Owing To These
Favourable Circumstances, The Skill Of The Pilot, And The Breeze Which Blew
From The Land During The Night, Their Course Was More Rapid; And They
Sailed By Night As Well As Day.
The coast, however, still continued barren,
and the inhabitants unable to supply them with any thing but fish till they
arrived at Barna on the 64th day:
Here the inhabitants were more civilized;
they had gardens producing fruit-trees, flowers, myrtle, &c., with which
the Greek sailors formed garlands to adorn their hair.
On the 69th day, December 9., they arrived at a small town, the name of
which is not given; nor is it possible to fix its scite. What occurred here
we shall give in the words of Dr. Vincent: -
"When the fleet reached this place, it was totally without bread or grain
of any kind; and Nearchus, from the appearance of stubble in the
neighbourhood, conceived hopes of a supply, if he could find means of
obtaining it; but he perceived that he could not take the place by assault,
and a siege the situation he was in rendered impracticable. He concerted
matters, therefore, with Archias, and ordered him to make a feint of
preparing the fleet to sail; while he himself, with a single vessel,
pretending to be left behind, approached the town in a friendly manner, and
was received hospitably by the inhabitants. They came out to receive him
upon his landing, and presented him with baked fish, (the first instance of
cookery he had yet seen on the coast,) accompanied with cakes and dates.
These he accepted with proper acknowledgments, and informed them he wished
for permission to see the town: this request was granted without suspicion;
but no sooner had he entered, than he ordered two of his archers to take
post at the gate, and then mounting the wall contiguous, with two more and
his interpreter, he made the signal for Archias, who was now under weigh to
advance. The natives instantly ran to their arms; but Nearchus having taken
an advantageous position, made a momentary defence till Archias was close
at the gate, ordering his interpreter to proclaim at the same time, that if
they wished their city to be preserved from pillage, they must deliver up
their corn, and all the provisions which the place afforded. These terms
were not rejected, for the gate was open, and Archias ready to enter: he
took charge of this post immediately with the force which attended him; and
Nearchus sent proper officers to examine such stores as were in the place,
promising the inhabitants that, if they acted ingenuously, they should
suffer no other injury. Their stores were immediately produced, consisting
of a kind of meal, or paste made of fish, in great plenty, with a small
quantity of wheat and barley. This, however insufficient for his wants,
Nearchus received: and abstaining from farther oppression, returned on
board with his supply."
The provisions he obtained here, notwithstanding the consumption of them
was protracted by occasionally landing and cutting off the tender shoots of
the head of the wild palm-tree, were so completely exhausted in the course
of a few days, that Nearchus was obliged to prevent his men from landing,
under the apprehension, that though the coast was barren, their distress on
board would have induced them not to return. 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: this
distance Nearchus was above seventy days in sailing. It must be
recollected, however, that when he first set out the monsoon was adverse,
and that for twenty-four days he lay in harbour: making the proper
deductions for these circumstances, he was not at sea more than forty days
with a favourable wind; which gives rather more than fifteen miles a day.
The Houghton East Indiaman made the same run in thirteen days; and, on her
return, was only five days from Gomeroon to Scindy Bay.
The manners of the wretched inhabitants have occasionally been already
noticed; but Nearchus dwells upon some further particulars, which, from
their conformity with modern information, are worthy of remark. Their
ordinary support is fish, as the name of Icthyophagi, or fish-eaters,
implies; but why they are for this reason specified as a separate tribe
from the Gadrosians, who live inland, does not appear. Ptolomy considers
all this coast as Karmania, quite to Mosarna; and whether Gadrosia is a
part of that province, or a province itself, is a matter of no importance;
but the coast must have received the name Nearchus gives it from Nearchus
himself; for it is Greek, and he is the first Greek who explored it.
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