e running up from the
sea which impeded their progress, but the ebb and flow of the sea was
new to them. Eventually Alexander sought the shelter of a creek, and the
vessels were dragged ashore. Then came the ebb, and the water fell as
though it were sucked out into the sea. The boats were left high and
dry, and many of them sank deep in the mud. Astonished and bewildered,
Alexander and his men could get neither forward nor backward. They had
just made preparations to get the ships afloat, when the tide returned
and lifted them.

Now they went farther down-stream and came in contact with the raging
surf of the monsoon, which advances in light-green foam-crowned waves
far into the mouth and changes the colour of the river water. The
collision of the Indus current with the rising tide fills the fairway
with whirlpools and eddies, which are exceedingly dangerous even for the
best of vessels of the present day. Several ships were lost, some being
thrown up on the banks, while others dashed together and went to pieces.

After they had taken note of the regular rise and fall of the tide, they
could avoid danger, and the fleet arrived safely at an island where
shelter could be obtained by the shore and where fresh water was
abundant. From here the foaming, roaring surf at the very mouth of the
Indus could be seen, and above the rolling breakers appeared the level
horizon of the ocean.

With the best of the vessels Alexander went out to ascertain whether the
surf could be passed through without danger and the open sea be reached.
The trial proved successful, and another island was found, begirt on all
sides by open sea. The ships then returned in the dusk to the larger
island, where a solemn sacrifice was made to Ammon to celebrate the
first sight of the sea and of the margin of the inhabited world towards
the south.

Next day Alexander rowed right out to sea to convince himself that no
more land existed, and when he had advanced so far that nothing but sky
and rolling billows could be seen from the uppermost benches of the
triremes, he offered sacrifices to Poseidon, the god of the sea, to the
Nereids, and to the silver-footed sea-goddess Thetis, the mother of
Achilles, father of his race. And he besought the favour of all the gods
in the great enterprise which had brought him to the mouth of the
Indus, and their protection for his fleet on its dangerous voyage to the
Euphrates; and when his prayer was ended he cast a golde