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APRut, 1876.]
TRANSLATION OF THE INDICA OF ARRIAN.
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pasturage to these and other beasts of burden, while it is also everywhere well-wooded, and abounds with wild animals. The part, however, which lies still further to the north is said to be bleak and cold and covered with snow, so that, as Nearebus tells us, certain ambassadors from the Euxine Sea having gone a very little way met Alexander going on to Persis, who was surprised at seeing them, when they explained to him how short the road was. I have already stated that the next neighbours to the Susians are the Uxians; just as the Mardians, who are & set of robbers, are neighbours to the Persians, and the Cosswans to the Medes. And all these tribes Alexander subdued, falling upon them in the winter-time, when they considered their dominions were inaccessible, and he found. ed cities with a view to wean them from roving habits and attract them to the plough and agricultural life, and put rulers over them to deter them from inflicting injuries on each other. The fleet sailed away from the Oroatis, and so left behind the dominions of the Susians. The rest of the voyage Near chus says he cannot describe with such minuteness as before, for he has nothing to record but the names of the havens at which they touched, and the length of the voyage from one of them to another: for the land along the coast was covered with shoal-water and the surf extended far out to sea, rendering it a dangerous matter to seek the shore for anchorage, so that the rest of the voyage lay mainly in the open sea. They sailed away, he also tells us, from the mouth of a certain river where they had landed, and bivouacked on the borders of Persis, taking there on board a supply of water to last for five days, as the pilots in formed them that no water would be found on the way.
XLI. After having sailed on for 500 stadia, they drop anchor at the mouth of an estuary which abounded with fish, the name of which was Cata derbis, having an islet lying at its mouth called Margasta na. They sailed from this at dawn of day, with the ships in single file through shallow water. The existence of the shoal was indicated by stakes fastened on this side and on that, in the same way as sign. posts are exhibited in the isthmus between the island of Leucadia and Acarnania, to
warn seafarers against running their ships aground on the shoals. But the shoals of Leucadia are sandy, and on that account stranded vessels can be readily floated again. In the present case, however, there was mud both deep and tenacious on both sides of the passage, so that if vessels were once stranded they were hopelessly lost: for it was of no avail to thrust poles into the mud to move them away, nor could the men jump out and push them into navigable water, for they would them. selves sink in the mud up to the very waist. Having thus with great difficulty made their way for 600 stadia, they came to anchor, each crew remaining in its own ship, and then thought of dining. But during the night and all the next day, even till eventide, they were sailing in deep water, and completed a course of 900 stadia, anchoring at the mouth of the Euphrates near a village in Babylonia, called Diridotis, which was the emporium of the sea-borne trade in frankincense and all the other fragrant products of Arabia. The distance from the mouth of the Euphrates up to Babylon, as Nearchus gives it, is 3300 stadia.
XLII. Here word is brought that Alexander was marching towards Susa; so they sailed back from this place to join him by sailing up the Pasitigris; and they sailed back, with Susis on their left hand, along the shores of the lake into which the river Tigris empties itself, which, flowing from Armenia and passing the city of Nineveh --so great and flourishing in the olden timesencloses a region between itself and the Euphrates, which is on that account called Mesopotamia. The distance from where they entered the lake to where they entered the river was 600 stadia. This was at a point where a village belonging to Susis is situated called Aginis, the same being 500 stadia distant from Susa. The length of the voyage along Susis to the mouth of the Pasitigris is 2000 stadia. They sailed thence up the Pasitigris through a well-peopled and fertile country, and having proceeded 150 stadia drop anchor, and there wait the return of messengers whom Nearchus had despatched to find out where the king was. Nearchus then sacrificed to the gods who had preserved their lives, and celebrated games, and great was the rejoicing of all who
