As the sun set on the 23d, we moored below the village of Fazil Shah, in the mouth of the Ravee or Hydraotes, still called Iräotee by the natives. This was the spot where Alexander of Macedon met his anxious army after his severe wound, and showed to his troops that his precious life was yet preserved: but these are events which live only in the historical works of Europe; they are unknown to the natives of Asia. I must mention, however, a circumstance corroborative of the Greek historians,—the fields of beans that I observed on the banks of this river. They led Alexander, for some time, to mistake the heads of the Indus for the Nile; and now remain, in a distant age, as proofs of his journey, and accuracy in the historians of his expedition.
Gifts from Lahore.
The intelligence of our arrival in the country of the Seiks soon reached Lahore; and a pair of gold armlets, set with diamonds and emeralds, arrived in due course as a gift from the Maharajah to our Mihmandar. The Lahore chief is munificent in his distribution of presents among his nobles, though less so than in former years. Grants of land, and gifts of jewels and money, are yet made. They attest the wealth of the country, and the sound policy of the prince.
Enter the Ravee.
On the 24th we quitted the Acesines, and entered on the navigation of the Ravee. At the point of union, the former river has a breadth of three quarters of a mile, though the deep part does not extend for 500 yards.
Lieut. Macartney makes mention of a report which he had heard of the Chenab being fordable in the cold season below this point; but the natives assured me, that such an occurrence had never happened in the memory of man, and I found the soundings to exceed twelve feet. The Chenab, indeed, is only inferior to the Indus; its current is more rapid than that river, and, with its depressed banks, it yet preserves every where a depth of two fathoms. The Ravee throws itself into the Chenab by three mouths, close to each other. This river is very small, and resembles a canal, rarely exceeding 150 yards in breadth in any part of its course. Its banks are precipitous, so that it deepens before it expands. Nothing can exceed the crookedness of its course, which is a great impediment to navigation, for we often found ourselves, after half a day’s sail, within two miles of the spot from which we started. The water of the Ravee is redder than that of the Chenab. It is fordable in most places for eight months of the year. Its banks are overgrown with reeds and tamarisk, and for half the distance, from its estuary to the capital, there is no cultivation. There are no canals or cuts from this river below Lahore. There is a very extensive one above that city, which I shall have occasion to mention hereafter.
Tolumba.
On the 27th of June we reached the small town of Tolumba, which is situated in a grove of date trees, nearly three miles south of the Ravee. Sheriffo Deen, the historian of Timour, informs us that that conqueror crossed the Ravee at Tolumba on his route to Delhi, so that we now found ourselves on the track of another invader.
The Tartar is yet remembered by his offerings at the shrines in this neighbourhood. Below the town, the Ravee assumes a straight course for twelve miles, and presents a vista of beautiful scenery, as the banks are fringed with lofty trees, that overhang the river. The natives attribute this peculiarity in the Ravee to divine influence. The clothes of a saint, when bathing, were washed into the stream, and the eyes of the holy man, when turned in search of them, straightened the river!
Visit to the Hydaspes.