Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume XLIX, No. 2527 [‎691v] (8/36)

423
JOURNAL OR THE SOCIETV OR ARTS.
[April 26 , 1901 .
failed, and that decided him to make the
attempt.
We can follow Krateros no further than to
point out that his route was probably by the
Mulla (and not the Bolan) pass to Kalat and
Quetta. Thence he must have taken the
Kandahar route to the Helmund, and following-
that river down to the fertile and well-populated
plains of lower Sistan (or Drangia) he crossed
the Kirman desert by a well known modern
caravan route, and joined Alexander at or
near Kirman ; for Alexander was “ on his way
to Karmania ” at the time that Krateros
joined him and not at Pura (the capital of the
Gadrossii) as suggested by St. John. One
interesting little relic of this march was dug up
by Captain Mackenzie, R.E., during the con
struction of the fort on the Miri at Quetta. A
small bronze figure of Hercules was brought to
light, and it now rests in the Asiatic Society’s
museum at Calcutta, in testimony of the fact
that some part of the heavy baggage was
abandoned en route.
Alexander, as we have said, left Patala about
the beginning of September. But where was
Patala ? This problem I leave to General Haig,
and to Sir H. E. M. James, the late Commis
sioner of Sind, to decide. Probably it was neither
Hyderabad (as suggested by General Cunning
ham) nor I atta, as upheld by other authorities,
but about thirty miles S.E. of the former and
sixty miles E.N.E. of the latter, in which
locality indeed there are ruins enough to satisfy
any theory. From Patala we are told by
Arrian that he marched with a sufficient force
to the Arabius; and that is all. But from
Quintus Curtius we learn that it was nine
marches to Krokala (a point easier of identifi
cation than most from the preservation of the
name which survived through mediaeval ages
in the Karak—-the much-dreaded pirate of the
coast—and can now be recognised in Karachi)
and five marches thence to the Arabius. He
started in cool moonsoon weather. His route,
after leaving Krokala, is determined by the
natural features of the country as then existing.
There was, as I have already stated, no shore
route in these days. Alexander followed the
subsequent mediaeval route which connected
Makran with Sind in the days of Arab ascend
ancy, a route that has been used as a highway
into India for nearly eight centuries. It is not
the route which now connects Karachi and
Lus Bela, but as it belongs to a later medieval
phase of history I will say no more about it
than Arrian says. I have already pointed out
that the sea extended at least to Liari, in the
basin of the Purali or Arabius, and we are,
therefore, obliged to locate the position of his
crossing that river as being not far south of
Bela; where in Alexander’s time it was
“ neither wide nor deep,” and in these days is
almost entirely absorbed in irrigation. This
does not, I admit, altogether tally with the
five marches of Quintus Curtius. It would
amount to over a hundred miles of marching,
some of which would be heavy, though not
very much of it; but the discrepancy is not
a serious one. The Arabius may have been
far to the east of its present channel—indeed,
there are old channels which indicate that
it was so, and it does not follow that the
river was crossed at the point at which it
was struck. The reason for placing this cross
ing so far north is that room is required for
subsequent operations. After crossing we are
told that Alexander “ turned to his left towards
the sea ” (from which he was evidently distant
some space) and with a picked force he made
a sudden descent on the Oritae. He marched
one night only through desert country and in
the morning came to a well-inhabited district.
Pushing on with cavalry only he defeated the
Oritae, and then later joining hands with the
rest of his forces he penetrated to their capital
city. For these operations he must necessarily
have been hedged in between the Purali and
Hala range, which he clearly had not crossed
as yet. Now we are expressly told by Arrian
that the capital city o£ the Oritae was but a
village that did duty for the capital, and that
the name of it was Rambakia. The care of
it was committed to Hephaestion, that he
might colonise it after the fashion of the
Greeks. But we find that Hephaestion cer
tainly did not stay long there and could only
have left the native village as he found it, with
no very extensive improvements. It would be
most interesting to decide the position of
Rambakia. \\ hat we want to find is an
ancient site, somewhere approaching the sea
coast, say thirty or forty miles from the crossing
of the Purali, in a district that might once
have been cultivated and populous. We have
found two such sites—one now called Khair
Kot to the north-west of Liari commanding the
Hala pass, and another called Kotawari south
west of Liari, and very near the sea. The
latter has but recently been uncovered from
the sand, but an existing mud wall, and its
position on the coast indicate that it is not old
enough for our purpose. The other, Khair Kot,
is an undoubted relic of mediaeval Arab
supremacy. It is the Kambali of Edrisi on