1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
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8 ofien applied to txio? Gharra. The city which
9 Alexander found defended, not only by a wall, hut
10 by a marsh, would indicate Lahore. There are
11 however no means of arriving at the fact, for the
12 historian confines himself to the names of the
13 rivers, and the reigning princes of the Punjab, in
14 describing the progress of the Macedonian. In
15 <;he height of the rains, the ground between Lahore
16 and the Ravee, or Hydraotes, is a complete swamp;
17 and in the time of Aurungzebe, the river itself en
18 croached so far on the city, as to require a bulwark
19 for the protection of the latter. It is not likely
20 that Alexander, bent a.s he was on further eon-
21 quests, would have taken the circuitous route by
22 the Beas and Sutlej, when he could reach the
23 Ghartfa in two or three days, as it then no doubt
24 occupied its bed near the city of Kussoor. The
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26 latter city may therefore have been that of Piie--
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29 The country between the Hydaspes and Hy-
30 draotes, is described by Quintus Curtins as a
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32 jungly tract inhabited by wild beasts. The banian.
33 or bur tree, is delineated with great fidelity by the
34 historian. “ Plcrique rami ivstar ingenlium stipi-
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36 turn jiexi in fmmum, rursm qua se cuireveraut,
37 erigebantur adeo, ut species esset non rami resurgen .
38 tis, sed arboris ex sua radice generate” The
39 poisonous qualities of the snakes are also alluded
40 to; their bite was immediately followed by death,
41 unless a remedy was applied by the natives.
42 That the people of the Punjab were well ac-
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