Good Hope.”  When we reflect on the character and state of the Macedonians, prior to the reign of Alexander, and the condition into which they sunk after his death, we shall, perhaps, not hesitate to acknowledge that Alexander infused his own soul into them; and that history, ancient or modern, does not exhibit any similiar instance of such powerful individual influence on the character and fate of a nation.  Alexander himself has always been honoured by conquerors, and is known to mankind only, as the first of conquerors; but if military renown and achievements had not, unfortunately for mankind, been more prized than they deserved, and, on this account, the records of them been carefully preserved, while the records of peaceful transactions were neglected and lost, we should probably have received the full details of all that Alexander did for geographical science and commerce; and in that case his character would have been as highly prized by the philosopher and the friend of humanity, civilization, and knowledge, as it is by the powerful and ambitious.

Fortunately the details of one of the geographical and commercial expeditions undertaken by order of Alexander are still extant; we allude to the voyage of Nearchus.  Of this voyage we are now to speak; and as it is curious and important, not merely on account of the geographical knowledge it conveys, but also from the insight it gives us into the commercial transactions of the countries which he visited, we shall give rather a full abstract of it, availing ourselves of the light which has been thrown upon it by the learned and judicious researches of Dr. Vincent.

It was on the banks of the Hyphasis, the modern Beyah, that Alexander’s army mutinied, and refused to proceed any farther eastward.  In consequence of this insurmountable obstacle to his plans, he resolved to return to the Hydaspes, and carry into execution his design of sailing down it into the Indus, and thence by the ocean to the Persian Gulf.  He had previously given orders to his officers, when he had left the Hydaspes to collect, build, and equip a sufficient number of vessels for this enterprise; and they had been so diligent and successful, that on his return he found a numerous fleet assembled.  Nearchus was appointed to command the fleet:  but Alexander himself resolved to accompany it to the mouth of the river.

On the 23d of October, 327 years before Christ, the fleet sailed from Nicoea, on the Hydaspes, a city built by Alexander on the scite of the battle in which he defeated Porus.  The importance which he attached to this expedition, as well as his anxiety respecting its skilful conduct and final issue, are strongly painted by Arrian, to whom we are indebted for the journal of Nearchus.  Alexander at first did not know whom to trust with the management of the expedition, or who would undertake it. when the length of the voyage, the difficulties and dangers of a barren and unknown coast, the want of harbours, and the obstacles