18 AN HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

SECT. inscriptions, when that fantastic sophist visited In-l. dia, three hundred and seventy-three years afterAlexander’s expedition”. The breadth of thePatijab, from Ludhana on the Setlege to Attockon the Indus, is computed to be two hundred andfifty-nine geographical miles, in a straight line;and Alexander’s march, computed in the same man-ner, did not extend above two hundred miles.But, both as he advanced and returned, his troopswere so spread over the country, and often acted, in so many separate divisions, and all his move-ments were so exactly measured and delineated bymen of science, whom he kept in pay for thepurpose, that he acquired a very extensive andaccurate knowledge of that part of India 2 ’.

When, upon his return, he reached the banksof the Hydafpes, he found that the officers to whomhe had given it in charge to build and collect asmany vessels as possible, had executed his orderswith such activity and success that they had assem-bled a numerous fleet. As amidst the hurry of war,and the rage of conquest, he never lost sight of hispacific and commercial schemes, the destination ofthis fleet was to fail down the Indus to the ocean,and from its mouth to proceed to the Persian Gulf,that a communication by sea might be opened withIndia and the centre of his dominions.

The conduct of this expedition was committedto Nearchus, an officer equal to that important trust.

37 Fhilcstr. "Vita Apol. b. ii c. 4;. edit. Olear. Lips. 1709.

a ’ Plm. Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. 17.

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