It is very likely that, by his eight hundred, Arrian may have meant only those employed for transports and fighting vessels, not deeming it worth while to reckon up every small craft Alexander may have pressed into his service. Moreover, Strabo[261] has remarked that in the neighbourhood of Nicæa, whence the army embarked, there was an abundant supply of fir, pine, cedar, and of other timber, fit for the construction of boats and barges; while Arrian further records the fact that Alexander, before he himself had reached the Indus, had already caused a number of vessels to be built in the country of the Assacani (the Afghâns), and to be sent down the Kophen (or river of Kâbul) to Taxila (Manykyala). It was, probably, during the preparation of this great fleet that Alexander obtained his most valuable information about the state of inner or further India, both with regard to the commerce of the country, and to the different places with which the natives traded. Many of the natives, too, embarked with him, either for the purpose of conducting the fleet, or with a view to their own advantage; and, besides the natives who rendered their services in the collection, fitting out and navigating the fleet, it is further stated that an ample supply of mariners was obtained from a number of Phœnicians, Egyptians, Cypriotes, Ionians, and others from the shores of the Hellespont, and from the Ægean islands, who had accompanied the army, in various capacities, as camp followers.[262]
Departure of his fleet from Nicæa, B.C. 326.
Description of the vessels employed.
Thus prepared, the expedition started from Nicæa on the 1st October, B.C. 326. The voyage down the river is described rather as a triumphal procession than a military progress. The size of many of the transport vessels, and of the barges for the conveyance of horses, the splendour of the equipments, the clang of arms, and the sound of musical instruments, attracted the natives in vast numbers to the banks of the river, as wondering spectators to the pomp. Nor, probably, were they less surprised at the measured chant of the rowers, and the dashing of the oars in the still waters: subjects on which all the historians of this remarkable expedition have dwelt in detail, doubtless thereby conveying an accurate account of this remarkable exploit. But though there can be no doubt of the general truth of the story as handed down to us by Arrian, the descriptions of the vessels which composed it are, in some respects, inconsistent with each other. The transports were probably short flat vessels, to which the ordinary small barge of the present day bears, perhaps, a greater resemblance than any other craft. The galleys are said to have been long and sharp, some of them having two banks of oars; others were “half-decked vessels;”[263] while some of them had keels so deep, that they could not be beached without risk of their destruction. “As the tide fell,” remarks Dr. Vincent,[264] “the vessels were left on ground; but upon the return of the flood those only that had settled upright in the mud or ooze, escaped unhurt, while all that lay inclined upon the harder ground, were exposed to the most imminent danger, and several were lost.” As any vessel, however, that is of sufficient stability to float upright, would, when the tide returned, rise to it, it is very probable that the cause of these occasional accidents was leakage, through straining or from carelessness in beaching them on uneven ground. The greater part, however, of the craft consisted, no doubt, of open boats and barges, and especially that portion of it which had been built on the upper branches of the Indus, and then transported overland to the Hydaspes.
Progress of the fleet.
The expedition having been disposed of in various divisions, had orders to observe a due distance from each other in their movements, so that no confusion might arise, its speed being at the same time regulated so as to accommodate itself to the motions of the army on the shore. Three vast armies, moving in separate divisions, encumbered with baggage as well as with munitions of war, with no roads prepared for them, and, for the most part, following the sinuosities of the river, must have had numerous difficulties to surmount. It is, therefore, unlikely that they were able to maintain their combined movement with anything like order, or to average in their progress as much as the fifteen miles a day Dr. Vincent considers a fair estimate for them. Still less is it possible that they could have accomplished the six hundred stadia, or seventy miles, in the time Pliny has recorded. The estimate of Curtius of forty stadia, or four miles and three quarters a day, is unquestionably nearer the truth, as we know that the fleet was nine months floating down a distance of little more than one thousand miles. Moreover, there were constant delays and interruptions, arising from the arrangements Alexander considered it necessary to make with the different tribes and provinces through whose territory he had to advance.
Establishment of new cities on the banks of the Indus.
At the junction of the Acesines with the Indus, Alexander established his first city on the banks of that river. The site was judiciously chosen, as a city placed in such a position would necessarily partake of all the commerce that passed up the Indus, to be distributed by means of its various tributaries, from Candahar and Kâbul on the west, to Upper India and Thibet on the north and north-east: moreover, being the centre where all the streams united, it must, consequently, derive equal emoluments from the commerce that passed downwards to the coast.[265] From the establishment of this and of other cities on the banks of the Indus, all of which he fortified, it is evident that the Macedonian conqueror destined that river to be the eastern frontier of his empire, and saw that, by holding the command of it, he would combine, by means of a river navigation to the eastern portion of his dominions, a maritime commerce with the richest portions of the interior of India.
On the arrival of the expedition at Pattala, in after days a place of great commercial importance for the maritime trade with the West, Alexander made arrangements for despatching Nearchus, with the largest and best portion of his fleet, to the Euphrates, he himself proceeding with the bulk of his army, by land, to Susa and Babylon. The importance of Nearchus’ expedition cannot be too highly estimated, as on its success greatly depended the carrying out, with thorough efficiency, that widely extended system of commerce by sea, between India and Europe, Alexander obviously had in view, and of which the fleet, under the command of Nearchus, was to serve as the pioneer. The opening of the Indus, on the one hand, and the establishment of Alexandria in Egypt on the other, are evidences of a comprehensive scheme of commercial intercourse between all the leading points of the then known world. Alexander could scarcely have failed to perceive that the junction of the great ports of the East and of the West, with well selected stations, at proper intervals between them, would secure the stability of his vast empire; indeed, no other device could have provided for it so well, or could, at the same time, have enabled him to hold in his own hands by far the largest and most valuable trade known to the merchants of ancient times.
Character of the vessels engaged on the voyage from the Indus to Susa.