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

SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMY. 625more sterile ; brooks dried up in the sand ; the heat becameintolerable ; vegetation ceased. Not a path of any kindexisted; and the marches had to be made at night. Themen were scantily provided with rations, and these werefinally exhausted. Supplies, so far as they could be got, oras long as they lasted, were in part taken to the coast forthe fleet ; wells were dug for it, and signals erected to catchNearchus' attention when he should sail by. One of theseconvoys of food to the coast, even under Alexander's ownseal, was broken open by the famished soldiery in disobedienceof orders, little regarding what manner of death theydied. With the utmost difficulty were any fresh suppliesprocured, and these were carefully husbanded and left alongthe coast under safe charge of the most trustworthy men.The army, aftera few days' march, left the coast, and struckinland. Water was often sixty and eighty miles apart.The sand was like the waves of the sea for tracklessness.Discipline broke up. The men killed the cattle used asbeasts of burden and even mules and horses, and ate theirflesh, saying that they had died of thirst and heat. The veryanimals which drew the wagons on which lay the woundedmen were killed for food, and the wounded left behind. Alltliis Alexander was fain to overlook. Worse than the thirstwas the terror of reaching water, followed by the agonizingdeath of those who too freely drank of it.The advance of the army was headed towards Paura, thecapital of Gedrosia, which was reached in sixty days fromOra.All accounts agree that the hardships of the campaignsthey had undergone were as nothing compared to the sufferingsof the march across this desert. The exact amount ofloss is not known ; it must have been very great. It is saidthat but a quarter of those who started from Ora reachedPaura ; and these in rags and without weapons. The beasts