M. Eusebe Salverte* gives the same story from the lately discovered life of Alexander by J. Vactrius,* referring to the Biblioth. Univers. Litt. tom. vii. pp. 225, 226.

It is not improbable that the rolling horses, mentioned in a Chinese account of India, were used for a similar purpose. “The Indians are timid in battle; their weapons are the bow and arrows, and shield. They have also, like the Chinese, flying, or winged ladders; and according as the ground will permit, they follow the rules of the wooden oxen and rolling horses.”*

Kazwíní, writing at the close of the thirteenth century, says, in his Chapter on the Islands of the Indian Sea, that the inhabitants of a certain island petitioned Alexander to free them of an enormous dragon, who used to require two bulls for his daily sustenance, and if he did not get them, he would take his revenge by laying waste the fields and killing men and women: “which when Alexander heard, he ordered the hides of two bulls to be brought, and stuffed them with pitch, sulphur, lime and arsenic, together with iron hooks, and then directed that they should be placed where the dragon used to come for his daily food. The dragon came, and devoured them as usual; but, as he was retiring towards his den, a flame was kindled in his belly, and the hooks adhered to his entrails, so that he died.”*

The Rauzatu-s Safá speaks of Alexander's meeting Porus with explosive machines. Western authors also connect Alexander's name with many anecdotes relating to the use of incendiary prepara­tions in warfare. These accounts, combined with those given by Oriental writers, make it difficult to believe that the ancient Indians did not possess a knowledge of some substances which had much the same power and effect as gunpowder. Philostratus says: “Had Alexander passed the Hyphasis, he never could have made himself master of the fortified habitation of these sages. Should an enemy make war on them, they drive him off by means of tempest and thunders, as if sent down from heaven. The Egyptian Hercules and Bacchus made a joint attack on them, and by means of various military engines attempted to take the place. The sages remained unconcerned spectators, until the assault was made, when it was re­pulsed by fiery whirlwinds and thunders, which, being hurled from above, dealt destruction on the invaders.*

Themistius also mentions the Bráhmans fighting at a distance, with lightnings and thunders.*

Alexander's use of incendiary compositions is a favourite topic with the early romancists. One was furnished to him by a certain Alcays, with which he fired the city of Tyre from a mangonel. No doubt this instructor is the same as the Keyd of the Sháh-náma, the Kefend of the Mujmalu-t Tawáríkh, and the Kend of Mas'údí.*

In the famous treatise of Marcus Græcus, entitled Liber ignium ad comburendos hostes, we find recipes headed,—“Ignis quem invenit Aristoteles, quando cum Alexandro rege ad obscura loca iter ageret;” and again, “Sequitur alia species ignis, quo Aristoteles domos in montibus sitas destruxit incendio.” The use of fire, however, is so obvious an auxiliary, that we are surprised it is not more often men­tioned. Thucydides speaks of it at the siege of Platæa (ii. 77). Livy mentions the use of <greek> by the Ætolians (xxxviii. 6). And Æneas, the tactician, who lived about the time of Aristotle, enjoins its use in his valuable Commentarius Poliorceticus (J. C. Orelli, Leipzig, 1818). Josephus also slightly mentions it (iii. vii. 9).* Some other early instances are adduced in Note A., Vol. V. p. 550.

In the apocryphal letter of Alexander to Aristotle, we find men­tion made of the terrific flashes of flame, which he beheld showered on his army on the burning plains of India. Dante has immortalized the tradition, which, according to Landino, he obtained from Albertus Magnus:

Quali Alessandro in quelle parti calde
D'India vide sovra lo suo stolo
Fiamme cadere infino a terra salde,
Perch' ei provvide a scalpitar lo suolo
Con le sue schiere, perciocchè'l vapore
Me' si stingueva, mentre ch' era solo;
Tale scendeva l'eternale ardore.—Inferno, xiv. 31-7.

Ctesias says that the Indians manufactured an oil on the banks of the river Indus, inclosed in earthen jars, and that on being shot out against woodworks, a flame was kindled, which could only be extin­guished by a quantity of mud, thickly laid on it; that it was manufactured solely for the king; and no one else was allowed to have it in his possession.*

Ælian, while he quotes Ctesias, at the same time improves upon this relation. He says that the oil has such strength, that it not only burns up wood, but men and animals, and, indeed, anything it touches; that the king of the Indians takes cities by its means; that no battering-ram, or other poliorcetic machine, can resist it; earthen jars are filled with it, and thrown upon city gates; the jars being fractured, the oil spreads, and is inextinguishable and insatiable, burning both arms and fighting men.*

Philostratus, speaking of the same, says, there is in the Hyphasis an insect which looks like a white worm, producing an oil, from which issues a flame of such a nature, that it can only be extinguished by mud.* This insect is the King's sole property, and is used by him in destroying the walls of besieged towns; for, the moment it touches the battlements, it is said to kindle such a flame as cannot be put out by any of the ordinary means for extinguishing fire.*

These three authors concur in representing that this oil is procured from a worm, <greek>, which must be a pretty large one, as it is seven cubits long, and of proportionate breadth. However fabulous may be the origin of this product, we cannot entertain a doubt that it was something highly inflammable and destructive. This river worm is described as having two teeth, one above and one below, and with them devouring whatever comes within its reach. During the day it burrows in the mud, but at night emerges on the land, and carries off oxen, and even camels. It is taken with a large hook, to which a goat or sheep is fastened with an iron chain. When captured, it is hung up for a month, with vessels placed underneath, into which runs as much oil as would fill ten Attic cotylæ. Professor H. H. Wilson considers that the alligator is alluded to. He is not, however, aware, that oil is extracted from the alligator; but, at the dissection of one at which he assisted, “enormous masses of yellow fat were found under the skin, which might have been converted into oil.”* But there can be no doubt about alligator—or rather, when referring to India, crocodile—oil; for almost all the native works on Materia Medica notice it, and ascribe wonderful properties to it, Even in the crocodile's products live the wonted alarms which its natural voracity inspires. Happy the man in whose frail bark its oil, or fat, burns! Him will not assail the croak of frogs, when—