limited supply of provisions, for four or five days at most; and
tlie want of more than sitting space for the rowers, rendered it
absolutely necessary that they should have daily opportunities
of taking refreshment on shore; and supplies even of water
were very doubtful.
But notwithstanding these serious considerations, the admiral Boldness of
did not hesitate to venture into an unknown sea, rowing from inducting1
one headland to another of a strange coast, which, in case of*® ™yase-
the requisite supplies being obtained, might or might not conduct
the fleet to its destination in the Persian Gulf.
Owing, as has been seen, to an imperfect knowledge of the
seasons, Nearchus was exposed for some weeks to the S. W.
monsoon, at a period when the coast is even now considered
impracticable. But he hauled up at one moment, and persevered
at another, till he joined Leonatus on the coast of the
Oritae. Subsequently all assistance ceased, and all communication
with the army, so much so as to induce a suspicion that,
being no longer under the eye of Alexander, the voyage had The voyage
become in some measure predatory; but, however this mayhavebeenia
have been, trusting to his own resources in digging wells and p*r tPredat0,y*
collecting provisions, the admiral conducted his fleet to Har-
mozia, a .city situated in an agreeable, and with the exception
of the olive, a fruitful country. Here there was abundance,
instead of the scanty supplies previously obtained with such
difficulty; and to his great surprise Nearchus learnt from a
Greek, who had strayed to the coast, that the king was at
Salmonte,1 at no great distance from thence. It is difficult to
account for the conduct of the admiral on this occasion, for
having ascertained from the prefect that the intelligence was
correct, instead of either going in person or immediately sending
a report to the king, Nearchus hauled up his fleet on the
banks of the Anamis or Minnow, and secured it by constructing
a double rampart with a deep ditch, which could be filled from
the river. During these defensive preparations, the prefect
proceeded to the camp of Alexander, and Nearchus was ordered
to report his voyage in person; when, after a journey of five
days on foot, he and his followers arrived with untrimmed
1 Diod. Sic., lib. X V II., cap. lviii.