Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

The Hydaspes was now at hand, the spot where it unites with the Acesines was only forty-five miles distant: here the fleet of Alexander encountered its disasters in the rapids, and the hordes of Timour were terrified by the noise of the waters. Much to the surprise of our Seik friends, who could not comprehend the motives of our curiosity, we set out on a galloping expedition for the scene of these memorable events, and found ourselves on the second evening on the banks of the Hydaspes. Our anxiety to behold the “fabulous Hydaspes” was heightened by the belief, that this spot, so famous in its ancient history, had never been visited by an European since the days of the Greeks. The river joins the Acesines with a murmuring noise, but the velocity of the current is inconsiderable, and vessels pass it without danger, except in July and August. There are no eddies or rocks, nor is the channel confined, but the ancient character is supported by the noise of the confluence, which is greater than that of any of the other rivers.

The boatmen at the ferry said, that, during the swell of the river, they placed themselves under the protection of a saint, whose tomb stands at the fork of the two rivers. The superstitious reliance bespeaks danger. We stood on the verge of the river, talking with the people, till the sun set in the desert westward of us; our Seik companions in the mean time, bathing in the stream; for, if deprived of the enjoyment which we derived, they had a compensation in the belief of performing ablutions at a holy spot, the junction of one river with another.

The Hydaspes.

This river is named Behut or Bedusta, also Jelum, by the people on its banks, and falls into the Acesines or Chenab in the latitude of 31° 11´ 30´´, forty-five miles north of the town of Tolumba, on the Ravee. The banks of the Hydaspes coincide but faintly with the description of Arrian: they do not confine the river in a narrow channel, nor are there rocks anywhere near to mark the spot where the Greeks retired with their dismantled fleet. The name of Hydaspes is yet discoverable in the modern appellation of Bedusta. The Hydaspes is less rapid, and altogether a smaller stream than the Acesines, being about 500 yards in breadth at the point of conflux; when joined, these rivers roll on for a short distance in a channel full a mile in breadth, and about twelve feet deep.

Boats of the Greeks.

The timber of which the boats of the Punjab are constructed is chiefly floated down by the Hydaspes from the Indian Caucasus, which most satisfactorily explains the selection of its banks as the site of a naval arsenal by Alexander in preference to the other rivers, by any of which he might have reached the Indus without a retrograde movement. There are but few boats on this river: about fifty are used in the salt trade at Pind Dadun Khan, some of which carry 500 maunds of salt, and exceed 100 feet in length, being built like the “Zohruq,” rounded at both ends. They do not hoist a sail, and often pass the conflux in safety. We are informed that the war-ships of the Greeks encountered the greatest difficulties in the navigation of this river, and are naturally led to attribute the calamities of some of them to the build, since the provision boats, which are described as of “a round form;” and, I presume, like the “Zohruq,” escaped uninjured. That Alexander built the greatest part of his own fleet, is certain, for he commenced his voyage on the Hydaspes with 800 vessels; and when he first reached that stream he was entirely destitute of them; so that he ordered the boats by which he passed the Indus to be broken up and brought by land across the Doab. We hear likewise of triremes and biremes, that in no way correspond with the present description of boats on the Indus; from which it is probable that the round boats which escaped uninjured were country vessels.

Passage of the Hydaspes.

The Hydaspes and Acesines have been forded in the cold season; but when joined they have never been passed but by boats. Timour, in his expedition to Delhi, threw a bridge across the conflux at Trimo ferry. Runjeet Singh swam the Hydaspes at Sahewal with a large body of horse; but that enterprising chief has crossed the Indus itself above Attok in the same manner. The merchants from Khorasan travel to India at all seasons, taking the route by Dera Ismael Khan, Mankere, and the Sandy Desert, crossing at Trimo, on the road to Toolumba. The country between these last two places differs from the right bank of the Hydaspes: destitute of sand hills, it is almost as barren and desert. A sheet of hard clay, with clumps of tamarisk, khair, lan, kejra, and such other shrubs as are to be found in the Thurr, or Desert of India, extends from the Chenab to the Ravee. There is not a blade of grass but on the banks of the rivers. Water is procurable from wells about thirty feet deep, but is scarce, and always fetid and noxious, though rarely salt.

Cathæi of Arrian.

The population chiefly consists of the pastoral tribe of Kattia, or Jun, who are so called from their living an erratic life, “Jun” having that signification: few of them are found at any distance from the rivers but in the rainy season. They have immense herds of buffaloes and camels, from the milk of which they derive sustenance; hardly cultivating the soil, though some tolerable fields of tobacco, raised by irrigation, may be seen near their habitations. They are a tall and handsome race; which may be attributed to a rule among them, prohibiting marriages before their females attain the age of twenty years: they believe that the children of an early union, so common among every other Indian tribe, are puny and unhealthy. These Kattia are a predatory and warlike race: few of them are free from scars and wounds. They extend from the banks of the Hydaspes across the deserts to Delhi, and are the aborigines of this country, in whom, I think, we recognise the Cathæi of Arrian; as he calls them “a stout people, well skilled in military affairs.” I am aware that these people have been supposed to be the Kuttrees or Rajpoots; but their country is further to the south, and did not occupy this part of India on the Greek invasion.