harpened, instead of iron, for iron
they had none. Their dress consisted of the skins of beasts, and some of
the larger kinds of fish."

Along the coast of the Icthyophagi, extending from Malan to Cape Jaser, a
distance, by the course of the fleet, of nearly 625 miles, Nearchus was so
much favoured by the winds and by the straightness of the coast, that his
progress was sometimes nearly 60 miles a day. In every other respect,
however, this portion of the voyage was very unfortunate and calamitous.
Alexander, aware that on this coast, which furnished nothing but fish, his
fleet would be in distress for provisions, and that this distress would be
greatly augmented by the scarcity of water which also prevailed here, had
endeavoured to advance into this desolate tract, to survey the harbours,
sink wells, and collect provisions. But the nature of the country rendered
this impracticable; and his army became so straightened for corn
themselves, that a supply of it, which he intended for the fleet, and on
which he had affixed his own seal, was seized by the men whom he had
ordered to protect and escort it to the coast. At last he was obliged to
give up all attempts of relieving Nearchus; and after struggling 60 days
with want of water,--during which period, if he himself had not, at the
head of a few horse, pushed on to the coast, and there obtained a supply,
by opening the sands, his whole army must have perished,--he with great
difficulty reached the capital of this desert country. Nearchus, thus left
to himself, was indebted to the natives for the means of discovering water,
by opening the sands, as the king had done; but to the Greeks, who regarded
the want of bread as famine, even when its place was supplied by meat, the
fish the natives offered them was no relief.

We have already remarked, that the real character of Alexander will be much
elevated in the opinion of men of humanity and philosophers, if the
particulars we possess of his endeavours to improve the condition of those
he conquered, and to advance the interests of science, scanty and imperfect
as they are, were more attentively considered, and had not been neglected
and overlooked in the glare of his military achievements. His march through
the deserts of Gadrosia has been ascribed solely to vanity; but this
imputation will be removed, and must give way to a more worthy impression
of his motives on this occasion, when it is stated, that it was part of the
great