See Otter, vol. ii. p. 5a. All prove the
great breadth of the rivers, at no great diftan.ee from thek
leaving the mountains.

§ Cheref-edclia, vol. ii. p. 170.

I •

Dez Phoul* is a celebrated bridge, twenty
miles or more weft of Sufa, conftru6ted on
the Ab-Zal by Sapor Zuledlaf, who is to the
Perfians the fame as Solomon f to the Jews,
the author of all their great works ; it is built
on twenty-eight J arches, each accompanied §
with a fmaller.

See infra. By communication with the
Gyndes above Khorna, by another cut below
it.

3 G 2

412

GULPH OF PERSIA.

like Ab, and Roud ; and Tchar is Dsjar, or Dahr, a mountain ; I
conceive, therefore, that Tchar-Danke and Kho-afpes are fynony-
mous, and both fignify the mountain ftream. If it were certain
that the Ab-Zal of Cheref-eddin comes to Sufa, as he afferts, I
Ihoiild confider this proof as decifive.

Upon Timour’s departure from Sufa on the fecond day, he paffed
the river Dou-danke, and on the fourth another ftream called Cou-
roucamkende ; In thefe two ftreams I find the Kopratas and Pafiti-
grls'^''^ of Diodorus, who reckons them as the two rivers immediately
eaft from the Eulseus ; and in one place fays, the Pafitigris was
four days’ march from that river. Dou-danke I am not able to in-
terpret, but Courou-Khan-Kende is the river of Khan Koorus,
or Cyrus as we write it. This is the river Cyrus of the
ancient geographers, fo often mentioned with the Eulseus and
Khoafpes, and fometimes confounded with them.

Diodorus calls It the Tigris in every in-
Jtance but one.

Lib. xix.

Kende, and Denke or Danke, I con-
clude are the fame word, each by a different
procefs, from Dsjienk, a river. See fupra,
Talmena. Otter, in enumerating the rivers
of Mekran, vol. i. 408. gives them all the
adjun<a Kienk, or Chienk ; which form paffes
into Denke, Danke, and Tanke, a dream
noticed in that province by all the geo-
graphers ; while the Kand-riakes of Ptolemy
preferves the other form, Kende, or Kande,
I will not deny what Mr. d^Anville afferts,
that Kand is an adjundl expreffing a fortrefs,
as Samar-kand, Kand-ahar,, Mara-kanda ; but
I Ihotild look to the river in all thofe fites.
For the paffing of Chienk into Dienk I ap-
peal to Ptolemy, who writes Jumna, Dia-
muna, p. 170.

Always Kor by the Orientals,, like the

Kofo; of Dionyfius,

f'S-L KOPOS l(7Ti ^iycccf
Xochtttk;

Dionyf. Per. 1073 '
Salmafius reads for ; and it

is remarkable that Ptolemy gives two fources
to the Eulaeus, i, e. Khoafpes, one within
the mountains of Lourillan, and one beyond
them, in Media, with no lefs than three de-
grees of latitude difference-. This is what is
meant by Dionyfius, that the original fpring-
of Khoafpes is beyond the mountains, for
which he ufes ii/J'ov (if it is his reading j‘

very improperly, and this has an allufion to.
the river paffing under the mountain Kho-afp.
Cellarius ufes this paffage to prove that ths
Korus and Khoafpes are different rivers, but
they are only different fources of one river^
which joins the Eulasus,

1 ftiair.

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

413

I fliall now take the paffages adduced by Sal mafias'^''*, and fhew
that they all apply to the Pafitigris, as a fource joining the Eulaeus^
and cannot be applied to the Arofis. Diodorus in the march of
Alexander from Sufa to Perfepolis, places the [Pafi*-] Tigris at the
dlftance of four days’ march from Sufa. Q^Curtlus, who evidently
follows the fame authorities, gives us almoft a tranflation of this
paffage, and agrees in the diftance ; both unite in deriving this
ftream from the mountains of the Uxii, both correfpond with Cheref-
eddin’s diftance of the Koorus, and with the progrefs of Timour
when he proceeded to attack the Afclacs who are the Uxii that
Alexander Invaded by the fame identical courfe ; but Diodorus in
another palTage where he gives an account of the war betv/een
Antigonus and Eumenes, mentions this [Pafi-] Tigris as only one
day’s diftance from Sufa ; which Cellarius explains, by fuppofmg
that an army without incumbrance, or a traveller, might pafs in one
day, what took up four days for a royal army, with all its baggage and
attendants. The truth is, Diodorus followed his authorities without
noticing their dlfcordance. Strabo’s teftimony agrees with Diodorus
in naming the two rivers immediately eaft of the Khoafpes "^“^5 Ko-
pratas, and Pafitigris, and he every where marks the navigation of
Nearchus up the ftream by the title of Pafitigris ; he adds, likewlfe,.
a manifeft dlftindllon between the Pafitigris and Arofis by ftating
that they are two thoufand ftadia a-part ; by which he means, at
their ifliie into the gulph.

Plin. Exer. p. 701.

Lib, xvii. vol. ii. p. 21 i. Ed. Weflld.
A an U are interchanged in the Perfic,
Ufcincs approaches nearer to Uxii.

Lib. xix, vol.ii. p. 330, Ed. WdT. '

Diodorus calls it Eulteus ; a proof that
EuIsdus and Khoafpes, at Sufa, are the united
dream, and that both are well of Sufa.

Strabo wiites Oroatls,

Let

414

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

Let ns next advert to Arrian. After the battle of Arbela, he
brings x\Iexander firft to Babylon, and from thence, after a march
of twenty days, to Siifa. From Sufa, he conduits him acrofs the
Pafitigris^^*,^in his w^ay to enter the country of the Uxii. This
progrefs is in perfeit correfpondence with Cheref-eddin’s march of
Timour; and this paffage is pai'allel to thofe of Diodorus and Q^Cur-
tius already produced, except that the Kopratas of Diodorus and
Strabo is omitted, which, as it is a ftream of lefs notoriety, might
naturally happen. At this Pafitigris, we find Alexander again upon
his return from the Eafl, in his route from Perfepolis to Sufa; he
had thrown a bridge of boats over it, or poffibly fuch a bridge was
the common paflage of travellers ; for it lies in the diredl road from
Ragian, on the Arofis, to Sufa ; and thefe bridges are the ordinary
communication of the country. To this point Nearchus came up
with the fleet; which the diredlion of the road from Ragian to Sufa
will enable me to fix within a few miles, w^hen I come to treat of
this fubjed : and the palfage over this river to arrive at the capital
evidently proves its locality eafl; of Sufa, in correfpondence with
Alexander’s departure from it. This renders both the paflages of
Arrian confiftent, and reconciles his account with thofe of Strabo,
Diodorus, Q^Curtius, and Cheref-eddin. And fo far is it im-
poflibie to confound this river with the Arofis, that Cheref-eddin'^^"’
mentions two others between this and the Arofis — the rivers of Ram-
Hermez and Fei ; both which his commentator carries into the
Al-Zal, or EuL^eus, but d’Anville direds them to the Arofis. With '
this queftion I have no concern : but as Nearchus failed up the
Pafi-Tigris, I am not difpleafed to find in Diodorus a proof thcit it

- \.

Lib.iii. p. 128.

Vol. ii. p. 185.

SU SIS, or S U S I A N A.

IS navigable. The Kopratas he fays, rifing in the mountains
[of Louriftan] falls into the Pafitigris and the Pafitlgris is im-
palTable without a bridge; it is four hundred feet wide"^^^, and as deep
as the height of an elephant ; all thefe circumftances are fo per-
fectly confiftent with the tranfaCtions which are to follow, that the
omiffion of them would be inexcufabfe ; and if I have unravelled a
geographical difficulty, in which Salmafius, Cellariiis, and d’An-
ville have been entangled, I have done a fervice to the fcience.

SUSA. S H U S H A N. T U S T E R.

Latitude^

Longitude

from Ferro, by Ptolemy,

0 •—

from Ferro, by D’Anville,

D’Anville, by Chart: Orb. Vet. notus.

Ptolemy corrected by Goffelin,

Otter, p. 50, vol. ii. Oriental,

Ibid. Etvals, - - -

0 '

This longitude operates ftrongly againfl; Mr. Goffelin’s fyftem,.
(and there are many fimilar ones,) becaufe, if Ptolemy’s error is
always in excefs, the error ought to increafe in proportion to the
dlftance from Alexandria ; but here the error is in default, and not
in excefs»

^33 If a derivation of Ko-pratas were re-
qnidte, I conjedlure that it is to be found in
Kho-Perat, or P’rat, the mountain that
or divides : the boundary of the Uxii.

This is. the only paffagc where Diodorus

ufes the term Pafitigris. Immediately be-
fore he names it Tigris. Lib. xix. p. 33r.
vol. ii.

See Salm. PI. Ex.

p. 58!^

4i6

GULPH OF PERSIA.

Sufa Is the Shiifhan of Daafel, the Shufter, or Toftar,
of the Oriental writers, and Sufiana is their Chufiftan the
country of Chiifis, or Sufis, more commonly written Koureftan
and Choreftan. This appellation is now almoft obfolete in the
Eaft, for in Perfis and at Bafra it is ftyled Ahwaz, or Haviza, from
a town now become the capital. Sufa is faid by the Oriental
writers to be the firft city founded after the flood by a prince called
Hulheng"^^^, who is the grandfon of Caiumaras,* the firfl; name in
their mythology. The Greeks call the founder Memnon, fon of
Tithonus, which amounts nearly to the fame, implying that it
exifted before there was any real hiftory to appeal to. Its name is
faid to fignify a lilly, from the abundance of that flower in the
neighbourhood; but I cannot help noticing that Hoo-chenk^^^, the
founder, is related to Tchar-danke, meaning the Mountain River ;
and Kou-reftan, Kho-reftan, and Khu-fiftan, all relate to a country

^3® The Greeks have no sh or ch, as it is
ufed in our pronunciation of churchy and con-
fequently Sufa, Sufiana, was written by them
for Shuflian. By a change fimilar to one in
our own language. Church, Kirk : Choufiftan
becomes Khouiiftan.

Khouziflan, fo called from the Khouz,
a nation which inhabited it. Otter, vol.ii.
49. But Khouz fignifies mountains, or moun-
taineers ; and Sufii, Kiffii, and Kolfei are
no doubt originally the fame. Strabo, p. yzS.
quotes ^fchylus to prove this of Sufii and
Kiffii, and the paffage is in point :

Oi T£ TO

'^bcruv y] S ’Ex^ccravaiv

Kcil TO TSOOKccCoV Kii7(THiCV _

eCav. Perf. fub initio.

Between Kiffii and Koffiaei the refemblance
will hardly be doubted. Thefe may be

the Khouz of Otter, if he choofes it ; for the
whole only goes to prove, that the inhabit-
ants of the mountains occupied the plains,
and carried their name with them over the
whole province of Khoufiftan ; and thofe who
ftill remained in the mountains were hill called
Khouz and Koffiaei. Khufis, in Greek letters,
is Khyfis, and hence Kiffii.

438 3jj. William Joneses Nadir Shah, p. 39.

Khoo-Kienk, Tchar-Kienk, or Chienk,
are fynonymous. I confider alfo Plucheng and
Shufhan as the fame word identically. Hoo-
chenk, however, mufl be a fabulous perfonage,
for he is reputed founder of Babylon as w'ell
as Sufa, Otter, vol. ii. p. 209. There are
not wanting thofe who rather deduce Romulus
from Roma, than Roma from Romulus.

furrounded

S U S I S% or S U S 1 A N A, 417

fiirroimded with mountains Thefe mountains, on the north of
this province, throw down rivers from almoft every bofom of the
range ; and the jundlion of thefe, caufes all the confufion of names
already noticed. Many of them feem to be ftreams of importance
in an early part of their courfe, by the bridges we find conftruffced
upon them; and their capacity of navigation, by means either natural
or artificial, is the diftinguifliing feature of the province. The nature
of the country below the mountains, which is a level furnifhes a
convenience for this Improvement ; and there is a canal, called Mc-
fercan by Al-Edrifi, which united the Eulseus with the river that
pafles by Alkar-Mokram and Haviza, and joins the Tigris a little
below Khorna. Inland as this is, there is reafon to fuppofe it
affedted by the tide, for Al-Edrifi mentions that it is more naviga-
ble at one time of the month than another, and then carries
veffels of a confiderable fize. This canal d’Anville conduits into

In afferting this, I always fuppofe that
Sufis and Sufiana are foftened forms of Khufif-
tan, in which Koo, or mountain, is the root.
But if they are from su or soo, that word
means 'voater or ri-vert as Kara-Sou, the Black
River, &c. &c. The name is Khoreftan,
Khozeftan, Cuziftan, and Curiflan, for the

Arabic^ without a point is r, with a point
^ is z ; fo that the confufion in orthography

is Oriental. See a very judicious difculTion of
thefe difficulties in a note by the Englifti tranf-
lator of Rennudot’s account of two Arabian
travellers in the ninth century. Preface,
p. xxxii. This work was fearched in confe-
quence of the report made of it by Dr.
Campbell in his extract inferted in Harris’s
Voyages, and hopes were conceived that
foraething might have been found relative to

the Mekran and ^the Indus: but it appears
that the Arabs, in the ninth century, followed
the’ route marked out by Hippalus ; that is,
they came down the Gulph of Peifii from
Siraf to Mafcat, and then lk)od over to the
coaff: of Malabar with the monfooH. 'I’his is
the general courfe at the prefent hour'from the
gulph to the coaff:, and almoft conftantly from
the coaft to the gulph.

Sufa itfelf Teems to be on an eminence.

Alkier Mukierrem, ten leagues from
Ehwaz, eight from Tufter. Otter, vol. ii.
p. 52.

Et vero cum aqua in incremento eft,
quod evenit initio fnenjisy naves illic tranfeunt ;
cum autem in decremento, tranfire ne qua-
quam polTunt, Nub. Geog. p. 123. He adds
in another place ; Graridibus fulcatur navi-
giis.

tlie

GULPH OF PERSIA,

418

the river which he calls the Ab-Zal, or, more ftrangely, the Mofseus*
The Ab-Zal he unites with the Gyndes, and fo conveys it into the
Tigris above Khorna, while he opens another communication with a
ftream he calls Sahaab, or Soweib, which comes into the Tigris below
Khorna. This is the mouth of Niebuhr’s Su-ab, which he calls
the port of Ahwaz'^'^^ or Haviza, the modern capital ; and it feem$
to maintain its ancient title, as Su-ab is the river of or Sufiana,

It may not now be navigable to T oftar, for Toftar is a village ; although
there cannot be a doubt but that it is the original iffue of the commu»

nication formed by the Mefercan; and I have great reafon to fuppofe
that there was a fimilar union of the Eulasus eaftward with the
Arofis, and that this is the ground of the affertion common to
Strabo, Al-Edrifi, and Cheref-eddin ; that all the rivers of Sufiana
communicate with the Tigris. That Sufiana was a favoured province
under the early dynafties we have fufficient evidence in the fortifi-^
cation of Sufa, and in finding that it was the principal treafury of
the empire : out of this, Alexander paid the debts of his army at the
expence of twenty thoufand talents, celebrated the nuptial feaft of
the Macedonian officers with their Perfian brides, and rewarded the
fervices of all that had a particular claim to diftin£l;ion ; out of this,
he made the donation to the veterans he difcharged at Opis, under-

^ In the colledion of voyages by Mel»
chifedeck Thevenot, (Paris 1663,) a map of
the territory of Bafra is inferted, from the au-
thority of a native, intended to fhew the
numbers and fituation of the Sabaeans, or
Chriftians of St. John. This map, which is
without proportion of any kind, gives the re-
lative fituation of the rivers and places here
mentioned, in perfect conformity to what I
had previoudy colleded from other authors.

This conformity gave me no little ratisfafiion.
The only difference is, it places Howeiza
(Haviza) on the upper flream of d’Anville,
rather than on the Suab of Niebuhr, which is
written Soweib ; but Haviza is connefted with
both. See Thevenot, in fine Perfepolis,
vol. i. p. 24.

He feems to make them two towns.

Another mountain river.

took

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

• 4^9

took the fupport of all the children born to his followers in Afia^
and found fupplles for upwards of fifty thoufand native troops
raifed in Perfia ; and yet this treafure was not exhaufted at the
time of his death, for the war between Antigonus and Eumenes
was caufed by a contention for this capital, which was ftill the
richeft in the empire. We are not, however, to fuppofe that this
accumulation arofe from the revenue of a fingle province, though
the province itfelf was productive above all others. Strabo fays, that
the return of the crop was an hundred or even two hundred fold.
Cotton, fugar"^^®, dates, rice, and every grain of the fineft fpecies are
enumerated amongft its natural productions ; damaflced fteel, filk,
cotton linens, and cloth of gold, amongft its manufactures.
Such was Sufiana in the early ages, and fuch it continued to the
time of Sapor, and almoft to the dlflblution of the empire by the
Agwhans. It is now a prey to every Arab invader, harafled by
the Turkifli arms from Bafra on the weft, and by the Perfians from
Schiraz on the eaft: a fettled defpotifm protected the provinces it
opprefled ; the tranfient ufurpations of the prefent day ravifli not
only the produce, but deftroy the flock.

If I have dwelt longer upon the defcriptlon of this province than
the following fliort narrative of Nearchus’s tranfaftions may re-
quire, thofe who efteem geography as a fcience will pardon me. One
object of my work is to elucidate ancient geography, and there is no
portion of it more involved by erudition than this under contemplation.
If I have made this confiftent, and rendered it applicable to the voyage

Thirty thoufand came out of Perfjs only, Linteum virgatum Corcubseum, ftriped

under Peuceftas. linen of Corcub, is mentioned by Al-Edrifi,

See Otter, vol. ii. p, 50. Who fays the p. 123. Corcub is upon the Gyndes. See
country is hot in .ther extreme, and unhealthy Otter, vol. ii. p> 51*
to foreigners. The natives are tawny; bafanes.

3 H 2

I have

420

*G U L P H OF PERSIA,

I have undertaken to comment, I Jfhall not eafily recede from the
ground I have taken by reference to ancient authorities, but appeal to
thofe who may vifit this country hereafter. Of that, indeed, there is
little hope; for what merchant, what traveller, unlefs he be a Bruce,
will jeopardy his life to refolve queftions of curiofity ?

PASSAGE of NEARCHUS from the AROSIS to SUSA.

We left Neatchus at anchor in the mouth of the Arofis"^^*", pre^
paring to enter upon the navigation along the coaft of Sufiana ; a
courfe w^hich, he informs us, he confidered as attended with the
greateft hazard and difficulty. Three ffioals have been already no-
ticed ; one between the Arofis and Kataderbis, called Barcan ; a
fecond between Kataderbis and Khore Moofa'^’*, called Karabah'^^* ;
and a third between Khore Moofa and the Khore Abdillah, named
Ali-Meidan. Thefe three ffioals give exadlly the three days’ courfe
of the fleet along the coaft of the Delta, which, without a previous
information of this kind, muft have been in fome degree unin-
telligible.

The fleet left the Arofis on the fixth of February, after taking on
board a fupply of w^ater for five days, as the pilots informed them
they were not certain of procuring any, while they were croffing
the mouths of the ftreams which divide the Delta ; for the coaft

Oroatis, Tab, or Endian.

Qnery, Whether Khore Waftah ?

See fuprai and M'Cluer, p. 30.

“ When the pilot hrft makes the hanks,
they are called Karabah on the Eaft, and
** towards the Weft Ali-Meidan.’’

453 ' « ' t V / > \

(Aiycc eg rov cjotTov

l^£Xi?c7-av. £0 I read with Gronovius, Itss

X^crav for ecix>ia-uv ; and I now advert to
fox the lafl time ; which the tranflation
gives, as ufual, vadofum ac fcopulcfum ; — on a
coaft where a ftone is not to be found. 8,ri
yiiya eg Toy 'Wqvtov \'Ttix}iO‘oi.v, expreftes the'
breadth of the Ali-Meidan, which extends
out fifteen or fixteen miles in the wideft
part.

was

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

421

was low, as they faid, and the coiirfe along it in no great depth of
water, on account of flioals which extended far out into the fea.

This circumflance would confequently oblige them to (land off; and,
when they came to an anchor, to anchor at a great diftance"^*^ from
fliore. The firft day’s courfe, indeed, partook not of thefe dan-
gers, for the fhoal Barcan"^”, between the Arofis and Kataderbis, is
not of fo great extent from the coaft as thofe that fucceed on the
weft, and the mouth of the river is fufEciently open, even in its
appearance at the prefent day'^^^ The fhoal, however, feems to be
noticed by the expreffion of Arrian upon the conclufion of the
courfe ; for he fays, after a paflage of about thirty miles they came
to anchor at the mouth of a lake rather than an harbour, where
there was abundance of fifh. This may be confidered as marking
the nature of a fhoaly coaft, but the point is not material to infift
on. The place was called Kataderbis, and an Ifland which lay at
the mouth, Margaftana. In thefe two words there feems an evident
allufion to an ifland ftill called Deree, and a trafi: called Dorgheftan;
but of the Bender Madjour which d’Anville, from the Turkifh
Geographer, allots to this ftation, I find no traces in any Englifh
chart. One-and-thirty miles, meafured upon M‘Cluer’s chart, brings
Nearchus to an anchor between the two iflands Deree and Deree-
bouna, and one-and-thirty Englifh miles end between Dereebouna
and the main. In either pofitlon, Nearchus might have but one
Ifland in contemplation, and confequently have no caufe to mention

Katader-
bis Lake.
MaRG AS-
TANA

Island.
February 6.
One hundred
and twenty*
eigfith day.

^54- See the note of Gronovius in loco,
where he fhewsthat the tranllators were as bad
interpreters as they were feamen.

4-55 The Tenagos Arenofum of Ptolemy is
the Ihoal Barcan in this very pofition between

the Eu’aeus and the Arohs.

See M^Ciuer’s chart, three fathom on
the bar.

more.

4-2%

GULPH OF PERSIA.

more* Their modern names are fuch as they have from the pilots ;
but, however applied, certainly relate to the inland Dera of Pto-
lemy, which gives name to the eaftern channel of the Eul^us, evi-
dent in Deurak, ftill exifting, and in the tra£t Dorgheftan, allied, if
I may vary the orthogrophy, to the Morgheftan of Arrian,

The river Dorack, I have already marked as the eaftern branch of
the Eulseus feparating from the Karun channel inland, falling in
neareft to the Tab, or Endian, and embracing, not only one ifland,
but feveral in its channel. Upon a review of Ptolemy at this place,
obferving that he mentions the mouth of the Eulseus immediately
next to the Arofis, and has the Mofeus only, without noticing
the other channels between the Euteus and the Tigris, I am more
confirmed in my opinion, that his Mofseus is the branch we now
call the Karun, with Khore Moofa at its iflue; and that the Mefene
comprehends, not only the flrip between the Bamifhere and Cofllfa-
Bony, but perhaps as far as the Karun alfo.

The two iflands at the mouth of the Dorack are not accurately
named, for Bouna is apparently a channel rather than an ifland, and
feems to correfpond in contradiftindlion to the Coffifa-Bony, either
as fuch, or as a boundary and termination of the Delta. The
Oriental geographers place a fort here, called Medhi and Modhi"^*®,
perhaps in the fituation of Mofhure, in Mr. Dalrymple’s chart ; and
it is not impoffible that fomewhere in the bay, formed by the
mouths of the Dorack, d’Anville’s Bender Madjour may be dif-
covered ; it cannot be where the map of his Memoir places it ; for

I do not fearch for an error in the initial Hifn-Modhi, Arx-Modhi, Hifn-Arx,

letter ; for I believe the change to arife from Caftcllum. Gol. ad Alfrag. p. 248. Xin.
fome Oriental orthography, which I cannot idem,
difcover.

the

SUSIS, or S US I ANA.

4^3

the coaft there Is covered with the flioal Barcan, and d’Anville’s
three maps are all particularly incorredl on this part of the coaft.
I make the lefs fcruple of aflerting this, becaufe M‘Cluer has not
only laid down this coaft totally different, but all our Engliffi charts;
thefe have at Icaft the authority of the native pilots, and M^Cluer,
I conclude, his own obfervation ; for he has added the foundings,
and that he would hardly have ventured to do without fufficient
authority, on a coaft where the land cannot be approached near
enough to be feen, and where the courfe muft principally, if not
wholly, be direded by foundings.

I am now to condud the fleet acrofs the fhoals which fringe the
Delta; and in this courfe I difcover the Karabah and the Ali-Meidan
as manifeftly as in a modern map. On the firft day they failed as
foon as it was light ; and, forming a line by fingle fhips, each fol-
lowed In order, without deviating to the right or left, through a
channel marked out with ftakes in the fame manner as the palTage'^®*
between Leukas and Akarnania, in Greece : but, fays Arrian, at
Leukas there is a firm fand, and if a veflTel grounds fhe is eafily
got off again ; but in this pafTage it was a deep mud on both fides,
fo that a ftafF could find neither fupport or refiftance ; or if, when
the veffel grounded, the people got overboard to eafe her off, they
found no footing, but funk in higher than the waift. Now it is
true that a muddy fhore, and the flaking out a dangerous paflage, is
not peculiarly charaderiftic of one coaft more than another, for the
praitice is fufficiently general ; but it is very extraordinary that this

Map of Afia, firft part. Tigris and
Euphrates. Memoir.

And many other paffages in different
parts of ihe world. Lymington river in

Hampfhire. And in the year 1786, 1 faw the
Elephant man of war juft launched at Bufsle-
ton, brought down the creek marked out in
the fame manner.

Shoal.
Firft day's
courfe.
February 7.
One hundred
and twenty-
ninth day.

circumftance

GULPH OF PERSIA,

4*24

circumftance fhould be fo decidedly noticed on this part of the
coaft by Arrian, Ptolemy, Pliny, Marcian, AI-Edrifi, and Tlievenot,
with little variation. There is a bay between the Mofasus
and the Eul^us called Sinus Pelodes in Ptolemy, and Sinus Ste-

loas in Marcian. Salmafms and Eludfon will not allow Marcian

to retain his own reading, but reduce him to the ftandard of Pto-
lemy. The truth is, however, that he has preferved one feature
and Ptolemy another, both belonging to the fame face of the coaft;
for thefe two terms tranflated are nothing more than Muddy Bay
and Stake Bay; proving that Marcian is not a mere copyiii of Pto-
lemy, but fometimes alfo a commentator. Pliny bears teftimony to
the former circumftance, and Thevenot mentions the entrance of
the Karun as ftill marked by a ftake of palm wood, when he arrived
at the mouth. Let us now confider the nature of the Karabah, as it
has been already noticed, and we fhall difeover the caufe that gives rife "
to this circumftance. The term of broken ground applied to this
fhoal arifes from the irregularity of the foundings and overfalls on it,
and the fiftion of a city funk here is noticed by feveral authors. The
foundings, according to M‘Cluer, vary from twelve to feven and
eight, — to ten, feven, and five fathoms. As foon as the modern pilot
finds thefe, he keeps away weft for the Ali-Meidan ; but the courfe
of Nearchus feems to have been acrofs this bank, and, as nearer
fhore, naturally with fhallower water ; but the inequality of the
bottom as naturally offered the means of exploring a channel acrofs.
This is the channel that we may conclude was marked out by the

An additional proof that Ptolemy’s Eu- alterutro mendum effe neceffe eft.

Isus is the Dorack channel. His Mo'seus, the Sal. Plin. Ex. p. 701.

Kaiun. In p, 16.

Between the Karun and the Dorack. Karabah, broken; from the Perftan

ZryiAway xoA^o)'. Marcian, root Karab, to break. Mr. Jones,

natives.

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

4^5

natives. An attention of this kind is perfe<£lly confiftent with the
commercial fpirit of the province, and proceeds upon the fame
grounds as the navigation inland. A paflage over or through the
llioal is aeceflarily implied in the account of the journal ; the ac-
complilliment of it is reconciled to reafon by the method I have
purfued, and in whatever ftate the coaft may now be, it can hardly
afford a ground of objection to my ftatement of what it might have
been at the diftance of fo many centuries, Amidft all difadvantages
of ancient navigators, they had one advantage arifmg from the
little depth of water the conftrudlion of their veffels required.

Through a paffage, then, of this fort, Nearchus conduced his
fleet thirty-feven miles, and then came to an anchor without being able
to approach the fliore. Here they took their repaft on board, and
gave the people fome time for refrefhment. I have no hefitation
to fix this anchorage in the Khore Waftah, the iffue of the Selege
ftream^®^, for there the meafure given agrees perfectly with M^Gluer,
and there he feerns to terminate the Karabah. It is a minute cir-
cumftance, but worth noticing, that both Ptolemy and Marcian
agree in making the eaftern commencement of the bay, Pelodes,
at fome diftance from the Eul^us, or Dorack, and their termination
of it is at the Mofteus, or Karim, which would naturally happen,
as they take no notice of the intermediate channel, or Khore
Waftah.

From this anchorage the fleet weighed in the night, after allo>r- Shoal.
ing a flrort refpite from fatigue, but they had no longer a ftioal to ' 7QTrre\o^

D I R I 1) 0 T 1 S .

February 3.
One hundred

It amounts to thirty-two geographical yy.rcc four failiom';, ftould he

miles, equal very nearly to thirty-feven miles ys'ru to a Greek /r#/,

Enghih.

3 I

crofs ; they failed in deep^*^^ water, fays Arrian, manlfcftly marking

the

G U L F H OF P E R S r A.

42.6

the courfe along the border of the AlhMeidan, whiclr every
veflel bound for the Bafra Channel ftill purfues. They failed all
night and the whole of the follovv^ing day till part noon, when
they finiflied their courfe at Diridotis, a village in the mouth of
the Euphrates.

Tlie diftance affigned for this paffage acrofs the Ali-Meidan is
nine hundred ftadia, or upwards of fifty-fix miles, a meafure which
is very dubious, as Nearchus informs us he was able to keep no re-
gular account, and the ftatement of the moderns is fo various, that
I prefer giving their own diftanees to fixing any determinate mea^
fure of my own*

D’Anville. Geog. Miles,

Memoir Meafure from the Karun to Khore 1 , _

Abdillah, - - ^

Map of Afia, firft part, - 33. add 7 — 4.0

Map of Tigris and Euphrates,. ^ - 30, add 7 — 37

M^Cluer.

Large Sheet from Waftah to Khore Abdillah, * 40

Small Sheet from Walfah to Khore Abdillah, 34

Dalrymple.

Anonymous Chart from Karun to Khore Abdillah, 46

from Waftah to Khore Abdillah, , 62

Niebuhr.

From Karun to Khore Abdillah (dubious), 40. add 7 — 47

Upon ihis fat there are fix fathoms on ** Ifiore/* and this part is dry at low water,
the foutliern edge, five fathoms on the mid- I have eighteen draughts to confulfj.,

die, four at the upper end. The pilot feldom but thefe are all worth fpecifying. Seven
goes under five, or five and an half. miles are added for the difference between the

M‘Cluer, p. 30. “ When you come within Karun and Wallah ; ■ but fome of the charts
two fathoms, you are dill near ten miles from make it ten.

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

427

If fuch are the fludluations of the moderns, how are we to reduce
a journal of the age of Alexander? M^Cluer’s fmall flieet is a cor-
rected draught, and his corrections ufually promote a coincidence
V\^ith Arrian ; but how are we to reconcile his eftimate with that of
Mr. Dalrymple’s chart ? It is true that I efteem Mr. Dalrymple’s,
in point of difpofition, as the beft of any which I have feen ; but
I have reafon to confider all its rneafures as too large; this will appear
more fully when I come to treat of the coaft in general.

Diridotis, or Teredon, is the termination of the voyage by fea,
and evidently both forms mark its connexion with the Diglito of
Pliny, and the Tigris of the Greeks, as they are both related
to the Oriental Degela, or Didsjile^^k Diglidoth'^'^ intimating a
town fituated near the Degela, will give the two forms of Diridotis
and Teredon, with the ufual interchange between R and l, which
appears in many other inftances. This place Arrian calls a village,
where there was a mart eftablifhed for the importation of the in-
cenfes of Arabia, and its fituation fits it for the convevance of them
up to Mefopotamia, either by the old canal at the Khore Abdillah,
or by the Schat-el-Arab to Sufiana, or Perfis ; and this circum-
itance has recommended it to the notice of all the ancient geo-
graphers. I have already mentioned that Ptolemy places Teredon
between the two mouths of the Tigris, which evidently proves that
he confidered d’Anville’s Ghoabedeli, as a mouth of the Tigris, and
not of the Euphrates. And as- I have before accounted for Pto-

Niebuhr write?, D dsjile. the Tigils — iardior fluit ; and gives Tigris

One reading of Diglito in the MSS. of as a fecond name, where the courfe is as fwift
Pliny is Diglath, equivalent to Degelaii. as an arronjo,

Pliny means by Diglito, the upper part of

'2 1'^

lemy’s

GULPH OF PERSIA

428

ieiny’s Sinus Mefanius, the whole of ancient geography is thus ren-
dered confiilent with and with our modern charts.

It- will feein extraordinary that, when the coiirfe of Nearchu^
lay up the T%rls, or Schat-el-Arab, he fhould pafs the mouth of
that channel, and bring his fleet to an anchor in the Khore Abdillah,
which he calls the mouth of the Euphrates. This, according to
Pliny’s account, was juft going twenty-five miles out of his way^,
and caufmg a neceility of re-meafunng his courfe back again the
fame diftance. Pliny’s eftimate, computed by d’Anville’s method,
is reduced to twelve miles and an half ; and the real diftance, taken
largely, may be about ten. If, therefore, it is aiked why this
happened, the anfwer will exhibit one of thofe minute coincidences-
which nothing but truth could fiiggeft. It is a circumftance con-^
Bedted with the nature of the navigation, and it continues to be
the pradbice of the pilots to^ the prefent hour, for thus M^CIuer
defcribes the courfe :

.... ‘‘ After thefe foundings in Khore Gufgah, you wilt
quickly fhoaleiT to four one-half fathoms, and this the pilot calls
Mucan ^ and from that, three one-half or three fathoms to
BulTorah Bar With thefe foundings, he ftill ftands acrofs [the
mouth of the Schat-el-Arab], weft or weft by north, till he
deepens to five fathoms in Khore Abdillah, and there he anchors
till the next flood tide ; or, if he has fufficient tide to carry him
over, he ftands away to clear a bank between Khore- Abdillah and'
the Bufforah river.”

I now beg leave to notice, that the pilot on board Nearchus
fleered' exadlly the fame courfe as M^Cluer’s Karack pilot two*

474 M^Cluer’s Memoir, p, 30; The bar at the mouth of the Coffifa-

The Mefene; Bony, or Schat-el-Arab, as I ufe it,

thoufand

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A. 425

tlioufand years afterwards ; fo durable is the ftanip that Nature
has fet upon this coaft. The reafon of this is obvious ; for
the projediion of the Ali-Meldan throws the veffel off the coaft
till fhe is oppofite to the Khore Abdillah, and the level of the
land is fo low at the mouth of the Schat-el-Arab, that it is much
fafer for her to make land in the Khore, than to ftand up the
Schat-el-Arab at once, when the coaft on either hand is too low to
be vifible.

While Nearchus lay at anchor In this Khore, which he calls the
Mouth of the Euphrates, intelligence was received that Alexander
was on his march to Sufa. He determined, therefore, to return
back'^’''' ; and then, by purfuing his courfe up the Pafi-Tigris, to join
him in the neighbourhood of the capital.

Here It Is that, In my endeavour to explain the following day’s
courfe, I am obliged to differ totally from d’Anvllle, I appeal to the
candour of the reader, that no captious love of oppofition may
be imputed to me, for I have too great a deference to that great
geographer’s opinion, ever to depart from it without fufficient
grounds.

The paflage is only fix hundred ftadia from DIrldotls to Aginis.
d’Anville places Aginis at Zeine, in the Schat-el-Arab. I fay that
Nearchus never entered the Schat-el-Arab, and I place Aginis at the
mouth of the Karun, or Khore Moofa. This is the difference be-
tween us. D’Anvllle’s beft argument is the fimilarity between
Aginis and Zeine; and, when the local circumftances are firft fixed,
I hold fimilarity of names to be one of the beft of proofs ; but to
derive the locality from the found, is commencing the argument at
the wrong end.

Aginis,
February 9.
One hundred
and thirty*
hrft day.

dvTii To ormn IVasoj'? p« 357*

43^

GULPH OF PERSIA.

My* reafons for affuming a different courfe are thefe :

I ft, Pliny’s Chaldean Lake, and Arrian’s Lake at the mouth of
the Tigris, are not the fame.

2dly, Arrian’s Pafitigris is never the Schat-eLArab, and in this
he is fupported by Strabo.

3dly, In the paffage of Nearchus up the river, no notice is taken
of the canal of Haffar, but only upon Alexander’s courfe down to
the gulph.

4thly, Nearchus is faid to go up the Pafitigris, Alexander is faid
to come do wn the Eulseus.

5thly, Nearchus, in his courfe from Diridotis to Aginis, failed
with Sufiana on his left.

ift, The CHALDEAN LAKE.

Nearchus failed'^"^ acrofs a lake into which the Tigris falls at its
iffue into the gulph ; but if this lake exifts, or ever did exift, it
muft have been at the mouth of the Schat-el-Arab, and could not be
the fame as Pliny’s Chaldean Lake ; for that commences below Cte-
fiphon, and ends at Aphle ; and he adds afterwards, that the waters,
after fp reading in this form, are again colledted into a ftrearn, and
in that fhape take their courfe to the fea. His Chaldean Lake,

473’\^'~a'' ^» \ \ \

PC7T0 OS Tr,(; s<: ocvrov Tov 'mora^ov

’ ' . ' t ^ y r/ . / -<r‘ '

KVCiTTAy; foodtoi SCOCKOO'iOif UCC ft, KCOyLY) TYjq l^ba^ooc, "/.H

Hcc?Jy<7iv ^'A.yniv. Ar, '^5“.

Sufa a Periico marl abfuat ccl. m.
pafT. qua rubiit ad earn [ea] clafiis Alexandri
Pafitigri. Vicus ad Chaldaicum Lacum vo-
€atur Aphle; unde Sufa navigatione lxv. m.
pair, abfunt.

This Pafitigris is the Schat-el- Arab, and
Pliny (upports d’Anvilie in Tuppofing the
palTage up that flieam ; but his Lacus ChaL
daicus will not accord with dAnville. Ti-
jgris inter Seleiiciam et Ctefiphontem vedus in

Lacus Chaldaicos fe fundit. Eofque lxx. m.
pad', amplitudine implet. Now lxx. 'miles
will not>reach from Ctefiphon to Aphle by two
hun 'red, and lliil Aphle is at the lower end of
this lake. See lib. vi. c, 27.

But Pliny, lib.vi. c. 23. followed a different
authority. He there is giving an account of
this palfage of the fleet from the hidorians of
A.lexander, and there we find (not the Chaldean
lake) but a lake at the mouth of the river.
Odium Euphratis. Lacus qucm faciunt Eu-
laius et Tigris juxta Characetn, inde Tigri,
Sufa, (Lege) inde Tigri, Sufa.

therefore^

SU SIS, or S U S I A N A.

43>r

Aerefore, is not at the mouth of the Schat-el-Arab, but Inland, and
its termination at Aphle ; which, if Aphle and Haffar are the fame,
is upwards of fixty'^^'" miles from the. mouth. This, I conceive, is
the firil: fource of d’Anville’s miftake, andTliny’s error in alfuming
Pafitigrisj as the appellation of the Tigris and Euphrates united
in the Schat-el-Arab, is the ground of his making the fleet go up
that channel, inilead of the Karun, or real Pafitigris. D’Anville fol-
lows him in this aflertion, and liere is his fecond miftake. '

For, 2dly, Arrian’s Pafitigris is always that ftream which, flow-
ing eaft of Sufa, joins the Eulseus at fome diftance below that
capital. I have proved this by the concurrent teftimony of Strabo,
Diodorus, Q^Curtius, and Cheref-eddin, all according with Arrian.
It did not approach the city; it^was a broad, deep, and navigable
river : it crolTed the road from Perfis ; and, after its junction with
the Eulseus, the united ftream feparated again, fending off one
branch eaftward, now called the Dorack'^^', and another weftward,
which is the Karun ; and, finally, its charadteriftic diflindtion is the
title of Pq/tj or North Eajlern Tigris, in oppofition to the great
ftream of that name, which is now ftyled the Schat-el-Arab
This is manifeftly the fyftem of Arrian ; and Strabo, in explaining
the error of fome hiftorians who attributed this appellation to the^
Scliat-el-Arab as the general channel which received all the
different rivers, as manifeftly confirms the fyftem of Arrian, and
proves the concurrent opinion of all the authors iu' the age of
Alexanderr

I meafure to the bar of the Cofiira- The Schat el-Arab is always ftyled De-

Bony, or Bafra Channel. gela, or the Tigris, by AUEdiili,

The Eultfcus of Ptolemy.

3%5

45^-

G U L P H OF P E R S 1 A,

3dly, If Nearclius had gone up the Sehat-el-Arab, he could have
entered the Eulaeus^ or Pafitigris, only by the Haftar^Canal; Is it then
not remarkable that, when at Aginls, he fpecifies the progrefs of the
following day as up the Pafitigris^®^, and not up a canal ? but if
Nearchus had failed i^p this eanal, there is much more reafon to
conclude it would have been fpecified in a courfe he performed him^-
felf, (where it is not fpecified,) than in the defcent of Alexander,
where it is mentioned, and in which he was not fo immediately or
perfonaDy concerned. This, confidering the tenor of the journal,
is one of the ftrongeft evidences which can be produced ; for an
artificial cut was no common objed to a Greek, and a fimilar cir-
eumftance is preferved at Heratemis, though the^paffage was neither
explored, or made any part of the navigation. An omlffion, it is
true, is only a negative proof, but in an inftance of this kind it
inufl have confiderable weight

4thly, There Is no Inconfiftence In mentioning Alexander’s
defcent by the Eulseus, and Nearchus’s afcent by the Pafitigris, for
Nearchus entered the river from the fea where it bore this appel-
lation iii contradiftindion to the Tigris, and Alexander embarked at
Sufa, where that fource, which paffes the capital, is called the
Eulseus, The various heads"^^^ of this flream caufe confufion in the
interior ; the various arms, as it approaches the fea, create diforder
upon the coaft. It is thus that the Eula^us and Choafpes are tranf-
mutable, and that the Eulseus of Ptolemy is not the fame as
Arrian’s at its mouth, but the Dorack. If Alexander embarked at

hfiev^s itarol rov llua-yTi'ypn/ avu) et villages ou cllc pafTe, et ainfi il efl mal

Arr. p. 357* aife qiie les voyageurs s’accordent bien pour

En Turquie en Perfe et aux Indes une ces noms. Tavernier, lib. v. p. 733. Amft.
meme riviere prend le nom de toiites ies villes edit.

1 1 Sufa,

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

433

Sufa, tlie ftream was necefTarily the Eulseus till it joined the Pafi*
tigris, and the name was eafily continued after the junftion. If
Nearchus entered the Palitigris, the prefervation of the fame title in
his courfe upwards, obviated ambiguity; and when he reached the
jundfion, his progrefs up the eaftern fource diftinguifhes again the
Pafitigris from the Eulseus. By the latter he would have reached

Sufa, by the former he effected his jundfion with the army.

5thly, The expreffion of Arrian is precife, v/hen he aflerts that
Nearchus failed back again from Diridotis to Aginis, if Aginis is in
the Delta on the Khore Moofa ; but it is not equally appofite, if he
returned only to the Schat-el-Arab. It appears evident that he had
intended to go up the Schat by the courfe he held, but that the ac«

. count he received at Diridotis informed him that the king was
diredfing his courfe to Sufa ; this intelligence carried him back to
I the Pafitigris, as the fhorteft paffage to the capital, for fuch it is; while
j the navigation up the Schat-el-Arab and through the Haffar canal was
either unknown to him at that time, or not in his contemplation. But
this is not all; he paffed from Diridotis back to Aginis with Sufiana
on his left. Could this be true, if he had failed up the Schat-el-
Arab ? Let any advocate of Mr. d’Anville inform me, if ever the

tradf on the weft of the Schat-el-Arab was called Sufiana by any
geographer, ancient or modern ? Whether it was poffible for Arrian
to terminate that province weft, at the Euphrates"*^^ inftead of the^
Tigris ? No. It was always ftyled Arabia, by the concurrent tefti-
mony of hiftorians and geographers, as it is to the prefent day, and
it was always poffeffed by Arabs, whofe influence reaches to the very
walls of Bafra.

The Khore Abdillah is the Euphrates of Arrian.

3K Ifj

434

GULP FI OF PERSIA.

If, however, it can be fuppofed that Nearchiis made his Eu-
phrates the boundary of Sufiana, the difficulty will be increafed
for then, in failing up the Schat-el-Arab, the expreffion ought to
have been, that he proceeded up the Schat-ehArab through SuJiancPj
not with Suliana on his left ; for, if the Tigris is the boundary, in
going up it, Sufiana muft be on the right.

The whole of this error originates with Pliny; he knew, from
the hiftorians of Alexander, that the fleet went up the Pafitigris ; but
his Pafitigris is the Schat-eLArab, and theirs is the river connefted
with the Eulseus. If this error had not mifled fo great a geographer
as d’Anville, all that has been faid would be fuperfluous.

Thefe are my reafons for adopting the following fyftem ; and it
will now be eafy to, conduct Nearchus from Diridotis to Aginis by
the courfe which is here alTumed. Thefe are the words of Arrian :
At Diridotis intelligence was received that Alexander was ad-
vancing to Sufa ; the fleet, therefore, returned back again from
Diridotis, in order to proceed up the Pafitigris', and join the
army. They failed accordingly on their return, with Sufiana on

The Kliore. Abdillah..

It orininates adlually with thofe Greek
writers whom Strabo reproves for the fame
miflake.

ayyi'KKt't(%% lin Tiicruv

hvGep dvrot TO OniSU B7r?isov, cog
fcard rov riacrhriypriv <woTa^ov ocvctTrT^dicroiyrig
(rviA.yA^'Xt ’'E'7r7\sov TO EMFIAAIN Iv

APIST.EPA ryvyTtvrvjy roapaTrAe-

s^cTi AijAnjV E? vy 0 Tiypy:g eo-CAab. 'woraaoc' . • . • •
d-TiO o) rr.g }S[A,yY}g eg avrov roy ivoraiAov ahaVAa?
ra^ioi B^dKocnoi ipoc Kj }ict(AVj tv? 'E^cri^og rjv iccO\i'ea'\y

""Ayi'Jiy. Arr. p. 357.

To make thefe words accord with a pafTage
sp the Tigris,,, or Schat. dwQ h' eg

avTof roy 'zerotcc/Aov muft be rendered, from the
lake UP the river; but E2 cannot be fo ren-
dered. It is TO the river. And again—
dvroy Toy muft then be a different

river from that which is exprefsly declared
to be their objedi before, Kara rlv HaiTtTiyptjv

'ZtToTa^ov*

The refutation of any fuch conrtrudlion, and
the confirmation of that which I adopt, is
contained in a following paffage. That is,
when the fteet proceeded the next day from
Agmis : hQiAe Kurd roy Uotcr.iiy^tv dva) eirht^y.
From thence, [from Aginis,] they failed up
the Pafitigris. The rtver^ therefore, is the
Pafitigris, and not the Tigris.

the

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A*

435

the left. The firft part of their courfe was acrofs a lake into

which the Tigris difembogues itfelf ; and from this lake

to the mouth of the river [Pafitigris], the difcance was fix hun-
dred ftadia : at the termination of their courfe was a village of
Sufiana, called Aginis.”

In commenting on this paffage, Mr. d’AnvIlle commits two errors;
for he calls the lake, the Chaldean Lake, which it has been proved
not to be ; and he then adds, that the extent of the lake is fix hun-
dred ftadia, though the text fays clireftly the reverfe. ‘‘ They
pafted the lake, and from the lake to the river the diftance was
fix hundred ftadia.” He adduces the teftimony of Strabo'^®^ to
prove this, but Strabo does not mention the extent of the lake
at all.

The exiftence of this lake at the mouth of the Tigris, or Schat-
el-Arab, muft now be fought for; and, if we take a view of the
map, we find a tradt on the weft of that ftream called Dauafir by
Niebuhr, the extreme point of which between the Khore Abdillah
and the Schat-el-Arab we muft fink, to find room for this lake at
the mouth of the ^Tigris ; and that this was really under water in
the age of Alexander, and rofe gradually to its prefent appearance,
cither by accumulation or artificial means, we have abundant evi-
dence to prove. The very name'^^h if I am not miftaken, implies

inundation ; and Niebuhr fuppofes the whole level as high as
Halfeinad, the burial-place of Haflan-ben-Hanefie, to have been
under water, and even that it would be fo at this day, if the inun-

La traverfee de ce lac pour la flotte P. 729.

d’ Alexandre fut de fix cens (lades. Mem. Kerme-fir, the hot country ; Daua-(ir>

Oi, the watery country. But ?

3 K 2 dation

436

GUI. PH OF PERSIA.

dation were not prevented by dykes. “ Every where, (he fays^^"",)
‘‘ canals are cut to convey water to the date grounds ; and as the
water of the river is faturated with flime, the land here muft, in
a fucceffion of ages, have been raifed confiderably to have ob-
tained its proper level.” This fuppofition of Niebuhr’s is in
perfed: harmony with an affertion'^^^ of Pliny’s, that the inundation
of the waters is no where fo extenfive as in this part of the riven
Another circumftance is the rifmg of Abadan, a town at the mouth

of the Schat-el“Arab, at the extremity of the Dauafir ; for it feems

poffible to trace this from its emerfion; firft, in the form of an
ifland, and afterwards as part of the main occafioned by the de-
parture of the waters. I looked for it in two Apphadanas of
Ptolemy, but the pofition of neither anfwers. Marcian'^'^^ however,
expreffes himfelf thus : Near this part of Sufiana lies an ifland
called Apphadana which fome attribute to Arabia.” This

feems to fhew the emerfion of land at the point of the Dauafir,

between the age of Alexander and the time of Marcian. The con-
nexion of this ifland with the main, or rather the withdrawing of
the waters which feparated it, feems to have taken place in a later
period ; for that it was united in the time of Al-Edrifi is evident.
Abadan, (he fays"^®^,) is a fmall fort, but ftill in good condition,

Vol. ii. p, 169, Am ft. edit.

493 pjjjg profecere aquae terris

invedae. Plin. lib. vi. c. 27.

^9^ Marc. Heracl. p. 17. Geog. Min.
Hudfon.

“^95 xhe Pafini Charax.

*9^ The trariftation reads Apphana, There
13 a coin in the pofTeffion of Mr. Cracherode,
and in Dr. Hunter^s Mufeurn, inferibed
ESFEAHNE, which is by fome imputed to
Afpendus ; but if it Ihould appear that the

Syrian Greeks pofiefted the mouths of the
Euphrates, this word would read Eswedene,
not far removed from Apphadana.

Eft autem Abadan Arx paryaquidem,
fed Integra, ad litus maris appoftta, quae in-
fervit ad obfervandos atque protegendos cos,
qui fubeant mare praedldlum jaceique Abadan
ab occidental! parte Degelae [Tigris] amnis
qui eo in loco maxime diftunditur fuper terram.
AbEdrifi, p. 12 1.

fituated

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A. 437

fituated near the fea, which is intended for watching and pro-
testing thofe who frequent this part of the coaft, it lies on the
‘‘ weftern bank of the Degela [Tigris], in a part where that river
‘‘ particularly fpreads itfelf over the The fame author adds

a remarkable circumftance, which, though not connefted with the
inundation, is fo uncommonly local, that it is worth inferting*
Six miles below Abadan lies Al-chafciabat, which fignifies a ftage
‘‘ raifed upon piles in the fea, where there is a watch kept, and
‘‘ thofe who are appointed for that fervice repair to the ftage in
boats, and return by the fame conveyance.” This fa£t is fo con-
nedted with the navigation of the Schat-el-Arab, that whether the
duty of this watch was for the purpofe of giving fignals, or
affording pilotage ; it marks ftrongly the attention paid to the fecu-
rlty either of the country or of the navigators, and that, no more
than the lownefs of the coaft demanded. This ftage feems evidently
on the point of the flioal, between the Khore Abdillah and the
Schat-el-Arab.

Such is the nature of the Dauafir at its termination, and fuch is;
the evidence to prove that there was a lake in the age of Near-
chus'^’^% where there Is now land; that the land had emerged in the
form of an Ifland in the dme of Marclan ; and that, before Al-
Edrift wrote, it was united to the main. This is a faft of no fmall
importance to afcertain. As the want of a lake at prefent forms
one ground of objection to the authenticity of the journal. The

Tout le pais eft ft has que fans une digue
qui regne le long de la mer il feroit fouvent en
danger d’eftre fubmerge. Tavernier, lib. ii.
p. 243. I ftnd nothing of this dyke in other
authors, unlefs It be the dyke in the river men-
tioned by Niebuhr. But the paftage concurs

in the lownefs of the land. In p. 245 he men-'
tions the breaking of this dyke, and that then
the waters came up to Bafra.

'<•59 Anno 326 A. C.

400 poll Ch.

1100 poll Ch.

name

GULPH OF PERSIA.

438

ixam^ of Abadan ftill exifts at the mouth of the rh^er, in the
Tfchabde and Tfchwabde of Niebuhr which he makes two
villages, poffibly out of one. M^Cluer has alfo an Abadan, but
too high up the river, and on the eaftern inftead of the weftern
fide.

I have been the more particular in ftating all the circumfiances re-
lating to this point of the Dauafir, on account of the numerous errors
attending it ; and I muft now obferve that I am not bound by the
text of Arrian to fix upon any particular extent of the lake ; for he
mentions only that the fleet croflfed it, and that, from the lake to
the Pafitigris, the diftance was thirty-feven miles and an half. * The
extent of it up the Tigris I am not concerned with, but I Ihould
not carry it, with Niebuhr, thirty miles up to Haffeinad ; for
Mr. Jones, who has paiTed frequently up the channel and down,
feems to think, that the weftern bank is every where too high to
admit of inundation, till within eight or ten miles of the mouth ;
but that part, he fays, has undoubtedly been under water, and thus
does the teftimony of a living witnefs confirm all our ^ written
evidence.

The map will now condudl us, after pafling the lake, acrofs the
Ali~Meidan, back again to the Karun, which I confider as the
Pafitigris, and Aginis as a village at its mouth. The general depth
of water on the Meidan, neareft to the coaft, is two fathoms at
high water; and confequently, if Nearchus failed upon the flood,
there is ample allowance for the draught of his veflels, which was
certainly not more than nine feet, and probably lefs than fix : and

See Tab. lx. vol.ii, Amft. edit.

here,

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

439

here, at Aginls, I make him anchor with the view of purfuing bis
courfe up the KarCin the fucceeding day.

Here a greater diiiiculty occurs than that which I have been en-
deavouring to unravel ; for, according to the journal, the extent of
the coaft from the Arofis to the Pafitigris is two thoufand ftadia,
while the three days’ courfe makes it two thoufand to Diridotis ;
and if Nearchus came back to the Karun, as I ftate, fix or feven
hundred ftadia ought to be fubtracted from the two thoufand. This-
difficulty * is not leffened by adopting Mr. d’Anville’s fyftem, for
thenfit muft be added inftead of fubtrafted, fo that the difference is^
equal, either in excefs or default : for this there is no better folution
than what the journal itfelf affords, tliat Nearchus himfelf confeffes
he kept a very uncertain account in this paflage ; and I am forry to
add, that the difagreement of our modern charts enables me to pro-
duce nothing certain upon the fubjedl. Mr. Dalrymple’s anony-
mous chart is the only one that gives thirty-feven miles between
the Schat-el-Arab and the Karun, agreeable to Nearchus. The
others vary fo much, that I prefer a ftatement of the whole to any
explication of my own, and I am conftrained to take the meafure
from the Arofis to Diridotis according to the daily courfe, rather
than to the Pafitigris, as Arrian reckons, becaufe in one inftance I
have particulars fpecified, and in the other only a general fum.
My reckoning may be reduced to Arrian’s, by taking off from
thirty-feven to forty-feven miles, the fuppofed dlftance betweeiv
Diridotis and Aginis.

With much diffidence, then, I fubmit the following fiatemenS

I always fuppofe the meafure of this chart to be too large.

440

GULPH OF PERSIA.

to the reader ; for greater difagreement, in fo fmall a fpace, Is hardly
to be found :

Stcidldm

Miles Eng,

From the Arofis to Kataderbis,

500

to Khore Waftah,

600

to Diridotis,

900

2000

125

Nautic Miles,

Miles Eng,

Arrian from the Arofis to Diridotis,

125

D’Anville’s Map of Afia,

105 nearly 122

D’Anville’s Memoir,

« 87

M‘Cluer’s large ftieet,

- 80

M‘Cluer’s fmall ftieet corrected,

105

D’Apres « - -

Gough’s chart,

Niebuhr -

105

Dalrymple’s anonymous chart,

137

- 160

Pliny,

- 265

Pliny, by another eftimate.

—

- 250

Pliny, halved by d’Anville,

125

Marcian of Heraclea, 3430 ftadia.

—

214

Marcian, by Salmafius, 1830 ftadia,

- 1 14

Ptolemy, fix^“^ degrees

- 360

417

Such Is the fluctuation of this eftimate, and perhaps.

out of the

whole lift, M^Cluer is the only one who formed his ftatement from

Niebuhr poffibly faw M‘Claer^s papers In reality fix one-half. Teredon, 8o^.

atBafra. Oroatis, 86° 30'.

obfervation,

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

441

obfervation, or the account of the native pilots. Arrian differs from
him only twenty miles, and on a coaft where, he informs us,
Nearchus could keep no true reckoning ; it is extraordinary that
his deviation fliould be no greater. Pliny had evidently found the
fame number of ftadia, but doubled the diftance by ufing the Olynv
pian ftadium in his reduflion. Mr. Dalrymple’s anonymous chart
exceeds in reality all but Ptolemy; and it is a great difappointment to
find that a chart, upon which depends the beft information for elu-
cidating Arrian, fhould be fo defedlive in its meafurement. It is,
however, by no means afcertained that the head of the gulph is
correft in any chart ; on the eaftern part, even M‘Cluer may be
deemed dependent upon the information of his pilots, and though
their eftimate is fufficiently juft to anfwer their purpofe, it is far in-
ferior to the obfervation of an Englifh navigator.

From Aginis, Arrian reckons it only five hundred ftadia, or
thirty-one miles, to Sufa, in which there is evidently an error either
in the eftimate or in the manufcripts. D’Anville fuppofes that the
letter expreffive of a thoufarid has been loft, and Greek numerals,
as fingle letters, are eafily omitted : to his opinion, therefore, I
fhould have no objedlion to fubfcribe, if fifteen hundred ftadia
would carry Nearchus to Sufa ; but that fum is fllll too fmall, and
Sufa muft be the termination according to the text ; other\\dfe 1
would have fixed the meafure to the bridge where the fleet joined
the army.

D’Anville’s diftance from Aginis to Sufa Is fomething fliort of an
hundred and thirty miles, which Pliny ftates at two hundred and

504 ]yjr, Dalrympleis never accountable for is anonymous,
the accuracy of the charts he publiflies. The • » • avrn <^4 ’Zijujv

author is alone refponfible j and in this cafe he 1; axaa-'iijc*

3 L >

1“

A Village
in the
Pafitigris.
February lO.
One hundred
and thirty-
fecond day.

44i G U L P H O F P E R S I A.

fifty ; this, by the ufual reduaiofi, Is an hundred and twenty-five^
agreeing fufficlently with feme comparative meafures of Al-Edrifi^%
who has no dlredt route between thefe two points ; but Strabo has
evidently copied the fame authorities as Arrian, and his account is
not only equally deficient, but his numbers more confufed. He
reckons an hundred and fifty ftadia to the bridge, and from the
bridge fixty to Sufa. This is out of all proportion ; but it is im-
mediately followed by an eftimate of five hundred ftadia from the
Sufian village to Sufa, by which village, if he means Aginls, it
is evident that he read five hundred in the copies as well as Arrian^
and not fifteen hundred, as d’Anville requires. I have before me
the means of giving the real diftance within a very few miles^
which I fhall produce upon bringing the fleet up to the bridge; and,
to that diftance, all the difcordance of our authors muft be obliged
^o fubmit. I fhall now carry the fleet up the Karun, which Arrian
calls the Pafitigris

One day only Is allowed at Diridotis, though poffibly it ought to
be more, and one day at Aginis. From Aginis the fleet entered the
Pafitigris, and proceeded little more than nine miles to a village,
where Nearchus waited till he fhould receive intelligence that the
army was approaching, which was to determine his progrefs, in
order to effect a jundlion. The meafures of the journal totally fail
me here ; for the hundred and fifty ftadia attributed to this day’s
courfe lead to nothing, and are fully as difproportionate as the five
hundred afligned to the diftance between Aginis and Sufa. This is

tie has one from Aficar Mokram to Do- d^Anville’s to Aginis.
rack of four ftations, equal to about one hun- Lib. xvii. p. 729.

dred miles; and, by comparlfon, this would On leaving Aginis, his words are,

give nearly the fame meafure as Pliny’s and tIv llaatji'yfiv p* 357-

1 1 " not

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A,

44J

not more peculiar to my fyftem than to Mr. d’Anville’s ; for if they
entered the HafFar from the Tigris, as he fuppofes, the paffage
through that canal is thirty-five^®^ miles; and if they pafled through
the Delta, which is my fuppofition, the courfe is forty-five miles^
inftead of nine. I never abandon the meafures of the journal
without regret, as I find their general correfpondence of the utmoft
utility ; but I wifh, upon the prefent occafion, to make the day’s
courfe terminate at the head of the Delta, where would be the
natural pofition of the fleet while waiting for intelligence. In
alTuming the Karun for the Pafitigris of Arrian, no error can be
incurred but fuch as has already been difcuffed and, in carrying
the fleet up this channel, I adopt a courfe purfued by all thetvelTels
of the country, till within thefe few years, which came from
Bender-Regh', Bufheer, or any of the ports on the eaftern fide of
the gulph. Thevenot and Pietro della Valle both paffed this way ;
and though Thevenot defcribes the country of the Delta as almoft
depopulated, and little cultivated, the natural property of the foil

muft be fertile, as confifting of flime accumulated by the rivers ^
and this fertility muft have been turned to advantage, and improved,
wdiile the government was good, as it evidently was, under the
early dynafties. In this ftate Nearchus found it, and defcribes it as
populous and flourifhing ; and the village they reached, as capable
of fupplying, not only their wants, but of adininiftering to their
gratification. One choice, therefore, only is left, to fix this village
in the Delta on the banks of the Karun, at nine miles from its

Thefe meafures are taken from Mr. been always navqgated by the native veifels in

Dalrymple’s anonymous chart, and are both preference to the others. It is only fince Eu-

apparently too long. ropean traders have gone to Eafra, that the

It has been fuggefted to me, that Ne- CoEifa-bony cr Schat-el-Arab has been much
archus might have failed up the Bamificie ufed, the Baniilhere, lying between the two,
Cnannel, inflead of the Karun. My ob- leail of alL

jedion to it is, that the Karun branch has

3 L 2 .mouth,

444

GULPH OF PERSIA-

mouth, If we adhere to the hundred and fifty ftadia of the journal |
or, If we abandon them, to carry the fleet through the whole level
to the head of the Delta, at the point where the Karun erodes the
HafFar canal. The latter fuppofition feems preferable, on account
of convenience ; but there is nothing in the journal inconfiftent
with the former ; for no diftances are fpecified from this point up-
wards, as they are all concluded in the five hundred ftadia from
Aginis to Sufa, however erroneous that eliimate may be.

At this village Nearchus performed facrifices to the gods for the
prefervation of the fleet, and the fuccefs of his expedition. Thefe
"Jv^ere attended with games as ufual ; and the feftivity natural te
plenty and fecurity fucceeded to the fatigues of the voyage.

Having brought Nearchus to this village, I fhall leave him In the
enjoyment of his repofe, till I have conducted J:he two armies under
the command of Alexander and Hephseftion on their march to
Sufiana. The line of their progrefs is eafily difcernible ; but, as
there were no enemies to fubdue, and the whole was the return of
a vidorious army, we have no geographical particulars from our
claffical hiftorlans ; it is a bare outline, which, if necelTary to be
filled up, can only be. effected by recourfe to modern authorities:
it fhall, therefore, no longer be dwelt upon, than is neceffary to
combine the movements of the feparate divifions, to eftablifh dates^,
and to render the whole confiftent in all its parts.

We left Alexander at Giroft in the latter end of December, pre-
paring for his progrefs by an inland route eaftward of the moun-
tains, while he detached Hephaeftlon with the elephants and grofs
of the army, with orders to crofs the mountains, and proceed along
the coafi of the gulph, through that level which is called the Ker-
mefir. I ought not to know more than my direftor, and he fays,
that Hephaeftion was ordered to take this route becaufe it was

winter, ^

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

445

winter, and the winter was milder on the coaft than inland. This
is too true, for the mildnefs extends to heat, putridity, and un-
%vhoIefomnefs. It appears to me that Arrian has not preferved the
real caufe of this order, for Alexander feems to have a£l:ed upon
this occafion, as upon all others, from the time he had no more
enemies to fubdue ; that is, becaufe he was defirous of obtaining
a knowledge of his empire ; and he detached Heph^eftlon through
the Kermefir for the fame reafon he had ordered Craterus to
proceed through Arachofia from the Indus, and Nearchus to furvey
the coaft.

However this may be, Alexander himfelf appears to have moved
from Giroft before the conclufion of the year, fome days previous
to the failing of Nearchus, and the firft place to which we trace him
is Pafagardse ; for at Pafagardse is the tomb of Cyrus, whether he

A barren lift of names will afford little Ragian. It has probably been the common
information; but I fubjoin the route from road in all ages ; for the principal places men-
Girott to Pafagardie, extrafled from Al- tioned are of confiderable antiquity, and
Edriii, and lhall continue it afterwards to exifted in the age of Alexander.

Miles,

Kar mania.

Persia.

From Giroft to Canat Alfclam, 20

to Maaun 20

to Valaje-gerd, 20

to Adhercariy 20

to Giaraman, 20

to Kejcenftany 3

to Rojiack-Arrojlacky 40— 143
to Zamm Al-modhi, 15

to Darhe-gerdy
> to Sehariy 3

to Bercan, 12

to Narecan, 12

to Fafihan, 12

to ^amfan, 3 8

to F^^zorPafa-gardae, 12

L 242

[N. B. The names in Italics alone are found in the modern maps.]

» Maaun i& the town, ^ferbapsy whers Alexander received Nearchus j the Sal-Moun of Diodorus.

periftied

446

GULPH OF PERSIA.

periflied In the war with the Maffagetae, or was gathered to his fathers
with the Euthanafia fo beautifully defcribed by Xenophon : and at
Pafagardse we find Alexander punifhing Orfmes for embezzlement^
and plundering the tomb of a native fovereign. It is foreign to
my purpofe to enter into this tranfaftion, ftill I cannot help noticing
that the afperfions thrown upon the condud; of Alexander on this oc-
cafion by Q^Curtius are neither confiftent with his characder, nor
countenanced by Strabo, Arrian, or any writer of eftimation ; but
Q^Curtius debafes the vices of the Conqueror with as little judg-
ment as he extols his virtues. In both inftances, it is the language
of exaggei'ation without reftraint, in which the author facrifices
truth, not to the love of falfehood, but to warmth of imagination
nnd brilliancy of expreffion.

Pafagardse is confounded with Perfepolis by Arrian, upon Alex-
ander’s firft vifit to the province, when he burnt the palace in that
city, of Vv^hich, fays Arrian, he now repented ; and whether it
was the elfed: of inebriated phrenfy, revenge for the injuries of
Greece, or the infolence of victory, any one of thefe inducements
was fufficient caufe of regret. Pafa, or Phafa-gardse, was miftaken
by many of the Greek writers, and the deception is natural ; for
the tranflation of Pharfa-gerd would regularly be Perfepolis, and
Pharfa-gerd differs from Phafa-gerd by a fingle letter. The former,
however, fignifies the city or capital of Phars ; the latter a city, as
Golius informs us, cooled by the north-eaftern gales.

On the prefent occafion, Arrian diftinguifhes this city from Per-
fepolis ; for v/e trace the progrefs of the army regularly from Pafa-
gardx to the capital ; and it would be well if we had any characters to

Phafa am exifts, and Golius makes it bad, Sapor, and Ardefhir. See d’Anviile,
the head of the dikriil Darab, (fo named But Niebuhr fays this diliindicn is now
from Darius,) one of the four into which the ’loft.

province is divided ; the other tluee are Ko- Gol. ad Alfrag. p. 114,

mark

S U S I S, or S U S 1 A N A.

447

mark the rcute, but thefe will be fearched for In vain : we learn only
that Alexander was there, by the circumftance at his arrival of his
conftituting Peuceftas fatrap of the province, who had faved his life
in India, and who was now fo prudent a courtier as to aflume the
habit, and learn the language of the country. Pie had before been*
raifed to the rank of Guard of the Royal Perfon, and afterward8^
condufted to Babylon a body of twenty thoufand native troops,
raifed in his province, and armed in the Macedonian manner. This
is a circumftance which developes the future defigns of Alexander
more than all the conjedlures of his hiftorians.

Perfepolls, In its Greek form, evidently marks Pharfa-gerd as its
Perfian original; but the name was not preferved even in the middle
ages, nor does any other name appear but Iftakhr,. or Eftakhar,
which declined into a village as Schiraz rofe into a capital, under
the aufpices of the Mahometan conquerors. The name of Eftakhar
itfelf feems now almoft to have perlftied, for there is not even a
village at the ruins, now called Chel-mlnar or the Forty Pillars,
or at Naxi-Ruftam in the neighbourhood, both which befpeak* the
magnificence of the ancient capital, and the workmanftiip of that
age^'^, which is dlfcoverable in the Egyptian ruins. The confe-
quence is, that Al-Edrifi has no route to Eftakhar, but to Schiraz

The 'Lu)ixaro(pv>.otyB:, or body- guard Tbs building of Perfepolis is imputed
originally only feven: Leonnatus, Hephaeftion, to Caiumaras, the hril: name in FerCan my-
Lyfimachus, Ariflonous of Pella, Ferdiccas of. thology. The ruins of Chel-minar are given
Orellis, Ptolemy and Python of Eordaea. To in Le Bru) n, Niebuhr, he, hc»
thefe Peuceftas was added when Alexander was Route from Phafa to Schiras. A!-

in Karmania. Arr. lib. vi, p. 269,

Edrif], p. 127 ;

Miles.

Others fay thirty thoufand.

From Fhafa to Kar,

516 Written Zjiraes, Xiras, Dsjiraus, Chi-

to Rebat,

raz, he, founded anno 336 of the Hejra.

to Haramim,

Gol. p. 1 16.

to Schira'X, *

5 >7 Niebuhr refided at a village in the

Til

neighbourhood.

only,

►

44^

G U L P H OF PERSIA.

onlY5 and Eftakhar lies thirty-fix miles fouth-eaft of Schiraz. Tlie
route, therefore, which I infert ferves only to fhew a comparative
dillance, and the difference between Schiraz and Eftakhar is juft fo
tnuch out of the dired: modern road.

From Perfepolis nothing intermediate appears till the arrival of
the army at Siifa, except the jundlion of the fleet at the Pafitigris ;
the route, however, is evidently the fame as the modern one, which
enters Sufiana at the bridge on the Tab or Arofis, called Baccar,
within a fmall diftance from Ragian. At Ragian a variety of
routes terminate which come on the one hand through Perfis, and
on the ether through Sufiana; for here feems to be the point where
the Tab will firft admit of a bridge, and confequently it is the
centre of communication between the two provinces. Hither we
may bring Hephasftion, who came along the coaft ; and by this
road Parmenio^^^ muft have entered Perfis from Sufiana, when
Alexander paffed higher north, upon his original invafion of the
province.

Let us then fuppofe Alexander on his progrefs from Perfepolis
to Ragian, his march cannot lie out of the route ;w^hich I have given
from Schiraz^""^; and at Ragian let his army halt, till I have brought
up Hephseftion to a junction.

If it were neceflfary to trace the whole progrefs of this divifion
from the time it left the army in Karmania, there are routes by

GoHus ad Alfrag. p. 1 16. D’Anville
gives the fame diftance, but makes it north-

eaft.

5** See Al-Edrift, p. 126. He fays a bow-
shot.

Arrian, lib. iii. p. 130. rrh

£$ Hs^cra<i (pi^ao-cevt

Route from Schiraz to Ragian. AI-

Edrifi, p. 126: Mi/es,

From Schiraz to Giouan, -

to Chalan, - 12

to Charrara, -

to Korchemantf 15

to Horaidan, 12

to Rafain, - 22

to Ragian t - 21 — 112

which

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A*

449

which it IS not Impoflible to mark the greateft part of its general
diredllon ; and if the work of Beton and Diognetus were extant, It
would be no little gratification to compare it with our modern jour-
nals : but, as the matter ftands, I have little more than a barren lift
of names to prefent, without intereft or information, and therefore
refer it to the margin. Pietro della Valle travelled from Mina to
Lar, but labouring under iljnefs, and in a litter ; and Le Bruyn^^*^
has a route from Gomeroon to Lar. From Lar, the route to
Glouar falls into a journal of Al-Edrifi’s, probably at Mai.

Paffing

5*4- Route from Mina to Lar. Pietro della
Valle, vol. V. p. 418 :

From Mina to CiuciuluUon,
to IJJin,

to Kufdar, perhaps* Rudfciour,
to Kahariftan,
to Guri-bizirgon,
to Tenghi-dalan,
to Khormud,

to Boadini, a Caravanferal,
to Bafili,
to Larj

Route from Gomeroon to Lar.
Bruyn, vol, ii. p. 70 :

^ Gomeroon f .

Bandalie.

Gesje.

Korefton.

Goer - bafer- goen
Tang-boe-dalon.

Gorraoet.

A Caravanferai.

Baliele.

Lar.

The route from Mina and that from Gomeroon join at Kahariilan, which Le Bruyn writes
Korefton, and from thence to Lar, the names, however disfigured, are the faqie. This courfc
confequently continued unchanged from 1620 to 1693. In AI-Edrifi, p. 13 1. we can only dif-
cover that the route went to Sciura, that is, Rud-fciour, the fait river of Pietro della Valle,
the Karius or Korius of Ptolemy, the Salfos of Pliny.

5^5 Route from Slraf to Giouar, or Firu^-ahad, Al-Edrifi, p.

(Siraf is near Keifh, and the mart of the gulph formerly.)

From Siraf to Borcana, - -

to Adhercan, - ‘

or Ras-Al-acbe, - •

to May, » - -

to Kabrend, - -

to Chan-Arademerd, . - -

to Giar, - -

to Daft'Surab, . - -

to Giouar, - - - -

}

125 :
Miles,

15-

•129

* Becaufe he mentions a fait river here. '

-j- Tavernier, lib. v. p. 747. &c. has the fame route as Le Bruyn, and with e<jual variation in the orthography.

3 M The

450

GULPH OF PERSIA.

Faffing from hence to Giouar, in the road to Schiraz. From Giouar
there are two routes to the Tab, or Arofis j one along the coaft
noticed by Al-Edrifi, through Gennaba and another inland, as I
conceive, by Kaferon. It is apparently the latter that was purfued
by Hephasftion ; for at Sitakus, where the fleet lay for one-and-
twenty days, we have intelligence 'that this army was not very near
the coaft, and there can be no reafon for its approach towards the
fea afterwards* I find no route from Kaferon to Ragian, but a
view of the map will fhew, that it muft foon fall in with the road
from Schiraz to that town, which has in all ages been the diredt
communication between Perfepolis and Sufa, as it is at this day be-
tween Schiraz- and Toftar, if it exifts ; and, from the bridge at
Ragian to Sufa or Toftar, it is fhort of an hundred and forty mifes.
I give this whole account fubjedt to the corredtion of any travellerj

The route from Lar to Giouar ought to fall
into this at Adhercan, or Ras-Al-acbe, which
are the fame ; for Ras-Al-acbe fignifies the
top or paffage of the mountains. Thefe moun-
tains are the chain, which I fuppofe to run
inland from- Dahr Afban, and to produce both
the Nabon and Darabin rivers.

Route from Giouar to Giannaba. Al-

E drift, p. 125 :

Miles,

From Giouar to Kazeron {^Ka%arun)y

to Rofaic,

to T'atiagy

to Giannaba,

120

ffomGknnaba® to Ragian byeflimatlon, 38

158

The road inland, from Giouar to Ragian,
Eiay be thirty miles fhorter, or about 130

miles upon the whole ; fo that the march of
Hephaeilion from Mina to Ragian would be.

Miles,,

by efti matron, to Lar,

145

to Giouar,

1 29

to Ragian,

130

And as he took the interior

404

circle along the

coaft, this bears a due proportion to the
march of Alexander. Whether thefe ex-

trads are worth the trouble, I cannot fay ;
they come out in proportion, but are not
entirely to be depended on ; for I cannot dif-
cover Al-Edrifi’s mile. I have tried it by
feveral known diftances, but it exceeds fome-
times, and fometimes falls ihort. I once faw
an eftimate of this mile in Mr. Howe’s papers^,
communicated to me by the Blfhop of Ro«
cheder, but could not find it upon a fecond
reference to them.

^ Glannaba is the Gennaba of d’Anvillcj the Gunowah of M^Cluer.

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A.

45 1

who is acquainted with the adliial ftate of the* country at the ptefent
hour, having no living authority to confult ; and I am fufficiently
perfuaded, without correction, that the defolation of thefe provinces
has removed the land-marks which the ancient or early writers
have enabled me to point out. With due allowance for this na-
tural obfcurity, I fubmit the whole to the judgment of the reader,
and fhall conduCt: the army, once more united, to the Pafitigris,
and to a bridge on that river where Nearchus is to conclude his
expedition.

The Pafitigris is evidently a river which the army paffed before
it could reach Sufa : this appears, by fomething more than con-
, jeClure, to be the Kouroucan-Kende of Timour, the fecond ftream
eaft of the Eulseus. And if the Kopratas of Strabo and Diodorus
anfwers to' the Dou-danke of Timour, as I conclude, that llream
joins the Pafitigris previous to the junCtlon of the Pafitigris
with the Eula^us. This will afford the means of afeertaining the
pofitlon of the bridge, if ever the interior geography of Sufiana
fhall be obtained ; but there Is a ftill more corred method of
arriving at the fame end, which is by drawing a line from Ragian
to Sufa, and fixing the bridge where this line interfeCls the Pafi-
tigris ; in this, there can hardly be an error of more than a few
miles either way, and this is the pofition I fliall afiume. There is
no route in Al-Edrlfi from Ragian to Toftar, but d’Anville makes
the diftance about an hundred .and forty-five geographical miles,
and this, from other comparative meafures^*^ in the province, is ap-
parently

Diodorus, Hb. xix. p. 334. fays, it is The diftance is, from the Pafitigris
twenty-four days* march from the Pafitigris to to Ragian, 100 miles,

Perfepolis. This feems too long, unlefs he to Schiraz, 112

sneans that the army of Eumene* were fo to Perfepolis, 36 — 248

iHany days in performing it.

3 M 2

Eumene*

45^

GULPH OF PERSIA.

parently juft. From this fum, if we dedud forty or fifty miles, to
give the diftance from the bridge to the capital, we obtain a geo-
graphical redudion as nearly the truth as our information will
enable us to hope.

I fhall next confider the whole diftance from Giroft to Sufa^
which ftands thus ;

From Giroft to Phafa,

Miles Geog^
- 242

From Phafa to Schiraz,

- 60

From Schiraz to Raglan,

« 1 12

Allowed diftance from Ragian to Sufa,

414

145

' .

559

In the fame fpace, d’AnvIlle allows eight degrees, or four hundred
and eighty miles, which, with a feventh added for road diftance,
makes a total of near five hundred and forty-nine miles, a difference
not worth regarding; but it ought to be remarked, that Alexander
departed from this route, by going to Perfepolis, w'hich adds fifty
or fixty miles to the fum. This we compenfate, however, by
taking the meafure, not to the Pafitigris, but to Sufa ; fo that if we
fix the total at five hundred and fixty geographical miles, equal to
fix hundred and fifty-four miles Englifh, there can be no error of
importance.

Let us now refer to the dates. If the army moved from Giroft
on the twenty-fifth of December, as I have proved it might have
done, and Nearchus arrived at the village on the Pafitigris the loth
of February, the interval is forty-feven^''^ days; and then the num-

Eunienes moved, therefore, at the rate of fummer, and the heats intolerable,
little more than ten miles a-day ; but Dio- jporty-eight inclufive.

doriis mentions that it was in the height of

7 ber

^ s U S I S, or S U S I A N A. 4^3

ber of miles, divided by the number of the days, gives nearly four-
teen miles, a-day for the march of the army. This rate is evidently
too high''^, becaufe it makes no allowance for the time Alexander
ftaid at Phafa-gardse and Perfepolis, where he had bufmefs to
tranladf, or for the necelTary halts of the army ^ but we are to
confider that Nearchus ftaid at the village till he heard of the ap-^
proach of the troops, and, therefore, any interval that will coincide
with their arrival may be afligned to his delay. Fourteen days will
anfwer every purpofe that is requifite ; and if we bring Alexander
to the bridge on the Pafitigrls upon the twenty-fourth of February,
we have at leaft a confiftent date, if not the true one ; and as no
real day is afligned in any author that is now extant, this is the
only kind of precifion that can be expedted.

This bridge on the Pafitlgris is defcribed as a bridge of boats
which had been thrown over the river for the accommodation of the
troops ; but as bridges of this kind are the ordinary means of com-
munication throughout the empire, and the route was by the com-
mon road from Perfis, it is reafonable to fuppofe that there was
always a bridge nearly in the fame place. Neither ought I to omit
a circumftance accidentally preferved In Diodorus, which at the fame

time indicates the neceffity of a bridge, and the poffibility of navi-
gating the Pafitlgris : for this river, he informs us, was from three
to four ftadia broad, and its depth correfpondent.

A Macedonian army', upon occafion,
marched from twenty to twenty- five miles
a-day; but the marches of the ten thoufand
reduced, atoount to thirteen or fourteen miles;
and this is a fair eftimation for the march of a
Macedonian army, when no particular object
was in view. Alexander was twenty days in
marching from Babylon to Sufa, three hun-
dred miles ; forty days confequently give fix

hundred miles ; but he then moved to feize
the treafure ; he had now no particular object
in view.

Pliny fays feven months.

According to the ftadia of Arrian, one-
fourth of a mile. Seey^/m, p. 415. Wnere
I have faid the breadth was 400 feet ; perhaps
Diodorus afligns this breadth to the Kopratas.
See p. 331. compared with p.330, and p. 21 1.

454

GULPH OF PERSIA.

To this bridge I conduct Alexander ; and hither, upon hearing of
his approach, Nearchus proceeded from the village, up the ftream,
to join him. No fpace of time is allotted by the journal for this
navigation ; but as the paffage could not be lefs than from an hun-
dred to an hundred and twenty miles, it would fcarcely require lefs
than three days, and poffibly more, notwithftanding they might
have the advantage of the tide at the commencement of their pro-
grefs. The fleet fecms to have reached its dellination before the
army ; but no fooner did Alexander arrive, than he embraced
Nearchus with the affe£lion of a friend, and the acknowledgments
of a fovereign. One object of his ambition was to conquer difficul-
ties unattempted by others, and one aim of his policy was to obtain
a knowledge of his empire ; both thefe purpofes were effeCted by ,
the accomplifhment of this expedition ; his fatisfadtion was com-
plete. The reception of Nearchus among his countrymen was as
honourable as that which he experienced from the king ; wherever
he appeared in the camp, he was faluted with acclamations ; while
gratitude and admiration united In weaving the wreath and the
chaplet to crown him for his fuccefs. Sacrifices, gaiUes, and uni-
verfal feflivity, clofed the feene of this happy union. Thus have I
conducted the feveral divifions of the forces and the fleet from
NIcssa on the Indus, to the termination of their labours in Sufiana ;
and I conclude the expedition on the twenty-fourth of February,
in the year three hundred and twenty-five before the Cbriftian
sera.

The time employed In accomplifhing this voyage from the mouth
of the Indus is an hundred and forty-fix days, or fomewhat fliort

rioo? n to r^ccTev^tx. hccQiQdcrBiv EMEAAEN

p.3S8.

Arr.

SU SIS, or S U S I A N A.

45 S

of five’” months, which Pliny has extended to feven and In
which he Is neither confiftent with the departure from Nicsea, or
from the mouth of the Indus. A modern veffel, It is true, may
perform the fame courfe in three weeks which employed Nearchus
twenty-one ; but we are not for that reafon to undervalue the merit
of the firft attempt. Within the memory of man, a voyage to
India required eight or nine months ; but Dr. Robertfon’” men-
tions, that, in the year one thoufand feven hundred and eighty-
eight, the Boddarn Eaft Indiaman reached Madras in an hundred
and eight days, and it has fince been performed in ninety-fix.

Here the narrative ought to clofe ; but I truft the reader will
have no obje£tlon to accompany Nearchus to Sufa, where he is to
receive the reward of his labours. To Sufa, after croffing the
Pafitigris, Alexander proceeded with all his forces, and in that
capital, where the principal treafure of the empire was depofited,
he prepared to dlftribute that remuneration which had been earned
by the faithful fervices of his army, and thofe honours which are
due to merits of diftindlion.

The firft; inftance of his liberality was exhibited In difcharging”*
the debts of the army, which are eftimated, not perhaps without
exaggeration, at twenty thoufand talents, equal to three millions
eight hundred and feventy-five thoufand pounds fterling ; an enor-
mous fum ! But if we fuppofe the Macedonians alone to partake of
this favour, and eftimate them at forty thoufand’”, it amounts to

533 Five months and fix days, Notvvithfianding the redudlion by r/ar.

Lib. vi. p. 136. infirmity, and the march through Gedrofia,

535 Difquif. Ind. p. 207. it may be calculated from the reinforcements

53*^ Diodorus places this tranfadlion at the which had joined, and the fervices of the

time of dirmilTing the veterans, mentions their army immediately upon the death of Alex-

debta only, and eftimates them at ten thoufand ander, that the number was greater rather
talents. Vol. ii. p. 246. than lefs,

Icfs

456 G U L P H O F P E R S I A.

lefs than an hundred”'' pounds a man: we muft obferve moreover, that
the debts of the officers were included in this eftimate, and the ex-
cefs of their proportion muft fubtra£l: from the quota of the private
foldien Many of them had lived with the luxury of Oriental
fatraps, and poffibly Antigenes was not the only one who gave in
his debts above their real amount. If, therefore, proper dedudion
be made on tliefe feveral accounts, the proportion to the individual
will not appear fo extravagant as the grofs fum.

A fecond fcene of magnificence was prefented upon the marriage
of Alexander, and that of his principal officers, who were induced
by his example, or influenced by his favour, to receive the daughters
of the nobleft Perfian families at his hands. Alexander himfelf
had before married Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes, fatrap of
Badria ; and he now gave his hand to Barfine the daughter of
Darius ; to whom Ariftobulus adds a third, who was Paryfatis, the
daughter of Ochus. Eighty marriages of this fort were celebrated
in the fame nuptial feaft ; and among the number was that of
Nearchus, with the daughter of Mentor and Barline. The king
bore the whole expence of the folemnity, and furnifhed the mar-
riage portion for every bride.

Next fucceeded the diftribution of honours, and the reward of
fervices. All the officers, who had obtained the rank of Guards
of the Royal Perfon, received crowns of gold, including Leon-
natus for his vldory over the Orlta^, and Peuceftas for his fervice
in preferving the life of his fovereign.. In this honour Nearchus
alone partook as admiral, and Oneficritus as the navigator of

Ninety-feven pounds, all but a fradion.
539 See Athenaeus, lib, xii. p. 539.

Statira.

10,500 talents. Athenaeus.

At leall no otters are mentioned by

name.

the

S U S I S, or S U S I A N A, 457

tlie fleet. Nearchus was likewife continued in his command, and
defUned to a future fervice of greater importance than the voyage
he had already performed, that is, the circumnavigation of Arabia to
the Red Sea. This was Intended as the completion of the great de-
fign that Alexander had conceived of opening the communication
between India and Egypt, and by means of Egypt with Europe : of
this commerce, Alexandria was to be the center. Such, by the na-
tural courfe of events, it afterwards became, and fuch It continued
for eighteen centuries ; but this plan was defeated by the , unex*
pedled death of the monarch ; and the fate of Nearchus in the
enfulng ftruggle for empire is no farther difcoverable, than that he
was* made governor of Lycia and Pamphylia and that he
attached himfelf to the fortunes of Antlgonus. We find him
v.’ith that general crofling the mountains of Louriftan^*^^, out of
Sufiana, after his conteft with Eumenes, and ‘two years afterwards
as one of the advifers^*^^ Antigonus had given to his fon Demetrius,
whom he left in Svria. I have looked for the ccnclufion of his
life in vain but this event poiTibly took place at the battle of

Ipfus,

lib. lii. c. ult. See Cartius, Snakenborck :
Diviho Imperii.

Diodor, jib xit. p. 3 33*

Diodor. lib. xix. p. 372. cd. Wef.

I dare net pronounce: iliat nothing is to
be found relating to Nearchus afrer the battle
of JpluSj but I have learched Diodorus,
Plutarch, Arrian in the extraifs of Photius,
julfin, Curtius, and the indvofatigable

commentators of that author, Freinfhem and
Snakenborck, Vv-ithout iuccels. Neither have
1 found any anecdotes relating to his life pre-
vious to the expedition, except what the Baron
de Sante Croix has anticipated , Exam, p.250^

5'^+^ The firll; mention of Nearchus, as go-
vernor of Lycia and Pamphyha, occurs in
Juliin. This, however, docs not greatly in-
terfere with the divifions of the empire given
:in Photius, p. 230 ; for both ihcfe provinces
are affignsd to Antigonus; and Nearchus as
being high in his favour ar.d confidence,*
was prohaldy appointed by him to thefc pro-
vinces, It is remarkable, that in Photius’s
cxtracl fjoiT! the ten books of Arrian, (ra

concerning tl.e tranfadions after
the death of Alexander, the na.me' of Ne-
archus is not once mentioned.

ludin^ lib. xiii. cap. 4. Orofius,

G U L P H OF PERSIA,

45$

IpfuSj where Antigonus fell^ or, after the battle by the command
of the four kings who obtained the viclory. In whatever manner
he clofed the fcene of life, and by whatever means he was pre-
vented from completing his voyage into the Red Sea, that part
of it which he had performed miift be the monument of his.
glory.

His befl: eiicotnium is compiifed by his hiftorlan in a fingle fen-
tence. Thus was the fleet of Alexander conducted in safety
from the Indus to its deftination.

OTTXl MEN AOEEaen AAEHANAPni EK TOT INAOT mU
EKBOAEON OPMH0EIS O XTPATOE,.

by which it appears, that he was a native of
Crete, and enrolled a citizen of AmphipoHs,
as we may conclude, at the time when Philip,
having taken that city from the Athenians,
was colIeAing inhabitants, in order to eftablifli
it as the mart of his new conqaefts in Thrace.
He did not continue at Amphipolis, but came
tip to the court of Philip and had fo ingra-
tiated himfelf with Alexander, that in the
family diffenfions which arofe upon the fe-
ceilion of Olympias, and fome fecret tranf-
eitions of her fan in regard to a marriage with

the daughter of Pexodorus, fatrap of Carla,
Philip banifhed Nearchus, with others whom'
he fuppofed too much attached to the interefts
of Alexander. Upon the death of Philip he
was recalled, and his fufferings in the caufe
naturally fecured the alFeftions of his fovereign..
See Plutarch in Vita Alex. p. 669. edit.
Franckfort, 1599.

This battle ought to Jiave been found im
the 2 1 ft book of Diodorus, but the extraT,
only is extant.

SEQUEL

' •

. i-

' \

}■

T O T H E

rOTAGE OF NEARCHUS.

I ^ H E military charader of Alexander dazzles the mind fo
^ powerfully with its fplendour, that it is not without an eifort
the attention is directed to the plans of his policy, and the arrange-
ment of his empire. To excite this attention has been the en-
deavour of the preceding pages ; and, if the fubfequent narrative
contributes to the fame defign, it will be no uninterefting appendage
to the work.

Having conduded the united forces of the Macedonians to Sufa,
in the latter end of February 625 A. C. we may allot fomething
more than a month to the tranfadions which took place in that
capital, and fix the time for the departure of the army at the
beginning of April.

The main' body of the troops was put under the command of
Hephseftion, with orders to proceed towards * the Tigris ; but

’ Arrian, lib. vii. p, 281. it will iinmediately appear that Alexander met

Arrian fays, to the Gulph of Pcriia ; but them again on the Tigris.

Alexander

460

S E QJJ EL TO T Fi E

Alexander hlmfelf determined to take a. view of the 'Gulph of
Perfia ; and, for that purpofe, embarked on board the fleet with
the Hypafpifts ^5 the firft ^ troop of horfe, and a Imall body of the
Companions b He embarked, fays Arrian, on the Eulssus ; and, if
this be true, the fleet mud have been brought down the Pafitigris
to the iundion of that river with the Eul^us, or even from that
junQ:ion up the Eulasus, to Siifa. This fuppofition is notmon.tra-
didtory to any thing which appears in Arrian ; and, if it is allowed,
folves the objedtion arifing from calling the fame river by two
names ; for iklexander undoubtedly fell down the fame ftream
which Nearchus had navigated upwards from the fea. The annexed
map will render this more perfpicuous than any explanation which
can be added, but the caufe of variation in the names requires fome
notice.

It has been obferved already, that Nearchus entered that channel
which he calls the F^afi [or eaftern] Tigris: this, at its Ifliie, is ftyled
the Khore Moofa, (the Mofeus of Ptolemy,) and above the Delta,
Karun : but Nearchus, having entered the Pafitigris, carries that
name up v/ith him, through the Karun, to the confluence of two
dreams inland ; one of which, leading on the wed to Sufa, is the
Eu!:eus, and the other on the ead, preferves its tide to Pafitigris b
Nearchus navigated this eadern branch, up to the- bridge ; and Arrian,
copying Nearchus only in the journal, of necedity ufes the fame
appellation as the authority he follows.

2 N. B* The Hypafpiils alone- are three
thoufand. Arrian apud Photium, p. 6io.

Diod. lib. xviii. and xix. p. 339.; bat the Ar-
gyrafpides are menuoned feparately.

The Hypafpifls are Macedonian infantip^
in c-ontradiilindioo to the Greek Hoplitse,

foot heavy-armed.

TO ayrjU-CK,^

5 Companions. "Erdi^oi. Macedonian boiW,
^ In Strabo, DiodoruSj and Curtius, as
well as Arrian,

But

VOYAGE OF NE ARC HUS.

461

But upon the embarkation of the troops the cafe is changed, for
here he follows Ptolemy and Ariftobulus ; and Ptolemy, who was
by office about the perfon^ of the king, was almoft neceffarily a
partaker in the expedition. Ptolemy, therefore, embarked at Sufa,
if the fleet came up to the capital, or,, if it came no higher than the
confluence, he marched down by the Eulseus, with the troops
wdiich were to embark there, and naturally called that’ ftream the
Eulaeus, the courfe of which he had followed from the city. This
brief recapitulation explains the reafon of attributing two names to
the fame river, and reconciles two paflagcs of Arrian which at firft
fight appear not a little difcordant. I fliall only add, that, in the'
Hiflory^^ the name of the Eul^eus being once admitted, never varies;
and in the yoiirnal^ the Pafitigris being adopted, there is no men-
tion of the Eulacus.

Down this ftream, the fleet defcended to the head of the Delta ;
and here, where the Haffar^ canal comes in from the Tigris, a new
arrann-ement was made ; the veflcls which had fuiTered moft in the
voyage, were ordered to proceed, with the troops they had on board,
through that cut into the Tigris ; and it is remarkable that Arrian
mentions it exprefsly, not as a natural ftream, but an artinciar*''
canal. What can precifion require more ? It is not my intention in
this Sequel to dwelL minutely upon particulars ; but I cannot help
noticing that this is fxill the ufual paflage " for the country veflels.

7 ^ ^

Lib. vil. p, 2S I .

^'D’Anville conjedares HafTar may be the
Aph]e of Pliny. May they not both be the
the Ampe of Herod, lib. vi. p, 447. edit.
Wef. ; lor the fnuation of Herodo':us^s Ampe,
at the mouth of the Tigris, is mere precife
than Pliny’s Aphle?

JO ' V ~ V

at, 06 uAAai avTcd- \/Y,iq ;iaTa,

tL 'EvhZtov i'r sTTi .AinrrxA i-i u

Te Ti-y^y,Toq £g rov Ev?\UiO' 3 1 cc„Tr, 'iq

Tov

The modern expreflion is equivalent. Ivilla-*
cl-Halfar ; the Haffar cur.

” 'Phevenot and P della Vai!e went up it.
The Khorc Bamilhere has been hnee navigated.

and •

S E QJJ E L T O T H E

and that we find the eaftern entrance of it guarded by a fort, with
two others at its ilfue into the Tigris. The lower one of thefe is in
the Delta, and that part of the Delta called the Mefene, on the fite
of which we ought to look for the Spafini Charax, as the moft con-
venient fpot : but if it cannot be found there, it is poffibly ftill dif-
coverable for it was a mound of earth colledfed from the neigh-
bourhood, which, upon a level like the Mu^an, is perhaps vifible
to the prefent hour. Tumuli of this kind are more eternal than
walls of ftone.

Alexander, after difpatching the greater (|}art of his fleet by this
paflage, proceeded 'with the lighteft and beft failing veflhls apparently
by the Karun branch, or Khore Moofa, through the Delta to the fea.
From this khore, his paffage to the Tigris [Schat-el-Arab] would natu-
rally be acrofs the Alh-Meidari, for this fhoal would be no obftacle to
veffels like tliofe in Vvhicli he had embarked. But of this- paffage we
have no other account, except the mention of the intervening fpace
which Nearchus had navigated twice before. The feparate narrative,
hi fad:, is fo brief, that it employs only four lines to condud liini
into the Tigris, to convey him up to the camp of Hephasftion, and
from the camp to -Opis, wdiere the expedition clofes.

Concerning the navigation of the Tigris little can be added from
modern information ; the paflage between Bafra and Bagdat, we
learn from Hackluit, requires forty-four*^ days againft the ftream,
with fourteen men -to draw the boat; and, from Bagdat downwards,
may be performed in nine, eighteen, or twenty-eight days, accord-

What ' p,erpet«al inundation may have Hackluit, voL ii. p. 251. 270. Some,

done is not to be cakuJated ; otherwife, if times fixty days, as Tavernier and P. della
this fjte were fearched tor^ it would indubita- Valle aiTert, '
fely be found.

15 ing'

VOYAGE OF NE ARC HUS,

46;

ihg to the ftate of the river. Otter who performed this voyage
himfelf, has few materials to fupply ; he embarked in June‘S, when
the river ought to be full; and he mentions little, but that he found
no cultivation between Bagdat and Al-Modain, and that he faw at
Amara the mountains which bound Sufiana on the north, beginning
to rife at fome dlftance on his left. He notices befides a canal from
Amara to the Euphrates, which forms a Dgefire, or ifland, inhabited
by the Arabs Beni Lame. To this barren account Colonel Camp-
bell'^ adds, that the river itfelf is grand, but the country furnillies
fcarcely an objedl for reflecrion. I do not remember (he fays)
to have ever paiTed through fuch a vaft extent of country, fo
uniformly dull and uninterefting, or to have fpent eight or ten
days with fo little to give birth to a new idea

Alexander, at the feafon he navigated this ftream, probably em-
ployed as many days as are now requifite ; fo that he could hardly
' reach Opis, which is above Bagdat, till the middle of June, more
efpecially as he had the dykes to remove, with which the Perfiaii
inonarchs had obftrudled the ftream. His hiftorians delight in attri-
buting thefe obftrudtions to the timidity of the Ferfians, and the re-
moval of them to the magnanimity of the Conqueror; but Niebuhr'^,
who found fimilar dykes both in the Euphrates and Tigris ftill

Tom. ii. p. 39. et feq.

*5 June 10th, at Bagdat. June 14th, at
Amara June 17th, at Khorna, June 18th,
at Bafra, iVine days, agreeable to Hackluit.

Journey of Donald Campbell, Efq.
1 795. Part iii. p. i o.

He notices the heat as intolerable.

This is mentioned at Lemloun, on the
Euphrates ; at Kigre, Hogkne, and Elki

Moful, on the Tigris. Niebuhr, vol. ii.
p. 307. Edit. Amft. Travels. He fappofes
the mound at Higre to be in the very place of
that demolifned by Ale.xander.

Tavernier mentions one of thefe dvkes
one hundred and twenty feet high in the fall,
between Moful and the great Zab. Vol. i.
p. 227.

464

"S E QJJ E L 'r O THE

exifting, obferves, that they are conftrudled for the purpofe of
keeping up the v;aters to inundate the contiguous level ; if fo, the
demolition is as derogatory from the policy and fagacity of the mo«
narch, as it is flattering to his intrepidity.

Opis was the principal city on the Tigris, In the age of Xeno-
phon and Alexander; it rofe probably on the decline of Ninive, and
the other Aflyrian cities after the Perfian conqueft, moft of which
Xenophon found in a flate of decay and defolation ; but the fitu-
ation of Opis is much doubted by geographers. There is no ap-
parent reafon indeed why the pofition afligiied to it by d’Anville
fhould not be admitted ; but having examined the queftion for my
own fatisfaftion, I have fobjoined the refult of my inquiries for
fuch readers as may find a pleafure in geographical difcuflipn.

After conducing Alexander to Opis about the middle of June,
the military tranfadtions which fucceeded are foreign to the purpofe
of the prefent work. It will be fufScient barely to mention the
mutiny of the army which took place at this eity, and the difcharge
of the veteran foldiers, v/ho were fent home under the command of
Craterus. The latter end of the fummer was 'employed in an ex-
curfion into Media ; and at Ecbatana, the capital of that province,
the death of Hepha^ftion was the principal circumftance which oc-
curred. Paroxifins of grief occupied the Conqueror during the
autumn ; in the indulgence of which, like another Achilles, he
difhonoured himfelf, while he intended to honour the memory of
his Patroclus. Upon the commencement of winter, he is faid to
iiave refumed his arms in order to footh his forrow ; and the con-

In hoc Chaldasorum traftu fult Opis, em- ordine rerpeUa oppidorum a Ptolernaso memo-
porium ad Tigrim, fed incertum <|uo loco et ratorum. Cellatius, vol.ii. p. 462.

queft

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

465

queft of the Kofiaei was completed In forty days. They are the
fame tribe ftill called Kouz""*, or Cofl'es, Inhabiting the mountains of
Louriftan ; and, by the invafion of them from the north, ought to
be on the northern''^ face of that range which inclofes Sufiana.
Upon the conclufion of this expedition, Alexander returned towards
Mefopotamia, with an intention of proceeding to Babylon ; and,
upon this march, we are again informed of a renewed attention to
his marine : for Heraelides was now fent into Hyrcania [Mazan-
deran], with orders to cut timber and prepare a fleet of veflels built
after the Grecian manner, for the purpofe of exploring the CafpiaiV^
Sea. It feems extraordinary, that in the age of Alexander it was
ftill doubted whether this fea was a vaft lake, or communicated
with the Northern Ocean ; but the information of Herodotus, as it
appears, had not been fufKcient to convince the Greeks of its real
ftate. The folution of this doubt was a fufficient motive to in-
fluence the conduct of Alexander ; and the defire of obtaining a
knowledge of his own empire, or the fituation of the nations on
his confines, had always been an inducement to the boldeft of his
undertakings.

After crolTing the Tigris, he proceeded to Babylon and en-
tered the city much againft the inclination of the priefts of Belus.

Plutarch writes this name Kyrtraioi, Kufiki; is likewife noticed by Hanvvay, Otter, and Sir
and hence Kiffii. Alexander, p. 704. William Jones, &c.

As the Uxii are on the fbuthern. tOvo? Babylon is four German miles from

'Ovilm. Arr. lib. vii. p. 294. Hilleh. Niebuhr, p. 235. The Euphrates, at

^3 It is remarkable that Nadir Shah was Hilleh, is four hundred- yards wide, with a
building a Beet on the Cafpian, and forming bridge of thirty -two boats, p. 234.
one on the Gulph of Perha, a few months be- "*-3 Omens occur as ufual, and Nearchus is
fore his death, as well as Alexander. I’he mentioned by Plutarch as the officer who came
tranfporting of timber and vefTels into the out to meet the king, and torewarn him of his
provinces which were not fupplied with either danger.

3 o They

466

S E QJJ E I. TO T FI E

They had embezzled the revenues allotted for the reftoratlon of the
temple demolifhed by Xerxes, and wifhed to avoid the day of
account* The fituation of Babylon is too well known to require
much difquifition on the fubjecl ; it flood twenty miles above the
modern Hilleh, the town where all travellers land who come up
the Euphrates from Bafra, and whence they have a journey of only
three or four days""^ acrofs Mefopotamia to Bagdat. The remains
of this capital are not fo obliterated as fome travellers would make
us believe ; they are, however, mountains of rubbiih rather than
ruins, with caverns and hollow ground extending over a fpace of
fifteen or fixteen miles ; while there is hardly a town, a village, or
a building within many leagues of its neighbourhood, which does
not exhibit the bricks plundered from this once magnificent me-
tropolis of the Eafl*

At Babylon, Alexander found part of his fleet, which had pro-
ceeded up the Euphrates while he was condufting the other part

It was not the temple or tomb of Belus,
according to Strabo, but a pyramid of brick,
a lladium in height, and a ftadium fquare at
its bale. Ten thoufand men were employed
for two months, but the death of the king put
a Itop to the progrefs of the work. Lib, xvi.
P-733-^

It is little more than fifty miles. Ives.

The boat which carries difpatches is only
ten days between Bafra and Hilleh. The or-
dinary paffage about twenty-one days. Nie-
buhr. Voyage, vol. ii. p. 197. et feq. The
tide ferves to Ardsje, feventy miles above
Khorna, p, 198. f e. fourteen German miles,
Niebuhr trod the ground of Babylon
almofi: without knowing it ; he mentions hol-
low tumuli for three or four miles, and fome
trees Hill growing there not natives of Baby-..

Ionia; vol. ii. p. 235, 236. Hilleh is in
lat. 32° 28' 3a'. Babylon near twenty miles
to the north. See P. della Valle, tom, ii*
p. 250. Hilleh is fifty miles from Bagdat by
common eftimation, but I find it; by a combi-
nation of routes fifty, five, in the late Mr,
Howe’s papers, communicated to me by the
Bifhop of Rochefier,

A Caravanferai at Hilleh was built within
thefe few years with bricks from Babylon,
about the thicknefs of our’s, but a foot
fquare, and very well baked. Niebuhr,
p. 235. The reafon why there are fo few re-
mains of Babylon, is, that the ordinary
buildings confifted of bricks baked in the fun.
The bricks of the walls and public buildings
have been conveyed to other towns.

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

up the Tigris ; and, by the language of Arrian, it fhould appear
that Nearchus^° had taken charge of this divifion. Hither aifo had
been brought from Phoenicia feven-and-forty veflels, which had
been taken to pieces, and fo conveyed overland to Thapfacus. Two
of thefe were of five banks, three of four, twelve of three, and
thirty rowed with fifteen oars on a fide. Others likewife were or-
dered to be built upon the fpot, of cyprefs, the only wood which
Babylonia afforded ; while mariners were collected from Phoenicia,
and a dock was directed to be cut, capable of containing a thoufand
veflels, with buildings and arfenals in proportion to the efl:ablifh-
ment. To effe£l this defign, Mikkalus had been fent down to
Phoenicia with five hundred talents, and a commiffion to take all
mariners into pay, or to buy flaves who had been trained to the
oar.

Extenfive as thefe preparations may feem, they were not too'
large for the defigns of Alexander ; he had conceived the idea of
conquering Arabia^*, and colonifing both fides of the Perfian Gulph.

KareXaCe ey Ba^fXwyt to yavnxoy To
KCtTA rov 'rsoroc-fAov aviXTraTrXef^oj a to

•SaXaVcT'/ig o> Tt avy ^y.

Arr. lib. vii. p, 299. This does not amount
to proof.

One hundred and fix thoufand eight hun-
dred and thirty pounds.

An immenfc ^country without cities, pro-
perty, or cultivation, deferts without water,
and an enemy always hying and hovering at
the fame time, render the conquefl of Arabia
almoft impradlicable : but their armies are not
formidable in the field ; the feuds of their
tribes, all independent by nature and habit,
prevent coalition : and no point of union has
yet been found, either in ancient times or mo-

dern, fufficient to bring a numerous body to
ad in concert, except during the warmth of
Mahometifm, and in the three or four firil
centuries after its propagation. Weak as the
Turkifh government is, the Pafhas of Bagdat,
Bafra, Aleppo, &c. if foldiers, never hefitate
to meet them in the field, or, if politicians,
never fail to divide tribe from tribe, or family
from family. The celebrated Ahmed, Pafha
of Bagdat, employed arms, money, or trea-
chery, as beft fuited the moment, and was
mailer of all the Arabs round his Palhalic.
Whether Yemen, which has both cities and
cultivation, is exempt from conquell, is flill
problematical. The Abyfhnians fucceeded;
iElius Gallus was repulfed.

30 2

The

46s

S E Q^U E X.

TO T H E

The conqueil, perhaps, might have been as precarious as all othe^
attempts which have been made againft that fingular nation ; but a
fleet on the Euphrates In the fummer, while the ftream is full,
and another on the golpli, might have reflrained the piracies and
incurfions of their plundering tribes ; and in the held they have
never been formidable, except during the Ihort period that fana-
ticifm enabled them to adl In concert.

It w’^as either with a view to this expedition or, as the hifto-
rlans rather Intimate with a d'ehgn of re-eftablifhing the canals, and
benefiting the country by irrigation, that he now undertook a voyage
down the Euphrates to Pallacopas. A voyage not without its diffi^
culties ; but they are fuch as the refearches of d’Anville, and the
vifit paid by Niebuhr to the fpot, enable us to remove. In the
neighbourhood of Babylon, there are ftill the remains of two lakcSj
more celebrated by the names of Ali and his fon Hofein than by
any appellation of their own. The upper lake lies nearly om
the parallel of Babylon ; and at its northern extremity ftands the:

Gallies of five banks of oars, fuch as
tliofe jufi: mentioned, could never have been
employed on the Euphrates. They might
have been fibated down during the increafe of
the river, but muft have been intended forfer-
vice either in the gulph, or to attend the
army on the propofed expedition to Arabia.
They could hardly have been ufeful to Ne-
archus, in his circumnavigation to the Red'
Sea.

Gronovius, in a very tong and’ angry
diifertation, defends the fenfe which Vulcanius
has given to this paffage of Arrian, in oppo-
fition to the perverfion of it by Ifaac Voflius ;
and Vofiius feems to deferve every reprGof>
fhort of the fcurrility of his antagonifi. The

criticlfm of Gronovius on the word
in which he proves it to mean the turning of
the water back again from the canal into the
channel of the river, removes all the real ob-
feurity which enveloped this pafiage. The-
diifertation accompanies Gronovius’s edition,
of Arrian.

Gronovius, with great vehemence, re-
jefts all confideration of Arabia, or Arabians,,
from the account ; but there is fome intimation
in Arrian, that the city built by Alexander
near the lake had a refped to this nation;
and Strabo, p. 741^ mentions it in expi^efs
terms. Strabo does not notice Pallacopas,,
but only the voyage and the clearing of the
foifes.

town

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

town of Kerbelai^^, containing Mcfchid Hofein, or the tomb of
Hofein grandfon of Mahomet. From; the fouthern extremity of
this lake to the northern point of the lower, or Bahr Nedsjef, the
diftance is about five-and-twenty miles,, with Mefchid Ali a little to
the eaft. Kufa, where Ali was murdered, Is not more, than fix
miles from this fpot. It ftood in a fouth-eaft dirediom between.
Bahr Nedsjef and the Euphrates; but is now totally ruined
and without inhabitants. It is this lower lake into which the Eu-
phrates was diverted by the cut at Pallacopas, in the feafon of its
inundation; and the opening or clofing' of this canal was committed
to the fatrap of Babylon, as a part of his office. In a trad like
that on both fides of the Euphrates, where, all is defert that cannot
be watered, and every fpot is fertile that can be flooded or drained
at the proper feafon, this office muft. have ever been of the
Kigheft Importance, While Babylon was the capital of the Eaft,,
the controul^ of the waters invigorated all the contiguous diftrlds i
but when the Perfian conquerors dwelt on the other fide of tlie.

Hofein was killed at Kerbelai. The
be autifal. Arabian- rarrative^of his death- in
Ockley almoiV makes amends for; the defi-
ciency of hiiioric matter in this and a! moll
every other Oriental work. See Ockley,
trol. ii. p.2io. et feq. Mefchid means the
tomb of Ali,. Hofein, &c.

It is the death of Hofein which gave rife-
to one of t)ie mofi celebrated fads of the Per-
fians, and ’the murder of this family, which
makes the dillinbtion between the Schiites and
Sonnitcs, the two great febls of Mahomet-
iftn. The Perfians curfe Omar Abubecr
and Ommawiah. Nadir Shah, notwithlland-
jrg his attempt to introduce the Sonnite te-
nets into Per fia,. adorned thefe two Mefehids

of the Schiites at the expence (as Niebuhr
fays) of 66i666 German crowns for the roof
only of Mefchid Ali, aid 13,333 for the fer-
vice of Mefchid Hofein; and yet neither of
thefe Mefehids is in his own .-kingdom, but;
both under the Turkiih sover nment. See
Niebuhr, vol.-ii. p. 206. Am!l. edit.

Mefchid. Hofein, or Kerbelai, is five-
German miles from Hilleh and five from
Mefchid Ali. ' Niebuhr, vol. ir. p. 217. The-
canal from the Euphrates is fiill preferved.

Niebuhr mentions a dry canal at Kufa,
(Dsjarre Zaade,) which would anfwer very
well to the cut of Pallacopas, as I wKh to fi.H:
it. Niebuhr bimfelf calls it Pallacopas,
p. 183.

rigris,.

470

S E Q^U EL TO THE

Tigris, at Ecbatana, Sufa, or Perfepolis, as the due attention was dif-
continued, Mefopotamia, Chald^ea, and the capital declined together.
The Parthian dynafty encouraged the increafe of a defert between
their own and the Roman frontier, and, in the latter viciflitudes of
power, defpotifm and negled: have completed what policy might
have commenced. Still it happened in every age, and under every
government, that the negle£t was not univerfal ; the grand canals,
it is true, have failed ; but a partial diftribution of the waters has
conftantly been preferved ; and, even under the defolating empire
of the Turks, is to this hour an obje<3: of comparative^^ im«
portance,

’ If Alexander, then, had fixed upon Babylon for the future ca-=
pital of his empire, (and here the fovercigns of the Eaft ever ought
to have fixed, if they had not rather wifhpd to fhrink from their
European frontier, than to maintain it,) the firfl; ftep neceffary was
to reftore the country round it to the ftate it had enjoyed in its pri«
mitive fplendour under the Babylonian monarchy. This had been
effeded by managing the fuperfluous waters of the Euphrates, by
withholding them at one feafon and difpenfing them at another,
and by making the abundance of the fummer fubfervient to the
deficiency of the winter. .

To thefe views we may attribute the expedition to Pallacopas,
which was a canal iffuing into a lake or marfh on the Arabian fide
of the river, fifty miles below Babylon. This lake is the Bahr

While Ives was on his palTage up, he
met a Palha coming down, with commiffion to
diredl the places where the bank was to be
opened, or the outlets clofed, p. 255. This
h itill an office of dignity, for this Palha .was

a commander of 30,000 men ; and as we mav
conclude that under the Purkiffi government,
every drop of water is paid for, though the
fervice will be performed badly, it will hil] b«
performed.

i ■

J**

I I

■ y

•J

i *

Nedsjef

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

Nedsjrf of Niebuhr, the Rahemah of d’AnvIlle ; it is now dry, in
tlie winter feafon at lead: wholly, for Niebuhr feeins almoft to
have pafled through the centre- of it, and found nothing like a lake,
though feveral cuts and channels now totally negledled^' ; if the
water ever enters them at the height of the increafe, it is not from
the attention, of the. government, but from the natural level of the
ground, and from the remains of ancient induftry, policy, and
difcernment. Niebuhr is of opinion, that a canal ran parallel' with
the Euphrates from Hit, above Babylon, through the whole length
of the defert, till it iffued at the Khore Abdillah into the Gulph of
Perfia*. 1 have already fubfcrlbed to this opinion; and though proof
is wanting to. identify the continuity of this channel through Its*
whole extent,, yet it is hardly poffible to follow the- march of
armies,, and the route' of travellers in any age, without finding,
fomething to confirm this Idea. From a view of the two lakes at

t f

Mefchid Hofein and Mefchid All, there is- every reafon to fuppofe
that there was formerly a communication between them; and from*
Mefchid All, or Bahr Nedsjef,. to the fea,,the exift'ence of the
channel is indubitable One proof of this is^ ftill exiftlng, for not

Niebuhr landed at Mafchvvira, on the
weftern bank, a little above Lemloon, and
went by land to Mefchid Ali* He muft either-
have gone along the bed of the fea, or have feen.
it, if it exilled. He was here in December.
Vol. ii. p. 1 8^. P. 209, he fays, the lake was
dry. Another name he mentions, El-Buheixe.
'*■* D' jar re Zaade.

Arrian’s teflimony is exprefs.

t; SaXatcriray nctTu re fA,clx,i-ci a(pa,y^

^ OC Lib. 7. p. 303.

The reafon why thefe mouths were undif-
coverable [aipayrj} to Arrian, was, becaufe he
Lad conceived the mouth of the Euphrates to
be where we now find the Khore Abd^lah ;

and when we read in Pliny that the- ftream no
longer flowed through this khore into the fea.
becaufe the inhabitants of Orchoe had flopped
its courfe, we ought to conclude, that, bc-
t.veen the age of Alexander and Pliny, the
Arabs of the defert in the neighbourhood of
the Rahr Ned:jef had diverted its waters in
the time of the inundation, to irrigate their own
lands, and confequently exhaulted them in-
ftead of permitting them to follow their former
courfe to the Khore Abdillah,- If d’Anville’s ^
fuppofition were true, that there was another
derivation from the Khore Abdillah to Bahr-
ain, the extent of Niebuhr’s canal would bc‘'
incroafed to eight hundred miles.

traveller, ^

47^

S £ QJJ EL TO THE

traveller pafles the great defert between Bafra and Aleppo, without
encountering the remains of towns'^’, buildings, and traces of
habitation. Thefe relics are hardly Arabian, for it is not the coun^
try where the Arabs live in towns ; they are probably Chaldean,
Syrian, or Macedonian, they muft all have pofTeffed water as the
primary means of exiftence, and they have ceafed to exift, becaufe
the Euphrates has ceafed to convey to them the means of fertilifing
the defeit.

At what period we are to fix the failure of water in the two
lakes is uncertain ; neither have I hitherto found the means of in-
veftigating whether they are yet abfolutely dry in fummer. There
is, however, ftill an aquseduiL^* to Kerbelai, and d’Anville marks
two canals running into the Bahr Nedsjef, one at each extremity;
the lower one he confiders as Pallacopas, and the diftance of fifty
miles from Babylon correfponds better with this than that which he
calls the Nilus, and brings in at the northern angle ; but there is
refpedtable authority to appeal to, that the higher one^*^ is more
Suitable to the cireumftances of the navigation ; for it is evident
that Alexander did not return out of the lake by the fame channel
that he entered it. Arrian mentions, that upon his return he fleered
his own veiTel, with Babylon on his left : this cannot be true, if he

Niebuhr, voh ii. p. 307.

Some fprlngs or pools may have fup-
ported a few fcatcered villages, and fome
fources may have maintained a Palmyra : but
the few waters found in the defert are ufually
brackifh, as the foil is fait.

Mentioned by Niebubr,and Ockley calls
it the river of Kerbelai. Hofein had been cut
off from this water, in order to reduce him
by third: ; but he died with arms in his hand.

It/

like a true defcendantof the prophet. Ockley,

vol. ii. p. 222.

The canal into the upper part of the
lake, d^’Anville calls Nilus ; it palTes by Ebn-
Hubeira, and the lake itfelf fometimes takes
tliat name. This is the Pallacopas of Nie-
buhr, and with great reafon ; for Al-Edrifl
fays, p. 204, ** A callello Ebn-Hobaira pro-
fundit fefe Eufrates in univerfam dltionern
Kufse, refiduis ejus aqnis in lacus infiuenu-
bus.” No character can fuit Pallacopas better
than this. Mr. Howe’s Papers.

•entered

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

47J

entered at the bottom, and failed north ; but if we fiippofe him to
enter from the north, to fail fouthward, and then come out at the
lower end, this courfe brings him very nearly to the marflies of
Lemloon, in which Niebuhr fiippofes him to be involved, and
where all the peculiarities attendant upon his fituation naturally take
place.

But the immediate objedl of this expedition was a furvey of the
canal itfelf ; it feems to have been a work of the Babylonian kings,
and to have been neglected by the Perfian fovereigns after the Con-
queft. It had been cut in a part of the bank where the foil was
loft, yielding, and oozy ; the difficulty, therefore, was enhanced,
wffien the feafon arrived for clofing it, and the fatrap of Babylon,
whofe duty it w^as, employed thirty thoiifand men for three months
before the ftream could be reftored to its courfe, and the mouth of
the canal fecured. By a furvey of the ground it appeared, that at
the diftance of two miles low^er down, the bank was firmer and the
foil a rock, if the opening were made here, and a channel carried
from this point into the original cut, it appeared eafy to efFc£t the
ftoppage of the w’^aters when requlfite, as the folidity of the bank
would hinder the ravages of the inundation In the firft inftance,

and

Niebuhr, vol. ii. p.<202. Ives, p. 251. the north of plane of the earth is higher
Ives himfelf loft his way in the marfti of than the fouth, which is the reafon that the
Lemloon, p- 255* The ritfer, he lays. Hill Nile flows fo flowly up hill! while the Tigris
overflows a great way into the defert, p. 251, and Euphrates run rapidly do<wn hill^ to the
Banks to confine it, p, 258. fouth. All that Cofmas favv he reports truly.

The rapidity of the Tigris is noticed by though ignor antly ; but he faw little except
all travellers, and its name derived from that Abyflinia, and was never beyond the ftraits of
quality by the Greeks. Pietro della Valle Babel-Mandeb. (See p. 132. and 337*)
thinks the Euphrates fwifter, which proves the is a pity that his hypothefis and his theology
violence of both. Cofmas Indicopleuftes has had not perifhed, and his topograghy been
a pleafant folution of this ; for he aflerts that preferved ; the reverfe unfortunately is the

3 p truth.

474 SEQ^UEL TO THE

and afford a foundation for the works which were to obfl:ru£l It,
after the increafe of the river was paffed.

Diredions to this purpofe Alexander gave on the Ipot ; he then
entered the canal, fleering his own galley, and continued his furvey
through the whole extent of the lake. On the Arabian fide he or-
dered a city to be built, which he intended manifeflly as a frontier
to Babylon in this quarter, or as a place of arms if he fhould com-
mence his operations againft the Arabians in this diredion. D’Anville
has placed this Alexandria at the northern point of the lake, at no great
diftance from Mefchid Ali ; but, fo far as may be colleded from
Arrian, we fhould rather have looked for it at the oppofite extre-
mity ; for there is nothing to make us fuppofe he returned out of
the lake by the fame paffage he entered it; neither is it poffible, if,
as Arrian afferts, he failed with Babylon on his left. On the con-
trary, if we fubfcribe to Niebuhr’s opinion, and carry him into the
marfhes of Lemloon he had adually deviated from his courfe.

truth. See Cofmas, p. 133. edit; Mont-
faucon.

There is a very odd connexion between the
Chriftian Cofmas and the Mahometan Al-
Edrifi (if he was a Mahometan). See Zo-
cotora, p. 178. and the account of Chriftians
fcnt there by the Ptolemies.

The Euphrates rifcs twelve feet perpendi-
cular. The difference of its breadth at Bir
is from 630 yards to 214. Pocock, p. 164.
Howe’s Papers. It rifes fometimes in march,
but the feafon is uncertain : it is always low in
September.

If the authority of Diodorus has any
weight, he accords fully with the idea of
Alexander’s wandering at Lemloon rather
than in the Bahr Nedsjef; for he fays, the

fleet loft its courfe for three days and three
nights. This could hardly happen in the
Bahr Nedsjef, which is not fifty miles in ex-
tent. Vol. ii. p. 252.

Texeira makes it thirty, five or forty leagues
in circuit, and ‘fix broad, as I learn from
Mr. Howe’s Papers, If he faw it himfelf, it
is a proof that its exiftence has ceafed be-
tween his age and Niebuhr’s : it feems alfo to
have been a lake in Pietro della Valle’s time;
on his route from Bafra to Aleppo he notices
marfhes on his left, nearly in this tradl. i am
not convinced but that it is ftill a lake, or at
leaft a marfh in fummer, though Niebuhr,
who was there in winter, faw it not. Taver-
nier feems to have found the canal dried up.
M, Howe,

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS. 47^

and Babylon was on his left ; and this marfh (till continues very
intricate to navigate, full of illands, and thefe iflands ftili decorated
with tombs In winter, there are a variety of channels very
narrow, where even the boats of Bafra hardly find water ; and in
fummer the courfe of the ftream is fo indiftind:, that the men who
draw the veffels are oftener in the water than on the bank : all thefe
circumftances are correfpondent to the difficulties Alexander en-
countered I and, if we may affume this fuppofition, he had actually
loft his courfe and was going down the river, till the native pilots
put him into the proper channel, and conduced him back again to
Babylon,

The fituatlon of Pallacopas Is perhaps ftlll capable of difcovery^
for the banks of the Euphrates are no where, as far as my inform-
ation goes, noticed as confifting of ftony ground, or rock ; if,
therefore, an appearance of this quality fhould occur, it may ftili
be fingular enough to attraft the attention of our India travellers,
fome of whom come up every year from Bafra to Hilleh and
Bagdat, and the extent of country where they fhould dired: their
obfervations cannot exceed twenty or thirty miles, which muft be
on the left of their courfe, as they are going up between Ru-
mahieh and AfTca.

^ It is a fuperftitlon of the oldeft date %o
build tombs on iflands in rivers, or in the fea,
or in fequeftered fpots in the defert. There
is, perhaps, hardly the Mefchid of an Imam
now, where there has not formerly been the
tomb, the temple, or the flirine of fome an-
cient hero, king, or fabulous deity. It is a
profitable fuperftition to the natives, becaufe
religious vifitants are attraded to defert fpots,
where there is no trade to allure merchants ; and,
confequently, though the religion of the Eaft

has changed, the fuperftitlon has continued.

Ives mentions tombs of Imams, or faints,
as flill vlfited in the neighbourhood of Lem*
loon. Haleb, Hofein, Imam Kafai.

Lemloon lies in lat. 31*’ 40', better than half
way between Bafra and Hilleh, See Ives,
p. 256. et feq. The whole is a low wet
country, the fides of the river full of fedge,
and very diftrefling to the trackers 5 p. 257.
See alfo HoweBs Journal, p. 48.

5* See Niebuhr, p, 198. ut fupra.

3P 2

This

476

SEQJJEL TO THE

This IS the laft public fervice in which Alexander was engaged; his
death took place not long after his return to Babylon, when all his
plans of government, policy, difeovery, or conqueft, were annihi-
lated by the diffenfions of the great officers, which commenced
upon his deceafe.

With his defigns of conqueft this work is not concerned; but at
the head of his native forces, which had conftantly been recruited,
and poflefled of treafures fufficient to allure the laft man out of
Macedonia and Greece itfelf, with the acceflion of the Afiatic levies

which he was forming and difcipllning on his own model, with the
attachment of all his followers to his good fortune and his perfon,
with the reputation he had acquired and deferved, of being the
greateft captain of his age, wherever he had directed his arms the
invafion muft have been formidable, and his fuccefs far from
dubious.

As to the omens alfo that preceded his departure, or the im-
mediate caufe of his death, I fhall be filent ; one thing only feems

evident, that the poifoned cup is a fiction, his diary, ftill preferved,

which records the progrefs of his difeafe, proves the gradual courfe
of a fever rather than the ravages of. poifon ; the violence of his
paflions, the perpetual application of his mind, the conftant exertion
of his faculties, and the excefles of the table, are fully fufficient to
furnifh caufes of diffolution, without having recourfe to treafon and
confpiracy.

No man of importance met his lafl fate,
according to the ancient hiftorians, without
omens ; and this fuperftition is fo prevalent,
that hardly a family at the prefent hour is
without omens in regard to fame favourite
member or other. 1 neither ridicule or be-
lieve them ; but muil obferve, that facred

hiftory is as fparing upon this fubje6l as pro-
fane hiftory is profufe.

53 Plutarch, who generally believes enough,
does not believe the llory of this poifoned cup.
He fays it was not heard of till feme years
after, when Olympias wifhed to render the
family of Antipater odious.

But

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS,

' 477

But while I decline all inquiry on thefe fubjedls, I muft glean the
few remaining fads that charaderife the dlfpofitlon of this extra-
ordinary man to the objeds of difcovery, as part of the fcheme of
empire which he had conceived, and which he never abandoned but
with his lateft breath. »

The remains of the fleet which Nearchus had brought up the
Euphrates, and the veffels which had been conveyed overland to
Thapfacus, were flill at Babylon, the profecution of the difcovery
commenced at the Indus was ftill one of the principal defigns in me-
ditation ; and the extenfion of the navigation round the continent
of Arabia into the Red Sea was already anticipated. To prepare
the way for Nearchus, three Angle veffels had been difpatched at
different times down the Arabian fide of the Gulph of Perfia, and
the report of their commanders had probably given better inform-
ation to Alexander concerning this obfcure coaft, than our modern
charts furnifh at the prefent^^ moment.

The firfl; of thefe veffels had been commanded by Archlas, who
proceeded no farther than Tylos or Bahr-ein, the centre of the mo-
dern pearl-fiflrery. Archias reported that he had found two iflands,
one at the diflance of an hundred and twenty fladia from the mouth
of the Euphrates [the Khore Abdillah], which was facred to
Diana where a breed of goats and fheep was preferved, and

See d’Anville’s chart of the Gulph of
Perfia. Niebuhr has fince fupplied a map of
Oman, but from oral information only.
Alexander doubtlefs received a better account
from his officers than the hillorians have pre-
ferved. lie had eftabliffied an office for thefe
records, and the accounts they contained were
not generally divulged.

55 The perpetual error of the Greek hifto-
rlans, in attributing the deities of their own

country to the fuperflitions of Ada, is as
confpicuous in Arrian as in Herodotus and
Xenophon. We mun: fuppofc that Archias
found on this ifland fome rites fimilar to thofe
appropriate to the Grecian Diana, and
adopted her name inftead of inquiring for that
of the Parfee or Arabian mythology. 7'hu3
Caeiar attributes Mercury, Mars, &c. to the
Celts, now known to. be Woden and Thor.
Lib. vi. c. 17,

never

47 B

S E QJJ EL T O . T H E

never molefted but for the purpofe of procuring vidims for the
deity. To this ifland Alexander gave the name of Icarus, and it
ought to be one of thofe at the bay of Grane, but the diftance by

no means correfponds; for an hundred and twenty of Arrian’s ftadia
are only feven miles and a half, while the real diftance is near thirty.
Equally difproportionate is the pofition affigned to Tylos, the other
ifland feen by Archias, which is ftated to be at the diftance of a day
and night’s fail in a light veffel, and with a fair wind. This, in-
deed, is a vague eftimate ; but ancient geographers confider a day’s
fail as five hundred Olympian ftadia, and if we double this we ob-
tain only a thoufand of fuch ftadia, or an hundred and twenty-five
niiles, while the real diftance is upwards of two hundred : but that
thefe are the two iflands feen by Archias, notwithftanding the de-
fed: of the eftimate, can hardly be doubted ; for Tylos is defcrlbed
as large, well-wooded and produftive, circumftances which fuit
no other ifland on the weftern fide of the gulph but Bahr-ein.

A fecond vefTel had been fent out under the command of An-
drofthenes, who is faid to have proceeded fome way round the coaft
of Arabia ; but Hiero of Soli extended his courfe far beyond the
two former, for he appears to have doubled Cape Muffendon, or
Makae, feen by Nearchus and Oneficritus upon their approach to the
Gulph of Perfia. The orders he had received from Alexander
were, to circumnavigate Arabia, to go up the Red Sea, and make
the bay of Heroopolls^^, on the Egyptian coaft ; by which is im-
plied.

Whether It has now wood I cannot dif-
cover.

5^ Suez is fuppofed to occupy nearly the fite
of Arfinoe, built at the weftern extremity of
the Gulph of Arabia by the Ptolemies, at a
later period. The a£tuai bay was ftyled

Klyfma, or Klufma, from which the Orien-
tals ftill call this fea, the Sea of Kolfum, by a
tranfpofition congenial to all their corruptions
of foreign terms. Heroopolis was inland from
Suez, and capital of a Nome from which the
fea of Suez was named the Bay of Heroo-
polis I

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS,

479

plied, that he was adually to go to Suez, the extreme point of the
Red Sea neareft Alexandria. Thefe orders develope the whole plan
of communication which Alexander had matured in his mind, and
which, if he had lived a few months longer, he might have had the
fatisfadlion to fee completed. Hiero, however, was not able to
execute his orders ; but he feems to have gone down the coaft be-
low Mafkat, and to have come in fight of Cape Raf-el-Had the
Syagros of the ancients : for his report when he returned was,-
that he had advanced to a great promontory which he did not dare
to double, and that the continent of Arabia was of much greater
extent than had been conceived.

Such were the previous fteps taken to enfure the fuccefs of Ne-
archus; thefe velTcls had failed at different times in the interval fince
Alexander’s firft arrival at Babylon ; they were all gallies of only
thirty oars, and little adapted to the fervice in which they were em-
ployed. What was effedled muft be attributed to the fkill and cou-
rage of the officers who had poffibly failed with Nearchus ; and,
what they could not effed:, to the deficiency of their veffels, and the
ftate of the fcience in that age.

At the time the expedition was fruftrated by the death of Alex-
ander, Nearchus had received his orders to take the command of •

polls ; one proof that no city had been yet
built like Suez at the extreme angle ; that no
trade had hitherto been carried up fo high in
the Red Sea ; and that Alexander vievved this
point of communication with Alexandria with
the eye of a mailer. The fea of Suez is not
very pradlicable, and the Ptolemies afterwards
fixed upon Myos Hormus, from which point
there was a caravan road to Ghinna on the
Nile, which Bruce travelled, and has defcribed
moft admirably with all that relates to Myos

Hormus, CofTeir, Portus Albus, and Orneon.
There is a beautiful map of the Red Sea by
Mr. de la Rochette.

The Ralfelgate of our charts.

5** Archias only is known to be one of
Nearchus’s officers. Nearchus has not done
jullice to his followers, or, if he had done,
Arrian has negledled them. Androllhenes is
confidered as an officer under Nearchus by
Fffitarch.

the

S E QJJ E L T O THE

4S0

the fleet; and, if he had profecuted the objed of his commlffion,
he mufl' have fallen dov/n the Euphrates before the feafoa
that the increafe of the river is paffed: it was, perhaps, his
Intention to have waited at the mouth of the Tigris, or made
his palTage good to Makas during, the latter part of the fum«
mer ; and the experience he had obtained would naturally fuggeft
to him the expedation of the monfoon from the north»eaft in
November and December, With the aflTiftancc of this he might
have hoped* to get round the coaft of Arabia, as he had already per-
formed his voyage from the Indus, but ,the circumftances are far
different ; the coaft of Arabia is highly dangerous from Muflendon
to Raf-ehHad; the winds fluduate near fhore; and, except Mafkat,
there is hardly an inlet which a veffel can enter without hazard of
fhipwreck, wdien the wind is boifterous. From this experiment,
Nearchus was relieved by the death of his mafter : but it is im-
poflTible to convey a clearer idea of the defigns which occupied the
mind of Alexander in his laft moments, than the language of his
own diary will afford. The extrad from It is preferved both by
Plutarch and Arrian, and does not materially differ in the account
of the two reporters, except that Arrian has preferved more notices
of the fleet% to which he was perhaps peculiarly attentive, as being
more appropriate to the nature of his work. The diary itfelf is
fubjoined, with fome fmall degree of licence, in order to harmonife
the accounts of the two different authors.

It appears from Plutarch®*, that Alexander had given a fplendid
entertainment to Nearchus and his officers, two days preceding the
account contained in the diary, which commences on the 28th of

The army was to move on the fourth Hb. vii, p. 308. The feaft might be only one
day, the fleet on the fifth. day previous to the 28th.

Plutarc. in Alexandro, p. 706, Arrian,

the

YOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

481

the Macedonian month D^fius, In the year 324 A. C. From the
circumftances which follov/, it is evident that Alexander was on the
eve of commencing his expedition againft Arabia, and that Ne-
archus with the fleet was to accompany this expedition, and to coafl:
the Arabian fhore down the Gulph of Perfia, to that point at leafl
where his own circumnavigation was to commence. If, therefore,
we can fuppofe the army to have been fuccefsful, it is not impoffi-
ble that a plan had been formed of connecting the operations both
by fea and land round the whole coaft, into the Gulph of Arabia*
Impracticable as this may be deemed, the defign Is fimilar to that
which had been imagined on the coafl: of the Mekran, and the
execution of which had been fruftrated only by the fame difafters
that were likely to have occurred on the prefent occafion.

At the conclufion of the entertainment, when Alexander was
returning to the palace, he was met by Medlus who had been
teafting a party of the officers, and now requefted the favour of
the king’s company to do honour to the banquet. That night anT
the following day were fpent in feftivity, when it is not extraordinary
that fome fymptoms of fever were the confequence of the excefs.

The diary commences here, and contains the following par*
ticulars
Dajius>.

1 8th. The king bathed, and, finding the fever upoathe Increafe,,
flept at the bathing-houfe;

[The fleeplng at the bathing-houfe Is explained by Arrian, wh@
ftates that he was conveyed on his bed to the river fide, and car-
ried over to a garden-houfe on the oppofite fhore.]

This is the account from Plutarch ; and Ing the excefs a little, and dividing It IntQ'„
Arrian no othervvife difagrees than by foften* two meetings inftead of one continued.

3 % Dajt tss ,

S E QJJ EL TO THE

4S2

On this day, alfo, orders were iffued for the land forces to be
ready to march on the 2 2d, and the fleet to be prepared to move

on the 23d.

19th. The king bathed; Went from the bath to his chamber
pafTed the day at dlce^^ with Medius ; bathed again in the even-
ing ; attended the facrifices in a litter ; took nourifhment®^ in
the evening ; the fever increafed, and the night was paiTed in
great perturbation.

Orders were iffued for the officers to attend on the next
morning.

20th. The king bathed ; attended the facrifices as before ; con-
verfed while in the bath with Nearchus, upon his voyage from
India, and gave him frefh orders to be ready on the 23d.

2 1 ft. The king bathed; attended the facrifices in the morning*
found no abatement of the diforder ; tranfaSed bufinefs Vv^ith the
officers ; gave diredions about the fleet ; bathed again in the
evening ; the fever ftill increafed.

22d. The king removed into an apartment near the bath ; at-
tended the facrifices ; the fever now ran very high, and oppreffed
him much ; he neverthelefs ordered the principal officers to at-
tend, and repeated his orders in regard to the fleet.

23d, The king was conveyed to the facrifices with great difficulty

but iffued frefh orders to the naval officers, and converfed about

filling up the vacancies in the army. , '

In converfacion. Arrian. - of Plutarch ; but the author, him felf omits,, the

IttI on a bed or Ledica ; a pa- adverb, and Arrian fays, fp'aringly ; oAtyoy,

lanquin rather than a fedan.

Ate heanily^,. according to the tranilator

DaJlUS:^^

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS, 483

Dafiiis>

24tli, The king was much more oppreffed, and the fever much
iiicreafed.

25th The king was now finking faft under the diforder, but

ifliied orders for the generals to attend in the palace, and the
officers of rank^’' to be in waiting at the gate. He fuffered
ftill more towards the evening, and was conveyed back again
over the river from the garden to the palace. Here he obtained
a fliort repofe ; but, upon his awaking, when the generals were
admitted, though he retained his fenfes, and knew them, he had
loft the power of utterance.

26th. The fever had made a rapid progrefs all night, and continued
without abating during the day.

27th. The foldiers now clamoroufly demanded to be admitted,
wifhing to fee their fovereign once more, if he were alive ; and,
fufpedting that he was dead, and his death concealed. They were
fuffered, therefore, to pafs through the apartment in fingle
file without arms, and the king raifed his head with difficulty,
holding out his hand to them, but could not fpeak*

28th. In the evening the king expired.

This diary, without a comment, exhibits the attention of Alex-
ander to the defigns attributed to him in the preceding work better
than any other language can exprcfs. It proves that he had enter-
tained Nearchus only the day ‘previous to his illnefs, and that
the expedition of this officer was one of the principal objects

'■ Plutarch has an interval here from the • 'urivTot^ocrta^ycx^i commanders

21ft to the 24th; from (p^lvovro^ to of a thoufand and five hundred.

68 . ~ ^ A’ »' '

iv ynufyi fcuij ■cramc-.

3CL2

484 S E QJJ E L T O THE

of his mind almoft to the laft moment that he had the power of
fpeech.

The date of his death is the only point which now remains to be
fixed ; and as perfed: fatisfadion does not occur upon this fubjed
from confulting the chronoiogers, it is more proper to ftate the
difficulties than to determine the queftion authoritatively.

The year of his birth is fixed for Olympiad cvi. i. anfwering to
356 A. C. in the archonffiip of Elpines % His acceffion to the
throne, Olympiad cxi. i. 336 A. C. in the archonffiip of Pytho-
dorus. The day of his birth is affigned to the 26th of July by
Dodwell ; to Auguft the yth, by Scaliger : the day of his ac-
ceffion is the 24th of September^'’, according to Uffier ; fo that he
was fomewhat more than twenty years of age when he began to
reign ; and if his reign commenced in 336 A. C. the thirteenth
year of his reign and the thirty-third of his life coincides with the
year 3 24 A. C.

That he died in this year Is eftabliffied by the confent of Dio-
dorus and Arrian ; but Diodorus adds feven months, and Arrian
eight, to the twelve years of his reign ; and though thefe months
do not encroach upon the Attic or Olympian year, which did not
commence till Midfummer following, they evidently interfere with
the calculation of Scaliger and Petavius, if they commence their year
in January. This is the reafon I conclude, which induces Uffier
and Blair to carry on the date of his death to the year 323 A.C.
The chronology, indeed, of Diodorus is fo perplexed, that having
fixed the Voyage of Nearchus for 327 A. C, and brought Alexander

And To Falkoner’s Chronology, 1796,
p. i68, 169.

See fupra, b. 1. p. 31.
5'^ In Auguft. Blair,

t©

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS.

485

tp Sufa In 326 A. C* he Is obliged to Interpolate a year to give
a falfe archon, and repeat the fame confuls twice, a reproach which
his learned commentator^^ is obliged to transfer to the tranfcribers,
Fut which arofe in fact from the hlftorian having a year to fill up
which he knew not where to find. It is, however, by this con-
trivance that he brings the date of Alexander’s death to accord with
the account of Arrian, or rather the authorities^^ which Arrian
followed ; fo that both the hiftorians agree on the year of the
Olympiad cxiv. i. or 324 before Chrift, in the archondrip of
Hegefias.

It is here that the addition of feven months by the one, and
eight by the other, ralfes a difficulty which it is not eafy to
obviate.

Petavius has a differtation exprefsiy to folve this queftion,
which he does by fuppofing that Dsefius, in the time of Philip and
Alexander, anfwered to Hecatombseon, though it was afterwards
made to correfpond with Thargelion. Unfortunately, Plecatom-
bceon is as little qualified to refolve our doubts as Thargelion, for it
commences in July, and If it is July 324 A. G. even the twelve
years of Alexander are not complete. Petavius fays, Indeed, that
he had finifhed his twelfth year, and juft taken the aufpices for the
commencement of his thirteenth ; but this could not be true, if
his acceffion was on the 24th of September, as Ufher afferts.

Uftier agrees with Petavius In, fuppofing that Dasfius originally
anfwered to Hecatombaeon, and afterwards to Thargelion ; but in

7^' Olympiad cxili. 4, 7"*- Uflier agrees with Petavius,

See Diodorus WefTelin^, vol. il. p. 248. Vid, Differtationes, in fine, tom. ii. Pe-

Note 9, in his Audacise Specimen, &«, tav.

his

4S6

S E QJJ EL TO THE

liis Ephenieris’® he affigns the ift of Dxfins to the 25th of April:
the 28th of Dsefius confequentiy correfponds with the 22d of
May; and, as his date of Alexander’s acceffion is September 24111, it
follows of courfe that his reign was twelve years complete on that
day, in the year 324 A, C. and that the eight months extend to the
end of the fubfequent May in 323 ; this, therefore, is a calculation
eafily adrniffible, if Scaliger and Petavius had not fixed his deceafe in
324: but perhaps the archoniliip of Hegefias will enable us to recon-
cile the three chronologers ; for the Attic year. Olympiad cxiv* !•
commences, according to Dodwell, on the 23d of July, and confe-
quentiy Hegefias continued archon til! that day. This ftatement
brings all the calculations fo nearly to a confihency, that one ob-
jefliion only remains, which is, that I cannot difcover in any of the
hiftorians two vdnters after Alexander s return to Sufa : one is evi-
dent; that, in which he fubdued the Koffei ; but the year and five
months afterwards, wdiich he muft have paffed at Babylon and the
neighbourhood, is not filled up by the tranfadfions recorded, nor
agreeably to the bufy fpirit of Alexander*

If, after the reduction of the Koflsei, he entered Babylon in the
fpring of 324 A, C. we have nothing to employ the remainder of
that year but the vifit to Pallacopas, which muft have taken place
during the increafe^^ of the Euphrates, that is, between May and
July, for he could not enter the canal before the bank was cut ;
or if we fix his voyage to the feafon of clofing the Pallacopas, we
cannot bring him there later than Auguft, for in September the river
is again below' its banks. The account of his death fuceeeds this fo im-

De Anno Sol. Maced, p. 5 and 6.

The inundation feldom takes place fo early as M.ay. Ives, p. 251.

mediately.

VOYAGE OF NEARCHUS,

487

mecliatety, that, if there was an interval of eight or nine months,
it docs not appear. The opening of a campaign, indeed, fuits better
with the fpring following, as Uiher fixes it; and that he was going
to fet out on an expedition to Arabia appears from the orders iffued
to the troops and the fleet during his illnefs. If this confideration,
therefore, appears reafonable, we may fix the death of Alexander
ftill in Olympiad cxiv. i. and the archonfhip of Hegelias, not-
withftanding it will appear from our different commencement of the
year to be the 2 2d of May, in the year 323 before the Chriftian
sera. The difficulty of unravelling the intricacies of the Greek
calendar, and the digeftion of Greek months inuft apologife for
fuch a degree of obfcurity as miay ftill remain upon this qucftion ;
and even an acknowledgment of ignorance may be pardonable, fince
it has been lately proved by the Choifeuil Marble, that, after all
the learned labours of Petavius and Corfini, the arrangement of the
Attic months by.Scaliger is finally confirmed.

[ 489 ]

ON THE

SITE. OF 0 P I S.

Arrian has recorded no circumftances which enable us to fettle the pofit'on of
Opis, we muft therefore (if we fuppofe it to be the fame city as the Opis vifited by
the ten thoufand in their retreat) have recourfe to Xenophon *, who furniflies abundance
of means for the refolution of the queftion ; and that it is the fame city, there can be little
doubt; for there had been no revolution in Perfia to alter either its name or place in the
interval of feventy-fix^ years, which occurs between the expedition of Cyrus and the vifit
of the Macedonians. By the account of Xenophon, it appears to have rifen upon the de-
cline of the ancient Aflyrian cities on the Tigris, feveral of which he found deferted ; and'
it feems to have decayed in its turn as Seleucia and Apamea, the creations of the Seleu-
cidae, rofe into eminence. It was only a village in the time of Strabo; and in the age of
Ptolemy, when Ctefiphon was growing up into a capital, it had fo far funk as not to be
admitted into his catalogue.

The means of difcovering the Site of Opis by the courle of the Tigris, and its eaftern
bank, are obvious ; for Xenophon places it on the Phyfcus, a ftream which falls into the
Tigris at the diftance of twenty parafangs, or fixty Roman miles, from the place where
the ten thoufand eroded that river. The fixing of the padage, therefore, would give the
pofition of the Phyfcus, or, if we can find the Phyfcus, we could difeover the padage and^
the bridge of boats. The latter invedigation does not appear difEcult ; for between ^
Bagdat and Moful there are three dreams which fall into the Tigris on its eadern fide, and
no more. Thefe are

From Bagdat.

Xenophon*

Anvil! e*

Pavernier*

Ptolemy*

I. The Phyfcus.

Odorneh.

Odoine.

Gorgus.

2. The Zabatus.

Altoun Sou.

Little Zab.

Caprus.

3. The Zathes.

Lycus.

Great Zab.

Leucus.

Pliny*

Tornodotus.

I Xenophon, edit. Leunc. p, 277. et feq. 3 xiJfAVi Twv xvxKa TOTTw^r

1 Expedition of Cyrus, 401 A. C. twelfth year of Strab. lib, xvi, p. 739.

Alexander, 325 A. C. Blair’s Chronology.

Theft ^

490

O N

THE SITE

T^ hefe three rivers Tavernier notices in his paflage from Moful to Bagdat, which he per-^
formed by water in a kelek'*’; and the travelling Jeweller (as Gibbon ftyles him), who
always travelled with his eyes open, marks the mouth of the Odoine in the very place
where the Phyfcus ought to be found. By meafuring off fixty Roman miles on d’Anville’s
map, we arrive at Bagdat, confequently it is plain he intended to fix the paflage and the
bridge of boats at the fite of that city, where it continues to the prefent hour. If, however,
d’Anville fhould be miftaken (which is hardly the cafe), the means of corre£Bng his error
are eafy. Many of our Englilh gentlemen, in going to and returning from India, prefer
the route by Hilleh, Bagdat, and Moful, to the paflage over the great defert between Bafra
and Aleppo. Any one of thefe who would defcend the Tigris, from Moful to Bagdat %
in a kelek, may fix the mouth of the third river on his left, by obfervation; this mull be
the Odoine, or Phyfcus, and the difiance between this and Bagdat is eafy to obtain, as
the latitude ^ of that capital is already fufficiently eftablilhed.

By thefe obfervations, the eaftern fide of the Tigris is cleared of its difficulties; and if
it can be (hewn that the march of the ten thoufand on the vveHern fide points to Bagdat,
all our authorities coincide. To explain this it mufl: be premifed, that d’Anville’s wall of
Semiramis and Xenophon’s Median wall cannot be the fame. It is evident, indeed, that
there was a wall of Semiramis terminating at Opis, for Strabo^ twdee mentions them
together ; but the march of the ten thoufand cannot be made from any point of this wall
to Sittake and the bridge. Their march, after paffing the wall, was only twenty- fix*
miles to the Tigris ; but if Opis is fixty miles above Bagdat on the eaftern fide, the wall of
Semiramis cannot be lefs on the w^eftern ; and confequently this cannot be the rampart
V7hich Xenophon calls the Median Wall. This Median wall, however, did exifi ; it
exifts ® ill ruins at the prefent hour, and is feen by every traveller as he approaches

4 A vefiel fupported cn the water by inflated ikins,
yfed on thefe rivers from the age of Xenophon to the
prefent hour. See Tavernier, tom. i. liv. ii. p. Z26- et

feq.

5 The paflage mufl be made by water to obtain this
cbjedl, as the road between Bagdat and Moful leaves the
Tigris. Ives, when three days’ journey from Bagdat,
found a ftream called Chiba Harpfie, which, he fays,
fa’ls into the Tigris ; this, by the diflance, might be
the Odoine, but Niebuhr carries it into the DiaU,
Strange, that a traveller ihould not notice whether it
flowed eafl: or wefl ! This road goes by Yanka, Kara-
tope, &c. Dr. Howel’s Journal agrees with Jves.

6 Niebuhr, p. 239* 330^0'. D’AnvilIc differs only
a few feconds.

7 Lib. ii. p. 80. Lib. xi. p. 59a.

8 Eight parafangs, fifteen ftadia.

-9 lyes went to vific Nimrod’s tower ; It lies weft by

north, about nine miles from Bagdat. << We pafled the
“ Tigris by the bridge of boats, and rode through Old
Bagdat, from whence, quite up to the tower, ruins of
buildings either wholly above, or fomewhat under
ground, are iVill to be feen, which can be no other
than the remains of the ancient Seleucia.” This is
perfedl evidence for the remains of the Median wall, and,
in the direction I give it, weft by north : but Ives Is mifs.
taken when he talks of Seleucia ; he was clofe to that
city at Tdhkti Khefra, which is fouth-eaft of Bagdat,
not nerch-weft. Old Bagdat, or the ruins he faw, might
be the ruins of Sittake ; but Xenophon’s ufage of Sittake
is dubious; the diftridl called Sittakene is eaft of the
Tigris. Ives, p. 297. Tavernier, tom. i. p. 238.

*0 Some of tlja public buildings at Bagdat conlift of
the old Affyrian bricks from this wall, or the ruins of
Sittake. ,

OF O P I S.

491

Bagdat®* on the road from Hilleh, extending for many miles on his left. Where it touched
the Euphrates is not qifcoverable j certainly not at Babylon, in the diredlion affigned to it
by de rifle but, as I conjedlure, at the very part Vv'here the Euphrates approaches
nearefi: to the T'igris, where the intervening fpace is as nearly twenty- fix miles as may be,
agreeing exadly with the march of the twenty thoufand. I fuppofe them to have eroded
the Median wallclofe to the Euphrates, and to have meafiired twenty-fix*^ miles, in the
diredlion of the w^all, till it terminated at the Tigris, as it now docs ; and poflibly at the
very point where the modern bridge of Bagdat confifts of boats, as it has done in all
ages.

Let us now refer to the field of Kynaxa, where Cyrus loft his life. D’Anville places
Kynaxa on a curvature of the Euphrates marked by the modern Hit or Het. There is
every reafon to fuppofe that in this pofition he is perfedlly corredl ; and the reafon for
believing this is, becaufe the ten thoufand, on the firft march after the battle, moved with
their face to the north, for Xenophon mentions exprefsly that the fun rofe on their right ;
this diredlion, therefore, was neceflTary to bring them out of the curvature in which they
were inclofed. At night they reached a knot of villages which ought to lie in the fituation of
d’Anville’s Makepracle and the wall of Semiramis, where it touches the Euphrates ; but
of this wall Xenophon takes no notice. On the fecond day they proceeded to other vil-
lages, where they found abundant provifions for their fupport. No diftance is afligned to
the march of either day ; but it is evident, that on the fecond the direction of their coqrfe
muft be different from that of the firft, for they did not dare to quit the Euphrates, leaft
they fhould fail in a fupply of water ; and that they kept the river on their right, and
followed its winding to the fouth-eaft, is proved by their approach to Babylon, from
which Xenophon fays they were not far, when fome days after they pafled the Adedian
wall.

At thefe villages the army halted twenty days, while a treaty was going on with Tifla-
phernes ; when, after commencing their march again, they reached in three days the wall
of Media. Xenophon has not afligned meafures to any of thefe five days’ march after the
battle ; but if we allot five parafangs to each, it produces feventy-five miles Roman ; a
fpace which brings them to the point where the Euphrates approaches neareft to the Tigris,

I* By Tcxelra, as I learn from Mr. Howe’s Papers.

12 De rifle gives the ruins upon his map as they
really appear, but diredls the termination of the wall weft
lo Babylon. I cannot trace it fo far, and luppofe it to
have crofted Mefopotamia at the narroweft part. Map of
William de I’lfle, publilbed by Jofeph Nicholas de I’lfle,
3766. Kindly communicated by Mr. Jacob Bryant. '

13 Strabo reckons aoo ftadia, or twenty-five miles, at
t-be wall of Semiramis* Did he confound the two wails f

or did he confound the fite ?— if the latter, there was one
wall only inftead of two. See Strabo, lib. ii. p. 80.

There is a movement previous to this, but it is only
towards Ariaeus, and probably over the field of battle.
The poftibility of a miftake in d’Anville can be founded
only on an adertion of Xenophon’s, that i; is 300 miles
from Kynaxa to Babylon ; but Xenophon did not march
the whole extent.

and

3R 2

ON THE SITE

492

and makes the Median wall, if we place it here, feventy miles nearer Babylon than the
wall of Semiramis, that is, fixty miles inftead of an hundred and thirty. ' The army, ac-
cording to this ftatement, ought to have croiTed the wall near, or clofe to the Euphrates ;
and as we then find two days’ march of four parafangs each to Sittake, and two miles from
Sittake to the Tigris, this gives twenty- fix miles, following the diredfion of the wall to
Bagdat ; and this, at a point where d’Anville makes the fpace between the two rivers IcTs
than thirty, and where Niebuhr*^ makes it only from eighteen to twenty.

By this procefs, the movements of the army weft of the Tigris point to Bagdat, as the
meafures from Opis end at the fame city, taken on the eaft. The bridge of boats would be

as neceflary for Sittake in that age, as for Bagdat at the prefent day ; and thirty-feven,

the number of the boats mentioned by Xenophon, is a medium between the higheft and
loweft ftatement of thofe employed at prefent, according to the feafon of the year. From
thefe ded actions it is eafy to conclude, that the pafTage of the ten thoufand was at Bagdat ;
but if not there, the fpace for error is very fhort. The wall proves, that it could not be
higher up, and other circumftances prove that it could not be lov/er down the ftream than
the mouth of the Diala j this confines it within the limits of ten or twelve miles, which it
is impolTible to exceed. The Diala falls in on the eaft fide of the Tigris between Bagdat
and Ctefiphon, and the fite of Ctefiphon is fixed by two ruins at the diftance of a quar-
ter of a mile from each other, called Tahkti Khefra (the throne of Khofroes,) and
Soleiman Pac, or the tomb of Sokiman the Pure. Thefe ruins were vifited by Pietro **
della Valle and Ives, and Ives mentions exprefsly his palling the Diala both going*® and
returning. It is nearer, indeed, to Ctefiphon, but Ctefiphon is little more than fixteen^®
miles from Bagdat, and confequently the mouth of the Diala muft be lefs. Now it has

15 Niebuhr fays little more than fix leagues. Vol. il.
p. 236. Voyage. Amfterd. edit.

lb Ctefiphon, the Ti/bon of the Orientals, was built on
the eattern fide of the Tigris, oppbfite to Seleucia, which
was in Mefopotamia \ it rofe under the Arfacidan dynafly
duiing the fecond century. See Gibbon, vol. i. p. 21 1.
And the remains of the two cities are fiill called Al-
Mod-ain, the double city 5 from Medhi, Midhi, or
Mcdbi, a fortrefs, and ain or ein j fo Bahr-cin, the
double Tea.

17 The Aivan Khefra of Pietro della Valle, built of
burnt bricks, 1400 paces long ; middle aide 62 paces
long, 33 wide. Ives gives a drawing of this building,
p. 289. in which it has the appearance of Roman archi-
tetSIure ; but fuch it can hardly be j it is certainly not
Oriental, but may have been a palace or temple built by
the Seleucidae, who might prefer a fiiuation on the oppo-
site fide of the river to their capital, Seleucia. Ives fays,
Ihe eaft front is 300 feet, breadth of the arch % 5, height

106, length of the arched room 150.

18 Pietro della Vall4 tom. ii. p. 258. He faw the
Dia'a as large as the Tiber, flept at a village fomewhat
lower down, and proceeded next day to Soleiman Pac. A
proof that there is fome confiderable diftance between the
Diala and Ctefiphon.

19 Ives is not quite correct. He fays, he pafied at

Yealla inftead of the for fuch Diala founded to

his ear, agreeably to the fiutluation of Dsjiaila, fo often
noticed, like the Diamuna of Ptolemy, for Jumna or
Jomanes.

D’Anville makes it near twenty j but Ives left
Tahkti Kefra about midnight, ftaid half an hour at the
ferry of Diala, and reached Bagdat between fix and feven
in the morning. Suppofe him to travel five hours, and
it will fcarcely amount to more than fifteen or fixteea
miles, p. 291. Al-Edrifi fays fifteen miles, p. 205. but
his miles are dubious.

been

OF O P I S.

493'

been proved, that the wall brought the ten thoufand to Bagdat or near it, and the Diala
confines them on the other hand, for if they had pafled the Tigris below the ifiue of that
river, they muft have crofied the Diala after they arrived on the eaft of the Tigris ; this
they manifeftly did not, as it is not noticed at all by Xenophon ; and an author who
records the palling of the Phyfcus could not have omitted a much larger flream.

The refult of this inquiry ferves to eftabliOi the pofition afiigned to Opis by d’Anville ;
and it may be concluded he alfo fixed the paflage of the Tigris at Bagdat. He has pub-
lilhed a memoir, if I miftake not, on his map of the Euphrates and the Tigris, but I have
not feen it ; neither do I know how he has difpofed of the Opis of Herodotus. On that
Opis I muft be filent, obferving only that it cannot be the fame as the Opis of Xenophon
and Arrian ; for he fays the Gyndes falls into the Tigris, and the Tigris, after palling by
Opis, iflues** into the Gulph of Perfia. If we are to underftand by this that Opis is near
the gulph, it is evidently not the fame city. He mentions in another paflage, that the "Figris
falls into the Gulph of Perfia at Ampe, and if there had been any fufpicion of the text in
the paflTage before us, the two names might have been reduced to one ; but there is no ap-
pearance of this fort, and I muft leave the venerable father of hiftory to his com-
mentators.

Si Bts^op >s:orci(yLov
o 'V^oc^oc, riTTit zuoXiv sg T'AP

Herod, lib. i. p. 89. Cotnpare ndth lib. rfc

p,447. *•..... Iv tiyoM >}v

'OSCi.orA^ltasp BdXoCfJo-xv

APPEND

ADVERTISEMENT.

f j ^HE learned Author of the fecond Differmtion fays, with no little
kindnefs, that had I had the ill luck to have confulted Ufher’s
Ephemeris, I fhould not have applied either to his Lordlhlp or
Mr. Wales for a folutlon of my difficulty ; but however it might
have been unfortunate to have miffed the acqulfitlon of two fucli
Papers, I feel in fome degree the charge of negligence, for having
failed .in my purfuit at the very moment when I was in fight
of my obje£t.

The truth Is, that I had worked my way tlirough a mafs of
obfcurity by the affiftance of Scaliger, Petavius, Dodwell, and
Columella ; but the edition of Ulher which I ufed was the Englifh
one, and in that, though I found a reference to his Treatife on the
Solar Year of the Macedonians (which I have noticed), I did not
find the treatife Itfelf; neither is it contained in that edition. This,
however, was the clue ; and I am fenfible of vexation, rather than
fiiame, that I neglected the opportunity of feizing it.

496

A P P E N D I X,

In that Epliemerls, Ufher, upon the authority of Eudeinon^
places the evening rifing of the Pleiades on the eighth of Dius^
correfponding with the firft of Od:ober. This is Ufher’s own date
of the voyage, upon a comparifon of the two paffages from Arrian
and Strabo, in the eighteenth page of his treatife ; and affords an
irrefragable proof, among a thoufand others, that both authors
copied from the original Journal of Nearchus.

My own date, with the affiftance of Dodwell, came out the
fecond of Oilober; and this difference, though of one day only
from the eftimate of Ufher, I had laboured much to reconcile^
The error was on my fide ; for I had mifcalculated by reckoning
the thirteenth of September, which is the firft of Boedromion, ex-
clufive, inftead of inclufive. This is the extent of my offence;
^nd, as my confeflion is unreferved, I have a right to expeffe ab-
folufion rather than penance.

After all the trouble caufed by the difcuflion of this queftion, it
is no little pleafure to find, that the iflue renders Strabo and
Arrian confiftent, that it juflifies Uffier and Dodwell in their cal-
culation of the year and month,, and that this calculation is con-
firmed by the deduction of two proficients in a fcience which I have
never had leifure to purfue, and to whom I had ftated the queftion
without furnifhing all the data it required. I have now only to
requeft, that the reader would confider the departure of the fleet
from its firft ftation in the Indus as fixed for the JirJl inftead of the
ftcond, of Odoben.

DISSERT-

C 497 ]

DISSERTATION I. i.

On the Rifmg of the Confellatlons.

Dear Sir,

T T AVING at laft finilhed the calculations which are neceflarj

to enable me to refolve your queftlons from Columella, I will

endeavour to give you the beft and plaineft anfwers to them that I

can. But to do this it may be neceffary to fay fomething concerning
a branch of aftronomy which was much cultivated by the ancients,
namely, the rifings and fettings of the ftars, as they refped: the
rifing and fetting of the fun. The points chiefly attended to were,
the times when certain fixed ftars, or conftellations of ftars, rofe or
fet with the fun ; the times when thofe ftars fet as the fun rofe,
and the times when they rofe as the fun fet. The determination of
thefe points conftituted a principal part of the aftronomy of the
ancients, and was efteemed by them of the utmoft importance,
becaufe it \vas by thefe means that they regulated their feftivals,
judged of the returns of the feafons, and even eftimated the length
of the year.

As the fun, apparently, revolves in the ecliptic annually from
weft to eaft, while the fixed ftars remain conftantly in the fame
place, it is manifeft the fun muft come into conjunction, at one
time of the year or other, with every ftar. In the prefent age the
fun comes into conjunction ; that is, into the fame part of the

3 s heavens^

APPENDIX.

49S

heavens, with the Pleiades about the middle of May, and, in con-
fequence;, rifes and fets about the fame time that they do ; in thia
pofition, the conftellation was faid by the ancients to rife cofmically
and fet achronlcally. But it mufh be obferved, that in all places
which have northern latitude, a flar, which is to the northward of
the fun when they are in conjundion, will rife at the fame inftant
that the fun rifes a few days before the fun comes into conjundion
with it, on account of the obliquity of the fphere ; and will not
fet at the fame inftant the fun fets until the fun has pafled the con-
jundion, and got to the eaftward of the ftar: that is, the time when
the ftar rifes cofmically happens fome days before that when it fets
achronically ; and the number of days by which the lirft of thefe
circumftances precedes the latter depends partly on the latitude of
the place, and partly on the diftance which the ftar is to the north-
ward of the fun at the time of conjundion. On the contrary, if
the ftar be fouth of the fun at the time of conjundion, the ftar will
fet achronically before the conjundion, and will not rife cofmically
till after it is paft. The contrary to both thefe pofitions takes place
in fouthern latitudes'.

While the fun is weft ward of the point which it is in when it
rifes with the ftar, it is manifeft that the fun muft rife before the
ftar, and, confequently, the rifing of the ftar cannot be feen. It
is as obvious that the rifing of the ftar cannot be feen when the fun-
and ftar rife together : but fome time after that, when the fun has
got fo far eaft of the ftar as to be confiderably below the horizon
when the ftar rifes, the twilight will be fo little advanced that the

* If the place of obfervation be between general rules do not hold good ; but they are
the tropics, there are cafes in which thefe two . very limited, and not worth confidering here,

ftar

D I S S E RTATI O N I. i.

499

ftar may be vlfible at its riling ; and, as foon as this was the cafe,
the ftar was faid to rife hellacally. The number of days that this
circurnftance happens after the time when the ftar rifes cofmically
depends partly on the latitude of the place, partly on the declin-
ations of the fun and ftar, and partly on the ftar’s brightnefs : it
can therefore only be determined, like the beginning and end of
twilight, by obfervation. For the fame reafon, the ftar cannot be
feen to fet when it fets at the fame inftant that the fun fets; nor can
it be feen to fet for fome days before that time, on account of the
twilight : and when the fun approached fo near to the ftar that it
could be no longer feen to fet, it was then faid to fet heliacally.
Thefe phenomena happen now about the latter end of May and the
beginning of June.

After this, the fun advancing ftill eaftward in the ecliptic, while
the ftar keeps its fituation, will have got fo far beyond It, that fome
time In the beginning of November the fun will fet as the ftar rifes ;
and the ftar is then faid to rife achronically. Moreover, the fun
and ftar being at this time nearly in oppofite points of the heavens,
it muft follow that about the fame time, or a few days either before
or after It, according as the place is In fouth or north latitude, and
the ftar fouth or north of the fun at the time of conjundlion, the
ftar muft fet as the fun rifes 3 and when it did fo, It was faid to fet
cofmically.

The longitude and latitude of the Lucida Pleiadum was deter-
mined with great accuracy by the late Dr. Bradley to be ^
26° 38^ 34', and 4° 1' 36'^ north refpedlively, at the beginning of
the year 1760; from whence It will be readily found that, at this
time, and in the latitude of Rome, the Pleiades rife cofmically on
or about the loth of May, and fet achronically about the 20th of

3 S 2 the

the fame month : and that they rife achronically about the 1 2th;
and fet cofmically about the 21ft of November,

Thefe two laft-mentioned circumflances^ according to your ex-
tradl from Columella, happened on the i otii of October and 8th of
November, in the year 42 after Clirift. You add, that according to
Strabo, Nearchus failed from the Indus, at the time when the
Pleiades rofe in the evening, or achronically in the year 326 before
Chrift ; that Arrian informs us this was on the 2d of Odiober ; and
you wilh to be informed how near thefe dates and circumftances
agree together when the preceffion of the equinodial points is
allowed for. You wilh alfo to have a popular explanation of the
term Precejfion^ in anteccdentia^ and an account of its application to^
and effedl on, the phenomena which have been explained above.

The two points w^here the ecliptic crofles the plane of the earth’s
equator are called the Equinoftial Points. That which the fun is in
on the 20th or 21ft of March, when he paffes to the northward of
the plane of the earth’s equator, is called the Vernal Equinodial
Point; and the other is called the Autumnal Equinodial Point.

The earth is not a perfed fphere, but is in the form of fuch a
bowl as is ufed on a bowling-green ; the two poles being in the
two flat fides, and its greatefl: diameters all in the plane of the
equator. Now, as ail bodies attrad each other, the protuberant parts
about the earth’s equator are aded on by the fun and moon, when
they are out of the plane of that equator, in fuch a manner as
to caufe the two equinodial points to be carried backward,
along the ecliptic, at the rate of 504 feconds of a degree in a
year \ and this motion of the equinodial points is called, though,
fomewhat improperly perhaps, the Preceffion of the Equinodial:
Points.. ‘ 15,

' D I S S E RTATl O N I. i.

501

As the vernal equinodlal paint is carried backward by the above-
mentioned quantity yearly, while the fixed ftars ]?fetain their places,
and as we continue to reckon the longitudes of the ftars from that
point, it is manifeft the longitudes of the ftars will be increafed
every year by 50^ feconds. But as the motion of thefe points is
in the plane of the ecliptic, this apparent motion of the ftars will
be parallel to the ecliptic ; and, confeqiiently, their diftance from
the ecliptic, which is called their latitude, will not be altered by
it. It muft be farther obferved that the year (as It relates to aftro-
nomy] always begins when the fun is in the vernal equinoftial
point ; from which it will be evident that it is later, by a fmall
quantity, every year than it was the year before, when the fun
comes to the fame longitude with any particular ftar, or to that
point of the ecliptic where it rifes or fets with It : and this is the

caufe why the Pleiades rife as the fun fets, and fet as the fun rifeSy.
Later now than they did formerly.

It has been already faid, that the longitude of the Luclda Pleia*-
dum was b 26° 38" 38'', at the beginning of the year 1760; but in
the 1718 years vdi-ich elapfed between the years 42 and 1760,,
the preceffion of the equinoxes, at the rate of 50^ feconds in a
year, amounts to 86,4724 feconds, or 24^" \' 124% which being
taken from b 26^^ 38' 34""', leaves b P 37" 214"^ for the longitude-
of n Pleiadum in the year 42 after Chrift : and, as the latitudes of
the ftars remain the fame 4 the point of the ecliptic which then rofe-
with this ftar was t 29^ 7' 9", the obliquity of the ecliptic being
at that time 23^" 41' 24''. Hence the point v/hich fet as the ftar
rofe was 29^ 7^ 9'^; and this point, I find by Mayer’s Tables, the

^ I take no notice here of the very fmall fixed fiars by the aflions of the other planetS'
change which is caufed in. the places uf the on the earth.

fum

502

APPENDIX.

fun was in on the 19th of Odober. By a fimilar procefs, I find
that the point of the ecliptic which rofe as the Pleiades fet was

4*" 20', which point the fun occupied on the 29th of Odlober
that year.

The former of thefe determinations differs nine days, and the
latter ten from the times afligned by Columella ; but it may be re-
marked that the former of thefe errors is in defed:, and the latter in
excefs ; and as the ftars rife and fet fooner as the year advances, it
follows, that on the loth of Odober the fun would fet a fhort time
before the ftar would rife, and on the 8th of November the ftar
would fet fome time before the fun rofe ; both which circumftances
appear to be neceffary if thefe phenomena were determined by ob-
fervation, as, moft probably, was the cafe. For it is manifeft the
ftar’s rifmg cannot be obferved when it rifes exadly as the fun fets;
nor can its fetting be feen when it fets exadly as the fuiT rifes, on
account of the daylight, as hath been already obferved : but, per-
haps, the one might be feen by a good eye, in the latitude of Rome,
nine or ten days before, and the other as much after the time when
the two circumftances happened together ; and I have not a doubt
but that the difference between Columella’s obfervation and my cal-
culation is to be attributed to this caufe.

I am next to inquire whether the effed of the preceflion of the
equinodial points will reconcile Strabo’s account, which ftates that

Nearchus failed at the time when the Pleiades rofe in the evening:,
that is to fay, as the fun fet, with the account of Arrian, who fays
exprefsly, that he failed on the 2d of Odober in the year before
Chrift 326. In the interval between the year 42 after, and the
year 326 before Chrift, the preceflion amounts to 5° 8' 42-^'', which
being taken from b 2® 37' 214'^, the ftar’s longitude in the year

42 after

D I S S E RTATI O N Li*

42 after Chrift, leaves t 28' 384'' for the Ipngitude of \h.tLuclda
Pleiadum in the year 326 before Chrift ; and the point of the ecliptic
which rofe with the ftar, in this fituation, at Rome, in the year 326
before Chrift, the obliquity of the ecliptic being then 23° 44' 13'^,
was iq'" 26' 41'h but as the fun was, fetting when the ftar rofe, it
muft have been in 19° 26' 41'', the oppofite point of the ecliptic,
which point the fun occupied on the 17th of October; fifteen days
after that which is fixed by Arrian for the failing of Nearchus.
Now if nine or ten days were fufficient to render the rifing of the
Pleiades vifible at Rome, we are certain that more could not be re-
quifite to render their rifing vifible at the place Nearchus failed
from, which Is in a much lower latitude ; we are therefore led t«
fuppofe, either that Strabo fpake in general terms, (as indeed feems
to be the cafe,) meaning only to point out the feafon, and not the
day when Nearchus fet out on his expedition, while Arrrian gave
the precife day on which it happened, or that fome miftake has
crept into one or the other of thefe authors : to me, the former fup-
pofition feems moft natural.

But notwithftanding it is highly probable that the apparent differ-
ence between the two hiftorlans ought to be referred to one or other
of thefe caufes, it is by no means certain that either one or other of
them muft be reforted to. It is poffible that it ought to be attri-
buted to another caufe.

The preceding calculation is founded on a fuppofition that the
Julian calendar has been in ufe ever fmce the year 326 before
Chrift ; but we know it was not eftabilflied by law till about 45
years before Chrift, and that before that xva. different modes of
computation were ufed by different perfons, who did not always

tell us what mode of computation they made ufe of. Now, not-
withftanding

504 A P P E N D I X,

withftanditig both Arrian and Strabo refer to the fame authority,
it is poffible the years by which that Author reckoned might differ
from Julian years; and if they did, a greater difference than that which
.exifts between them might arife from that circumftance.

There is a circumftance occurs in the foregoing calculation!
which may lead fome perfons to conclude I have committed a
miftake in them ; and which it is therefore neceffary to ob-
viate, The quantity of the preceffion in the interval between
thd year 326 before, and the , year 42 after Chrift is 5"* 8' 424",
a fpace which the fun is more than five days palling over. It
may therefore be fuppofed, that the difference between the achro«
nical rifiiigs of the fame flat, at thefe two times, ought to be
between five and fix days, whereas I make it little more than
two : but it muft be confidered, that near three of thefe five
days are anticipated by the excefs of the Julian year above the
true length of the folar year in that interval.

This, Sir, is the plaineft anfwer I can give to the queftlons you
have been pleafed to propofe. They betray no ignorance in a
perfon who does not profefs to be an aftronomer, as the circum-
ftances are certainly fufficient to create doubt, which every rational
mind muft be anxious to clear up. If I have contributed any thing
toward this by what I have written, I fhall be very happy, and am,

Reverend Sir,

Your’s very fincerely,

WILLIAM WALES.

Christas Hospital,

Jan. 14th, 1796.

APPENDIX.

50s

DISSERTATION I. ii.

On the Riftng of the Confellations.

Dear Sir,

OU will receive, I hope, fome fatIsfaCtion from the refult of
my calculations upon the different dates, affigned by Arrian
and Strabo, to the commencement of Nearchus’s expedition ; which
at firft, I confefs, I thought too difcordant to be reconciled by any
probable conjedlure, without tampering with the text of Arrian,
which, in my judgment, feenied to carry fome marks of cor-
ruption.

The method I have taken has been to go direftly to the inveftl-
gation of the time of the acronychal rifing of the Pleiades, in that
part of the world where the voyage was undertaken, in the year
before Clirift 326, which was the year of the voyage ; and, for a
reafon which will prefently appear, I have not concerned myfelf at
all with Columella’s rifings or fettings.

Arrian fays, that Nearchus failed from the mouth of the Indus
as foon as the Etefi^e ceafed, in the eleventh year of the reign of
Alexander, according to the reckoning of the Macedonians and the
Afiatics, and on the 20th of the Athenian month Boedromion.

3 T This

506

A P P E N D 1 X.

This eleventh of the reign of Alexander, it is agreed, was the year
before the vulgar sera of our Lord 326; and the 20th of Boe-
dromion in this year, upon the authority of eminent chronologers,
you take to have been the ift of October, St. Jul. And in this
redudion, if there be any error, which, though I fufpect, I will
not too confidently affert, it catinot be of more than a fingle
day.

Strabo’s account is, that the fleet failed in autumn about the
feafon of the evening rifing of the Pleiades, before the winds
were fair, the barbarians attacking them and forcing them to
fea.”

This claims great attention, for it is Nearchus’s own account.
The words of Strabo import as much, and the thing fpeaks, in fome
meafure, for itfelf. The charader, by which the time is defcribed,
is of a fort to have been taken from the journals of the mariners
themfelves ; for any fecond-hand writer of the voyage would have
expreffed it in a more popular manner, by affixing to it, as we fee
Arrian has done, a precife date, or a date at leaft pretending to
precifion, in fome well-known civil reckoning. But if this cha-
racter of the time of the commencement of the expedition came
from the original journals of the mariners; it follows, that fome two
or three days before they failed, or two or three days after, (for in
this fort of date no greater accuracy is to be expeded,) they faw
the Pleiades rifen in the eaft, fome fhort fpace of time after the fun
was fet in the weft ; or rather, fince the ftar could not be feen when
the fun was yet upon the horizon, they faw the ftar about an hour
after funfet with that altitude, that they concluded it had rifen at the
moment when the fun fet.

We have to inquire, therefore, on what day of the year, in the
year of this voyage, namely before Chrlft 326, the Pleiades rofe
acronychally in that part of the world, from which thefe voyagers fet
out ; that is to fay, at the mouth of the Indus. If this fhould be
found to agree with Arrian’s date, all will be well. If not, the
phsenomena of the Roman horizon in the time of Columella, even
upon the fuppofition that Columella’s reprefentation of them is exad:,
will throw no light upon our fubjed:.

Now I alTume 24° north for the latitude of the mouth of the
Indus. This is nearly the truth ; and I take the even number,
becaufe the diflerence of one-half of a degree, more or lefs, will
not afied the refult of the calculation.

By Dr. Bradley’s obfervations, the longitude of Lucida Pleiadum,
in the beginning of the year 1760, was « 26"* 38' 34^', and the lati-
tude 4° i' 36'^ north.

The interval of time, between the beginning of the year 1760
and the beginning of the year before Chrift 326, is 2085 Julian
years; and, in this time, the retrogradatlon of the equinodial points
amounts to 29"^ 7' 55^^

Therefore, in the beginning of the year before Chrift 326, the
longitude of Lucida Pleiadum was t 27"^ 30^ 39'^, and the latitude
4° 36'^ north.

The obliquity of the ecliptic at this fame time was 23° 44' 14'^

In the figure annexed, let H* A h, D A d, T O E, reprefent the
horizon, the equinodial circle and the ecliptic, all projeded upon
the plane of the meridian of the mouth of the Indus, at the inftant
when Lucida Pleiadum is rifing. Let the ecliptic interfed the ho-
rizon ,on the eaftern fide In O; and on the weftern, in o. Let ^ be

3x2 Lucida

APPENDIX.

508

Lucida Pleiadum upon the eaftern horizon ; then O will be the

point of the ecliptic, which comes to the eaftern horizon, and rifes

with the ftar ; and the oppofite point in the weft, o, will be the

point of the ecliptic, which fets when the ftar rifes.

Through draw a great circle of latitude ^ B S, meeting the

ecliptic in B, and the equinodtial in S. Then, in the fpherical

triangle t B S, we have the angle at B right. B t S, the obliquity
of the ecliptic, = 23° 44' 14"; the fide t B, the longitude of Lu-
cida Pleiadum, = 27° 30' 39 Therefore, by the refolution of the
triangle, we find the angle B S •v' = 69° 4' 57", and the fide
B S = I T 28' 56".

But the arc * B is the latitude of Lucida Pleiadum, = 4° i' ^6''i
and * S = * B + B S =; 15° 30' 32". Therefore, in the fpherical
triangle * S A, we have the fide ^ S — 15 3*^ 3^ 5 angle
*SA(orBS'v’) = 69“ 4' 57", and the angle * A S, the com-
plement of the latitude of the place, = 66°. Therefore, by the refo-
lution of the triangle, we find the angle S * A = 43° 24' 29".

Before we proceed further in the calculation it is proper to ob-

ferve, to fave unneceffary trouble, that it will not ferve our purpofe

5^9

DISSERTATION Li!.

to afcertain the longitudes of the points O and o, which the refo-
lution of one triangle more would give. But the longitude of th^
point o, which fets when the ftar really comes to the horizon, would
give us only the day, which would be the day of the acronychal
riling of Lucida Pleiadum, If the atmofphere poffelTed no refraftive
power. But when the ftar is really upon the eaftern horizon, it
appears, by the effed; of the refradion of the atmofphere, at the
height of about half a degree above it. And if the fun at the
fame time were fetting upon the weftern horizon, he would appear,
from the fame caufe, at the height of about half a degree above it ;
fo that on the day when the fun is really upon the weftern horizon,
at the fame inftant when the ftar is really upon the eaftern, the ftar
by the elFed of refradion will have lifen, and the fun will not be
fet. What we want to find is the day w^hen the ftar would be fecn
rifing, and the fun feen fetting at the fame inftant, if the ftar could be
feen in the light of the fetting fun; which will be an earlier day, than
that whereon the rifing ftar and fetting fun would come to the
eaftern and w^eftern horizon refpedively at the fame time. To de-
termine this day of the vifible acronychal rifing of the ftar, wc
muft eftimate the effed of refradion both upon the ftar and upon
the fun. The effed of refradion upon the ftar will eafily be afcei-
talned by means of the angle S ^ A, the quantity of which v/e have
already determined ; and this is the only ufe of the calculation, fo
far as we have yet carried it.

In figure 2, let O O B, % B, reprefent the fame arcs of the
horizon, ecliptic, and circle of latitude pafling through the ftar, as
in the former figure.

Through

APPENDIX.

S 10

Through ^ draw a vertical cir-
cle V, and fet oiF an arc ^ R — to
the horizontal refradion, /. e, —
30^ 51''. Through R draw a great
circle of latitude, meeting the eclip-
tic in £ ; and through ^ draw a
Tmall circle parallel to the ecliptic,
and let this fmall circle meet the
great circle of latitude, drawn
through R, in (T. ,

Now fince the light of the rifing ftar upon the horizon is thrown,
by the effed of refradion, up to R, in the vertical circle, fo as to
appear in the heavens in the point R ; the ftar, which, without re-
fradion, would be feen, where it really is, at the point % in the
circle of latitude B, appears at the point R in the circle of lati-
tude R 6. Both the latitude and longitude, therefore, of the ftar are
changed in appearance by refradion ; the latitude being increafed
by the quantity of the arc R (t, and the longitude diminiflied
by B ^

In the triangle ^ R (t, right-angled at <r, which for the fmallnefs
of its fides may be treated as a redilinear triangle, the fide ^ R z=
30' 51^^ ; the angle R ^ tr, which with cr o makes a right angle,
muft be equal to O B (A % S of Figure i.), which with the fame
(7 % o makes a right angle; therefore, R * cr ::i: 43"^ 24^ 29''. There-
fore, by the refolution of the triangle, the fide R o* 21^ 12'^, and
the fide ^ a- r: 22^ 24'^ This is the length of ^ 0* in parts of a
great circle; whence B £ will be found 22' 28^^ Hence R £, the
apparent latitude of the refraded ftar, =:R(r + a-£zi4° 22' 48^',
and nr its apparent longitude, t B — B £ = ^ 27"^ 8' ii''.

Now

DISSERTATION I. ii.

Sii

Now then, In Figure i, we muft refume the refolutlon of the
triangles, making ufe of the ftar’s apparent longitude and latitude,

Inllead of the true. Thus In the fpherical sr B S, which Is right-

✓

angled at B, put ^ B 27'' 8' ii ; the angle B S, 23° 44 14"
as before. Then, by the refolutlon of the triangle, the angle B S T
~ 69° o' 30'^, and the fide B S ~ 11° 20'' 2g".

But B is to be taken as the ftars refra£ted latitude,^ 4° 22 48'';
and S S B + B S =: 15° 43^ 17'^ Therefore, in the fpherical
triangle ^ S A, we have the fide ^ S iz 15° 43' 17'^; the angle ^ S A
n 69° o' 30 ', and the angle ^ A S, the complement of the lati-
tude of the place, zz 66^ Therefore, refolving the triangle, we
find the angle S * A z: 43 '^29' 34''.

Then in the fpherical triangle B o, which is right angled at B,
we have the angle B ^ o (S A) == 43° 2g' 34"; and the fide * B,
the ftar’s refracfted latitude, zi 4° 22' ^S". Whence, refolving the
triangle, we find the fide OB zz 4® 8^ 39^^

Now T B, the apparent longitude of the refradted ftar, rz
27"^ 8' 1 1 and we have found OB = 4'" 8' 39^'. Therefore, T O =
B — OB zz 22° 59' 32 ; and this is the longitude of that point
of the ecliptic, which comes to the eaftern horizon, at the fame
inftant of time, with the refracted light of the ftar.

The point o oppofite to this, which comes to the weftern horizon,

I at

appendix.

512

at the fame inftant of time, when the refrafted light of the ftar is
upon the eaftern horizon, is 2 2 ' 59' 32''.

But if this were the true place of the fun, when the refraded ftar is
upon the eaftern horizon ; the fun would not yet be fet, but would
appear, by the effed of refradion, about half a degree above the
horizon. We muft inquire, what the fun’s true place muft be, in
order that the horizontal refradion may throw his light into the
point o ; for the time when this happens will be the true acronychal
rifing. And for this purpofe we muft eftimate the effed of the
horizontal refradion upon the fun’s apparent longitude ; and this
depends upon the angle which the ecliptic, at fun-rife or fun-fet,

makes with the horizon; that is upon the angle T O A (Figure i.)

or its equal ^ O B.

The angle ^ O B is eafily found, by refolving the fpherical tri-
angle ^ O B, in which the angle at B is a right angle ; the angle
B ^ O — 43"^ 2g' 34^^, and the fide ^ B = 4° 22' 48". Hence the
angle O B comes out 46"' 39' 57'^

Now, to avoid confufion, draw the fpherical triangle O ^ B by
itfelf in Figure 3. Through O draw a vertical circle O V, and

take the arc O R =2
horizontal refradion ~
30^ 51^^ Through R
draw a great circle of

-latitude, and let it meet
the ecliptic in the

point

Then, if the fun be
upon the horizon at O,
the horizontal refradion
will throw his light up
to R, and in that point
he will appear in the
heavens. Fie will appear

at R upon tlie circle of latitude R ^ will be liis apparent place ia
the ecliptic ; and the arc of the eclipticj O will be the differ-
ence betvreen his true and his apparent place ; or the effedt of the
horizontal refraction upon his apparent longitude.

In the triangle R o w^hich, for the fmallnefs of its fides, may be
treated as a rectilinear triangle, the angle at is a right angle. The
angle R O being the complement of % O B, is 43° 20^ 3". Hence
O 00 comes out 22^ ; and this, as has been faid, is the effeCt of

the horizontal refradtion upon the rifmg fun’s apparent longitude,
his true place being O, in the latitude of 24° north. And the fame
will be the quantity of the effedt upon the fetting fun^’ in the oppo*’
fite point of the ecliptic o, in the fame latitude ; for the quantity of
the effedt in any given latitude, upon the rifmg fun, in any given
point of the ecliptic, and of the effedt upon the fetting fun in the
oppofite point of the ecliptic, will be the fame ; the angle which
the ecliptic in oppofite points makes with the horizon, upon which
the effedt depends, being equal : but the efiedl lies, in the two
cafes, in- oppofite diredtions ; the refradtion making the apparent
longitude of the rifing fun w^eft of his true place, and the apparent
longitude of the fetting fun eafe of his true place.

Hence, that refradtion might throw the light of the fun to the
point o in the weftern horizon, at the fame inftant of time when,
refradtion brought the light of Lucida Pleladum to the eaftern horizon,
in the climate in queftion, we muft put the fun’s true ‘place 22' 26^^^
w^eft of the point o.

The point o has been found to be sCr 22® 59' 32^^; therefore the fun’s
true place, in order that the required effedt fliould be produced,
muft have been =£?= 22° 37' 6 b By an accurate calculation of the
motions of the fun, (by Mayer’s Tables,) I find that, in the year
before Chrift 326, he came to this place Odtober 19, 25' 9'"

3 u Su

A F P E N D 1 X.

St. Jul. mean time under the meridian of Greenwich i but to this,
to be exadtj we muft apply a correction for the effedt of the pre-
ceffion upon the longitude of Lucida Pieiadum, in the interval be-
tween the commencement of the year and Odtober igth, (fince the
fun’s place is deduced from the longitude of the ftar,) + iG" add
alfo 4' 36'^, for the difference between the meridians of Greenwich
and the mouth of the Indus, and we have Odtober 19th, 15^"® ly'
mean time under the meridian of the mouth of the Indus.

The 19th of Odober (St. Jul.) therefore was the day of the
acronychal rifing of Lucida Pleiadum, upon the horizon of the
mouth of the Indus, in the year before Chrift 326, /. e, in the year
of the Julian period 4388.

It may perhaps ftrike you as a difficulty, that the time that our
calculation gives for the appulfe of the fun to the required place,
falling between three and four o’clock in the morning of the 20th,
under the meridian of the mouth of the Indus, the fun was adually
fet on the 19th many hours before he came to that point of the
ecliptic, which would have made a precife acronychal rifing of the
ftar, had the inftant of the fun’s appulfe, in his annual coiirfe, to
that point coincided with the inftant of funfet : but this not being
the cafe^ you may wonder how we can fay there was an acronychal
rifing at all.

Now this is really the fad; that, fpeaking with geometrical pre-
cifion, there was in this year no day of an exad acronychal rifing of
Lucida Pleiadum ; and it very feldom happens, that there is an
exad; acronychal rifing of any ftar at any place, if we infift: upon
this ftrid fenfe of the words ; becaufe it very feldom happens, that
the inftant of the fun’s appulfe to the required point in the ecliptic,
and the inftant of funfet, are the fame. They may difler feveral
hours; and the famp thing happens In the cofmical and heliacal

rifmgs

D I S S E RTz\TI O N i. ii.

CIS

-Tlfmgs and fettings ; nevertlielefs, there will always be a day, x«/lien
the rifiDg will be nearer to acronychal, than in any other. And this,
phyfically fpeaking, is the day of the acronychal rifing; and, in
our cafe, the 19th was that day; for on the 19th the fun, at the
hour of funfet, was 24' 45^^ of longitude behind the required place.
On the 20th, at the hour of funfet, he was 35' 58 ' before it ; fo
that the fetting fun was much nearer to the required place on the
19th than the 20th.

I fear you will find the accuracy, with which I have purfued thefe
calculations, tedious; but I have chofen to give them in detail, that they
may be the more eafily examined. I have been diffufe upon the re»
fradlions, becaufe the elFeft of refra£lion upon the longitude and latir
tude of celeftial objedls, though a matter of no difficulty to mathema-
ticians, is not generally underftood ; and yet is very intelligible, if
thofe who are mafters of it would take the trouble to explain it.

The 19th of Oftober (St. Jul.) you fee was the day of the acro-
nychal rifing of Lucida Pleiadum at the mouth of the Indus, in the
year of our voyage. The voyage commenced, according to Arrian,
on the 20th of Boedromion (for that he gives as the very day on
which the fleet failed), and the 20th of Boedromion in that year,
you reckon, with Dodwell, the ift of October.; and in this reckoning

there can be no material error.

I have never examined Dodwell’s Tables of the Metonlc Cycles.

I make ufe of a very compendious Table of my own, by which I can,
in a very few minutes, afcertaiir, on what day of the Julian year the
ill of Hecatombason, in any given year of any given Metonic Cycle,
fell, according to the principles upon which my Table is formed.
And the ill of Hecatombceon, /. e. the beginning of the year, being
once determined, the whole year is eafily reduced to the Julian

3 u 2 reckoning

A P P E D I X.

516

reckoning, by a general Table of the Cycle. In the principles upon
which my Table is formed, I agree not entirely either with Scaliger
or Petavius. In the order of the months, I agree with Scaliger. I
agree with Scaliger in the epoch of the firft Cycle ; placing
it on the 15th of July, not on the i6th with Petavius. I
place the Embolimsean month in the 3d, 6th, 9th, nth, 14^5
1 7 th, and 1 9th years of the Cycle : in which I agree entirely with
Petavius, except in the third Embolifm, which he (with Scaliger
and Dodwell) places on the 8th year of the Cycle. I put it in the
9th ; diflenting, I confefs, in this from every one. In the arrange--
Hient of the ex^refimal days, I follow the very beft authority I
know, that of the learned aftronomer Gemlnus.

Now the year of the voyage in queftion was the year of
the Julian period 4388; it was therefore the 107th Metonic
year ; that is, the 1 2th year of the 6th Cycle. That is to fay,
five Cycles were completely run out, fmce the firft introdudllon of
this 19-year period, and the 12th year of the 6th Cycle was in its
courfe. And I find by my own Tables, that the ift of Hecatom-
bason, in the 12th year of the 6th Cycle, fell on the 15th of July
(St. Jul.). Add 29 days (for the Hecatombscoii of this year was a
hollow month), and we come to the ift of Metageltnion, on the
13th of Auguft. Add 30 days (for Metageitnion of this year was a
lull month), and we come to the ift of Boedromlon, on the I2tli
of September. The I2th of September being the ift of Boedro-
mien, the ift of 0£lober ought to be the 20th of Boedromion.
But Boedromion in this year was a hollow month, and the exaere-
fimal day came before the 20th, being the i8th ; therefore the 30tk
of September was the day which, according to my principles, was
counted the 20th of Boedromion in this year.

D I S S E RTATI O N I. ii;

By ScaligerV principles, the 20th of this Boedromion will fall on
the very fame day, the 30th of September. By Petavxus’s, one day
later, namely on the ift of October.

It is certain, therefore, that on one of thefe two days, either the
50th of September or the ift of O’dober, Nearchus failed from the
mouth of the Indus, according to Arrian ; confequently, he had
been eighteen or nineteen days at fea, before the day came of the
acronychal rifing of Lucida Pieiadum ; taking acronychal rifmg^
ftridtly, according to the mathematical definition of the terms.
It is true, that Strabo’s words import not that the fleet failed on the
very day, but at the feafon only, of the acronychal rifing of the'
Pleiades ; but yet eighteen or nineteen days feemed too gteat a dif-
ference to admit even this lax defcription of the time. I was at
firft, therefore, inclined to fufpedl an error in the name of the montb
in Arrian ; and I tried a conjectural emendation ; but the fevere tefl:
of a flriCl calculation compelled me to difcard it.

After various conjectures, and many long calculations, I am en-
tirely perfuaded, that Mr. Wales’s very ingenious conjecture, by
which he reconciles his calculation of the acronychal rifing of the*
Pleiades at Rome, in the year of our Lord 42, with Columella’s^
date, is the only folution, and the true folutlon of the difficulty-
The perfect agreement that it will produce between Arrian and Strabo,,
in the time of Nearchus’s fiiiling. Is indeed aftonifliing.

Mr. Wales obferves, that the exaCt acronychal rifing of a ftar Is
never vifible, on account of the fun’s light ; but it is equally true,,
that the rifing of the ftar for feveral evenings before the day of the
acronychal rifing will not be vifible: for the fun muft not only be fet,
but he muft be fet and funk to a certain diftance below the horizon,
for the twilight to be fufficiently faint to allow the fixed ftars to
appear. Suppofe then, that on a certain day, no matter what, the

fim.

APPENDIX.

5'i8

fun is fimka'bmewhat below that diftance, Vv^lien a particular fiar is
upon the eaftern horizon ; on that evening, if the ikj be clear, the
rifmg of the ftar may be oblerved. Suppofe, that the next night
the fun is not funk quite to the required diftance, when the fame ftar
is upon the eaftern horizon : then the rifing of the ftar will not be
vifible; and v/hen the ftar becomes vifible, it will be feen at fome fmall
diftance above the horizon: the next night, it will be at a greater height
above the horizon, when it is firft feen ; the third, a greater ftill ;
and, on the evening of true acronychal rifing, the ftar Vvill have
gained a very confiderable height, when it is firft feen. It certainly
was very natural (and it was the only way for popular ufe) for
the ancients to call that the evening of the acronychal rifing, on
which they firft mifled the fight of the rifing ftar.

The diftance below the horizon, to which the fun muft be funk
when a ftar firft becomes vifible, is diiTerent according to the magni-
tude of the ftar. Lucida Pleiadum is a ftar of the third magnitude ;
and Ptolemy fays, that ftars of the third magnitude firft become
vifible w^hen the fun is funk 14° below the horizon. Now I find
by calculation, that in the year of the Voyage (of the Julian period
4388), w^hen the fun was 14° below the weftern horizon, at the
fame inftant of time when Lucida Pleiadum came to the eaftern
horizon, his true place muft have been 3° 33' 56'^ ; and he came
to this place in that year, September 30, 12^'^ 59' (St. Jul.) mean
time under the meridian of Greenwich. Apply, as before, the proper
correftion for the eiTefl: of the preceflion upon the longitude of
Lucida Pleiadum, namely 4- 15^, and we have September 30,
13^"® 14' meantime under the meridian of Greenwich. Add 4*""® 36",
and w^e have September 30, ly^'"'® 50' mean time under the meridian of
the mouth" of the Indus; which, as we in our civil reckoning divide
the day, was lo' before fix in the morning of the ift of OctobeL

DISSERTATION I. ii.

On the evening, therefore, of the 30th of September, the fun

(fettlng In that latitude about 5,^"" 57' 26' \ apparent time after noon)

would be many minutes more than 14° below the horizon, when

Lucida Pleladum was rifing. The rifmg of the ftar, therefore, that

evening might be feen a minute or two later than o' 24'' after fun-

fet; but the next evening, the ift of October, the fun would be only

13"^ 37 i below the horizon, when the ftar was rifmg, wanting

22' 45 ' of the full deprefiion of 14°. This evening, therefore, the ftar

could not be feen upon the horizon. But as the fun funk at the rate

of 13' 40'^ in 1 of time, he would fmk to the limit of 14° in i' 40^^^

of time after the inftant of the ftar’s rifmg : and as the ftar rifes in

the latitude of 24° north, at the rate of 13' ii'^ in i' of time, the

ftar, o' 24" after funfet^ and i' 40" after the moment of its-

own rifmg, would break through the expiring twilight with the

apparent altitude of 21' 58" (I fay with the appareiit altitude, for the.

effecft of refraction upon the ftar is included in thefe calculations),.

This altitude is very fenfible to the naked eye, being fcarce lefs thaa

^ of the whole diameter of the fun: but the next evening (OCt. 2d),

would certainly put the matter out of doubt ; for, on the 2d of

October, the ftar, at the fame diftance of time after funfet, would-

break through the remains of the twilight, with the very fenfible

altitude of 1° 2' 48" at the moment of its firft apparition. Whence

our mariners would conclude, that the fenfible acronychifm was

paft. 'It appears, therefore, that what thefe mariners would call

the acronychal rifmg of the Pleiades, took place either on the very

day the fleet failed, or the next, or, at the lateft, the next day but-
one.

Thus, by a train of calculations of confiderable length and
labour, but of the greateft certainty, and piirfued with the moft;
fcrupulous accuracy, by the help of Mr. Wales’s fuggeftion, the

ingenuity

5^20

APPENDIX.

ingenuity of which I cannot fufficlently admire, we have brought
the txvo accounts of Strabo and Arrian to a perfed good agree-
ment.

I congratulate you and myfelf upon the fuccefs of the inveftiga-
tipn, and remain.

Dear Sir,

Your very faithful friend

' and obedient fervant,

Deanery, S. ROCPIESTER.

June 6, 1796.

P. S. You will perhaps fufpe£t that I have committed a miftake Ifi
the very entrance upon thefe calculations, by reckoning the interval
between the commencement of the year before our Lord 326 and
the commencement of the year of our Lord 1760, no more than
2085 Julian years, whereas you may think it 'was 2086. The truth
however is, that, through careleflhefs, I fell into the oppoiite
miftake; I reckoned the interval- 2086 Julian years inftead of 2085;
and, by this inadvertency, I gave myfelf the trouble of going
through the whole calculation from beginning to end a fecond time,
and of corredling all my numbers ; though the error accruing from
this over-reckoning of that interval, might well have been negledted
in this inveftigation.

To underftand how it is that the lefler is the true interval, you
muft know that it is the uniform error of chronologers, reckoning
by the sera of our Lord, to reckon the years before our Lord too
many by one. The year which chronologers call the year before
Chrift 326, was the year of the Julian period 4388, as you may
fee by turning to Blair’s Tables, Petavius, or Ufher. The year of
our Lord 1760 was the year of the Julian period 6473; the in-

6 tervaJ,

DISSERTATION L il fit

terva!, thereforej is 2085 Julian years. The reckoning hy the xm
of our Lord, when we have to do with time antecedent to the
sera, is feldom conduced with precifion but in aftronoinical tablesv
If you turn to Mayer’s Tables, you will find there, In the firft page
©f the Epochs of the Sun’s Motions (p. 6.), and again in the firfl
page of the Moon’s Epochs (p. 36.), a year of Chrift, o ; and it
appears by the epochs afcribed to this year of Chrift, o, that it is
the year of the Julian period 4713* Now, the year of the Julian
period 4713, chronologers call, as you will fee again by their tables^
the year before Chrift i ; at the fame time they call the next fuc-
ceeding year of the Julian period, vi%. 4714, the year after Chrift i ;
and by this inaccuracy of their language, they in effedl reprefent
the Interval betvfeen any numerical day of the year 4713 of the
period (the ift of March for inftance) and the fame numerical day
of the very next year of the period, as confifting of two whole
years Inftead of one.

Since I finifhed my calculations I have, almoft accidentally, met
with what I deem a ftrong confirmation of the accuracy of the con-
clufion to which they have brought us. In Archbifhop Uftier’s
Ephemerls of the Macedonian year, I find this entry againft the 8th
day of the month Dius. Eu^emo7ii vefpe7Em6d appare?it Pleiades^'^
The 8th of the 'month Dius, according to Ufher’s reducftlon of the
Macedonian year, was the ift of Odober (St. Juh). Eudemon the
aftronomer is mentioned by Ptolemy as Meton’s alTiftant, In the ob-
fervation of the fuinmer iolftice.' He flourlfhed, therefore, in Greece,

I about a century earlier than the time of this expedition.

I I imagine that Archbiflrop Uflier took this date of Eudemon’s

evening rifing of the Pleiades from Gemlnus, reducing Gemi-
mis’s date to the Macedonian year ; for in Geminus’s parapegm

I 3 X which,

522

APPENDIX.

which he gives in the i6th chapter of* his Ifagoge, I find this-
entry:

' Toy Sb ^vyov ^iccTTopeverai o *^Xiog bv
And a few lines lower,

’Ey Se E Eu^oJ^poyt UXBidS'eg ecrzirepim <pa,ivouTat hi m Trpog bco.

The numeral E denotes the 5th day of the fun in Libra. The
fun entered Libra, according to Eudtemon and Meton, Septem-
ber ^ytji ; his 5 th day in Libra, therefore, was October i, the 8th
of Ulher’s DIus.

On the 5th day of the fun’s paffage through the fign of Libra,
he was in the 5th degree of Libra according to the mean motions ;
and the profthaphserefis at this time being 1° 38^, with the negative
fign, his. true place was in the third degree of Libra. And' this
again agrees wonderfully with my calculations.

Had you had the ill luck to confult Ufher’s Ephemeris, or Gemi-
nus’s, inftead of Columella, you would not' have propofed this
queftion to Wales or me ; for you would have taken it for granted,
that Strabo and Arriana greed. Had either he, or I, confulted them
before we calculated, we perhaps fhould not have engaged in the
labour of thefe calculations. We fhould have advifed you to follow
Eud:emon, without regard to Columella defcribing the phsenomena
of another climate in another age ; but then- we fhould not have
difcovered what Wales has conjectured, and my calculations, I think,
put out of doubt ; that when the ancients fpeak of acronychal
rifings, they are to be underftood of the fenfible acronychifm: and
this is a principle which may prevent many miftakes in deducing
conclufions in chronology from thefe aftronomicaf characters of time
¥/hich the ancients ufed.,

NOTE.,

[ 5^-3 ]

NOTE on the fmall Stadium of Aristotle, p. 52.

J3y the Right Rev, Dr, Horsley, Lord Bijhop o/^Rochefter.

/CIRCUMFERENCE of the earth, according to Eratofthenes,
— 252,000 ftadia; Ariftotle, zz 400,000 ftadia ; therefore
Ariftotle’s ftadlum to the ftadium of Eratofthenes as 252 to 400,
that is, as 5 to 8 very nearly. This is a much more exa£t proportion
than that of 4 to 7 ; for the proportion of 4 to 7 makes Eratoft-
henes’s ftadlum too large by almoft ^ ; whereas the proportion of
5 to 8 makes It too large by no more than v-ri:*

Proportion of Roman foot to London foot 97:100: hence
Roman foot = 11^64 inches; paflus (5 feet) iz 4 feet 10,2 Inches,
London meafure; milliare (1000 paflus) = 7 furlongs 76 yards 2 feet,
or 4850 feet London meafure.

Call the Roman paflus P, milliare M, Olympic ftadlum S.

Now (by Polybius as quoted by Strabo) M 8 S 4- Z*

Hence 125 P (= 4 M) = £ + ^

Hence 5 P rr -rV ^ 120 P = £.

Hence £, or Olympic ftadlum, — 582 feet London, or 194 yards,
or Olympic ftadium, = 0,110227^27^ miles London.

8 : 5 zz 0,1 10227^27' : o,o68892o'45'45'.

Hence Ariftotle’s ftadium — 0,0688 92045'45' miles London.

3x2 Hence

APPENDIX.

Ariftotle’s Stadium. Miles Londom

Jamad to Mouth of Indus, ~

10000 n

689

Coaft of Arabitse, - zz

1000 zz

68,9

Orit^, - - zz

1 600 zz

110,24

Idthyophagi, - - zz

10000 zz

689

Karmania, - - —

254.93

Perfis, - - zz

4700 zz

323.83

Total,

3IOQO = 2135,90

Hence, by reduftion of the Greek meafures, the whole diftance
fliould be 2135,9 miles London; which, however, if the decimals
had been more exadlly computed, would have been 2135,65 miles
London : for 0,068892 x 31000 r: 2135,652, ^the adual meafure-
ment by the moderns, gives 1908 miles; the difference is 227,65
miles London, or whole diftance.^

But if 8 Olympic ftadia were exaftly a Roman mile, and Poly-
bius’s addition of j of a ftadium was an error of his, arifing from the
difference between the Roman and the Olympic foot; then i Olym-
pic ftadium was 606,25 London, or q,i 147774 miles London, and

Ariftotle’s ftadium will be 0,0717359 miles London, and the whole
diftance will be 0,0717359 x 31000 = 2223,8 miles London^
which makes the difference betv/een the ancient and modern mea-
fures ftill greater ; and this makes it probable that Polybius’s efti-
mation of the ftadium was right.

It is to be remarked , by the way, that if this eftimation was
right, the opinion which has fo^ generally and fo long prevailed
of a difference between the Greek and the Roman foot,
making the former greater than the latter, in the proportion of
35 to 24, muft be erroneous. It feems to have been current

5, among;

among the Romans themfelves, but it muft have been founded on
a grofs eftimatlon of the length of the Olympic ftadium. The Rod-
mans, in their popular valuation of the Greek meafures, ^vould be
apt to reckon eight Olympic ftadia to be exa<3:ly equal to their own
mile, taking no account of the fradtion mentioned by Polybius,
Hence they would infer, that the Olympic ftadium was 1 25 Roman
paffus, /, 625 Roman feet, which is, indeed, the length exprefsly

affigned to it by Pliny. But it was very well known, that this fta-
dium was but 600 of its own feet. It was concluded, therefore,
that 600 Greek feet make 625 Roman, whence the confequence
would be, that the Greek foot was to the Roman as 625 to 6oOy>
that is, aV 25 to 24. But if the Roman mile adlually was, what
Polybius reckons it, ~ of a ftadium more than eight ftadia, the
length of the ftadium turns ^out exadtly 120 Roman pafllis, or 600
Roman feet. And fince it was alfo 600 Greek feet,, the Greek and^
ike Roman foot muft have been the very fame.

t 5^*6 3

DISSERTATION IL

On the First Meridian o/’ Ptolemy.

By M. de la RocHETTE.

Dr. Vincent’s queftion concerning Ptolemy’s iongitudcj I
will try to anfwer in the following manner. If Ptolemy had
determined the meridian of Londinium by the difference of time
between that place and the meridian of Alexandriaj as it is believed
by Maginus and fome others, I do not know howwe could be juftified
in the reduction of his longitude, or, which is the fame thing, in
the augmentation of his degree ; but thefe horary differences have
been deduced from the graduation itfelf, which is the refult only of
itinerary diftances fhortened beyond meafure by Ptolemy, in order
to bring all the places, within his ftereographic projedlion ; thence
his degree of a great circle contains a fifth lefs of ftadia than It
ought to contain, vi%. 500 Inftead of 600.

In his firft Map of Europe, Ptolemy places London 20 degrees
to the eaft of the Fortunate Iflands. In the account of the moft
remarkable places where celeftial obfervations are fuppofed to have
been made, the horary difference between London and Alexandria
is 2 hours 40 minutes, or 40 degrees. Now, as Alexandria is
4 hours diftant from the Fortunate Iflands, the fame longitude of
20 degrees eaft of thefe ifles is again found for the meridian of
London.

Longitude

DISSERTATION II

527

Longitude of London from Ferro, according
to Ptolemy, - - «

According to Dr. Malkelyne’s Tables^ - 17 40 13

Error of Ptolemy, - - - 2 19 47

Longitude of London from Alexandria, ac-
cording to Ptolemy,

According to the co^imijfance des temps^ - 3^ 16 9.

Error of Ptolemy, ~ - - 9 43 5 1

Which ought to be, - - - 101351 if you

follow the editions which place Alexandria In 40"^ 30'.

Ptolemy places the Civitas Parifioriim^ vel Liicotecia^ in 23"^ 30^
from the Fortunate Ifles, or 3° 30' eaft of London, inftead of
(Malkelyne’s difference of longitude between the two
places). Now if we decreafe by a fifth the differed- ce expreffed in.
the Alexandrian Geographer, we fliall have 42' to dedud:, which,
will bring that interval to 2° 48', or pretty near the true one.
This I look upon as the longitude really affigned by Ptolemy be-
tween London and Paris.

Thedaine operation made In refped: to the lo/ngitude of London
from Ferro, or the- Fortunate Ifles, will bring London to 16° initead
of 17^ 40' 13'', and then the error is only 1° 40' 13". The diftance
between the meridians of London and Alexandria is alio reduced
by that means to 32^, and the error in that iminenfe fpace becomes
lefs.tlian 2°a

o t It

I 20 o o

The

S2l

APPENDIX.

The maps of Ptolemy, conftrufted upon the principfe of Ills
fhort degree, have given the Mediterranean an extent of about
20® of longitude more than it ought to have, when in reality the

author has not exceeded the true length by 4®, or thereabout. This

enormous disfiguration was followed and improved during 14 cen-
turies. At laft, the learned Gaflendi (in the middle of the lafl
century) wrote againfl; fuch an abfurdity ; and, fome years after^
Guillaume de Lifle gave us a Mediterranean only 860 leagues long
inftead of 1160, which that fea had always before tlxat remarkable
sera.

[ 529 ]

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

Page X53. Note 239.

AS Bundar-Lari on the eaftern branch of the Indus, and
Lari-bundar on the weftern, appear to form, a diftindlon in Euro-
pean accounts only, may it not be conjedlured that both have«a re-
ference to Lari, or Loheri, a town belonging to the Doo-ab of
Behker? and that Bandar, expreffing a port^ may be common to
Toth branches, one forming the eajlern po7^t of Loheri and tiie
other the Loheri is either the fame as Tekier, or elfe a

place fomewhat lower than Tekier, at the bottom of the Doo-ab of
Behker, as Sekier, written Sucker, Sungar, and Senguere, is at the
top. This likewife affords ground for conjecture, that the Nulla
Simkra, or Senguere, the eaftern channel, may affume its name from
conducting the navigation to Sunkra, Suckor, or Sekier,

Page 276. Note 270.

In the Hiftory of the Difcovery of India, by Manuel de Faria
y Soufa (Englilh edition 1694, voL i. p. 27,), it appears, that pre-
vious to Gama’s expedition, Peter de Covillam and Alfonfo de
Payva had been fent to Alexandria ; and that Covillam had paffed
by the Red Sea to the coaft of Malabar, who, though he never re-
turned hiinfelf (being detained In Abylfinia), yet fent an account of
his difcoverles by Lamego, a Jew, to the Court of Lifbon. This is
worthy of remark, as it proves that the Portuguefe purfued the dif-
covery of India by the route firft defigned by Alexander, accom-

3 Y pliflied

A D D I T I O N AL NOTE S.

pliflied by the Ptolemies, completed by the Romans, and continued
by the Arabian khalifs and foldans of Egypt. It was the trade of
the Venetians to Alexandria, that the Portuguefe were endeavouring
to rival, and finally deftroyed by the difcovery of the paffage round
the Cape of Good Hope.

Page 478.

Upon the diftances of Icarus and Tylos It Is to be remarked,
that the account is taken, not from the Journal of Nearchus, but
from Ptolemy and Ariftobulus ; it is poffible, therefore, that both
thefe authors reckoned by the Olympian ftadium, and not the fliort
lladium of Nearchus. If this conjedure be allowable, it will double
the diftance of both iflands, bringing Icarus not far from its true
pofition, and giving the diftance to Tylos corredly.

T HE END.

ERRATA.

Page 24. line for Hydraftes Hydraotes.

34. note 70, line l.for read opacrSii.

45. line $‘for fcite read fite pajftn,

48. \\,for Plolcmy read Ptolemy.

51. iz^for Krocala read Krokala pajjl^n.

' 69. note 4, line 2. for Kuttriri read

81 « line 3d from the bottom, /or A-chen-ifes read A-khen-ifes.

97, 16. for plain read plane.

123. 3d from the bottom, /or th read the.

ibid, note 159, line 2. for in read is.

1 41 . line 1 8. for in read into.

142. 10. ./or rains read ruins.

145. 7. /or Gedrofia Gadroiia.

183. 3d from the bottom, /or Mr. Rennell read Major Rennell paftnu,

219. note 142, col. 2. line 3. for witten read written.

228. line 2jd from the bottom, /or and from Ferro read add from Ferro.

240. — zz. for Kidge . . Kidge readYdxi . . Kie,

256. note 230, line 2^ for read

275. line ep.for to eaftward read to the eaftward.

27B. note 279, line 5th from the bottom, for more than half a degree read nea^'
a degree.

281. line 9. for thought his read though this.

31 1, note 77, line 7. for /3y/ojW,ak read

320. note 100, line ult. for Bahr-ain read Bahr-ein pajjtm*

328. line 1 2. /or of Baffidu read off Baffidu.

334. \\-for latitude 28° 4' . . 30° 6' latitude 21° 54" . . 33° 13'*.

338. for Shiras read Shiraz pajfm,

ibid, 13. after capital of the province addin Timour’s age.

386.»rote 322, line 2. for ingenious read ingenuous.,

422. line 5. for orthogrophy read orthography.

434. note 487, line i./or orininates read originates.

462. line i']> for the feparate narrative read the narrative.

An error which affedls the ferles of days occurs p, 36, wherel the date alTumed is October a
indead of October 1. This is accounted for, and corre61ed p, 495, Appendix,

There are likevvife fome overfights in regard to punduation.

• [

DIRECTIONS to tli. BOOKBINDER.

Place the Head of Alexander to front die I'itle-page.

[N. B. This Head is engraved from a Macedo a coin of the age of Severus, and
is’ believed to be a copy from a buft of Alexa 'd It is remarkable that Alex-
ander’s own coins do, not bear his image, for his coins have the head of

Minerva, and his filver the head of Hercules.]

This coin is of brafs, and forms part of the valuable colledtion of the
late Dr. Hunter ; the engraving was taken by ^he permifiion of
Dr. Combe, for which favour he is requeiled to accept the bed
thanks of the Author.

Infcription on the front Alexander.

on the reverfe—THE Commonwealth of Macedon.

The letters B. N G. intimate, that Macedon was one of the Roman
provinces llyled Neocorss; that is, had the privilege of being allowed to
ere£l a temple in honour of one of the Roman Emperors. Thofe
provinces, which had this privilege repeated, marked it by a B. Vaillant.
Numifmat. Graec. p. 216. Dr. Combe.

The fenteiice under the medallion is from Quint. Curtius, Book ix. c. 6.

MAPS and CHARTS.

L General Map from d’Anviile — to front Book L
IL Map ; flvctch of the Indus —to front Book IL
^ III. Two Charts.

Chart N” I. by Mr. Dalrymple, of the coafl: of Mekran, from the
Indus to the Gulph of Perfia — to front Book III.

Chart N° IL by Mr. Dalrymple, of the Gulph of Perfia — to front
Book IV.

[N. B. Thefe two Charts are from aflual furveys of Commodore Robinfon, Lieu-
tenants Porter, Blair, M'Cluer, Mafcall, &c. with the ancient names added.]

rV. Sketch by Captain Blair — to front p. 253.

V. Map of the Euphrates, Tigris, Sufiana, &c. — to front the Sequel.

•» '

■ '

^ *K
; >,

;■. ,..,;,<ptliii.,

>'.*«.■ ■/ wL'i.^T^V

.1 J

s V.,*

■■ V--'

t ■

^ *

'.v: .

■f ‘ '

’ ■

/ 9

^ ■.

'4-

-f

r?’ '■

>. 4

T -.i

r .

:?•

' »«

•S.

■■?.v

« •» ^ ■h.

. ' J f'i "
5 C /

. T^ * ?

(/■'*’■ t '^’i$?X^ ] -^ '*'» v < *}-i

' i ‘ ,■»’:■ s'; ';

s ^ M .'HA'' ’

» .

'T ; I , ,HiSf« I

x-Ar-Vr’

^ ^ ^ X ' Ak V

. /p ■’•*'* Ai i x'

■’^ i"*' ^ Sf. ^5 ^ \ “'^

%- \ ^ ^ A ^ -'

. 'n'% : ' c

t?'-'! f, 1?^

^ ^1 ivtAf ^

f --It. A '" ■/i^'iiv;‘-'->.'‘:..

„~^ \ sX ;
'■M'ipfuMfMS't

,»^^ j'srv W % if,

^ > ’a:, 1 ’I *iy # ^ ,i

4iS-

<)-v.;W'--»iV'-Ay^-,-^^„..,-.,

■ ‘:4'\ :>m

''''■' ' if, ,

_ ^

-- . m 4 '.4 *‘i' c-.‘ • “v ■■• ’.v* .• ' > ; i .

:;''’A''’^44=^'^T3

A» Ar- . vAk 4^^"

■^ " > 0(4 *y^yT St y ^ ^ !>'f ”' t if

V » -•’ yy^^^KrrX'^'' %,<? - £-«*

f.<i' " ^ 4*^ A 4 "' ■> ^ *■ "K "* s-x '■ t? T ’' H ^ '” "^ p

^ A ^ -.r^ ; . 4

I A» ' Y c>/ ' A 4

^ n "i M . ^ y A O.'J A ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ :

::V'-:i^.^4;;-kf-?#;fe:^;.; ■A-r;- ;,^

A4; 44 ■•. 4./- 4* : ■ A: •; :! ;4

f44:- 4 .X ''' 4 '-r -xVc

eX ,<A o i 4<- ^A / <• tcjf V ?

^ ^ "-v/C ^ ^ ^f^ V ^

, /m 4

^ cjf V » ^

C' Sv’' X

A ,

'' -

A .-''-i

» ,»<! •?

Ce.-' 'if'ijl^'/ .'S^-.V- ■• Vf 'i-y-.-Ti'----:-^-.. ■>--iri.-^',.-- <1

‘Vj'.-i' . -I- ‘ . siii'. •--c..;- '■:'*<-■ Sc y- V -■‘•',—c*<. i«' -

.r .■ •_ A. »*..TW.. X'^' • .i' •'w* '■-. ' ■. ' y .■■^A ^ v : •••t .'•»

^ ^ ^ ^ c ’s v-r

r '■ / -'i?*, , --.T '>\

iy.% ^

I&K#

cS^tiSfe^Xv; ;V-i:x':'4

‘S''Xf 1*. -MS*

fO ^ 5 N I A. s > 4

P V V

•S

>:i

\mmr :k^

X-V S iff f -

^ ¥ \

" ""' ' ■4^,4C^^''’'^^'''4'>--*-^'"^‘- 'Xi ■ ''•'V'v.A'.-fi

^ t

, P

^ ^ A 4-** ^

^ Ji ' ^ f -'*!>-

¥- ^ Y > ^

so sSsv

V s s, i

\ ^ ^ V

,(roV,i ^

ai»M;

- f sfct->.

-3^ \, A

'•■^o \ r ^ ;'ate,-Sx

s. -> S „ 4 ‘ t;

s-^rST-o* ■" -

'.4.f4>*iV>'^'

^ H.*

A A ^ 4 ^ V i'

^ '' V ;

P«ig(f;§Si4

4'^:/'4'''^v'^.'"':"'^,'4-‘

■ir~-A ^ )>

1 ^ im ^

r' 4- - 44-4„-' •

44 4V 4 -''A '

'*^ -V /■■^•••ilV '.' .''- ■•H'.’. A-'v-sv-'.

4^^

'■■S ' ,'“' .?•■*’

/ ,p „■ ' i'-t’’. ' o'

s *>1 s’".

> t

t ;

i,Vf-x ,i*.' .

'^xr \ ’ ‘■f '» /iX " 'is- V'

^ 4s ^W « . p„*4 *■ ,

V ^ ,x «j- ^ r'.'s '' 4 4'^ ] i K '* s ^

■o-l‘. s, >• -4"'. (444-4 . ' <• ■ •

XT>7;.iAt<;*^r 4''f.

■* e

r - V'Aj?^

' Sia's--;

rfa§(,'sS,j.(fi „sXt-i(*f: so* -

I / -iA i' 4 T 4

^s >“X> *0

4 -s ’ s4 - > S' ^-s 4 4

A s'4

.sAv' ./^r ^

>X5&. p ' f. 4
V f b;

Aay -f

"tv ^ \

iL^ ^ i' ^ sA

1 i S- ^k?c <£; A --H -S*^ V .r V

r* ^ .>v ^ ^ ^

A’,KAA4a^^^. Avf

, iM. -px-J- •/ ' ;

1 ‘ s , .P'-f ’o-jf X ; f-i

St " ^ ^ \ " lA

A?44g®tSiAiiSi3

" s r A'^ \A "

, -'-v s’ ■■ '4". i-4<'4'4 , ' X -B ?’.•.. I . '5

V ,' -;yA>^<itAAAsVr^4 V 4_

-’<" V- V ' ' , !• ‘ , '-■ . -»•'. ”.4 --lo,

^S$m

t « Sf“f'''

s 4 0”^ + ,■« X'f'is

r' s " / «, 4i

-t, ^ ^ -V ■33

'j-xii s s ^

T i ^ >.

: 4/ A s s^s ,

^ ^ > H. ^ y-y

0 \ X y,-3 2a i, J

A r- i4 A 'iv^y

.i<r' . s- >

‘ ' ■ jf’.vfl^t-'A;' -A'aAS^Cr .-’-

c ‘p, p

t S Jfl ,0. !■' ' % ti

A 4, “ (S '4^

' y. .v’nA4'. . says- •> ,,

■ ' ' - «,•' i.s, - -

34;.,,..

f fe V V " y « ^4

' ?(■ A sj A f s

S V 1 'S s- s,

* s 1

Si fj ■■ ■'

^ - -A vT s ^^ 0 ;

r A-?" >4'

4 ^ ■* A i ^

A 4,^ y i f :n x-

‘ i A. f4 ^>sA4a^ ^ ^ "

f ^ A s/:a- -^4

fpyfi v^iv,; (SsAv-i J Ai"^ ''

' " ^ ^ ' A ^ - Vx F X - y-'S " ^ :4, J i ^

“'■’ - ^y ' - s" ""A V- X- SfA *iA A 'isAP. t

A-* ^ ia ^>s r i. IS -A-!- /“"A*. 'V v 'SiA " v* X,

^ So^is. ^o 4x , A

A ■’i' \ ^ / A > ^ ’ i , * sA" . p ^ "4* ^

-(» .-"^i. ViO-A^ tT-f ^ s , S-f'Sjl ^ y. ~% „ X »■ >

'*' A " "P-/'' X As“’ *~AA -s " T "V*" i Af ^

4----, '44,: 44V"' iA.'; •: ' •■Ax”-..;-- -a. -3 o< I

■% :■->: A , '■ “ ' ' .,-s'‘. . . B - ' !

? '&

r f ^ .P 4.. .s s ioii. o ^ v< ‘ X*'" s "

i 'y ”

<i J'2\<- ’S

vyjyv'*

, .s

^ ^ ft **"

- .; . - .' 4,. • , y','-' s lg

A" ' A , t

-r i ^ -y-4- ; ^ ^ ^

<” J( ^ V, ^ '■'''-

SSCyylAx-*

•'*.V’t''Ar-'---v

i J/A -»s ' V-

^ . *s y

’■ ■■ y r f f " ^

" a-i ' ^

f S-

“■ 4' \' i " ^ i' y' " ’’ v- V" ^ -f ^ 7' r

4 tpy J.4 "4^4“

o’i •‘a.^JS^ A%f "

X'H, * o •

^v'-j^isr.-ts-A ; »- t-.v,... s.

•■— >; . '^:.x i^v*.- >' ^ '^x^-i-.X

r* ^ >

A)" S

AX, :s . .’>1^ *'-3p ^'v-i* ’-A^A-^-.. — ,x A/V'**y'/ Xf

f A y ‘ ^ . ''A'A a-*, ’S'" ■• ^ ^ i

'A i P X'-' A f .iAvV^-v

‘V e,#- , i 3 t£rp „ X i ,

K fs v- ^VA

% ^

- *

s A:

. >ifu r^.' t ' ’s P ^ -

^.4^^ " p

P* f Pi,. '’’PP^ A P

V fS-A. ^ P ' ^ p

r >f:' -1 '■^ pt. 4 ^

s^WAf' ■

^ r \A 1

> ^ (K

i ' -■ xP"’*^’'''- 'v ■’■* '''■

>ss .v*F " X m m r i

* t ^ -Cfl )i 4 ^'^It P

•stA-^ A'4 "■'^3 '^P f * \

ypy^o -AS V sx - V, .

, T** ' ;• 1.0 • •■;.• Isa- f *1 --i: V , a--' Il- s Ma - » - . i..#*" r ■ •• a- , v.; f-": - »* -a'. -naP* •- a.i-, .*. . /,i \ - a .■■ ■•■■■..■, a . -...f.

2:U^'‘C-.

k-'i'i

^4P^V P ^

.p,v,;%Pv

s-x ^._. I A’; ^s_* '■' >; ' ^^011

o'PA'A' a y-p-';.: -s-'A. A

. i. • A-” ajs. -s •’- f*",;,.; r ,a, _ -;i.-‘'

X .■'itspc .'iji-A-ra ,*(* *,'.'iLV- ', *,' •.f.i''^s5,A.’> . . ■-; :'"oa;.,>,', 'V'ViPa.j 0i a A A' ■^'‘

If ii-o ' V pj -s

^ -X / V

yx r Af-t'A'

/ yj>y p V

« V « A Su2> »v' **

a s

.'-«; 1

p__ ^ pv v> P ^‘' Pp i s4WpPP.-:p^

^ 0„0', ’ .4 ^,0 spyp/filylP

' ;f^pr ’ A-s • ; , ■ yy ?, 'a^aP^ ^ ■!; 'y-

» tx j‘y fe f 0 •■ > i-A » A , .5. ,, *, -Vi A '-vs \

.;'SA-:.A'rAAtAy'-V>k.y:ilvy*Atp:^p A'-^i'A’’'’^ •'>])<“■■

■V. . •• .; n/ ‘ •• , . P< ■Ji- J, cs r- .'f c- *» (;/ V-r'-fr^r A.-5H - •;’^.v:-,. -' yr -^-y?:

/ ' . Sr aC ’ pi, P AM

,H i : r.

^ X A -J V A ^

* >(1 , 'iS‘2

; -(-r^Pp - '

’ JSAPP^P P

i Z' A ' -X Ax Jpp y * ®

■ '' ’k -AV*'* p J0i% ‘2
■’XS^Xyfx: M ’'.'AA ■V-'- sASpyS

',, vWj
K As A y -s, \ ,

" AA' J sv ''s -

j ^ f- ^ 4 vj =A

f ^ My -- ■

WV sAtf a ^ P 'V' >** AS ai X, -S 5. I

"'''' ' " *y r ^

y 0

.-■Aisi'.y&v " ' v"''*'

0 xfegSp •••■ 4S» ■-' ’^45!!

?.vv ^

j\ *

^ -a-sati A

S, ^

-i 'M'ii

'i f -Xa X,* V-V ,

S ^ Ax -70

P ,' ■ A’.x\ tp’'”-.

^ PiP"^ P P ’

A VI "P s P S' t; , A AsA'V/j> v^
^ 'P '^5/ A - X A,a^ ,? ^

' ■'i-V-vT .iiifi.r;

<43 s/t* V j >5 /1,*y-v''tJil/l*

-J'vA s?^ "3 is
r| ^ fe-i-i PP’ S

• As 'A A*- y

^ ’%<■’« J, A Hf *

-3* ’ as;*

ikV» ^IP'A <"’ -a

i\ ^ <i> » -VT (X .i i -.yA ’'Sa'lg^

V-VT^4- A i,.

.^AA'sV f" A !■ ■■ - "

^ < X , - p

-A a. y. 1 AsP '"

V < I \ Sx <'**' W? ^

P -''"^ v,"'<’Px aP '' "y« k "F 'Sfk

,P^PP 'y yp/ P

' i >-y vF - A' s*' ,F ^ ^ P P A

* ’ f Ak'7*,tPsP ’A V ^

p P"" ' ' Pr; ppsc '

■V-, ■• s « **■?-* '” Al <v^ A AV ^

'P'APr PpApiiW

t-'As^ass/. s- p ^ i- Htv

’’'A n ’' 'P ' aP ‘ < *1 Vi' ^ ' PA'^'^v Ka' v'‘

' V f' V V< i 7 _ V > i

A" 4 *

C ^ <« (

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates, collected from the original journal preserved by Arrian, and illustrated by authorities ancient and modern ..."

See other formats