A very interesting question is next discussed—that of the secular extension of the Delta seaward—and the conclusion arrived at, which is, however, conjectural, and below the estimate of Colonel Holdich, is that from Alexander’s time to 1869 A.D. the advance of the Delta seaward has been eight miles, or at the rate of rather more than six yards in a year, this being less than a fourth of the growth of the Nile Delta in a not much greater period of time.
We now proceed to show what new light we gain from the Memoir respecting the voyage of Nearchos from the naval station in the Indus to Alexander’s Haven, now Karâchî. We abridge the account which Arrian has given in his Indika of this part of the famous voyage:—
Weighing from the Naval Station, the fleet reached Stoura, about 100 stadia further down stream, and at the further distance of 30 stadia came to another channel where the sea was salt, at a place called Kaumana. A run of 20 stadia from Kaumana brought it to Koreatis, where it anchored. After weighing from this, a bar (ἕρμα) was encountered at the spot where the Indus discharges into the sea, and through this, where it was soft, a passage had to be cut at low water, for a space of five stadia. On this part of the coast, which was rugged, the waves dashed with great violence. The next place of anchorage was at Krokala, a sandy island, which was reached after a course of 150 stadia, that had followed the windings of the coast. Near this dwelt the Arabies, who had their name from the river Arabis, which separates their territory from that of the Oreitai. On weighing from Krokala, a hill called Eiros lay to the right, and to the left a low flat island, which stretched along the face of the coast, and made the intervening creek narrow. The ships having cleared this creek, reached a commodious harbour to which Nearchos gave the name of “Alexander’s Haven.” At the harbour’s mouth, two stadia off, lay an island named Bibakta, which, acting as a barrier against the sea, caused the existence of the harbour.
Our author thinks that some of the circumstances described in the above passage supply irresistible evidence that it was through the Ghâro that Nearchos sailed into the sea. If the obstruction at the mouth of the river was caused in part by rock, it is certain, he says, that that mouth cannot have been situated to the east of the Ghâro, for along the whole sea-border of the Delta, to a depth of several miles, no rock, not even a stone, is to be found. The description again of the coast adjoining the bar as rugged or rocky (τραχεῖα) can apply with great propriety to the plain west of the Ghâro, consisting, as it does, of a compact gravelly soil, frequently broken by outcropping rock, while the description would be utterly out of place if applied to the low mud-banks of the actual Delta coast. And further, the statement that the fleet, after leaving the river, ran a winding course, shows very pointedly that the Ghâro must have been the mouth by which the fleet reached the sea, since, if it had issued from any of the mouths east of the Ghâro, there would have been no windings to follow, the coast of the Delta being singularly straight and regular. The fleet probably entered the sea by the creek of the Ghâro known as the Kudro, not far from the present mouth of which there is a small port named the Wâghûdar, accessible to riverboats of light draught. Sir A. Burnes, however, who visited the Delta in 1831, took the Pitî channel to have been that by which Nearchos gained the sea. He had seen in that channel what he took to be a rock, and concluded that it was the obstacle which Nearchos had encountered. It was not a rock, however, but probably an oyster-bank, for when search was made for it afterwards during a survey it was no longer to be found.
The island of Krokala, which General Cunningham erroneously identified with the island of Kîâmârî, which lies in front of Karâchî, no longer exists as an island, but forms part of the mainland. It lay at the mouth of the Gisri Creek, by which the Malîr river pours its waters into the sea. The headland which Arrian calls Eiros is to be identified with the eminence called “Clifton,” the eastern headland of Karâchî Bay, the “narrow creek” which the fleet entered on leaving Krokala, is Chinî Creek, which leads into Karâchî Bay and harbour. Kîâmârî thus corresponds with the “low, flat island” of the Greek narrative, while Manora (mistaken by Cunningham for Eiros), exactly corresponds with Bibakta.
We must now briefly notice what is said regarding the eastern portion of the Delta. Here the most important of all the forsaken channels of the Indus is the Purân, which can still be clearly traced from two different starting-points in Central Sindh, one 24, the other 36 miles north-east of Haidarâbâd. The two head channels run south-east for about 50 miles, and unite at a spot 45 miles east by south from Haidarâbâd. The single channel has then a course of over 140 miles to the head of the Korî Creek, the last 50 miles being through the Ran of Kuchchha. The eastern arm of the Indus, which Alexander in person explored, was probably some channel running into the Purân not far above the point where it enters the Ran. On reaching the sea by this eastern branch, Alexander, as Arrian informs us, landed, and with some cavalry proceeded three marches along the coast. This statement the Memoir declares to be a fabrication, since such a march would be an utter impossibility. At the same time, the notion of wells being dug in the locality is scouted as an absurdity.
The Memoir further indicates the route by which Alexander, after starting from Patala to return homewards, reached the Arabis or Arabios—now the Purâli river, which flows through Lus Bela, and discharges into Sonmiyâni Bay. The eastern frontier of the Arabios lay near Krokala, and was very probably formed by the river called the Malîr. Alexander, according to Curtius, reached this frontier in a nine-days’ march from Patala, and the western frontier, which was about 65 miles distant from the other, in five days more. Our author, assuming that Alexander would not have marched his army across the comparatively waterless plain of the Kohistân, but would keep, if possible, within easy reach of the river or one of its branches, thinks it obvious that the earlier part of the route would follow the branch which ran westward—the branch, namely, of which the Kalrî and Ghâro formed the lower portion. From the position which he assigns to Patala, the distance traversed in the nine-days’ march would be 117 miles, while the point on the Malîr where Alexander encamped would be, he thinks, 7 or 8 miles east by north from Karâchî cantonments. The distance between the Malîr and the Purâli, it must be pointed out, is much greater now than it was in Alexander’s time, for, like the Indus, the Purâli has shifted its course far westward. The coast-line, moreover, at Sonmiyâni has advanced 20 miles, if not more, since then. Our author, therefore, placing the mouth of the river rather to the north of the latitude of Liâri, suggests that the point where the army reached the Arabios was about 10 miles east by north from Liâri, and 20 miles north or north by east from Sonmiyâni.
The last Appendix in the Memoir is devoted to a review of the narrative of the voyage by which Nearchos in six days reached the mouth of the Arabios or Purâli from Alexander’s Haven. It states in the outset that the discovery of the great advance of the coast about the head of Sonmiyâni Bay serves to explain some difficulties in the account of the voyage which have hitherto defied solution. We here abridge that account:—
The fleet, on weighing from the haven, ran a course of 60 stadia, and anchored under shelter of a desert island called Domai. Next day, with a run of 300 stadia, it reached Saranga, and on the following day anchored at a desert place called Sakala. Another run of 300 stadia brought it on the morrow to Morontobara or Women’s Haven. This haven had a narrow entrance, but was deep, capacious, and well-sheltered. The fleet, before gaining the entrance, had passed through between two islets, which lay so close to each other that the oars grazed the rocks on each side. On leaving this harbour next day it had on the left a tree-covered island 70 stadia long which sheltered it from the violence of the sea. As the channel, however, which separated the island from the mainland was narrow, and shoal with ebb-tide, the passage through it was difficult and tedious, and it was not till near the dawn of the following day that the fleet succeeded in clearing it. A course of 120 stadia brought it to a good harbour at the mouth of the Arabios. Not far from this harbour lay an island described as being high and bare.
The island of Domai Colonel Holdich and others would identify with Manora. Manora, however, Haig points out, is even now 4 to 5 miles off from the nearest mainland, and must have been further in Alexander’s time. He would, therefore, place Domai rather more than 4 miles due west of the town of Karâchî, or perhaps further north. The fleet, in its course to Saranga, must have rounded Cape Monze or Râs Muâri, but this projection is not mentioned by Arrian. The position of Saranga, to judge from the recorded length of the run, must have been near the mouth of the Hub river, which is 26 miles distant from the position assigned to Domai. The Hub mouth has been silted up, and this led, last century, to its port being abandoned. Our author points out that if Κ were substituted for Σ in Saranga, we would then have in Karanga a very fair representation of Kharok, the name of the Hub port. However this may be, he adds, there can be no doubt that the Saranga of Nearchos was either at the Hub mouth or a few miles further north.