Thus prepared, the expedition started from Nicæa on the 1st October, B.C. 326. The voyage down the river is described rather as a triumphal procession than a military progress. The size of many of the transport vessels, and of the barges for the conveyance of horses, the splendour of the equipments, the clang of arms, and the sound of musical instruments, attracted the natives in vast numbers to the banks of the river, as wondering spectators to the pomp. Nor, probably, were they less surprised at the measured chant of the rowers, and the dashing of the oars in the still waters: subjects on which all the historians of this remarkable expedition have dwelt in detail, doubtless thereby conveying an accurate account of this remarkable exploit. But though there can be no doubt of the general truth of the story as handed down to us by Arrian, the descriptions of the vessels which composed it are, in some respects, inconsistent with each other. The transports were probably short flat vessels, to which the ordinary small barge of the present day bears, perhaps, a greater resemblance than any other craft. The galleys are said to have been long and sharp, some of them having two banks of oars; others were “half-decked vessels;”[263] while some of them had keels so deep, that they could not be beached without risk of their destruction. “As the tide fell,” remarks Dr. Vincent,[264] “the vessels were left on ground; but upon the return of the flood those only that had settled upright in the mud or ooze, escaped unhurt, while all that lay inclined upon the harder ground, were exposed to the most imminent danger, and several were lost.” As any vessel, however, that is of sufficient stability to float upright, would, when the tide returned, rise to it, it is very probable that the cause of these occasional accidents was leakage, through straining or from carelessness in beaching them on uneven ground. The greater part, however, of the craft consisted, no doubt, of open boats and barges, and especially that portion of it which had been built on the upper branches of the Indus, and then transported overland to the Hydaspes. [Sidenote: Progress of the fleet.]