of Pytheas, were weighed by one of those master minds on whom nature seems to confer the right to theorise; for Aristotle was among the number of those extraordinary men, who by the strength and universality of their genius are fitted to be the architects rather than the builders of the edifice of knowledge. The boldness and variety of his speculations recommended him to the subtle temper of the Arabians, by whom he was first made known to modern Europe; and as the features of a deified hero are deformed in the idol fashioned by his rude adorers, so the fame of Aristotle has hardly yet recovered from the multiplied perversions to which his writings were subjected by the ignorance of past ages.

Aristotle possessed a great fund of geographical knowledge. He maintained that the earth is a sphere, having a circumference of 400,000 stadia, a calculation which may be correct; but the uncertainty, as to the stadium employed renders it impossible to appreciate its merit. Reasoning firmly on the hypothesis that the earth is a globe, Aristotle appears to have suggested the voyage across the Atlantic eighteen centuries before Columbus; for he observes, that the coasts of Spain cannot be very far distant from those of India. The happy boldness of this thought was all his own, the errors of calculation belonged to his age. In his nomenclature, too, we see evidence of a juster geographical conception than was possessed by many writers of a much later age. His knowledge of the earth was bounded by the Gallic and Indian gulfs on the West and East, by the Riphæan mountains on the North, and on the South by the great river Cremetes, “ which, having its source in the same mountain as the Nile, flows westward into the ocean." This great river must be the Senegal. Aristotle knew but little of the north of Europe, yet he is the first who mentions the Hercynian mountains; a designation which, probably, extended over the lofty ranges on the west and north of Bohemia, but which is at present retained only by the insulated mountains of the Hartz. He also makes express mention of two large islands, Albion and

Ierne, situated to the north of Celtica (and he is the first writer who mentions them together, and with the common name Brittanica); but he adds, that they are not by any means so large as Taprobane beyond India, or Phebol in the Arabian sea. Here we have a proof of his extensive information in this early mention of Taprobane or Ceylon, and Phebol, which is generally supposed to be Madagascar; but which, as Saibala is an Indian name, ought, perhaps, to be looked for more towards the east.

Aristotle had many scholars who devoted themselves to geographical studies, and some of whom, as Dicæarchus and Theophrastus, obtained distinction by their writings; but he had the singular honour of infusing the love of knowledge into the future conqueror of Asia. The spirit of the royal pupil corresponded with the intellectual eminence of the great teacher; and the expedition of Alexander produced a greater revolution in the knowledge of the globe, than almost any other event recorded in ancient history; and more designedly, perhaps, than is generally imagined.

CHAP. V.

GREEKS CONTINUED.

EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDER. — POLICY OF THAT CONQUEROR.ENTERS INDIA. — RESOLVES TO EXPLORE THE PERSIAN GULF.THE MARCH DOWN THE INDUS. NEARCHUS EMBARKS. SUFFERS GREAT HARDSHIPS. IMAGINES HIMSELF AT THE EQUATOR.

JAMBOLO TO TAPROBANE OR

THE GREEKS DISMAYED AT THE APPEARANCE OF A WHALE FAMISHED IN THE MIDST OF TURTLE. SUCCESSFUL TERMINATION OF THE VOYAGE. PREFARATIONS MADE TO EXPLORE THE COASTS OF ARABIA. ARRESTED BY THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER. GRAND VIEWS OF THAT PRINCE. REMARKS OF THE MACEDONIANS IN INDIA. DIVISION OF THE PEOPLE INTO CASTES. - HONEY MADE WITHOUT BEES. ELEPHANTS. USE OF UMBRELLAS.THE BANYAN TREES. -THE FAQUIRS. -→→→ SELF DEVOTION TO THE FLAMES. - CITY OF PALIBOTHRA. ITS SITUATION. INDIAN FABLES. RESPECT PAID TO MONKEYS. -THE GREEKS DISTORTED FOREIGN NAMES. -VOYAGE OF CEYLON. HIS REMARKS ON THE PEOPLE. CEYLON VARIOUSLY DESCRIBED. ACCOUNTS OF THE ANCIENTS RECONCILED. THE NAMES OF THAT ISLAND. COMMERCE BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE EAST. GEOGRAPHY FLOURISHED IN THE COMMERCIAL CITY OF ALEXANDRIA. ERATOSTHENES MENTIONS THINE.-AGATHARCHIDES.DESCRIBES ABYSSINIA. -WEALTH OF THE SABÆANS. EUDOXUS OF CYZICUS. SAILS TO INDIA. DRIVEN TO THE COAST OF AFRICA. -FINDS THE SUPPOSED WRECK OF A SHIP FROM GADES. BANISHED FROM EGYPT. RESOLVES TO REACH INDIA BY THE OCEAN. SAILS FROM GADES. HIS MISFORTUNES. REPEATS THE ATTEMPT.HIS FATE AND CHARACTER.

THE march of Alexander was not attended with the ruin and desolation which usually mark the progress of eastern conquerors: he aimed at establishing a dominion permanent as well as universal, and, consequently, sought to gain the affections of his newly-conquered subjects. The success which attended all his measures was the result of deliberate policy and calculation. The power which waits on knowledge did not escape his notice; and he led in his train men of science, whose duty it

was to make themselves acquainted with every thing worthy of notice in the subjugated countries.

The fate of Persia being decided by the flight of Darius, the conqueror conducted his army to Bactria and the country on the Oxus; in short, to the eastern extremity of the world as it was known to Grecian geographers. But he had higher objects in view than the mere glory of subduing barbarous nations: curiosity and ambition both drew his regards to India; of which Herodotus had said, "that it was undoubtedly the richest and most populous country in the world." In consequence, when he had arranged the government of Persia, he marched into Candahar by the same route which was afterwards followed by the conquering armies of Tamerlane and Nadir Shah, and which had been long trodden by the Indo-Scythians, or warlike mountain tribes of the Indian frontiers. Crossing the Indus at Taxila (the city of the Tacs), by some supposed to be the modern Attock, he shortly after entered the country of the Penj-ab, or Five Rivers, so called from the tributary waters which flow through it to the Indus. But on the banks of the first of these rivers, the Hydaspes, he found Porus, an Indian prince, prepared to dispute its passage. The true name of this chieftain, Puar or Powar, is still preserved among the noble Rajpoots: it is one of the very few noble names which have survived the revolutions to which India has been exposed. The Macedonians, however, were the victors in the engagement which ensued, and continued their march through one of the richest countries in the world; yet the Penj-ab yields in wealth and fertility to the countries situated on the banks of the Ganges. The fame of this celebrated river must have reached Alexander, and it was unquestionably his intention to embrace it within the boundaries of his empire; but when he had reached the Hyphasis, and before he had completely crossed the Penj-ab, the discontentment of his troops was so loudly declared, that he was obliged to relinquish the design of proceeding any further; and, indeed, when we remember that he entered India in the

rainy season, we can readily conceive the sufferings which checked the ardour and provoked the disobedience of the hardy Macedonians. This important error alone is sufficient to show how little acquaintance the Greeks had with India: but it is also related, that when Alexander saw crocodiles in the Indus, he conceived a notion that this river was connected with the Nile, and that its navigation downwards would conduct into Egypt. This anecdote, however, is hardly credible, though frequently repeated. Herodotus long before had expressly stated that the Indus was the only river besides the Nile in which crocodiles were found; and the general arrangement of Alexander's plans, both in Egypt and India, bespeak a share of geographical information totally irconcileable with such a blunder.

It may even be suspected that Alexander contemplated from the beginning the establishment of a commercial intercourse between Egypt and India. The care he took to examine the navigation of the Persian Gulf and of the Indus; the cities founded by him in commanding situations on the branches of this river; the well-chosen site of Alexandria, which afterwards continued for many centuries the centre of the India trade, and his boasting that his fleets should sail round Africa; all these circumstances unite to point out some plans of more than ordinary magnitude. But whatever may have been the immediate designs of the Macedonian conqueror, it is certain that we may date from his eastern expedition the first growth of that Indian trade, which afterwards enriched for many ages his successors in Egypt, and which continues to this day an object of paramount importance to European nations.

The navigation of the Indus and of the coasts westward towards Persia being resolved upon, a fleet of eight hundred vessels was collected and entrusted to the command of Næarchus. Nicæa, on the Hydaspes, about 800 miles from the sea, was the point from which the expedition departed: the army, divided into two bodies, marched on both sides of the river to protect the fleet,