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authors say that this was the original design of Alexander, and that he was anxious to keep near the sea coast in order to form wells and provide for the subsistence of the fleet under Nearchus. This is contradicted by facts. It was only for a short time that he proceeded along the coast, and he only endeavoured once or twice during that time to furnish supplies to the naval expedition. Nearchus seems to furnish the real motives of Alexander for this fatal step. He says, that Alexander was aware of the perils of the march, but was resolved to brave them; thereby considering his undertaking as conducive to his glory; it ministered, however, only to his shame. Truly has it been said, that

"Human glory's erring path

Is track'd with desolating woe

It moves in guile, it strikes in wrath,
And dims the light of life below."

That it might be handed down to posterity that Alexander crossed the deserts of Gedrosia, thousands of his army were sacrificed in its frightful wilds, and the lives of the whole were endangered.

That the statement of the miseries endured by the army of Alexander, given by ancient historians, is substantially correct, is proved by the description which Pottinger, a modern traveller, gives of the Gedrosian desert. "I travelled," says he, "twenty miles to-day across a desert of the same description as yesterday, and consequently the like impediments opposed me, which were trifling, however, compared with the distress suffered not only by myself and people, but even the camels, from the floating particles of sand; a phenomenon which I am still at a loss to account for. When I first observed it, the desert seemed, at the distance of half a mile or less, to have an elevated and flat surface from six to twelve inches higher than the summits of the waves. This vapour appeared to recede as we advanced, and once or twice completely encircled us, limiting the horizon to a very confined space, and conveying a most gloomy and unnatural sensation to the mind of the beholder: at the same moment we were imperceptibly covered with innumerable atoms of small sand, which getting into our eyes, mouth, and nostrils, caused excessive irritation, attended with extreme thirst, that was increased in no small degree by the intense heat of the sun. On questioning my Brahooe guide, he said that this annoyance was supposed to originate in the solar beams causing the

VOL. IV.

17

dust of the desert to rise and float through the air; and judg ing from experience, I should pronounce this idea to be perfectly correct, as I can aver that this sandy ocean was visible only during the hottest part of the day."

While Alexander was at Para, intelligence arrived that Philip, satrap of the territory to the west of the Indus, was slain in a mutiny of the Greek mercenaries, but that the mutineers were chastised by the guards of the deceased. Taxiles and Eudemus, a Greek, were appointed by letter to hold the vacant government in conjunction till another satrap should be appointed.

After the strength of the soldiers had been recruited, and supplies procured, Alexander again put his army in motion. He was met, on the frontiers of Carmania, by the force which Craterus had led from the Indus through Arachosia and Drangiana. This general brought with him as prisoner, Ordones, a Persian, who had excited revolt in the central provinces. He was met also by Stasanor, satrap of Aria, and Pharasmenes, son of Pharadaphernes, satrap of Parthia and Hyrcania, with a large number of camels and beasts of burden, which were an acceptable present.

Vengeance now overtook the guilty. As Alexander was passing through Carmania, he was joined by some troops which had been stationed in Media, and which were led by Cleander, Sitalces, and Hericon, the murderers of Parmenio. They had scarcely arrived, when the Medes and the Greek troops united in accusing their leaders of violating the sanctity of temples and tombs by plundering them, and also of harassing the natives by acts of extortion and cruelty. Cleander and Sitacles were found guilty, and executed. Hericon eseaped, the charge not being fully proved; but he was shortly after impeached by the Susians, for despoiling one of their temples, and being convicted, was put to death.

This circumstance in ancient history enforces the proverbial remark, "that friendship must be preserved with good deeds." It was at the instigation of Alexander himself that these three men assassinated the aged Parmenio, and yet no sooner was a plausible charge brought against them than he consigned them over to death without compunction. These were complicated crimes, that show how widely the world had departed from God in this age of heathenism.

The manner in which Alexander passed through Carmania is a matter of dispute. Curtius, Diodorus, and Plutarch, represent his march as a scene of boisterous mirth, feasting,

and drunkenness, imitative of the return of Dionysius, the Bacchus of mythology, from the conquest of India. Arrian, however, states that these excesses are not alluded to by Ptolemy, Aristobulus, and others; and that Alexander merely sacrificed to the gods in thankfulness for his victories in India, and the preservation of his army in the desert, and that the religious ceremonies were succeeded by gymnastic exercises and theatrical representations. Which of these statements is correct cannot be ascertained; but it is evident from both that Alexander rejoiced over the wide desolations he had spread in India. In either case, by his conduct, he sported with the blood, and groans, and tears, and death, of millions of the human kind.

"When the song

Of dear-bought joy, with many a triumph swell'd,
Salutes the victor's ear, and soothes his pride,
How is the grateful harmony profan'd

With the sad dissonance of virgins' cries,

Who mourn their brothers slain!—of matrons hoar
Who clasp their wither'd hands, and fondly ask,
With iteration shrill, their slaughter'd sons!
How is the laurel's verdure stain'd with blood,
And soil'd with widows' tears!"-H. MORE.

It is a fallacious and mischievous, though very common idea, to attach glory to deeds of blood and slaughter.

The conquests of Alexander in India, it may be observed, do not deserve the credit generally attached to them by historians. In the Punjaub, a region unequal to England in extent, there were no less than seven independent nations, and along the lower course of the Indus many more. Among these nations there was little or no concert; each, indeed, acted separately, except the Malli, Catheri, and Oxydrace, who leagued together for their mutual defence. As this division of states facilitated the career of the Macedonian conquests, so it has given them celebrity. In modern times, however, the conquest of the Punjaub, and all the country bordering on the Indus and its tributary streams, would not be considered very wonderful with such an army as Alexander possessed. Had the several petty states united together in common defence against the invader, it is plain, from the desperate resistance which Porus made single-handed, that he would have been retarded, if not defeated, in his project. According to Plutarch, it was the valour of the Indians which induced the Macedonians to thwart the future designs of Alexander. He says, that as soon as they heard there was a great desert to be

crossed ere they arrived at the Ganges, or Jumnah, and that all the tribes eastward of that river were confederated for their mutual defence, and that their united number, amounting to 200,000 foot, and 80,000 horse, 8000 war chariots, and 600 elephants, were waiting for their advance, they were seized with a panic, which all the eloquence of their adventurous leader could not remove; neither threats nor caresses could prevail on them to move a step further, thinking it better that their bones should lie in Greece than be left to bleach on the hot sands of India. It was the division, therefore, of the states in North-western India, that was mainly conducive to Alexander's ready conquests over those states: had they been faithful to each other, it is probable that they might have retained their liberty.

During Alexander's march through Carmania, he was joined by Nearchus, his admiral, and four of his comrades. Nearchus had performed the object of his expedition, encountering of necessity many difficulties and dangers. So wretched indeed, was the appearance of himself and comrades, that Alexander conceived the rest had perished. Taking the admiral aside, he shed tears, and requested to know the partiticulars of the catastrophe. When, however, he learned that his fears were ill founded, he was glad, and offered sacrifices to Jupiter, the preserver; Apollo, the averter of evil; Hercules, Neptune, and, in a general manner, to all the maritime deities for the preservation of the fleet. The procession was led by Nearchus, on whom the army scattered flowers, and the scene was closed by games and theatrical representations. After this Nearchus was sent back to the fleet at Harmozia, to conduct it to Susa.

Nearchus, as related before, sailed on his voyage early in October B. c. 325. He first steered for the bay on which now stands the town of Kurachee, the port of Tatta. Thence he proceeded to a haven denominated the haven of Alexander, probably near the south-east point of the bay of Soonmeany. Pursuing his way along a wooded coast, and passing two narrow straits between the rocks and main land, he reached the river Arabis. Soon after, he lost two heavy ships and a store ship by the fury of the winds, which caused him to land at Cocala, on the coast of the Orites, to refresh his men and repair his losses. It was here that the setting in of the north-east monsoon commenced, and moving from thence, Nearchus reached the mouth of the river Tomerus, a distance of thirty-one miles. Westward of this river commenced the

region of the Ichthyophagi, or fish-eaters. After staying four days in the Tomerus, Nearchus resumed his voyage, and came to the island of Carnina. The next point at which he touched was Mosarna, which was situated near the cape now called Posmee, and where he met with a skilful Gedrosian pilot named Hydraces, who was a great acquisition to his fleet. Nearchus voyaged from Mosarna to Barna, about seventy-five miles distant. Thence he moved to Kyiza, in doing which, he was in great danger from the enormous fishes that resorted to the Gedrosian coast at this season. The fleet now came to Begeia, probably the western promontory of the present bay of Guttur. Thence Nearchus sailed to Badis, now called Cape Jack. At this time, the mariners were suffering so severely from dearth, that Nearchus was obliged to prohibit them from leaving the vessels, lest they should desert him, and endeavour to join Alexander by land: at Canasida, indeed, they were under the necessity of feeding on the tender heads of palm trees. From Badis, having steered about fifty miles farther, they approached the entrance of the Persian gulf, and proceeding onwards, in two days they reached the port of Harmozia, on the river Anamis, whence Nearchus journeyed by land to meet Alexander. On his return, it would appear that Nearchus sailed up one of the branches of the Karoon (probably that denominated the Jerahee) to Susa, where he was again to join the monarch.

ALEXANDER'S LAST TRANSACTIONS.

After the abandonment of India, says Heeren, the whole circuit of Alexander's conquests was precisely that of the former Persian empire; his later projects were probably directed against Arabia alone. However easy it had been to make these conquests, it was a more difficult task to retain them; for Macedonia, exhausted by continual levies of men, could not furnish efficient garrisons. Alexander removed this difficulty by protecting the conquered from oppression: by showing respect to their religion; by leaving the civil government in the hands of the native rulers who had hitherto possessed it; and by confiding to Macedonians the command only of the garrisons left in the chief places, and in the newly established colonies. To alter as little as possible in the internal organization of the countries he conquered, was his fundamental principle.

Alexander having heard that great disorder had been com

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