statement that in the middle of the city there was a famous temple of Siva. The name of the place is derived from Koti+iswara, or the "ten million Iswaras," and refers to the small lingam stones that are found there in great numbers. Iswara is the wellknown name of Siva, and the lingam is his symbol.

M. Vivien de St. Martin has identified this capital with Karâchi; but the distance from Alor is not more than 1300 li, or 217 miles, while only the initial syllable of the name corresponds with the Chinese transcript. The country is described by Hwen Thsang as low and wet, and the soil impregnated with salt. This is an exact description of the lowlands of Kachh, which means a "morass" (Kachchha), and of the salt desert, or Ran (in Sanskrit Irina), which forms about one-half of the province. But it is quite inaccurate if applied to the dry sandy soil of Karâchi. There is also a large swamp extending for many miles, immediately to the south of Kotesar.

Districts to the West of the Indus.

To the west of the Lower Indus all the classical writers agree in placing two barbarous races called Arabi, or Arabitæ, and Oritæ, or Horita, both of whom appear to be of Indian origin. The country of the Arabii is said by Arrian to be the "last part of India" towards the west, and Strabo also calls it a "part of India,"* but both exclude the Oritæ. Curtius, however, includes the Horite in India,† while Diodorus states that generally they resemble the

* Arrian, Indica,' 22; Strabo, Geogr., xv. 2, 1.

† Curtius, Vita Alex., ix. 10, 33.

Indians; and Arrian admits that the Oritæ, who "inhabited the inland parts, were clothed in the same manner as the Indians, and used the same weapons, but their language and customs were different." In the seventh century, however, both their language and customs were considered to be like those of the Indians by a much more competent observer, the Chinese pilgrim, Hwen Thsang. According to him, the customs of the inhabitants of Lang-kie-lo, which was 2000 li, or 333 miles, to the west of Koṭesar, in Kachh, were like those of the people of Kachh, and their written characters closely resembled those of India, while their language was only slightly different.* For these reasons I think that the Oritæ, as well as the Arabitæ, may fairly be included within the geographical limits of India, although they have always been beyond its political boundary during the historical period. As early as the sixth century B.C. they were tributary to Darius Hystaspes, and they were still subject to Persia nearly twelve centuries later, when visited by Hwen Thsang. But their Indian origin is beyond all doubt, as will be shown when I come to speak of the Oritæ.

Arabii, or Arabitæ.

The Arabii of Arrian are the Arabite of Curtius, the Arbiti of Ptolemy, the Ambrite of Diodorus, and the Arbies of Strabo. They are said to have derived their name from the river Arabis, or Arbis, or Arabius, which flowed along their confines, and divided their territory from that of the Oritæ.† From a comparison of the

* M. Julien's Hiouen Thsang,' iii. 177.

Arrian, Indica,' 21; Strabo, Geogr., xv. 2. 1; Pliny, Hist. Nat., vii. 2.

X

details of Alexander's marches with the diary of Nearchus, it is certain that this boundary river was the Purâli, which flows through the present district of Las into the bay of Sonmiâni. According to Curtius,* Alexander reached the eastern boundary of the Arabitæ in nine days from Patala, and their western boundary in five days more. Now, from Haidarâbâd to Karâchi, the distance is 114 miles, and from Karachi to Sonmiâni 50 miles,† the former being usually performed by troops in nine marches, and the latter either in four or five. Karâchi, therefore, must have been on the eastern frontier of the Arabitæ, a deduction which is admitted by the common consent of all inquirers, who have agreed in identifying the Kolaka of Ptolemy and the sandy island of Krokola, where Nearchus tarried with his fleet for one day, with a small island in the Bay of Karâchi. Krokola is further described as lying off the mainland of the Arabii. It was 150 stadia, or 17 miles, from the western mouth of the Indus, which agrees exactly with the relative positions of Karâchi and the mouth of the Ghâra river, if, as we may fairly assume, the present coast-line has advanced 5 or 6 miles during the twenty-one centuries that have elapsed since the time of Alexander. The identification is confirmed by the fact that "the district in which Karâchi is situated is called Karkalla to this day."

On leaving Krokola, Nearchus had Mount Eiros (Manora) on his right-hand, and a low flat island on his left, which is a very accurate description of the

*Vita Alex., ix. 10, 33.

+ Eastwick, Handbook of Bombay,' pp. 474 and 477.

Ibid., p. 476; Burnes, Bokhara,' i. 10, writes the name Crocola.

Monz, the last point

entrance to Karâchi harbour, and after stopping at several small places, reached Morontobara, which was called the "Women's Haven " by the people of the country.* From this place he made two courses of 70 stadia and 120 stadia, or altogether not more than 22 miles, to the mouth of the river Arabius, which was the boundary between the country of the Arabii and the Oritæ. The name of Morontobara I would identify with Müári, which is now applied to the headland of Rás Muári, or Cape of the Pabb range of mountains. Bára, or bári, means a roadstead or haven, and moronta is evidently connected with the Persian mard, a man, of which the feminine is still preserved in Kashmiri, as mahrin, a woman. The haven itself may be looked for between Cape Monz and Sonmiâni, but its exact position cannot be determined. From the distances given by Arrian in his account of the voyage of Nearchus, I am inclined to fix it at the mouth of the Bahar rivulet, a small stream which falls into the sea about midway between Cape Monz and Sonmiâni. If I am right in considering Müâri as an abbreviation of Morontobâra, the cape must have received its name from the neighbouring haven. At the mouth of the Arabius Nearchus found a large and safe harbour, corresponding with the present Bay of Sonmiâni, at the mouth of the Purâli, which is described by Pottingert as "a very noble sheet of water, capable of affording anchorage to the largest fleet."

for a whole night through a desert, and in the morning entered a well-inhabited country. Then coming to a small river, he pitched his tents, and waited for the main body of the army under Hephæstion. On its arrival, says Arrian, Alexander "penetrated further into the country, and coming to a small village which served the Oritæ instead of a capital city, and was named Rambakia, he was pleased with its situation, and imagining that it would rise to be a rich and populous city, if a colony were drawn thither, he committed the care thereof to Hephæstion."* On the approach of Alexander, the Orite made their submission to the conqueror, who appointed Apollophanes their governor, and deputed Leonatus with a large force to await the arrival of Nearchus with the fleet, and to look after the peopling of the new city. Shortly after Alexander's departure, the Oritæ rose against the Greeks, and Apollophanes, the new governor, was slain, but they were signally defeated by Leonatus, and all their leaders killed.* Nearchus places the scene of this defeat at Kokala, on the coast, about halfway between the rivers Arabius and Tomerus. Pliny calls the latter river the Tonberos,† and states that the country in its neighbourhood was well cultivated.

From these details I would identify the Oritæ, or Horita, or Neoterita, as they are called by Diodorus, with the people on the Aghor river, whom the Greeks would have named Agorite, or Aorite, by the suppression of the guttural, of which a trace still remains in the initial aspirate of Horita. In the bed of this

Arrian, Anab., vi. 21, 22; and Indica,' 23; Curtius, ix. 10, 34. † Hist. Nat., vi. 25.