Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/51

THE TRIBES OF NORTHERN INDIA 25 the plains were burnt up with fire and more fit for the haunts of wild beasts than for the habitations of men. He therefore set out in this direction, relinquish- ing the other track, so that these parts became better known than the other. The territory lying between the Hypanis and the Hydaspes is said to contain nine nations and five thousand cities, not less in size 'than Kos in Meropis (in the JEgean Sea) ; but the number seems to be exaggerated. We have already mentioned nearly all the nations deserving of notice which inhabit the coun- try situated between the Indus and the Hydaspes. Below, and next in order, are the people called Sibai and the great nations, the Malloi * and Sydrakai (Oxy- drakai). It was among the Malloi that Alexander was in danger of losing his life, from a wound he received at the capture of a small city. The Sydrakai are fabled to be allied to Dionysos (Bacchus). Near Patalene is placed the country of Mousikanos, that of Sabos, whose capital is Sindomana, that of Portikanos, and of other princes who inhabited the country on the banks of the Indus. They were all con- quered by Alexander; last of all he made himself mas- ter of Patalene, which is formed by the two branches of the Indus. Aristoboulos says that these two branches are one thousand stadia distant from each other. Near- chos adds eight hundred stadia more to this number. Onesikritos reckons each side of the included island, 1 The Malloi occupied a part of Multan ; the Oxydrakai adjoined them in the neighbourhood of Lahore.