CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA.

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But as Alexander was ambitious to acquire fame SECTof every kind, and fond of engaging in new and i.splendid undertakings ^ he himself accompaniedNearchus in his navigation down the river. Thearmament was, indeed, so great and magnificent,as deserved to be commanded by the conqueror ofAsia. It was composed of an army of a hundredand twenty thousand men, and two hundred ele-phants, and of a fleet of near two thousand vessels,various in burden and form”; on board of which,one-third of the troops embarked, while the re-mainder marching in two divisions, one on theright, and the other on the left, of the river,accompanied them in their progress. As they ad-vanced, the nations on each side were either com-pelled or persuaded to submit. Retarded by thevarious operations in which this engaged him, aswell as by the flow navigation of such a fleet ashe conducted, Alexander was above nine monthsbefore he reached the ocean

Alexander’s progress in India, in this line ofdirection , was far more considerable 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 states which they subdued, hemay be said not only to have viewed, but to haveexplored, the countries through which he passed.

This part of India has been so little frequented byEuropeans in later times, that neither the position

' See NOTE V. " Strabo, lib. xv. p. 10-14.

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