Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume XLIX, No. 2527 [‎691r] (7/36)

April 26, 1 ? 01 .]
419
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
Not that the changes which have occurred on
the coast line between Karachi and Persia are
at all comparable to the remarkable transfor
mation which has overtaken the Indus delta,
but there are nevertheless many marked
changes, especially on that part of the coast
which is most subject to monsoon influences.
Islands have disappeared wholesale in some
parts ; they are in the process of disappearing
in others; here the coast has gained on the
sea, whilst there the sea has appreciably
deepened its soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water. and lapped up the
shore. On the whole, in spite of submerged
islands, the land has gained on the sea. Apart
from the Indus delta, which has consolidated
and pushed out seaward to an extent which I
believe to be greater than General Haig esti
mates, there has been immense land growth
north of Karachi. At Karachi itself the port
engineers wall tell you of the difficulty that
exists in keeping the harbour open; were
artificial means of deepening the bar to be
abandoned, four or five years of unchecked
silling would destroy Karachi as an open
port. Even now it is possible at low tide to
walk out to the well-known Oyster rocks, once
outside the harbour, and the recent lengthening
of the pier opposite Clifton is quite practical
testimony enough to the rapidity of shore
growth at that point of the coast. I have
reason to think that immediately north of
Karachi the sea extended at no distant date
far up the bed of the Liari stream. Following
the coast westwards to Cape Monze there is
probably little change in the last 2,000 years
till we round that cape. Thence it is impossible
to say what may have happened as far as the
coast indentation at Bidok Lak. At any rate
from Bidok Lak northwards there is a wide
tract of very recent shore formation along
which the road to Bela runs. But clearly no
such road existed as late as the 10 th century
A.D. Sonmiani marks a sort of cul-de-sac
for all monsoon currents. All about Sonmiani
vast deposits of sand have accumulated which
gradually, under the action of the south-west
wind, have assumed the form of dunes, and have
consolidated themselves along the coast (with
the assistance of a scanty saline vegetation)
into a natural bund or protection seawards.
Only within the last few years the fishing town
of Sonmiani has retired altogether from the
coast. It is now impossible to approach that
place except on the top of an exceptionally
high tide. It is true that this is not due en
tirely to monsoon deposits of sand. Some ten
years ago very heavy floods turned the local
river, the Vindar, into a raging mud torrent,
and at once there were mud deposits enough
spread out in front of Sonmiani to reduce
navigation to a matter of approach in shallow
“dugouts.” Twelve miles north of Sonmiani
is a large depression (slightly under sea level)
known as “Sirondha,” w r hich is usually a fresh
water lake, but is occasionally quite dry. I his
was at no very distant date a commodious
harbour, or arm of the sea, which has ex
tended north in historic times at least as far as
Liari and possibly further. South-west of Liari
some of the land formation is probably very
ancient as we shall see. Westwards along
the Makran coast there are many indica
tions of local changes, some of which will
be noticed as we follow the course of
Nearkhos in his Indus built ships. Enough
has been said to justify some deviation from the
track followed hitherto by Oriental scholars in
tracing out the route of this memorable retreat.
About the beginning of September 326 B.C.
Alexander left Patala with a.' part of his army
to push his way through the country of the
Arabii and the Oritae to Gadrosia (or Makran)
and Persia. The Arabii occupied the country
between Karachi and the Purali—or river of
Lus Bela—and the Oritse and Gadrosii appa
rently combined with other tribes to hold the
country that lay beyond the Purali—or Arabius.
He had previously done all that a good general
can do to ensure the success of his movements
by personally reconnoitring all the approaches
to the sea by the various branches of the
Indus; by pacifying the people and con
solidating his sovereignty at Patala so as to
leave a strong position behind him entirely
subject to Greek authority; and by dividing
his force so as to utilise the various arms with
the best possible effect. This force was com
prised in three divisions, one under Kiateros
included the heavy transport and invalids, and
this was despatched to Persia by a route
which was evidently as well known in that day
as it is at present. It is never contended by
any historian that Alexander did not know his
way out of India. On the contrary, Arrian
distinctly insinuates that it was the perversity
of pride, the “ ambition to be doing something
new and astonishing” which “prevailed over
all his scruples ” and decided him to send his
crank Indus built galleys to the Euphrates by
sea, and himself to prove that such an army
led by “ such a general ” could force a passage
through the Makran wilderness where the only
previous records were those of disaster. He
had heard that Cyrus and Semiramis had