[773] Aristobulus, as quoted by Strabo (xv. 1), said that the voyage down the Indus occupied ten months, the fleet arriving at Patala about the time of the rising of Sirius, or July, 325 B.C.
[774] The right arm of the Indus is now called the Buggaur, and the left Sata.
[775] I.e. caused a heavy swell of waters. Cf. Apollonius Rhodius, ii. 595; Polybius, i. 60, 6. This wind was the south-west monsoon.
[776] Cf. Curtius (ix. 35, 36); Cæsar (Bell. Gall. iv. 29). τὰ σκάφη ἐμετεωρίζοντο. Arrian does not comply with the Attic rule, that the plural neuter should take a verb in the singular. Compare ii. 20, 8; v. 17, 6 and 7; etc.
[777] Plutarch (Alex. 66) says that Alexander called the island Scillustis; but others called it Psiltucis. He also says that the voyage down the rivers to the sea took seven months.
[778] In regard to this expedition, see Arrian, vii. 20 infra.
[779] About 200 miles. Arrian here follows the statement of Nearchus. Aristobulus said that the distance was 1,000 stades. See Strabo, xv. 1.
[780] See Curtius, ix. 38. This lake has disappeared.
[781] These periodical winds are the southerly monsoon of the Indian Ocean. Cf. Arrian (Indica, 21).
[782] This occurs at the beginning of November. The Romans called the Pleiades Vergiliae. Cf. Pliny (ii. 47, 125): Vergiliarum occasus hiemem inchoat, quod tempus in III. Idus Novembres incidere consuevit. Also Livy (xxi. 35, 6): Nivis etiam casus, occidente jam sidere Vergiliarum, ingentem terrorem adjecit.