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Rh had defeated the natives with terrible slaughter. The Oreitai are said to have lost six thousand men and all their leaders out of a total force of eight thousand foot and three hundred horse. The Macedonian loss, although numerically small, was noteworthy because it included the colleague of Leonnatos, Apollophanes, who had recently been appointed satrap of the country. Communications between Leonnatos and Nearchos having been established, the fleet was repaired and victualled, and sailors who had proved inefficient at sea were drafted into the army, their places being taken by men selected from the troops under the command of Leonnatos.

Continuing their voyage westward, the ships passed along the coast near the mouth of the river Tomeros, which was inhabited by a race of savages, ignorant of the use of iron, and armed only with wooden spears charred at the point to harden them. These wild men were covered with shaggy hair all over the body, and had clawlike nails strong enough to rip up fish and to split the softer kinds of wood. Their clothing was made of the skins of wild beasts or those of the larger fishes. After a skirmish with the savages, the fleet delayed for five days to effect repairs, and on the sixth day reached the rocky headland named Malana (now Ras Malin), the eastern boundary of the Oreitai, a people who were not savages, but were dressed and armed like the inhabitants of India, although differing from them in language and customs.

When the Malana cape had been passed, the inland