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

622 SEMIRAMIS AND CYRUS.lophanes, satrap of Gedrosia, had been promptly got together.The latter had been especially ordered to station beeves andcorn along the route. Alexander expected to be met on theway by caravans of victuals. There were none ; and he mustbe blamed for starting on his dangerous route without a certaintyof provision. He was so entirely in the habit of beingPERSIAN .CULFDesert of Gedrosia.obeyed that he was wont to consider as already accomplishedwhatever he ordered to be done. But this does not excuse inany degree the carelessness of the present occasion. This isthe only instance in all Alexander's campaigns when he failedto have a care to his rations.The satrap of Carmania appearsnot to have been held to blame, for Alexander afterwardsadded to his dignities. Perhaps he had received his orderstoo late.It was a matter of tradition that Semiramis returned fromher conquest of India through this desert, and that of thehundreds of thousands of which her army consisted, buttwenty individuals came back with her to Babylon. Cyrustoo, though incorrectly, was reputed to have crossed thisdesert with like sad results. Even the fanatic Islam consideredGedrosia as a boundary placed there by God, and refusedto cross it. It was indeed a terrible land. Along the