Campaign against the Oritians. The season of the year was then unfit for voyaging; for the periodical winds prevailed, which at that season do not blow there from the north, as with us, but from the Great Sea, in the direction of the south wind.781 Moreover it was reported that there the sea was fit for navigation after the beginning of winter, from the setting of the Pleiades782 until the winter solstice; for at that season mild breezes usually blow from the land, drenched as it has been with great rains; and these winds are convenient on a coasting voyage both for oars and sails. 350Nearchus, who had been placed in command of the fleet, waited for the coasting season; but Alexander, starting from Patala, advanced with all his army as far as the river Arabius.783 He then took half of the shield-bearing guards and archers, the infantry regiments called foot Companions, the guard of the Companion cavalry, a squadron of each of the other cavalry regiments, and all the horse-bowmen, and turned away thence on the left towards the sea to dig wells, so that there might be abundance of them for the fleet sailing along on the coasting voyage; and at the same time to make an unexpected attack upon the Oritians,784 a tribe of the Indians in this region, which had long been independent. This............