Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

THE LIMIT OF CONQUEST 291
on the opposite bank. The situation was difficult, as the
Jhelum was in flood and unfordable, and Alexander's
horses could not be trusted to face the elephants. But
his genius shone most brightly when dealing with diffi-
culties, and after
lulling the suspicions of Porus by constant
marches and countermarches, he crossed from a
point seventeen miles above his main camp where a wooded
island screened his movements. During the operation
there was a violent storm of rain and wind, which, however,
ceased before daybreak. The troops were embarked
in boats, and after
passing
the island steered for the opposite
bank, where they were detected by the scouts of Porus
who rode off to give the alarm.
Upon landing, the Macedonians found that they were
not on the mainland after all, but on another island, and
than the
they had to ford a swift stream reaching higher
chest before they formed up on the left bank of the river.
There Alexander encountered the son of Porus with a
force of 2000 men and a detachment of chariots ; but
after a sharp skirmish the Indians were driven back
with the loss of their commander. Porus, meanwhile
leaving a few elephants and a small force to contain the
Macedonian troops who had been left in camp, formed
a line of battle with his main body in the immediate
neighbourhood of Chillianwala, where in 1849 British
troops met valiant Sikhs, many of whom were probably
the descendants of the soldiers of Porus. Trusting to
the terror inspired by his elephants, he distributed them
to the number of two hundred in front of the line, a
hundred paces apart. Behind these was a force of 30,000
infantry.
flanks.
His cavalry and chariots were posted on the
Alexander, whose troops must have been weary after
their long march in heavy rain and the passage of the
Jhelum, ordered rest to be taken while he studied the
dispositions of the enemy. Seeing the elephants covering
the whole line, he decided not to make a frontal attack,
but, taking advantage of his superiority in cavalry, to
make his main attack against the left flank of Porus.
He detached Coenus with a brigade to work round by the