HINDU PERIOD
bering, according to Arrian,[1] about 800 vessels, according to Curtius and Diodorus about 1,000 vessels, but according to the "more reliable estimate of Ptolemy" nearly 2,000 vessels, which between them accommodated 8,000 troops, several thousand horses, and vast quantities of supplies. It was indeed an extraordinarily huge fleet, built entirely of Indian wood by the hands of Indian craftsmen. In this connection the remarks made by the two great authorities on the history of ancient Oriental commerce, namely Dr. Vincent and Dr. Robertson, are of considerable interest. Says Dr. Vincent:—
The Ayeen Akbari reckons the Panje-ab as the third province of the Mogul Empire, and mentions 40,000 vessels employed in the commerce of the Indus, It was this commerce that furnished Alexander with the means of seizing, building, hiring, or purchasing the fleet with which he fell down the stream; and when we reflect that his army consisted of 124,000 men, with the whole country at his command, and that a considerable portion of these had been left at the Hydaspes during the interval that the main body advanced to the Hyphasis and returned to the Hydaspes again, we shall have no reason to accuse Arrian of exaggeration when he asserts that the fleet consisted of 800 vessels of which 30 only were ships of war and the rest such as were usually employed in the navigation of the river. . . . Strabo mentions the proximity of Emodus, which afforded plenty of fir, pine, cedar, and other timber; and Arrian informs us that Alexander in the country of the Assaconi, and before he reached the Indus, had already built vessels which he sent down the Koppenes to Taxila. All these circumstances contribute to prove the reality of a fact highly controverted; and even though we were to extend the whole number of the fleet, comprehending tenders and boats, with some authors to 2,000, there is no improbability sufficient to excite astonishment.[2]
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