A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xviii Part 3

He was the first who established a distinction of climate by the length of days and nights: and he is said to have discovered the dependence of the tides upon the position of the moon, affirming that the flood-tide depended on the increase of the moon, and the ebb on its decrease. By means of a gnomon he observed, at the summer solstice at Ma.r.s.eilles, that the length of the shadow was to the height of the gnomon as 120 to 41-1/5; or, in other words, that the obliquity of the ecliptic was 23:50. He relates, that in the country which he reached in his voyage to the north, the sun, at the time of the summer solstice, touched the northern part of the horizon: he pointed out three stars near the pole, with which the north star formed a square; and within this square, he fixed the true place of the pole.

According to Strabo, he considered the island of Thule as the most western part of the then known world, and reckoned his longitude from thence.

With respect to the extent and discoveries of his voyage to the north, there is great difference of opinion. The veracity of Pytheas is utterly denied by Strabo and Polybius, and is strongly suspected by Dr. Vincent: on the other hand, it has found able supporters in D'Anville, Huet, Gessner, Murray of Goettingen, Gosselin, and Malte Brun; and in our opinion, though it may not be easy to ascertain what was really the country which be reached in his voyage, and though some of the particulars he mentions may be fabulous, or irreconcileable with one another, yet it seems carrying scepticism too far to reject, on these accounts, his voyage as altogether a fiction.

The account is, that Pytheas departed from Ma.r.s.eilles, coasted Spain, France, and the east or north-east side of Britain, as far as its northern extremity. Taking his departure from this, he continued his voyage, as he says, to the north, or perhaps to the north-east; and after six days'

navigation, he arrived at a land called Thule, which he states to be 46,300 stadia from the equator. So far there is nothing improbable or inconsistent; but when he adds, that being there at the summer solstice, he saw the sun touching the northern point of the horizon, and at the same time a.s.serts that the day and night were each of six months' continuance, there is a palpable contradiction: and when he adds, that millet was cultivated in the north of this country, and wheat in the south, and that honey abounded, he mentions productions utterly incompatible with his description of the climate and lat.i.tude.

As, however, this voyage forms an important epoch in the history of discovery, it may be proper to endeavour to ascertain what country the Thule of Pytheas really was. We have already observed, that the day's sail of an ancient vessel was 500 stadia, or 50 miles; supposing the largest stadia of 666-2/3 equal to one degree of the equator, if the vessel sailed during the night as well as day, the course run was, on an average, 1000 stadia, or 100 miles. Now, as the voyage from the extremity of Britain to Thule was of course not a coasting voyage, and as the nights in that lat.i.tude, at the season of the year when the voyage was made, were very short, (Pytheas says the night was reduced to two or three hours) we must suppose that he sailed night as well as day; and consequently, that in six days he had sailed 600 miles, either directly north or to east or west of the north, for his exact course cannot well be made out.

What country lies 600 miles to the north or the north-east of the extremity of Britain? None exactly in this direction: if, however, we suppose that Pytheas could not fix exactly the point of the compa.s.s which he steered, (a supposition by no means improbable, considering the ignorance of the ancients,) and that his course tended to the west of the north, 600 miles would bring him nearly to Greenland. There were, however, other stadia besides those by which we computed the day's sail of the ancients; and though the stadia we have taken are more generally alluded to by the ancients, yet it may be proper to ascertain what results will be produced if the other stadia are supposed to have been used in this instance. The stadia we have already founded our calculations upon will bring us to the lat.i.tude of 69 27': the lat.i.tude of the southernmost point of Greenland is very nearly 70. But the description given by Pytheas of the productions of the country by no means coincides with Greenland. At the same time, other parts of his description agree with this country; particularly when he says, that there the sea, the earth, and the air, seem to be confounded in one element. In the south of Greenland the longest day is two months which does not coincide with Pytheas' account; though this, as we have already pointed out, is contradictory with itself.

Let us now consider what will be the result if we suppose that a different stadia were employed: the next in point of extent to that on which we have already founded our conjectures, (there being 700 equal to one degree of the equator) will bring him to the lat.i.tude of 66 8'; the lat.i.tude of the northernmost part of Iceland is 66 30', coinciding with this result as nearly as possible. The description of the climate agrees with Pytheas'

description; but not his account of the length of the day, nor of the productions of the country. Of the third kind of stadia, 833-1/3 were equal to one degree of the equator; calculating that 1000 of these were sailed during a day and night's voyage, Pytheas would arrive in the lat.i.tude of 55 34', at the end of six days. This, however, is absolutely at variance with the fact, that he took his departure from the northernmost point of Britain, and would in fact bring him back from it to the entrance of the Frith of Forth. It is supposed, however, that this is the real lat.i.tude; but that the west coast of Jutland is the country at which he arrived. But this obliges us to believe that his course from the northern extremity of Britain, instead of being north or north-east, or indeed at all to the north, was in fact south-west; a supposition which cannot be admitted, unless we imagine that the ancients were totally ignorant of the course which they steered. On the other hand, Pytheas' description of the productions of Thule agrees with Jutland; the culture of millet in the north, and of wheat in the south, and the abundance of honey: there is also, about a degree to the north of the lat.i.tude of 55 34', a part of the coast still denominated Thyland; and in the ancient language of Scandinavia, Thiuland. The account of Pytheas, that near Thule, the sea, air, and earth, seemed to be confounded in one element, is supposed by Malte Brun to allude to the sandy downs of Jutland, whose hills s.h.i.+ft with the wind; the marshes, covered with a crust of sand, concealing from the traveller the gulf beneath, and the fogs of a peculiarly dense nature which frequently occur. We must confess, however, that the course having been north, or north-east, or north-west, for this lat.i.tude of course may be allowed in consideration of the ignorance or want of accuracy of the ancients, never can have brought Pytheas to a country lying to the south-west of the extremity of Britain.

We are not a.s.sisted in finding out the truth, if, instead of founding our calculations and conjectures on the distance sailed in the six days, we take for their basis the distance which Pytheas states Thule to be from the equator. This distance, we have already mentioned, was 46,300 stadia; which, according as the different kinds of stadia are calculated upon, will give respectively the lat.i.tude of the south of Greenland, of the north of Iceland, or of the west coast of Jutland; or, in other words, the limit of Pytheas' voyage will be determined to be in the same lat.i.tude, whether we ascertain it by the average length of the day and night's sail of the vessels of the ancients, or by the distance from the equator which he a.s.signs to Thule. It may be proper to state, that there is a district on the coast of Norway, between the lat.i.tudes of 60 and 62, called Thele, or Thelemarle. Ptolemy supposes this to have been the Thule of Pytheas, Pliny places it within three degrees of the pole, Eratosthenes under the polar circle. The Thule discovered by Agricola, and described by Tacitus, is evidently either the Orkney or the Shetland Islands.

It may appear presumptuous as well as useless, after this display of the difficulties attending the question, to offer any new conjecture; and many of our renders may deem it a point of very minor importance, and already discussed at too great length. It is obvious, from the detail into which we have entered, that no country exists in the lat.i.tude which must be a.s.signed to it, whether we fix that lat.i.tude by Pytheas' statement of the distance of Thule from the equator, or by the s.p.a.ce sailed over in six days, the productions of which at all agree with those mentioned by Pytheas. On the other hand, we cannot suppose that his course was south-west, and not at all to the north, which must have been the case, if the country at which he arrived in sailing from the northern extremity of Britain, was Jutland. The object must, therefore, be to find out a country the productions of which correspond with those mentioned by Pytheas; for, with regard to those, he could not be mistaken: and a country certainly not the least to the south of the northern part of Britain. As it is impossible that he could have reached the pole, what he states respecting the day and night being each six months long must be rejected; and his other account of the length of the day, deduced from his own observation of the sun, at the time of the summer solstice, touching the northern point of the horizon, must be received. If we suppose that this was the limit of the sun's course in that direction (which, from his statement, must be inferred), this will give us a length of day of about twenty hours, corresponding to about sixty-two degrees of north lat.i.tude. The next point to be ascertained is the lat.i.tude of his departure from the coast of Britain. There seems no good reason to believe, what all the hypothesis we have examined a.s.sume, that Pytheas sailed along the whole of the east coast of Britain: on the other hand, it seems more likely, that having pa.s.sed over from the coast of France to the coast of Britain, he traced the latter to its most eastern point, that is, the coast of Norfolk near Yarmouth; from which place, the coast taking a sudden and great bend to the west, it is probable that Pytheas, whose object evidently was to sail as far north as he could, would leave the coast and stretch out into the open sea. Sailing on a north course, or rather with a little inclination to the east of the north, would bring him to the entrance of the Baltic. We have already conceived it probable that the country he describes lay in the lat.i.tude of about 62, and six days'

sail from the coast of Norfolk would bring him nearly into this lat.i.tude, supposing he entered the Baltic. The next point relates to the productions of the country: millet, wheat, and honey, are much more the characteristic productions of the countries lying on the Gulf of Finland, than they are of Jutland; and Pytheas' account of the climate also agrees better with the climate of this part of the Baltic, than with that of Jutland.

That Pythias visited the Baltic, though perhaps the Thule he mentions did not lie in this sea, is evident from the following extract from his journal, given by Pliny:--"On the sh.o.r.es of a certain bay called Mentonomon, live a people called Guttoni: and at the distance of a day's voyage from them, is the island Abalus (called by Timaeus, Baltea). Upon this the waves threw the amber, which is a coagulated matter cast up by the sea: they use it for firing, instead of wood, and also sell it to the neighbouring Teutones." The inhabitants on the coast of the Baltic, near the Frish or Curish Sea (which is probably the bay Pytheas describes) are called in the Lithuanian language, Guddai: and so late as the period of the Crusades, the spot where amber is found was called Wittland, or Whiteland; in Lithuanian, Baltika. From these circ.u.mstances, as well as from the name _Baltea_ given by Timaeus to the island mentioned by Pytheas, as the place where amber is cast up by the waves, there appears no doubt that Pytheas was in the Baltic Sea, though his island of Thule might not be there. As amber was in great repute, even so early as the time of Homer, who describes it as being used to adorn the golden collars, it is highly probable that Pytheas was induced to enter the Baltic for the purpose of obtaining it: in what manner, or through whose means, the Greeks obtained it in Homer's time, is not known.

After all, the question is involved in very great obscurity; and the circ.u.mstance not the most probable, or reconcileable with a country even not further north than Jutland is, that, in the age of Pytheas, the inhabitants should have been so far advanced in knowledge and civilization, as to have cultivated any species of grain.

Till the age of Herodotus the light of history is comparatively feeble and broken; and where it does s.h.i.+ne with more steadiness and brilliancy, its rays are directed almost exclusively on the warlike operations of mankind.

Occasionally, indeed, we incidentally learn some new particulars respecting the knowledge of the ancients in geography: but these particulars, as must be obvious from the preceding part of this volume, are ascertained only after considerable difficulty; and when ascertained, are for the most part meagre, if not obscure. In the history of Herodotus, we, for the first time, are able to trace the exact state and progress of geographical knowledge; and from his time, our means of tracing it become more accessible, as well as productive of more satisfactory results. Within one hundred years after this historian flourished, geography derived great advantages and improvement from a circ.u.mstance which, at first view, would have been deemed adverse to the extension of any branch of science: we allude to the conquests of Alexander the Great. This monarch seems to have been actuated by a desire to be honoured as the patron of science, nearly as strong as the desire to be known to posterity as the conquerer of the world: the facilities he afforded to Aristotle in drawing up his natural history, by sending him all the uncommon animals with which his travels and his conquests supplied him, is a striking proof of this. With respect to his endeavours to extend geographical knowledge,--this was so intimately connected with his plans of conquest, that it may appear to be ascribing to him a more honourable motive than influenced him, if we consider the improvement that geography received through his means as wholly unconnected with his character as a conquerer: that it was so, in some measure, however is certain; for along with him he took several geographers, who were directed and enabled to make observations both on the coasts and the interior of the countries through which they pa.s.sed; and from their observations and discoveries, a new and improved geography of Asia was framed. Besides, the books that till his time were shut up in the archives of Babylon and Tyre were transferred to Alexandria; and thus the astronomical and hydrographical observations of the Phoenicians and Chaldeans, becoming accessible to the Greek philosophers, supplied them with the means of founding their geographical knowledge on the sure basis of mathematical science, of which it had hitherto been dest.i.tute.

The grand maxim of Alexander in his conquests was, to regard them as permanent, and as annexing to his empire provinces which were to form as essential parts of it as Macedonia itself. Influenced by this consideration and design, he did not lay waste the countries he conquered, as had been done in the invasions of Persia, by Cimon the Athenian and the Lacedemonians: on the contrary, the people, and their religion, manners, and laws were protected. The utmost order and regularity were observed; and it is a striking fact, "that his measures were taken with such prudence, that during eight years' absence at the extremity of the East, no revolt of consequence occurred; and his settlement of Egypt was so judicious, as to serve as a model to the Romans in the administration of that province at the distance of three centuries."

The voyage of Nearchus from Nicea on the Hydaspes, till he arrived in the vicinity of Susa (which we shall afterwards more particularly describe); the projected voyage, the object of which was to attempt the circ.u.mnavigation of Arabia; the survey of the western side of the Gulf of Persia, by Archias, Androsthenes, and Hiero, of which unfortunately we do not possess the details; the projected establishment of a direct commercial intercourse between India and Alexandria; and the foundation of this city, which gave a new turn and a strong impulse to commerce, as will be more particularly shown afterwards;--are but a few of the benefits geography and commerce received from Alexander, or would have received, had not his plans been frustrated by his sudden and early death at the age of 33.

We have the direct testimony of Patrocles, that Alexander was not content with vague and general information, nor relied on the testimony of others where he could observe and judge for himself; and in all cases in which he derived his information from others, he was particularly careful to select those who knew the country best, and to make them commit their intelligence to writing. By these means, united to the reports of those whom he employed to survey his conquests, "all the native commodities which to this day form the staple of the East Indian commerce, were fully known to the Macedonians." The princ.i.p.al castes in India, the principles of the Bramins, the devotion of widows to the flames, the description of the banyan-tree, and a great variety of other particulars, sufficiently prove that the Macedonians were actuated by a thirst after knowledge, as well as a spirit of conquest; and ill.u.s.trate as well as justify the observation made to Alexander by the Bramin mandarin, "You are the only man whom I ever found curious in the investigation of philosophy at the head of an army."

When Alexander invaded India, he found commerce flouris.h.i.+ng greatly in many parts of it, particularly in what are supposed to be the present Multan, Attock, and the Panjob. He every where took advantage of this commerce, not by plundering and thus destroying it for the purpose of filling his coffers, but by nouris.h.i.+ng and increasing it, and thus at once benefitting himself and the inhabitants who wore engaged in it. By means of the commerce in which the natives of the Panjob were engaged on the Indus, Alexander procured the fleet with which he sailed down that river. This fleet is supposed to have consisted of eight hundred vessels, only thirty of which were s.h.i.+ps of war, the remainder being such as were usually employed in the commerce of the Indus. Even before he reached this river, he had built vessels which he had sent down the Kophenes to Taxila. By the completion of his campaign at the sources of the Indus, and by his march and voyage down the course of that river, he had traced and defined the eastern boundary of his conquests: the line of his march from the h.e.l.lespont till the final defeat of Darius, and his pursuit of that monarch, had put him in possession of tolerably accurate knowledge of the northern and western boundaries; the southern provinces alone remained to be explored: they had indeed submitted to his arms; but they were still, for all the purposes of government and commerce, unknown.

"To obtain the information necessary for the objects they had in view, he ordered Craterus, with the elephants and heavy baggage, to penetrate through the centre of the empire, while he personally undertook the more arduous task of penetrating the desert of Gadrosia, and providing for the preservation of the fleet. A glance over the map will show that the route of the army eastward, and the double route by which it returned, intersect the whole empire by three lines, almost from the Tigris to the Indus: Craterus joined the division under Alexander in the Karmania; and when Nearchus, after the completion of his voyage, came up the Posityris to Susa, the three routes through the different provinces, and the navigation along the coast, might be said to complete the survey of the empire."

The two divisions of his army were accompanied on their return to Susa by Beton and Diognetus, who seem to have united the character and duties of soldiers and men of science; or, perhaps, were like the quarter-masters- general of our armies. It appears from Strabo and Pliny, in whose time the surveys drawn by Beton and Diognetus were extant, that they reduced the provinces through which they pa.s.sed, as well as the marches of the army, to actual measurement; and thus, the distances being accurately set down, and journals faithfully kept, the principles of geographical science, next in importance and utility to astronomical observations, were established. The journals of Beton and Diognetus, the voyage of Nearchus, and the works of Ptolemy, afterwards king of Egypt, and Aristobulus, who accompanied Alexander in his expedition and wrote his life, all prove that the authority or the example of the sovereign influenced the pursuits of his officers and attendants; and it is highly to the credit of their diligence and accuracy, that every increase of geographical knowledge tends to confirm what they relate respecting the general appearance and features of the countries they traversed, as well as the position of cities, rivers, and mountains.

Alexander appears to have projected or antic.i.p.ated an intercourse between India and the western provinces of his dominions in Egypt, not only by land but by sea: for this latter purpose he founded two cities on the Hydaspes and one on the Axesimes, both navigable rivers, which fall into the Indus.

And this also, most probably, was one reason for his careful survey of the navigation of the Indus itself. When he returned to Susa, he surveyed the course of the Tigris and Euphrates. The navigation near the mouths of those rivers was obstructed by cataracts, occasioned by walls built across them by the ancient monarchs of Persia, in order to prevent their subjects from defiling themselves by sailing on the ocean[4]: these obstructions he gave directions to be removed. Had he lived, therefore, the commodites of India would have been conveyed from the Persian Gulf into the interior provinces of his Asiatic dominions, and to Alexandria by the Arabian Gulf.

To conclude in the words of Dr. Vincent: "The Macedonians obtained a knowledge both of the Indus and the Ganges: they heard that the seat of empire was, where it always has been, on the Ganges or Indus: they acquired intelligence of all the grand and leading features of Indian manners, policy, and religion [and he might have added, accurate information respecting the geography of the western parts of that country]: they discovered all this by penetrating through countries, where, possibly, no Greek had previously set his foot; and they explored the pa.s.sage by sea which first opened the commercial intercourse with India to the Greeks and Romans, through the medium of Egypt and the Red Sea, and finally to the Europeans, by the Cape of Good Hope." When we reflect on the character and state of the Macedonians, prior to the reign of Alexander, and the condition into which they sunk after his death, we shall, perhaps, not hesitate to acknowledge that Alexander infused his own soul into them; and that history, ancient or modern, does not exhibit any similiar instance of such powerful individual influence on the character and fate of a nation.

Alexander himself has always been honoured by conquerors, and is known to mankind only, as the first of conquerors; but if military renown and achievements had not, unfortunately for mankind, been more prized than they deserved, and, on this account, the records of them been carefully preserved, while the records of peaceful transactions were neglected and lost, we should probably have received the full details of all that Alexander did for geographical science and commerce; and in that case his character would have been as highly prized by the philosopher and the friend of humanity, civilization, and knowledge, as it is by the powerful and ambitious.

Fortunately the details of one of the geographical and commercial expeditions undertaken by order of Alexander are still extant; we allude to the voyage of Nearchus. Of this voyage we are now to speak; and as it is curious and important, not merely on account of the geographical knowledge it conveys, but also from the insight it gives us into the commercial transactions of the countries which he visited, we shall give rather a full abstract of it, availing ourselves of the light which has been thrown upon it by the learned and judicious researches of Dr. Vincent.

It was on the banks of the Hyphasis, the modern Beyah, that Alexander's army mutinied, and refused to proceed any farther eastward. In consequence of this insurmountable obstacle to his plans, he resolved to return to the Hydaspes, and carry into execution his design of sailing down it into the Indus, and thence by the ocean to the Persian Gulf. He had previously given orders to his officers, when he had left the Hydaspes to collect, build, and equip a sufficient number of vessels for this enterprise; and they had been so diligent and successful, that on his return he found a numerous fleet a.s.sembled. Nearchus was appointed to command the fleet: but Alexander himself resolved to accompany it to the mouth of the river.

On the 23d of October, 327 years before Christ, the fleet sailed from Nicoea, on the Hydaspes, a city built by Alexander on the scite of the battle in which he defeated Porus. The importance which he attached to this expedition, as well as his anxiety respecting its skilful conduct and final issue, are strongly painted by Arrian, to whom we are indebted for the journal of Nearchus. Alexander at first did not know whom to trust with the management of the expedition, or who would undertake it. when the length of the voyage, the difficulties and dangers of a barren and unknown coast, the want of harbours, and the obstacles in the way of obtaining provisions, were considered. In this state of anxiety, doubt, and expectation, Alexander ordered Nearchus to attend him, and consulted him on the choice of a commander. "One," said he, "excuses himself, because he thinks the danger insuperable; others are unfit for the service from timidity; others think of nothing but how to get home; and many I cannot approve for a variety of other reasons." "Upon hearing this," says Nearchus, "I offered myself for the command: and promised the king, that under the protection of G.o.d, I would conduct the fleet safe into the Gulf of Persia, if the sea were navigable, and the undertaking within the power of man to perform."

The only objection that Alexander made arose from his regard for Nearchus, whom he was unwilling to expose to the dangers of such a voyage; but Nearchus persisting, and the king being convinced that the enterprise, if practicable, would be achieved by the skill, courage, and perseverance of Nearchus, at length yielded. The character of the commander, and the regard his sovereign entertained for him, removed in a great degree the apprehension that the proposed expedition was desperate: a selection of the best officers and most effective men was now soon made; and the fleet was not only supplied with every thing that was necessary, but equipped in a most splendid manner. Onesicritus was appointed pilot and master of Alexander's own s.h.i.+p; and Evagoras was secretary of the fleet. The officers, including these and Nearchus, amounted to 33; but nearly the whole of them, as well as the s.h.i.+ps which they commanded, proceeded no farther than the mouth of the Indus. The seamen were natives of Greece, or the Grecian Islands, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cyprians, Ionians, &c. The fleet consisted of 800 s.h.i.+ps of war and transports, and about 1200 gallies.

On board of these, one-third of the army, which consisted of 120,000 men, embarked; the remainder, marching in two divisions, one on the left, the other on the right of the river.

"The voyage down the river is described rather as a triumphal procession, than a military progress. The size of the vessels, the conveyance of horses aboard, the number, and splendour of the equipment, attracted the natives to be spectators of the pomp. The sound of instruments, the clang of arms, the commands of the officers, the measured song of the modulators, the responses of the mariners, the das.h.i.+ng of the oars, and these sounds frequently reverberated from overhanging sh.o.r.es, are all scenery presented to our imagination by the historians, and evidently bespeak the language of those who shared with pride in this scene of triumph and magnificence."

No danger occurred to alarm them or impede their pa.s.sage, till they arrived at the junction of the Hydaspes with the Akesines. At this place, the channel of the river became contracted, though the bulk of water was of course greatly increased; and from this circ.u.mstance, and the rapidity with which the two rivers unite, there is a considerable current, as well as strong eddies; and the noise of the rus.h.i.+ng and confined waters, is heard at some distance. This noise astonished or alarmed the seamen so much, that the rowers ceased to row, and the modulators to direct and encourage them by their chant, till the commanders inspired them with confidence; and they plied the oars with their utmost strength in order to stem the current, and keep the vessels as steady and free from danger as possible. The eddy, however, caught the gallies, which from their length were more exposed to it than the s.h.i.+ps of war: two of them sank, many more were damaged, while Alexander's own s.h.i.+p was fortunate enough to find shelter near a projecting point of land. At the junction of the Akesines with the Indus, Alexander founded a city; of which, however, no traces at present remain.

On the arrival of Alexander at Pattala, near the head of the Delta of the Indus, he seems to have projected the formation of a commercial city; and for this purpose, ordered the adjoining country to be surveyed: his next object was to sail down the western branch of the river. With this view he left Pattala with all his gallies, some of his half-decked vessels, and his quickest sailing transports, ordering at the same time a small part of his army to attend his fleet. Considerable difficulties arose, and some loss was sustained from his not being able to procure a native pilot, and from the swell in the river, occasioned by a violent wind blowing contrary to the stream. He was at length compelled to seize some of the natives, and make them act as pilots. When they arrived near the confluence of the Indus with the sea, another storm arose; and as this also blew up the river, while they were sailing down with the current and the tide, there was considerable agitation in the water. The Macedonians were alarmed, and by the advice of their pilots ran into one of the creeks of the river for shelter: at low tide, the vessels being left aground, the sharp-built gallies were much injured.

The astonishment of the Macedonians was greatly excited when they saw the waters of the river and of the sea ebb and flow. It is well known, that in the Mediterranean the tides are scarcely perceptible. The flux and reflux of the Euripus, a narrow strait which separates the island of Euboea from the coast of Beotia, could give them no idea of the regularity of the tides; for this flux and reflux continued for eighteen or nineteen days, and was uncommonly unsettled the rest of the month. Besides, the tides at the mouth of the Indus, and on the adjacent coast, are very high, and flow in with very great force and rapidity; and are known in India, in the Bay of Fundy, and in most other places where this phenomenon occurs, by the name of the Bore; and at the mouth of the Severn, by the name of Hygre, or Eagre. Herodotus indeed, mentions, that in the Red Sea there was a regular ebb and flow of the sea every day; but as Dr. Robertson very justly observes, "among the ancients there occur instances of inattention to facts, related by respectable authors, which appear surprising in modern times." Even so late as the time of Caesar, a spring tide in Britain, which occasioned great damage to his fleet, created great surprize, and is mentioned as a phenomenon with which he and his soldiers were unacquainted.

Soon after Alexander had repaired the damage that his fleet had sustained, he surveyed two islands lying at the west mouth of the Indus; and afterwards leaving the river entirely, entered the ocean, either for the purpose of ascertaining himself whether it were actually navigable, or, as Arrian conjectures, in order to gratify his vanity by having it recorded, that he had navigated the Indian Ocean.

Having accomplished this object, he returned to Pattala, where he had directed a naval a.r.s.enal to be formed, intending to station a fleet at this place. The eastern branch of the Indus was yet unexplored. In order, that an accurate knowledge of it might be gained, Alexander resolved to explore it himself: accordingly, he sailed from Pattala till he arrived at a large bay or lake, which probably, however, was only a number of the smaller branches of the Indus, overflowing their banks. The pa.s.sage from this place to the ocean, he ascertained to be more open and convenient than that by the western branch. He does not seem, however, to have advanced into the ocean by it; but having landed, and proceeded along the coast, in the direction of Guzerat and Malabar, three days' march, making observations on the country, and directing wells to be sunk, he re-embarked, and returned to the head of the bay. Here he again manifested his design of establis.h.i.+ng a permanent station, by ordering a fort to be built, a naval yard and docks to be formed, and leaving a garrison and provisions for four months.

Before the final departure of Alexander with his convoy from Pattala, he directed Nearchus to a.s.sume the entire command of the fleet, and to sail as soon as the season would permit. Twelve months, within a few days, elapsed between the departure of the fleet from Nicaea, and the sailing of Nearchus from the Indus; the former having taken place, as we have already observed, on the 23d of October, in the year 327 before Christ, and the latter on the 2d of October, in the year 326 B.C. Only about nine months, however, had elapsed in the actual navigation of the Indus and its tributary streams; and even this period, which to us appears very long, was considerably extended by the operations of the army of Alexander, as well as by the slow sailing of such a large fleet as he conducted.

In consequence, it is supposed, of the prevalence of the north-east monsoon, Nearchus, after having reached the ocean (which, however, he could not effect till he had cut a pa.s.sage for his fleet through a sand bank or bar at the mouth of the Indus), was obliged to lie in a harbour which he called Port Alexander, and near which he erected a fort on the 3d of November; about which time we know that the monsoon changes. Nearchus again set sail. About the 8th of this month he reached the river Arabis, having coasted along among rocks and islands, the pa.s.sage between which was narrow and difficult. The distance between this river and the Indus is nearly eighty miles, and the fleet had occupied almost forty days in completing the navigation of this s.p.a.ce. During the greater part of this time, they were very scantily supplied with provisions, and seem, indeed, to have depended princ.i.p.ally on the sh.e.l.l-fish found on the coast. Soon after leaving the mouth of the Arabis, they were obliged, by the nature of the sh.o.r.e and the violence of the wind, to remain on board their s.h.i.+ps for two nights; a very unusual as well as inconvenient and uncomfortable circ.u.mstance for the ancients. We have already described their s.h.i.+ps as either having no deck, or only a kind of half-deck, below which the cables were coiled. Under this deck there might be accommodation for part of the crew; but in cases where all were obliged to remain on board at night, the confinement must have been extremely irksome, as well as prejudicial to their health. At the end of these two days, they were enabled to land and refresh themselves; and here they were joined by Leonatus, one of Alexander's generals, who had been despatched with some troops to watch and protect their movements, as far on their course as was practicable. He brought a supply of provisions, which had become very necessary. On leaving this place, their progress became much more rapid than it had been before, owing probably to the wind having become more regularly and permanently favourable.

As it is our intention, in giving this short abstract of the voyage of Nearchus, to select only such particulars as ill.u.s.trate the mode of navigation practised among the ancients--the progress of discovery, or the state of commerce,--we shall pa.s.s over every topic or fact not connected with these. We cannot, however, refrain from giving an account of the transactions of the fleet at the river Tomerus, when it arrived on the 21st of November, fifty days after it left the Indus; as on reading it, our readers will be immediately struck with the truth of Dr. Vincent's observation, that it bears a very strong resemblance to the landing of a party from the Endeavour, in New Zealand, under protection of the s.h.i.+p's guns. We make use of Dr. Vincent's translation, or rather abstract:--

"At the Tomerus the inhabitants were found living on the low ground near the sea, in cabins which seemed calculated rather to suffocate their inhabitants than to protect them from the weather; and yet these wretched people were not without courage. Upon sight of the fleet approaching, they collected in arms on the sh.o.r.e, and drew up in order to attack the strangers on their landing. Their arms were spears, not headed with iron, but hardened in the fire, nine feet long; and their number about 600.

Nearchus ordered his vessels to lay their heads towards the sh.o.r.e, within the distance of bow-shot; for the enemy had no missile weapons but their spears. He likewise brought his engines to bear upon them, (for such it appears he had on board,) and then directed his light-armed troops, with those who were the most active and the best swimmers, to be ready for commencing the attack. On a signal given, they were to plunge into the sea: the first 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. These orders were exactly obeyed; the men threw themselves out of the s.h.i.+ps, swam forward, and formed themselves in the water, under cover of the engines. As soon as they were in order, they advanced upon the enemy with a shout, which was repeated from the s.h.i.+ps.

Little opposition was experienced; for the natives, struck with the novelty of the attack, and the glittering of the armour, fled without resistance.

Some escaped to the mountains, a few were killed, and a considerable number made prisoners. They were a savage race, s.h.a.ggy on the body as well as the head, and with nails so long and of such strength, that they served them as instruments to divide their food, (which consisted, indeed, almost wholly of fish,) and to separate even wood of the softer kind. Whether this circ.u.mstance originated from design, or want of implements to pare their nails, did not appear; but if there was occasion, to divide harder substances, they subst.i.tuted stones sharpened, instead of iron, for iron they had none. Their dress consisted of the skins of beasts, and some of the larger kinds of fish."

Along the coast of the Icthyophagi, extending from Malan to Cape Jaser, a distance, by the course of the fleet, of nearly 625 miles, Nearchus was so much favoured by the winds and by the straightness of the coast, that his progress was sometimes nearly 60 miles a day. In every other respect, however, this portion of the voyage was very unfortunate and calamitous.

Alexander, aware that on this coast, which furnished nothing but fish, his fleet would be in distress for provisions, and that this distress would be greatly augmented by the scarcity of water which also prevailed here, had endeavoured to advance into this desolate tract, to survey the harbours, sink wells, and collect provisions. But the nature of the country rendered this impracticable; and his army became so straightened for corn themselves, that a supply of it, which he intended for the fleet, and on which he had affixed his own seal, was seized by the men whom he had ordered to protect and escort it to the coast. At last he was obliged to give up all attempts of relieving Nearchus; and after struggling 60 days with want of water,--during which period, if he himself had not, at the head of a few horse, pushed on to the coast, and there obtained a supply, by opening the sands, his whole army must have perished,--he with great difficulty reached the capital of this desert country. Nearchus, thus left to himself, was indebted to the natives for the means of discovering water, by opening the sands, as the king had done; but to the Greeks, who regarded the want of bread as famine, even when its place was supplied by meat, the fish the natives offered them was no relief.

We have already remarked, that the real character of Alexander will be much elevated in the opinion of men of humanity and philosophers, if the particulars we possess of his endeavours to improve the condition of those he conquered, and to advance the interests of science, scanty and imperfect as they are, were more attentively considered, and had not been neglected and overlooked in the glare of his military achievements. His march through the deserts of Gadrosia has been ascribed solely to vanity; but this imputation will be removed, and must give way to a more worthy impression of his motives on this occasion, when it is stated, that it was part of the great design which he had formed of opening a communication between his European dominions and India by sea; and that as the accomplishment of this design mainly depended on the success of the expedition committed to Nearchus, it was a paramount object with him to a.s.sist the fleet, which he thrice attempted, even in the midst of his own distress in the deserts.

On their arrival at the river Kalama, which is supposed to be the Churmut, 60 days after their departure from the Indus, they at length obtained from the natives some sheep; but the flesh of it, as well as the fowls which they obtained, had a very fishy taste--the sheep, fowls, and inhabitants, all feeding on fish, there being no herbage or trees of any kind, except a few palm-trees. On the next day, having doubled a cape, they anch.o.r.ed in a harbour called Mosarna, where they found a pilot, who undertook to conduct the fleet to the Gulf of Persia. It would appear from Arrian, that the intercourse between this place and the Gulf was frequent, the voyage less dangerous, and the harbours on the coast better known. Owing to these favourable circ.u.mstances, the skill of the pilot, and the breeze which blew from the land during the night, their course was more rapid; and they sailed by night as well as day. The coast, however, still continued barren, and the inhabitants unable to supply them with any thing but fish till they arrived at Barna on the 64th day: here the inhabitants were more civilized; they had gardens producing fruit-trees, flowers, myrtle, &c., with which the Greek sailors formed garlands to adorn their hair.

On the 69th day, December 9., they arrived at a small town, the name of which is not given; nor is it possible to fix its scite. What occurred here we shall give in the words of Dr. Vincent:--

"When the fleet reached this place, it was totally without bread or grain of any kind; and Nearchus, from the appearance of stubble in the neighbourhood, conceived hopes of a supply, if he could find means of obtaining it; but he perceived that he could not take the place by a.s.sault, and a siege the situation he was in rendered impracticable. He concerted matters, therefore, with Archias, and ordered him to make a feint of preparing the fleet to sail; while he himself, with a single vessel, pretending to be left behind, approached the town in a friendly manner, and was received hospitably by the inhabitants. They came out to receive him upon his landing, and presented him with baked fish, (the first instance of cookery he had yet seen on the coast,) accompanied with cakes and dates.

These he accepted with proper acknowledgments, and informed them he wished for permission to see the town: this request was granted without suspicion; but no sooner had he entered, than he ordered two of his archers to take post at the gate, and then mounting the wall contiguous, with two more and his interpreter, he made the signal for Archias, who was now under weigh to advance. The natives instantly ran to their arms; but Nearchus having taken an advantageous position, made a momentary defence till Archias was close at the gate, ordering his interpreter to proclaim at the same time, that if they wished their city to be preserved from pillage, they must deliver up their corn, and all the provisions which the place afforded. These terms were not rejected, for the gate was open, and Archias ready to enter: he took charge of this post immediately with the force which attended him; and Nearchus sent proper officers to examine such stores as were in the place, promising the inhabitants that, if they acted ingenuously, they should suffer no other injury. Their stores were immediately produced, consisting of a kind of meal, or paste made of fish, in great plenty, with a small quant.i.ty of wheat and barley. This, however insufficient for his wants, Nearchus received: and abstaining from farther oppression, returned on board with his supply."

The provisions he obtained here, notwithstanding the consumption of them was protracted by occasionally landing and cutting off the tender shoots of the head of the wild palm-tree, were so completely exhausted in the course of a few days, that Nearchus was obliged to prevent his men from landing, under the apprehension, that though the coast was barren, their distress on board would have induced them not to return. At length, on the 14th of December, on the seventy-fourth day of their departure, they reached a more fertile and hospitable sh.o.r.e, and were enabled to procure a very small supply of provisions, consisting princ.i.p.ally of corn, dried dates, and the flesh of seven camels. Nearchus mentions the latter evidently to point out the extreme distress to which they were reduced. As it is evident that this supply would be soon exhausted, we are not surprised that Nearchus, in order to reach a better cultivated district, should urge on his course as rapidly as possible; and accordingly we find, that he sailed at a greater rate in this part of his voyage than he ever had done before. Having sailed day and night without intermission, in which time he pa.s.sed a distance of nearly sixty-nine miles, he at length doubled the cape, which formed the boundary of the barren coast of the Icthyophagi, and arrived in the district of Karmania. At Badis, the first town in this district, which they reached on the 17th of December, after a voyage of 77 days, they were supplied with corn, wine, and every kind of fruit, except olives, the inhabitants being not only able but willing to relieve their wants.

The length of the coast of the Icthyophagi is about 462 miles; and, as Nearchus was twenty-one days on this coast, the average rate of sailing must have been twenty-one miles a day. The whole distance, from the Indus to the cape which formed the boundary of Karmania, is about 625 miles: this distance Nearchus was above seventy days in sailing. It must be recollected, however, that when he first set out the monsoon was adverse, and that for twenty-four days he lay in harbour: making the proper deductions for these circ.u.mstances, he was not at sea more than forty days with a favourable wind; which gives rather more than fifteen miles a day.

The Houghton East Indiaman made the same run in thirteen days; and, on her return, was only five days from Gomeroon to Scindy Bay.

The manners of the wretched inhabitants have occasionally been already noticed; but Nearchus dwells upon some further particulars, which, from their conformity with modern information, are worthy of remark. Their ordinary support is fish, as the name of Icthyophagi, or fish-eaters, implies; but why they are for this reason specified as a separate tribe from the Gadrosians, who live inland, does not appear. Ptolomy considers all this coast as Karmania, quite to Mosarna; and whether Gadrosia is a part of that province, or a province itself, is a matter of no importance; but the coast must have received the name Nearchus gives it from Nearchus himself; for it is Greek, and he is the first Greek who explored it. It may, perhaps, be a translation of a native name, and such translations the Greeks indulged in sometimes to the prejudice of geography. "But these people, though they live on fish, are few of them fishermen, for their barks are few, and those few very mean and unfit for the service. The fish they obtain they owe to the flux and reflux of the tide, for they extend a net upon the sh.o.r.e, supported by stakes of more than 200 yards in length, within which, at the tide of ebb, the fish are confined, and settle in the pits or in equalities of the sand, either made for this purpose or accidental. The greater quant.i.ty consists of small fish; but many large ones are also caught, which they search for in the pits, and extract with nets. Their nets are composed of the bark or fibres of the palm, which they twine into a cord, and form like the nets of other countries. The fish is generally eaten raw, just as it is taken out of the water, at least such as are small and penetrable; but the larger sort, and those of more solid texture, they expose to the sun, and pound them to a paste for store: this they use instead of meal or bread, or form them into a sort of cakes or frumenty. The very cattle live on dried fish, for there is neither gra.s.s nor pasture on the coast. Oysters, crabs, and sh.e.l.l-fish, are caught in plenty; and though this circ.u.mstance is specified twice only in the early part of the voyage, there is little doubt but these formed the princ.i.p.al support of the people during their navigation. Salt is here the production of nature, by which we are to understand, that the power of the sun in this lat.i.tude, is sufficient for exhalation and crystallization, without the additional aid of fire; and from this salt they formed an extract which they used as the Greeks use oil. The country, for the most part, is so desolate, that the natives have no addition to their fish but dates: in some few places a small quant.i.ty of grain is sown; and there bread is their viand of luxury, and fish stands in the rank of bread. The generality of the people live in cabins, small and stifling: the better sort only have houses constructed with the bones of whales, for whales are frequently thrown upon the coast; and, when the flesh is rotted off, they take the bones, making planks and doors of such as are flat, and beams or rafters of the ribs or jaw-bones; and many of these monsters are found fifty yards in length." Strabo confirms the report of Arrian, and adds, that "the vertebrae, or socket bones, of the back, are formed into mortars, in which they pound their fish, and mix it up into a paste, with the addition of a little meal."--(Vincent's Nearchus, p. 265.)

Dr. Vincent, in this pa.s.sage, does not seem to be aware that no whale was ever found nearly so long as fifty yards, and that half that length is the more common size of the largest whales, even in seas more suitable to their nature and growth. That the animal which Nearchus himself saw was a whale, there can be little doubt: while he was off Kyiza, the seamen were extremely surprised, and not a little alarmed, at perceiving the sea agitated and thrown up, as Arrian expresses it, as if it were forcibly lifted up by a whirlwind. The pilot informed them that it was occasioned by the whales blowing; this information, however, does not seem to have quieted their fears: they ceased rowing, the oars dropped from their hands, and Nearchus found himself under the necessity of exerting all his presence of mind and authority to recall them to their duty. He gave directions to steer towards the place where the sea was lifted up: in their advance the crew shouted all together, dashed the water with their oars, and sounded their trumpets. The whales were intimidated, sunk on the near approach of the vessels, and, though they rose again astern, and renewed their blowing, they now excited no alarm.

The Gulf of Persia, which Nearchus was now about to enter, comprehends the coasts of Karmania, Persis, and Susiana. Nothing important occurred till the vessels arrived off Cape Mussenden in Karmania, where they anch.o.r.ed: at this place Nearchus and Onesicritus differed in opinion relative to the further prosecution of the voyage; the latter wished to explore this cape, and extend the voyage to the Gulf of Arabia. The reason he a.s.signed was, that they knew more of this gulf, than of the Gulf of Persia; and that, as Alexander was master of Egypt, in the former gulf they would meet with more a.s.sistance than in the latter. Nearchus, on the contrary, insisted that Alexander's plan in directing, this voyage should be exactly pursued: this plan was, to obtain a knowledge of the coast, with such harbours, bays, and islands, as might occur in the course of the voyage; "to ascertain whether there were any towns bordering on the ocean, and whether the country was habitable or desert." The opinion of Nearchus prevailed, and the voyage was pursued according to its original course and purpose.

As Nearchus had reason to believe that the army of Alexander was at no great distance, he resolved to land, form a naval camp, and to advance himself into the interior, that he might ascertain this point. Accordingly, on the 20th of December, the 80th day after his departure, he formed a camp near the river Anamis; and having secured his s.h.i.+ps, proceeded in search of Alexander. The first intelligence of their sovereign, however, seems to have been obtained accidentally. The crew of Nearchus were strolling up the country, when some of them met with a man whose dress and language instantly discovered that he was a Greek: the joy of meeting with a countryman was greatly heightened when he informed them that the army which he had lately left, was encamped at no great distance, and that the governor of the province was on the spot. As soon as Nearchus learnt the exact situation of the army, he hastened towards it; but the governor, eager to communicate to Alexander intelligence of his fleet, antic.i.p.ated him. Alexander was exceedingly pleased; but when several days elapsed, and Nearchus did not arrive, he began to doubt the truth of what the governor had told him, and at last ordered him to be imprisoned.