o ascend the Persian Gulf to the
Euphrates, he commenced his march through Beloochistan, leaving Nearchus
to follow him as soon as the season would permit. Alexander was more
than sixty days in reaching the frontiers of Persia, during which time
his army sufficed such dreadful privations from want of food, that the
soldiers were obliged to eat their own war-horses, and from the sickness
consequent upon such a state of distress, his army was reduced to less
than one-half of the number which left Patala. It is not necessary to
follow him to Babylon, or to describe the voyage of Nearchus, who,
having sailed up the Persian Gulf, united his forces to those of his
royal master in the river Pasi-Tigris, near Susa. Enough, however, may
be learned from this history to convince us that if such an army could
be conducted 2000 years ago from the Hellespont to the Jaxartes and
Indus, the march from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea to Cabool
would require comparatively but very slight exertion, if those who have
the means should have the desire also to accomplish it.

I can say little of my own knowledge of the political causes which gave
rise to the war, as I am unacquainted with the affairs of India and the
motives which actuated its governors; but a brief outline may be
collected from a book lately published by the Hon. Capt. Osborne,
military secretary to the Governor-General, to which I shall refer,
after making some observations upon the countries through which the
operations of the army were conducted, and particularly on the situation
of Afghanistan, in reference to those persons who had before been, is
well as those who were, its rulers, when Shah Shooja was restored by the
British Government to its throne. These observations I have chiefly
collected from the valuable work of that enterprising officer Lieut.
Burnes, which he published after visiting those countries in 1831, 1832,
and 1833.

The chief portion of the Bombay division of the army engaged in the
operations to which these letters refer, landed at the Hujamree mouth of
the Indus, and marching through Lower Sinde, by Tatta, ascended the
Indus by its western bank. On arriving in Upper Sinde, it was found that
Shah Shooja with his contingent, as well as the Bengal division of the
army, had crossed the Indus _en route_ from that Presidency, and had
advanced towards Afghanistan, and that the Bombay division was to follow
them. To effect this, the division marched