Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

CASPIAN CAMPAIGN. 429the Greek troops as a nucleus, were too inflammable a matterto be passed by.North ofhim lay the Caspian range, which divides Parthiafrom Ilyrcania. On the south slope of the range dwelt theTarpurians. The range was cut by comparatively few, butlong and difficult, notches, and stood as a huge outpost to theCaspian Sea, with peaks offrom twelve to twenty thousandfeet above the level of the ocean. On the Caspian side, themultitude of mountain streams and the narrow stretch ofland, often less than twenty miles in width, made the countryall but one huge marsh.The forests were thick and easilydefended ; the vegetation was rank ; it was parched in summer,overflowed in winter ; the climate was that of the PontineMarshes. In places, there were rich plains dotted withvillages.But the roads were deep in mud, and a recent travelerfound, in a journey of three hundred miles, no less thantwenty rivers so large as to be rarely fordable. The Macedonianswere remarkable soldiers.They passed from desertsands to mountain snows with equal unconcern, and theirwork on either was equally well done.Still more remarkablethe leader, whose irrepressibleenergy and broad intelligencehad made them what they were !Leaving Bessus for further operations, — as of necessityhe must, — Alexander advanced through the range in threecolumns, whose rendezvous was to be at Zadracarta, the capitalof Hyrcania. He himself undertook the most difficiilttask along the route farthest to the west, with the largest columnand the lightest troops. Craterus took a route fartherto the east of him, and had his o^vn and Amyntas' taxes,some six hundred archers and an equal force of cavalry. Hewas to attack the Tarpurians. Erigyius took the easier publicthoroughfare to Zadracarta, with the Greek mercenariesand the rest of the cavalry, the baggage and the vast trainof camp followers.