became necessary for the fleet and the army to separate, and to move,
for a time, in opposite directions from each other. The reader will
observe, by examining the map, that the army, on reaching the European
shore, at the point to which they would be conducted by a bridge at
Abydos, would find themselves in the middle of a long and narrow
peninsula called the Chersonesus, and that, before commencing its
regular march along the northern coast of the AEgean Sea, it would be
necessary first to proceed for fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward,
in order to get round the bay by which the peninsula is bounded on the
north and west. While, therefore, the fleet went directly westward along
the coast, the army turned to the eastward, a place of rendezvous having
been appointed on the northern coast of the sea, where they were all
soon to meet again.

The army moved on by a slow and toilsome progress until it reached the
neck of the peninsula, and then turning at the head of the bay, it moved
westward again, following the direction of the coast. The line of march
was, however, laid at some distance from the shore, partly for the sake
of avoiding the indentations made in the land by gulfs and bays, and
partly for the sake of crossing the streams from the interior at points
so far inland that the water found in them should be fresh and pure.
Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the water often failed. So
immense were the multitudes of men and of beasts, and so craving was the
thirst which the heat and the fatigues of the march engendered, that, in
several instances, they drank the little rivers dry.

The first great and important river which the army had to pass after
entering Europe was the Hebrus. Not far from the mouth of the Hebrus,
where it emptied into the AEgean Sea, was a great plain, which was called
the plain of Doriscus. There was an extensive fortress here, which had
been erected by the orders of Darius when he had subjugated this part of
the country. The position of this fortress was an important one,
because it commanded the whole region watered by the Hebrus, which was a
very fruitful and populous district. Xerxes had been intending to have a
grand review and enumeration of his forces on entering the European
territories, and he judged Doriscus to be a very suitable place for his
purpose. He could establish his own head-quarters in the fortress, while
his armies could be marshaled and reviewed on the plain