CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA.
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But as Alexander was ambitious to acquire fame sect.of every kind, and fond of engaging in new and i.fplendid undertakings , he himfelf accompaniedNearchus in his navigation down the river. Thearmament was, indeed, fo great and magnificent,as deferved to be commanded by the conqueror ofAfia. It was compofed of an army of a hundredand twenty thoufand men, and two hundred ele-phants, and of a fleet of near two thoufand veffels,various in burden and form”; on board of whichone-third of the troops embarked, while the re-mainder marching in two divifions, one on theright, and the other on the left, of the river,accompanied them in their progrefs. As they ad-vanced, the nations on each fide were either com-pelled or perfuadcd to fubmit. Retarded by thevarious operations in which this engaged him, aswell as by the flow navigation of fuch a fleet ashe conducted, Alexander was above nine monthsbefore he reached the ocean 1 ".
Alexander’s progrefs in India , in this line ofdiredion , was far more confiderable than thatwhich he made by the route we formerly traced;and when we attend to the various movements ofhis troops, the number of cities which they took,and the different dates which they fubdued, hemay be faid not only to have viewed, but to haveexplored, the countries through which he palled.
This part of India has been fo little frequented byEuropeans in later times, that neither the pofition
3 *
See NOTE V.