Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/56

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IIISTOKV OV INDIA.

[HfiOK I.

B.C. 1300?

Kxpoilitinii of Suiiiir-

Great jire- paratious.

EiicOTinter with Stau- robates.

staiuling the minuteness with vvhichthe 'letails are given. Tl»e leafier of this expedition wivs the famoas Assyrian queen Seniirarnls Having learned that India was the greatest and riche.st country in the world, and wa.s ruled }>y a ])owerful iiiMiiJnch (railed Stauroljates, who had innumerable hosts of wjldiers, and a great number of elephants trained to war, and m equipped as tfj insjtire terror, slie determined to give herself no re.st till she had made proof of her j)roweas against him. She accordingly commenced preparations, and canied them on uj)on so immense a scale, that though myriads of artificers were employefl, three years were spent in completing them. All the country west of the Indus Avas already subject to her power, but in order to cross that mighty river, an immense number of ships was necessaiy. In order to provide them, she Ijrought sliip -builders from Phoenicia, Syiia, and Cypms. As the banks of the ln<las fiu-nislied no timber, she was obliged to procure it in the adjacent territory of Bactria, the modem Bokhara. Here she establislied her building yards, and fitted out her ships in such a manner that she could afterwards transport them piece-meal on the backs of camels, and launch them when they were required. In the number of her troops, which Diodorus, quoting Ctesias as his authority, states at the fabulous number of 3,000,000 infantry, 500,000 cavalry, and 100,000 war-chariots, each provided with a charioteer and carrpng a soldier armed with a sword 6 feet long, she considered herself more than a match for Staiu'obates; but she feared his elephants, and as this was a kind of force in which she had no means of coping with him, she had recoiu-se to a singular stratao;eni. HaAdnof collected 300,000 black cattle, and slaufjhtered them to feed the countless workmen employed in her vast arsenal in Bactria, she caused skins to be sewe<:l together in such a manner that each, when a camel was placed inside with a man to guide it, bore such a resemblance to an elephant as to be readily mistaken for it. By this deAnce she hoped that the Indians would be ten'or-struck on seeing themselves opposed .to a species of force which they had imagined to be exclusively their own. Meanwhile Stanrobates, on his part, had not been idle. Besides a land force scarcely less nmnerous than that of Semiramis, and headed by a formidable array of elephants, his fleet, composed of 4000 vessels constructed out of reeds or bamboos, covered the river. Here the fii'st encoimter took place, and a great naval battle was fought. Victory was long undecided, but at length, o'ing mainly to the superior naval skill of the Phoenician and C'priot sailors, declared in favour of the warlike queen. Staurobates, with the loss of a large portion of his fleet, and an immense carnasfe of his soldiers, was obliged to withdraw and leave the passage of the river free. The queen immediately caused a bridge of boats to be constructed, and crossing with her whole army, hastened fonvard, with the hope of soon completing the conquest which she had so successfully begun. Staurobates, however, had no idea of submission, and stood prepared for her approach. At first, in the general engagement which ensued, the Indians