ere the Greeks were delighted to see their
old friend the sea, though they were amazed at the tides, having never
seen any in their own Mediterranean. Alexander now sent an old
commander, Nearchus, to take charge of the ships along the coast, while
he himself marched along inland, to collect provisions and dig wells for
their supply; but the dreadful, bare, waterless country, covered with
rocks, is so unfit for men that his troops suffered exceedingly, and
hardly anyone has been there since his time. He shared all the
distresses of his soldiers, and once, when a little water, found with
great difficulty, was brought him as he plodded along in the scorching
heat of a noonday sun, he gave heartfelt thanks, but in the sight of all
poured out the water, not choosing to take to himself what all could not
share. In the midst the guides lost their way, and Alexander had to
steer their course for a week by his own instinct, and the sun and stars,
until after sixty days he reached a place which seems to be Bunpore, part
of the Persian empire, where his difficulties were over, and Nearchus
by-and-by joined him, after a wonderful voyage, of which he wrote an
account, which has not come down to our times, so that we only know that
no Greek believed in it. Alexander meant to try if he could sail through
this strange sea, and return to Greece by the Pillars of Hercules, as we
now know would have been quite possible.

He found, when he came back to Persia, that the governors he had left in
the cities had thought that he was sure to perish in India, and had
plundered shamefully, so that he had to punish severely both Greeks and
Persians; but then, to make the two nations friends, he held an immense
wedding feast at Susa, when eighty Greek bridegrooms married eighty
Persian brides. Alexander himself and his friend Hephaestion had the two
daughters of Darius, and the other ladies were daughters of satraps. The
wedding was thus conducted: in one great hall eighty double seats were
placed, and here the bridegrooms sat down to feast, till the brides
entered, in jewelled turbans, wide linen drawers, silken tunics, and
broad belts. Alexander rose, took his princess by the hand, and led her
to his seat, and all the rest followed his example--each led his lady to
his seat, kissed her, and placed her beside him, then cut a loaf of bread
in two, poured out wine, and ate and drank with her.

[Picture: Supposed Walls of Babylon--From