The ships, of
course, first sailed to the mouth of the Indus, and during their passage
the country on each side was explored. The directions given to Scylax were,
after he entered the ocean, to steer to the westward, and thus return to
Persia. Accordingly, he is said to have coasted from the mouth of the Indus
to the Straits of Babelmandel, where he entered the Red Sea; and on the
30th month from his first embarking he landed at Egypt, at the same place
from which Necho, king of that country, had despatched the Phoenicians to
circumnavigate Africa. From Egypt, Scylax returned to Susa, where he gave
Darius a full account of his expedition.
The reality of this voyage, or at least the accuracy of some of the
particulars it records, has been doubted. Scylax describes the course of
the Indus to the east; whereas it runs to the south-west. It is also worthy
of remark, that as Darius, before the voyage of Scylax, was master of the
Attock, Peukeli, and Multan, he needed no information respecting the route
to India, as every conqueror has followed this very obvious and easy route.
Dr. Vincent also objects to the authority of this voyage, or rather to the
track assigned to it: "I cannot believe," he observes, "from the state of
navigation in that age, that Scylax could perform a voyage round India,
from which the bravest of Alexander's navigators shrunk, or that men who
had explored the desert coast of Gadrosia, should be less daring than an
experienced native of Caryandria.
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