Geography

​After India is Ariane, which is the first part of the country under the Persians that comes after the Indus River, and of the upper satrapies that are outside of the Taurus. On its southern and northern sides, it is bounded by the same sea and the same mountains as India, and on the east by the same Indus River, having it as the middle between itself and India; and from there it extends towards the west as far as the line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Carmania, so that its shape is a four-sided figure. Now, the southern side begins at the outlets of the Indus and Patalene, and ends at Carmania and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, having a cape that projects considerably to the south; then it takes a bend into the gulf towards Persis. First live the Arbies, sharing their name with the river Arbis which borders them from the neighboring Oritae, having a coastline of about one thousand stadia, as Nearchus says; and this too is a part of India. Then the Oritae, an autonomous nation; their coastal voyage is one thousand eight hundred stadia, and that of the following Fish-Eaters is seven thousand four hundred, and that of the Carmanians is three thousand seven hundred as far as Persis; so that the total is thirteen thousand nine hundred.

​The land of the Fish-Eaters is low-lying and for the most part destitute of trees, except for date-palms, a kind of thorn, and tamarisk; and there is a scarcity of water and cultivated food. Both they themselves and their cattle use fish, and rain-water and dug-water; and even the meat of their cattle tastes of fish. They make their dwellings using the bones of whales and mostly shells of oysters, using the ribs for beams and supports, and the jaws for doorways; and their vertebrae are mortars, in which they pound their fish after baking them in the sun, and then make bread, mixing in a little grain. For they actually have mills, even though there is no iron. And this indeed is less wonderful, for it is possible to bring them from elsewhere; but how do they recut them when they are worn away? They say, indeed, with stones, with which they also sharpen their arrows and javelins which have been hardened by fire. Some of the fish they bake in ovens, but most of them they eat raw; and they clothe themselves in nets of date-palm bark.

​Above these lies Gedrosia, less hot than India but more so than the rest of Asia, and deficient in crops and water except in summer, being not much better than the land of the Fish-Eaters; but it is productive of aromatics, especially nard and myrrh, so that Alexander’s army on its march used these instead of thatch and bedding, at once being fragranced and having healthier air because of this. And it happened that their departure from India took place in summer on purpose; for at that time Gedrosia has rains and the rivers and reservoirs are filled, but in winter they fail; and the rains fall in the upper northern parts and near the mountains; and when the rivers are filled, the plains adjacent to the sea are also watered and reservoirs are abundant. And the king sent ahead into the desert miners for the reservoirs and those who would construct stations for himself and his fleet.

​For, having divided his forces into three parts, with one part he himself set out through Gedrosia, keeping for the most part five hundred stadia away from the sea, in order that he might at the same time prepare the coast to be suitable for the navy, but often also joining the sea, although it had inaccessible and rugged shores; another part he sent ahead with Craterus through the interior, while he was subduing Ariane and advancing to the same places to which Alexander directed his march; and having delivered the navy to Nearchus and Onesicritus the chief pilot, he ordered them to follow, taking suitable stations, and to sail parallel to his march.