At Length, On The 14th Of
December, On The Seventy-Fourth Day Of Their Departure, They Reached A More
Fertile And Hospitable Shore, And Were Enabled To Procure A Very Small
Supply Of Provisions, Consisting Principally Of Corn, Dried Dates, And The
Flesh Of Seven Camels.
Nearchus mentions the latter evidently to point out
the extreme distress to which they were reduced.
As it is evident that this
supply would be soon exhausted, we are not surprised that Nearchus, in
order to reach a better cultivated district, should urge on his course as
rapidly as possible; and accordingly we find, that he sailed at a greater
rate in this part of his voyage than he ever had done before. Having sailed
day and night without intermission, in which time he passed a distance of
nearly sixty-nine miles, he at length doubled the cape, which formed the
boundary of the barren coast of the Icthyophagi, and arrived in the
district of Karmania. At Badis, the first town in this district, which they
reached on the 17th of December, after a voyage of 77 days, they were
supplied with corn, wine, and every kind of fruit, except olives, the
inhabitants being not only able but willing to relieve their wants.
The length of the coast of the Icthyophagi is about 462 miles; and, as
Nearchus was twenty-one days on this coast, the average rate of sailing
must have been twenty-one miles a day. The whole distance, from the Indus
to the cape which formed the boundary of Karmania, is about 625 miles:
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