IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Overland to India : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
192 OVERLAND TO INDIA CHAP.
of the march roundabout roads were taken for the sake of the baggage train. Some perished from sickness, others from exhaustion, heat or thirst, the march was continued without a pause, and those who could not take care of themselves were left behind. During the night marches many were overpowered by sleep, and then could not follow the trail of the army. They perished in the sand like shipwrecked men in the sea. Another disaster is thus related : " In Gedrosia it rains, just as in India, in con-
sequence t1
of the trade-wind, certainly not over the plains of Gedrosia, but rather in the hills, whither the clouds are driven by the wind and discharge their contents, because
they cannot rise above the peaks. When now the army
had encamped at a brook with a little water, solely for the sake of water, its bed was filled in the second watch of the night by showers of rain which fell unnoticed by the army,
and it flooded the camp so deeply that most of the women A
and children accompanying the army were drowned."
Then follows the well-known tale of the scouts who found a drop of wretched spring water in a cleft and presented it to the king in a helmet. He was going on foot to encourage his warriors, and he stopped, took the helmet, commended the scouts, and emptied the water on to the ground. This raised the courage of all. The guide could no longer find the way, for it was lost in drift-sand. Then the king, with five attendants, rode to the coast and caused sweet pure water to be digged out of the sand. All the army followed and skirted the shore for seven days to be always within reach of water. At last he came to the royal city of Gedrosia, Pura, where he let his army rest.
Strabo says that the coast of the Ichthyophagi is flat and mostly treeless, with the exception of palms, a certain thorny bush, and tamarisks. There is an absence of water and edible fruits. Both men and cattle subsist on fish and on rain and well water. Of Gedrosia it is said that the country is certainly less hot than India, but warmer than the rest of Asia ; that there, too, there is a want of fruits and water except during summer. Strabo says that Alexander's retreat was purposely effected in summer. It was known
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