On Leaving
This Place, Their Progress Became Much More Rapid Than It Had Been Before,
Owing Probably To The Wind Having Become More Regularly And Permanently
Favourable.
As it is our intention, in giving this short abstract of the voyage of
Nearchus, to select only such particulars as illustrate the mode of
navigation practised among the ancients - the progress of discovery, or the
state of commerce, - we shall pass over every topic or fact not connected
with these.
We cannot, however, refrain from giving an account of the
transactions of the fleet at the river Tomerus, when it arrived on the 21st
of November, fifty days after it left the Indus; as on reading it, our
readers will be immediately struck with the truth of Dr. Vincent's
observation, that it bears a very strong resemblance to the landing of a
party from the Endeavour, in New Zealand, under protection of the ship's
guns. We make use of Dr. Vincent's translation, or rather abstract: -
"At the Tomerus the inhabitants were found living on the low ground near
the sea, in cabins which seemed calculated rather to suffocate their
inhabitants than to protect them from the weather; and yet these wretched
people were not without courage. Upon sight of the fleet approaching, they
collected in arms on the shore, and drew up in order to attack the
strangers on their landing. Their arms were spears, not headed with iron,
but hardened in the fire, nine feet long; and their number about 600.
Nearchus ordered his vessels to lay their heads towards the shore, within
the distance of bow-shot; for the enemy had no missile weapons but their
spears.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 105 of 1007
Words from 28622 to 28898
of 273188
