Life of Bruce, the African traveller

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Mrs. R«G, Dalton

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JAMES

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LIFE OF BRUCE,

AFRICAN TRAVELLER.

BY

MAJOR SIR F. B. HEAD.

Magna est veritas, et pr*valebit!

THE THIRD EDITION.

*•*

*>

LONDON: \
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

AND SOLD BY

THOMAS TEGG & SON, CHEAPSIDE.

MDCCCXXXVIII.

LONDON :
HADBURV AND BVANS, PRINTERS,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Page

Bruce's Birth — Education — Marriage — Travels in Europe . 1

CHAPTER II.

Bruce's Residence at Algiers as British Consul . . 23

CHAPTER III.

Bruce travels through the Kingdoms of Tunis and Tripoli —
Is wrecked — Beaten hy the Arabs — Sails to Crete, Rhodes,
Asia Minci-, and Syria — Visits Palmyra and Baalbec — Is
detained at Cyprus — Sails for Egypt . . .43

CHAPTER IV.

Bruce arrives at Cairo — Has very singular Interviews with
the Bey — Sails up the Nile — Gains a promise of Protec-
tion from the Arabs Ababde — Visits the Sepulchres of
Thebes — Reaches the Cataract of Syene — Descends the Nile
to Keffe . . . . . .6*

CHAPTER V.

Bruce crosses the Desert to the Red Sea — Meets with the
Arabs Ababde at Cosseir — His Adventures in the Red Sea
— Arrives at Masuah, the ancient Harbour of Abyssinia . 8$

VI

CHAPTER VI.

Page

Sketch of the Continent of Africa 120

CHAPTER VII.

A short Description of Abyssinia . . . 122

CHAPTER VIII.

A Sketch of the History of the Kingdom of Abyssinia . 139

CHAPTER IX.

Bruce's Arrival and dangerous Detention at Masuah . 173

CHAPTER X.

Journey from Arkeeko, over the Mountain of Tarenta, to
Gondar, the Capital of Abyssinia

CHAPTER XI.

Bruce resides at Gondar, and gradually raises himself to
Distinction . .... 245

CHAPTER XII.

Bruce accompanies the King's Army, and returns with it to
Gondar . . . . . .273

CHAPTER XIII.

Bruce again attempts to reach the Fountains of the Nile, and
succeeds 293

CHAPTER XIV.

Page

Bruce returns to Gondar — His Residence there — Accom-
panies the King in the Battles of Serbraxos — Revolution
at Gondar — Defeat and Overthrow of Ras Michael —
Bruce returns to Gondar — And succeeds in obtaining
Permission to leave Abyssinia . . . .341

CHAPTER XV.

Bruce leaves Gondar, and travels to Sennaar, the ©apital of
Nubia . . 374

CHAPTER XVI.

Bruce leaves Sennaar — Crosses the Great Desert of Nubia —
His Distress — Reaches Svene on the Nile . 408

CHAPTER XVII.

Kind Reception at Assouan — Arrival at Cairo — Transactions
with the Bey there — Lands at Marseilles . .441

CHAPTER XVIII.

Bruce returns to Europe — Visits Paris, Italy — Returns to
England — Quarrels with the Garret "Writers of the Day
— Retires to Scotland — Marries — At last Publishes his
Travels — The Incredulity of the Credulous— Bruce's
Disappointment — Sorrow — Death . . . 453

TO THE BINDER.

PORTRAIT of BRUCE, for Frontispiece.

The small Map to face page 39.

The large Map to be placed at the end of the Volume.

LIFE OF BRUCE,

THE AFRICAN TRAVELLER.

CHAPTER I.

Brace's birth — Education — Marriage — Travels in Europe.

JAMES BRUCE was born at the family residence of
Kinnaird, in the county of Stirling, in Scotland, on
the 14th day of December, 1730. His father was
the eldest son of Helen Bruce of Kinnaird*, and
David Hay of "Woodcockdale, descended from an old
and respectable branch of the Hays of Erroll, who,
distinguished in ancient Scottish history by their
bravery, received from Robert I. the hereditary
office of high constable of Scotland. Brace's mother
was the daughter of James Graham, Esq., of Airth,
dean of the faculty of advocates, and judge of the
high court of admiralty in Scotland — a man distin-
guished by his abilities, and respected for his public
and private virtues.

On the 23rd of November, 1733, Brace lost his
mother. She died of a lingering disorder, which
had long undermined her constitution ; and, scarcely
three years old, he thus unconsciously suffered the
greatest misfortune that can befall a child, and

* The Bruces of Kinnaird trace their pedigree to that Norman
house which once occupied the throne of Scotland.
B

IS LIFE OF BRUCE.

which nothing in this world can compensate. A
few years afterwards, his father married the daughter
of James Glen, of Longcroft, in the shire of Lin-
lithgow, by whom he had two daughters and six
sons, one of whom, while fighting as a volunteer in
the forlorn hope, was mortally wounded in the breach
of a fortress at the Havannah ; another, in the ser-
vice of the East-India Company, proposed the attack,
and led on the party which, 011 the 3rd of August,
1780, took from the Mahrattas the fortress of Gualior.

Though well-formed, Bruce did not, as a child,
appear to possess that athletic constitution and
unusual stature which he attained in manhood. The
relentless disorder which had hurried his mother to
an early grave, seemed to have recoiled upon him :
he was subject to frequent pains in the breast ; and
his temper, contrary to the impetuous and daring
character which it afterwards assumed, was mild,
quiet, and gentle. At eight years of age, his father,
resolving to give to his apparent heir the advantages
of a liberal education, sent him to London to the
friendly care of his uncle, Counsellor Hamilton,
under whose superintendence he remained until the
year 1742, when, being twelve years old, he was
removed to Harrow school, which was then con-
ducted by Dr. Cox. Young Bruce prosecuted his
studies with unusual steadiness and assiduity ; and,
on the 14th of July, 1744, Dr. Glen wrote to
Bruce's father, his brother-in-law, as follows : —

" "What I wrote to you about James is all true,
with this difference only, that you may say, as the
Queen of Sheba said of Solomon, the one-half has
not been told you, for I never saw so fine a lad of
his years in my life ; but, lest I should have been
deceived in my own opinion of him, I waited pur-
posely on Dr. Cox to get information how he was

HIS EDUCATION. 3

profiting, whose answer to me on that occasion was
this — ' When you write to Mr. Brace's father about
his son, you cannot say too much ; for he is as
promising a young man as ever I had under my care,
and, for his years, I never saw his fellow/ "

Bruce remained at Harrow till the 8th of May,
1746 ; and, in the four years he was at school, ho
not only acquired a competent share of classical
knowledge, but won the esteem of many individuals,
whose valuable friendship he retained through life.
He was now nearly sixteen years of age ; but his
health, which had always been delicate, was by no
means confirmed. He was much too tall for his
age ; his breast was weak ; his general appearance
indicated that he had grown faster than his strength ;
and his relations were alarmed lest he should become
consumptive : however, it was now necessary to con-
sider what profession he was to follow, and Mr.
Hamilton was accordingly requested by the elder
Brace to speak to him upon this important subject.
Mr. Hamilton was much pleased with young Brace's
replies ; and on the 28th of June, 1746, he addressed
his father as follows : — " He is a mighty good youth,
a very good scholar, and extremely good tempered
— has good solid sense, and a good understanding.
I have talked to him about what profession he would
most incline to : he very modestly says, he will
apply himself to whatever profession you shall direct,
but he, in his own inclination, would study divinity,
and be a parson. The study of the law, and also
tli at of divinity, are, indeed, both of them attended
with uncertainty of success; but as he inclines to
the profession of a clergyman, for which he has a
well-fitted gravity, I must leave it to you to give
your own directions; though I think/ in general,
it is most advisable to comply with a young man's
B 2

LIFE OF BRUCE.

inclination— especially as the profession which he
proposes is in every respect fit for a gentleman."

This curious picture of young Bruce's early
character, may appear extraordinary when compared
with the performances of his after life, yet a few
moments' reflection traces the resemblance. Many
men possess talents — many possess application— the
very few who possess both, become, what we justly
term, great men : there is, however, one other in-
gredient, namely, health, which, in proportion to its
quantity, induces men to seek occupations more or
less active or sedentary ; and it may be observed,
that this ingredient, like the down upon which many
vegetable seeds fly spontaneously to a distant soil,
transports men to the remotest regions — thus scat-
tering over the surface of the earth, talents and
application which, without a superabundance of
health, would have been all at home, directed very
nearly to the same studies : and hence it was that
Bruce, when a sickly lad, as much surprised his
friends by his grave, sedentary disposition, as he
afterwards astonished them by his wild wandering
propensities, and daring researches.

After leaving Harrow, Bruce went, for about a
year, to an academy, where, besides classics, he
studied French, arithmetic, and geometry. In com-
pliance with his father's wishes, he cheerfully aban-
doned his inclination to enter the church, and agreed
to prosecute his future studies with a view to become
an advocate at the Scottish bar. He accordingly
took leave of his English friends — one of whom,
Mr. Hamilton, wrote to Mr. D. Bruce in the fol-
lowing terms : — " As to my giving him advice with
respect to his conduct and behaviour on his journey,
I apprehend that to be entirely unnecessary, because
it is with pleasure I think that God Almighty has

STUDIES TIIE SCOTTISH LAW. 5

given him an understanding superior to what is
common at his age, and sufficient, I hope, to conduct
him through all the various stages of life."

"With this well-earned character young Bruce
returned to his native country, in the month of May,
1747. He arrived in better health than his father
had heen led to expect, and spent the whole of the
autumn in the enjoyment of the sports of the field,
for which he suddenly imbibed an4 affection that he
retained to the last hour of his life. Considerably
strengthened by this manly and healthy recreation,
at the end of the year he commenced his studies
at the university of Edinburgh, by attending the
lectures of the professors of civil law, Scotch law,
and universal history ; but he now found how much
easier it is for a young man to promise than to
perform, and how painfully the mind proceeds on
the journey which it has not willingly undertaken.
The deep, important details of the Roman and
Scottish codes were subjects for which Bruce' s eager
mind had no affinity — they were grave companions
with whom he soon felt that he could never associate.
In vain he studied distinctions which he did not
remember, and puzzled himself with points, of which
he could not comprehend the importance. An ardent
admirer of tmth and simplicity, he very rashly con-
ceived tliat in the studies which his father had
proposed for him he could worship neither the one
nor the other ; but while, in filial obedience, he hung
his bewildered head over his law-books, his youthful
heart was apparently devoted to lovelier and more
congenial objects, for on the leaves of " Element a
Juris Civilis Heineccii," on which stands the name
of " James Bruce, 1749," we find written in the
middle of some very grave maxims, " Bella ingrata,
io moriro!" with other equally love-sick sentiments.

O LIFfi OF BRUCE.

from Metastasio and Ariosto. However, Bruce's
bodily sickness soon closed the serious volume of
the law: his health became impaired, and his phy-
sicians wisely prescribing for his mind rather than
for his body, ordered him to return to the country to
enjoy fresh air and exercise. This simple medicine
soon restored him to health ; but it was now acknow-
ledged that his prospect of succeeding at the bar was
very limited, and to his great joy it was at last
determined that he should abandon that learned
profession for ever. He was, in fact, incompetent
to perform its labours; and yet it is not altogether
unworthy of remark, that the boy who was thus
lost in the lanes and labyrinths of Scottish law lived
to be the man who afterwards reached the long
hidden fountains of the Nile !

Bruce remained for several years without a pro-
fession. He at last fixed on India as a field, the
distance, vastness, and novelty of which wrere better
suited to the ardent disposition of his mind; but.
being now considerably above the age for receiving a
writership from the East-India Company, he resolved
to petition the vJourt of Directors for permission to
settle under its patronage as a free trader. In July,
1753, in the twenty-second year of his age, he left
Scotland, with a view to prosecute this design. < hi
arriving in London, his English friends and former
acquaintances received him with the greatest kind-
ness; and during the time he spent in soliciting
permission from the Directors, he lived among them
in the interesting character of one who was soon to
leave them for a very considerable period of his life.

By one of those friends whose kindness he was
thus enjoying, he was introduced to Adriana Allan,
whose mind accorded with the beauty of her person.
She was the daughter of Mrs. Allan, the widow of

HIS MARRIAGE. 7

an eminent wine-merchant, who had raised himself
to opulence by attention and integrity. This young
person was elegant in her manners and appearance,
and as remarkable for a gentle, unassuming temper,
as for a warm, affectionate disposition. Bruce very
easily fell in love with Adriana Allan, who received
his attentions with that artless gratitude which
seemed to be peculiarly due to one who was appa-
rently to bid her adieu almost for ever ! However,
this was otherwise decreed. Her heart was a volume
which Bruce found not so difficult to understand as
Heineccius's Institutes : he admired its type — he
adored its binding — in short, he no sooner found
himself possessed of this young person's affections,
than he ardently resolved to prefer them to his
wealthy prospects in India. He accordingly ad-
dressed himself to Mrs. Allan, who listened with
placid approbation to the proposal of marriage which
he had already made to her daughter, and she herr
self suggested, that, having no profession, he should
take a share in the wine-trade ; and although Bruce
knew nothing of that business, yet as it was to be
the link which was to connect him1 with the object
of his affections — he eagerly declared himself ready
to embrace them both, and seemed suddenly to have
inherited the ardent spirit of the trade. The mar-
riage took place on the third of February, 1754;
and Bruce took an active part in the management
of the concern. The dealings of the company were
extensive ; and from many people he received marks
of their approbation and friendship. He appeared
now to be on a road which was to lead him to wealth
and happiness, but this flattering prospect became
suddenly overcast. His young wife had inherited
from her family the seeds of a fatal disease, which
in a few months after her marriage made it necessary

LIFE OF BRUCE.

for her to leave the thick, foggy atmosphere of
London. She resided at Bristol for a few months,
for the benefit of the waters, but with little advan-
tage : her complaint was alleviated, — not removed.
Her last journey was to try the mild climate of the
south of France. Exhausted, however, by travelling,
she was obliged to stop at Paris, where she appa-
rently rallied for a few days; but consumption was
only insidiously gaining strength to overpower her,
and a week after her arrival, she again relapsed, the
hectic flush vanished, and she expired !

While Bruce was attending her last moments, he
was driven almost to distraction by the disgraceful
bigotry of the French priests, who, disguised in the
garb of Christian ministers, crowded round his door
to persecute the last moments of one whom they
termed a dying heretic; and, even when the pale
object of their unmanly persecution had ceased to
exist, the intolerant fury of these monks sought to
deny her Christian burial. At the hour of midnight,
when the savage passions of his enemies were lulled
in sleep, Bruce attended the corpse of his young-
wife to her untimely grave, and a month afterwards,
on the 12th of November, 1754, he thus addressed
his father : —

" My mind is so shocked, and the impression of
that dreadful scene at Paris so strongly fixed, that
I have it every minute before my eyes as distinctly
as it was then happening. Myself a stranger in the
countrjr; my servants unacquainted with the lan-
guage and country, my presence so necessary among
them, and indispensably so with my dear wife ; my
poor girl dying before my eyes, three months gone
with child, full of that affection and tenderness which
marriage produces when people feel the happiness,
but not the cares of it ; many of the Roman Catholic

DEATH OF HIS WIFE. 9

clergy hovering about the doors, myself unable to
find any expedient to keep them from disturbing
her in her last moments. .... But I will
write no more. I cannot, however, omit telling you
an instance of Lord Albemarle's very great humanity.
The morning before my wife died, he sent his chap-
lain down to offer his services in our distress. After
hearing the service for the sick read, and receiving
the sacrament together, he told me, in case I received
any trouble from the priests, my Lord desired I
would tell them I belonged to the English ambas-
sador. When my wife died, the chaplain came again
to me, desired me to go home with him, and assured
me that my Lord had given him orders to see my
wife buried in the ambassador's burying-ground,
which was accordingly done ; and had it* not been
for this piece of humanity, she must have been
buried in the common yard, where the wood is piled
that serves the town for firing. Having ordered the
mournful solemnity, with as much decency as is
allowed in that country to heretics, at midnight,
between the tenth and eleventh ult., accompanied
only by the chaplain, a brother of my Lord Foley's,
and our own servants, we carried her body to the
burying-ground, at the Porte St. Martin, where I
saw all my comfort and happiness laid with her in
the grave. From thence, almost frantic, against the
advice of everybody, I got on horseback, having
ordered the servant to have post-horses ready, and
set out, in the most tempestuous night I ever saw,
for Boulogne, where I arrived next day without
stopping. There the riding in the night time, in
the rain, want of food, which for a long time I had
not tasted, want of rest, fatigue, and excessive con-
cern, threw me into a fever; but after repeated
bleedings, and the great care taken of me by Mr.

10 LIFE OP BRUCE.

Hay, I recovered well enough to set out for London
on the Wednesday. I arrived at home on the
Thursday, when my fever again returned, and a
violent pain in my breast. Thus ended my unfor-
tunate journey, and with it my present prospects of
happiness in this life."

After this melancholy event, Bruce returned to
his business in London ; but he soon found that
the tie which had connected him to the wine-trade
was completely broken. Its occupation no longer
afforded him amusement ; it was a subject uncon-
genial to his mind ; its profits, it is true, still offered
him wealth, but it was wealth without happiness.
In the tranquillity of domestic life, he had felt more
than satisfied ; but now left alone, his eager, active
spirit pined for more arduous employment than such
a business could afford him. He therefore at once
gave up the chief burden of the management to his
partner; and, resolving to embrace the first oppor-
tunity to resign his share altogether, he applied him-
self to studies calculated to divert his mind from
painful recollections and reflections. For about two
years, he fagged at the Spanish and Portuguese lan-
guages, which he learned to pronounce with great
accuracy. He also laboured very hard in practising
several different styles of drawing. Fortunately for
his views, the trade in which he was engaged re-
quired a regular and constant intercourse with France,
Portugal, and Spain. The plan which he had secretly
formed of visiting the continent happily coincided
with his business ; and he looked forward, therefore,
to the time when he should travel over the south of
Europe with the taste and judgment of a scholar.

After having made a short visit to the islands of
Guemsey and Alderney, he sailed in the month of
July for the continent, and spent the remainder of

VISIT TO THE SOUTH OP EUROPE. 11

the year in Portugal and Spain. His professed
object was to be present at the vintage of that
season, but his real intention was to view the state
of society and science in those kingdoms. He landed
at Conurna in Gallicia, on the fifth of July, and
proceeded to Ferrol, where he remained a few days.
From Ferrol he travelled to Oporto, and thence to
Lisbon. In Portugal he was much diverted with
the novelty of seeing manners and customs different
from his own; his journals during this period are
filled with satirical remarks on the apparent pride
and stiffness of the nobility, and the ignorance of the
clergy. The following may be given as a light
specimen of one of his first impressions as a young-
traveller : —

" There are many particular customs in Portugal,
all of which may be known by this rule, that what-
ever is done in the rest of the world in one way, is
in Portugal done by the contrary, even to the rock-
ing of the cradle, which, I believe, in all the rest of
the world, is from side to side, but in Portugal is
from head to foot ; I fancy it is from this early
contrariety that their brains work in so different a
manner all their lives after. A Portuguese boatman
always rows standing, not with his face but his back
to the stern of the boat, and pushes his oar from him.
When he lands you, he turns the stern of the boat
to the shore, and not the head ; if a man and woman
ride on the same mule, the woman sits before the
man, with her face the contrary way to what they
do in England ; — when you take leave of any person
to whom you have been paying a visit, the master of
the house always goes out of the room, down stairs,
and out of the house before you," &c.

After travelling about Portugal for nearly four
months, Bruce entered Spain, — but instead of going

12 LIFE OF BRUCE.

at once to Madrid, lie turned to the right, passed
through Toledo, and made an excursion over the
mountains into the province of New Castile. Haying-
advanced beyond the Sierra-Morena, he traversed
the districts of Cordova and Seville, on the river
Guadalquivir, and about the middle of November
reached Madrid. In this rapid journey he seems
to have considerably improved his knowledge of the
Spanish language, and to have made several attentive
and judicious observations. His character, which
had hitherto been concealed by various untoward cir-
cumstances, now began to appear in its real colours.
The traces of oriental manners visible in the south
of Spain, the ruined palaces of the Caliphs, and the
tales of romantic chivalry interwoven with the Moor-
ish wars, suggested to him the idea that an inquiry
into the history of Spain during the eight centuries
in which it was possessed by the Arabs, \vould elu-
cidate many of the obscure causes which had ob-
structed the prosperity of that country JL Two large
and unexplored collections of Arabic manuscripts
belonging to the Spanish crown, were lymg buried
in the monastery of St. Lawrence, and in the Library
of the Escurial ; and though Bruce was as yet but
little acquainted with the Arabic language, he felt a
strong ambition to trace, through this tedious laby-
rinth, the Moorish history of the country. On
reaching Madrid, he procured an introduction to
Don Ricardo Wall, minister to his Catholic Majesty,
a gentleman of British extraction and superior abili-
ties, and from him he earnestly solicited assistance
in the researches wThich he desired to make in Arabic
literature. Mr. Wall frankly told Bruce, that the
jealousy with wiiich the Spaniards concealed their
records and history from every intelligent foreigner,
obstructed all access to the library of the Escurial ;

STUDIES ARABIC. 13

but the minister, pleased with the unusual spirit of
adventure and intelligence which he had evinced,
used every endeavour to persuade him to enter his
master's service. Bruce, however, had already many
roaming projects in his head ; he was, therefore, un-
willing to settle, but, like the swallow, about to take
its departure it knows not where, he kept constantly
on the wing, flying apparently anywhere rather than
to rest. After having made many observations on
the several places in Spain which he visited, on
Christmas day, 1757, he arrived at Pampelona, the
capital of Navarre, on his way to France.

Having crossed the Pyrenees, he went to Bor-
deaux, where, delighted with the cheerful vivacity of
French society, he remained several months among
friends and some relations who were residing there.
From Bordeaux he travelled through France to
Strasburg ; then, following the course of the Rhine,
to its confluence with the Maine, he visited Frank-
fort. Returning to the romantic valley of the Rhine,
he travelled to Cologne, from whence he proceeded
to Brussels, the capital of the Austrian Netherlands,
which country he had long been extremely desirous
to examine. On the second day after his arrival, he
happened to be in the company of a young man, a
perfect stranger to him, who was rudely insulted.
Bruce foolishly remonstrated with the aggressor, who
sent him a challenge, which he accepted. They met ;
Bruce wounded his antagonist twice, and in con-
sequence left Brussels immediately for Holland —
whence proceeding towards Hanover, he arrived in
time to see the battle of Crevelt. This was the first
military operation which Bruce had ever witnessed.
Often had he boasted, and still more often had he
dreamt, of what he was always delighted to term the
exploits of his ancestors, but he had hitherto only

14 LIFE OF BRUCE.

read or heard of war. The moment he became ac-
quainted with its reality, it appeared in his excited
mind to be a brilliant game, teeming with prizes and
with blanks, a legal gambling of life, which, by com-
parison, made every other employment appear trifling
and insipid ; and, impressed with these feelings, which
ever have been, and ever will be, both applauded
and condemned, he resolved to forsake the peaceful
life he had hitherto led, and to seek adventures which
he conceived were more congenial to the spirit of his
ancestors.

On his way to England he received a letter at
Rotterdam, informing him of the death of his father.
The inestimable affection of a mother Bruce had
never known; and by the demise of his father, a
man of sound character and abilities, he was now
deprived of all that he had ever known of a parent.
He immediately proceeded to England, and arrived
there in the end of July, 1758. In consequence of
his father's death, Bruce succeeded to the family
estate of Kinnaird, a respectable inheritance, but
inadequate to the wants of his growing ambition.
He did not immediately visit Scotland, being partly
occupied in his business in the wine-trade ; but he
gradually retired from this occupation, and, in 1761,
three years after his return, the partnership was
legally dissolved. During this period he had been
intently employed in acquiring the Eastern lan-
guages : — and in the course of studying the Arabic
(a branch of learning at that time little connected
with European knowledge), he was induced to ex-
amine, in the works of Ludolf, the Ethiopic, or Geez,
which study first carried his attention to the moun-
tains of Abyssinia. While he was thus employed,
the establishment of the Carron Company in Scotland
caused a very considerable addition to his fortune ;

MEMORANDUM TO MR. PITT. 15

his property partly consisting of coal-mines, which
were required by that company for the smelting of
their iron.

A circumstance now happened, which forms the
leading feature in the singular history of Brace's
life. During the few days which he had spent
at Ferrol, in Gallicia, a report was circulated that
the court of Spain was about to engage in war with
Great Britain. On considering the means of defence
which the place possessed, it had appeared to Brace
that an attack upon it by a British squadron could
not fail to be successful, and that in case of a war
with Spain, it was the point at which that country
ought to be invaded.

On his return to England, although perfectly
unknown to the country, Bruce, a travelling partner
in the wine-trade, boldly resolved to submit his
project to Mr. Pitt. He accordingly fully explained
to his friend, Mr. Wood, then under-secretary of
state, the circumstances on which he had formed
his opinion ; and, unwilling to appear as one of
those who valorously invent expeditions of danger,
which they most prudently call upon others to carry
into execution, he concluded by saying, that in case
a war with Spain should be resolved on by the mi-
nistry, if the king would entrust him in a single
boat with a pair of colours, he would plant them
with his own hand on the beach at Ferrol.

Bruce was now sent for by Mr. Pitt, with whom
he had the honour of conversing on the subject ;
and, at the minister's suggestion, he drew up a
memorandum of his project. He was then informed
by Mr. Wood that Mr. Pitt intended to employ
him on a particular service ; that he might, however,
go down for a few weeks to his own country to settle
his affairs, but by all means to be ready upon a call.

16 LIFE OP BRUCE.

" Nothing could be more flattering," says Bruce,
" than such an offer ; to be thought worthy, when so
young, of any employment by Mr. Pitt was doubly
a preferment.* No time was lost ; but, just after
Bruce had received orders to return to London, Mr.
Pitt went to Bath, and resigned his office.

This disappointment was the more sensibly felt,
as it was the first Bruce had met with in public life.
However, shortly after Mr. Pitt's resignation, he was
informed by Mr. Wood that the memorandum he
had addressed to Mr. Pitt had been laid before the
king, and had been strongly recommended by Lord
Halifax. The Earl of Egremont and Mr. Grenville
had several meetings with Bruce to concert an expe-
dition against Ferrol, the execution of which was to
be entrusted to Lord Howe ; but, at the earnest
request of the Portuguese ambassador, the project
was suddenly abandoned, and, on the death of Lord
Egremont, Brace's expectations again vanished.

Disappointed in his offer of public service, he
retired to his estate in Scotland ; but he was shortly
again called to London by Lord Halifax, who, appre-
ciating Brace's character, nobly observed to him,
that being in the vigour of life, at the height of his
reading, health, and activity, it would be ignoble
were he to turn peasant, and bury himself in obscu-
rity and idleness, while the coast of Barbary, which
might be said to be just at our door, had been but
partially explored by Dr. Shaw, who had not pre-
tended to give to the public any details of the
magnificent remains of ruined architecture which he,
as well as Sanson, had vouched to have seen in great
quantities all over the country. Lord Halifax,
therefore, expressed a wish that Bruce should be the
first, in the reign just beginning, to set an example
of making large additions to the royal collection ; he

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 17

pledged himself to be Bruce's supporter and patron,
and to make good to him the promises which lie had
received from former ministers. The discovery of
the source of the Nile was also a subject of their
conversation ; and although it was merely mentioned
as a feat to be performed only by a more experienced
traveller, yet Bruce always declared that it was at
that instant, of his life that his heart suggested to
him, " that this great discovery should either," as he
says, " be achieved by me, or remain, as it had done
for the last two thousand years, a defiance to all
travellers, and an opprobrium to geography."

Fortune seemed to favour his scheme. Mr. As-
pinall, having been very cruelly and ignominiously
treated by the Dey of Algiers, had resigned his
consulship, and Mr. Ford, a merchant, the Dey's
acquaintance, had been appointed in his stead ; but
dying a few days afterwards, the consulship again
became vacant ; and Lord Halifax pressed Bruce to
accept it, as being convenient for making the pro-
pusud expedition. " This favourable event," says
e, " finally determined me. I had all my lift:
applied unweariedly, perhaps with more love than
talent, to drawing, the practice of mathematics, and
especially that part necessary to astronomy. The
transit of Venus was at hand. It was certainly
known that it would be visible once at Algiers, and
there was groat reason to expect that it might be
twice. I had furnished myself with a large appara-
tus of instruments, the completest of their kind, for
the observation. In the choice of these I had been
assisted by my friend Admiral Campbell, and Mr.
Russell, secretary to the Turkish Company. Every
other necessary had been provided in proportion.
It was a pleasure now to know, that it was not from
a rock or a wood, but from my own house at Algiers,

VOL. i. c

IS LIFE OF BRUCE.

I could deliberately take measures to place myself in
the list of men of science of all nations, who were
then preparing for the same scientific attempt."

On his appointment to be consul of Algiers,
Bruce had the honour of being presented to his
Majesty George III., who graciously requested him
to make accurate drawings of the ruins of ancient
architecture which he should discover in the course
of his travels ; and to give Bruce a liberal opportun-
ity of improving his taste, and to qualify him for
collecting with greater ability the remains of anti-
quity in Africa, the southern region of the Roman
empire, it was arranged that he should travel through
France into Italy, and remain there for some months,
under the pretext of waiting for some despatches
which were there to be forwarded to him.

Delighted with prospects so congenial to his dis-
position, at the age of thirty-two he sailed from
England in June, 1762; and though some objections
had been made as to particular passports solicited by
our government from the French secretary of state,
M. de Choiseul waived such exceptions with regard
to Bruce, and politely assured him, in a letter ac-
companying his passport, that those difficulties did
not in any shape regard him, but that he was per-
fectly at liberty to pass through, or remain in France,
with those that accompanied him, without limiting
their number, as short or as long a time as should be
agreeable to him.

Having arrived at Rome (August, 1762), Bruce
proceeded to Naples, and there, for some months,
awaited his Majesty's further commands. He after-
wards went to Florence, where he remained most
studiously occupied for some time.

It would be tedious to enter into a detail of the
antiquities, paintings, and other curiosities, which

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 19

Bruce observed in the course of his journey, as they
have been visited by thousands of our countrymen,
and have been minutely described by travellers
of every possible description. It is only necessary
to state that Bruce made very minute memoranda
respecting every remarkable place or object which
he visited* : that his catalogue of paintings is very
extensive ; and that his notes indicate the variety of
his knowledge, the correctness of his judgment, and
the exalted feelings with which he visited those
faded scenes of Roman glory, which, like Byron's
" Greece," may be justly compared to a corpse, from
which a noble spirit has departed.

"While at Naples, he received from slaves, redeem-
ed from the province of Constantia, descriptions
of magnificent ruins, which they had seen while
traversing that country in the camp of their master,
the Bey ; and as it was Bruce's intention not only
to take accurate drawings of these, but also to endea-
vour to make a map of the country, with observa-
tions on its natural history, and on the manners and
language of its inhabitants, he justly reflected that
the packing and re-packing, mounting and rectify-
ing the instruments alone would wholly occupy one
man, and he therefore wrote to several of his cor-
respondents, acquainting them with his situation,
and requesting them to procure him an assistant.
For a long time no one appeared willing to share
the fatigues of such journeys ; but at last a young
man was engaged, who was then studying architec-
ture at Rome. He was a native of Bologna, named
Luigi Balugani. Besides the assistance of this
person, Bruce provided himself in England with

* It appears, from sketches found among his papers, that lie
intended to write a dissertation on the ancient and modern state of
Rome.

c2

^0 LIFE OF BRUCE.

two camera obscuras, the largest of which was made
to separate into pieces, folding compactly on hinges :
its body was a hexagon of six feet diameter, with a
conical top ; in this instrument, as in a summer-
house, the draughtsman sat unseen, and in exe-
cuting views of ruined architecture, could do more
work in one hour than the readiest artist, without
such assistance, in seven.

After having passed eight months at Naples,
Rome, Bologna, and Florence*, during which time
he most attentively visited the antiquities, paintings,
cabinets, &c., availing himself of every opportunity
to improve his skill in drawing, he at last received
his despatches from England. Immediately proceed-
ing to Leghorn, Bruce embarked on board the Mon-
treal man-of-war, and arrived at Algiers on the 15th
of March, 1763.

* The papers which are preserved relating to this journey are,
" a narrative of the route from Turin to Bologna— inscriptions —
account of Trajan's tables — of Bologna — of the paintings there.
Route from Bologna to Rome — description of the paintings in St.
Peter's — the Vatican — Capitol — Belvidcre — Albano — Barbarini
Palace — in the Palaces Spado — little Farnese — Corsini — Bor-
ghese, &c. — Route from Rome to Naples — Dissertation on Ancient
and Modern Rome, Florence, &c. &c."

CHAPTER II.

Bruce's residence at Algiers as British Consul.

IT has already been stated that IJruce had been ap-
pointed to the consulship of Algiers to succeed Mr.
A spinal], who had been recalled. This gentleman
had, with great firmness and integrity of conduct,
opposed many unjust demands which had been made
upon him by the Dey, who, in consequence, sent si-
letter to England, requesting that that consul might
be dismissed, and Mr. Ford, a British merchant, who
had lately returned to England, appointed in his
stead. This official document, addressed "to the
English Vizier, Mr. Pitt," is a curious specimen of
barbarous diplomacy : — " My high friend : For some
time past John Ford was a merchant at Algiers, whom
we desire you will appoint consul, and send him a
day the sooner to us, because your consul in Algiers
is an obstinate person and like an animal ! "

This Mr. Ford died in England ; and on Bruce's
arrival at Algiers, he presented to the old Dey cre-
dentials from his Britannic Majesty, graciously
appointing as consul, " our trusty and well-beloved
James Bruce, Esq., whom, by his birth and education,
as well as by his knowledge and experience, we have
judged to be every way qualified for this trust."

Ali Pasha, the Dey of Algiers, was one of those
savage characters, who, on the coast of Barbary, are
very justly distinguished by the appellation of great
men. In the history of mankind, it is very curious

22 LIFE OP BRUCE.

to observe that, in the various ages of society, dif-
ferent descriptions of men rise in strata to the surface,
where they remain until a moral revolution, altering
their specific gravity, obliges them to sink into obli-
vion. In a highly-civilised community, a man rises
to distinction by the estimable qualities of his nature ;
in an uncivilised country, he climbs above his com-
rades by violence and cruelty. The Dey of Algiers
was, therefore, well suited to the manners of the
country in which^he lived. Although a very old
man, Bruce found him preparing most vigorously for
the siege of Oran : his tent and camp equipage were
ready, and he declared it to be his intention to com-
mand in person — that, by dying at the siege of Oran,
he might merit Paradise *. On the 1 st of May, 1 763,
Bruce wrote to Lord Egremont, to announce his
arrival ; and the concluding sentence of even this,
his first official communication, to use a vulgar ex-
pression, " smells strongly of the shop," or rather of
the shambles, which he was doomed to inhabit : — " I
have nothing further to trouble your Lordship with,"
says the new consul, " at present, only that the late
Aga was strangled a very few days ago by order of
the Dey, and that Amor Rais, late ambassador in
England, has been deprived of his employment here
as captain of the port, and is gone on a pilgrimage to
Mecca."

Shortly afterwards, the prime minister, who had
been expected to succeed the Dey, was arrested in
his presence and instantly strangled : all his relations,
and even his friends, were then privately put to

* Bruce's official letters from Algiers (preserved in the Colonial
Office) give such a correct and extraordinary picture of that bar-
barous government, and of the singular situation in which he was
placed there, that we have great pleasure in being permitted to lay
some of them correctly before the public.

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 23

death, in order to stifle any inclination they might
feel to complain of the murder of this personage.
Not long after, the Frencli consul hesitated to comply
with some orders he had received from the Dey, who
immediately loaded him with chains, and threatened
to have him harnessed to the stone-carts !

On the appointment of every new consul at Algiers,
it had always been customary that he should bring
with him a present, which is generally supposed in
England to be delivered to the Dey himself; but this
is not the case. It is distributed amongst all the
public officers, who consider it as a right they are
entitled to demand, rather than as a gift which they
are fortunate enough to receive. Bruce's present
consisted principally of blue cloth, his distribution of
which gives an odd picture of rank at Algiers, which
seems to be what we should term " High Life below
Stairs " — for the Dey's " chief cook " shared equally
with the " Dey's brother," his " chamberlain," his
" ambassador to the Ottoman Porte," and his " two
principal secretaries " — each of whom received eleven
yards of cloth ; the Dey's " second cook," the " ad-
miral," the " first commissioner of the navy," the
" captain of the port," and the " master carpenter,"
each received eight yards ; the " captain of marine,"
the " secretary for prizes," the " comptroller of the
Dey's house," and his higlmess's "barber," claimed
four yards. In consequence of a late increase in the
number of officers, Bruce's present was not sufficient
to satisfy them all : he therefore himself purchased
articles to a considerable amount, respecting which
he thus wrote to his friend Mr. Wood, the under-
secretary of state : — " For my own part, though I
hope his Majesty and the secretary of state will con-
sider the circumstances of this expense of mine, so
that I may not lose this 213/. ; yet, if they should not

'24 LIFE OF BRUCE.

do it, I shall myself never repent having advanced
the money, and lost it, rather than, in my time, his
Majesty should lose the affection of this people."

About the year 1757, a vessel bound to Algiers
was seized by the Spaniards in Oran, and the Dey
had ever since importuned the British government
for indemnification for the cargo. Bruce had firmly
resisted this claim (which our government also refused
to admit), but this placed him in a very difficult situ-
ation, and on the 8th of March, 1764, he thus wrote
to Lord Halifax : — " I am much importuned for your
lordship's answer to the demand of compensation for
the cargo belonging to the Algerines, seized on board
a British bilander in the port of Oran. They imagine
it is owing to my not having wrote, or to my having
received the money and not inclining to pay it, that
as yet they have obtained no satisfaction. Twenty
OT thirty of them are concerned in this cargo, and it
is all that many of them have in the world. Upon
this account, I have already been exposed to very
great personal danger from the license of the soldiers,
which I should in no way regret, were the occasion
honourable, or did it conduce to his Majesty's service."

On the 3rd of June, Bruce again addressed Lord
Halifax, to inform him of the situation of affairs, and
frankly to explain to him the fatal error that had been
committed by the British Government in recalling the
late consul, Mr. Aspinall. " The demand of the
Moors still continues. I cannot conceal from your
lordship that I have been very lately, with little
decency, forced to appear before a Turkish judge, to
answer whether I would or would not oblige myself
personally for the payment of this debt ; and it is
with very much concern that I acquaint your lord-
ship, that the recall of Mr. Aspinall has had the very
worst effect upon British, in particular, and Christian

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 25

affairs in general ; the king has declared that he will
change consuls every two years ; for which he assigns
no reason, though it is plain it is in order to receive
presents more frequently ; and he is now assuming
the nomination of consuls himself, — having, as he
says, begun with the English. He has lately ap-
pointed a slave consul for Venice, and has refused
the consul the republic sent. He has made a Jew
consul of Ragusa ; and, I am told, is soon to change
the Dutch likewise. The king is now turned old,
and his memory nearly gone : he is altogether guided
by one Maltese and one Spanish renegado, who lead
him into these measures.5'

Bruce proceeds to unfold the horrid private cha-
racter of the Dey, which we must beg to leave in
total darkness. He then proceeds to remind his
lordship, that his object in accepting the consulship
of Algiers, was to have an opportunity of making
drawings of the principal antiquities in that part of
Africa ; and he accordingly requests three months'
leave of absence in order to visit the interior, with
his Majesty's permission, on his return, to resign
his situation : he concludes his letter by nobly re-
commending that Mr. Aspinall should be restored to
the consulship of Algiers. During the whole period
of Brace's residence, every leisure moment had been
employed in improving his knowledge of the Arabic
and Moorish languages. Secluded in his study, he
occupied himself in translating some Arabic manu-
scripts which, with great trouble, he had collected,
and his only recreation when abroad was in convers-
ing with the natives. " My immediate prospect/' he
says, " of setting out on my journey to the inland parts
of Africa, had made me double my diligence ; night
and day there was no relaxation from these studies."

In about a month after his last letter, Bruce in-

26 LIFE OP BRUCE.

formed Lord Halifax that he had been to the Dey, to
remonstrate with him about an English sailor who
was then treated as a slave. " The only answer I
could get," says Bruce, "was, ''that when the king paid
for his redemption, his Majesty should have him ;
till when he should continue a slave, though it icas
till his death' This is the tone with which the king
now speaks, ever since his successful endeavour in
procuring Mr. Aspinall's return, and his putting the
French consul in the stone-carts and chains, without
consequences ; and we have now neither personal nor
national privileges, but are treated at discretion.
Denmark has agreed to pay constantly, in stores,
near 10,000/. per annum ; Sweden and Holland do
the same ; and to give me the preference over the
others, not less than 2000/. yearly is distributed by
the other consuls, in jewrels and watches, as private
presents to the regency ; Venice has spent about
20,000/. to make peace, and pays 5000£. yearly;
France, to secure its trade, which amounts to a
monopoly of every valuable production of the coast,
is always giving and always ill-treated ; England,
only once in the eight or nine years, upon the change
of consuls, gives a scanty present : so that our whole
weight must consist in the countenance showed us
from home, which they now believe they can prevent
by any application from hence ; and with this I am
constantly threatened if I but speak of grievances
ever so gently."

Bruce then repeats his request for permission to
quit this troubled scene, and to commence his long-
wished for inquiries. But, determined that it should
not be thought his object wras to shrink from danger,
he concludes by saying, " Though, if there is any re-
monstrance his Majesty directs to be made to this
regency, that may interfere with this journey, I

CONSUL AT ALGIERS.

willingly waive it for the sake of his Majesty's
service."

This letter was scarcely despatched, when he again
addressed Lord Halifax as follows : — " Since I had the
honour of writing last to your lordship, that I had
been called before a Turkish judge about the demand
of Oran, things are come to what I hope is the ex-
tremity, though it is difficult to say what is the
utmost length these people may go, after their recent
behaviour to the French consul. Two days ago, an
English ship \vas sent out of this port by order of
the Dey, without any passport indorsed, or without
any bill of health or other paper of expedition from
the British consulate, — a slave of the king's acting
as his Majesty's consul in clearing her out of the port.
As his Majesty's commission is thus superseded, it
remains with your lordship to consider what remedy
is to be applied. I have avoided any explanation
further with the king, that no opportunity might be
given to say, as in the case of the French consul, that
I did not behave with proper respect ; and though
my first intention, upon receiving this affront, was to
leave Algiers, and to return to Mahon, to avoid either
ignominy or danger, yet not having his Majesty's
leave, and uncertain what turn these people may take
concerning our trading vessels, I have resolved to
await your lordship's answer in Algiers, rather than
desert his Majesty's service. Your lordship is so
much better a judge of what is necessary in this case,
that it is presumption in me to mention it ; only if
it be allowed for me to guess by what I have lately
seen, all negotiation is but lost time, unless force be
before their eyes."

A few days afterwards, the English sailor who had
been imprisoned by the Dey, appeared before Bruce,
hacked, mangled, and covered with bruises. He was

23 LIFE OF BRUCE.

sent to Bruce, by the express order of the Dey, to
show, as he said, " that he cared neither for the king
of England nor his consul ! " Nor were other subjects
of complaint wanting, as will appear from the follow-
ing letter which Bruce addressed to Lord Halifax : —

" On the 18th, war wTas declared against the em-
peror ; and some Tuscan sailors and passengers arriv-
ing unfortunately on board a French vessel, they were
dragged from under the French colours, against the
law and practice of all nations, and made slaves, — the
French consul being too much intimidated, by being
put lately in irons, to venture to remonstrate against
this affront to their flag. My Lord, in this country
of murder, chains, and torture, your lordship will not
expect me to be more explicit than I am as to
measures. I am not certain but that the Doctor*
will be stopped, and my letters seized to-morrow . . .
I was just finishing my letter to your lordship, when
word is brought to me that, this morning early, the
master and supercargo of the above-mentioned vessel
were carried before the Dey, and were bastinadoed
over the feet and loins in such a manner, that the
blood gushed out, and then loaded with heavy chains,
the lightest of which weighs a hundred weight. The
captain, it is thought, will not live. They are not
allowed meat, drink, or clothing, or room to lie in,
and subsist wholly on an allowance from me ....
The same day it was proposed to give my vice-consul,
Mr. Forbes, a thousand bastinadoes, to extort from
him a confession of the contents of my papers. He
has fled to my house for protection, where he con-
tinues in great fear, for, being much affected with ttte
gout, a very small proportion of the thousand bas-
tinadoes would kill him, nor could he satisfy them in
a single syllable, as I have never, in writing or

* Dr. Ball, the bearer of despatches from Bruce for England.

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. '29

copying letters to your lordship, used any hand but
my own; and it being now, I fear, the time in
which some restraint may be put on my liberty,
I can no longer venture to preserve even copies,
so beg your lordship will pardon the variations of
such letters as are intended as duplicates, as the
difference will never be very material." It is surely
impossible for any one to read the above letter,
without being filled with feelings of astonishment
that this country, which, like all others, has so often
waged war for trifles, or to repel imaginary insults,
should ever have submitted to such repeated insults
from so petty and barbarous a government as that of
Algiers *.

Soon after Bruce's last letter, full of indignation,
he again wrote to Lord Halifax, recommending, in
the strongest terms, force, as the only way of main-
taining the dignity of this country at Algiers ; and
fearing lest his advice on so important a measure
should be questioned, he refers Lord Halifax to
several individuals in England who knew him, " and
who," he says, " will, I hope, fully satisfy your lord-
ship that I am incapable of representing anything
in a false or aggravated light." After thus boldly
recommending forcible measures, which would have
been so highly dangerous to his own personal secu-
rity, he adds : " I myself have received from a friend
some private intimations to consult my own safety
and escape. The advice is impracticable, nor would
I take it were it not so. Your lordship may depend
upon it, that, till I have the king's orders, or find

* About the time of \vriting the ahove (in tlio year 1830), Algiers
was attacked and captured by the French. Whether they •will retain
the acquisition then made, or, in renouncing it, take measures in
concert with other nations to prevent its again becoming a repair
for pirates, remains to be seen — ED.

30 LIFE OP BRUCE.

that I can be of no further service here, nothing will
make me leave Algiers but force. One brother has
already, this war, had the honour to lose hig life
in the service of his country. Two others, besides
myself, are still in it, and if any accident should
happen to me, as is most probable from these lawless
butchers, all I beg of his Majesty is, that he will
graciously please to extend his favour to the sur-
vivors, if deserving, and that he will make this city
an example to others, how they violate public faith,
and the law of nations."

In order fairly to appreciate the disinterested
firmness of the above letter, it should be remem-
bered that Bruce was remaining at Algiers against
his will, and that he had long ago repeatedly ap-
plied for his Majesty's permission to resign the
consulship.

A violent dipute now took place between Bruce
and the Dey about passports. On the taking of
Minorca by the French, a number of English pass-
ports fell into the hands of the enemy, and the
French governor, naturally wishing to embroil us
in disputes with the Barbary States, filled up the
blanks of these English passports, and then sold
them to Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other enemies
of the Barbary regencies. As soon as this fraud
was detected, the British governors of Gibraltar and
Mahon furnished our ships with written certificates,
which they imprudently termed Passavans ; but
these pirates not being able to read them, and
observing that they differed in shape and form from
the old printed passports, inveighed against the
supposed duplicity of the English, and importuned
their master the Dey to order every ship to be
seized which carried a passavant. Bruce opposed
this counsel with steady resolution, but the old Dey

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 31

holding' several passavans in his hand, answered him
with great emotion in these very memorable terms :
" The British government knows that we can neither
read nor write — no, not even our own language.
We are ignorant soldiers and sailors — robbers, if you
will, though we do not wish to rob you. War is our
trade, and we live by that only. Tell me how my
cruisers are to know all these different writings and

1 0»

seals (

Bruce, neither intimidated nor convinced by the
savage eloquence of the Dey, again remonstrated;
upon which he was disowned as consul, his dragoman
was taken from him, and he was ordered to quit the
country in three days. " In reply," says Bruce, " I
begged the Dey to excuse me if I considered myself
still as British consul, and if I denied it to be in the
po\ver of any foreign prince to annul my commis-
sion." An English ship, happening to arrive about
this time with a passavant, was broken to pieces,
and the crew hurried into slavery. Bruce prepared
to embark, but the storm suddenly subsided. The
unruly passions of the Dey, though deaf to reason,
had listened to the subtle admonitions of his officers,
who explained to him the ruinous consequences of
a war with England. Regular printed passports
arrived, and " thus ended," says Bruce, " an affair tho
least pleasing, the least profitable, and one of the
most dangerous in which I was ever engaged."

In communicating intelligence of his own dis-
missal, and of the above proceedings of the Dey to
Lord Halifax, Bruce again recommended that the
remedy of force, that actual cautery, should be
applied ; and alwrays ready to share in every service
of danger which he conceived it his duty to propose,
he offered to return with any expedition against the
place. " I shall always esteem it," he says, " an

32 LIFE OP BRUCE.

honour to venture my life in his Majesty's service,
without rank or reward, in the station he shall be
pleased to employ me."

A considerable time elapsed before Bruce received
from England any reply to his communications
from Algiers, and but little notice was taken of the
request which he had so repeatedly made for leave
of absence to visit Tunis and the interior. In the
months of November and December, 1764, he thus
addressed Lord Halifax : —

November 3rd. — " I take the liberty, my Lord, to
offer your lordship my most humble thanks for
having laid my request of leave to resign thu Consul-
ship before the king. Very disagreeable and dan-
gerous as my situation is, if his Majesty or your
lordship think that it is more for the advantage of
the service that I should remain till these disputes
are settled, rather than that they should be taken up
by my successor, I am entirely at his Majesty's dis-
posal, only I hope that some resolution may be speedily
taken, for the safety of commerce and of the king's
servants. I beg leave to remind your lordship of my
request, that before my resignation I might have
permission to visit Tunis and some other places in
the inland country. My absence will not exceed
three months, and his Majesty's affairs here will be
perfectly safe and well conducted during that time
by Mr. Forbes, my vice-consul."

November 29th. — " I beg leave to remind your
lordship of my frequently repeated request for three
months' leave of absence before I resign this consul-
ship, to make a small journey into this continent.
As I have been at great pains and expense in pre-
paring for it, and have done all in my power to
deserve this no considerable favour, I have too great
an opinion of your lordship's goodness to think I

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 33

can be refused As in this journey I hope to

make two very considerable collections of drawings,
I propose offering the first to his Majesty as a token
of my duty, and shall take it as a very great honour
if your lordship will allow me to make use of your
lordship's protection for the second."

Again, on the 14th of December, he thus acknow-
ledges the receipt of an order to await the arrival of
a consul who had been at last appointed to succeed
him : — " I should have been much obliged to your
lordship if it had been thought proper to have pro-
cured me permission to have made the proposed
journey to Tunis, as I requested in several letters ;
but, as I have not had any return, and as it would
be impossible without the protection of the king's
commission to make it with any effect, I submit.
My lord, in disputes with these regencies, it has
almost uniformly been the practice to join his
Majesty's consul in the commission for adjusting
these differences. Excuse me, my lord, if I, with all
possible humility, observe, that the contrary now,
and the immediate arrival of a successor, has in my
case every appearance of disgrace, which I cannot
but feel sensibly, after having in so disagreeable and
dangerous a conjuncture done everything possible
to protect his Majesty's commerce, and maintain
the character of my commission."

In justice to the memory of Lord Halifax, it is
proper to give his sensible reply to the latter part
of Bruce's letter : — " "With regard to the appearance
of disgrace which you are apprehensive the arrival
of a successor at such a juncture may carry, you
have the satisfaction to know that your conduct has
been honoured with his Majesty's approbation, and
that it was in consequence of your repeated desires

34 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to resign and return home, that another consul has
been appointed in your stead."

Previous to the arrival of Brace's successor, the
Dey caused a letter to be written to his Britannic
Majesty, to complain that a party of Algerine
soldiers had been captured off Gibraltar by the
Spaniards, in consequence of secret intelligence of
their approach having been given to the Spanish
commander by the British garrison. The above
statement is absolutely necessary to explain the fol-
lowing translation of a most curious long-winded
letter which was submitted by the Dey to his
Majesty.

"MUSTAPHA HAN.

" The help of the helpers and guard of kings,
mighty king, the most merciful, with the help of
God at Mecca — commander of the whole Maho-
metans under God ! God preserve the king !

" King of land and sea — king, son of king, the
king of mercy, Mustapha Han, may God maintain
his glory and his kingdom for ever — Sovereign
Lord of my country, also of the west ! Ally Bacha,
God fulfil his desires, to his most sacred Majesty
king George the third — God grant him long life and
our love.

" King, defender of Christian faith, king of Eng-
land, France, and Ireland, our beloved great and
noble friend whom God prosper, may God direct
you to do good to me, and may you enjoy your
crown for ever, and our friendship for ever, amen —
with the spirit of God Jesus the son of Mary, amen.

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 35

" The love and friendship, I continue : now what
I beg from your Majesty in the name of God the
most mighty, always in mutual friendship, and pray
God to continue our friendship till death, which
that's certain.

" Now, I beg your Majesty will listen to what I am
going to say without fail. My great beloved friend,
the foundation of this letter is Athebeck, from my
dominions with a parcel of soldiers when they came
below Gibraltar the people in the garrison gave
notice to the Spaniards, and they took 'em, and this
treachery cannot subsist between us. Now, I beg
your Majesty will do us justice, and pray God pre-
serve your Majesty, and may our friendship continue
for ever. Amen.

" Allgier,

Ally Basha,

the 22d of month (Which corresponds with the

Ramazan, in the year 16th of March, 1765.)

1178, Dettusura."

As soon as it was known that a consul was coming
" from England to succeed Bruce; the effect was pro-
duced which he had apprehended ; for every one pre-
tended to consider that it was in consequence of the
king of England's disapprobation of his conduct.
Bruce was therefore treated with great indignity.
The cruelties of the Dey seemed to increase with
his age. In one morning, seventeen Turks were
seized and strangled in his presence ; he even con-
demned to death his own brother; and, for every
trifling complaint brought before him, he prescribed
King Richard's remedy of " Off with his head !"

At last the new British consul arrived, accom-
panied by Captain Cleveland of the navy. This
consul was shortly afterwards recalled ; and in less
than two years two others succeeded to this dangerous
D 2

36 LIFE OF BRUCE.

post. One of these gentlemen, on sailing from Eng-
land, was recommended, by our government, to do
everything in his power to conciliate the troublesome
affairs of Algiers. His obsequious, courtier-like con-
duct forms a striking contrast to Bruce's firm, manly
behaviour ; and he was very shortly recalled for over-
acting his part of conciliation, by allowing the Dey
to impose a tax on our vessels, which he had no
right whatever to demand.

In the following letter this gentleman thus in-
forms Lord Halifax of the death of the Dey: " I have
now the mortification to acquaint you of the death
of his Excellency the good old Dey, Alii Bashaw,
who was seized with a violent cold and pleuritic
complaint the 24th past. He continued in a declin-
ing way till Sunday the 2nd inst., when he expired
between one and two o'clock in the morning, aged
seventy, after having reigned eleven years and forty
days. The divan was immediately assembled, and
about seven the hamagee or treasurer was chosen to
succeed him. The colours were then hoisted at the
palace, the garrison, and harbour, as also at the seve-
ral forts, with a discharge of cannon. At eight I
paid my respects to the new Dey, Mahomet Bashaw,
and was well received. About nine the old Dey
was carried out to be interred, and all was quiet."

In "this whining requiem, which one of Bruce's
successors, a British consul, sings over the carcass of
that old sanguinary tyrant, Alii Bashaw, the Dey
of Algiers, the reader will probably start at the appel-
lation of the " good old Dey :" yet the consul's letter
is unfortunately but a specimen of those diplomatic
reports which, from distant countries, are too often
made to coincide with the supposed views and fancies
of the minister at home; for however barbarous
foreign governments may be, however poor, weak,

CONSUL AT ALGIERS. 37

id ignorant may be their rulers, however lawless
and uncivilised may be the people, yet, if the minister
of the day has poetically imagined that it would be a
fine thing " to call this new world into existence," it
is melancholy to observe with what affected formality
the rude cacique is diplomatically described as " his
excellency the governor," and his rough, illiterate
clerk as " the minister secretary of state for foreign
affairs." It is true that honest time at last corrects
the picture, corrodes its varnish, and destroys its
paint ; but in the meanwhile this country always
suffers by the illusion, and, by sad experience, at
last purchases truth at more than her weight in
gold.

The long intervals which had elapsed between
the letters that Bruce had addressed to Lord Halifax,
he regularly devoted to study, in making himself
familiar with everything that could be necessary for
his intended journey. A Greek priest, a native of
Cyprus, had attached himself to Bruce on his first
arrival in Algiers. From this venerable man he
acquired a knowledge of the modern Greek, which
was of the greatest assistance to him in Abyssinia ;
and the reader will soon learn what essential service
this priest rendered to Bruce when he afterwards met
with him in Egypt. From Mr. Ball, the king's
surgeon at Algiers, he also acquired professional
information of the most valuable description, and
which afterwards became his passport in all the coun-
tries which he visited.

In this manner did Bruce pass his time at Algiers,
deliberately preparing himself for the great discovery
which was the ultimate object of his ambition. His
paltry disputes with the Dey, and the neglect which
attended his repeated applications to England for
permission to commence his journey, would have

38 LIFE OF BRUCE.

engrossed the whole attention of most people, and
would have distracted, with petty distress, the minds
of many : but neither these, nor the enervating effects
of the African climate, could shake the unalterable
determination of his character ; and after having been
detained at Algiers for two years and a quarter, he
was no sooner relieved by Captain Cleveland, than
he immediately prepared for his departure. Accord-
ingly, on the 25th of August, 1765, he sailed from
Algiers, his mind filled with the most agreeable ideas,
and rejoicing to run his gigantic course.

39

CHAPTER III.

Bruce travels through the kingdoms of Tunis and Tripoli — Is
wrecked — Beaten by the Arabs — Sails to Crete, Rhodes, Asia
Miuor, and Syria — Visits Palmyra and Baalbec — Is detained at
Cyprus — Sails for Egypt.

THE Dey, secretly admiring the firmness and inte-
grity of Bruce's character, had furnished him with
recommendatory letters to the Beys of Tunis and
Tripoli, — states independent of the Dey of Algiers,
but over which the circumstances of the times had
given him considerable influence. Sailing along the
African coast, Bruce landed at Bona, the ancient
Aphrodisium, and anchoring at Biserta, he paid a
visit to Utica, as he says, " out of respect to the
memory of Cato." He then landed at Tunis, and
delivering his letters to the Bey, he obtained per-
mission to visit the country in whatever direction
he should please. From the French and English
consuls he received great attention and assistance;
and about the middle of September, while the wea-
ther was still dreadfully hot, he set out for the inte-
rior of the kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, accom-
panied by his draftsman, Luigi Balugani, a French
renegado named Osman, and ten spahis or foot sol-
diers, " who," says Bruce, " were well armed with
firelocks and pistols, excellent horsemen, and, as far
as I could ever discern, as eminent for cowardice, at
least, as they were for horsemanship." On reaching
T»««a, he found a Corinthian pillar of Parian marble
and the ruins of a temple, among which he remained

40 LIFE OF BRUCE.

fifteen days, making various most valuable drawings,
which we are sorry to say still remain unpublished.

After visiting several other places, he came to
Hydra, the Thunodrunum of the ancients, the fron-
tier of the two kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, and
inhabited by a tribe of Arabs called Welled Sidi
Boogannim. These Arabs were immensely rich,
paying no tribute either to Algiers or Tunis, — the
pretence for this exemption being a very singular one.
By the institution of their founder, they are obliged to
live upon lions' flesh, and thus eating up the enemies
of the state, they are not taxed like the other Arabs.
Seated among these wild people, Bruce openly par-
took of their fare, and having done so, he acknow-
ledged it in words which are highly characteristic of
himself :— -

" Before Dr. Shaw's travels first acquired the cele-
brity they have maintained ever since, there was a
circumstance that very nearly ruined their credit.
He had ventured to say in conversation, that theso
Welled Sidi Boogannim were eaters of lions; and
this was considered at Oxford, the university where
he had studied, as a traveller's license on the part of
the doctor. They thought it a subversion of the
natural order of things that a man should eat a lion,
when it had long passed as almost the peculiar pro-
vince of the lion to eat man. The doctor flinched
under the sagacity and severity of this criticism : he
could not deny that the Welled Sidi Boogannim did
eat lions, as he had repeatedly said ; but he had not
yet published his travels, and therefore left it out of
his narrative, and only hinted at it in his appendix.

" With all submission to that learned university,
I will not dispute the lion's title to eating men ; but
since it is not founded upon patent, no consideration
will make me stifle the merit of the Welled Sidi

THE OMRAN TRIBE. 41

Boogannim, who have turned the chase upon the
enemy. It is an historical fact ; and I will not suffer
the public to be misled by a misrepresentation of it : on
the contrary, I do aver, in the face of these fantastic
prejudices, that I have eat the flesh of lions, that is,
part of three lions, in the tents of the Welled Sidi
Boogannim." — If the spirit of these noble animals had
entered Bruce's heart instead of his stomach, he
could not have expressed himself in bolder terms !

From Hydra he went to the ancient Tipasa, where
he found a most extensive scene of ruins ; and then
entering the eastern province of Algiers, he reached
Medrashem, a superb pile of building. Passing
Gibel Aurex and Cassareen, the ancient Colonia
Scillitana, he at last reached Spaitla, in the kingdom
of Tunis. The Welled Omran, a lawless, plundering
tribe, disturbed Bruce very much during the eight
days which he occupied in minutely measuring and
drawing the extensive and elegant ruins of Spaitla.
" It was a fair match," he says, " between coward and
coward. With my company I was enclosed in a
square, in which the three temples stood, where
there yet remained a precinct of high walls. These
plunderers would have come in to me, but were
afraid of my fire-arms ; and I would have run away
from them, had I not been afraid of meeting their
horse in the plain. I was almost starved to death,
when I was relieved by the arrival of Welled Hassan,
and a friendly tribe of Dreeda, that came to my
assistance, and brought me at once both safety and
provision."

From Spaitla he proceeded to Muchtar, and Musti,
and then returning to Tugga, he went down the
Bagrada to Tunis. From Tunis he again went to
Spaitla, where he remained five days more, correcting
and revising the drawings and memoranda which he

42 LIFE OF BRUCE.

had already made there. Passing Feriani, he came
to a large lake, the Palus Tritonidis, now called the
Lake of Marks, because there is in it a row of large
trunks of palm trees set up to guide travellers across
it. " This was," says Bruce, " the most barren and
unpleasant part of my journey in Africa : barren,
not only from the nature of the soil, but by its
having no remains of antiquity in the whole course
of it." This desert scene was at last most agreeably
and suddenly changed, by the small river Triton,
the water of which caused the adjacent country to
be covered with all kinds of flowers and verdure.
Bruce had now reached the Lesser Syrtis. He here
turned to visit El Gemme, where there had been
a large and perfect amphitheatre, until Mahomet
Bey blew up a part of it, to prevent its being occu-
pied as a fortress by the Arabs. Continuing along
the coast to Susa, Bruce once more arrived at Tunis,
possessing drawings of what he considered " to be
all the antiquities worth notice in the territories of
Tunis and Algiers."

Notwithstanding the great heat of the sun to
which he had been subjected, his health was good,
and he had hitherto met with no accident whatever :
but he had now a very serious undertaking to
perform, which was to cross the desert to Tripoli ;
and the Bey of Tunis being at enmity with the
Basha of Tripoli, could give him no letters of intro-
duction. He accordingly took leave of the Bey,
and proceeded to Gerba, the island of the Lotophagi,
where the Bey of Tunis, with his usual munificence,
had prepared for him a house, with every sort of
refreshment.

On this coast, there is no sort of fruit whatever
— no bush, no tree, nor verdure of any kind, ex-
cepting the short grass that separates this country

PROCEEDS TO TRIPOLI. 43

from the moving sands of the desert. About four
days' journey from Tripoli, Bruce met the Emir
Hadji, conducting a caravan of pilgrims from Fez,
in Morocco, across the whole of Africa to Mecca
— that is, from the Atlantic ocean to the western
banks of the Red Sea. The caravan consisted of
about three thousand men, with an immense number
of camels, laden with merchandise, water, flour, and
food, for the hadjis or pilgrims ; and such a crowd
of uncivilised beings, wildly traversing such a vast
inhospitable desert, yet urged forward and supported
by a principle of religion, formed a very extraordinary
spectacle. They had scarcely passed, when Bruce and
his little party were assailed by a number of Arab
horsemen, whom they repulsed with considerable dif-
ficulty, and with a loss of four men.

On arriving at Tripoli, Bruce was received by his
countryman, the British consul, ( the Hon. Mr.
Fraser of Lovat,) with that kindness and attention
which he much needed, after so rude a journey,
made with such diligence, that two of his horses
had died from fatigue ; but as the Basha was unfortu-
nately at variance with Mr. Fraser, Bruce was much
disappointed at learning that it would be absolutely
necessary for him to return by the coast of the
Lesser Syrtis to Tunis, to reside there, until Mr.
Harrison, who was appointed by government to
settle the differences with the Barbary states, should
solicit permission for him to travel through the
dominions of Tripoli.

To Tunis, therefore, Bruce returned, and remained
there till August, 1766, when this permission
reaching him, he again crossed the desert, by Sfax
and Gerba, to Tripoli, where he was hospitably
received by the French, Venetian, and British
consuls. From Tripoli he despatched an English

44 LIFE OF BRUCE.

servant to Smyrna, with his books, drawings, and
supernumerary instruments, having torn from his
books those pages which he conceived might be of
service in the Pentapolis, or other parts of the
Cyrenaicum, and by these precautions he most for-
tunately saved the greatest part of his labours in
Africa. He then crossed the Gulf of Sidra, formerly
known by the name of Syrtis Major, and arrived
at Bengazi, the ancient Berenice, built by Ptolemy
Philadelphia.

The brother of the Bey of Tripoli commanded
here ; a young man, weak in understanding and in
health. For more than a year, Bengazi had been
suffering from severe famine ; many people died
from starvation every day, and some of the living
were actually hovering round the corpses of the
dead for food which human nature shudders to reflect
on. Bruce at once fled from this dreadful scene.
Travelling over a great part of the Pentapolis, he
visited the ruins of Arsinoe, and Ras Sem, and then
approaching the sea-coast, came to Ptolemeta, the
ancient Ptolemais, the walls and gate of which he
found still entire.

Here he was informed that the Welled Ali-Arabs
had plundered the Morocco caravan, which he had
met in the desert ; that the pilgrims had been left
to perish for want of water ; that there was a famine
at Derna, the neighbouring town to which he had
intended to proceed ; that the plague had also ap-
peared, and that the town was engaged in a civil
war. This torrent of bad news was irresistible ; and
Bruce at once resolved to fly from this inhospitable
coast, and save for the public that knowledge and
information which he had so resolutely and painfully
acquired. Accordingly, with his little party, he
embarked on board a small Greek vessel, bound for

SAILS FROM BENGAZI. 45

Lampedoza, but the destination of which the master
had agreed to change to Crete. The vessel was
badly appointed ; and, when it was too late, Bruce
found that although it had plenty of sail, it carried
not an ounce of ballast. A number of half-famished
men, women, and children, anxious to fly from the
dreadful fate which awaited them, crowded on board ;
but the passage was short, the vessel light, and the
master, as Bruce supposed, well-accustomed to these
seas. At day-break the next day they sailed ; and
it was then discovered that the captain was perfectly
ignorant of his duty, and that he was actually unable
to govern his ship *. A violent storm overtook
them, and the vessel falling to leeward, struck on
a rock near the entrance of the harbour of Bengazi :
fortunately the wind suddenly lulled, and Roger
M'Cormack, Bruce's Irish servant, (who had been
once a sailor in the British service,) lowered the
largest boat, into which he, Bruce, and a multitude
of people, instantly jumped. Fearing that they
would be swamped, they pushed off from the ship,
and with two oars they endeavoured to row the
boat ashore. Bruce had thrown off all his clothes,
excepting a short under waistcoat and his linen

* Some years ago, the writer of this volume, having been sent
to make a trigonometrical survey of the uninhabited island of
Lampedoza, embarked for Tripoli, on board a small Greek vessel,
exactly similar to the one described by Bruce. The master, as is
usual in the Mediterranean, had no instrument for determining his
situation but a board, a piece of string, and three small pins, which
were fo be placed in particular situations, that no one on board
understood but himself; however, his hand and head shook so
violently, from the effects of liquor, that for more than a day the
vessel was beating about completely lost. In the middle of the
second night, a horse, which was standing on deck, smelling the
island of Malta, began to neigh most violently ; and, accordingly
the land, which was announced by this animal to his fellow-passen-
gers, appeared in sight at day-break.

46 LIFE OF BRUCE.

drawers ; a silk sash or girdle was wrapt round him ;
a pencil, pocket-book, and watch, were in the breast-
pocket of his waistcoat : two Moorish and two of
his English servants accompanied him — the rest of
his party had remained on board. They had scarcely
got a boat's length from the ship, when a wave
nearly swamped them, and a shriek of despair
announced their helpless situation. The next wave
was approaching evidently to overwhelm them, and
Bruce, fearing that some woman, child, or helpless
man would cling upon him, entangle him, and thus
ignominiously drag him, like a culprit, into eternity,
resolved at least to make an effort to save himself,
and, exclaiming to his servants, both in Arabic and
English, " We are lost ! If you can swim, follow
me ! " he jumped overboard.

In moments of real danger, there is nothing which
more distinguishes a man than the simple act of
doing something — for the general effect of fear is
to paralyse the mind, as well as the body, and men
under this base feeling do nothing. Bruce at first
allowed himself to go to leeward, in order to get
clear of the boat. A strong, practised swimmer, in
the vigour of life, full of health, and accustomed to
exertion and fatigue of every description, he got
on very well as long as he was in deep water, but
as soon as he came to the surf, he received a blow
on his breast from the eddy wave, which threw him
upon his back, made him swallow a quantity of
water, and nearly suffocated him. The next wave
left him almost breathless and exhausted. At last,
finding his hands and knees on the sand, he fixed
his nails into it, and desperately maintaining his
hold until the sea for a moment retired, he managed
to crawl forwards a few feet : perfectly exhausted,
he then fainted away, and rema:r ad for a considerable

CAST ON SHORE. 47

time insensible to the waves which, one after another,
were eagerly rolling towards the shore, as if greedily
desirous to regain their prey.

At this critical moment, the Arabs, who were
but two short miles from the shore, came down in
crowds to plunder the vessel, all the people from
which were now taken on shore, and those only lost
who had perished in the boat. Bruce was first
awakened from his trance by a blow with the butt
end of a lance on the back of his neck, but it was
merely accident that it had not been the point, for
his short waistcoat, which had been purchased at
Algiers, and his sash and drawers cut in the Turkish
fashion, made the Arabs believe that he was a Turk ;
and, after many hard blows, kicks, and curses, they
stript their defenceless and exhausted victim, leaving
him as naked as their barren shore. After treating
the rest of the passengers and crew in the same
manner, they sought to plunder the bodies of those
who had been drowned. In the mean while, Bruce
walked, or rather crawled, to some white sandy
hillocks, where he sat down and concealed himself
as well as he could, for he knew that if he approached
the tents where the women were, while he was
naked, he would receive bastinadoes considerably
heavier than the last. Smarting from the discipline
he had already undergone, it suddenly occurred to
him, that by the gibberish in imitation of Turkish
which the Arabs had uttered to him while they were
beating and stripping him, they had taken him for
a Turk, and had treated him accordingly. At this
moment an old Arab, attended by several young men,
came up to him. He offered them the salute of " Sa-
lum Alicum," with which at first they were offended,
asking him, what, as a Turk, he had to do there ?
Bruce very readily replied, that he was no Turk,

48 LIFE OF BRUCE.

but a poor Christian physician, a dervish, that went
about the world seeking to do good for God's sake ;
that when he was wrecked he was flying from
famine, and was going to Greece to get bread. A
ragged, dirty baracan was immediately thrown over
him, and he was conducted to a tent, through the
end of which appeared a long spear, which is the
mark of sovereignty. The Shiekh of the tribe being
at peace with the Bey of Bengazi, asked Bruce
many questions, and at last ordered him a plentiful
supper, at which he had the happiness of meeting
his attendants. Camels were then brought, and the
whole party proceeded to Bengazi, from whence
Bruce \vrote to the Sheikh, to entreat him to endea-
vour to fish up his cases, for which he offered a
handsome reward ; but this was not effected, and he
lost a sextant, telescope, timepiece, a small camera
obscura, some guns, pistols, several drawings, and
many of his notes and observations.

At Bengazi he fortunately met with a small French
sloop, the master of which so gratefully remembered
that Bruce had rendered him a trifling service at Algiers,
that he generously offered even to lend him money.

After having been detained at Bengazi about two
months, during which time he and his party had little
to subsist on but fish, which they themselves caught,
they sailed in the French sloop from the bay ; and bid-
ding farewell to the coast of Africa, they landed
at Canea, a small fortress at the west end of the
island of Crete.

The beating which Brace had received at Bengazi
left marks, which, after a considerable time, totally
disappeared ; but the relentless ague, which, in con-
sequence of his exertions in the sea of Ptolemeta,
fixed itself on his constitution, persecuted him through
all his travels, suddenly appearing and oppressing him

PROCEEDS TO ASIA MINOR. 49

in moments of his severest difficulties. He was first
seized with this disorder at Crete, where he remained
for some days dangerously ill.

From Canea he sailed to Rhodes, where, with very
great pleasure, he found his books. He then pro-
ceeded to Castelrosso, on the coast of Caramania, in
Asia Minor, where he had been credibly informed
there were very magnificent ruins, but his fever in-
creasing, he found it impossible to prosecute this
undertaking : he was therefore reluctantly obliged to
abandon it, and, proceeding again to sea, he landed
on the continent of Asia, at Beiroot, near Sidon, on
the coast of Phoenicia, in June, 1767.

Bruce was now in a very weak state of health ; he
possessed drawings and notes which would have of-
fered to most men alluring and tranquil occupations,
— he had undergone fatigues which faithfully and
frankly warned him to give rest to his constitution.
A new quarter of the world was now before him —
new in its dangers, its history, and its inhabitants; but

" Ccelum non aniinum mutant qui trans mare currunt; "

the enterprising spirit of Bruce remained unaltered ;
and careless of his shattered frame, he now resolved,
that previous to undertaking his daring attempt to
reach the source of the Nile, he would endeavour, as
he said, " to add the ruins of Palmyra to those of
Africa!"

There are two tribes almost equally powerful who
inhabit the deserts round Palmyra : the one is the
Anneci, remarkable for the breed of their horses; the
other is the Mowulli, who are excellent soldiers.
These two tribes were not at war, nor were they at
peace ; they were only upon what is termed ill terms
with each other — a very dangerous time for strangers
to have any dealings with either. Bruce would have

50 LIFE OP BRUCE.

gone at once from Siclon to Baalbec, but it was then
besieged by the Druses of Mount Libanus. He
therefore went to Tripoli in Syria, and from thence
set out for Aleppo, but, suddenly sinking under his
Bengazi ague, he was just able to reach the house of
M. Belville, a French merchant, to whom he was
addressed for credit; and Bruce always declared, "that,
had it not been for his friendly attention, and the
skill and anxiety of Dr. Russel, physician to the
British factory, it is probable his travels would have
ended at Aleppo."

As soon as he was restored to health, his first
object was his journey to Palmyra. Stopping at two
miserable huts inhabited by a base set called Turco-
mans, he asked the master of one of them to show
him a ford, which the man, apparently, very kindly
undertook to do, although the river, the Orontes, was
so violent, that he felt more than once an inclination
to turn back. However, suspecting nothing, he pro-
ceeded according to the directions of his guide, when,
all of a sudden, he and his horse fell into such deep
water, that each swam separately ashore ; and when
Bruce went to dry himself at a caphar or turnpike,
the man told him that the place at which he had
attempted to cross was an old bridge, one arch of
which had long ago been carried away ; that he had
consequently fallen into the very deepest part of the
river ; and that the people who had misguided him
were an infamous banditti. From Hassia, Bruce and
his party went to Cariateen, when, to their great sur-
prise, they found about two thousand of the Anneci
encamped; they were treated with civility, and passed
the desert between Cariateen and Palmyra in a day and
two nights, constantly proceeding without sleeping.

Weary and exhausted, they ascended a hill of
white gritty stone, hemmed in by a narrow winding

PALMYRA AND BAALBEC. 51

road, but when they reached the summit, " there
opened before us," says Bruce, " the most astonishing,
stupendous sight that perhaps ever appeared to mortal
eyes. The whole plain below, which was very exten-
sive, was covered so thick with magnificent buildings,
that one seemed to touch the other, — all of fine pro-
portions,— all of agreeable forms, — all composed of
white stones, which, at that distance, appeared like
marble. At the end of it stood the palace of the sun,
a building worthy to close so magnificent a scene."

Between the human mind and the body there is
that sympathetic union, that the one always shares
its prosperity with the other, and Bruce, both enrap-
tured and refreshed with the scene before him, only
thought how he could copy it to the greatest advan-
tage, lie therefore, assisted by Balugani, divided
Palmyra into six angular views, bringing into the1
foreground of each some edifice or group of columns
particularly worthy of delineation. These views were
drawn upon very large paper, and on so large a scale,
that the columns in some of them were a foot long,
and several of the figures in the foreground of the
temple of the sun nearly four inches in height. Having
finished thirteen of these large drawings, he and his
party quitted Palmyra, and travelled about one hun-
dred and thirty miles to Baalbec, the interior of the
great temple of which surpassed, in Bruce's opinion,
anything he had even seen at Palmyra. Having
taken a number of views, he proceeded by Tyre; and,
as he says, " much fatigued, but satisfied beyond mea-
sure with what I had seen, — I arrived in perfect
health, and in the gayest humour possible, at the
hospitable mansion of M. Clerambaut, at Sidon."

He there found letters from Europe in reply to
those which lie had written, announcing the loss of his
instruments at Bengazi. From his friend, Dr. RusseJ,
E 2

52 LIFE OF BRUCE.

at London, he learned that a reflecting telescope, as
also an achromatic one by Dolland, had been for-
warded to him — from Paris he received a timepiece
and a stop-watch — and from Louis XV., who had
heard from the Count de Buffon of Bruce's misfortune
at Bengazi, he had the honour of receiving a qua-
drant, which had belonged to the Military Academy
at Marseilles. Flattered at the support he had thus
received, and delighted with the acquisition of these
instruments, he resolved no longer to delay his voyage
to Egypt, particularly as three years had already
elapsed since he quitted Algiers ; accordingly, on the
15th of June, 1768, he sailed from Sidon for Alex-
andria. The vessel touched at Cyprus ; but, occupied
with his immense undertaking, Bruce naturally says
of this island — " I had no curiosity to see it. My
mind was intent upon more uncommon, more distant,
and more painful voyages. But the master of the
vessel had business of his own which led him thither :
with this I the more readily complied, as we had not
yet got certain advice that the plague had ceased in
Egypt; and it still wanted some days to the festival
of St. John, which is supposed to put an end to that
cruel distemper *."

Thus detained at Cyprus, Bruce's thoughts arid
dreams were enthusiastically filled with the distant
object of his ambition ; and as Mahomet is said to
have once walked to the mountain because it declined
to visit him, so did Bruce indulge himself with the
contrary idea, that he saw the waters of the Nile

* During the plague at Malta, the writer of this volume often
heard the Maltese predict, many months before the festival of St.
John, that the disorder would cease by that day, and so in fact it
did. The Maltese priests, of course, declared that St. John had
killed it ; but the English doctors, with greater reason, attributed
its departure to excessive heat, which, as well as excess of cold, has
generally been observed to arrest the contagion.

SAILS FOR CYPRUS. 53

flying towards him in the heavens of Cyprus. " "We
observed," he says, " a number of thin white clouds
moving with great rapidity from south to north, in
direct opposition to the course of the Etesian winds ;
these were immensely high. It was evident they
came from the mountains of Abyssinia, where, having
discharged their weight of rain, and being pressed by
the lower current of heavier air from the northward,
they had mounted to possess the vacuum, and returned
to restore the equilibrium to the northward, whence
they were to come back, loaded with vapour from
Mount Taurus, to occasion the overflowing of the
Nile, by breaking against the high and rugged moun-
tains of the south. Nothing could be more agreeable
to me than that sight, and the reasoning upon it. I
already with pleasure anticipated the time in which I
should be a spectator first, afterwards an historian of
this phenomenon, hitherto a mystery through all
ages : I exulted in the measures I had taken ! "

These and many similar enthusiastic exclamations
have severely brought upon Bruce the cold, unfeeling,
sarcastic sneer of the critic. In the quiet occupations
of civilised, domestic, and fashionable life, it is
unusual, and it is always termed " vulgar," to act by^
or speak from, the first dictates of the heart, yet, on
all dangerous services, these are absolutely necessary
to propel ; the heart, that weak engine of life, requires,
for extra work, more coals ; and if, under trying cir-
cumstances, men are to be denied the natural excite-
ment of their feelings, how are ships to be boarded —
how are breaches to be mounted — how is the African
traveller to be urged forward on his course ? AVI ion
Captain Parry left this country, on the coldest and
most cheerless expedition that man ever undertook, he
sailed from us, enthusiastically hoping " that he might
fix the British flag on the north-pole of the earth ! "
— " A peerage or Westminster Abbey ! " exclaimed

54 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Nelson, as he rushed forward with his men to board
the San Josef. Let the cynic sit in his tub, the moral-
ist in his chair, and let the critic reign in his garret,
" the monarch of all he surveys " — the sunshine of the
one, and the speculation of the others, are pleasures
which they have long peacefully enjoyed ; but they
surely ought not to interfere with the real difficulties
of life, or coldly to ridicule those eager feelings with-
out which such difficulties positively could not be
surmounted.

But Bruce has already sailed from Cyprus, and pre-
vious to the first introduction to the waters of the
Nile, it may not be improper, for one moment, calmly
and dispassionately to consider how far he was quali-
fied for the attempt which he was about to undertake.
Being thirty-eight years of age, he was at that period
of life in which both the mind and body of man are
capable of their greatest possible exertions. During
his travels and residence in Europe, Africa, and Asia,
he had become practically acquainted with the religion,
manners, and prejudices of many countries different
from his own ; and he had learned to speak the French,
Italian, Spanish, modern Greek, Moorish, and Arabic
languages. Full of enterprise, enthusiastically devoted
to the object he had in view, accustomed to hardship,
inured to climate as well as to fatigue, he was a man
of undoubted courage, in stature six feet four, and
with this imposing appearance, possessing great per-
sonal strength ; and, lastly, in every proper sense of
the word, he was a gentleman ; and no man about to
travel, can give to his country a better pledge for vera-
city, than when, like Bruce, his mind is ever retro-
spectively viewing the noble conduct of his ancestors
— thus showing that he considers lie has a stake in
society, which, by the meanness of falsehood or exag-
geration, lie would be unable to transmit unsullied to
his posterity.

55

CHAPTER IV.

Bruce arrives at Cairo — Has very singular Interviews \vith the
Bey — Sails up the Nile — Gains a promise of Protection from the
Arabs Ababde — Visits the Sepulchres of Thebes — Reaches the
Cataract of Syene — Descends the Nile to Keffe.

IT was in the beginning of July, in the year 1768,
that Bruce arrived at Cairo, recommended to the
very hospitable house of Julian and Bertram, to whom
he imparted his resolution of pursuing his journey
into Abyssinia. The wildness of the intention
seemed to strike them greatly, and they did all in
their power to dissuade him against it ; but seeing
that he was resolved, they then kindly offered him
every possible assistance.

As the government of Cairo had always been
jealous of the enterprise which Bmce had undertaken,
and as a regular prohibition had often been made by
the Porte, Bruce pretended that his destination was
to India. He appeared in public as seldom as possi-
ble, unless disguised, and was soon considered as a
fakir, or dervish, moderately skilled in magic, and
who cared for nothing but books and study ; a repu-
tation which enabled him privately. to purchase many
Arabic manuscripts, which his knowledge of the Ian -
guage assisted him to select. Of the French resi-
dents, Bruce speaks in very high terms ; however,
rather sparing in his praises of the government, he
adds, " but a more brutal, unjust, tyrannical, oppres-
sive, avaricious set of infernal miscreants, there is

56 LIFE OF BRUCE.

not on earth, than are the members of the government
of Cairo ! "

This government had consisted of twenty-four
Beys ; but there were only seven when Bruce was
at Cairo, one of whom commanded the whole. This
Bey, the celebrated Ali, with all his good sense and
understanding, was still a Mameluke, and had the
principles of a slave. Three men, of different re-
ligions, possessed his confidence, and governed his
councils, all at one time. The first was a Greek,
the second a Jew, and the third an Egyptian Copt,
his secretary. " It would have required," says Bruce,
" a great deal of discernment and penetration to have
determined Avhich of these was the most worthless,
or most likely to betray him.

" The secretary, whose name was Risk, had the
address to supplant the other two, at the time they
thought themselves at the pinnacle of their glory,
overawing every Turk, and robbing every Christian.
The Greek was banished from Egypt, and the Jew
bastinadoed to death. Such is the tenure of Egyp-
tian ministers ! Risk professed astrology, and the
Bey, like all other Turks, believed in it implicitly.
To this folly, he sacrificed his own good understand-
ing ; and Risk, probably in pay to Constantinople,
led him from one wild scheme to another, till he
undid him — by the stars 1 "

When Bruce's cases of instruments were opened
at the custom-house of Alexandria, they naturally
prepossessed Risk. in favour of their owner's superior
knowledge in astrology. The Jew, who was master
of the custom-house, was ordered not to take them
out of their places, or even to touch them, and they
were forwarded to Bruce without duty or fees. The
next day Risk waited upon him, and when the Bri-
tish traveller offered him a small present for himself

RESIDENCE AT CAIRO. 57

and a very handsome one for his master, he was most
agreeably surprised to find it returned with a mes-
sage, " that he was under the immediate protection
of the Bey." This mysterious politeness was more
than Bruce could comprehend. He had not even
seen the Bey, and it could not be any prepossession
in his favour. He was an absolute stranger in the
land, and he therefore resolved to ask the advice of
one of his friends, who instantly cautioned him
against either offending or trusting himself in the
hands of Risk, — a merciless man, capable of the
blackest designs.

In a short time, this Copt came to Bruce* s land-
lord, to inquire about his knowledge of the stars.
The landlord, seeing the drift of the inquiry, spoke
highly of the stranger's superior science, which he
described as being sufficient to foretell the destinies
of the Bey. Accordingly, in a few days, Bruce
received a letter from Risk, desiring him to go to
the convent of St. George, (about three miles from
Cairo,) where the Greek patriarch would receive him,
and where he would also receive the Bey's further
orders. On reaching the convent, he was accosted
by the venerable patriarch, Father Christopher, the
identical person who had lived under his roof at
Algiers, and by whom he had been taught to speak
the modern Greek. From this worthy man he
learned that there were many Greeks then in Abys-
sinia, all of them in high power, and some holding
the first places in the empire ; that they corresponded
with the patriarch whenever an opportunity offered ;
that at all times they held him in great respect ; that
his will, when signified to them, was of the greatest
authority, and that obedience was paid to it as to
holy writ. Father Christopher offered, with the

58 LIFE OF BRUCE.

greatest kindness, to address letters in favour of
Bruce, and three copies were accordingly sent by
different ways, accompanied by a nadmonitory epistle-
general to the whole of the Greeks in Abyssinia,
which, in form of a bull, was concocted by Bruce
himself, assisted by his excellent and venerable friend.
By this the patriarch desired that instead of pretend-
ing to put themselves on a footing with the traveller,
who was about to arrive at the court of Abyssinia,
they should unite in doing everything in their power
to serve him ; that he was the free citizen of a power-
ful nation — that they were slaves, who were only fit
to be his servants ; and that, in fact, one of their
countrymen was actually living in that capacity with
Bruce. These sour observations were artfully mixed
up with a very savoury pardon for all their past sins,
which was to be granted to them for the attentions
they were to pay the stranger.

One night, about nine o'clock, Risk sent to Bruce
desiting him to come to the Bey ; and he accordingly
entered his presence. He was presented to a young
man, sitting upon a large sofa, covered with crimson
and cloth of gold ; his turban, his girdle, and the
head of his dagger sparkled with diamonds, one of
which was of extraordinary size. He entered abruptly
into discourse about the war between Russia and the
Turks, and asked Bruce if he had calculated what
would be the consequence of that war. With be-
coming gravity our astrologer replied, " That the
Turks would be beaten by sea and land wherever they
presented themselves." Again the Bey asked, " Whe-
ther Constantinople would be burned or taken ? "
" Neither," replied Bruce, with great dignity ; " but
after much bloodshed, peace will be made with little
advantage to either party."

RESIDENCE AT CAIRO. 59

The Bey struck his hands together, swore an oath
in Turkish, and, turning aside to Risk, he said, with
much emphasis, " That will be sad indeed ! . . . but
truth is truth, and God is merciful ! " He then offered
Bruce coffee, sweetmeats, and protection ; and,
having desired him to inform Risk if any one dared
to wrong him, dismissed him from his presence.

A few nights afterwards the Bey again sent for
Bruce. At the door he met the Janissary Aga, who
had absolute power over life and death, without appeal,
all over Cairo and its neighbourhood. Having learnt
that Bruce was the " Hakim Englese " (the English
physician), he politely asked him to prescribe for
him, as he was not very well. Bruce replied to him
in Arabic, that he could not then stay, as the Bey
was waiting. " No ! no ! go ! for God's sake, go !"
exclaimed the Aga ; " any time will do for me ! "

The Bey was sitting completely by himself; he
was leaning forward with a wax taper in one hand,
and holding in the other a small slip of paper close
to his eyes, which were apparently weak. He did
not perceive *Bruce until he was close to him, and
started when he heard the word "Sal am !" He at
first seemed hardly to know why he had sent for
Bruce, but at last, in a melancholy tone, complained
that he had been sick immediately after his dinner,
and that he was afraid something had been given to
do him mischief. Bruce felt his pulse, and, having
inquired whether his meat had been dressed in copper
properly tinned, he ordered the Bey to drink warm
tea and water until it should cause him to vomit.
The great man looked astonished, and asked Bruce
if he knew that he was a Mussulman. " Sir," replied
Bruce, " I am none ; I tell you what is good for
your body, and I have nothing to do with your reli-
gion or your soul ; " and with these words he took his

60 LIFE OF BRUCE.

departure, the Dey muttering to himself, " He speaks
like a man ! "

Next morning Risk came to the convent to say
that the Bey was" far from well, upon which Bruce
interrupted him by inquiring how the warm tea and
water had operated. Risk replied that the Bey had
not yet taken it, and then confessed, that, by desire
of his master, he was come to see how it was to be
made. Bruce soon showed this, by infusing a very
little green tea in a large quantity of warm water, on
which Risk insinuated that it would be further neces-
sary for Bruce to drink it, in order to show what
effect it would produce upon the Bey. Bruce, with
considerable dignity, declined being patient and phy-
sician at the same time, but very politely offered to
make Risk sick, which, he said, would equally an-
swer the purpose of instruction ; however, this sug-
gestion was not very readily attended to, and yet
Risk was evidently at a loss how to proceed. The
poor old excellent Greek priest, Father Christopher,
happening unluckily to intrude at this very moment,
it was intantly agreed to vomit the patriarch, who,
finding himself in danger, and that the odds were two
to one against him, instantly sent for a caloyer, or
young monk, who was absolutely turned inside out
before them.

Bruce now became anxious to quit his solitary
mansion at the convent : from Risk he procured
peremptory letters of recommendation to Sheikh
Haman, to the Governor of Syene, Ibrim, and Up-
per Egypt ; also letters from All Bey to the Bey of
Suez, to the Sherriffe of Mecca, to the Naybe or
governor of Masuah (the port of Abyssinia), and to
the King of Sennaar. Anxious to reduce his bag-
gage as much as possible, he tore from his books
those pages only which were likely to be of service

SAILS UP THE KILE. 61

to him, and having taken leave of the Bey, and bid-
ding adieu to his friends, he embarked with his little
party on the 12th December, to proceed up the Nile,
which, partly flowing from the distant mountains of
Abyssinia, meanders through the lifeless desert of
Nubia, and down the narrow valley or ravine of
Egypt, separated from sandy or rocky deserts, by two
chains of mountains which inclose this little strip of
irrigated land.

Bruce's boat or canja, which was to carry him to
Furshoot, the residence of Ham an, the Sheikh of
Upper Egypt, was about a hundred feet in length,
with two masts, each bearing an enormous latine
sail, the mainsail-yard being one hundred and twenty
feet in length. The cabin or dining-room was about
twenty feet square, with close latticed windows made
to admit the freshness of the air, and yet to be a
defence against a set of robbers on the Nile, who are
in the habit of swimming under wrater, or in the
dark on goat-skins, to pilfer from vessels everything
they can lay their hands on.

Previous to sailing, Bruce had taken the precau-
tion of applying to his useful friend, Mr. Secretary
Risk, concerning the captain of the canja, Ilagi
Hassan Abou Cuffi, who was obliged to deliver up
his son Mahomet as security for his own behaviour.
The wind being contrary, the canja was towed against
the stream by a rope, and it thus advanced but a few
miles to two convents of Copts, called Deireteen.
Here Bruce passed the night, having had a fine view
of the pyramids of Geeza and Saccara, and being-
still in sight of a prodigious number of other pyra-
mids, which, like beings of another world, seemed
everywhere to be haunting the desert. On the oppo-
site bank of the Nile, an animated picturesque scene

62 LIFE OF BRUCE.

was displayed in the encampment of a large party of
the Howadat Arabs.

On the morning of the 13th the canja unfurled her
vast sails, and slowly passed a considerable village
called Turra, on the east side of the river; and
Sheikh Atman, a small village of about thirty houses,
on the west. The Nile is here about a quarter of a
mile broad, the distance between the foot of the
mountain and the Libyan shore being about half a
mile ; and Bruce agrees with Herodotus in thinking
this the narrowest part of the valley termed Egypt.

In order to search for the ancient city of Mem-
phis, Bruce left his boat at Sheihk Atman, and,
entering a large and thick wood of palm-trees, con-
tinued this course until he came to several large
villages, called Metrahenni, all built among date-
trees, so as scarcely to be seen from the shore. The
people in these villages were of a yellow, sickly
colour, with dejected, inanimate countenances. To-
wards the south in the desert, as far as the eye can
reach, there are vast numbers of pyramids, some just
appearing like vessels at sea, above the horizon.
" A man's heart," says Bruce, " fails him in looking
to the south and south-west of Metrahenni ; he is
lost in the immense expanse of desert which he sees
full of pyramids before him. Struck with terror
from the unusual scene of vastness opened all at
once upon leaving the palm-trees, he becomes
dispirited from the effect of the sultry climate. From
ha'bits of idleness contracted at Cairo, — from the
stories he has heard of the bad government and
ferocity of the people, — from want of language and
want of plan, he shrinks from attempting any dis-
covery in the moving sands of Saccara, and embraces
in safety and in quiet the reports of others who he

SAILS UP THE NILE. 63

thinks have been more inquisitive and more adven-
turous than himself."

Various and conflicting are the opinions quoted by
Bruce as to the situation of Memphis, the old capital
of Egypt. Dr. Pococke looked for Memphis at
Metrahenni and Mohannen, because Pliny* says the
pyramids were between Memphis and the Delta ;
Mr. Niebuhr, the Danish traveller, agreed with Dr.
Pococke. Dr. Shaw quoted a contrary sentiment
from Pliny t ; he cited Diodorus Siculus +, who
describes Memphis at the point of the Delta ;
Pliny §, again, who says it was fifteen miles from
the Delta; and Herodotus ||, who declares that
Memphis lay under the sandy mountains of Lybia.
Dr. Shaw therefore warmly contended that Memphis
was at Gecza.

In this literary tournament, Bruce, with his usual
warmth of character, rides " ventre a terre" against
Dr. Shaw, and insists on placing Memphis at Metra-
henni. He denies that the point of the Delta itself
is a fixed and unalterable boundary — he quotes Dio-
dorus, who says that Memphis was placed in the
straits, or narrowest part of Egypt ; and to prove
that the ruins of this city were not altogether
destroyed in the time of the Ptolemies, he cites
Strabo, who says that when he was in Egypt,
Memphis was called the capital IF of Egypt, that
there was entire a temple of Osiris, — that the apis
or sacred ox was worshipped and kept there, and that
there was likewise " an apartment for the mother of
that ox !"

After the above argument, it is scarcely necessary

* Plin. lib. v. cap. 9.
f Plin. lib. xxxvi. cap. 12. J Diod. Sic. p. 45, § 50.

§ Shaw's Travels, cap 4, p. 298.
|| Lib. ii. pp. 141, 168, 105, 103. fl Strabo, lib. vii. p. 944.

64 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to remind the general reader that no vestige of
Memphis exists ! Amongst the super-scientific, its
ancient situation still remains a subject of dispute;
but considering how many real objects, points, and
situation, there are in creation of which we are
totally ignorant, it might surely be said of Memphis,
that " de non existantibus et de non apparentibus
eadem est ratio."

It was about four o'clock, the sun was on the
horizon, and the whole country was waiting for that
moment of placid enjoyment which, in a hot climate,
suddenly succeeds the painful heat of the day, when
Bruce returned from Metrahenni to the canja ; and
on the following morning, with a fair wind, and in
high spirits, he continued for some days to stem the
strong current of the Nile. He passed Regnagie,
Zaragara, and a series of picturesque villages, which
studded the highly cultivated and verdant country
that on both the right and left lay between the river
and the mountains. At Woodaii the Nile was about
a quarter of a mile broad, the cultivated ground
being about four miles in breadth on the east side of
the river, and about twice that distance to the foot
of the mountains on the west or opposite side. The
villages which gave life and animation to this
" happy valley/' were mostly surrounded by palm-
trees : and as Bruce, from the deck of the canja,
gazed upon them with feelings of curiosity and
delight, he, for some time, constantly inquired their
names of his rais or captain, but the man at last
honestly told him that he did not know what they
were called, and he added, that the boatmen on the
Nile being in the habit of passing these villages very
rapidly, and being only anxious to get to the end of
their voyage, seldom troubled themselves to learn
their names ; and that when tiresome questions were

'SAILS UP THE NILE. 65

put to them by inquisitive European travellers,
instead of confessing their ignorance, they were in
the habit of saying any word that came uppermost,
which, though sometimes of a ridiculous meaning,
and very often highly indecent, have nevertheless
gravely made their appearance in some of our books
of travels.

After passing with great velocity Nizelet, Em-
barcak, Cubabac, Nizelet Omar, Racca Kibeer, and
Racco Sequier, they came in sight of Alfia, a large
village at some distance from the Nile, in the vici-
nity of which they all passed the night. " All the
valley here," says Bnice, " is green, the palm grows
beautiful, and the Nile is deep — still it is not a pros-
pect that pleases, for the whole ground that is sown
to the sandy ascent of the mountains is but a narrow
strip of three- quarters of a mile broad ; and the
mountains themselves, which here begin to have
a moderate degree of elevation, and which bound this
narrow valley, are white, gritty, sandy, and uneven,
and perfectly destitute of all manner of verdure."

After having been detained a short time by foggy
weather, the canja sailed by a convent of Copts.
The strip of green wheat which had hitherto bounded
both shores of the Nile ceased for about half a mile
on each side of this convent, for the poor wretches
who inhabited it, accustomed to the merciless vio-
lence of the Arabs, declined to sow, knowing that
they would not be permitted to reap. At the village
of Nizelet begin large plantations of sugar-canes, the
first they had seen, and the people were then loading-
boats with them to proceed to Cairo.

Proceeding onwards, they came to large planta-
tions of dates, and beyond them the people were seen
occupied in cutting the sugar-canes. The houses
here had on their roofs receptacles for pigeons, from
F

66 LIFE OF BRUCE.

which was derived a considerable profit. The wind
had now become so strong, that the canja could
scarcely carry her sails ; the current was rapid, and
the velocity with which she dashed against the
water was terrible. " We came," says Bruce, " to a
village called Rhoda, where we saw the magnificent
ruins of the ancient city of Antinous, built by Adrian.
Unluckily I knew nothing of these ruins when I left
Cairo, and had taken no pains to provide myself
with letters of recommendation, as I could easily
have done. I asked the rais what sort of people
they were ? He said that the town was composed
of very bad Turks, very bad Moors, and very bad
Christians ; that several devils had been seen among
them lately, who had been discovered by being better
and quieter than any of the rest. After the character
we had of the inhabitants, all our fire-arms were
brought to the door of the cabin. In the mean time,
partly with my naked eye, and partly with my glass,
I observed the ruins so attentively as to be perfectly
in love with them."

While Bruce was thus gazing at these ruins, the
people or " devils " on shore attacked some of the
canja's boatmen : three shots were even fired at the
vessel, which Bruce returned by discharging his
blunderbuss. The crew were very desirous to go on
shore to fire upon the people ; but Bruce, an old
traveller, with a very proper esprit de corps^ says,
44 Besides that I had no inclination of that kind, I was
very loth to frustrate the attempts of some future
traveller, who may add this to the great remains of
architecture we have preserved already." He there-
fore continued his course ; and while his mind was
secretly exulting in the reflection, that every hour
was bringing him towards the ultimate object of his
ambition, his attention was most agreeably diverted

SAILS UP THE NILE. 67

by the various objects which passed in succession
before him. Village after village came in sight ; at
times the shore was covered with date-trees, and
occasionally with the acacia — that solitary inhabitant
of all deserts, from the most northern part of Arabia
to the extremity of Ethiopia. A considerable part
of the west shore was cultivated and sown from the
very foot of the mountains to the water's edge, the
grain having been merely thrown upon the mud as
soon as ever the wTater had left it ; the wheat was at
this time about four inches high, the acacia-trees on
the opposite side in full flower. Every object, however
trifling, or however serious, seemed to claim some
affinity with Bruce's attention, and to offer him some
moral. " I was very well pleased," he says, " to see
here, for the first time, two shepherd-dogs, lapping
up the water from the stream, then lying down in it
with great seeming leisure and satisfaction. It re-
futed the old fable, that the dogs living on the banks of
the Nile run as they drink for fear of the crocodile."

At Achnim there is a hospice or convent of
Franciscans : — " They received us," says Bruce,
" civilly, and that was just all. I think I never knew
a number of priests met together who differed so little
in capacity and knowledge, having barely a routine
of scholastic disputation; on every other subject
inconceivably ignorant." These priests lived in ease
and safety, being protected by the Arab chieftain
Hamam; and their acting as physicians reconciled
them to the people.

Sailing from Achnim, Bruce passed Girge, the
largest town he had seen since he left Cairo. The
Nile makes a loop or bend here. The next morning
Bruce and Balugani, impatient to visit the greatest
and most magnificent scene of ruins that are in
Upper Egypt, set out for Beliani, and about ten
F 2

68 LIFE OF BRUCE.

o'clock in the morning arrived at Dendera, with
letters from the Bey of Cairo to the two principal
men there, commanding them most peremptorily to
take care of Bruce ; and also a letter of very strong
recommendation to Sheikh Haman at Furshoot, in
whose territory they were. Bruce pitched his tent
by the river side, and from the people to whom he
was thus addressed he soon received a horse and
three asses to convey him to the ruins.

" Dendera," says Bruce, " is a considerable town at
this day, all covered with thick groves of palm-trees,
the same that Juvenal describes it to have been in
his time. . . . This place is governed by a cashief,
appointed by Sheikh Haman. A mile south of the
town are the ruins of two temples, one of which is
so much buried under ground that little of it is to
be seen; but the other, which is by far the most
magnificent, is entire, and accessible on every side.
It is also covered with hieroglyphics, both within
and without, all in relief, and of every figure, simple
and compound, that ever has been published or
called a hieroglyphic. Great part of the colouring
yet remains upon the stones ; red in all its shades,
especially that dark, dusky colour called Tyrian
purple ; yellow very fresh ; sky-blue (that is, near
the blue of an eastern sky, several shades lighter
than ours) ; green of different shades : these are all
the colours preserved. It was no part of my plan
or inclination to enter into the detail of this extra-
ordinary architecture ; quantity and solidity are two
principal requisites, that are seen here with a ven-
geance ! It strikes and imposes on you at first sight ;
but the impressions are like those made by the size
of mountains, which the mind does not retain for
any considerable time after seeing them. I think
a very ready hand might spend six months, from

SAILS UP THE NILE 69

morning to night, before lie could copy the hierogly-
phics in the inside of the temple."

The next day the canja proceeded to the convent
of Italian friars at Furshoot, who received Bruce
much more kindly than the monks of Achnim.
Furshoot is situated in a large cultivated plain, and
the population of the town is very considerable.
Bruce had only hired the canja to proceed to this
place, but being on good terms writh the rais or
captain, he prevailed upon him to take him on to
Syene and bring him back to Furshoot for four
pounds, with a trifling premium if he behaved well.
" And if you behave ill," said Bruce, " what do you
think you will deserve ?" " To be hanged !" replied
the rais.

On the 7th of January, 1769, Bruce left Furshoot ;
and sailing by How, he came to El Gourni, which
he thinks might have been part of ancient Thebes.
" About half-a-mile north of El Gourni," says Bruce,
" are the magnificent, stupendous sepulchres of
Thebes ; a hundred of these, it is said, are excavated
into sepulchral and a variety of other apartments.
I went through seven of them with a great deal of
fatigue. It is a solitary place ; and my guides,
either from a natural impatience and distaste that
these people have at such employments, or their
fears of the banditti that live in the caverns of the
mountains were real, importuned me to return to
the boat even before I had begun my search, or got
into the mountain where are the many large apart-
ments of which I was in quest."

In one of these sepulchres Bruce and Balugani
found three harps painted in fresco upon the panels.
" As the first harp," says Bruce, " seemed to be the
most perfect and least spoiled, I immediately attached
myself to this, and desired my clerk to take upon

70 LIFE OF BRUCE.

him the charge of the second. My first drawing was
that of a man playing upon a harp."

We must here observe, that when Bruce, on his
return to England, published his drawings of these
sketches, his enemies declared very positively that
he had come by them unfairly ; by much sophistry
they endeavoured to prove that Bruce had never
been in the sepulchres at all ; and even Brown, who
visited Thebes, has insinuated that Bruce must have
drawn them in England from memory. Now, in
contradiction to this illiberal accusation, it must be
stated, that pencilled sketches of the two harps are
still preserved among Brace's papers, and that one
of them at least is evidently the work of Luigi
Balugani, who did not live to return to Europe :
however, still Bruce was disbelieved, and it was
positively maintained that he had never been at the
sepulchre at all ; but sooner or later truth always
prevails. The following is an extract (page 148)
from " Travels in Egypt and Nubia, &c., by the
Hon. Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles,
Commanders in the Royal Navy ; printed for private
distribution. London. 1823."

" We (Captains Irby and Mangles, attended by
Belzoni) now explored the other tombs (at Thebes),
but found nothing new to add to our former observa-
tions. In the small chamber where Bruce copied
the harp he gave to Mr. Burney for his history of
music, ice saw that travellers name scratched over
the very harp, which we think strong presumptive
evidence that he drew it himself, though he has been
accused of drawing it afterwards from memory. He
is erroneous in the number of strings which he has
given to it : the instrument itself is not unlike the
original, though the musician is very indifferently
copied,"

VISITS THE SEPULCHRES OF THEBES. 71

After roughly copying these ancient harps, which
Bruce little thought would ever be made to vibrate
to the dishonour of his character, he made prepara-
tions for proceeding further in his researches, but
his conductors lost all subordination. They were
afraid his intention was to sit in this cave all night,
(it really was,) and to visit the rest next morning.
With great clamour and marks of discontent they
dashed their torches against the largest harp, and
scrambling out of the cave, left Bruce and Balugani
in the dark. With some difficulty they groped
their way out of these ancient, gloomy sepulchres
of the dead ; and, as soon as they came to the sun-
shine and freshness of the living world, they aban-
doned all further research and rode to the boat. At
midnight, a gentle breeze springing up, the canja
was wafted up to Luxor, where Bruce was well
received by the governor, who gave him a quantity
of provisions : among these were some lemons and
sugar, with which he made for himself and his party
a regular bowl of punch, which they drank in " re-
membrance of Old England."

" Luxor," says Bruce, " and Carnac, a mile and a
quarter below it, are by far the largest and most
magnificent scenes of ruins in Egypt, much more
extensive and stupendous than those of Thebes and
Dendera put together."

Two days after the canja had sailed from Luxor,
it reached Sheikh Amner, the encampment of the
Arabs Ababde ; and as this tribe extends from
Cosseir on the Red Sea far into the desert which
Bruce was to cross, he thought it politic and highly
important to cultivate their protection.

Sheikh Amner is a collection of villages, composed
of miserable huts, which contained, in Bruce's esti-
mation, about a thousand effective men, who possessed

72 LIFE OP BRUCE.

few horses, being principally mounted on camels.
They formed the barrier, or bulwark, against the
prodigious number of Arabs, principally the Bisha-
reen, who are nominally the subjects of the kingdom
of Sennaar. Ibrahim, the son of Sheikh, who
had known Bruce at Furshoot, and had received
from him medicines for his father, recognised him
the moment he arrived ; and, after acquainting his
father, he came with about a dozen naked attendants,
armed with lances, to escort Bruce, who had no
sooner arrived at the tent of the Sheikh, than a great
dinner was placed before him.

Bruce and his party were then introduced to the
old Sheikh, who was very ill, and lying in the corner
of the tent on a carpet, his head resting on a cushion.
This veteran chief of the Ababde, called Nimmer,
which means " the Tiger," was a man of about sixty
years of age, suffering dreadfully from a most painful
disorder, which, though very common among those
who drink water from the draw-wells of the desert,
is seldom met with on the banks of the Nile. Bruce
had sent to this man, from Badjoura, a number of
soap pills, which had afforded him very great relief;
and he now gave him lime-water, promising that on
his return he would teach his people how to make
it. After a long conversation with this " Royal
Tiger," whose savage disposition seemed to have
been softened by feelings of pain and gratitude,
Bruce asked him to tell him truly, on the faith of
an Arab, (which he knew these wild 'people nobly
prided themselves in maintaining inviolate,) whether
his tribe, if they met him in the desert, would forget
that he had on that day eaten and drank with their
chieftain ?

" The old man Nimmer," says Bruce, " on this rose
from his carpet, and sat upright — a more ghastly

PROTECTED BY THE ABABDE. 73

and more horrid figure I never saw. c No ! ' said
he, 4 Sheikh, cursed be those men of my people, or
others, that ever shall lift up their hand against you,
either in the desert or the tell *. As long as you
are in this country, or between this and Cosseir, my
son shall serve you with heart and hand ; . . . one
night of pain that your medicines freed me from,
would not be repaid if I were to follow you on foot
to Messir t / "

Bruce now thought it a proper moment to unfold,
for the first time, that his real object was to get
into Abyssinia. The Sheikh kindly and calmly
discussed the subject, and concluded by advising
him to retrace his steps to Kenne, or Cuft, on the
Nile, from thence to cross the desert to Cosseir, a
port on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea — from
thence to go over to Jidda, which is on the opposite
side of the gulf, near Mecca, and from that port to
sail for Abyssinia ; he added that he himself was
sending a cargo of wheat to Cosseir, to be again
shipped for Jidda. " But," said Bruce, (who thought
it prudent once again publicly to touch a string, the
very sound of which was most important to his
safety,) " all that is right, Sheikh ; yet suppose your
people meet me in the desert, in going to Cosseir or
otherwise, how should we fare in that case ? Should
we fight ? " "I have told you, Sheikh, already,"
replied the Tiger, " cursed be the man who lifts his
hand against you !"

Encouraged by the repetition of this uncouth
benediction, Bruce frankly told the Nimmer that he
would proceed to Cosseir — that he was Yagoube —
seeking to do good, and bound by a vow to wander
through deserts.

* The part of Egypt which is cultivated. f Cairo.

74 LIFE OF BRUCE.

The old man, after some thought, muttered
something to his sons, in a dialect which Bruce did
not understand ; and while, pretending to take no
notice, he was occupying himself in mixing some
lime-water, the whole hut was suddenly filled with
priests, monks, and the heads of families. After
joining hands, and solemnly mumbling, for about
two minutes, a kind of wild prayer, in various atti-
tudes, they declared themselves and their children
accursed if ever they lifted their hands against Ya-
goube in the tell, in the desert, or on the river ; and
then, muttering curses between their teeth on the
name of Turk, the unearthly-looking crew vanished.
" Medicines and advice," says Bruce, " being given on
my part, faith and protection pledged on theirs, two
bushels of wheat and seven sheep were carried down
to the boat ; nor could we decline their kindness, as
refusing a present in that country, however it is un-
derstood in ours, is just as great an affront as coming
into the presence of a superior without any present
at all."

The tact with which Bruce worms his way through
the various difficulties that oppose 'him — softening
the most rigid prejudices, and often managing to
convert a barbarous enmity into disinterested friend-
ship, will appear through the whole of his travels ;
and we cannot now refrain from remarking how ill-
advised poor Denham surely was, to attempt to pe-
netrate Africa by going against this stream, dressing
himself in the mean, detested garments of a Euro-
pean. Denham says, " We were the first English
travellers in Africa who had resisted the persuasion
that a disguise was necessary, and who had determined
to travel in our real character as Britons and Chris-
tians, and to wear, on all occasions, our English
dresses :" and what was the result ? — " ' What do you

MAJOR DENIIAM. 75

do here ? ' said some women, who accosted him ;
4 you are a Kaffir, khaleel ! It is you Christians,
with the blue eyes like the hyaena, that eat the
blacks whenever you can get them far enough away
from their own country !' 4 God deliver me from
his evil eye !' said a young girl. ' He is/ cried
another, * an uncircumcised Kaffir ; neither washes
nor prays ! eats pork ! and will go to hell/ ' Turn
him out ! ' said the Kadi ; ' God forbid that any
one who has eaten with Christians should give
evidence in the laws of Mohamed !' ' Oh ! oh !
the Lord preserve us from the infernal devil !' they
all exclaimed, and screaming 4 Y-hy-yo, y-hy-yo !'
they all ran off in the greatest alarm." (Denham,
vol. ii. p. 40.)

Some years ago, the Bey of Tripoli, who gave
permission to Captain Smyth, R.N., and Mr. War-
rington, to excavate, explore, and carry away the
ruins of ancient Leptis, made the following replies
to Captain Smyth and the British consul, who offici-
ally waited upon him to ask his advice as to the
best mode of getting into the interior of Africa.

Q. Does your Highness imagine it difficult for a
party to reach the Nile (Niger) through the domi-
nions of your friend the king of Bornou ?

A. Not in the least : the road to Bornou is as
beaten as that to Bengazi.

Q. Will your Highness grant protection to a party
wishing to proceed that way ?

A. Any person wishing to go in that direction (it
was the very same route wrhich Denham took),
I will send an embassy to Bornou to escort him
thither, and from thence the king will protect him
to the Nile. But I must first clothe him as a
Turk.

76 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Q. Will he not be subject to much troublesome
inquiry on that head ?

A. No ; but he must not say he is a Christian :
people in the interior are very ignorant.

It is with painful reluctance that we have paused
for a moment in Bruce's history to make the above
observations ; but the advice which was given to
poor Denham and his gallant companions may be
again given to others ; and as the proper mode of
penetrating Africa is a most important problem in
which the lives of future travellers are involved, we
only beg the reader henceforward to observe the
effect which Bruce's plan of attack produces, and
then to judge for himself whether the traveller,
who wishes to penetrate Africa, should publicly
proclaim himself " a Briton and a Christian," or
not. That he should inwardly be both, no one,
we hope, will deny ; yet religion, like loyalty, need
not vauntingly be displayed ; and as we know that
the African abhors and despises both our religion
and our dress, why should we irritate his prejudices
by wilfully unfurling these flags of defiance ? Most
particularly as regards the useless fashion of our
dress, which is so very badly adapted to the climate,
that at least it may he maintained that English
breeches, stockings, and " coats cut to the quick,"
are more relished by the phlebotomising musquitoes
of Africa than by its human inhabitants. 'Within
the tropics, even the sheep wears hair instead of
wool. — Why, then, should "a Briton" insist on
carrying his fleecy hosiery to the Line ?

Bruce being within a day of the cataracts of Syene,
called by the Arabs Assuan, sailed on the 20th for
that town, and had scarcely arrived, when an un-
armed janissary, dressed in long Turkish clothes, and

CATARACTS OF SYENE. 77

holding in his hand a white wand, came to tell him
that Syene was a garrison town, and that the Aga
was at the castle ready to give him an audience,
having received a most particular letter from the
Bey of Cairo. " I found the Aga," says Bruce,
" sitting in a small kiosk, or closet, upon a stone
bench with carpets. As I was in no fear of him, I
was resolved to walk according to my privileges. I
sat down upon a cushion below him, after laying my
hand on my breast, and saying, in an audible voice,
' Salam alicum ! ' (Peace be between us ;) to which
he answered, without any of the usual difficulty,
1 Alicum salum ! ' (There is peace between us.)
After sitting down about two minutes, I again got
up, and stood in the middle of the room before him,
saying, ' I am bearer of a hatesheriffe, or royal
mandate to you, Mahomet Aga ! ' and took the
firman out of my bosom, and presented it to him.
Upon this he stood upright, and all the rest of the
people, before sitting with him, likewise ; he bowed
his head upon the carpet, then put the firman to his
forehead, opened it, and pretended to read it : but he
knew well the contents, and, I believe, besides, he
could neither read nor write any language. I then
gave him the other letters from Cairo, which he
ordered his secretary to read in his ear.

" All this ceremony being finished, he called for a
pipe and coffee. I refused the first, as never using
it, but I drank a dish of coffee, and told him that I
was bearer of a confidential message from AH Bey of
Cairo, and wished to deliver it to him without wit-
nesses, whenever he pleased. The room was accord-
ingly cleared without delay, excepting his secretary,
who was also going away, when I pulled him back
by the clothes, saying, ' Stay, if you please, we shall
need you to write the answer/ We were no sooner

78 LIFE OF BRUCE.

left alone, than I told the Aga, that, being a stran-
ger, and not knowing the disposition of his people,
or what footing they were on together, and being
desired to address myself only to him by the Bey,
and our mutual friends at Cairo, I wished to put it
in his power (as he pleased or not) to have witnesses
. of delivering the small present I had brought him
from Cairo. The Aga seemed very sensible of
this delicacy; and particularly desired me to take no
notice to my landlord, the Schourbatchie, of anything
I had brought him.

" All this being over, and a confidence established
with government, I sent his present by his own ser-
vant that night, under the pretence of desiring horses
to go to the cataract next day. The message was
returned, that the horses were to be ready by six
o'clock next morning. On the 21st, the A«ga sent
me his own horse, with mules and asses for my ser-
vants, to go to the cararact."

Having thus judiciously cleared the way before
him, Bruce proceeded to the small villages of the
cataract, which are about six miles from Assuan ;
and on arriving at what is termed the cataract, he
was much surprised to find that vessels could sail up
it, the river being there not half a mile broad, but
divided into a number of small channels. During
the whole of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of January,
he was occupied with his instruments, besides which
he made many other observations and memoranda ;
and on the 25th of January, 1769, he prepared to
descend the river.

Fain would he have continued to have stemmed
the torrent, and it was with secret pain and silent
reluctance that BRUCE turned his back upon the
sources of the Nile ! Yet the advice he had received,
and the journey which had been recommended to

DESCENDS THE NILE. 79

him, he had firmly determined to pursue ; and, ac-
cordingly, on the 26th of January, he embarked at
Syene, from the very spot where he again took boat
more than three years afterwards.

To his bold, enterprising mind, there was now a
melancholy change in the picture. The canja was
no longer to be seen proudly striding over the
element which opposed her, but with her prodigious
mainsail lowered, and even with her masts unshipped,
broadside foremost, she was carried down the stream
in helpless captivity. From her deck no longer
resounded those exclamations of eager delight and
sudden surprise which had ushered each new object
into view ; the scene had lost its freshness and its
bloom — the magic, lovely charm of novelty !

In passing Sheikh Amner, Bruce called upon his
patient Nimmer, (the Tiger,) Sheikh of the Ababde,
who was better, and as thankful as ever. Bruce
renewed his prescriptions, and he his offers of service.

On the second of February he again took up his
quarters at Badjoura, in the house which had for-
merly been consigned to him. " As I was now," says
Bruce, " about to enter on that part of my expedition
in which I was to have no further intercourse with
Europe, I set myself to work to examine all my
observations, and put my journal in such forward-
ness by explanations where needful, that the labour
and pains I had hitherto been at might not be totally
lost to the public if I should perish in the journey I
had undertaken, which, from all information I could
procure, every day appeared to be more and more
desperate. Having finished these, at least so far as
to make them intelligible to others, I conveyed them
to my friends, Messrs. Julian and Rosa, at Cairo, to
remain in their custody till I should return, or news
came that I was otherwise disposed of."

80

CHAPTER V.

Bruce crosses the Desert to the Red Sea — Meets with the Arabs
Ababde at Cosseir — His Adventures in the Red Sea — Arrives at
Massuah, the ancient Harbour of Abyssinia.

IT was on Thursday, the 16th of February*, 1769,
that Bruce joined the caravan which was setting out
from Kenne, the Ccene Emporium of antiquity.
They passed through a few dirty villages of the
Azaizy, a poor inconsiderable tribe of Arabs, who
exist by supplying cattle for and by attending cara-
vans. The huts of these poor people, which are
made of clay in one piece, in the shape of a bee-hive,
are seldom above ten feet high, and six feet in dia-
meter. After travelling nearly the whole day, Bruce
pitched his tent at Gabba, about a mile from the
borders of the desert ; and here he passed the night.
On the 17th, at eight o'clock in the morning, he
ordered his servants to mount their horses, in order
to take charge of their own camels, for there was an
indescribable confusion in the caravan, which was
to be guarded by two hundred lawless, cowardly
fellows, armed with firelocks and mounted on horses.
When all was ready, the whole party, at a funereal
pace, slowly advanced into the gloomy region of the
desert. There was nothing in the prospect to excite

* By a letter which Bruce addressed from London to his friend
Mr. Wood, it appears that it was on the 16th of March he left
Kenn6 for Cosseir, but the 16th of February is the day stated in
his " Travels."

CROSSES THE DESERT. 81

the energies of the mind or to arouse the feelings.
Men and camels, and horses, drooping as they went,
Heeined alike to be aware that the courage they had
now to exert was only of the passive description ;
all that was required of them was — to suffer ! An^er,
hatred, and other revengeful feelings — which, like
brandy, too often make men thoughtless, and insen-
sible to danger — afforded them no such excitement.
They had not the savage pleasure of contending with
human enemies — the burning sand and the burning
eun it was out of their power to injure.

" Our road," says Bruce, " was all the way in an
open plain, bounded by hillocks of sand and fine
gravel, perfectly hard, and not perceptibly above
the level of the plain country of Egypt. About
twelve miles distant there is a ridge of mountains,
of no considerable height, perhaps the most barren
in the world. Between these our road lay through
plains never three miles broad, but without trees,
shrubs, or herbs. There are not even the traces of
any living creature, neither serpent nor lizard, ante-
lope nor ostrich, the usual inhabitants of the most
dreary deserts. There is no sort of water on the
surface, brackish or sweet. Even the birds seem to
avoid the place as pestilential, not having seen one
of any kind so much as flying over. The sun was
burning hot, and upon rubbing two sticks together,
in half a minute they both took fire and flamed, —
a mark how near the country was reduced to a general
conflagration."

In the evening the caravan was joined by twenty
Turks from Caramania, in Asia Minor. They were
mounted on camels, and armed with swords, a short
gun, and a brace of pistols in their girdles. Having
been informed that the large tent belonged to an
Englishman, they came to it without ceremony;
G

82 LIFE OP BRUCE.

told Bruce that they were pilgrims going to Mecca
— that they had been very badly treated in travelling
from Alexandria — that one of the swimming thieves
of the Nile had boarded their vessel, and had carried
off a portmanteau containing about two hundred
sequins in gold — that the Bey of Girge had given
them no redress — and, therefore, hearing that an
Englishman was in the caravan, they had come to
him to propose that they should join to defend each
other against all common enemies. " I cannot con-
ceal," says Bruce, " the secret pleasure I had in finding
the character of my country so firmly established
among nations so distant, enemies to our religion,
and strangers to our government. Turks from Mount
Taurus, and Arabs from the desert of Lybia, thought
themselves unsafe among their own countrymen, but
trusted their lives and their little fortunes implicitly
to the direction and word of an Englishman whom
they had never before seen ! "

The caravan was detained at Legeta the whole of
the 18th, by the arrival of these Turks; but early
in the morning of the 19th they proceeded along a
narrow plain, hemmed in by barren hills, of a brown
calcined colour, like the cinders on the sides of
Vesuvius. Passing some mountains of green and
red marble, they came into a plain called Hamra,
where they first observed the red sand ; and on the
morning of the 20th, after having mounted some
hills of porphyry, they began to descend. At noon
they came to a few single acacia-trees, which, after
rain, form a station for the Atouni Arabs, and at
night they encamped on a small barren plain. On
the 21st, in passing some defiles, they were alarmed,
by a false report that the Arabs were approaching.
At noon they encamped at Mesag el Terfowey,
where they got the first fresh water which they had

THE RED SEA. 83

tasted since they left the Nile. Next morning, before
day-break, the caravan was again in motion, having
learned that, only two days before, three hundred of
the Atouni had watered at Terfowey.

" It has been a wonder," says Bruce, " among all
travellers, and with myself among the rest, where the
ancients procured that prodigious quantity of fine
marble \vith which all their buildings abound. That
wonder, however, among many others, now ceases,
after having passed, in four days, more granite, por-
phyry, marble, and jasper, than would build Rome,
Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, Memphis, Alexandria,
and half a dozen such cities. About ten o'clock,
descending very rapidly, with green marble and jasper
on each side of us, but no other green thing what-
ever, we had the first prospect of the Red Sea."

To the eye wThich has for a length of time viewed
nothing but fertile land, the sight of the sea is always
delightful : it roams with pleasure over the wide
expanse of moving waters, revelling in the freedom
and freshness of a new element. But to the parched,
thirsting, and weary traveller, who has journeyed
over the scorched, arid, lifeless desert of Africa, in
whose imagination water is wealth, the sudden view
of the great ocean creates ecstatic feelings which it
is utterly impossible to describe.

Cossier is a small mud-walled village, built on the
shore of the Red Sea. It is defended by a square
fort, containing a few pieces of cannon, just sufficient
to terrify the Arabs from plundering the town, which
is often filled with corn going to Mecca, Brace
had an order from Sheikh Hamam to lodge in T!K
castle; however, a few hours before he arrived,
Hussein Bey, landing from Mecca and Jidda, had
taken possession of the apartments. This Bey, how-
ever, hearing that the English traveller ha-1

~

84 LIFE OF BRUCE.

finnan of the Grand Seignior, with letters from the
Bey of Cairo, and, moreover, that he had furnished
the stranger Turks with water in the desert, of his
own accord became acquainted with Bruce, treating
him with attention and respect, — which was no sooner
observed by his fellow-travellers, the Turks, than
they complained to Hussein Bey, that one of the
Arabs had attempted to rob them in the desert.

" What is the reason," said this great man, very
gravely, to Bruce, " that when you English people
know so well what good government is, you did
not order his head to be struck off when you had him
in your hands, before the door of the tent ? " " Sir,"
replied Bruce, with the real feelings of a ' Briton
and a Christian,' " I know well what good govern-
ment is, but, being a stranger and a Christian, I have
no sort of title to exercise the power of life and death
in this country ; only in this one case, when a man
attempts my life, then I think I am warranted to
defend myself, whatever may be the consequence to
him. My men took him in the fact, and they had
my orders, in such cases, to beat the offenders, so that
they should not steal these two months again. They
did so — that was punishment enough in cold blood."
" But my blood," interrupted the Bey, " never cools
with regard to such rascals as these. Go ! (he called
one of his attendants), tell Hassan, the head of the
caravan, from me, that unless he hangs that Arab
before sunrise to-morrow, I will carry him in irons
to Furshoot."

"While Bruce was at Cosseir, the caravan from
Syene arrived, escorted by four hundred Ababde,
armed with javelins, and mounted on camels, two on
each, sitting back to back : they conducted a thou-
sand camels laden with wheat. The whole town was
in terror at the influx of so many barbarians ; and

THE ABABDE. 85

even Bruce sent all his instruments, money, books,
and baggage, to a chamber in the castle. The fol-
lowing morning, as he was loitering in dishabille on
the shore, looking for sea-shells, one of his servants
came to him in great alarm, to say that the Ababde
had been told that Bruce's Arab, Abd-el-gin, was an
Atouni, their enemy, and that they had therefore
dragged him away to cut his throat. Bruce, dressed
as he was with a common red turban on his head,
vaulted on his servant's horse, and galloping through
the townspeople, who fancied, with alarm, that the
Ababde were pursuing him, reached the sands, and
proceeding as hard as he could go for nearly two miles
he saw a crowd of Arabs before him. Desirous to
save the life of the poor wretch, his servant, he had
totally forgotten his own safety.

" Upon my coming near them," says Bruce, "six
or eight of them surrounded me on horseback, and be-
gan to gabble in their own language. I was not very
fond of my situation. It would have cost them
nothing to have thrust a lance through my back, and
taken the horse away ; and, after stripping me, to
have buried me in a hillock of sand, if they were so
kind as to give themselves that last trouble. How-
ever, I pricked up courage, and putting on the best
appearance I could, said to them, steadily, without
trepidation, 4 What men are these before ?' The
answer, after some pause, was, * They are men ;' and
they looked very queerly, as if they meant to ask
each other, ' What sort of spark is this ?' 4 Are
those before us Ababde ?' said I ; ' are they from
Sheikh Amner ?' One of them nodded, and grunt-
ed sullenly, rather than said, ' Ay, Ababde, from
Sheikh Amner.' ' Then, salum alicum !' said I,
4 we are brethren. How does the Nimmer ? Who
commands you here? Where is Ibrahim?' At

86 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the mention of the Nimmer (the tiger) and Ibrahim,
their countenance changed, not to anything sweeter
or gentler than before, but to a look of great sur-
prise. They had not returned my salutation, ' Peace
be between us ;' but one of them asked me who I
was. ' Tell me first,' said I, ' who is that you have
before ?' ' It is an Arab, our enemy,' says he,
' guilty of our blood.' c It is not so,' replied I, ' he
is my servant, a Howadat Arab ; his tribe lives in
peace at the gates of Cairo, in the same manner yours
of Sheikh Amner does at those of Assouan. I ask
you, where is Ibrahim, your Sheikh's son?' ' Ibra-
him,' says he, 'is at our head; he commands us
here. But who are you ?' ' Come with me, and
show me Ibrahim,' said I, ' and I will show you
who I am.'

" I passed by these, and by another party of them.
They had thrown a hair rope about the neck of Abd-
el-gin, who was almost strangled already, and cried
out most miserably to me not to leave him. I went
directly to the black tent, which I saw had a long-
spear thrust up in the end of it, and met at the door
Ibrahim and his brother, and seven or eight Ababde.
He did not recollect me, but I dismounted close to
the tent door, and had scarcely taken hold of the pillar
of the tent, and said, c Fiarduc !' when Ibrahim
and his brother both knew me. c What !' said they,
4 are you Yagoube, our physician and our friend ?'
*> Let me ask you,' replied I, ' if you are the Ababde
of Sheikh Amner, that cursed yourselves and your
children if you ever lifted a hand against me or mine,
in the desert or in the ploughed field ? If you have
repented of that oath, or sworn falsely on purpose to
deceive me, here I am come to you in the desert.1
' What is the matter ?' said Ibrahim ; c we are the
Ababde of Sheikh Amner — there are no other ; and

THE RED SEA. 87

we still say, Cursed be he, whether our father or
child, that lifts his hand against you in the desert or
in the ploughed field.' 4 Then,' said I, ' you are
all accursed in the desert and in the field, for a num-
ber of your people are going to murder my servant.
They took him, indeed, from my house in the town ;
perhaps that is not included in your curse, as it is
neither in the desert nor the ploughed field.' I was
very angry. ' Whew !' said Ibrahim, with a kind
of whistle, ' that is downright nonsense. Who are
those of my people that have authority to murder
and take prisoners, while I am here ? Here, one of
you, get upon Yagoube's horse, and bring that man
to me.' Then, turning to me, he desired I would
go into the tent and sit down. ' For God renounce
me and mine,' says he, ' if it is as you say, and one
of them hath touched the hair of his head, if ever
he drinks of the Nile again !' A number of people,
who had seen me at Sheikh Amner, now came all
around me ; some with complaints of sickness, some
with compliments ; more with impertinent questions
that had no relation to either. At last came in the
culprit Abd-el-gin, writh forty or fifty of the Ababde
who had gathered round him, but no rope about his
neck."

The evident stiffness of the above, and other con-
versations related by Bruce in his travels, has induced
his enemies to declare that they are unnatural, and,
consequently, that they are false. But, in justice to
him, it should always be remembered, that these con-
versations not only occurred with people whose ideas
as well as manner of expressing them, are totally
different from our own, but that the conversations,
as stated in Bruce's Travels, are only the translations
of the words which were actually made use of. Their
stiffness is therefore a proof rather of their truth ; for,

88 LIFE OF BRUCE.

had they appeared in easy English, it is most cer-
tain that they could not have been correct transla-
tions.

Upon inquiring why the Ababde* wished to mur-
der Abd-el-gin, Bruce was informed, that the captain
of his caravan, Hassan, had insidiously induced them
to kill this man, against whom he had long entertained
a great enmity. " I cannot help here," continues
Bruce, " accusing myself of what, doubtless, may be
well reputed a very great sin, the more so, that I
cannot say I have yet heartily repented of it. I was
so enraged at the traitorous part which Hassan had
acted, that at parting, I could not help saying to
Ibrahim, ' Now, Sheikh, I have done everything you
have desired, without ever expecting fee or reward ;
the only thing I now ask you, and it is probably the
last, is that you revenge me upon this Hassan, who
is every day in your power.' Upon this he gave me
his hand, saying, ' He shall not die in his bed, or
I shall never see old age.' "

The above anecdote clearly proves — what, indeed,
requires no demonstration — that Bruce was by no
means a faultless man ; yet this act, for which he has
been very severely and justly condemned, assumes a
more serious complexion in this country than in the
place where it was committed ; for a man's notion of
justice, mercy, &c., like the colour of the chameleon,
is considerably affected by the objects which surround
it, and the old soldier, as well as the traveller, perfectly
well knows how differently he feels and behaves in a
lawless and in a civilised country; for when his life is
really in danger — when he is obliged, in its defence, to
behisownbad lawyer — he often gives way to an^er, and
other improper feelings, which in domestic life one
has happily no opportunity to develop : and yet the
man who, in a lawless country, has thus wrongfully

ARRIVES AT SAIEL. 89

joined in the general laugh against Justice, is often
the individual who, from having really seen the con-
trast, most sincerely respects and admires her, and
who in civilised life feels the greatest pleasure in
crouching in obedience at her feet. But while
Bruce's enemies were justly condemning him for his
revengeful conduct towards Hassan, there was a
moral in his favour which they completely overlooked,
for it is evident that, unless he had frankly become
his own accuser, his enemies would never have had
it in their power to condemn him. The observations,
therefore, which were laid against his cruelty, form
a buttress which strongly supports his veracity.

While Bruce wras thus engaged on the sands with
the Ababde" Arabs, a vessel was seen in distress, and
all the boats went to tow her in. Nothing is more
dangerous than the corn-trade that is carried on in
the Red Sea; the vessels have no decks, are filled
choke full of wheat, and are continually lost, but
they have scarcely sunk out of sight, when their fate
is equally out of mind ; the people are deaf to expe-
rience, reason, or advice, but, crying TJllah Kerim !
(God is great and merciful !) they launch and despatch
other vessels, hoping that by a miracle they may be
saved.

Bruce having determined to attempt making a
survey of the Red Sea, down to the Straits of Babel-
mandeb (which means the gate of affliction), took
passages for himself and his party in a vessel which
was shortly to be ready to receive him. The rais or
captain was considered to be a saint, and this hypocrite
gravely assured Bruce, that any rock which stood in
the way of his vessel would either jump aside, or else
turn quite soft like a sponge. Previous to sailing with
this man, Bruce embarked in a small boat, the planks
of which, instead of being nailed, were sewn together,

90 LIFE OF BRL'CE.

and with the assistance of a sort of straw mattra.—
as a sail, lie sailed on the 14th of March from the
harbour of Cosseir, with an Arab guide, to go to
Gibel Zurmud, the emerald mines described by Pliny
and other writers. On the 16th he landed on a
desert point, and at last came to the foot of these
mountains. Inquiring of his guide the name of the
spot, the fellow told him it was called " Saiel."
" They are never," says Bruce, " at a loss for a name,
and those who do not understand the language always
believe them. He knew not the name of the place,
and perhaps it had no name, but he called it Saiel,
which signifies a male acacia-tree, merely because he
saw one growing there." At about the foot of the moun-
tain Bruce found five small pits or shafts, from which
the ancients are supposed to have drawn emeralds, and
then, without having seen a living creature of any
sort, he returned to his boat, and proceeded to the
islands of Gibel Macowar, to one of which he gave
his own name ; he was anxious to have sailed still
further towards the south, but signs of an approaching
storm obliged him to turn and make for Cosseir. A
most violent tempest of wind and rain overtook them,
and the rais being completely overcome by fear, Bruce,
unable to lower the yard, proposed to cut the straw
mainsail to pieces. The rais, terrified at the storm,
instantly turned towards Bruce, with clasped hands and
uplifted eyes, began muttering to him something about
the mercy and merits of Sidi Ali el Genowi. " D — n
Sidi Ali el Genowi," said Bruce, " you beast, cannot
you give me a rational answer ? " and getting the
mainsail in his arms, with a large knife cut it into
shreds. On the 1 9th of March, a little before sun-
set, they reached the harbour of Cosseir, where they
learnt that three vessels had perished in the night
with all hands on board.

REACHES JIDDA. 91

Having determined the latitude and longitude of
Cosseir, and having also completed an immense series
of other observations, Bruce embarked on the 5th of
April to continue his survey of the Red Sea, con-
cerning the climate of which Captain Tuckey, R.N.,
who, with most of his officers and men, perished in
1810, in attempting to trace the course of the Niger,
thus wrote from Bombay : " It may surprise you to
hear me complain of heat after six years broiling be-
tween the tropics, but the hottest day I ever felt either
in the East or West Indies, was winter to the coolest
one we had in the Red Sea; the whole coast of ' Araby
the blest,' from Babelmandeb to Suez, for forty miles
inland, is an arid sand, producing not a single blade
of grass, nor affording one drop of fresh water."

Crossing the gulf, Bruce arrived in four days at
Tor, a small straggling village at the foot of Mount
Sinai. On the llth of April he again sailed, — coast-
ing along the eastern shore, landed for a short time
at Yambo, — and then continuing towards the south
lie arrived on the 1st of May at the extensive port of
Jidda, which is in Arabia Deserta, and about half
way between the isthmus of Suez and the straits of
Babelin andeb .

From Yambo to Jidda Bruce slept but little, having
been constantly occupied with memoranda, which he
was desirous at once to complete. He was, besides, suf-
fering and shaking from his Bengazi ague ; and, burnt
and weatherbeaten, he was in his neglected dress so
like a galiongy, or Turkish seaman, that the captain
of the port was astonished at hearing his servants, as
they were conducting his baggage to the custom-
house, say, that the traveller was an Englishman.

The reader who may have waded thus far in the
history of Bruce's life, will probably often have
remarked with what unconquerable resolution he has

92 LIFE OF BRUCE,

hitherto proceeded on his journey, fearless of dangfer,
shrinking from no fatigue, always exposing himself
to the sun, complaining neither of hunger nor thirst,
but, as he daily approaches his distant goal, his spirit,
like the water of a great river, seeming to acquire
strength and boldness in its course ; but it may well
be asked, how has the body, that frail, effeminate
companion of the mind, fared during this weary
journey ? On this subject Bruce himself says but
little, and it is only by accident that we are now to
see a picture of his frame reflected to us by the fol-
lowing remarkable anecdote.

After having been insulted as an impostor by one
of his countrymen, " I was conducted," says Bruce,
"into a large room, where Captain Thornhill was sit-
ting, in a white calico waistcoat, a very high pointed
white cotton night-cap, with a large tumbler of water
before him, seemingly very deep in thought. The Emir
Bahar's servant brought me forward by the hand, a
little within the door ; but I was not desirous of
advancing much further, for fear of the salutation of
being thrown down stairs again. He looked very
steadily, but not sternly, at me, and desired the
servant to go and shut the door. 4 Sir,' says he,
4 are you an Englishman ? ' — I bowed. ' You
surely are sick, you should be in your bed ; have you
been long sick ?' — I said, ' Long, Sir,' and bowed.
' A re you wanting a passage to India ? ' I again bowed.
c Well,' says he, ' you look to be a man in distress ;
if you have a secret, I shall respect it till you please to
tell it me ; but if you want a passao-e to India, apply
to no one but Thornhill of the Bengal Merchant.
Perhaps you are afraid of somebody; if so, ask f < r
Mr. Greig, my lieutenant, he will carry you on board
my ship directly, where you will be safe/ ' Sir,'
said I, ' I hope you will find me an honest man ; I

LORD VALEXTIA AND MR. SALT. 93

have no enemy that I know, either in Jidda or else-
where, nor do I owe any man anything/ 4 1 am
sure,' says he, ' I am doing wrong, in keeping a
poor man standing, who ought to be in his bed.
Here! Philip! Philip!' (Philip appeared.) 'Boy,'
says he in Portuguese, which, as I imagine, he sup-
posed I did not understand, * here is a poor English-
man, who should be either in his bed or in his grave;
carry him to the cook ; tell him to give him as much
broth and mutton as he can eat ; the fellow seems to
have been starved ; but I would rather have the feed-
ing of ten to India, than the burying of one at Jidda.'
I made as awkward a bow as I could to Captain
Thornhill, and said, ' God will return this to your
honour some day.' Philip carried me into a court-
yard, where they used to expose the samples of their
India goods in large bales. It had a portico along
the left-hand side of it, which seemed designed for a
stable. To this place I was introduced, and thither
the cook brought me my dinner. I fell fast asleep
upon the mat, while Philip was ordering me another
apartment."

This sketch of Bruce's jaded appearance, in com-
mon justice, ought to be deeply engraven upon the
memory of the reader ; and, while the impression is
fresh, he cannot but acknowledge what steady perse-
verance and what manly energy Bruce must have
possessed, to have determined, in such a state of
health, on continuing to explore the Red Sea, in
addition to the arduous Abyssinian task which re-
mained still to be performed. But, while he is sleep-
ing on his mat, it is absolutely necessary that we
should no longer delay to notice the observations which
have been made on his voyage in the Red Sea, &c.

In the year 1805, thirty -four years after Bruce
had left Abyssinia, eleven years after his death, and

94 LIFE OF BRUCE.

while his travels were still looked upon as romances,
Lord Valentia, accompanied by his secretary, Mr. Salt,
came from India into the Red Sea, and landed at
Masuah, the island which forms the port or harbour
of Abyssinia, no traveller having penetrated that
country since the days of Bruce. His Lordship's
object in making this voyage will be best explained
in his own words : — " During my stay at Calcutta, I
had the honour of freely conversing with the Marquess
Wellesley on the subject of the Red Sea, and of stating
to him my ideas and feelings, in which I had the
happiness of finding that he fully concurred. At
length, I proposed to his Excellency that he should
order one of the Bombay cruisers to be prepared for
a voyage to the Red Sea ; and I offered my gratuitous
services to endeavour to remove our disgraceful
ignorance, by embarking in her, for the purpose of
investigating the eastern shore of Africa, and making
the necessary inquiries into the present state of Abys-
sinia and the neighbouring countries."

With these noble, enterprising, and enthusiastic
feelings, Lord Yalentia, like Bruce, proceeded to the
island of Masuah ; but on his arrival there, not liking
to venture into the interior of such a dangerous and
uncivilised country, and yet being desirous to publish
" Travels to Abyssinia," &c., he desired Mr. Salt to
go forwards. Salt accordingly entered the country,
but not being able to reach the capital, he returned
to Lord Valentia, leaving behind him one Nathaniel
Pierce, an English sailor, who had deserted from his
Majesty's brig the Antelope, having previously, as a
boy, ran away from his own friends.

On his return to England, as is well known, Lord
Valentia published, in three quarto volumes, his
" Travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia,
and Egypt;" and in 1810, at his Lordship's sugges-

MR. SALT'S PRESENTS. 95

tion, Mr. Canning sent Salt again to Abyssinia with
presents, which consisted of " arms ornamented with
gold and jewels, satins, cut glass, painted glass, jewel-
lery, a picture of the Virgin Mary, fine British mus-
lins, two pieces of curricle artillery with the harness
complete, one hundred and fifty rounds of ball, and a
quantity of powder." With these magnificent pre-
sents (which amounted in value to upwards of 1400/.),
Mr. Salt again attempted to reach the capital, but
not succeeding, instead of bringing them back, he left
them at Chelicut, which is about half way between the
Red Sea and Gondar, the capital, to be forwarded to
the king. However, Mr. Salt assures us, " that an
appropriate prayer was recited by the high priest, in
which the English name was frequently introduced,
and on leaving the church, an order was given by the
Has that a prayer should be offered up weekly for the
health of his Majesty, the king of Great Britain. —
It is scarcely possible to convey," continues Salt, " an
adequate idea of the admiration which the Ras and
his principal chiefs expressed on beholding these
splendid presents. The former would often sit for
minutes absorbed in silent reflection, and then break
out with the exclamation, c Etzub ! etzub!' (Won-
derful ! wonderful !) like a man bewildered with the
fresh ideas that were rushing upon his mind, from
having witnessed circumstances to which he could
have given no previous credit"."

Salt having thus got rid of fourteen hundred pounds
worth of presents (concerning which other reflecting
people besides Abyssinians might most justly say,
Ktzub ! etzub !) returned to Downing Street, leaving
behind him Pierce the sailor, and Coffin, a remarkably

* Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 267.

96 LIFE OF BRUCE.

handsome English boy, who had come to Abyssinia
as Lord Yalentia's valet.

In October, 1814, Pierce the sailor, then in Abys-
sinia, wrote a " Small but True Account of the Ways
and Manners of the Abyssinians," which was pub-
lished, in 1820, in the 2nd vol. of " Transactions of
the Literary Society of Bombay." Pierce remained
in Abyssinia thirteen years. He never succeeded in
reaching the capital or the fountains of the Nile, but
having turned Mahometan, he quarrelled with the
Ras, took to drinking, lost his nose and part of his
face; and in 1818, having re-embraced Christianity,
he came with one of his wives to Cairo, where he
died in great distress, a miserable example of a man
who had deserted his parents, his religion, and the
colours of his country. His life is, we understand,
at this moment about to be published.

Coffin, a very intelligent, pleasing, active lad, but
of course illiterate, remained in Abyssinia until the
year 1827, when he surprised his brother, who is now

valet to Lord , and who had long conceived he

was dead, by suddenly calling upon him in London.
From a conversation which we have just had with
Coffin, we understand that he is about to return to
Abyssinia, our present government having refused to
give hun anything for the king of Abyssinia beyond
a trifling complimentary present.

As, excepting Lord Valentia, Salt, Pierce, and Coffin,
no European travellers have visited Abyssinia since the
days of Bruce, we have conceived it to be absolutely
necessary, in order that the reader should be enabled
to form his own correct judgment, to explain the con-
nexion which exists between Lord Yalentia, his secre-
tary, his valet, and Nathaniel Pierce, the English sailor,
who, having deserted from his Majesty's brig, the

PIERCE AND COFFIN. 97

Antelope, was patronised by Lord Valcntia : for, as
the two former, men of education and distinction,
have already most violently attacked Bruce, and as
the two latter are, we believe, about to follow (na-
turally enough) the opinions of their masters, (we
even understand that Pierce' s life has been actually
prepared for publication by one or more of Mr. Salt's
friends,) we feel it to be a duty which we owe to
science, to truth, and to Bruce's memory, to show
that these four individuals, without any improper
intention, support, rather than corroborate, each
other ; and having made this explanation, we, equally
unavoidably and unwillingly, proceed to notice a few
of the observations which have been made against
Bruce by Lord Valentia and Mr. Salt.

" On the 5th," says Lord Valentia, the commander
in chief of Bruce's enemies, " I had a most severe
attack of fever, which went off at night. I took
James's powder, which I thought relieved it. On
the 7th I was unwell in the morning, but the James's
powder prevented a regular tit. I took two grains
of calomel night and " morning, which gradually re-
covercd me." — vol. ii. p. 218. His Lordship, alluding
to Bruce, further says : " When a person attempts to
give geographical information to the public, it is
necessary that his information should be accurate,
and that he should not give as certain a single cir-
cumstance of which he has not positively informed
himself." Yet Lord Valentia not only published
" Travels to Abyssinia," (having only landed at Ma-
suah, a harbour which did not at that time even be-
long to the King of Abyssinia,) but also thus ventures,
merely from hearsay, to contradict Bruce, who had been
an eye- witness of facts which he related. " Although,"
says his Lordship, " I was not so fortunate as to reach
Macowar,yet I was sufficiently near it to convince my-
H

98 LIFE OF BRUCE.

self that the accounts I had received at Massowah
and Suakim of its actual position, were perfectly true,
and that Mr. Brace's adventures at and near it, Avere
complete romances. I confess that I always had some
doubts in my mind respecting this voyage from Cos-
seir, from the absurdity of the account he gives of
his taking a prodigious mat-sail, distended by the
wind, then blowing a gale, in his arms, and yet having
one hand at liberty to cut it in pieces with a knife.
Nor could I more easily credit his finding at Gibel
Zumrud or Sibergeit, the pits still remaining, five in
number, none of them four feet in diameter, from
which the ancients were said to have drawn the
emeralds," &c. &c.

Now Belzoni, who, in 1816, visited this identical
spot, says (p. 325), " the plain which extends from
the mountain to the sea was covered in many places
with woods of sycamore and ciell (the male acacia)
tree, which confirms the account of Bruce. I do not-
see any reason why Mr. Bruce's assertion of having
visited these mountains, should be doubted."

Lord Valentia proceeds to say, " I think it clear
from the above observations, that Mr. Bruce repre-
sented himself in the first place as visiting an island
called Gibbel Zumrud, in lat. 25° 3' N., though, in
fact, that island lies in 23° 48' ; and afterwards as
reaching another island, Macowar, in 24° 2' N., which,
in fact, lies in 20° 38'. I think it appears equally
clear, that it was impossible for him to have made a
voyage from Cosseir to the real Macowar, a distance
of nearly four hundred miles, in the period he allows
himself, from the 14th of March to the 17th *, and
consequently that he never did see that place, although
his description of it, and also his assertion that the-
Arabs there quit the coast of Africa to strike off for

* Four hundred miles in four days, is not five knots an hour.

REMAINS AT JIDD^. 99

Jidda, are loth correct. I think it impossible to
account for these errors in any other way than by con
sidering the whole voyage as an episodical fiction"
Yet Captain Keys, who commanded his Majesty's
ship which Lord Valentia was actually on board,
says, " Mr. Bruce is a very accurate observer, and I
shall take his latitude and longitude."

We have thought it but fair to give to the reader
Lord Valentia's testimony, that Bruce's adventures
and voyage in the Red Sea are " complete romances,"
and " episodical fiction." Neither our limits nor our
inclination will permit us to offend Lord Valentia by
making any very long reply, but we cannot refrain
from observing, that if his Lordship had but weighed
his words with the scrupulous accuracy with which he
appears to have weighed his medicine, he would have
paused before he spoke thus disrespectfully of the
character of an honest man, whose undertaking was
altogether on too vast a scale to be described with the
same minute accuracy with which his Lordship thus
describes the interesting occupations of his own family
group. " With the bait of a cockroach," says Lord
Valentia, " my servant caught a small fish of the
genus Diodon, Mr. Salt drew it, and I stuffed its skin"r !

But we must now for a moment return to poor
Bruce, who the reader will recollect was left lying fast
asleep on a mat. While he was thus at rest, his bag-
gage was taken to the custom-house, and the keys
being in his own pocket, the Vizier, who was exceed-
ingly curious to witness the contents of so many large
boxes, ordered them to be opened at the hinges.

The first thing which chanced to present itself to
the Vizier's eyes was the firman of the Grand Seignior,
magnificently written and titled, the inscription being
powdered with gold dust, and wrapped up in green
taffeta. Next appeared a white satin bag, addressed
H 2

100 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to the Khan of Tartaiy ! Then a green and gold silk
bag with letters directed to the Sherriffe of Mecca !
Then a crimson satin bag containing letters for Metical
Aga, his chief minister, sword-bearer, and favourite !
At last appeared a letter from Ali Bey of Cairo to
the Vizier himself, written with all the superiority of a
prince to a slave, and concluding by saying, that if
any accident happened to Bruce, through his neglect,
he would punish the affront at the very gates of
Mecca ! ! At the sight of these letters, the Vizier's
curiosity was very suddenly converted into very pain-
ful alarm ; he ordered the mighty stranger's boxes to
be nailed up immediately, and upbraiding the ser-
vants for not telling him to whom they belonged, he
mounted his horse, and instantly rode down to the
English factory. Great inquiry was everywhere
made for the English nobleman, whom nobody had
seen, and Bruce was still sitting yawning on his mat,
when the Vizier entered the court-yard, which was
instantly filled with a crowd of people.

" In Heaven!" replied Bruce, calmly and carelessly
to a dapper custom-house clerk, who asked him if he
could tell him where his master was ? But the ques-
tion being repeated, Bruce said that the baggage be-
longed to him, and he immediately rose up, and intro-
duced himself to the Vizier and to several of his
countrymen that were present ; who, when they be-
came better acquainted, united in making arrange-
ments for getting him the strongest recommendations
possible to the Naybe, or governor of Masuah, (the
island in front of the port of Abyssinia,) to the King
of Abyssinia, and to the King of Sennaar.

The English gentlemen at Jidda, and most particu-
larly, a very noble, honourable man, Captain Thomas
Price, of the Lion, of Bombay, used all their influence
with Metical Aga to procure Bruce a good reception

REMAINS AT JIDDA. 101

in Abyssinia ; and it was moreover agreed among them
that an Abyssinian called Mahomet Gibberti, should
be appointed to go with him, to be an eye-witness of
the treatment which he should receive. But as Gib-
berti required a few weeks to prepare himself for the
expedition, Bruce, having already been some time at
Jidda, determined to continue his survey of the Red
Sea. Accordingly, on the 8th of July, 1769, attended
by all his countrymen to the water's edge, he sailed,
under a salute from the harbour of Jidda, and having
landed at the harbour of Gonfodah, on the 31st- he
reached Gibel Raban, an island in the straits of Babel-
mandeb. Bruce had kept a small jar of brandy, ex-
pressly that he and his party " might drink the king's
health on arriving at his dominions in the Indian
ocean;" and having enjoyed this loyal pleasure, he
determined the latitude and longitude of the Straits
and of various other places on both coasts, and then
sailing to the northward, on the 8th of August
(nearly a month from the time he had left Jidda,) he
reached Loheia, which is on the coast of Arabia Felix,
immediately opposite to the island of Masuah and the
port of Abyssinia. Here he remained until the 1st of
September, when Mahomet Gibberti arrived, bringing
with him the firman for the Naybe or governor of
Masuah, and letters for Ras Michael, governor of the
great province of Tigre in Abyssinia — a most singular
personage, with whose character the reader will very
shortly be better acquainted.

On the 3rd September they all sailed from Masuah,
and on the 10th they passed the island of Gibbet
Teir, which is about half way between the two shore*.
It is a volcano, was smoking, and was covered with
sulphur and pumice stones. Bruce was suffering
very severely from fever, and from the heat of the
sun, which had almost brought on a coup de soleil^

102 LIFE OF BRUCE.

when on the llth, at noon, the vessel struck upon a
reef of coral rocks, and for some hours they were
totally unable to move her. They at last succeeded,
and Bruce says, " we saw the advantage of a vessel
being sewed rather than nailed together, as she was
not only unhurt, but made very little water." Dur-
ing the confusion, and while the greater part of the
crew were flying to prayers, instead of trying to save
the vessel, the courage and exertions of Yasine, a
Moor, were much observed and admired by Bruce,
who says, " from that day he grew into consideration
with me, which continued ever after, till my depar-
ture from Abyssinia."

On the 14th they reached Dahalac, the largest
island in the Red Sea, being thirty-seven miles in
length, and eighteen in breadth, but low, and so
barren, that several women and girls, entirely naked,
swam off to the vessel before it came to an anchor,
begging for handfuls of rice, dora, or wheat. These
miserable people are sometimes a whole year without
tasting bread. Yet they are so strongly attached to
their parched, barren, naked home, that it is impos-
sible to prevail upon them to leave it. " This pre-
ference," says Bruce, " we must not call strange, for
it is universal ; from Lapland to the line you find it
written precisely in the same character."

On the 19th of September, 1769, a very import-
ant day in Bruce's life, his vessel came to an anchor
in the harbour of Masuah (the ancient port of
Abyssinia). He had been seventeen days in cross-
ing the gulf, which is often done in three days, but
much time was spent in surveying the islands.

Bruce's notes and observations during his voyages
in the Red Sea, which we have passed over as being
dry and uninteresting to the general reader, contain,
nevertheless, facts and information of a very valuable

STRAITS OF BABELMANDEB. 103

description. Besides endeavouring to determine the
currents, the bearings of the different islands, the
latitude and longitude of the principal points, Bruce
surveyed a number of the harbours, and gave minute
directions for ships to enter them ; as also to navi-
gate the gulf or channel. His collections of marine
productions, and his observations on the natural
history of the Red Sea, were also very extensive.
" I suppose," he says, " I have drawings and subjects
of this kind equal in bulk to the journal of the whole
voyage itself." Not satisfied with useful practical
subjects, he voraciously encountered arguments of a
more speculative nature — whether, for instance, the
Red Sea is not higher by some feet and inches than
the Mediterranean — where it was that the Children
of Israel passed the Red Sea — what occasions poly-
gamy among Eastern nations — what causes the
currents in the different parts of the gulf, &c. &c.

Excepting at a few places, he landed but seldom,
for the Abyssinian shore was desert, and the Arabian
side very dangerous, being inhabited by a most barba-
rous people. On the one shore he could get nothing,
on the other he knew that he would be robbed of the
little he had. His observations were therefore
mostly nautical, and if his description of the charts
and pilots he met with be correct, his labour was at
least well intended ; for the pilots of the Red Sea,
he says, " are creatures without any sort of science,
who decide upon a manoeuvre in a moment ; " and of
the charts, he says, " God forgive those who have
taken upon them very lately to engraft a number of
new soundings upon that miserable bundle of errors,
that chart of the upper part of the gulf from Jidda
to Mocha, which has been tossed about the Red Sea
those twenty years and upwards ! I would beg leave
to be understood, that there is not in the world

104 LIFE OF BRUCE.

a man more averse than I am to give offence, even
to a child. It is not in the spirit of criticism I speak
this ; but where the lives and properties of so many
men are at stake yearly, it is a species of treason to
conceal one's sentiments, if the publishing them can
any way contribute to safety, whatever offence it
may give to unreasonable individuals."

Lord Valentia has thought proper to declare that
Bruce " never was below Loheia ; " " that his voyage
from Loheia to Babelmandeb is evidently a fiction ; ''
" that his book partakes more of romance than re-
ality ;" "that he has so mixed truth \\iih falsehood,"1
&c. &c. &c. In a polite and civilised country, this
style of language (most particularly from one fellow-
traveller to another) deserves no reply — it is a poi-
son 'which must carry with it its own antidote.
Lord Yalentia himself admits that several of Brace's
latitudes and longitudes are correct, but his lordship
asserts that some are incorrect ; and that some are
even copied from Niebuhr. All men are prone to
error, and it may or may not be true that Bruce
sometimes without acknowledgment availed himself
of the experience gained by those who went before
him ; nevertheless, the observations which Lord Va-
lentia has thought it proper to make upon Bruce, are
certainly not supported by the following extract
from the journal even of his Lordship's own secre-
tary, Mr. Salt. " During Captain Court's absence, I
endeavoured to get as much information as possible
concerning the place, and for this purpose, one of
the elder inhabitants who had spent his life in pilot-
ing vessels to and fro, was brought to me by the
Nayib's man. He confirmed to me the names of all
the islands we had seen in the morning, which agree
most perfectly with what Bruce has called them.
He recognised ever}7 island, excepting two, mentioned

LORD VALENTIA AND MR. SALT. 105

by Bruce, as I named them from the book." It is
only due to Brace, to repeat here the remark of
Captain Keys, R. N., in whose vessel Lord Valentia
and Mr. Salt first visited the Red Sea. " Mr. Bruce,"
says Captain Keys, " is a very accurate observer. I
shall take his longitudes and latitudes."

Dr. Clark, in his travels to Egypt, &c., says,
44 The officers of General Baird's army spoke highly
of the accuracy of Brace's observations; and the
General himself assured us, that he considered Great
Britain as indebted to Brace's valuable chart of the
Red Sea, for the safety of the transports employed
in carrying the British forces."

Many people still agree with Lord Valentia in
maintaining very positively that Bruce never was
below Loheia, and consequently that he never went
to the Straits of Babelmandeb — because (they say)
this part of his voyage is not mentioned in the pri-
vate journal either of Brace or his draftsman Balu-
gani. But an eager traveller like Bruce has often,
baffling all sober calculation, suddenly neglected
everything to toil and hurry towards a barren spot,
for the silly satisfaction of being able to say, or even
to feel, that he has been there ; and surely no man
was more likely to do this than Brace, whose whole
life was spent in attempting to gain such trophies.
Bruce declares that he left Cosseir with a determina-
tion to make a survey of the Red Sea, and steering-
direct north to Tor, his track proves the plan upon
which he embarked. On his arrival at Loheia (Vide
the sketch), he had sailed over nearly three-quarters
of the gulf, and this being the case, is it not consis-
tent with Brace's general character to suppose that
he should have felt a very strong inclination to
conclude his survey — and most particularly to reach
a point of such geographical importance as the

106 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Straits of Babelmandeb, which were, comparatively
speaking, close to him ? And if it is likely that he
should have entertained a feeling in which almost
any phlegmatic person would have joined him, it
must be evident that there was nothing to prevent
him from effecting his project. He had time, wind,
w^ater, a vessel and provisions, and with an inclina-
tion to go there : what could he have asked for
more ?

As to the silence of the private note-books, Bruce
might have drunk to the King's health in the Straits
of Babelmandeb, till he could not see to make ob-
servations— he might have lost his observations — or,
what is much more probable, being between a barba-
rous shore and a barren one, and under a burning
sun, he might, after all his trouble, have found no-
thing to make observations upon, excepting the
chasm or straits, the latitude and longitude of which
he did take. Balugani might have been left at
Loheia, to finish up the drawings \vhich were on
hand ; ten thousand accidents might have occurred ;
but in truth it is merely childish to attempt arguing
in this fashion upon the course or conduct of an
eccentric man, who, had he belonged to his common
gregarious tribe, would never have voluntarily under-
taken a solitary course through deserts, and savage
or uninhabited countries.

The reader is gradually, we hope, becoming ac-
quainted with his real character : by that alone he
must be judged ; and if his character appears unsul-
lied, in a civilised country, Bruce, with more truth
than Brutus, has a right to say — " Believe me for
mine honour, and have respect for mine honour, that
you may believe ! "

107

CHAPTER VI.

PREVIOUS to Bruce's landing at Masuah, the ancient
port of Abyssinia, it would be proper and regular, if
it were possible, to lay before the reader, not only a
correct map of the country about to be visited, but
also one showing its rank or situation in the conti-
nent to which it belongs. But of Africa in general
it may justly be said, that ninety-nine parts of it out
of a hundred are unknown ; and that, from several
points, a man might travel from the Mediterranean,
very- nearly to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the
Indian Ocean to the Atlantic, over ground which
has never been trodden or seen by any of our tra-
vellers.

Our map of Africa, therefore, however highly it
may be coloured in the shops, is in fact little more
than the sea charts of the Mediterranean, the Atlan-
tic, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea. We have
surveyed its coasts — we are acquainted with part of
the Nile — and, in a very few directions, we have
attempted to penetrate into the interior of the coun-
try, but it must be confessed that Africa is an
immense blank in geography which remains to be
filled up. Instead, therefore, of presuming to offer
a map of this continent, we propose to attempt a
short verbal description of its general features, with
a few observations thereon ; and as Bruce's memo-
randa on the topography and history of Abyssinia,

108 LIFE OF BRUCE.

with little attention to arrangement, are scattered
over the seven volumes of his travels, and would
alone fill three or four times as many pages as the
whole of this little book contains, we propose to add,
to the above sketch of Africa, a very slight descrip-
tive outline of the kingdom of Abyssinia, and an
abstract of its history, up to the time when Bruce
landed in the country.

We are but badly prepared to do justice to subjects
of this description ; but we feel it is impossible for
the general reader, going merely step by step, like a
man walking in the dark with a lantern, to judge of
Bruce' s life in Abyssinia, unless he previously takes
into his consideration the general character and
history of that country, and, moreover, reflects for a
moment on the character of that continent of which
it forms so small a part. We do not presume to
instruct the reader — we only feel it necessary to
bring before his mind scenes which, in common life,
one has seldom occasion to consider.

SKETCH OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA.

The vast portion of the globe which we term Africa,
is in length about five thousand miles — which is
about the distance from the line to Iceland, or from
Calcutta to the North Pole : in short, it is about
one thousand miles more than the distance from the
earth's centre to its circumference. The greatest
breadth of Africa is very nearly equal to its vast
length. This immense expanse of country, a true
idea of which it is beyond the capacity of the human
mind to contain, is situated in exactly the hottest
region of our globe ; for, from the equator, it is two
thousand five hundred miles to its northern boundary,
the Mediterranean Sea, and about the same distance
to its southern extremity, the Cape of Good Hope.

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. 109

The burning heat of both the torrid zones forms,
therefore, the scorching climate of the middle portion
of Africa ; and the northern and southern extremi-
ties, its coldest regions, are, as we all know, nearer
to the line than the most southern or hottest parts
of Europe. To describe the climate, it may there-
fore, in general terms, not unjustly be observed, that
what is marked by Nature upon our European scale
of climate, as excess of heat, is all that the African
knows of the luxury of cold, excepting that which
is produced by elevation or evaporation.

Although Africa is thus sentenced to be eternally
roasted before the sun, yet, if it were well watered,
we are sensible that it would become a most produc-
tive, luxuriant garden, the superabundance of which
Europe would scarcely be able to consume. But,
although heat and water give this exuberant fertility
to any description of soil, we also know that, without
water (the blood of the vegetable world), the richest
land remains a caput mortuum — rudis indigestaque
moles — an inert, lifeless mass. • Water being, there-
fore, an element of such vital importance in the
production of vegetation, it becomes necessary to
take a very short practical view of the tropical rains,
which deluge the centre of Africa.

During the half-yearly visits which the sun pays,
in succession, to the torrid regions on the north and
south of the line, the air, heated by his presence,
becomes rarified, and flies upwards ; its place is
immediately filled ; and thus a constant rush of air,
or, as we term it, a trade wind, is generated, which,
being also influenced by the diurnal motion of the
sun, is everlastingly flowing towards the equator.
The air, thus rushing towards the sun, is, by heat,
made capable of absorbing a greater quantity of
water than it could contain in. a colder state ; and,

110 LIFE OF BRUCE.

therefore, as soon as this air and vapour united ris<;
into high and consequently freezing regions, a divorce
between the two elements suddenly takes place ; the
air loses its power of retaining the vapour, which,
being immediately condensed, becomes water — away
flies its companion, the dry air, and, thus deserted,
down it falls in what we term tropical rains, which,
everlastingly accompanying the sun from one torrid
zone to another, are, by a most wonderful provision
of Nature, eternally assuaging the thirst which this
immense mass of burning fire tends to create. The
rains are always most violent where the sun is in the
zenith ; and, as a remarkable instance of the effect
which they produce, it may be stated, that Bruce
observed, when the sun was immediately over Gondar,
the capital of Abyssinia, that the thermometer was
invariably about twelve degrees lower than when the
sun was in the southern tropic, thirty-six degrees
from the zenith of Gondar: so happily does the
approach of rain compensate for the heat of a burn-
ing sun ! But, while the centre of Africa, or, to
speak more correctly, a belt of about eleven hundred
miles on each side of the line, is thus periodically
deluged with water, yet, in the vast remainder of the
continent, it may be said, with very few exceptions,
that it never rains at all. The burning heat, and the
unequal distribution of water in Africa being under-
stood, the following picture of the country is the
natural consequence.

Within the limits of the tropical rains, the country,
rank from excessive heat and moisture, in some
places is found covered with trees of most enormous
size, encircled by kossom, and other twining shrubs,
which form bowers of a most beautiful description,
enlivened by the notes of thousands of gaudy birds,
and perfumed with fragrant aromatic breezes. These

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. Ill

trees are often the acacia vera, or Egyptian thorn.
They seldom grow above fifteen or sixteen feet high,
then flatten — and, spreading wide at the top, touch
each other, while the trunks are far asunder ; and
thus, under a vertical sun, for many miles together,
there is a free space, in which both men and beasts
may walk in a cool delicious shade. Other parts of
this region produce coarse grass, high enough to
cover a man on horseback, or a jungle, composed of
high underwood and briars, which would be almost
impervious to human beings, were it not for the
elephant, and other great animals, which, crushing
everything in their progress, form paths in various
directions. In many places, the land is highly culti-
vated, divided into plantations, fenced as in England,
possessing towns of more than thirty thousand inha-
bitants, and swarming with an immense population.
Strangely contrasted with this picture of the wet
portion of Africa are its dry, lifeless deserts, composed
either of mountains and plains of hot stones, or of
vast masses of loose burning sand, which, sometimes
formed into moving pillars by the whirlwind, and
sometimes driven forward, like a mist, by the gale,
threaten the traveller with death and burial, or rather
with burial and then death — a fate which befel the
army of Cambyses. In some places, however, the
sand is found like a layer of mortar firmly cemented
on the surface by an incrustation of salt, and it is
in these scorching regions of salt and sand that the
traveller experiences what he has emphatically termed
" the thirst of the desert;" and yet, with all its horrors,
the desert parts of Africa are more healthy, and afford
a residence which is often more desirable than the
rank luxurious regions ; for the excessive rains bring
into existence a number of flies, musquitoes, and ants,
which not only torment the body, .but even devour

112 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the clothes. Denham says (vol. ii., p. 91) — " After
a night of intolerable misery to us all, from flies and
musquitoes, so bad as to knock up two of our blacks,
we mounted, &c. . . Another night was passed
in a state of suffering and distress which defies de-
scription: the buzz from the insects was like the
singing of birds ; the men and horses groaned writh
anguish. I do not think our animals could have
borne another such night." Besides producing these
flies, the rains cover the country with extensive lakes,
and, as far as the eye can reach, with immense miry
swamps, which at first drive the wild beasts among
the human race, and then putrify and corrupt the
air — converting a verdant, smiling country, into what
may be termed a painted sepulchre. In the desert,
on the other hand, there are no flies ; the air is com-
paratively healthy ; and as the heat penetrates only
a few inches into the ground, a cool bed can always
be obtained after sunset, by clearing awray the hot
sand from the surface.

The moral outline of Africa is far more gloomy
than the face of the country, which we have endea-
voured to delineate. The wrhole of the interior (as
far as Europeans have been able to judge, or rather
to guess, from their slight acquaintance with it), may
be said to be one scene of eternal civil war. Of the
various tribes, nations, colours, and races of men, who
inhabit this immense country, there is no one which
has not its enemy ; and the universal creed of Africa
seems to be, that the freedom and happiness of one
tribe rest upon the slavery and misery of the other.
The Sultan of Mandara, on the marriage of his
daughter, lately made an expedition into the Kerdy
country : three thousand unfortunate wretches were
thus dragged from their wilds, and sold to perpetual
slaver v.

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. 113

Across scorching deserts, in which not a living
animal, or even an insect, exists, in various directions
are seen one tribe of human beings driving another
to slavery. The unfortunate captives, who start in
health, and, strange to say, even in spirits, gradually
decline in both : their bodies become emaciated, their
legs swell, until, as Denham says, " on approaching
the wells, they run forward several miles, like things
distracted, their mouths open, and eyes starting from
their heads." The water they seek is sometimes
brackish — the well itself is sometimes found to be
dry — and around its exhausted source stand grouped
this crowd of disappointed beings, surrounded by the
countless skeletons of those whose captivity and
whose troubles have alike ended — who have perished
from thirst and fatigue — and whose bones the suffer-
ing camels of the Cafila are oftentimes seen to chew.

From the northern coast of Africa, where the
Christian captive has so often ended his days in
silent misery and anguish, down to the country of
the Hottentots and Caffres (a space of about five
thousand miles) — from the eastern mountains of
Abyssinia to the waters of the great western ocean
(a space of nearly four thousand miles) — we have
every reason to believe that, throughout the whole
of this immense country, the horrid system of slavery
more or less prevails.

Now, it is very curious to reflect that the deserts,
the pestilential climate of Africa, and the dreadful
moral state of the country, are all effects of one and
the same cause, namely, the unequal distribution of
water.

No one will deny that the deserts of Africa would
cease to be desert if they were watered — that the
stagnant waters of central Africa, which now pollute
the climate, would cease to be stagnant if they were

114 LIFE OF BRUCE.

drained ; and, consequently, that the one country has
a superabundance of an element necessary for vege-
tation, of which the other is greatly in need. With
respect to the moral state of the country, it must
surely, also, be evident that Africa is uncivilised,
because its desert and pestilential regions encourage
narrow prejudices, narrow interests, and evil passions,
which would at once be softened and removed, if the
inhabitants could be enabled to live in constant com-
munication with each other; — in other words, if the
one country were to be irrigated and the other
drained.

Our expeditions into Africa have hitherto had very
narrow, trifling objects in view. The little history
of Bruce' s life will soon show that both ancients and
moderns have been desirous to discover the true
source of the Nile; and the same petty problem,
the same idle curiosity, regarding the course of the
Niger, is still the subject of inquiry — " the grand
problem" of the present day. Yet, if the moral
and physical climate of Africa are everlastingly to
remain as they are, what rational encouragement
have we to attempt to penetrate a country which is
pestilential and barbarous, in which we can neither
live in health nor in security ?

If Africa is eternally to remain as it is, we surely
know very nearly as much of it as rational beino-s
ought to desire, for we can hardly sit down upon its
western coast without dying. Our government, with
the frankness and candour which distinguish it, have
lately honestly told us that Sierra Leone, bad as it
is, is one of the healthiest parts of the coast — the
graves of our brave enterprising countrymen art-
beacons which faithfully wani us of the danger of the
climate of the interior. Again, experience teaches
us, that so long as men can easily escape from their

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. 115

laws, a country must, to a very great degree, be law-
less. We see it at this moment in the different
governments of South America, all of which practi-
cally find that their countries are much too big for
their laws, and, consequently, that their laws, being-
lost in space, are unable to govern their countries.
It is true, that in fertile America, time and an in-
creasing population will at last correct the evil ; but
in Africa, so long as such immense deserts exist,
men must remain uncivilised, for their laws can never
be made efficient.

But we have endeavoured to show, that if the
stagnant waters of Africa, together with the immense
rivers which have hitherto been wasted in the sea,
could be imparted to the deserts ; if the dry country
could be irrigated, and if the wet one could be drained,
this immense continent would gradually become the
garden and the granary of Europe, and, with its
water, wealth would circulate and civilisation flourish.

Now, with such a magnificent reward before us, it
is certainly a question not unworthy of consideration,
what reasonable grounds there are for supposing that
such a vast project could be effected.

The first great argument which in propriety should
most humbly be offered, is the universal belief that
CJod has made nothing in vain, and that there is no
obstacle to our full enjoyment of this earth which,
sooner or later, we shall not, with his assistance, and
by the surprising powers which are daily imparted to
us, be enabled eventually to surmount. There was
once a time when no man dared to imagine that the
great ocean could be traversed in every direction ; and
we are also aware that America was carefully hidden
from our view until our powers and our population
had extensively increased. The great curtain of the
west was then raised, and we were gradually made
i 2

116 LIFE OF BRUCE.

acquainted with a portion of our globe, whose features,
its mountains, rivers, and plains, are on so vast a scale,
that in ancient times men would have been totally
unable to have contended with them.

Seeing, therefore, that, in the great history of the
world, different portions of the globe have at different
periods successively been subjected to our use and
dominion, it is surely reasonable to infer that Africa
will eventually become " part and parcel" of the bene-
ficent garden in which we are placed ; and the very
fact that our powers of steam and machinery are so
rapidly increasing, that we literally can hardly imagine
to what known obstacle we shall have occasion to
apply them, tends to show that there must remain
something very important in this world for man to do.
In short, the enormous tools which Nature is placing
in our hands, clearly foretell that she has some won-
derful work for us to perform ; and therefore, instead
of calculating, as many people do, for instance, how
long our coals are to last us, and in how many years
hence we are unavoidably to be left in cold and dark-
ness, is it not juster to believe, that, with our new
powers, we shall obtain new resources, and that the
wisdom of Nature will continue to bloom when the
idle fears and theories of the day have faded and
corrupted ?

But to consider the subject in a more practical point
of view, it may be observed, that in order to irrigate
either a single field or a region of country, two things
are required — water and a sufficient difference of level.
Now, in Africa, there is every reason to believe that
there exists both ; for first, with respect to water, we
know that the tropical rains deluge the central country,
— all the rivers within the tropics being subject to
periodical inundations. Of the enormous quantity of
stagnant water, which, being pent up within the

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. 117

tropics, is rapidly carried off by evaporation, and which
might be used to irrigate the country, it is impossible
to form any calculation ; but the following memor-
andum will give a rough idea of the quantity of
water which escapes from Africa into the ocean.

A MEMORANDUM OF THE RIVERS AND STREAMS OF AFRICA.

The only river of consequence which empties itself into the
Mediterranean is the Nile. It is the longest river in the whole
continent, being navigable about four hundred and fifty miles from
the sea. The greatest velocity of the stream is three miles an hour.

The rivers in the Barbary States, which run into the Mediter-
ranean and Atlantic, are very insignificant.

There- is no stream deserving notice on the western coast from
Marocco to the Senegal.

From the river Senegal, along the coast of Guinea to the equator,
there is more water discharged into the ocean than from any other
part of Africa — probably more than from all the rest of that con-
tinent put together. The Senegal has a course of about one thousand
miles ; is navigable for sixty leagues from its mouth, in all seasons ;
and, in the rainy seasons, vessels of one hundred and fifty tons can
go two hundred and sixty leagues from the sea.

The next river of importance is the Gambia. It is navigable for
vessels of three hundred tons for sixty leagues. The tide is felt, in
the dry season, at the distance of two hundred and fifty leagues. For
the first three months, even of this season, the current is so strong
that vessels cannot ascend the stream.

The next river is the St. Domingo ; then the Rio Grande, na-
vigable for vessels about twenty leagues, and for large boats about
forty leagues further. From this river, or more properly from the
Gambia to the river Mesurado, the country being flat, the rivers are
often united a considerable distance up the country, when they
branch off, and discharge themselves into the sea in distinct streams.

The Mesurado is a large river, so is the Sierra Leone river.
Then follow the Ancobar, St. John's, Volta, and Formosa rivers.
The latter can be ascended twenty. eight leagues.

From Formosa river are the Rio dos For^ados, the Bonny, the
New Calabar, the Old Calabar, and the Rio del Rey. These are
very large rivers, and not well known. The country about here is
low ; and these streams intersect the land in every direction, and
form numerous i slands.

Turning southward is the river Camerooiis, which has several

118 LIFE OP BRUCE.

mouths, but its size has not been ascertained. Then succeed several
smaller streams, till \ve arrrive at the Congo or Zaire River, which
is very large aud rapid, discolouring the sea for a considerable dis-
tance, and tearing away large pieces from its banks.

South of the Congo, for about six hundred miles, there are several
rivers of a good size ; many of them will admit vessels of one
hundred tons. After that, for about eight hundred miles, there is
not a single stream of fresh water till we coine to the Fish river.
Then follows the Orange river, which, although it has a considerable
length of course, does not discharge much water into the sea^

There are several considerable streams in the colony of the Cape
of Good Hope, as well as on the east coast of Africa, the largest of
which is the Cuarno or Zambese, which has a course of about one
hundred and eighty leagues. The rest are much smaller, but none
of these are well known, though many of them are large and deep
at their entrances.

The Decra river, which runs into the Indian Ocean to the north
of the equator, is very large at its mouth, and is supposed to take
its rise in the mountains south of Abyssinia. Beyond this there
are no rivers of consequence till we reach the Nile, and indeed it
is not known that there is a single stream of fresh water discharged
into the Red Sea.

Now, secondly, with respect to level, Bruce roughly
calculated that the most southern part of Africa which
he visited was nearly two miles above the level of the
sea. Denham calculated that the Lake Tchad was
about twelve hundred feet above the Mediterranean,
and his last observation, in looking towards the south,
was, that the ground was evidently still rising. But
we know that all the great rivers of Africa take their
rise very far in the interior, and that many of them
flow or descend with great rapidity. It is therefore
quite evident that the country from which they pro-
ceed, namely Central Africa, must be very consider-
ably above the level of the sea.

It being true, therefore, that there are a series of
vast tanks or reservoirs, placed by Nature above the
thirsting deserts of Africa, the stagnation, as well as
the rapid evaporation of which now pollute the cli-

CONTINENT OP AFRICA. 119

mate, and also that a number of immense rivers of
water flow out of Africa into the ocean, would it not
be a problem better worth the inquiry of future
travellers than insignificantly hunting the course of
the Niger, to endeavour, by a scientific reconnoissance,
to determine (only in theory, for theory must in this
case long precede practice, and with the practice, after
'?//, we can have little or nothing to do) what would
be the difficulties attending the tapping of these
enormous vessels; as also of applying tourniquets,
upon those veins and arteries, which, eternally bleed-
ing, have hitherto left a great portion of Africa
destitute of vegetable life ?

There can be nothing irrational in this project, for
Nature herself has already set us the example, and
shown us the effect ; and we actually see in Egypt
a triple harvest produced by water which has fallen
vrithin the tropics, and which has been conducted
through the burning, sandy deserts of Nubia. We
also, in that country, see the fertility which has been
conferred by artificial irrigation, for which, in ancient
times, even immense lakes were made. Moreover,
in the history of Abyssinia, we shall shortly read, that
(an exact survey having been made) one of the kings
of that country, being offended with the Divan of
Cairo, threatened to stop the cock which gave fertility
to Egypt, and to turn his river (the Nile) elsewhere ;
which proves that he, living within the tropics, and
consequently very capable of fonning an honest prac-
tical opinion, conceived that he had power, even with
his own slender means, of carrying his threat into
execution. Besides this, in the year 1200, Lalibala,
King of Abyssinia, actually did turn into the Indian
ocean two streams which had before fallen into the
Nile. Amha Yasous told Bruce that he had seen

120 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the remains of these works, and the Portuguese
ambassador, Don Roderigo de Lima, declared that he
travelled in them for several days. But we know by
what slender banks the ocean itself is in many places
retained, and with what facility a great country may
often be laid under water. The commandant of
almost every little fortress on the continent of Europe
has the power of flooding the country around him ;
and if water, with such facility, can be made to flow
for the purposes of war and destruction, surely it
might also be conducted for the benefit and happiness
of mankind.

The difficulty or facility with which this great object
could be effected, can only be determined by an actual
reconnoissance. If it could in some places be easily
effected (and surely there must be many parts where
the rivers and waters of Africa could very easily be
made to irrigate the country), the valuable informa-
tion might be offered to those whom it most concerns ;
and if in other places the difficulties should prove to
be greater than, w^ith our present knowledge, could
be practically surmounted, still we are to consider
that as these difficulties, however great, will not
increase, and as our powers positively do increase,
future ages may be able to perform the task. To
endeavour to cure the physical and moral disorder
from which Africa is now suffering, would surely be
a free and noble object for future travellers of all
descriptions ; for, go where they will, the problem is
always before them, and flow where it will, the water
would everywhere be gratefully received. In the
attempt, whether successful or not, we should at
least acquire a general knowledge of the whole
country : at all events, it would have the incalculable
advantage of breaking what may too truly be termed

CONTINENT OP AFRICA. 121

the potty system of discovery now in vogue ; but,
as the reader is about to enter Abyssinia, where he
will reach the source of a great river which he will
afterwards accompany to its mouth, he will have a
fair opportunity of judging for himself, upon the
importance or non-importance of what we are now
bidden to call the " grand African problems of the
day."

CHAPTER VII.

A short Description of Abyssinia.

THE kingdom of Habbesh, Abyssinia, or Ethiopia,
the oldest monarchy in Africa, is a small, highly-
elevated, mountainous district, lying in the middle
of the north torrid zone, within the limits of the
tropical rains, and surrounded either by low, hot,
muggy woods, of enormous extent, by a small part
of the Red Sea, or by the vast, unknown, trackless
regions of Africa. This secluded spot, cut off from
all communication with the civilised world, and im-
prisoned by poisonous winds, burning deserts of
moving sand, and by people far more cruel and dan-
gerous to the traveller than the horrid climate and
country which they inhabit, is yet connected with
Europe by two circumstances, that distinguish it from
the rest of Africa. These give us a singular interest
in its welfare, and inspire a natural curiosity to be-
come acquainted with a country, which seems to be
an exception to that general rule by which we look
upon Africa as a vast, inhospitable portion of the
globe — the soi!3 climate, and inhabitants of which are
uncongenial to our nature. The two ties which thus
sympathetically connect us with Abyssinia, are its
river and its church : and it is certainly pleasing to
reflect, that Egypt — the granary of the east, a field
annually enriched by a triple harvest, a smiling,
luxuriant garden, in a remote corner of the blank,
lifeless desert of Africa — owes its fertility to a river

SKETCH OP ABYSSINIA. 123

\vhich, rising in a Christian country, may not unjustly
be considered as a type of that religion, which, calmly
proceeding on its course, is ever offering to the vast
moral deserts through which it flows, peace, happi-
ness, civilisation, fertility, present and future enjoy-
ment.

Abyssinia, surrounded by enemies, expands and
contracts in its dimensions with every victory or de-
feat ; but, in general terms, it may be said that it is
about equal in extent to Great Britain. It is bounded
on the north by Sennaar, and the great woods of the
Shangalla ; on the south it is hemmed in by various
tribes of the Galla nations, which almost bound it.
also, on the west, and which, with the Red Sea, like-
wise encircle it on the east. Abyssinia, has, there-
fore, been compared to a bow, of which the Shangalla
tribes on the north form the string, and the various
nations of the Galla the arch. Abyssinia, thus en-
vironed, is, generally speaking, mountainous, — or, to
describe it more minutely, it is composed of groups
and ranges of very high mountains, overlooking the
plains and deep valleys which surround them.

Before it is possible to give a clear idea of the
climate of this country, there are one or two pheno-
mena which it is necessary to describe. It is well
known that, from Suez to Masuah, the ancient har-
bour of Abyssinia, and from thence even to the Strait-
of Babelmandeb, a chain of mountains runs nearly
parallel to the western coast of the Red Sea. These
mountains, on the north of Abyssinia, pass through
the country of the Shepherds, and there separate vast
districts, which, though exactly of the same latitude,
have nevertheless a most remarkable difference in the
period of their rains. Both countries are deluged
with rain for six months in the year ; but the seasons
on the two sides of these mountains are diametrically

124 LIFE OF BRUCE.

opposite to each other. On the east side, or in the
country which lies between these mountains and the
Red Sea, it rains during the six months which con-
stitute our winter in Europe ; on the opposite side
it rains during the whole of our summer months.
On account of the violence of these rains, and from
the fly that accompanies them, either region becomes,
for six months of the year, almost unfit for the habi-
tation of man ; while the country, on the opposite
side of the mountains, is teeming with luxuriance,
and basking under the rays of a prolific sun. The
shepherds, or inhabitants of these adjoining territories,
availing themselves of this singular dispensation of
Providence, annually migrate, or vibrate, from one
side of the mountain to the other ; thus, while one
or other of these countries is eternally suffering from
the rain and fly, the natives of both manage to enjoy
a perpetual summer ; and while their cattle are feed-
ing, in the cool of the morning, on most luxuriant
pasture, and, during the burning sunshine of the day,
are browsing on exuberant foliage, a mere geographi-
cal line divides them from a land, deluged with a
pouring rain, deserted by almost every living creature,
and condemned to gloomy and cheerless solitude. It
may easily be conceived that this wandering life of
the shepherd creates predatory, pilfering habits ; and
the old Abyssinian proverb — "beware of the man who
drinks two waters," agrees with our own experience,
how badly men of roaming, unsettled dispositions are
suited to the enjoyment of sedentary civilised life.

These periodical rains, which in themselves con-
stitute one of the marvels of nature, produce another
which is almost equally extraordinary ; for as soon
as the fat black earth of the mountains of Abyssinia
becomes saturated with water, immense swarms of
flies burst into existence ; and, with the rains, assist

SKETCH OF ABYSSINIA. 125

in driving almost every living creature from them.
This insect, called by the Abyssinians tsaltsalya,

although it is scarcely larger than a common bee,
becomes formidable from its immense numbers ; and
the buzzing sound of its arrival is no sooner heard
than the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly
about the plain till they actually die from fear, pain,
and fatigue. The camel, whose patience under
every other affliction is proverbially unalterable, gets
ungovernable from the violent punctures of these
flies ; his body becomes covered with lumps, which
break and putrify ; and the wretched creature, termed
by the Arabs the " ship of the desert," founders and
dies. Even the rhinoceros and elephant, whose
hides have been considered almost impenetrable to a
musket-ball, are severely persecuted by these " clouds
of cossacks," but they instinctively fortify themselves
against the attack by wallowing in the mud and
mire, which, when dried by the sun, forms a fortress
which their enemies are unable to storm. All the
inhabitants of Melinda, down to Cape Gardfui,
Ssiba, and the south coast of the Red Sea, — all the
inhabitants of the countries from the mountains of
Abyssinia to the confluence of the Nile and the
Astaboras, are obliged annually to quit the country
of black earth, and, driving their cattle before them,
to seek refuge in the cheerless sands of the desert ;

126 LIFE OF BRUCE.

and so many human beings and huge animals thus
flying before an army of such little flies, certainly
forms a very remarkable and wonderful feature in
the great picture of Nature.

Of all those who have written upon these coun-
tries, Isaiah is, we believe, the only one before Bruce,
who has given an account of this fly : — " And it shall
come to pass," says the prophet, " in that day, that
the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost
parts of the rivers of Egypt, and they shall come and
shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys."

For one moment we must stop to observe that
Bruce's account of the number and of the effect
produced by these flies, is a part of his narrative
which was long pointed at and ridiculed as being
particularly unworthy of belief; yet the description
already quoted from Denham (see our page 113)
strongly corroborates Bruce's statement, which has
also been confirmed by the testimony of the Abys-
sinian Dean, who was publicly examined at Cairo by
Dr. Clarke. Besides this, we know that no man
has ever yet been able to impart to his reader a
just idea of the clouds of locusts, which, in some
parts of the world, suddenly convert, for a hundred
miles together, a green country into a brown one,
to the total destruction of vegetable life, Bruce's
account, therefore, of the havoc which the tsaltsalya,
zimb, or fly of Abyssinia, produces among living
creatures, however strange it may sound in this
country, does not, in the natural history of the
world, stand unsupported.

Why a portion of animal and vegetable creation
should be afflicted with such a scourge as the zimb
and the locust, why other parts of the world should
be disordered by hurricanes and earthquakes, and
why the whole of mankind should occasionally suffer

SKETCH OF ABYSSINIA. 127

from pestilential disorders, &c., are problems which
Bruce need not be called upon to solve. He has
only added one to a number of facts, of which all
we know is that they form parts of a wise and bene-
ficent system which it is out of our power to com-
prehend.

Abyssinia being mountainous, lying in the middle
of the torrid zone, and being also subject to the
heavy periodical rains which have just been described,
the effect naturally produced by these three causes
is, that the climates of the high and low country are
totally different. The mountainous or high land of
Abyssinia, which, it may be observed, is covered
with long grass, and destitute of wood, is at all times
healthy, dry, cool, temperate, and is often even
extremely cold ; while the low woody country, un-
wholesome, hazy, close, and insufferably hot, suffers
severely from a sickly, feverish season, which is
invariably produced by the excessive rains. Part
of this low country, however, is not covered with
wood, and, though equally hot, yet being better
ventilated, it is, generally speaking, healthy, as pro-
ductive as Egypt, and is covered with most beautiful
cattle of all descriptions ; but where the waters of
the rainy season, for want of level, stagnate on tin-
plains, these hot swampy marshes produce no pasture,
and are exceedingly feverish and unhealthy.

The little kingdom of Abyssinia, thus possessing
within itself districts of such various climates, is
,?nhabited by people of races and complexions as
different as the soil and altitudes which they re-
spectively occupy. In Abyssinia, royalty sits perched
on the tops of the highest mountains ; the great
bulk of the community enjoy themselves on the
sides of the hills, or in the wide, healthy plains ;
and in the hot, feverish, putrid atmosphere of the

128 LIFE OP. BRUCE.

low woods, one almost starts at meeting that wretched
unfortunate being, the black, woolly-headed negro,
who there, as in all regions of the world, finds that
his neighbour and fellow-creature, pagan as well as
Christian, is a more cruel, cunning, relentless, in-
veterate enemy, than the hyaena and savage beasts
of the field.

THE SHANGALLA.

THE Shangalla of Abyssinia, the ancient Cushites
or Ethiopians, occupy a low, flat, muggy country
of dark, fat earth, which is, on an average, about
forty miles broad. They are pagans, black, naked,
and inveterate enemies of the Abyssinian govern-
ment. During the first half of the year, the Shan-
galla live under the friendly shade of their own trees,
the lower branches of which they bend downwards,
and fix into the ground, thus forming a verdant
tent, which they cover on the outside with the skins
of animals. Living in this wild state, the forest is
their city, its trees their houses. For food and
amusement they hunt the elephant, rhinoceros, hip-
popotamus, and those other large animals which
either inhabit their woody territory, or are found
wallowing in the sultry pools which it encloses ;
and hence it follows, that where the forest is the
broadest, the jungle the thickest, and the stagnant
ponds the largest, there the tribes of the Shangalla
are the strongest and most fonnidable. In those
parts of the country in which the large animals do
not abound, the Shangalla subsist on buffaloes, deer,
boars, lions, and even serpents ; in places where
there is little wood, whole tribes of them eat the
crocodile, fish, locusts, lizards, and ostriches — and
thus they are still the rhizophagi, elephantophagi,

THE SIIANGALLA. 129

acritlophagi, struthiopha<ri, agriophagi, wliich Pto-
lemy, in his account of the Ethiopians, has so
accurately described.

During the summer the Shangalla tribes subsist
on the animals which they catch ; but in order to
provide for the rainy season, they dry their food in a
very singular manner. Venison and other flesh is
cut into strips or thongs about as broad as a man's
thumb. These are dried in the sun, until they
resemble rough, tough leather ; even locusts are dried
and packed in baskets for the winter's consumption.
Before the rainy season commences, they strike, or
rather uncover their tents, leaving the boughs still
pinioned to the earth, and thus bidding adieu to the
skeleton of their deserted village, they seek refuge in
caves which are rudely excavated in gritty, sandy
rocks, so soft that they are often made to contain
several apartments. As soon as the rains subside,
the high grass which it has brought into existence
becomes suddenly dry, brown, and parched ; and
being inconvenient to the Shangalla, they set fire to
it. Flame rapidly extends over the country, and
h're actually flows down ravines and gullies, in which,
but a few weeks before, another element was seen
nuaihing on its course !

The Shangalla have but one language, which has
;i MTV guttural sound. They worship trees, serpents,
the moon, planets, and stars in certain positions.
They have, of course, many superstitions — for in-
stance, a star passing near the horns of the moon
denotes, they conceive, the approach of an enemy.
They have priests, but only to defend them from evil
spirits; for to their good, benevolent spirits they fancy
they may appeal without human assistance.

They are all archers from their infancy. Their
bows, which are made of wi;d fennel, are usually

K

130 LIFE OF BRUCE.

long and thick, and so elastic, that the same weapon
is used in childish sports, which afterwards defends
them when they grow up, — the only difference being
that whereas, when hoys, they are obliged, from its
length, to hold the bow horizontally, the being able
to bend it vertically is, among the Shangalla, the
admitted sign of manhood. As a sort of religious,
or rather superstitious, offering, they place on their
bow a ring or strip of every animal they kill, and when
the bow, covered with these rude trophies, becomes
too stiff to be used, they carefully preserve it.

The old Shangalla has always, therefore, a number
of these weapons in his possession. From them he
selects a favourite one to be buried with him, in
order that, when he rises again, he may not be at a
loss to defend himself from his enemies ; for these
poor people, as we shall soon learn, are so accustomed
to enemies in this world, that they cannot conceive
that even a future existence can be without them ;
and yet rude and mistaken as their notions may be,
we must all admit that there is no one idea more de-
serving of respect — which so directly tends to civilise
the human mind, making all men act towards each
other as brothers — than any belief, however uncertain,
in a state of future existence.

It would be difficult to point out a more striking
contrast than what is presented by the sedentary life
of the negro or Cushite of Abyssinia, and the wan-
dering habits of his neighbour the shepherd. The
former, whether he lives in a tent or in a cave, moves
only to avoid the zimb or the rain ; the latter is
always vibrating from one side of the mountain to
the other, or else driving camels, laden with mer-
chandise, across the burning deserts of Africa.

Although the Shangalla live in separate tribes,
yet they are in the habit of joining together, and

THE SHANOALLA. 131

of forming alliances offensive and defensive, but prin
cipally to assist each other in repelling the barbarous
attacks which are made upon them by the Abys-
sinians and Arabs.

Mothers, who stand most in need of protection,
naturally look for it to their own offspring ; and it
is a habit among these women, as among the Galla
tribes, to entreat their husbands to entertain a plu-
rality of wives, that, by the number of children in
the family, the means of safety may be proportionally
increased. Their moral character is nevertheless
defended by Bruce with so much good feeling, that
we must give it to the reader in his own words : —

" I will not fear to aver, as far as concerns these
Shangalla, or negroes, of Abyssinia (and, I believe,
most others of the same complexion, though of dif-
ferent nations), that the various accounts we have
of them are very unfairly stated. To describe them
justly, we should see them in their native purity of
manners, among their native woods, living on the
produce of their own daily labours, without other
liquor than that of their own pools and springs, the
drinking of which is followed by no intoxication, or
other pleasure than that of assuaging thirst. After
having been torn from their own country and con-
nexions, reduced to the condition of brutes, to labour
for a being they never before knew ; after lying,
stealing, and all the long lists of European crimes,
have been made, as it were, necessary to them, and
the delusion occasioned by drinking spirits is found,
however short, to be the only remedy that relieves
them from reflecting on their present wretched
situation, to which, for that reason, they most natu-
rally attach themselves ; then after we have made
them monsters, we describe them as such ! — for-
getful that they are now not as their Maker created

K2

132 LIFE OF BRUCE.

them, but such as, by teaching them our vices, we
have transformed them into, for ends which, I fear,
one day will not be found a sufficient excuse for the
enormities they have occasioned."

It would be well for the character of human
nature, if we could here close the history of the
Shangalla ; but as yet nothing has been offered but
a sketch of their lives: the account of their death,
or what is even worse, of their slavery, remains still
untold.

On the accession of every new king to the throne
of Abyssinia, and on many other occasions, it has
been the custom to amuse the country by a great
hunting match, which lasts several days; and in
this natural and manly pastime rewards are given,
according to a fixed scale, for each of the wild beasts
that are killed.

As soon as the hunting of the animals is con-
cluded, licence is granted for a general hunt after
the Shangalla, and exactly the same reward is offered
for the murder of one of them as for slaying an
elephant, a rhinoceros, or any other of the largest
species of beasts.

The moment usually preferred for the persecution
of these ill-fated people is just before the rains,
while they are yet living in their vegetating tents,
and before the soil of their country, by dissolving
into mire, obliges them to seek refuge in their winter
quarters.

In order to hunt these people, the Abyssinians,
in overpowering numbers, and armed with every
sort of weapon they can collect, enter the forest, and
then, like hounds, they regularly draw the covers,
which contain their game. The men of the Shan-
galla being extremely active, intelligent, and accus-
tomed to the intricacies of their native woods, could

THE SIIANG ALL A. 133

easily evade their pursuers, but each man, tethered
by his affections to his own little family, can only
retreat at the rate of the weakest, and they are
consequently very soon overtaken by the Abys-
sinians. In the hot, gloomy, unhealthy recesses of
the forest, far beyond the regions of civilization,
out of the hearing of mercy, out of the sight of
every nation that would rush forward to prevent
such conduct, the sport or slaughter begins. The
nrown-up men are all killed, and are then mutilated,
— parts of their bodies being always carried away as
trophies ; several of the old mothers are also killed,
while others, frantic with fear and despair, kill them-
selves. The boys and girls of a more tender age are
then carried off in brutal triumph ; the former are
afterwards to be found as servants in all the great
houses in Abyssinia ; the latter, the weaker sex, are
dragged into more remote and distant countries, to
be sold as attendants to the Turks, who profess to
admire the Ethiopians in summer, because, like
toads, they have a cold skin.

Any one who has ever had the misfortune to
witness an African slave-market, and for a moment
to stand surrounded by its wretched, emaciated vic-
tims, must, after his first feelings have subsided, have
found himself filled with astonishment that human
nature could ever be induced deliberately to continue
-o iniilty a traffic! To account for it, or rather to
excuse it, it has often been urged, that negroes are
;i nice of inferior beings, whose minds are not sus-
ceptible of those painful sensations which we should
suffer were we to be placed in their unfortunate
condition. In short, to explain the problem, we
paint the map of the world in our own way, and then
gravely say, "the inhabitants of these (our countries)
have acute feelings, and those who dwell in that

134 LIFE OF BRUCE.

have none * !" But this strange assertion is most
curiously contradicted by the history of the negroes,
or Shangalla, of Abyssinia ; for they and their
enemies, the persecuted and the persecutors, abso-
lutely live under the same sun, in the same country,
separated only by a few hundred feet of elevation.
No one can therefore rationally maintain, that these
children of one family can be divided by feelings of
such different degrees of susceptibility ; for the
Shangalla must surely enjoy freedom and liberty
in the valley as much as the Abyssinians can enjoy
them on the higher ground.

But the real truth is, that the sun is hotter in the
lower stratum than it is in the upper. The human
body, exhausted by its heat, becomes weaker — and
it is because the Shaugalla are weaker than the
Abyssinians, and for no other reason, that the for-
mer are murdered and persecuted by the latter ; and
surely the African slave-trade rests on the same
identical foundat i ( m .

THE GALLA.

THE Galla are a most numerous race of shepherds
who inhabit the south, the west, and also parts in
the interior of Abyssinia. As their land is high,
and as the rains screen it for a considerable time
from the sun, the general complexion of these Galla
is brown, though some who inhabit the valleys of the
lower country are perfectly black, with long hair
of the same colour. They are divided into tribes,
for every seven of which a king or chief is elected.
There exists, also, a sort of rough nobility among

* The Chinese have a map which consists of a very large
country, and a little speck ; the former they say is " China ;" the
latter " the rest of the world."

THE GALLA. 135

them, whose ancestors have been raised to this
dignity by valorous feats in war ; and it is from
these families alone that the chieftain can be chosen.

No one of these superiors can be elected until
time has conferred upon him forty years of experi-
ence. However, in their savage calculation, the
killing of an enemy is considered as equivalent to
a year's experience, and therefore any noble becomes
eligible for supreme command, when, between years
of age and enemies slain, he has made up the number
of forty. The Galla are almost all mounted on
horses, which, from constant practice, they of course
manage with great dexterity. In passing rivers they
dismount, and grasp the tails of their horses, which
tow them across. The assistance they thus receive
does not exceed a few ounces ; whereas, by remaining
on horseback, they would subject animals badly
adapted for swimming, and scarcely able to support
themselves, to the extra burden of the whole of
that part of their body which is above the water.
Their arms consist of a shield made of bull's hide,
and a long lance sharpened at the end, and then
hardened by fire.

The attack of these wild people is very much
dreaded by the Abyssinians ; for, besides their
cruelty, they utter, in charging, such a shrill, barba-
rous, frantic howl, that the Abyssinian horses are
said to tremble with fear, in which their riders very
readily participate.

When they march into the country of an enemy,
they carry with them small balls about as large as
pigeons' eggs, composed of a particular sort of bean,
pulverised and mixed with butter ; and it is affirmed,
that, by eating one of these boluses, a Galla soldier
can, in health and spirits, endure a whole day's
fatigue.

136 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Both sexes are rather below the middle size, but
they are remarkably light and agile. The women
are generally very prolific ; and the sun which shines
on the infant's birth seldom sets before the mother
has resumed her occupations — such is the healthy
state of savage life ! The dress, or rather undress,
of some of the tribes of the Galla, presents a costume
which, although curious, has not yet reached our
fashionable world. Round their persons they wind,
as ornaments, the entrails of oxen, which also hang-
in festoons or necklaces from their throats. Their
bodies are anointed with grease, poured so copiously
on their heads that it melts, and, like our pomatum,
is continually dropping on their shoulders, over
which is thrown a piece of goat-skin. Like the
Abyssinians, they eat raw meat ; but Pierce, the
English sailor, describes Galla who drank blood warm
from the neck of the cow, yet, from an odd refine-
ment, refused to eat the flesh of the animal until it
had been broiled.

The Galla of the south are principally Maho-
metans, but those of the east and west are Pagans.
The religion of the latter is very little understood ;
and it has, therefore, as usual, been said that they
have none at all. However, it appears that the
Wansey tree, under which their rude kings are
crowned, is worshipped as a god by every tribe :
there are also particular stones which they have
been observed to venerate. They worship the moon
and some of the stars — they have no idea of future
punishment, but believe that, after death, they will
live again and for ever.

Their form of marriage is as follows. The bride-
groom comes to the parents of the bride with some
food for a cow in his right hand, and he then very
seriously and solemnly says — " May it never enter

THE GALLA. 137

the cow or leave her, if I do not perform my pro-
mise;" which is, that he will give to his young wife
meat and drink while she lives, and bury her tidily
when she dies.

As in the Abyssinian climate, girls marry at
eleven, ten, and even nine years of age, and as there
is no difficulty in supporting children, it is, by a
Galla, reckoned creditable to be encircled by a
numerous family; and, therefore, if his wife presents
him with only a few children, she herself endeavours
to persuade her husband to take, for her sake, an
extra wife to assist her in surrounding him with his
most natural protectors. To any objections which
he may urge, she replies by naming and describing
to him all the most fascinating girls of her acquaint-
ance, particularly mentioning those who, in her
opinion, would be most likely not to disappoint him.
As soon as the husband relents, the wife's next sin-
gular occupation is to proceed to the house of the
person selected, whom she requires from her family,
that she may be her husband's wife, that their
families may be joined together, and thus be strong
enough in the day of battle not to fall into the hands
of the enemy.

When this curious marriage, or rather codicil to
the man's marriage, is concluded, the old wife keeps
her precedence — treating her companion not as a
rival, as would probably be the case in England, but
as a growTi-up daughter.

When the father, becoming old, is voted useless
and unfit for war, he is obliged to surrender the
whole of his effects to his eldest son, who is bound
to support him ; and in case this son dies, leaving a
widow, the youngest brother of all is expected, out of
respect to his memory, to marry her.

Bruce's description of the Galla horsemen, from

138 LIFE OF BRUCE.

which the above sketch has been principally taken,
was one of the many parts of his narrative which
were very generally disbelieved, and yet no one can
have witnessed the life of what we term the savage,
without recognising, in Bruce's description, all those
general lines which form the characteristic features of
uncivilised life.

The disgusting dress, or ornaments, of the Galla
tribes — their religion, their forms of marriage, &c.
&c. — are certainly very unlike our own ; but surely
it is a very narrow prejudice to conceive that, in all
climates and under all circumstances, the picture of
uncivilised life must be always the same as that
which has been delineated to us, or else be false !
Bruce described the Galla tribes as intelligent, active,
dirty, ignorant, and mistaken in their religious
opinions;' and this general description being strictly
correct, the detail should certainly in justice never
have been doubted. But Bruce unfortunately expe-
rienced that a man may suffer from barbarous preju-
dices and narrow-minded incredulity, long after he
has bidden adieu to the company of the savage.

The uncivilised tribes which surround, as well
as inhabit, Abyssinia, having been now described,
the character of the Abyssinians themselves will
appear in the following short abstract of their
historv.

139

CHAPTER VIII.

A Sketch of the* History of the Kingdom of Abyssinia.

IT is a tradition among the Abyssinians, which they
say they have had from time immemorial, and which
is still equally received among the Jewrs and Chris-
tians of that country, that almost immediately after
the flood, Cush, grandson of Noah, with his family,
passing through Atbara, then without inhabitants,
came to the chains of mountains which separate the
flat country of Atbara from the mountainous part
of Abyssinia. The tradition further says, that they
built the city of Axum early in the days of Abraham ;
and that from thence they extended until they
became (as Josephus says) the Meroetes, or inhabi-
tants of the islands of Meroe.

While population was thus extending towards the
north, it is supposed that the mountains parallel to
the Red Sea, which in all times were called Saba or
A /aba (which means south), became peopled with
the Agaazi, or Shepherds, who first possessed the
high country of Abyssinia, called Tigre, several
tribes afterwards occupying the other provinces,
many of which still retain particular languages of
their own*.

In the most ancient of these languages, tribes, or
assemblies of people, are called Habesh, which

* With very great difficulty, Bruce succeeded in getting the
whole book of Canticles translated into each of these languages.

140 LIFE OF BRUCE.

appellation was therefore supposed to have been given
to the whole country now known to us by the name
of Abyssinia.

The country of Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all of
which mean south, was a separate, distinct people
from the Ethiopians, or Arabs ; and it was a custom
among these Sabeans to have women for their sove-
reigns in preference to men.

One of these queens, called Balkis by the Arabs,
and Maqueda by the Abyssinians, having heard not
only of the wisdom of Solomon, but of the immense
wealth which he had accumulated in the north,
determined to witness the reality of scenes, to the
description of which she had listened with so much
delight ; and, accordingly, this Queen of Saba, Azaba,
or the South, suddenly appeared before Solomon.
Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyssinian, and, indeed, the
inhabitants of all the countries round, vouch for
this expedition very nearly in the language of
Scripture, which states — " And when the Queen
of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning
the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with
hard questions." Again — " The Queen of the South
shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and
shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and
behold a greater than Solomon is here."

It is said by the Abyssinians, that this Queen of
Sheba, or Saba, left her country a Pagan, hut that,
having received Solomon's answers to the hard ques-
tions which she put to him, she returned converted
to Judaism, and bringing with her a young child
called Menilek. Both her new religion and her son
Menilek, were, of course, attributed to the persuasions
of Solomon ; and it may here be observed, that both
the Jews and Christians of Abyssinia still believe

QUEEN OF SABA. 141

that the fourteenth Psalm is a prophecy, not only of
their queen's journey to Jerusalem, but that there
she should have, by Solomon, a son, who was to be
kino- over a nation of Gentiles.

The visit of the Queen of Saba to King Solomon
is also detailed in the Koran, though strangely mixed
up with Mahometan fancies, which give quite a ludi-
crous picture of the scene. The queen, in order to
puzzle Solomon, is said to have sent him presents by
five hundred young slaves of each sex, whom she
artfully disguised, by dressing each set in the clothes
of the other ; but Solomon, a man of experience as
well as wisdom, managed to detect the imposture.
Again, in his turn, he is said by the Koran to have
played off a trick on the queen. It had been re-
ported to him, " that her legs and feet were covered
with hair, like those of an ass ; " and being curious
to view this phenomenon, he caused his unsuspecting
guest to enter a magnificent apartment, in the middle
of which she found the king seated in splendour on
his throne. The queen advanced to pay her respects ;
and the Koran declares, that when it was too late,
Solomon said to her Majesty — u Verily, this is a
palace evenly floored with glass."

The Abyssinians declare that Menilek, after resid-
ing some years with his mother, was sent by her to
his father Solomon, to be instructed ; that he then
took the name of David, and was anointed and
crowned, in the temple of Jerusalem, as King of
Ethiopia. After this ceremony, he is said to have-
returned to Azab, or Saba, accompanied by a colony
of Jews, and by a high-priest Azazias, who brought
with him a Hebrew transcript of the Law. The
moment had now arrived for the Queen of Saba
to carry her great and hitherto secret objects into
execution. Abyssinia was converted to the religion

142 LIFE OP BRUCE.

of Jerusalem ; and, by the last act of the queen's
reign, she settled a new mode of succession to the
crown, which has very nearly existed to the present
day.

She enacted, first, that the throne should be here-
ditary, in the family of Solomon, for ever ; secondly,
that, on her demise, no woman should be capable of
wearing the crown, which should henceforward de-
scend to heirs-male, however distant; and, lastly,
that the heir-male of the royal house should ever
be kept imprisoned on a high monntain, there to
remain until their death, or until they should be
called to the throne.

The queen having decreed that these laws should
be irrevocable, died, after a long reign of forty years,
m the year 986 before Christ. She was succeeded
by her son Menilek, whose posterity, according to
the annals of Abyssinia, and according to the belief
of all the neighbouring nations, have reigned ever
since; their device being a lion passant, with this
motto — " Mo ansaba am Nizilet Solomon am Negade
Juda," which signifies, "The Lion of the race of
Solomon and tribe of Judah hath overcome."

Separated from the present day by a race amount-
ing to nearly three thousand years, the history of
the Queen of Saba is unavoidably involved in great
obscurity, and is distorted, as we have seen, by the
absurd fables of the Koran ; yet the faint outline of
her character denotes a mind possessed of superior
abilities. Secluded in the remote country in which
she reigned, it required considerable enterprise and
determination to imagine, to say nothing of perform-
ing, the great journey which Scripture records her to
have made ; and this desire to introduce herself into
the society of her superior, and to become acquainted
with a country in a higher state of civilisation than

QUEEN OF SABA. 143

her own, shows a liberality which, in every situation
of life, has been always considered highly creditable.
Her desire that her sex should deliver up to man, its
natural guardian and protector, the dignity of com-
mand and the power of dominion, is also a remarkable
trait in her character ; and whoever may have been
the father of her son Menilek, yet, in establishing a
succession of heirs-male, it was certainly not impoli-
tic to confer upon him dignity, in the real -or imagi-
nary title of being descended from the wisest as well
as one of the most powerful of kings.

With respect to her precaution of imprisoning all
the heirs-male, in order to maintain a succession, this
involves explanations respecting the habits and man-
ners of the Abyssinians, which will better appear in
another place ; however, it may shortly be observed,
that time is the best test of the fitness of any law,
for the particular tribe or people for whom it has
been invented, and therefore, that if this law has
existed, as we are informed, for nearly three thousand
years, and during that immense period has practically
effected its object, by maintaining the succession, the
Queen of Sheba may very fairly be considered as a
person of wisdom, at least equal to many less ancient
legislators, whose laws and whose families are alike
extinct.

We must now leave the Queen of Sheba, like a
star in the firmament, at the immeasurable distance
at which she shines, and at once rapidly advance to
scenes, which, because they are nearer, are likely to
be thought better worthy of our attention.

About one thousand three hundred years after the
death of the queen, and upwards of three hundred
years after the birth of our Saviour, Meropius, a
Greek philosopher, accompanied by Frumentius and
•rEdcsius, two young men whom he had educated,

144 LIFE OF BRUCE.

embarked on board a vessel in the Red Sea for India.
As they were proceeding on their voyage, the vessel
was wrecked on the coast of Abyssinia, and they
were instantly attacked by the natives, who thus
seemed more cruel than the rocks on which they
had been stranded. Meropius was killed, and the
two boys were taken as prisoners to Axum, which
had been made the capital of Abyssinia by Menilek,
who removed his court from its ancient residence at
Saba, to a place near Axum, which is called " Adega
Daid" (the house of David) to this day.

Frumentius and j3klesius, who had received a
good education, in a short time learnt the language;
and as soon as their talents and acquirements became
known, they rose rapidly to distinction. vEdesius
was appointed to be keeper of the king's household,
and the care of the young prince was entrusted to
Frumentius, who, after gradually gaining possession
of the affection as well as the mind of his pupil, at
last succeeded in imparting to him a love and vene-
ration for the Christian religion ; and as soon as this
good feeling was firmly established, Frumentius ob-
tained permission to depart, and hastened to St.
Athanasius, at Alexandria, to whom he declared his
belief that the Abyssinians might easily be converted
to Christianity, if proper ministers were sent to
instruct them. Athanasius listened to the state-
ment with the earnest attention which it deserved ;
and in a very short time Frumentius returned to
Abyssinia as Bishop of that country. He found the
young king eagerly cherishing the religious hopes
which he had been taught to entertain, and, en-
couraged by Frumentius, he now formally embraced
Christianity.

His example instantly spread over the greatest
part of the country, and never did the seed of the

FRUMEXTIUS, ETC. 145

Christian religion reach a more genial soil, than
when it first fell among the rugged mountains of
Abyssinia. There was no war to introduce it, — no
fanatic priesthood to oppose it, — no bloodshed to
disgrace it : its only argument was its truth, its only
ornament its simplicity, and around our religion thus
shining in its native lustre men flocked in peaceful
humility, and hand in hand joined cheerfully in
doctrines which gave glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will towards men.

Arianism, however, breaking out under the Empe-
ror Constantius, he was applied to by Athanasius to
recall Frumentius ; but although the lightning of
heaven had illumined Abyssinia, yet the thunder of
the Roman Church was but faintly heard in so
remote a region.

About one hundred and eighty years after the
establishment of Christianity, a religious war is said
to have taken place between the converted and un-
converted Abyssinians (the Christians and the Jews).
After this event, there is nothing of importance in
the uncertain annals of Abyssinia for upwards of
four hundred and forty years ; but nine hundred and
sixty years after Christ, a strong party was formed
among the Jews, who, ever since the conversion of
the race of Solomon to Christianity, had preserved
on the mountain of Samem, on a healthy pinnacle
which was named the Jews' Rock, a separate royal
family of their own.

In the year 960, the Jews, supported by their
king, and by his daughter Judith, a woman of great
beauty and talents for intrigue, resolved to attempt
the subversion of the Christian religion, and the
destruction of the race of Solomon. They accord-
ingly surprised the mountain of Damo, the residence
of the Christian princes, the whole of whom, about
L

146 LIFE OP BRUCE.

four hundred, were massacred, excepting one infant,
Del Naad, who escaped into the powerful and loyal
province of Shoa. A solitary representative of the
blood of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was thus
preserved, to be again restored to the throne. The
Jewrs, meanwhile, encouraged by their sanguinary
victory, succeeded in interrupting the succession,
and, contrary to the long-respected law of Abyssinia,
Judith took possession of the throne, and not only
enjoyed it herself for forty years, but transmitted it
to five of her posterity, whose names are said to have
been Totadem, Jan-Shum, Garcina-Shum, Harbai,
and Maravi. On the death of Maravi, the crown
descended to one of his relations, a Christian, and it
is said to have remained in his family (who although
Christians, were not of the line of Solomon) for five
generations ; however, about three hundred years
after the murder of the princes, Tecla Haimanout, a
monk and native of Abyssinia, who had founded the
famous monastery of Debra Libanos, and had been
ordained Abuna, or chief priest of Abyssinia, per-
suaded the reigning king nobly to restore the crown
to the line of Solomon, which, as before stated, had
been preserved in Shoa. A treaty was accordingly
drawn up by Tecla Haimanout, by which it was
agreed that the kingdom of Abyssinia should be
resigned to one of the royal princes — that a portion
of land should be given to the retiring sovereign —
that one-third of the kingdom should be ceded to the
Abuna (Tecla Haimanout himself), for the mainte-
nance of the Christian Church of Abyssinia ; and
lastly, that no native Abyssinian should hereafter be
chosen Abuna, but that that great officer should
always be ordained and sent from Cairo — by which
arrangement Tecla Haimanout wrisely intended to
secure to his church the incalculable advantage of

RACE OF SOLOMON BANISHED. 147

always having at its head a man independent of the
narrow prejudices and interests which would probably
govern any native of Abyssinia, and who would also
bring into the secluded country the books, know-
ledge, and improvements of the more civilised world.

This treaty being concluded, a prince of the race
of Solomon was peacefully restored to the throne of
his ancestors, and the name which he assumed —
" Icon Amlac," which means, " Let him be made our
sovereign," was but the expression of the general
approbation which attended the measure. The prison
for the princes of the blood of Solomon was estab-
lished on the summit of the mountain of Geshen, in
the province of Amhara, instead of being as it was,
for the space of two hundred years before the massa-
cre of the princes, on the rock of Damo, in Tigre.

We need not linger over the petty wars and pro-
vincial troubles which make up the Abyssinian
history of several succeeding generations. About
the year 1418, Prince Henry of Portugal, who was
half an Englishman, being the youngest son of
John I. of Portugal, by Philippina, sister of Henry
IV. of England, having long turned his attention to
astronomy and the higher branches of mathematics,
prevailed upon his father to attempt a passage to
India, by sailing round the continent of Africa : and
while this expedition was, by slow degrees and by
repeated voyages, groping its way over the vast
expanse of the Atlantic ocean, Prince Henry sug-
gested that, in case of disappointment, it would be
well to attempt also to reach India by land; for
it had long been reported by Christians from Jeru-
salem, that monks occasionally resorted to the holy
city who declared themselves to be the subjects of a
Christian prince, whose dominions were in the heart
of Africa. The king of Portugal, therefore, deter-

L2

148 LIFE OP BRUCE.

mined to send ambassadors in search of this country,
which was supposed to be governed by Prester John ;
and, accordingly, Peter Covillan and Alphonso de
Paiva sailed for Alexandria, carrying with them
a rude map which had been constructed under the
direction of Prince Henry. Embarking on the Red
Sea, they sailed beyond the straits of Babelmandeb.
Alphonso de Paiva died, but Covillan, after a series
of adventures, reached Shoa, where the court of
Abyssinia then resided ; and here he was greeted by
the fatal intelligence, that an ancient law of the
country forbade him ever to revisit his native air ;
that no stranger was ever permitted to depart — that
Abyssinia was but too truly the bourne from which
no traveller returns — and Covillan, in fact, never did
return to Europe.

He was, however, very well treated by the king
and his people, and was permitted to send to Portugal
descriptions and plans of all his discoveries, which he
most eagerly recommended to be followed up by
other expeditions from his country. But the foun-
dation upon which he was building all his hopes
suddenly gave way. Cape Tormentoso — the Cape of
Good Hope, was doubled, the barrier to India was
thus broken down, and the journey by land, as well
as the importance of Abyssinia, were alike neglected
and forgotten. During two reigns, Covillan remained
quietly at Shoa, but the Abyssinians then becoming
embroiled in a war with the Turks of Arabia, entreated
Covillan to request the assistance of Portugal, the
King of Abyssinia promising that, as soon as his
throne was re-established in security, he would submit
himself to the Pope, and resign one-third of his do-
minions to the Portuguese. A letter was accordingly
despatched by an Armenian merchant named Mateo,
who, after encountering, for many years, difficulties

ALPI10XSO DE PAIVA. 149

which often appeared to be insurmountable, at last
succeeded in reaching Portugal, where he was re-
ceived with every mark of attention and respect. A
very numerous embassy was accordingly sent out
from Portugal, and, landing at the north of Abys-
sinia, on the 16th of April, 1520, Don Roderigo,
the ambassador, his numerous retinue, and Mateo
the Armenian (all equally ignorant of the country,
rashly resolved to proceed by land to the king), who
was in one of the southern districts of his dominions.
They crossed the whole extent of the empire, passing
through unknown woods and mountains, " full of
savage beasts, with men more savage than the beasts
themselves," and intersected by large rivers which
were daily swelling by the tropical rains. They had
occasionally to pass deserts in which no sustenance
was to be found either for man or beast. At last
they were placed in a situation which, by their de-
scription, appears still more dreadful ; for in their
journey to the convent of St. Michael, the wood, or
jungle, became so thick, that it was almost impos-
sible to penetrate it — thorns and briars impeded their
progress — unlooked-for ravines suddenly yawned
beneath them — mountains upon mountains were
towering above them, their black and bare tops
appearing as it wrre calcined by the rays of a burn-
ing sun, and by the incessant lightning which, at
intervals, was flashing around them.

As the little band proceeded, terrified even at the
thunder which was resounding in their ears, tigers
and other wild beasts occasionally presented them-
selves, their hunger appearing to be for the moment
appeased by astonishment— immense baboons hur-
ried by, clambering up the trees, as if eager to view
creatures who so strangely resembled themselves.
At last the woods grew thinner, and some fields

150 LIFE OF BRUCE.

appeared, but Mateo and Don Roderigo' s servant,
worn out by fear, fatigue, and fever, became unable
to proceed — and died.

After various troubles the embassy reached the
king at Shoa, on the 16th of October, 1520; but
bringing no presents (it was with no little difficulty
that they had been able to bring themselves), they
were received with very cold civility. After having
explained the object of their mission, the king was
anxious to return an answer to Portugal, and, con-
trary to the custom of Abyssinia, he at last allowed
Don Roderigo to return, though he forcibly detained
several of his attendants.

Roderigo safely reached Lisbon with Zaga Zaab,
ambassador from the court of Abyssinia. About
twelve years afterwards, the Abuna, or Patriarch of
Abyssinia, an imbecile old man, being at the point
of death, the king, for political as well as religious
reasons, prevailed upon him to nominate as his suc-
cessor John Bermudez, one of the Portuguese who
had been detained in the country ever since Rode-
rigo's arrival. Bermudez, anxious to revisit Europe,
consented to accept the office, provided he received
the approbation of the pope; and the king, being
hard pressed in his wars, and fully aware of the value
of European troops, proposed that Bermudez should
go first to the pope, and then to his own court, to
solicit for Abyssinia the assistance of Portugal. After
some difficulty, Bermudez set out for Rome, and,
arriving there without accident, was confirmed by
Paul III., as Patriarch not only of Abyssinia, but of
Alexandria likewise; nay, gratified at receiving a
mission from a Christian state so remote that he
had hardly been aware of its existence, the pope
lavished on Bermudez the additional and incompre-
hensible title of " Patriarch of the Sea." With these

DEATH OF DON CHRISTOPHER. 151

distinctions Bermudez proceeded as ambassador from
the king of Abyssinia to Lisbon, where, on his
arrival, his titles were all acknowledged, and he him-
self treated with corresponding attention. His first
act was to give the Portuguese a specimen of Abys-
sinian discipline, by putting Zaga Zaab in irons, for
having wasted so much time without effecting the
objects of his embassy.

Bermudez then addressed the king of Portugal,
and he drew such a picture of the wealth and power
of Abyssinia — of the advantages which would be de-
rived by an alliance with so remote and magnificent
a country, that the king promised to give him the
assistance of four hundred troops; and many more
than that number eventually landed at Masuah, and
advanced into Abyssinia under the command of Don
Christopher de Gam a.

After marching for eight days to meet the king, Don
Christopher received a message from the Moorish
general full of opprobrious expressions, to which he
returned a contemptuous answer, and on the 25th of
March, 1542, these rival commanders came in sight
of each other at Airial, a small village in the country
of the Baharnagash. The Moorish army was com-
posed of a thousand horsemen, five thousand foot,
fifty Turkish musketeers, and a few pieces of small
artillery. Don Christopher's forces consisted of three
hundred and fifty Portuguese infantry, and about
twelve thousand Abyssinians, with a few horsemen
badly mounted, commanded by the Baharnagash, and
Rohel, governor of Tigre. A slight action ensued
which terminated in favour of Don Christopher ; on
the 30th of August he again offered battle to the
Moorish general.

The Portuguese had, early in the morning, strewed
loose gunpowder in front of their line ; on the first

152 LIFE OF BRUCE.

approach of the enemy they set fire to it, which
burnt and frightened them very severely ; however,
the Abyssinians shortly afterwards giving way, the
little band of Portuguese was instantly surrounded.
Gallantly they resisted the heavy attack that was
made against them ; however, Don Christopher
being wounded, they cut their way through their
enemy and retreated. During the night, Don Chris-
topher crawled into a wood alone, w^here he was
shortly discovered by some Moorish cavalry, who,
delighted at the prize, immediately carried him before
their general. This worthy no sooner saw his pri-
soner than he loaded him with reproaches. Don
Christopher, who was as impetuous as he was brave,
replied in terms full of indignation and contempt;
and this so enraged the Moor, that he flew upon his
defenceless prisoner, and, with his own hand, cut off
his head. The body of this brave man was severed
into pieces, which were forwarded to different parts
of Arabia, and the skull was packed off for Constan-
tinople— the tribute of a barbarian to his superior in
barbarity.

The victorious Moors then surrounded and at-
tempted to gain possession of a number of women
who belonged to their enemy; but a noble Abys-
sinian lady, who was married to a Portuguese officer,
aware of the brutal character of the Moors, touched
with fire some barrels of gunpowder, which were in
the tent ; a dreadful flash — a terrific explosion took
place, and the fears of the one sex, and the savage
passions of the other, were in one second lulled to
rest for ever !

The king expressed his unfeigned sorrow at the
tragic fate of Don Christopher, and sent three
thousand ounces of gold to be divided among the
survivors of the Portuguese, who flocked around

IGNATIUS LOYOLA. 5lJ

his throne, earnestly praying him to lead them to
revenge the death of their commander; and this
they had shortly afterwards an opportunity of doing,
in a battle in which the Moors were defeated with
great slaughter.

But while the Portuguese troops were thus fight-
ing for the Abyssinian cause, their religion, from
the conduct of Bermudez, was becoming unpopular.
For a long time the distinction between the Roman
Catholic and the Abyssinian, Greek, or Coptic sys-
tem, was too trifling to be observed. The Portu-
guese and the Abyssinians not only intermarried,
but their children, in happy innocence, were chris-
tened sometimes by the ministers of one church and
sometimes by those of the other : but Bermudez,
with the natural acidity of a monk, soon corroded
this fair, shining surface. However, although his
narrow policy for some time disturbed the country,
yet it at last reacted : the king in public firmly re-
sisting his arguments, the flame which Bermudez
had kindled was felt only by himself; and, " like the
scorpion girt by fire," he then turned his venom into
his own veins.

Deserting society, sullen, forlorn, and neglected,
for some time he attempted to occupy his mind by
saying daily mass to about ten miserable individuals.
He then repaired to the port of Masuah, and at last,
in squalid insignificance, this " Patriarch of the Sea"
embarked upon his fickle element, and quitted Abys-
sinia for ever.

About this time, St. Ignatius, the founder of the
order of Jesuits, was at Rome. To his enterprising
and extensive mind the conversion of Abyssinia to
the Roman church seemed of so much importance,
that it is said he proposed himself to go and be the
apostle of that kingdom. The pope, who required

154 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Loyola's talents for higher purposes, refused this
offer; hut one of his fraternity, Nunez Baretto,
was fixed upon as patriarch. On his arrival at
Goa, however, the king's steady aversion to the
Catholic church being communicated to him, he
resolved not to risk his own patriarchal dignity,
but to send Andreas Oviedo, Bishop of Hieropolis,
and Melchior Carneyro, Bishop of Nice, with several
other priests, as ambassadors to the court of Abyssinia.
These ecclesiastical forces arrived at the port of
Masuah in 1558. The king, fancying that they
were Portuguese troops who had come to fight
for him, received their credentials with marks of
very great delight ; but when, on opening the
document, he found that the bill of lading mentioned
nothing but priests, his countenance fell, and he
became much troubled, " wondering," he said, " that
the king of Portugal should meddle with his affairs : "
and adding, " that he and his ancestors had paid
obedience only to the chair of St. Mark, and acknow-
ledged no other patriarch than him of Alexandria."
The king and Oviedo had a violent discussion in
public, which of course ended in the defeat of the
latter, who, for a considerable time, lived in great
obscurity. On the death of the king, however, his
successor received the congratulations of Oviedo ;
but hearing that he still continued to preach, and to
cause divisions and animosity among the people, he
called him again into his presence, and ordered him
to desist. Oviedo refused; and the king, losing
his temper, very improperly beat him with great
violence, and then banished him to a desert
mountain.

After the departure of Bermudez, the Catholic
religion became destitute of support — the fathers, who
had remained in Abyssinia, being dead, and the gate

PETER PAEZ. 155

of the kingdom being closed by the violent animosi-
ties of the Turks, and by the cruelties they exercised
on any missionaries who fell into their hands, the
few Catholics that remained in these regions were
only lingering out a wretched and hopeless existence.
Affairs were in this state, when, in the year 1600,
Peter Paez, the most enterprising, enlightened, and
successful missionary that ever entered Ethiopia,
landed at Masuah. He had been taken by the Turks
in the Red Sea — had just escaped from seven years'
imprisonment — and adversity had thus given him a
severer lesson and a clearer knowledge of the world
than is generally imparted to any of his fraternity.
On landing at Masuah, instead of rushing forwards
with hasty, intemperate zeal, in the hope of convert-
ing all at once a country, the language, habits, and
prejudices of which he had hitherto only read about,
he calmly and deliberately set himself to work to
learn the Geez, or written language. He then set
up a school, wrhich gave him in secret, and without
fear of danger, a thorough insight into the Abyssinian
character; and, after he had tKus cautiously practised
upon the minds of the young and unsuspecting, he at
last felt himself prepared to encounter by argument
and persuasion the passions and prejudices of the
Abyssinian court. In April, 1604, Peter therefore
presented himself to the king, who received him with
the same honours that he bestowed upon his own
people of rank, a distinction which the monks of the
Abyssinian church viewed with very great jealousy,
as they clearly foresaw that this exaltation of Paez
would eventually be the cause of their OWTI humili-
ation. Mass was now said according to the ritual of
Rome ; and a sermon followed, which was almost the
first ever preached in Abyssinia. Paez's language
was so elegant, and his arguments sounded so con-

156 LIFE OF BRUCE.

vincing, that the king resolved to embrace the Ca-
tholic religion ; and, guided by Paez, he afterwards
went so far as to write to Pope Clement VIII. and
to Philip III. of Spain, to beg for Jesuits to instruct
his people.

What a useful lesson is here offered to those who
superintend the departure of missionaries from this
country ! Their maxim has been but too often
quantity, not quality ; whereas we here see that a
solitary individual, by carefully making himself
acquainted with the country, and by cautiously
proceeding, effected more than all the parties which
had preceded him. Many of the courtiers followed
the royal example. Latin prayers were now mum-
bled— mass was said — the incense smoked — the host
was raised — the little bell rang in triumph. How-
ever, a party was suddenly raised against Paez : the
Abuna not only declared him to be excommunicated,
but cursed all those who had supported, or should
support, him or his cause. A battle was in conse-
quence fought, and the king of Abyssinia, the first
who had publicly avowed the Popish religion, died
in the field.

After a bloody series of changes and contests, in
the course of which another sovereign had fallen,
Socinios succeeded to the throne, and began his
reign with professions of moderation and neutrality.
He, however, very soon privately professed to believe
in the Catholic religion, and Paez, thus encouraged,
asked the king for the territory of Dembea. This
province, lying round the great lake Tzana, is the
most fertile and cultivated country in Abyssinia. It
is entirely flat, and seems to have been produced by
the decrease of water in the lake, which, from very
visible marks, appears to have once covered four
times its present surface. Dembea, although fruitful,

PETER PAEZ. 157

has, however, one inconvenience, to which all level
countries in this climate are subject ; a mortal fever
rages in the whole extent of it from March to
November. On the north side of this lake, the
country rises towards a rocky promontory, which
forms a peninsula running into the lake. Nothing
can be more beautiful than this small territory,
moderately elevated above the water which surrounds
it on every side but the north. Its climate is
delightful, and no fevers or other diseases rage within
it. The prospect of the lake and distant mountains
is magnificent beyond European conception, and
nature seems to have pointed out this lovely place
for pleasure, health, and retirement.

As soon as Paez had obtained possession of his
territory, he began to build a convent. He had
previously not only made tools of the European shape,
but taught several of the natives how to use them ;
and accustomed to very rude habitations of one story,
the Abyssinians, to their utter astonishment, now
beheld the rapid erection of a stately fabric of stone
and lime. Paez was soon requested by the king to
build for him a palace, which he readily undertook,
and, as story was mounted upon story, the fame of
the builder very justly increased. This feeling Paez
artfully exerted all his abilities to turn to the advan-
tage of the See of Rome ; — but his attempt caused
most violent disputes; and the mild principles of
Christianity were forgotten and disgraced on both
sides. The chief point of controversy, between the
Coptic and the Romish priests, was, the number of
natures in Christ. The Abuna declared that no one
could be saved who believed in more than one ; the
Catholics, that those who did not believe in two were
damned to all eternity, and that the flames of hell
were eagerly burning to cleanse and purify them of

158 LIFE OF BRUCE.

their errors. These dreadful opinions were soon ex-
pressed otherwise than by words. In a short time
the bleeding head of the Abuna, or Patriarch of
Abyssinia, was sent, as a religious offering, to Soci-
nios, who, hearing a monk deny the two natures of
Christ, put a full stop to his heresies by cutting out
his tongue ; while, on the other side, La Selasse, a
priest of Selado, refusing to deny the two natures of
his Saviour, was instantly stabbed with lances, and
died, exclaiming, God and Man ! God and Man !
God and Man !

A rival king now stood up to oppose Socinios, and
the whole country was filled with rebellion and blood-
shed. Socinios resolving publicly to renounce the
Alexandrian faith, and to profess the Catholic reli-
gion, Paez most willingly came forward, and with
great pomp received his confession. Delighted that
his great object was at last attained, Paez, during the
heat of the day, returned to his house with his head
uncovered, triumphantly singing, " Nunc dimittis ! "
" Lord ! now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation ! " and thus,
roasted externally by the sun, and internally burning
with fanatic zeal, he was taken violently ill, and died
of a raving fever on the 3rd of May, 1623. Paez
acted under mistaken principles, but his character
ranked high in Abyssinia, and having really meant
well, it is undeserving of disrespect.

After the death of Paez, Alphonso Mendez, a
Jesuit doctor of divinity, and a man of great learning,
having been ordained at Lisbon on the 25th of May,
1624, reached Abyssinia the following year. Ac-
companied by several missionaries, they experienced
very great difficulties and dangers in crossing the
country to join King Socinios ; until, according to
their own account, a star descended from the firma-

MENDEZ. 159

inent and showed them the road. When they reached
Socinios, he ordered Mendez to be placed on his
right hand, and, at that very audience on the llth
of February, 1626, it was settled that the king of
Abyssinia should take an oath of religious submis-
sion to the See of Rome. This impious, vain, and
ridiculous ceremony was celebrated with all the
pageantry of a heathen festival. The palace was
adorned with great pomp, and Mendez there preached
a sermon to the king and to his people, in Portu-
guese and Latin, not a word of either of which
languages could they comprehend. In return, a
sermon was preached to Mendez, and to the mission-
aries who attended him, in the Amharic, not a
syllable of which could they understand. When this
prelude \vas over, Mendez advanced, holding in his
hand the New Testament, and upon that sacred
volume Socinios, the degraded king of Abyssinia,
was made to take the following oath, the Jesuit
Mendez standing by his side :-—

" We Sultan Sequed, Emperor of Ethiopia, do
believe and confess, that St. Peter, prince of the
Apostles, wras constituted by Christ our Lord head
of the whole Christian Church ; and that he gave
him the principality and dominion over the whole
world, by saying to him, ' Thou art Peter, and upon
tli is rock will I build my church ; and I will give
to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.' And
again, when he said, ' Feed my sheep.' Also we
believe and confess, that the Pope at Rome, lawfully
elected, is the true successor of St. Peter the Apostle,
in government ; that he holdeth the same power,
dignity, and primacy, in the whole Christian Church ;
and to the holy father, Urban VIII. of that name,
by the mercy of God, Pope, and our Lord, and to
his successor in the government of the Church, we

160 LIFE OF BRUCE.'

do promise, offer, and swear true obedience, and
subject with humility at his feet our person and
empire ; so help us God, and these holy gospels."

What an abject picture is here before us ! and
what a melancholy alteration has taken place in the
countenance of the Christian religion, since we saw
it first established among the simple inhabitants of
Abyssinia! The Gospel, then, descended among
them to be their companion and their guide. No
tawdry ceremonies introduced it — it required no
vain pomp to support it. We now see the same
volume used for a purpose which can only produce
war and misery — the hand of a Jesuit has delivered
it to the Abyssinian king, that on it he may swear
obedience to the See of Rome— as if the great road
to everlasting life was from all countries to be made
crooked for the sole purpose of passing through the
muddy waters of the Tiber, and as if its portal was
only to be entered by those who could produce a
musty certificate from a decrepit pope, that they had
faithfully believed in him, and had also eaten bad
eggs and fishes on a Friday !

As soon as the oath was concluded, one of the
king's governors drew his sword, and with mistaken
zeal, swore that he would punish with that weapon
any one who should fall from his religious duties ;
and that he would even be the greatest enemy of
his prince if he should desert the Catholic faith.
These declarations were repeated by many of the
officers of state. A solemn excommunication was
then pronounced against all who did not keep the
oath, and a proclamation was immediately made,
that all persons intended for priests should first
embrace the Catholic religion under pain of death ;
that all should follow the forms of the Church of
Rome in the celebration of Easter and Lent, under

MENDEZ. 151

the same dreadful penalty — and thus ended this fatal
ceremony. Mendez, however, vigorously prosecuted
his success. The Abyssinian clergy were reordained,
the churches reconsecrated, grown men as well as
children were again baptized, the feasts and festivals
of the Church of Rome were established, and the
forms and tenets of the Alexandrian faith were
abrogated.

But Mendez had now overacted his part : unlike
Paez, he had neglected to make himself competent
first to lead the people whom he. so hastily desired
to drive ; and in a short time a violent reaction
naturally took place. The Abyssinians, still simple
in their habits, and long accustomed to the placid
enjoyment of unaffected devotion, soon felt that
there was no real satisfaction to be derived from
chattering prayers in words which they could not
comprehend. The king, meanwhile, finding that
his own power was gradually diminishing, and that
he was losing the affections, as well as the obedience,
of his subjects, patiently listened to their complaints;
impressed by the native eloquence with which they
insisted on their right of addressing the Almighty
in their own language, he at length yielded to their
request ; and, though he himself continued to follow
the tenets of the Church of Rome, declared that, by
his people, prayers need no longer be uttered in a
foreign tongue.

This concession, apparently simple and unobjec-
tionable, was fatal to Mendez's views. It was by
forms and ceremonies that he had proposed to
govern ; and, therefore, forcing him to be intelligible
was, in fact, depriving him of his armour.

As long as he was able, he obstinately resisted ;
but the voice of the people so resounded in his ears,
that he was very shortly obliged to pretend to submit,
M

162 LIFE OF BRUCE.

although, in secret, he still did everything in his
power to support his system. Abyssinia thus again
became, as might naturally be expected, a scene of
war ; and Tellez, the Portuguese historian, has pub-
lished a long list of the names of those who died in
Abyssinia, martyrs to the Catholic faith. Many
battles were fought ; and, for a considerable period,
Socinios, who still strenuously supported the religion
of Rome, met with continued defeats ; until adver-
sity, that stern, useful monitor, at last explained to
him the error he had committed. — -" These men
whom you see slaughtered," said one of his nobles
rudely to him on a field of battle, " were neither
Pagans nor Mahometans : they were Christians,
once your subjects and your friends. In killing
these, you drive the sword into your own entrails."
Still, however, the Jesuit Mendez hovered around
him, and for some time succeeded in keeping him
under arms ; but the spell was at last broken, and
Socinios, seeing that his subjects were all deserting
him, issued, on the 14th of June, 1632, the follow
ing singular proclamation : —

" Hear us ! hear us ! hear us ! First of all, we
gave you the Roman Catholic faith, as thinking it
a good one, but many people have died fighting
against it, and lastly these rude peasants of Lasta.
Now, therefore, we restore to you the faith of your
ancestors : let your own priests say their mass in
their own churches ; let the people have their own
altars for the sacrament, and their own liturgy, and
be happy ! As for myself, I am now old, and worn
out with war and infirmities, and no longer capable
of governing : I name my son, Facilidas, to reign in
my stead."

Thus, in one day, fell the whole fabric of the
Roman Catholic faith and hierarchy in Abyssinia.

CATHOLIC FAITH ABOLISHED. 163

The efforts made to introduce it were both violent
and unnatural : it never suited the simple habits of
the people ; and it was more from their good nature
than from conviction, that it ever seemed to have
taken root. Socinios lingered for two or three months,
and though he was a weak prince, yet his last act
forms the best apology for his reign, for he died,
firmly professing himself a catholic to the last — and
however mistaken may be the conduct of any man
upon a subject of religion, yet no one can refuse him
honour when he thus vindicates his sincerity from
all suspicion.

As soon as the new king had buried his father
Socinios, he began to compose those disorders which
had so long distracted the country from difference of
religion. Accordingly, he at once wrote to Mendez
to inform him that the Alexandrian faith being now
restored, his leaving the country had become indis-
pensable. He therefore commanded him and the
Catholic priests to retire to Fremona, there to await
his further pleasure.

Mendez, by subtle arguments, persuasions, and,
lastly, by entreaties, endeavoured to evade, or at least
to defer, the execution of this mandate ; but his words
were now powerless, and he was bluntly informed
that, if he did not depart, the time might arrive when
it would be too late for him to do so.

He and his companions were accordingly conducted
by a party of soldiers. On the road they were robbed
and ill-treated, their guards conniving at the attack ;
and at the end of April, 1633, they reached Fremona.
Among the Jesuits, who accompanied Mendez, was
Jerome Lobo, one of the most bigoted of the Portu-
guese, yet a man of enterprise and talent, who had
travelled over the greatest part of Abyssinia. For
a short time it was determined by these banished

M2

164 LIFE OF BRUCE.

monks to send Lobo to India, or Spain, to solicit
troops for the country ; the last forlorn hope of the
Jesuits being, that soldiers might be able to point
out with their bayonets, in such a manner as to secure
instant conviction, the simple principles and disin-
terested doctrines of the Church of Rome. How-
ever, the king, perfectly aware of all that passed,
ordered the Jesuits at once to set out for Masuah.
On receiving this command, they managed, at the
suggestion of Jereme Lobo, to escape to the protec-
tion of a man of considerable power, who favoured
them. The king wrote to this person, and desired
him to give them up : this he declined to do, but,
by an odd sort of compromise, agreed instead to sell
them to the Turks.

The whole gang were accordingly, for a certain sum,
delivered to the Basha of Masuah — a very fit person
to purchase such a cargo. As soon as this intelli-
gence reached Europe, the loss of Abyssinia to the
See of Rome was a subject of most violent discussion
in the circle to which it belonged. Many of the
Catholic clergy insisted that the failure had proceeded
from the pride, obstinacy, and violence of the Jesuits;
and it was therefore determined at Rome to send to
Abyssinia six French Capuchins of the reformed order
of St. Francis.

Two of these attempted to enter Abyssinia from
the Indian Ocean; but shortly after their landing they
w^ere massacred. Two succeeded in penetrating Abys-
sinia, and they thus gained martyrdom by being most
barbarously stoned to death. The other two, full of
that part of valour which is termed discretion, gave
up the attempt, and returned to Europe to report the
sad fate of their companions. Three other Capuchins,
deaf to the stern hint which the church of Rome
had thus received from Abyssinia, volunteered their

MURDER OF MISSIONARIES. 165

services for the conversion, as it was termed, of that
obstinate country. They accordingly set out on their
journey; and, after encountering very considerable
difficulties and hardships, at last succeeded in reaching
Suakem. The Bashaw of this place had been pre-
viously written to by the King of Abyssinia, who, after
announcing the expected arrival of these three priests,
concluded by earnestly requesting him to " treat them
according to their merits." As soon, therefore, as
they landed, their heads were neatly cut off, and the
skins of their skulls and faces were stripped, stuffed,
and carefully packed off to the King of Abyssinia, at
Gondar, " to satisfy him that these people had met
with the attention which they deserved."

There was no mistaking the meaning of this
unjust, sanguinary act ; and when intelligence of it
reached the Vatican, all hopes of converting Abys-
sinia vanished — the project was abandoned, and the
Abyssinians were authoritatively classed among those
" miserable heretics," those " lame children of the
devil," who madly fancy they can walk through the
wilderness of this world, and across the valley of the
shadow of death, without the assistance of the Pope
of Rome.

In the year 1698, the reigning King of Abyssinia,
being exceedingly indisposed, sent to Cairo for a
physician. Charles Poncet, a Frenchman at Cairo,
who had been bred up as a chemist and apothecary,
set out accordingly for Abyssinia, privately supported
by Louis XIV., and taking with him, disguised as a
servant. Father Brevedent, a French Jesuit. They
travelled up the Nile, remained some time at Sennaar,
and at last reached Abyssinia, where Brevedent, worn
out by the climate, and the fatigue of his journey,
died. In the year 1700, Poncet left Gondar, having
repaired the constitution of the King of Abyssinia at

166 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the expense of his own, which was completely ex-
hausted by the hardships to which it had been sub-
jected. He proceeded to Masuah, embarked on the
Red Sea, and reached Cairo, whence, having pub-
lished an account of his travels, he proceeded to Paris.

Four years afterwrards, the King of Abyssinia,
having favourably received several French letters
which had been addressed to him, M. du Roule, vice-
consul at Damietta, was selected by Louis XIV. to
proceed, as his ambassador, to Abyssinia, and in
July, 1704, he left Cairo for that purpose; but a
quarrel had now broken out among two parties of
Capuchins and Franciscans, between whom a most
violent jealousy existed respecting the conversion of
Abyssinia. It has been supposed that this jealousy
wras the secret cause of M. du Roule' s death. As
this traveller was quitting Sennaar, on his journey
towards Abyssinia, he was surrounded in the large
square which is before the, king's house. Four blacks
murdered him with their sabres ; Gentil, his French
servant, fell next, and his three other companions
were then inhumanly butchered.

When the King of Abyssinia heard of Du Roule's
murder, he was much disappointed and chagrined, for
he had really been desirous of receiving this French
ambassador, as well as the valuable presents which he
expected he wrould bring with him. Unable to detect
the sinister conspiracy which had caused his death, he
conceived that it had been effected by desire of the
Pasha of Cairo; and he accordingly addressed to him
and to his Divan the following very curious commu-
nication : —

Translation of an Arabic Letter from the King of
Ali/ssinia to the Pasha and Divan of Cairo.

" To the Pasha, and Lords of the Militia of Cairo,

ARABIC LETTER. 167

" On the part of the King of Abyssinia, the King
Tecla Haimanout, son of the King of the Church of
Abyssinia.

" On the part of the august king, the powerful
arbiter of nations, shadow of God upon earth, the
guide of kings who profess the religion of the
Messiah, the most powerful of all Christian kings,
maintainer of order between Mahometans and Chris-
tians, protector of the confines of Alexandria, ob-
server of the commandments of the Gospel, heir
from father to son of a most powerful kingdom,
descended of the family of David and Solomon —
may the blessing of Israel be upon our prophet, and
upon them ; may his happiness be durable, and his
greatness lasting ; and may his powerful army be
always feared ! To the most powerful lord, elevated
by his dignity, venerable by his merits, distinguished
by his strength and riches among all Mahometans,
the refuge of all those that reverence him, who by
his prudence governs and directs the armies of the
noble empire, and commands his confines ; victorious
viceroy of Egypt, the four corners of which shall
always be respected and defended — So be it ! And
to all the distinguished princes, judges, men of
learning, and other officers, whose business it is to
maintain order and good government, and to all
commanders in general — may God preserve them all
in their dignities, in the nobleness of their health !
You are to know, that our ancestors never bore any
envy to other kings, nor did they ever occasion
them any trouble, or show them any mark of hatred.
On the contrary, they have, upon all occasions,
given them proofs of their friendship, assisting them
generously, relieving them in their necessities, as
well in what concerns the caravan and pilgrims of
Mecca in Arabia Felix, as in the Indies, in Persia,

163 LIFE OP BRUCE.

and other distant and out of the way places — also,
by protecting distinguished persons in every urgent
necessity.

" Nevertheless, when the king of France, our
brother, who professes our religion and our law,
having been induced thereto by some advances of
friendship on our part such as are proper, sent an
ambassador to us — I understand that you caused
arrest him at Sennaar ; and also another, by name
Murat, the Syrian, whom likewise you did put in
prison, though he was sent to that ambassador on
our part ; and, by thus doing, you have violated the
law of nations ; as ambassadors of kings ought to be
at liberty to go wherever they will; and it is a
general obligation to treat them with honour, and
not to molest or detain them ; nor should they be
subject to pay customs, or any sort of presents.
We could very soon repay you in kind, if we were
inclined to revenge the insult you have offered to
the man, Murat, sent on our part. The Nile icould
le sufficient to punish you, since God hath put into
our power his fountain, his outlet, and his increase,
and that ice can dispose of the same to do you harm:
for the present, we demand of and exhort you to
desist from any future vexations towards our envoys,
and not disturb us by detaining those who shall be
sent towards you, but you shall let them pass, and
continue their route without delay, coming and going
wherever they will, freely for their own advantage,
whether they are our subjects or Frenchmen ; and
whatever you shall do to or for them, we shall regard
as done to or for ourselves ! "

The address is — " To the Basha, Princes, and
Lords governing the town of great Cairo, may God
favour them with his goodness."

RAS MICHAEL. 169

The king, who had invited this M. du Roule into
his country, was shortly afterwards assassinated
while he was hunting ; and the reign of his successor
was a series of petty wars and commotions.

Several years afterwards, the Abyssinians resolved
to invade Sennaar, but their army, which is said to
have amounted to eighteen thousand men, either
perished by the sword, or by thirst, or were made
prisoners. All the sacred reliques, which the
Abyssinian troops carry with them to ensure vic-
tory, were conveyed in triumph into Sennaar, and,
with great difficulty the king escaped to his palace
at Gondar.

About the year 1735, some misfortune having
happened to the Christians at Smyrna, they flocked
to Cairo; finding themselves very badly received
there, several sailed up the Red Sea on their way
to India, and, missing the monsoon, and being
destitute of money and necessaries, a few of these
ventured to land at Masuah. They were silver-
smiths ; and as the King of Abyssinia happened, at
the moment of their landing, to be much in want of
European workmen to assist him in adorning his
palace, these men were ordered to come to Gondar,
where they remained for some time in the king's
service, and afterwards gained a moderate livelihood
by ornamenting saddles, &c.

Great jealousies now began to be entertained in
Abyssinia, on account of the favour shown to some
of the Galla chieftains, who were brought to court,
and received with distinction. Violent dissensions
took place ; two kings successively met with a
violent death — one being assassinated, the other
poisoned, by Ras Michael, the governor of the pro-
vince of Tig-re, a most singular personage, with whom
the reader will very shortly be acquainted.

170 LIFE OF BRUCE.

King Tecla Haimanout succeeded to the throne,
and the same year, 1769, James Bruce, the enter-
prising hero of these pages, landed at Masuah.

Since the death of M. du Roule, which took place
seventy years before Bruce's arrival, Abyssinia had
been so much forgotten in Europe, that it seemed
almost blotted out of the book of existence. The
immense distance, the climate in which it was situated,
the deserts which nearly surrounded it, and the bar-
barous cruelty of the nations which bordered upon
it, were of themselves quite sufficient to deter any
ordinary traveller ; and the great real dangers of the
route had been highly exaggerated by the disap-
pointed and expelled Romanists. The great link
which had so long connected Abyssinia with Europe,
namely, • the attempt to convert it to the See of
Rome, had been violently broken, and the vast gulf
or chasm which now separated them no one seemed
desirous to pass. Much as the country had suffered
from the interference of the Catholic church, yet in
Europe very little was known concerning it. Its
conversion had for some time been a subject of
severe discussion, but in the centre only of a very
narrow, contracted circle. The Jesuits, who had
visited Abyssinia, had undoubtedly been struck with
the singular pictures they had witnessed; but the
novelty of a strange country very soon fades before
the eye, and one cares but little to describe to others
what has ceased to interest himself.

Besides this, however zealous the Catholic mis-
sionaries may have been, they were not a description
of men likely to have formed and carried away a
correct notion of a country which had been the
scene of such violent and, to them, unfortunate
disturbances.

Without asserting that they had any wish to

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 171

distort the features of nature, it must not be for-
gotten that they never have very much temptation
impartially to study them ; for what is highly pro-
fitable to others affords them no mental enjoyment.
In the game of common life they hold no stake
whatever ; they are comrades to no man but them-
selves ; they receive no polish from female society ;
they see nothing of woman but the dark side of her
character — they listen only to her sins. They have
cut themselves off from the natural duties of man-
kind ; and the human mind, chained to an artificial
occupation, getting sullen and morose, soon snarls at
the happiness which is beyond its reach. Besides
this, in Abyssinia, the attention of the Catholics was
constantly engrossed with the peculiar difficulties
which opposed their object ; even the great problem
which so many ages had endeavoured to solve,
seems, generally speaking, scarcely to have entered
their thoughts ; it was what they termed " the foun-
tain of living waters," and not the sources of the
Nile, which had formed the constant subject of their
attention.

Having now concluded a short sketch of that part
of the history of Abyssinia which was unavoidably
necessary to make the reader sufficiently acquainted
with the country to take an interest in Bruce's
narrative, it remains only to be observed, that Bruce
has given a most detailed account (which occupies
about a thousand pages of his volumes) of the reigns
of the several kings of Abyssinia, with minute
descriptions of their persons, their petty feuds and
dissensions, their wars with the Moors, the Galla,
and the Falasha, (or Jews,) the burning of their
churches, their savage treatment of the Shangalla
tribes, &c.

The general reader will probably feel but little

11 LIFE OF BRUCE.

curiosity to wade through records of so remote a
country, particuLarly as, after all, they cannot be
implicitly relied on ; yet in the religious warfare
which we have just concluded, what a correct minia-
ture picture is afforded of the scenes which, on a
much larger scale, have been produced in Europe and
America by the grasping superstition of Rome !

If that " religion," as it is termed, was only a harm-
less error, an imbecile superstition, it would at least
be deserving of the outward and inward respect with
which every liberal man is disposed to treat what-
ever commands the respect of any great portion of
his race ; but we practically know that it not only
wars openly, wherever it dares to do so, against the
liberty of conscience, but absolutely tends to anni-
hilate religion altogether. Even in France, our
next door neighbour, Christianity has just sunk —
drowned by the weight of Catholic superstition that
oppressed it ; and although the most uncivilised
tribe joins in some sort of homely worship, yet that
great country has now publicly announced the
lamentable fact, that it disdains to have an estab-
lished religion at all !

173

CHAPTER IX.

Bruce's Arrival and dangerous Detention at Masuah.

MASUAH is a small island on the Abyssinian shore,
standing in front of the town of Arkeeko, and form-
ing an excellent harbour : it is about three quarters
of a mile in length, by about half that .distance in
breadth. One-third is occupied by houses, one-third
by cisterns to receive rain-water, and the remainder
is reserved as a place of burial.

Masuah was once a place of great commerce, pos-
sessing a share of the Indian trade ; but its impor-
tance declined from the time when, with several
other towns on the western coast of the Red Sea,
it fell under the dominion of Selim, Emperor of
Constantinople.

When the Turks first got possession of this island,
a governor was sent to it from Constantinople ; but
its commerce being ruined, it was soon found not
to be worth the expense attending the establishment
of a pashalic. The pasha was accordingly withdrawn,
and the Turks, having been assisted in their con-
quest of the place by a chieftain of the mountains of
Habab, he wras created Naybe, or Governor of Masuah,
holding his title by a firman from the Ottoman Porte,
to which he agreed to pay an annual tribute. The
Janissaries who had formed the Turkish garrison
were left in the island, and, intermarrying with its
inhabitants, they soon introduced into the country the
lawless, predatory, despotic notions of their race.

174 LIFE OF BRUCE.

The Xaybe, who thus became in fact the sovereign
of the island, observing the great distance which
separated him from the Turks in Arabia, whose
garrisons were daily decaying, finding also that he
was completely dependent upon Abyssinia for pro-
visions, and even for water, soon perceived that he
had better make advances to a country from which
he could obtain both sustenance and protection. It
was accordingly agreed between the King of Abys-
sinia and the Naybe, that the former should receive
one-half of the customs of the port of Masuah, for
which the latter should be permitted to enjoy his
government unmolested, and purchase from Abys-
sinia whatever provisions, &c., he might require.
The friendship of Abyssinia being thus secured, and
the power of the Turks declining daily in Arabia,
the Xaybe began gradually to withdraw himself from
paying tribute to the Pasha of Jidda, to which
government he had been annexed by the Porte,
lie, in short, annually received his firman as a mere
form, offering in return trifling presents, but no
tribute at all.

It has already been stated, that a short time before
Bruce arrived at Masuah, Abyssinia, under the influ-
ence of its minister, Ras Michael, was plunged in
war, and the great province of Tigre (bordering on
the little dominion of Masuah) being thus drained
of its troops, the Naybe fraudulently availed himself
of that opportunity to decline paying any longer his
share of the customs to the crown of Abyssinia.
This daring step he was induced to take from the
peculiar situation in which Abyssinia seemed to be
placed. Michael, the Ras or Governor of Tigre,
having lately caused King Joas to be assassinated,
sent to the mountain of Wechne, upon which the
royal princes were confined, for Hatze Hamnes, an

DESCRIPTION OF MASUAII. 175

imbecile, priest-ridden old man. On its being ob-
served to him that Hanmes had only one hand, and
that, by a most ancient custom, he was on this
account ineligible for the throne, Michael angrily
exclaimed, " What have kings to do with hands '{"
and no one daring to answer him, Hanmes was
declared King of Abyssinia. Hatze Hamnes, whom
Ras Michael had thus placed upon the throne, was
more than seventy years of age, and Michael himself
was not only nearly eighty, but lame, and scarcely
able to stand. The Naybe of Masuah, who was in
the vigour of life, fancied, therefore, that he might
safely despise a government which appeared to him
to be in its dotage ; but in this he was greatly mis-
taken. No sooner had he declared his intention of
retaining the whole of the customs of Masuah, than
the old Ras informed him " that in the next cam-
paign he would lay waste Arkeeko and Masuah,
until they should be as desert as the wilds of Samhar 1"
and as the Ras, during the whole of his eventful life,
had always very faithfully performed all promises of
this nature, many of the foreign merchants at Masuah
fled from the approaching storm to Arabia. Still,
however, the Naybe showed no signs of fear, nor
would he give the slightest proportion of his re-
venues either to the King of Abyssinia or to the
Pasha of Jidda.

Masuah was in this disturbed state, when infor-
mation was received there from Jidda, that a prince,
a very near relation of the King of England, a person
who was no trader, but, strange to say, was travelling
only to visit countries and people, was about to arrive
at Masuah, in his way to Abyssinia. When this
intelligence arrived, the Naybe and his councillors
assembled to determine what was to be done with
the English prince. Several proposed that he should

176 LIFE OF BRUCE.

at once be put to death, and his property divided
among themselves. This expeditious and customary
method of receiving a stranger at Masuah was opposed
by others, who more prudently recommended that
they should first see what letters the stranger might
bring with him, lest by murdering him they should
add fuel to the fire with which lias Michael and the
Pasha of Jidda had already threatened to consume
them. But Achmet, the Naybe's nephew, nobly
maintained, that whether the stranger had letters or
not, his rank ought to protect him — that to murder
him would be to act like banditti — that a sufficient
quantity of the blood of strangers had been already
shed — and that, in his opinion, it had brought the
curse of poverty upon the place. He observed also
that lie had heard of a salute which had been fired
at Jidda in compliment to this stranger, and he
remarked that half that number of ships and guns
would lay Masuah and Arkeeko as desolate as Ras
Michael had already threatened to leave them. Ach-
met therefore voted that the Englishman should be
received and treated with marks of consideration,
until, on inspecting his letters and conversing with
him, they might be able to judge what sort of a per-
son he was, and on what errand he came ; — that if it
turned out he was one of those disturbers of the
country, a proselytising priest, then indeed they
might send him to " Gehennim " (hell). There was
both eloquence and prudence in Achmet's speech,
besides which he was the heir-apparent of his uncle
the Naybe. His opinion and his arguments were
therefore approved of by all, and it was agreed that
the fate of the English prince should be left to his
disposal.

Bruce was always of opinion that the salute with
which he had been honoured in the port of Jidda had

DEBATE RESPECTING BRUCE. 177

i lie means of saving his life on his landing in
--inia; and if so, it may fairly be said that his
own good conduct, which had obtained for him this
mark of the approbation of his countrymen, was,
under Providence, the cause of his escaping alive
from Masuah, that slaughter-house of strangers.

On the 19th of September, 1769, Bruce and his
party, little aware of the debate which had been held
respecting them, arrived at Masuah, tired of the sea,
and eagerly desirous to land. The Pasha of Jidda,
determined to obtain the tribute which was due to
him from the Naybe of Masuah, had prevailed upon
the Sherriffe of Mecca to send over with Bruce
Mahomet Gibberti, who was ordered peremptorily to
demand payment from the Naybe, and also privately
to request Ras Michael to lend his aid in compelling
the Naybe to perform his agreement.

Mahomet Gibberti, a ' sincere friend to Brace's
interests, landed, therefore, immediately, and being an
Abyssinian, and having even connexions at Masuah,
lie managed to despatch that same night to Adowa,
the capital of Tigre, letters by which Ras Michael
and. the Court of Abyssinia were informed that Bruce
had arrived at Masuah, bearing letters from the
Sherriffe of Mecca, from the Greek Patriarch of Cairo,
£c. &c. ; but that, being afraid of the Naybe, he
begged some one might be immediately sent to pro-
tect him. These letters were addressed to the care
of Janni, a Greek, who was then residing at Adowa,
in Tigre. He was a man of excellent character, had
served two kings of Abyssinia, and had been lately
appointed by Ras Michael to the custom-house of
Adowa, to superintend the affairs of the revenue,
during the time that the Ras was occupied at Gondar.

As soon as these despatches had left Masuah,
Mahomet Gibberti waited upon Achmet and the

N

178 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Naybe, and adroitly confirmed, in their minds, the
impression they had already received of Bruce's
importance. He told them of the firman which he
carried with him from the Grand Seignior, of his
acquaintance with the Sherriffe of Mecca, of the
honours he had received from his countrymen, and
of the surprising power and wealth of his nation.

Gibberti having thus made every exertion possible
to insure the safety of his English friends, Bruce
landed at Maauah on the 20th of September, 1769.
The Naybe himself was at Arkeeko ; but Achmet,
his nephew, came down to receive the duties on
Bruce's merchandise.

Two elbow-chairs were placed in the middle of the
market-place. On one of them Achmet was seated,
surrounded by several of the officers who were to
open Bruce's bales and packages wrhich were before
him ; the other chair, on his left hand, remained
unoccupied. Achmet was dressed in a long white
muslin Banian habit, which reached to his ankles ;
and when Bruce arrived within arm's length of him,
he arose. They touched each other's hands, carried
their fingers to their lips, and then crossed their
hands upon their breasts. " Salum Alicum ! — peace
be between us !" (the salutation of the inferior), said
Bruce firmly. " Alicum Salum ; — there is peace be-
tween us !" replied Achmet, who then pointed to the
chair, which Bruce at first declined ; but Achmet
insisting that he should occupy it, they both, with
great dignity, sat down. Achmet then made a sign
for coffee, which Bruce knew to be the token of the
cotmtry that the life of the guest was not in danger.

" We have expected you here some time," said
Achmet, " but thought you had changed your mind,
and had gone to India. Are you not afraid, so thinly
attended, to venture upon these long and dangerous

HIS INTERVIEW WITH ACIIMEf. 179

voyages ?" " Since sailing from Jidda," replied Bruce,
" I have been in Arabia Felix, in the Gulf of Mocha,
and crossed last from Loheia. The countries in
which I have been are either subject to the Emperor
of Constantinople, whose finnan I have now the
honour to present to you, or to the Regency of Cairo
and port of Janissaries (he presented also their
letters), or to the Sherriffe of Mecca. To you, Sir,
I present the Sherriffe's letters, and, besides, one
from him to yourself ; depending on your character,
he assured me this alone would be sufficient to pre-
serve me from ill usage,' so long as I did no wrong."

Achmet returned the letters to Bruce, saying,
46 You will give these to the Naybe to-morrow. I
will keep my own letter, and will read it at home."
He accordingly put it in his bosom, and the coffee
being removed, Bruce rose to take leave ; but he
was scarcely on his feet before he was wetted to the
skin with deluges of rose-water, showered upon him
on every side from silver bottles.

One of the best houses in the town had been pro-
vided for him ; and, when he entered it, a large dinner
followed him from Achmet, with a profusion of lemons,
and good fresh water, one of the scarcest commodities
at Masuah. Very shortly afterwards, the baggajre
arrived unopened, which gave him very great pleasmv,
as he had been greatly afraid that his clock, telescope,
quadrant and other instruments, would have suffered
from the violent curiosity of the Naybe's officers.

Late at night, Bruce received a private visit from
Achmet, who was then in his undress. His body
was naked, excepting a barracan, which was thrown
loosely about him ; he wore a pair of loose cotton
drawers ; a white cap was on his head. Bruce rose
to meet him, and thanked him for his civility in
sending his baggage.

N '2

180 LIFE OF BRUCE.

After expressing great surprise that Bruce, a
Christian, had managed to get letters from Maho-
metans ; after inquiring whether he was really a
prince, whether he was banished from his own coun-
try, and for what possible object he could voluntarily
expose himself to so many difficulties and dangers,
in order merely to visit that country ; he earnestly
endeavoured, as the sole object of his visit, to per-
suade Bruce to remain at Masuah, and not to proceed
into Abyssinia.

Instead of making a long reply to questions, and
to a request to which Bruce was sensible he could
give no satisfactory answer, he very shortly put an
end to Achmet's speech, by presenting him with a
very handsome pair of pistols. " Let the pistols
remain with you," said Achmet, " and show them to
nobody till I send you a man, to whom you may say
anything ; for there are in this place a number of
devils, not men ; but Ullah Kerim ! God is Great !
The person that brings you dry dates in an Indian
handkerchief, and an earthen bottle to drink your
water out of, give -him the pistols. In the mean-
time, sleep sound, and fear no evil ; but never be
persuaded to trust yourself to the cafrs of Habbesh
at Masuah." With this caution, Achmet departed,
and a female slave very shortly arriving with dates,
&c., for Bruce, he committed the brace of pistols to
her charge.

On the morning of the 21st, the Naybe came
from Arkeeko. He was attended by three or four
servants, and about forty naked savages on foot,
armed with short lances and crooked knives. He
was preceded by a drum, made out of one of those
earthen jars in which butter is sent over to Arabia ;
it was covered with skin, and looked more like a jar
of pickles or of butter, than an instrument of music.

CONDUCT OF THE NAYBK. 181

The whole of the procession was in the same style*
The Naybe was dressed in an old shabby Turkish
habit, much too short for him, and on his head he
wore a Turkish cowke, or cap.

In the afternoon, Bruce went to pay his respects
to him, and found him sitting in a large elbow-chair,
from which two files of naked savages formed an
avenue that reached to the door. The Naybe was a
tall, thin, black man, with a large mouth and nose ;
he had no beard, save a scanty tuft of grey hairs on
the point of his chin ; his eyes were large and heavy ;
a malicious contemptuous smile sat on his counte-
nance. His character perfectly corresponded with
his appearance; for he was a man of no abilities,
cruel to excess, brutal, avaricious, and, moreover, a
great drunkard.

It was to this creature that Bruce presented a
firman, which the greatest pasha in the Turkish
empire would have kissed and carried to his forehead.
The Naybe took it, as well as the various letters
which accompanied it, in both his hands, and laying
them unopened by his side — " You should have
brought a moullah (an inteq^reter) with you," he
said to Bruce. " Do you think I shall read all thes.'
letters ? — why, it would take me a month !" " Just
as you please !" replied Bruce.

A dead silence followed this laconic remark : at
last Bruce offered his presents, and then took his
leave, little pleased with his reception, and heartily
rejoicing that the despatches, which had been sent to
Janni, were now far beyond the power of the Naybe.

The inhabitants of Masuah, which, like the whole
of the low coast of the Red Sea, is at all times u
most unhealthy spot, were sinking under the small-
pox in such numbers, that the living were scaiv.-ly
able to bury the dead ; and the whole island, night

182 LIFE OF BRUCK.

<ind clay, resounded with shrieks and lamentations.
Bruce, on this account, had suppressed his character
of physician, fearing lest he should be detained by
the multitude of the sick.

On the 15th of October, the Naybe despatched
the vessel which had brought Bruce to Masuah; and
this evidence or spy upon his own conduct was no
sooner out of the way, than that very night he sent
a message to Bruce, desiring that he would prepare
for him a handsome present : he even gave a list of
the articles he required, which he desired might be
made up in three parcels, to be delivered to him on
three separate days. The first parcel was to be given
to him as Naybe of Arkeeko, the second as the repre-
sentative of the Grand Seignior, and the third for
having passed the baggage, particularly the quadrant,
gratis and unopened.

It is always worse than useless to yield to the
impositions of a savage ; for, in his presence, he who
bends must also break. Under these circumstances,
firmness can hardly be called courage ; for it is rather
a desperate means of preserving life and property.
Bruce replied, that having the firman of the Grand
Seignior, and letters from the Sherriffe of Mecca, it
was mere generosity which had induced him to give
any present at all ; that he wTas not a trafficker who
bought and sold ; that he had no merchandise on
board; and, therefore, that he had no customs to
pay. Upon this, the Naybe sent for Bruce to his
house, where he found him in a most violent passion:
many words passed on both sides ; at last, the Naybe
peremptorily declared, that unless Bruce paid him
three hundred ounces of gold, " he would confine him
in a dungeon ; without light, air, or meat, until his
bones came through his skin."

" Since you have broken your faith," replied Bruce

CONDUCT OF THE NAYBE. 183

undauntedly, " with the Grand Seignior, the govern-
ment of Cairo, the Pasha of Jidda, and the Sherriflfe
of Mecca, yon will, no doubt, do as yon please with
me ; but you may expect to see the English man-of-
war, the Lion, before Arkeeko some morning before
daybreak ! "

" I should be glad," exclaimed the Naybe, holding
out his hand, " to see that man at Arkeeko or Masuah
that would carry as much writing from you to Jidda
as would lie upon my thumb-nail. I would strip his
shiil off first, then his skin, and then hang him before
your door, to teach you more wisdom."

" But my wisdom," replied Bruce, " has already
taught me to prevent all this. My letter is already
gone to Jidda ! and if, in twenty days from this,
another letter from me does not follow it, you will
see what will arrive. In the meantime, I here
announce it to you, that I have letters from the
Sherriffe of Mecca to Ras Michael, governor of Tigre,
and to the King of Abyssinia; let me, therefore,
continue my journey !"

" What, Michael too!" muttered the Naybe, writh-
ing under the conviction that Bruce had overreached
him; "then go your journey," he maliciously added,
" and think of the ill that is before you \"

On the 29th of October, the Naybe again came
from Arkeeko to Masuah, and sent for Bruce, who
found him in a large room, like a bam, with about
sixty of his janissaries and officers of state, all naked.
The first question which the Naybe asked Bruce was,
" what the comet meant, and why it had appeared C
He added, " the first time it was visible it brought
the small-pox, which killed about one thousand people
in Masuah and Arkeeko. It is known you conversed
with it every night at Loheia. It has now followed
you here, to finish the few that remain ; and then

184 LIFE OF BRUCE.

they say you are to carry it with you into Abyssinia.
What have you to do with the comet?" To this
strange, barbarous speech Bruce was about to reply,
when some one present said he had been informed
that Bruce was going to Ras Michael, to teach the
Abyssinians to make cannon and gunpowder, in order
to attack Masuah. Five or six: others spoke loudly
in the same strain ; and, surrounded by such a crowd
of naked savages — savages in every sense of the word
— Bruce would most probably at this moment have
ended his- travels and his life, had it not been for the
precautions he had taken in bringing proper letters
to 3(a3uah, and in sending others- from it, which
placed the Naybe between two batteries, the fire of
which he trembled to incur. " Dog of a Christian!"
exclaimed one of the company, putting his hand to
his knife, " if the Naybe wished to murder you, could
he not do it here this minute?" " No 1" exclaimed
another voice from the crowd, " he could not! I would
not suffer it. Achmet is the stranger's friend, and
has to-day recommended me to see that no injury be
done him. Achmet is ill, or he would have been
here himself ! "

Bruce now turned upon his heel, and without form
or ceremony, walked out of the barn. He had scarcely
dined, when a servant came with a letter from Achmet
(who was at Arkeeko), telling him how ill he had
been, and how much surprise he had felt at his re-
fusal to see him — he concluded, by desiring that the
bearer should take charge of Brace's gate, until he
could come himself to Masuah. Bruce now discovered
the falsehood and treachery of the Naybe, and resolved
to follow Achmet' s instructions. At midnight, his
gate was attacked, but declaring he would fire, the
assassins retired.

On the 4th of November, Bruce went to Arkeeko,

LETTERS ARRIVE FROM TIGRE. 185

and found Aclimet in his own house, ill of an inter-
mitting fever, which had the very worst symptoms ;
however, he prescribed for, and remained with his
patient, until he was free from the disorder. On the
6th, in the morning, while at breakfast, he was re-
joiced to hear that three servants had arrived from
Tigre. One was from Janni, the Greek officer of
the customs at Adowa ; the other two were evidently
servants of Ras Michael, or rather of the king, both
wearing the red short cloak lined and turned up with
mazarine blue, which is the badge of the royal retinue.

Ras Michael's letters to the Naybe were very short.
He said the king's health was bad, that he wondered
why a physician sent to him from Arabia was not at
once allowed to proceed to Gondar, and that he had
long heard of his having arrived at Masuah. He
concluded by ordering the Naybe to furnish the
stranger with necessaries, and then to forward him
without loss of time. In the evening, Bruce returned
to the island of Masuah, to the great joy of his
- Tvants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the
Naybe.

Without interruption, he got everything in readi-
ness, and having concluded his observations upon this
inhospitable island, infamous for the quantity of
Christian blood which had been shed there on various
pretences, he left Masuah on the 10th of November,
after a detention of nearly two months. On arriving
at Arkecko, he found Achmet considerably better ;
but as he still appeared to be wonderfully afraid of
dying, Bruce remained with him until he was con-
valescent, for which he testified very great gratitude.

The Naybe again endeavoured, by intimidation, to
prevail upon Bruce to pay him a thousand patakas ;
and his friends, seeing his obstinacy, and aware of the
cruelty of his disposition, strongly recommended Bruce

186 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to give up all thoughts of proceeding to Abyssinia,
as in passing through Samhar, and the many barbarous
people whom the Naybe commanded there, he would
most surely be cut off. However, Bruce shortly re-
plied, that he was resolutely determined to go forward,
and accordingly, early in the morning of the loth, he
ordered his tents to be struck, and his baggage to be
prepared, so as to show that he was resolved to stay
no longer. At eight o'clock he went to the Naybe.
who was almost alone, and who began with consider-
able fluency of speech a long enumeration of the
difficulties of the journey, the rivers, precipices,
mountains, woods, wild beasts, savage, lawless people,
&c., which were to be passed, and thus once more
endeavoured, but in vain, to persuade Bruce to re-
main at Masuah. In the middle of their conversa-
tion, a servant entered the room covered with dust,
and apparently fatigued with a rapid journey from
some distant place. The Naybe, with much pretended
uneasiness and surprise, read the letters which this
man delivered to him, and then gravely told Bruce,
that the three tribes who occupied Samhar, the com-
mon passage from Masuah to Tigre", had revolted,
had driven away his servants, and had declared them-
selves independent. With apparent devotion, he
then hypocritically lifted up his eyes, and said he
thanked God that Bruce was not on his journey, as
his death would have been sure to be unjustly im-
puted to him ! Bruce only laughed at this barefaced
imposition, on which the Naybe told him he might
proceed if he thought proper, but that he only wished
to warn him of his danger. " We have plenty of
fire-arms," replied Bruce, " and your servants have
often seen at Masuah that we are not ignorant of tin*
use of them. It is true we may lose our lives — that
is in the hands of the Almighty, but we shall not

BRUCE'S DEPARTURE. 1S7

fail to leave enough on the spot, to give sufficient
indication to the king and Ras Michael who were
our assassins !" " What I mentioned about the Shiho,"
replied tlie Naybe, whose treacherous countenance
now assumed a look of complacency, " was only to try
you ; all is peace ! I only wanted to keep you here,
if possible, to cure my nephew Achmet ; but since
you are resolved to go, be not afraid, the roads are
safe enough, I will give you a person to conduct you
safely."

After bidding adieu to this wretch, Bruce had a
short interview with Achmet, who privately told him
it was yet far from the Naybe's intentions he should
ever reach Gondar, but that he would take Bruce's
final deliverance upon himself, and he concluded by
advising him to set out immediately.

The short description which we have just con-
cluded of the Naybe of Masuah may appear exagger-
ated to those who have never had the misfortune to
treat with human beings of this uncivilised descrip-
tion. But, in fact, nothing can be worse than the
mongrel race of the people of Masuah, who, as we
have already stated, are a mixed breed between the
savages of the western coast of the Red Sea, and
those super-savages, the Turkish Janissaries.

Salt visited this place in 1810, forty-one years after
Bruce had left it. Besides handsome presents which
he made to the governor, he was unable to resist the
impositions of the Naybe, his brothers, and his sons ;
M suid among this tribe of locusts," Salt says, " I was
compelled to distribute nearly five hundred dollars
before I could get clear of the place. "With a plea-
sure- somewhat similar to that expressed by Gil Bias,
when he escaped from the robbers'cave, we quitted
Arkeeko. Among all the descriptions of men I have
ever met with, the character of the half-civilised

188 LIFE OF BRUCE.

savages found at Arkeeko is the most detestable, as
they have ingeniously contrived to lose all the virtues
of the rude tribes to which they belonged, without
having acquired anything except the vices of their
more civilised neighbours. The only description I
recollect that would particularly suit them, may be
found in Mr. Bruce's very energetic account of the
inhabitants of Sennaar."

It is very singular that Salt, who invariably thus
corroborates Bruce in all the principal features of his
history, should have been, as we shall shortly see, so
completely carried away by the party spirit which
existed against him. " Adversity," it has been justly
observed, " makes men friends;" but though Bruce
and Salt suffered at Masuah and Arkeeko under the
same rod, yet the latter takes even there every op-
portunity of supporting Lord Yalentia in his petty
attempt to convict Bruce of " falsehood" and " ex-
aggeration." But the great tide of public opinion
was still strong against Bruce, and upon its faithless
waters Lord Yalentia and his secretary floated in
triumph.

189

CHAPTER X.

Journey from Arkeeko, over the Mountain of Tarenta to Gondar,
the Capital of Abyssinia.

ON the 15th of November, Bruce left Arkeeko, and,
after crossing a small plain, pitched his tent near a
shallow pit of rain water. Before him were the
mountains of Abyssinia, in three distinct ridges.
The first broken into gullies, and thinly covered with
shrubs ; the second higher, steeper, more rugged and
bare ; the third a row of sharp-edged mountains,
which would be considered high in any part of
Europe. Far above them all, towered that stu-
pendous mass, the mountain of Tarenta, the point of
which is sometimes buried in the clouds, while some-
times, completely enveloped in mist and darkness, it
becomes the seat of lightning, thunder, and storm.
Tarenta is the highest pinnacle of that long steep
ridge of mountains which, running parallel to the
Red Sea, forms the boundary of the seasons. On its
oast side, or towards the Red Sea, the rainy season
is from October to April, and on the western or
Abyssinian side, cloudy, rainy, and cold weather
reigns from May till October.

AVliile Bruce was in his tent, he was visited by his
grateful friend and faithful patient, Achmet, who told
him not to go to Dobarwa, for, although it was a good
road, the safest was always the best. " You will be
apt to curse me," he added, " when you are toiling and
sweating in ascending Tarenta, the highest mountain

190 LIFE OF BRUCE.

in Abyssinia ; but you may then consider if the
fatigue of your body is not overpaid by the absolute
safety you will find yourselves in. Dobarwa belongs
to the Naybe, and I cannot answer for the orders he
may have given to his own servants ; but Dixan is
mine, although the people are much worse than those
of Dobarwa. I have written to my officers there ;
and as you are strong and robust, the best I can do
for you is, to send you by a rugged road, and a safe
one." Achmet, Bruce, and his party, then rose, with
solemnity, and repeating the fedtah, or prayer of
peace, they parted never to meet again. " Thus
finished," says Bruce, in the narrative of his travels,
" a series of trouble and vexation, not to say danger,
superior to anything I ever before had experienced,
and of which the bare recital (though perhaps too
minute a one) will give but an imperfect idea. These
wretches possess talents for tormenting and alarming
far beyond the power of belief, and, by laying a true
sketch of them before a traveller, an author does him
the most real service." — " In this country," Bruce
most justly adds, " the more truly we draw the
portrait of man, the more we seem to fall into
caricature."

Although the dangers and difficulties which had
attended Brace's residence at Masuah and Arkeeko,
and which still threatened, though in different shapes,
to oppose his journey into Abyssinia, would have been
sufficient to have deterred any ordinary traveller,
yet, on the 16th, he cheerfully left Laherhey, and for
two days travelled along a dry, gravelly plain, thickly
covered with acacia trees, which were in blossom,
bearing a round yellow flower. Entering a narrow
opening in the mountains, which seemed to have
been formed by the violent torrents of the rainy
season, they travelled up a sandy bed, the verdant

MEETS A TRIBE OF SIIIHO. 191

banks of which, shaded from the sun by the impend-
ing mountains, were covered with rack trees, capers,
and tamarinds.

Following the course of this stream, they proceeded
among mountains of no great height, but bare, stony,
and full of terrible precipices, until, oppressed and
overpowered by the sun, they halted under the shade
of the trees before mentioned. Great numbers of
Shiho, with their wives and families, were descending
from the tops of the high mountains of Habbesh
(Abyssinia), and passed, driving their flocks to the
pasture, which in the months of October and Novem-
ber grows on the plains near the sea.

The Shiho were once very numerous, but, like all
the nations which communicate with Masuah, they
have been much diminished by the small-pox. They
have neither tents nor cottages, but live in caves in
the mountains, or under small huts, built of reeds or
thick grass. The men are generally naked above the
waist ; the women are covered with a sort of gown,
loose in the sleeves and body, and held together by
a leather girdle. The children of both sexes are
completely naked. The party of these people which
passed Bruce consisted of about fifty men and about
thirty women ; each of the former held a lance in
his hand, a knife peeping from his girdle.

Although they had the superiority of ground, they
appeared uneasy at the sight of strangers. Bruce
saluted the chief, asking him if he would sell one
out of their great flock of goats, but the man seemed
to think it prudent to decline entering into conver-
sation, and the whole tribe passed in silence onwards.
In the evening, Bruce resumed his journey, and at
night pitched his tent at Hamhammou, on the side
of a small green hill, some hundred feet from the
bi*d of the torrent. The weather had been perfectly

192 LIFE OF BRUCE.

good since he left Masuah : this afternoon, however,
the mountains were quite hid, and heavy clouds were
sweeping along the sides of the lower range of hills ;
the lightning was very frequent, broad, and deeply
tinged with blue, and long, rumbling peals of thunder
were heard at a great distance. As Bruce's descrip-
tion of this storm is one of the parts of his narrative
which have been marked as exaggerated, we give it
in his own words : — " The river," he says, " scarcely
ran at our passing it, when all on a sudden we heard
a noise on the mountains above louder than the
loudest thunder. Our guides, upon this, flew to the
baggage, and removed it to the top of the green hill ;
which was no sooner done, than we saw the river
coming down in a stream about the height of a man,
and the breadth of the whole bed it used to occupy.
The water was thickly tinged with red earth, and
ran in the form of a deep river, and swelled a little
above its banks, but did not reach our station on
the hill."

Salt says — " Bruce passed a night on the same
spot (Hamhammou), and it was his fortune, as well
as ours, to encounter here a terrible storm, which, as
usual, he describes with some exaggeration."

In Sicily and in Greece we have known many
people to have been carried away by the violent
" fmmaras," which are even there generated by the
sudden rains ; and Bruce's description of a storm
within the tropics does not appear to be at all exag-
gerated. But it seems that Mr. Salt's storm was not
equal to the one described by poor Bruce ; and Salt,
therefore, makes up the difference by raising a little
tempest of his own against a fellow traveller ; and
yet, in a very few pages, he says, u We heard that the
dead bodies of three men had been found washed
down by the torrent on this side of Tarenta." — " Dead

STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS. 193

men," it has been said, " tell no tales !" yet surely
these corpses do corroborate very strongly Bruce's
account of the storm he witnessed ; but Lord V alentia
and his secretary really seem to have fancied that
they were to find every thing in Abyssinia, elements
and all, precisely as Bruce left them forty years
before.

Leaving Hamhammou, Bruce first saw " the dung
of elephants, which was full of thick pieces of undi-
gested branches." He also observed the tracks
through which these enormous animals had passed ;
trees were torn up by the roots, some were even
broken in the middle, and branches, half-eaten, were
lying on the ground.

Hamhammou is a desert mountain of black stones,
apparently almost calcined with the heat of the sun :
it forms the boundary of a district that belongs to
the Hazorta. This tribe, who, from inhabiting a
higher country, have a much lighter complexion than
their neighbours, the Shihos, are exceedingly active ;
— they inhabit caves, or cabanes, like cages, which,
covered with hides, are just large enough to hold two
persons. They live in constant defiance of the Naybe
of Masuah, against whom their attacks have gene-
rally proved successful. As their nights are here
cold, even in summer, the Hazorta, as well as their
children, are clothed.

Bruce now proceeded through a plain which, he
says, " was set so thick with acacia trees, that our
hands and faces were all torn and bloody with the
strokes of their thorny branches." They suddenly
came to the mouth of a narrow valley, through
which a stream of beautiful water ran very swiftly
over a bed of pebbles. It was the first clear water
which Bruce had seen since he left Syria, and it
naturally gave him that indescribable pleasure which
o

194 LIFE OF BRUCE.

sweet water always affords to a tired, thirsting tra-
veller. The shade of the tamarind-tree and the
coolness of the air invited them to rest on this de-
lightful spot. " The caper-tree," says Bruce, " here
grows as high as the tallest English elm ; its flower
is white, and its fruit, though not ripe, was fully as
large as an apricot. I went at some distance to a
small pool of water to bathe, and took my firelock
with me, but none of the savages stirred from their
huts, nor seemed to regard me more than if I had
lived among them all their lives, though surely I
was the most extraordinary sight they had ever seen;
whence I conclude that they are a people of small
talents or genius, having no curiosity/'

Proceeding along the side of the river, among large
timber trees, Bruce pitched his tent by the side of
another stream, as clear, as shallow, and as beautiful
as the first; yet, in every direction, he was sur-
rounded by bleak, black, desolate mountains, covered
with loose stones, and, besides these, there was
nothing to be seen but the heavens. Their road for
some time wound between mountains, the banks of
the torrent being still covered with rack and syca-
more trees, which, being under a burning sun, and
well watered, were naturally of an enormous size.
In the evening they reached Tubbo, and as Salt says,
" Bruce has well described this place," we shall give
the picture in his own words : —

"At half-past eight o'clock," says Bruce, "we en-
camped at a place called Tubbo, where the mountains
are very steep, and broken very abruptly into cliffs
and precipices. Tubbo was by much the most agree-
able station we had seen ; the trees were thick, full
of leaves, and gave us abundance of very dark shade.
There was a number of many different kinds, so
closely planted that they seemed to be intended for

TUBBO DESCRIBED. 195

natural arbours. Every tree was full of birds, varie-
gated with an infinity of colours, but destitute of
song ; others, of a more homely and more European
appearance, diverted us with a variety of wild notes,
in a style of music still distinct and peculiar to
Africa ; as different in the composition from our
linnet and goldfinch, as our English language is to
that of Abyssinia. Yet, from very attentive and
frequent observation, I found that the skylark at
Masuah sang the same notes as in England. It was
observable, that the greatest part of the beautiful
painted birds were of the jay, or magpie kind.
Nature seemed, by the fineness of their dress, to
have marked them for children of noise and imper-
tinence, but never to have intended them for pleasure
or meditation."

Leaving Tubbo, they proceeded on their journey,
and at night encamped by the side of a rivulet, in a
narrow valley full of trees and brushwood : a number
of antelopes were running about in all directions ;
but as the Hazorta tribes were supposed to be in the
neighbourhood, Bruce was advised not to fire until
he reached the mountain of Tarenta, at the foot of
which he arrived on the following morning. In the
cool of the evening, they began to ascend the moun-
tain by a path of great steepness, and full of holes
and gullies made by the torrents. With extreme
difficulty, Bruce and his party crawled along, each
man carrying his knapsack and arms — but it seemed
quite impossible to carry the baggage and the instru-
ments.

The quadrant had hitherto been carried by eight
men, four of whom relieved the others, but they gave
up the undertaking after proceeding a few hundred
yards. Various expedients, such as trailing it along
the ground, &c., were then proposed. " At last," says
o2

196 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Bruce, " as I was incomparably the strongest of the
company, as well as the most interested, I and the
Moor Yasine (the man who had behaved so gallantly
when Bruce's vessel was aground in the Red Sea)
carried the head of it for about four hundred yards,
over the more difficult and steepest part of the moun-
tain, which before had been considered as impracti-
cable by all. We carried it steadily up the steep,
eased the case gently over the big stones on which,
from time to time, we rested it, and to the wonder
of them all, placed the head of the three-foot qua-
drant, with its double case, in safety, far above the
stony parts of the mountain. At Yasine's request,
we then undertook the next difficult task, which was
to carry the iron foot of the quadrant." Bruce and
Yasine suffered much in this exertion ; " their hands
and feet were cut and mangled with sliding down and
clambering over the sharp points of the rocks, and
their clothes were torn to pieces." However, at last,
after infinite toil, and with as much pleasure, they
succeeded in placing all their instruments and bag-
gage about half-way up this terrible mountain of
Tarenta.

There were five asses, which were quite as difficult
to get up the mountain as the baggage. The greater
part of their burdens were carried by the party up to
the instruments ; and it was proposed, as a thing
which any person might do, to make the unladen
beasts follow the baggage ; but they no sooner found
themselves at liberty, and that a man was proposing
to them to ascend a steep mountain, than they began
to kick, bite each other, and then, with one consent,
away they trotted, braying down the hill, stopping
at last to eat some bushes.

The number of hyaenas, which were lurking about,
had probably been seen or smelt by these animals, as

MOUNTAIN OF TARENTA. 197

they all assembled into a body ; and in this defensive
state they were found by their masters, who proceeded
to drive them once again up the mountain. The
hyasnas, however, followed them step by step, until
the men began to be quite as much afraid for them-
selves as for the asses. At last the wild beasts
became so bold, that one of them seized a donkey,
and pulled him down. A general engagement would
probably have ensued, had not Yasine's man fired his
gun, the report of which made the enemy retire,
leaving the asses and the ass-drivers to pursue their
way, and it was nearly midnight before these jaded
long and short-eared stragglers joined their masters.

Next morning early, Bruce having encouraged his
people by good words, increase of wages, and promises
of reward, they began to encounter the other half of
the mountain. The baggage now moved on briskly.
The upper part of the mountain was steeper, more
craggy, rugged, and slippery than the lower, but not
so much embarrassed by large stones and holes. " Our
knees and hands," says Bruce, " were cut to pieces by
frequent falls, and our faces torn by the multitude of
thorny bushes. I twenty times now thought of what
Achmet had told me at parting, that I should curse
him for the bad road shown to me over Tarenta."
However, with great difficulty they at last reached
the summit, upon which they found a small village,
chiefly inhabited by very poor people who tend the
flocks belonging to the town of Dixan.

Salt sneers, as usual, at Bruce's description of the
difficulties he encountered in ascending Tarenta. He
says, " We did not meet with a single hyasna, or
troglodytical cave, and luckily 'had not cur hands
and knees cut by frequent falls, or our faces torn by
thorny bushes,' which last, indeed, appears scarcely
possible in so open and frequented a path." Now,

198 LIFE OF BRTTCE.

Bruce never said that the hyaenas of Tarenta would
find Mr. Salt ; or that Mr. Salt would find the caves
which Bruce says he went out of his path to discover :
yet, if Mr. Salt had ever read the following extract
of a journey made into Ethiopia (by Father Reme-
dio of Bohemia, Martino of Bohemia, and Antonio
of Aleppo, of the order of Reformed Minorites of
St. Francis, missionaries for the propagation of the
Christian faith,) he would, perhaps, have hesitated
before he accused Bruce of exaggeration, more par-
ticularly about " the thorns and briars of Tarenta."

" Our way " (from Masuah), says one of those holy
fathers, " lay over high mountains, deep valleys, and
through impenetrable woods, in passing which we
encountered many dangers and grievous hardships.
More than once we were obliged to climb the tops
of the mountains on our hands and feet, which were
sorely rent and torn with brambles and thorny bushes.
No house nor inn being found here, every body is
obliged to lie in the open air, exposed to the depre-
dation of robbers, and liable every moment to become
the prey of wolves, lions, tigers, and beasts of a simi-
lar description, which are almost continually met
with, of all which I shall cease to speak, from the
horror and dread with which the very thought of
them still afflicts me."

It has already been stated, that Lord Yalentia
published " Voyages and Travels to Abyssinia," &c.
although he had only landed at the port of Masuah,
which does not belong to Abyssinia ; his evidence,
therefore, cannot carry with it much weight, yet with
his own secretary he may certainly be allowed to
dispute. " The night," says his lordship, " was cooler,
and I was not so restless ; in the morning I had no
fever, and at dinner some appetite. I viewed from
my window the island of Valentia, distant about five

LORI) VALENTIA AND MR. SALT. 199

leagues ; Ras Gidden, and the chain of mountains
that lines the coast of the Red Sea from this place
to the plains of Egypt. Behind these the summit
of Tarenta peeps out, and gives credit, by its height,
to Mr. Bruce's account of the difficulty he had in
ascending it. A restless night determined me to
leave off wine, and try if that would cool me. In
other respects I was better, and, thank God ! my
spirits never left me for a moment."

But Mr. Salt absolutely forgets himself, for in
vol. iii. p. 12, speaking of " a semicircular ridge of
mountains, over which there is but one pass by which
it is possible to ascend," he says, " in steepness and
ruggedness this hill may be compared to Tarenta,
though its height is considerably inferior." And in
Mr. Salt's " Travels to Abyssinia," page 201, he again
says, " on the 10th, the party ascended Senafe, which
is said to be full as high, though not so difficult to
y>«5.9, as Tarenta."

The trifling, cavilling remarks which have been
made against Bruce's character by Lord Valentia and
Mr. Salt, who admit that his history of Abyssinia
and his general descriptions are correct, remind us
of Shakspeare's description of the sun,

When envious clouds seem bent to dim his glory,
And check his bright course to the Occident.

The plain on the summit of the mountain of
Tarenta was in many places sown with wheat, which
was just ready to be cut. The grain appeared to be
clean, and of a good colour, but inferior in size to
that of Egypt. It did not, however, grow thick, nor
was its stalk above fourteen inches high. The water
on Tarenta was very bad, being only what remained
of the rain that had been collected in hollows of the
rocks, and in pits artificially prepared for it. Being

200 LIFE OF BRUCE.

very tired, Bruce and his party pitched their tents
on the top of the mountain. The night felt dread-
fully cold to them, accustomed as they had been to
the heat of the low country of Masuah : the dew fell
heavily, yet the sky was so clear, that the smallest
stars were discernible.

The people who live on the mountain of Tarenta
are of a dark, sallow complexion. Their heads are
uncovered, a goat's skin hangs upon their shoulders,
they wear a cotton cloth about their waist, and sandals
on their feet. Their hair is cut short, and curled
artificially, to look like the wool of a negro. The men
usually carry two lances, a shield made of bull's hide,
and a very long broad knife stuck in their girdles. All
sorts of cattle are here in great plenty. The cows are
generally white, writh large dewlaps hanging down to
their knees, hair like silk, and wide horns. The
sheep are large and black — they have great heads,
which they carry very erect, and small ears, and they
are covered with hair instead of wool.

Early on the morning of the 22nd, Bruce and his
party eagerly descended the mountain. The cedar
trees, which had been so tall and beautiful on the top
and on the east side of Tarenta, degenerated on the
west into small shrubs and scraggy bushes. Lower
down the people were busy with their harvest, and cows
and bullocks were seen treading out the corn, the
straw being burnt or left to rot upon the ground.
In the evening they reached the town of Dixan.
Salt says, " we passed over the highest part of the
irregular hill on which Dixan is built, and which
Bruce has very accurately described, when he com-
pared it to a sugar-loaf."

Dixan, like most frontier towns, is the rendezvous
of the bad people of the two contiguous countries.
V1> The town," says Bruce, " consists of Moors andChris-

LORD VALENTIA AND MR. SALT. 201

tians, and is very well peopled, yet the only trade of
either is a very extraordinary one, that of selling
children. The Christians bring such as they have
stolen in Abyssinia to Dixan, and the Moors, receiving
them there, carry them to a sure market to Masuah,
whence they are sent to Arabia or India."

Rather a curious instance of this barbarous system
was exemplified in the history of two priests who
were slaves in the Naybe's house, while Bruce was
at Masuah.

These two priests formerly dwelt at Tigre as most
intimate friends — the young one living with a woman
by whom he had two sons. One day, the old priest
came to the young one to say, that as he had no
Children of his own, he would provide for one of the
boys, who was accordingly most gratefully committed
to his care. The old wretch, however, took him to
Dixan, and after selling him there as a slave, returned
to his friend, with a splendid account of his son's
reception, treatment, and brilliant future prospects.
The other child who was about eight years old hear-
ing of the wonderful good fortune of his elder brother,
entreated to be permitted to pay him a visit. The old
priest said tliat he did not altogether disapprove of his
design, but he observed, that he felt a sort of scruple
— a kind of repugnance — in short, that he was un-
willing to be responsible for the safety of so very
young a boy, unless his mother would accompany
him — and as mothers yearn for their children in
Abyssinia as elsewhere, the woman most readily con-
sented to attend her boy, under the protection of the
old priest, who kindly took them to Dixan and —
sold them both !

Returning to his friend the young priest, he told
him, that his wife expected he would come and fetch
her on a particular day. Accordingly when the time

202 LIFE OF BRUCE.

arrived, the two priests, " the old jack-daw and the
young jack-daw" set out together, and on reaching
Dixan, the young one found out that his aged friend
had not only sold the woman and the two boys, but
that he himself, their father, was also sold! The
whole family were thus by treachery doomed to
finish their days in misery and slavery. However,
the slave-merchants persuaded the old priest to
accompany the party to a place near Dixan, where
he was assured that he should receive all that was
due to him. On reaching this spot the whole pack
flew upon him : the merchants bound him as their
slave ; the woman and the young priest humbly
begged for permission to pluck out his beard, and, as
that ceremony, besides its pain, was expected to have
the effect of adding to his value by making the " old
gentleman" look younger, permission was granted.
On reaching Masuah, the woman and the boys were
instantly sold and carried into Arabia : but the two
priests were still slaves at Masuah, while Bruce was
there.

" The priests of Axum," says Bruce, "and those of
the monastery of Abba Garima, are equally infamous
with those of Damo for this practice, which is winked
at by Ras Michael as contributing to his greatness,
by furnishing fire-arms to his provinces of Tig-re,
which gives him superiority over all Abyssinia. As
a return for these fire-arms, about five hundred of
these unfortunate people are annually exported from
Masuah to Arabia; of which three hundred are
Pagans from the market at Gondar ; the other two
hundred are Christian children kidnapped. The
Naybe receives six patakas of duty for each one ex-
ported."

On the 25th of November, Bruce and his party
left Dixan, and, descending the very steep hill on

TOWN OF DIXAN. 203

which the town is situated, they reached an immense
daroo-tree, seven and a half feet in diameter, with a
head spreading in proportion. This tree, and the
rivulet on which it stands, mark the boundary of
that part of Tigre, which the Naybe of Masuah
farms or rents of the Governors of Abyssinia. One
of Bruce's servants delighted (as they all were) to
get out of the dominions of Masuah, no sooner
reached this tree, than he made a mark on the
ground with his knife, and swore thereupon that
if any one belonging to the Naybe dared to cross it,
he would bind him hand and foot and leave him to
the lions and the hyaenas. The Naybe' s people, on
this hint, at once retired. Their presence had been a
source of constant alarm to Bruce, who always felt
that he ow-ed his life to the advice and assistance he
had received from Achmet. " We remained," says
Bruce, " under this tree the night of the 25th. It
will be to me a station ever memorable, as the first
where I recovered a portion of that tranquillity of
mind, to which I had been a stranger ever since my
arrival at Masuah."

The next day the party, having been joined by
several Moors, proceeded ; and Bruce, while on his
journey, was visited by a person of some distinction
in the country, from whom he purchased a black
horse. " I was exceedingly pleased," he says, " with
this first acquisition. The horse was then lean, and
he stood about sixteen and a half hands high, of the
breed of Dongola. Yasine, a good horseman, recom-
mended to me one of his servants, or companions, to
take care of him. He was an Arab, from the neigh-
bourhood of Medina, a superior horseman himself,
and well versed in every thing that concerned the
animal. I took him immediately into my service.
We called the horse Mirza, a name of good fortune.

204 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Indeed, I might say, I acquired that day a companion
that contributed always to my pleasure, and more
than once to my safety ; and was no slender means of
acquiring me the first attention of the king. I had
brought my Arab stirrups, saddle, and bridle with me,
so that I was now as well equipped as a horseman
could be." Bruce being now entirely the guide and
guardian of his own party, carefully examined the
state of their fire-arms, which he ordered to be
cleaned and charged again.

After passing a very pleasant wood of acacia trees,
which were then in flower, they came to a plain " so
overgrown with wild oats, that it covered the men
and their horses." The soil was excellent ; yet this
fine country was found almost in a state of nature on
account of some disputes which raged so fiercely
among the neighbouring villages, that the people
were in the habit of going, with weapons in their
hands, to sow the small portion of land which they
cultivated, and to reap the harvest.

Bruce now reached a river, where he had learned
that caravans were very constantly robbed. He, there-
fore, for the first time, mounted his black horse Mirza,
and to the great delight and astonishment of his party,
and of those who had joined them, galloped and pa-
raded the animal in every direction, firing from his
back in the Arab fashion, all of which had its due
weight by giving him, in the minds of his rude
attendants, a superiority which induced them to obey
and to place confidence in the orders of one who
appeared to them so well fitted to command.

Having now entered a rocky, uneven country,
covered with brushwood, wild oats and high grass,
they presently found on the ground a very fine ani-
mal of the goat species which had just been attacked
by a lion. It was scarcely dead ; and as the blood

BRUCE PURCHASES HIS HORSE MIRZA. 205

was still running, every one, Moor and Christian,
cut out a portion of the flesh. The general aversion
of the Abyssinians to any thing that has not been
regularly killed with a knife is so great, that they
will not even lift a bird that has been shot, except by
the point or extreme feather of its wing ; but to this
rule, as it now appeared, they make a very singular
exception in favour of any animal which has been
killed by a lion. They now crossed the clear and
rapid river Bazelat, which falls into the Mareb, or
ancient Astusaspe. This was the first running water
which they had seen since they passed Tarenta, this
part of Abyssinia being very badly watered. They
were here requested to pay a duty or custom, which,
in many parts of Abyssinia, is levied on all passengers.
These places are called ber, or passes, and there are
five of them between Masuah and Adowa. But
Bruce, having been sent for by the king, and being
on his road to Ras Michael, told the people at the
pass that they might keep his baggage, and that he
would proceed without it ; in consequence of which
threat a very slight duty was required from him.

Proceeding onwards, they passed a high rock, re-
sembling the Acropolis of Athens, or the rock upon
which stands Edinburgh Castle. This pinnacle was
called Damo, and it was here that the heirs male of
the royal family of Abyssinia were imprisoned, until
the massacre of the princes by Judith.

The houses now began to appear with conical roofs,
a sure sign that the rains of the country were very
violent. The village of Kaibara they found to be
entirely inhabited by Mahometan Gibbertis, or native
Abyssinians of that religion. They were here stopped
by a ber, where they were detained three whole days,
from the extravagant demands which were made upon
them, and which nothing that Bruce or his party

206 LIFE OF BRUCE.

could say would induce the people to dimmish.
" They had reasons," says Bruce, " for our reasons,
menaces for our menaces, but no civilities to answer
ours."

Bruce found it so impossible to satisfy these peo-
ple, that, with great artifice and difficulty, he managed
to send a letter by one of the natives to Janni, head
of the custom-house at Adowa, to inform him of his
detention. On the morning of the fourth day, an
officer from Janni arrived with a violent mandate in
the name of Ras Michael, which produced an imme-
diate effect, and Bruce, on the 4th of December, was
again enabled to proceed.

He now passed a river called Angueah, the largest
he had seen in Abyssinia. This river receives its
name from a beautiful tree which covers its banks.
A variety of flowers, particularly yellow, white, and
party-coloured jasmine, fill the plain which lies
between the mountain and this stream. The air was
fresh, fragrant, and agreeable. " We now first began
to see," says Bruce, " the high mountains of Adowa,
nothing resembling in shape those of Europe, nor,
indeed, any other country. Their sides were all per-
pendicular rocks, high, like steeples or obelisks, and
broken into a thousand different forms." However,
after travelling on a very pleasant road, over easy
hills, and through hedge -rows of jasmine, honey-
suckle, and many other kinds of flowering shrubs,
they arrived, on the 6th of December at Adowa, the
town in which Ras Michael had used to reside.

Adowa is situated at the foot of a hill, on the west
side of a small plain, watered by three streams, and
surrounded on all sides by mountains. It is the pass
through which every one must go in travelling from
Gondar to the Red Sea, and indeed its name signi-
fies " pass or passage." The town consisted of about

REACHES THE TOWN OF ADOWA. 207

three hundred houses, each dwelling being enclosed
by hedges and trees. Adowa was not formerly the
•capital of Tigre, but at the time of Brace's arrival
it was considered as such, because the property of
Ras Michael surrounded it. His house was on the
top of a small hill, and was not remarkable for its
size. It was inhabited during the lias's absence by
his deputy, and resembled a prison rather than a
palace ; for in and about it more than three hundred
people were confined in irons, the object of their
imprisonment being to extort money from them.
Many had been there twenty years ; they were kept
in cages, and in every way treated like wild beasts.

Bruce had scarcely arrived at Adowa, before Janni,
the Greek officer of the customs to whom he had
written on his arrival at Masuah, waited upon him.
" He had," says Bruce, " sent servants to conduct us
from the passage of the river, and met us himself at
the outer door of his house. I do not remember to
have seen a more respectable figure. He had his
own short white hair, covered with a thin muslin
turban, and a thick well-shaped beard as white as
snow, down to his waist. He was clothed in the
Abyssinian dress, all of white cotton, only he had
a red silk sash, embroidered with gold, about his
waist, and sandals on his feet : his upper garment
reached down to his ankles. He had a number of
servants and slaves about him, of both sexes ; and,
when I approached him, seemed disposed to receive
me with marks of humility and inferiority, which
mortified me much, considering the obligations I was
under to him, the trouble I had given, and was un-
voidably still to give him. I embraced him witli
great acknowledgments of kindness and gratitude,
calling him father, — a title I always used in speaking
either to him or of him afterwards, when I was in

208 LIFE OF BRUCE.

higher fortune, which he constantly remembered with
great pleasure.

" He conducted us through a court-yard planted
with jasmine, to a very neat, and, at the same time,
large room, furnished with a silk sofa : the floor was
covered with Persian carpets and cushions. All
round, flowers and green leaves were strewed upon
the outer yard : and the windows and sides of the
room stuck full of evergreens, in commemoration of
the Christmas festival that was at hand. I stopt at
the entrance of this room : my feet were both dirty
and bloody ; and it is not good-breeding to show or
speak of your feet in Abyssinia, especially if anything
ails them, and at all times they are covered. He
immediately perceived the wounds that were upon
mine. Both our clothes and flesh had been torn to
pieces at Tarenta, and several other places ; but he
thought we had come on mules furnished us by the
Naybe ; for the young man I had sent to him from
Kella, following the genius of his countrymen,
though telling truth was just as profitable to him
as lying, had chosen the latter, and seeing the
horse I had got from the Baharnagash, had figured
in his own imagination a multitude of others, and
told Janni, that there were with me horses, asses,
and mules in great plenty ; so that when Janni saw
us passing the water, he took me for a servant, and
expected, for several minutes, to see the splendid
company arrive well mounted upon horses and mules
caparisoned.

"He was so shocked at my saying that I had per-
formed this terrible journey on foot, that he burst
into tears, uttering a thousand reproaches against the
Naybe for his hard-heartedness and ingratitude, as he
had twice, as he said, hindered Michael from going
in person, and sweeping the Naybe from the face of

ADOWA. 209

the earth. Water was immediately procured to wash
our feet ; and here began another contention. Janni
insisted upon doing this himself, which made me run
out into the yard, and declare I would not suffer it.
After this, the like dispute took place among the
servants. It was always a ceremony in Abyssinia
to wash the feet of those that came from Cairo,
and who are understood to have been pilgrims at
Jerusalem.

" This was no sooner finished than a great dinner
was brought, exceedingly well dressed. But no con-
sideration or entreaty could previiil upon my kind
landlord to sit down and partake with me : he would
stand, all the time, with a clean towel in his hand,
though he had plenty of servants, and afterwards dined
with some visitors, who had come, out of curiosity,
to see a man arrived from so far. Among these were
a number of priests, a part of the company which I
liked least, but who did not show any hostile appear-
ance. It was long before I cured my kind landlord
of these respectful observances, which troubled me
very much ; nor could he ever wholly get rid of them
— his own kindness and good heart, as well as the
pointed and particular orders of the Greek patriarch,
Mark, constantly suggesting the same attention."

In the afternoon, Bruce had a visit from the
Governor of Adowa, a tall, fine looking man, of
about sixty years of age. He had just returned from
an expedition against the inhabitants of some villages,
having slain about a hundred and twenty men, and
driven off a quantity of cattle. He told Bruce he
much doubted whether he would be able to proceed,
unless some favourable news came from Ras Michael,
as the inhabitants of Woggora were plundering all
descriptions of people going to Gondar, in order to
distress the king and the troops of Ras Michael,

210 LIFE OF BRUCE.

The houses of Adowa are of rough stone, cemented
with mud instead of mortar. The roofs, which are
in the form of cones, are thatched with a sort of reedy
grass, rather thicker than wheat straw. In the sur-
rounding country there are three harvests annually.
The first seed-time is in July and August, in the
middle of the rains, at which time they sow wheat,
tocusso, teff, and barley. About the 20th of Novem-
ber they begin to reap, first the barley, then the
wheat, and lastly the teff. Without any manure,
they then sow barley alone, which they reap in
February ; and lastly, they sow teff or vetches,
which are cut down before the first rains in April.

The country is sometimes completely overrun with
rats and field mice, and to destroy these creatures
they set fire to the straw, the only use to which they
apply it. This is generally done just before the
rains, and an amazing verdure instantly follows.

"The province of Tigre," says Bruce, "is all moun-
tainous ; and it has been said, without any foundation
in truth, that the Pyrenees, Alps, and Apennines,
are but mole-hills compared to them. I believe,
however, that one of the Pyrenees, above St. John
Pied de Port, is much higher than Lamalmon ; and
that the mountain of St. Bernard, one of the Alps,
is full as high as Taranta, or rather higher. It is
not the extreme height of the mountains in Abys-
sinia that occasions surprise, but the number of them,
and the extraordinary forms they present to the eye.
Some of them are flat, thin, and square, in shape of
a hearth-stone or slab, that scarce would seem to
have been sufficient to resist the winds. Some are
like pyramids, others like obelisks or prisms, and
some, the most extraordinary of all the rest, pyra-
mids pitched upon their points, with their base
uppermost, which if it was possible, as it is not,

ADOWA. 211

they could have been so formed in the beginning,
would be strong objections to our received ideas of
gravity."

Salt quotes the above description, which he takes
great trouble to prove is " extravagant/' yet, at page
240, Salt himself describes the mountains of this pro-
vince as follows : — " A THOUSAND different-shaped
hills were presented to the view, which bore the
appearance of having been dropped on an irregular
plain ;" and the strange formation which Bruce and
Salt dwell on with so much wonder, is now fully
understood to proceed from the violent action of rain,
through a long series of ages, upon such a surface as
that described by those travellers.

After having remained above a month at Adowa,
Bruce, on the 10th of January, visited the remains
of the famous convent of the Jesuits at Fremoga,
which is on the opposite side of the plain to Adowa.
This convent, which is about a mile in circumference,
is substantially built of stones with mortar. The
walls, about twenty-five feet in height, are flanked
by towers loop-holed for musketry. In short it re-
sembles a castle rather than a convent.

Bruce was now anxious, if possible, to proceed to
Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, and the political
events of the day seemed to offer him an opportunity ;
for a sort of calm, like that which precedes a storm,
had, for the moment, spread over the whole country.
Ras Michael, having found that the old king Hatre
Hamnes did not suit him as he had expected, his imbe-
cility being of too sluggish a description, ordered his
breakfast to be poisoned ; and, having thus got rid of
him, lie had just placed younor Tecla Haimanout on
the throne of his father. The Abyssinians had been
wearied, rather than amused, by a series of events,
none of which had been foreseen, and which had

212 LIFE OF BRUCE.

ended in a manner which no one could have expected.
Nobody liked Has Michael, yet no man deemed it
prudent either to speak or act against him. People,
therefore, waited till he should either conquer or
be conquered by his opponent and enemy, the
rebel Fasil.

Of this calm, Bruce determined to avail himself,
and he accordingly prepared to take leave of his
friend Janni, " whose kindness, hospitality, and
fatherly care had," says Bruce, " never ceased for a
moment." This friend had most favourably recom-
mended Bruce to the Iteghe, or queen mother, whose
daughter, the beautiful Ozoro Esther, was married
to old Ras Michael. He also wrote in Bruce's favour
to the Ras, with whom his influence was very great ;
and indeed to all his acquaintances, Greeks, Abys-
sinians, and Mahometans.

On the 17th of January, 1770, Bruce and his
party quitted Adowa to proceed to Gondar, and the
following day they reached a plain in which stood
Axum, which is supposed to have been the ancient
capital of Abyssinia. " The ruins of Axum," says
Bruce, " are very extensive, but, like the cities of
ancient times, consist altogether of public buildings.
In one square, which I apprehend to have been the
centre of the town, there are forty obelisks, none of
which have any hieroglyphics upon them. There is
one larger than the rest still standing, but there are
two still larger than this, fallen. They are all of one
piece of granite, and on the top of that which is
standing, there is a patera exceedingly well carved in
the Greek taste."

" After passing the convent of Abba Pantaleon,
called in Abyssinia 'Mantilles,' and the small obelisk
situated on a rock above, we proceeded south by
• a road cut in a mountain of red marble, having on the

ADOWA. 213

left a parapet wall above five feet high, solid, and of
the same materials. At equal distances there are
hewn in this wall solid pedestals, upon the tops of
which we see the marks where stood the colossal
statues of Sirius, the Latrator Anubis, or Dog Star.
One hundred and thirty-three of these pedestals, with
the marks of statues just mentioned, are still in their
places ; but only two figures of the dog remained,
much mutilated, but of a taste easily distinguished
to be Egyptian. They were composed of granite ;
but some of them appear to have been of metal.

" There are likewise pedestals whereon the figures
of the Sphinx have been placed. Two magnificent
flights of steps, several hundred feet long, all of
granite, exceedingly well-fashioned, and still in their
places, are the only remains of a magnificent temple.
In the angle of this platform, where that temple stood,
is the present small church of Axum, in the place of
a former one destroyed by Mahomet Gragne, in the
reign of King David III. ; and which was probably
the remains of a temple built by Ptolemy Euergetes,
if not the work of times more remote.

" The church is a mean, small building, very ill
kept, and full of pigeons' dung. In it are supposed
to be preserved the ark of the covenant, and copy of
the law, which Menilek, son of Solomon, is said, in
their fabulous legends, to have stolen from his father
Solomon on his return to Ethiopia, and these were
reckoned, as it were, the palladia of this country.

" There was another relic of great importance. It
is a picture of Christ's head crowned with thorns, said
to be painted by St. Luke, which, upon occasions of
the utmost importance, is brought out and carried
with the army, especially in a war with Mahometans
and Pagans.

" Within the outer gate of the church, below the

214 LIFE OP BRUCE.

steps, are three small square inclosures, all of granite
with small octagon pillars in the angles, apparently
Egyptian ; on the top of which formerly were small
images of the clog-star, probably of metal. Upon a
stone, in the middle of one of these, the king sits, and
is crowned, and always has been since the 'days of
Paganism ; and below it, where he naturally places
his feet, is a large oblong slab like a hearth, which
is not of granite, but of freestone. The inscription,
though much defaced, may be safely restored.

riTOAEMAIOT ETEPFETOY
BA2IAEH2."

Bruce made a sketch of the principal obelisk at
Axum. Salt, who also visited Axum, says, " I went
to take a drawing of the obelisk still erect. I found
it to be extremely different from the representation
of it given by Bruce ; the ornaments which he is
pleased to call triglyphs and metopes, and guttse, being
most regularly, instead of irregularly, disposed, as will
be seen in my representation of it. I am now perfectly
satisfied that all Brace's pretended knowledge of draw-
ing is not to be depended on, the present instance
affording a striking example of his want of veracity
and uncommon assurance." Again, Salt says: " From
my account of Axum it will appear that Brace's
description of ' the mountain of red marble ' of the
' wall, cut out of the same five feet high,' with its
4 one hundred and thirty three pedestals, on which
stood colossal statues of the dog-star, two of which
only were remaining/ and of the road cut between
the wall and the mountain, are statements contrary
to the existing fact, or at least so extremely exag-
gerated, as to cast strong doubts upon his authority."

Again, Salt says, " I made a drawing of the Ozoro
(a lady of rank) which I can assure the reader gives

CHURCH OF AXUM. 215

an accurate delineation of the costume of a lady of
her rank, although it has no resemblance to the fancy
figures given in the last edition of Bruce as Abys-
sinian princesses." " It is extremely vexatious," says
Lord Yalentia at Masuah, " that Mr. Bruce's assertion
of blue cloth being preferred by the Bedouee, should
have prevented our bringing any white, which would
have ensured us a ready supply of all we wished."

Nothing can showr the narrow-minded feeling with
which Salt travelled more than the above observa-
tions. Neglecting the great book of nature which
was lying open before him, he seemed to have been
only occupied with a paltry desire minutely to criti-
cise Bruce's heavy volumes, which he very unfairly
carried in his hand instead of in his head. With
respect to the ruins of Axum, antiquarians have
always been permitted to form their own conjectures
on subjects of this kind, without being accused of
" falsehood," or even of " exaggeration ; " and every
person, who has ever attempted to copy inscriptions
in hieroglyphics, the meaning of which he cannot
penetrate, must confess that parts and figures, which
to him may seem to be highly important, might have
been very excusably hurried over as unworthy of
attention by another traveller.

Again, with respect to the costume of the Abys-
sinian ladies, more than one-third of a century had
elapsed between Bruce's departure from, and Salt's
arrival in, Abyssinia, and why, therefore, should Mr.
Salt have taken it for granted that the costumes
must needs have continued as Bruce left them ?. —
but the Ozoros, of whose costumes Bruce gave draw-
ings, were ladies of another province — they were the
ladies of Gondar ! Bruce never said that the fashions
of Abyssinia were unalterable, nor that the Bedouee
would prefer blue cloth to white for ever and ever.

216 LIFE OF BRUCE.

It is most surprising that Salt and Lord Valentia
should have used such expressions against Bruce,
whose general history and observations the former
invariably admits to be correct. Even at Axum,
he says — " In the evening, I wrote down the best
account I could get from the books of Axum, of
Ras Michael, and his rebellion in Tigre against the
Emperor Yasous ; his standing a siege on the moun-
tain of Samargat; and his subsequent concession
and pardon, to which the emperor with difficulty
acceded ; all which confirms the historical account of
the same transactions, as related by Bruce" " The
revolutions," continues Salt, " have been still more
frequent since the departure of Mr. Bruce, whose
history is in general accurate" . . . Again, page
227, Salt says — " We also derived some benefit
from the information, relative to the history of Abys-
sinia, which we had acquired from Bruce and
Poncet ; and winch was to the natives a source of
perpetual astonishment. Bruce's drawings of Gondar
and its vicinity, which we showed to the Baharnagash,
tended to raise us in his opinion almost beyond the
level of mortality" If, therefore, Bruce's grand
historical account of Abyssinia is correct, ought
he, by men of rank and education, to have been
accused of " falsehood," " exaggeration," and " want
of veracity," because, after a lapse of thirty-five
years, some antiquities which he described had dis-
appeared, and because the dresses of the ladies
were found to be different from those he described ?
But Salt's illiberality towards Bruce was really but
" the sign of the times," for the whole world was
against him !

Salt gives a translation of one of the inscriptions
at Axum, which he says shows that the Abyssinian
monarchs have no claim to a descent from Solomon,

LORD VALENTIA AND MR. SALT. 217

l)ut that they considered they were descended from
Mars ! The inscription states — " We Aeizanus, sove-
reign of the Axomites," (&c. &c. &c.) "king of
kings, son of God the invincible Mars."

Lord Yalentia, of course, supports Mr. Salt's dis-
covery : He says, " The account of the descent from
Solomon is now proved to be false by the inscription
of Axum." Yet this inscription says nothing against
the descent from King Solomon. In it Aeizanus
certainly calls himself " son of the invincible Mars ;"
but, within the tropics, that may surely only be an
hyperbole, meaning that he considered himself a hero,
which among men of all climates is no uncommon
mistake. After all, however, Bruce never said that
the kings of Abyssinia were descended from Solomon;
he only said that this tradition is still believed by
the Abyssinians and all the surrounding countries ;
and this statement is not only perfectly correct, but,
what is much better, it is perfectly possible ; where-
as, the speculation of Mr. Salt, although it is cer-
tainly strongly supported by Lord Yalentia at Masuah,
must be erroneous, because we know that no such
person as Mars ever existed, and that he is nothing but

a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat -oppressed brain.

On the 20th, Bruce quitted the ruins of Axum.
The road from every side was, in the course of a
few miles, perfumed with a variety of flowering
shrubs, chiefly different species of jasmine. The
country around had the most beautiful appearance ;
" and the weather," says Bruce, " was neither too
hot nor too cold."

Bruce now happened to witness a scene, which
must be given in his own words : —

" Not long after our losing sight of the ruins of
this ancient capital of Abyssinia," says Bruce, " we

218 LIFE OF BRUCE.

overtook three travellers driving a cow before them ;
they had black goat-skins upon their shoulders, and
lances and shields in their hands ; in other respects
they were but thinly clothed ; they appeared to be
soldiers. The cow did not seem to be fatted for
killing, and it occurred to us all that it had been
stolen. This, however, was not our business, nor
was such an occurrence at all remarkable in a country
so long engaged in war. "We saw that our attendants
attached themselves in a particular manner to the
three soldiers that were driving the cow, and held a
short conversation with them. Soon after, we ar-
rived at the hithermost bank of the river, where I
thought we were to pitch our tent. The drivers
suddenly tripped up the cow, and gave the poor
animal a very rude fall upon the ground, which was
but the beginning of her sufferings. One of them
sat across her neck, holding down her head by the
horns ; the other twisted the halter about her fore-
feet ; while the third, who had a knife in his hand,
to my very great surprise, in place of taking her by
the throat, got astride upon her belly before her
hind-legs, and gave her a very deep wound in the
upper part of her buttock.

" From the time I had seen them throw the beast
upon the ground, I had rejoiced, thinking that, when
three people were killing a cow, they must have
agreed to sell part of her to us ; and I was much dis-
appointed upon hearing the Abyssinians say that we
were to pass the river to the other side, and not
encamp where I intended. Upon my proposing they
should bargain for part of the cow, my men answered,
what they had already learned in conversation, that
they were not then to kill her ; that she was not
wholly theirs, and they could not sell her. This
awakened my curiosity. I let my people go forward,

STEAKS FROM A LIVING COW. 219

and stayed myself behind, till I saw, with the utmost
astonishment, two pieces, thicker and longer than our
ordinary beef steaks, cut out of the higher part of
the buttock of the beast. How it was done I cannot
positively say ; because, judging the cow was to be
killed from the moment I saw the knife drawn, I was
not anxious to view the catastrophe, which was by
no means an object of curiosity : whatever way it was
done, it surely was adroitly ; and the two pieces were
spread upon the outside of one of their shields.

" One of them still continued holding the head,
while the other two were busied in curing the wound.
This too was done not in the ordinary manner : the
skin, which had covered the flesh that was taken
away, was left entire, and flapped over the wound,
and was fastened to the corresponding part by two or
more small skewers, or pins. Whether they put any-
thing under the skin, between that and the wounded
flesh, I know not ; but at the river-side where they
were, they had prepared a cataplasm of clay, with
which they covered the wound ; they then forced the
animal to rise, and drove it on before them, to furnish
them with a fuller meal when they should meet their
companions in the evening."

It was upon this fact that Bruce's reputation split,
and sunk like a vessel which had suddenly struck
upon a rock. His best English friends had warned
him of the danger, and had earnestly begged him
to suppress the publication of a story which, in his
conversation, had been universally disbelieved ; but,
sorely as he felt the insult, which he as yet had but
privately received, it was against his nature to shrink
from any unjust degradation which the public might
fancy it was in its power to inflict upon him. A
man like Bruce, who had steadily looked real danger
in the face, was not to be stopped in his just career

220 LIFE OP BRUCE.

by threats of imaginary danger. He, therefore, nobly,
resolutely, or, as his friends termed it, " most obsti-
nately," published the fact : and the following obser-
vations, with which he accompanied it, plainly show
his wounded feelings and his undaunted integrity —
his contempt of the world, or rather of the narrow-
minded faction which opposed him — and his manly
confidence that, sooner or later, truth would prevail.
" When first," says Bruce, " I mentioned this in
England, as one of the singularities which prevailed
in this barbarous country, I was told by my friends
it was not believed. I asked the reason of this dis-
belief, and was answered, that people who had never
been out of their own country, and others well ac-
quainted with the manners of the world (for they had
travelled as far as France), had agreed the thing was
impossible, and therefore it was so. My friends coun-
selled me farther, that as these men were infallible,
and had each the leading of a circle, I should by all
means obliterate this from my journal, and not at-
tempt to inculcate in the minds of my readers the
belief of a thing, that men, who had travelled, pro-
nounced to be impossible. They suggested to me, in
the most friendly manner, how rudely a very learned
and worthy traveller had been treated for daring to
maintain that he had ate part of a lion, a story I have
already taken notice of in my introduction. They
said, that being convinced, by these connoisseurs, his
having ate part of a lion was impossible, he had aban-
doned this assertion altogether, and afterwards only
mentioned it in an appendix ; and this was the farthest
I could possibly venture. Far from being a convert
to such prudential reasons, I must for ever profess
openly, that I think them unworthy of me. To re-
present as truth a thing I know to be a falsehood, not
to avow a truth I ought to declare ; the one is fraud,

STEAKS FROM A LIVING COW. 221

the other cowardice : I hope I am equally distant from
them both ; and I pledge myself never to retract the
fact here advanced, that the Abyssinians do feed in
common upon live flesh, and that I myself have, for
several years, been partaker of that disagreeable and
beastly diet. On the contrary, I have no doubt, when
time shall be given to read this history to an end, there
will be very few, if they have candour enough to own
it, that will not be ashamed of ever having doubted."

Bruce, trusting to the justness of this appeal, gave
more credit to his rea*ders than they deserved, for
they all broke down under the weight of this unusual
fact, and all ranks of people, from Dr. Johnson, the
moralist, down to Peter Pindar and the author of
Baron Munchausen, ridiculed and disbelieved Bruce's
statement, which indeed, generally speaking, is not
credited even at the present day. That to eat raw
beef, cut out of a living cow, is not one of our
English customs, is most true ; but it is equally true
that there is nothing in this statement which an
acquaintance with human nature, as developed in
various well-known parts of the world, does not
most strongly and fully corroborate. Its improbabi-
lity can only be maintained by two arguments ; first,
the nauseousness of the food ; and, secondly, the
cruelty of the means of obtaining it.

With respect to raw beef being nauseous, it may
at once be observed, that " de gustibus non est dis-
putandum," and consequently that we ought only to
say, it would be nauseous to us. In fact, even Salt,
who was by no means an unprejudiced man, after
having eaten raw beef in Abyssinia, says, " I am
satisfied it is merely prejudice which deters us from
this food." But, admitting that it is nauseous, that
forms no proof whatever that it is not likely to be the
food of man, for it is well known that there is no

222 LIFE OF BRUCE.

animal that feeds so grossly as we do. Captain
Parry, for instance, tlms describes, in different places,
the appetites of the human beings it became his
fortune to visit : —

" It is impossible to describe the horribly disgusting
manner in which they sat down, as soon as they felt
hungry, to eat their raw blubber, and to suck the oil
remaining on the skins we had just emptied. I found
that Pootooalook had been successful in bringing in
a seal, over which two elderly women were standing,
armed with large knives, their hands and faces be-
smeared wTith blood, and delight and exultation
depicted on their countenances. All the loose scraps
were put into the pot for immediate use, except such
as the two butchers now and then crammed into their
mouths, or distributed to the numerous and eager by-
standers, for still more immediate consumption. Of
these morsels, the children came in for no small share,
every little urchin that could find its way to the
slaughter-house, running eagerly in, and between the
legs of the men and women presenting its mouth for
a large lump of raw flesh, just as an English child of
the same age might do for a piece of sugar-candy."
, . . " As soon as this dirty operation was at an end,
during which the numerous bystanders amused them-
selves in chewing the intestines of the seal," ....
" they dropped their canoes astern to the whale's
tail, from which they cut off enormous lumps of flesh,
and ravenously devoured it."

A hundred other examples might be given of the
nauseous food upon which men in different countries
^liave been found to subsist ; but the above extracts
are sufficient to contradict the first argument against
Bruce's statement, and they also offer a very remark-
able example of the effect which the criticism of the
day may have upon the credulity or incredulity of

STEAKS FROM A LIVING COW. 223

the public ; for it is surely even more difficult to
believe that a people can eat raw fish blubber, than
that a people can eat raw beef — the one being so
much more nauseous than the other — and yet the
first statement has never for a moment been doubted,
while the other is scarcely yet believed ; the reason
being simply, that the ruling critics of Bruce's time
were opposed to the African discoveries of Bruce,
and that those now in the ascendant have all along
been eager to support the discovery of the North
Pole, and everything which relates to it. Captain
Parry and Bruce, therefore, although they were
equally honourable men, and equally anxious to con-
tribute to our knowledge of this earth, met with
very different fates. The one was justly rewarded,
the other most unjustly despised.

In reply to the second argument against Bruce's
statement, namely, its cruelty, we refer, first of all,
to the slave-trade, which exists over such a vast por-
tion of the globe, and which indisputably proves that
man is cruel even to his fellow-creatures, and conse-
quently, that it is only to be expected he would also
be cruel to the beasts of the field ; and that he is so,
may be proved by the bull-fights in Spain, &c. &c. &c.,
where animals are subjected to the most horrid torture,
merely for the amusement of men, women, and chil-
dren. In one of Johnson's beautiful allegories, an
old eagle is explaining to her brood, that wrhen they
see men assembling together, and fire flashing along
the ground, they should hurry to the spot, because
" the food of eagles is at hand." One of the brood
exclaiming against the cruelty of men fighting thus
against each other, observes, " I could never kill
what I could not eat." This observation of the young
eagle supports Bruce's statement ; for if it is admitted
that people will torture animals merely for amuse-

224 LIFE OF BRUCE.

ment, it ought not to be disbelieved that they would
also subject them to torture for the purpose of ap-
peasing their hunger, by eating them, or a part of
them.

Having endeavoured to show that there is nothing
in Bruce's statement which was ever in the least
degree deserving of disbelief, and that it is supported
by a general knowledge of the world, it is very curious
to reflect how strangely and how strongly it is corro-
borated by the customs even of our own country and
countrymen. There is scarcely an officer in our navy
who has not witnessed the common occurrence at sea,
of sailors, and indeed officers, eating the tail of a
shark, while the body is on deck alive and moving.
At the corners of our streets, we daily see barrels of
live oysters surrounded by groups of living men, the
latter most deliberately eating the former. We also
know that lobsters in this country are boiled alive !
We daily see, or rather we avert our eyes, and very
culpably we avert also our thoughts, from a much
more shocking spectacle — we see English women
with one hand firmly grasping, in a sanded cloth, the
half-skinned writhing body of a wretched eel, while
the other hand is violently stripping the rest of the
skin from the body, which is then thrown into sharp
sand — and while this dreadful act continues to be
committed, and while no man thinks it worth his
while to stand up in parliament as the advocate of
those wretched creatures (an undertaking which
would confer honour upon any man), is it not very
curious to think that any person should have dis-
believed Bruce's statement on account of the cruelty
of the operation ? for why should not men be bar-
barous and cruel in Abyssinia as well as in England?

With respect to the excessive delicacy of the English
stomach, which affected to revolt with such horror

I STEAKS FROM A LIVING COW. 225

and disgust at the nauseousness of Brace's statement,
\ve will merely remind the reader of the one hundred
and thirty-seven common sewers, which, besides gut-
ters, from gas-works, dead animals, and other et
cccteras, flow between Chelsea and the river Lea,
near the Tower, into what we term " the majestic
Thames." It is true, that cream, sugar, and a China,
cup, disguise and ornament the mixture: still, how-
ever, to use the motto of the learned Dr. Kitchiner,
44 There is death in the pot," and to a healthy-minded
savage, it would certainly be totally incomprehensible
how English people, rising from a dinner of putrid
game and venison, could deliberately scandalise, over
such horrid " tea," Bruce's simple statement, that he
had at last reached a country, the inhabitants of which
ate fresh meat raw.

Bruce's veracity has hitherto only been supported
by general remarks ; we now offer the evidence of
several individuals.

It is well known that the celebrated traveller, Dr.
Clarke, publicly examined, at Cairo, an Abyssinian
dean respecting all Bruce's statements which at that
time were disbelieved. Dr. Clarke says, vol. iii. p.
61, " Our next inquiry related to the long-disputed
fact of a practice among the Abyssinians of cutting
from a live animal slices of its flesh, as an article of
food, without putting it to death. This Bruce
affirms that he witnessed in his journey from Masuah
to Axum. The Abyssinian, answering, informed us
that the soldiers of the country, during their maraud-
ing excursions, sometimes maim cows after thie
manner, taking slices from their bodies, as a favourite
article of food, without putting them to death at the
time; and that, during the banquets of the Abys-
sinian?, raw meat, esteemed delicious through the
country, is frequently taken from an ox or a cow in
Q

226 LIFE OP BRUCE.

such a state, that the fibres are in motion, and that
the attendants continue to cut slices till the animal
dies. This answer exactly corresponds with Bruce's
narrative : he expressly states, that the persons whom
he saw were soldiers, and the animal a cow." " Jereme
Lobo, who visited Abyssinia a hundred and fifty years
before Bruce, page 51, says, ' When they feast a
friend, they kill an ox, and set, immediately, a quarter
of him raw upon the table/ Raw beef is their nicest
dish, and is eaten by them with the same appetite and
pleasure as we eat the best partridges."

Captain Rudland, R. N., who accompanied Salt,
says, " The skin was only partly taken off, and a
favourite slice of the flesh was brought immediately
to table, the muscles of which continued to quiver
till the whole was devoured."

Salt himself, in the journal which, in 1810, he
writes for Pearce, the English sailor, says, page 295,
" A soldier, attached to the party, proposed cutting
out the shulade from one of the cows they were
driving before them to satisfy the cravings of their
hunger. This term Mr. Pearce did not at first un-
derstand, but he was not long left in doubt upon the
subject ; for the others, having assented, they laid
hold of the animal by the horns, threw it down, and
proceeded, without further ceremony, to the opera-
tion. This consisted of cutting out two pieces of
flesh from the buttock, near the tail, which together,
Mr. Pearce supposed, might weigh about a pound.
As soon as they had taken these away, they sewed
up the wounds, plastered them over with cow- dung,
and drove the animal forwards, while they divided
among their party the still reeking steaks."

(It is very singular that, in 1810, Salt could write
these words, without offering any apology for having
in his travels with Lord Valentia, in 1805, delibe-

STEAKS FROM A LIVING COW. 227

rately stated that " his (Bruce's) account of the flesh
cut out of living animals was repeatedly inquired into
by our party; and all to whom ice spoke denied its
cccr being done.")

Mr. Coffin, Lord Valentia's valet, who was left by
him in Abyssinia, and who is now in England, has
declared to us that he not only has seen the operation,
which Bruce described, performed, but that he lias
even performed it himself, and that he did so at Cairo,
in presence of an English nobleman of high character,
whose name he referred to *.

Denham, in his Travels in Central Africa, vol. ii.
page 36, says, " The best information I had ever
procured of the road eastward, was from an old
hadgi, named El Rashid, a native of the city of
Medina ; he had been at Waday, and at Sennaar, at
different periods of his life, and, among other things,
described to me a people east of Waday, whose
greatest luxury was feeding on raw meat, cut from
the animal while warm."

" Now do not be surprised," writes Sir Stamford
Raffles to the Duchess of Somerset, " at what I shall
tell you regarding the Battas, for I tell the truth,
and nothing but the truth." " The evidence adduced
by Mr. Marsden must have removed all doubt from
every unprejudiced mind, that, notwithstanding all
this in their favour, the Battas arc strictly cannibals,
but he has not gone half far enough. He tells us
that, not satisfied with cutting off pieces and eating
them raw, instances have been known where some
of the people present have run up to the victim, and
actually torn the flesh from the bones with their
teeth. He also tells us that one of our residents

* We had a long conversation with Mr. Coffin on this subject.
It ended, by our offering him a luncheon, which he ate with great
avidity, of raw beef-steaks.

Q2

223 LIFE OF BRUCE.

found the remains of an English soldier who had
been only half eaten, and afterwards discovered his
finger sticking on a fork laid by, but just taken warm
from the fire." Sir Stamford Raffles proceeds to give
other horrible details respecting human beings eating
each other. " The palms of the hands," he says, " and
the soles of the feet, are the delicacies of epicures."

This disgusting subject is now concluded. That
it will have shocked the sensibility of the reader —
that he will have termed it even

Unmannerly,

To bring a slovenly, unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility,

is but too certain ; but it is equally true that the
vindication, coute qui coute^ is only common justice
to Bruce's memory, and that the English public, who
have been so cruelly careless of Bruce's feelings, have
no right to complain of those facts which, before the
world, repel the charges that have been unjustly
brought against the character of an honest man.

On the 21st, Bruce and his party reached the
plain of Lelech-lecha, which Poncet compares " to
the most beautiful part of Provence." Fine trees of
all sizes were everywhere interspersed, and small
black grapes and honeysuckles hung in festoons from
tree to tree, as if they had been artificially twined
and intended for arbours.

While Bruce was loitering in this cheerful spot,
lie heard his servants cry, Robbers, robbers ! His
party had been taken for Mahometans, and the in-
habitants had, therefore, resolved to attack them ;
however, Bruce made himself known, and, after being
slightly bruised by a pumpkin which was thrown at
him, succeeded in obtaining peace. Proceeding on
his journey, he arrived late at night, on the 22

HANKS OF THE TACAZZE. 2:29

.

at Sire, the largest town in the province of that
name; but although Sire is situated in one of the
finest countries in the world, yet putrid fevers of the
worst description continually rage there ; and as the
inhabitants were not very civil to Bruce, he felt no
inclination to expose himself to the infection for
their sakes. He, therefore, at once left them and
their fever behind him.

Bruce now learned that on the 1 Oth Ras Michael
had come up, at Fagitta, with the rebel Fasil (a
man of low birth, who had been made governor of
Damot and of the Agows), and had entirely dispersed
his army, after killing ten thousand of his men.

Bruce continued his course for some days, until
he came to the principal ford of the Tacazze (the
boundary of the province of Sire), a river about two
hundred yards broad, and about three feet deep. In
the middle of this stream he met a deserter from
Ras Michael's army, with a firelock on his shoulder,
driving before him two miserable girls, about ten
years old, stark naked, and apparently almost starved
to death — his horrid share in the plunder of Maitsha.
" He had not," says Bruce, " in my eyes, the air of a
conqueror, but rather of a coward, that had sneaked
away, and stolen these two miserable wretches he
had with him."

The banks of the Tacazze were covered to the
water's edge with tamarisks. " Beautiful and plea-
sant, however, as this river is," says Bruce, " like
every thing created, it has its disadvantages. From
the falling of the first rains in March till November,
it is death to sleep in the country adjoining to it,
both within and without its banks ; the whole in-
habitants retire and live in villages on the tops of
the neighbouring mountains ; and these are all
robbers and assassins, who descend from their habit-

230 LIFE OF BRUCE.

ations on the heights, to lie in wait for and plunder
the travellers that pass. Notwithstanding great pains
have been taken by Michael, his son, and grandson,
governors of Tigre and Sire, this passage had never
been so far cleared, but, every month, people are
cut off.

" The plenty of fish in this river occasions more
than an ordinary number of crocodiles to resort
hither. When the river swells, so as to be passable
only by people upon rafts, or skins blown up with
wind, they are frequently carried off by these vora-
cious and vigilant animals. There are also many
hippopotami, which, in this country, are called
gomari. I never saw any of these in the Tacazze ;
but at night we heard them snort, or groan, in many
parts of the river near us. There are also vast
multitudes of lions and hyaenas in all these thickets.
"We were very much disturbed by them all night.
The smell of our mules and horses had drawn them
in numbers about our tent; but they did us no
further harm, except obliging us to watch."

After travelling for several days through ruined
villages, the monuments of Ras Michael's cruelty,
they reached the river of Mai Lumi.

" The hyaenas this night devoured one of the best
of our mules. They are here in great plenty, and
so are lions ; the roaring and grumbling of the latter
in the part of the wood nearest our tent, greatly
disturbed our beasts, and prevented them from eating
their provender. I lengthened the strings of my
tent, and placed the beasts between them. The
white ropes, and the tremulous motion made by the
impression of the wind, frightened the lions from
coming near us. I had procured from Janni two
small brass bells, such as the mules carry. I had
tied these to the storm- strings of the tent, where

ALTERCATION WITH THE SIIUM. 231

their noise, no doubt, greatly contributed to our
beasts' safety from these ravenous, yet cautious
animals, so that we never saw them ; but the noise
they made, and, perhaps, their smell, so terrified the
mules, that, in the morning, they were drenched in
sweat as if they had been a long journey.

" The brutish hyaena was not so to be deterred.
I shot one of them dead on the night of the 31st
of January, and on the 2nd of February, I fired at
another so near, that I was confident of killing him.
Whether the balls had fallen out, or that I had really
missed him with the first barrel, I know not, but he
gave a snarl and a kind of bark upon the first shot,
advancing directly upon me as if unhurt. The second
shot, however, took place, and laid him without
motion on the ground. Yasine and his men killed
another with a pike ; and such was their determined
coolness, that they stalked round about us with the
familiarity of a dog, or any other domestic animal
brought up with man."

But they were still more incommoded by a smaller
enemy, a black ant, about an inch long, which, com-
ing out from under the ground, demolished the carpets,
which they cut into shreds, part of the lining of the
tent, and every bag or sack they could find. Their
bite causes a considerable inflammation, and the pain
is greater than that which arises from the bite of a
scorpion ; they are called gundan.

On the 1st of February, the Shum of the place
sent his people to value, as he said, Brace's mer-
chandise, that he might pay custom. " I humoured
them," says Bruce, "so far as to open the cases where
were the telescopes and quadrant, or, indeed, rather
showed them open, as they were not shut, from the
observation I had been making. They could only
wonder at things they had never before seen,

232 LIFE OF BRUCE.

" On the 2nd of February the Slmm came himself,
and a violent altercation ensued. He insisted upon
Michael's defeat. I told him the contrary news were
true, and begged him to beware lest it should be told
to the Ras, upon his return, that he had propagated
such a falsehood. I told him also we had advice that
the Ras's servants were now waiting for us at
Lamalmon, and insisted upon his suffering us to
depart."

" He said that I was mad ; and held a consulta-
tion with his people for about half an hour, after
which he came in again, seemingly quite another
man, and said, he would despatch us on the morrow,
which was the 3rd, and would &end us that evening
same provisions. And, indeed, we now began to be
in need, having only flour barely sufficient to make
bread for one meal next day. The miserable village
on the cliff had nothing to barter with us ; and none
from the five villages about the Shum had come near
us, probably by his order. As he had softened his
tone, so did I mine. I gave him a small present, and
he went away repeating his promises. But all that
evening passed without provision, and all next day
without his coming, so we got everything ready for
our departure. Our supper did not prevent our
sleeping, as all our provision was gone, and we had
tasted nothing all that day since our breakfast."

The country of the Shangalla lies forty miles to
the N. W. All this district from the Tacazze is called
Salent, in the language of Tigre, and Talent in
Amharic.

On the 4th of February, at half-past nine in the
morning, they left Addergey ; " hunger pressing upon
us," says Bruce, " we were prepared to do it earlier,
and for this we had been up since five in the morn-
ing ; but our loss of a mule obliged us, when we

CONFLICT WITH A HYAENA. 233

packed up our tent, to arrange our baggage differ-
ently. While employed in making ready for our de-
parture, which was just at the dawn of day, a hyaena,
unseen by any of us, fastened upon one of Yasine's
asses, and had almost pulled his tail away. I was
busied at gathering the tent-pins into a sack, and had
placed my musket and bayonet ready against a tree,
as it is at that hour, and the close of the evening,
you are always to be on guard against banditti. A
boy, who was servant to Yasine, saw the hyaena first,
and flew to my musket. Yasine was disjoining the
poles of the tent, and, having one half of the largest
in his hand, he ran to the assistance of his ass, and
in that moment the musket went off, luckily charged
with only one ball, which gave Yasine a flesh wound
between the thumb and fore-finger of his left hand.
The boy instantly threw down the musket, which
had terrified the hyaena, and made him let go the
ass ; but he stood ready to fight Yasine, who, not
amusing himself with the choice of weapons, gave
him so rude a blow with the tent-pole upon his head,
that it felled him to the ground ; others, with pikes,
put an end to his life.

" We were then obliged to turn our cares towards
the wounded. Yasine's wound was soon seen to be a
trifle ; besides, he wTas a man not easily alarmed on
such occasions. But the poor ass was not so easily
comforted. The stump remained, the tail hanging
by a piece of it, which we were obliged to cut off.
The next operation was actual cautery ; but, as we
had made no bread for breakfast, our fire had been
early out. We, therefore, were obliged to tie the
stump round with whip-cord, till we could get fire
enough to heat an iron.

" What sufficiently marked the voracity of these
beasts, the hyamas, was, that the bodies of their dead

234 LIFE OF BRUCE.

companions, which we hauled a long way from us,
and left there, were almost entirely eaten by the
survivors the next morning; and I then observed,
for the first time, that the hyaena of this country
was a different species from those I had seen in
Europe, which had been brought from Asia or
America."

Bruce did not leave Addergey till near ten o'clock
in the morning of the 4th of February. On reach-
ing the river, he saw the Shum coming from the
right, with nine horsemen, and fourteen or fifteen
beggarly footmen. The Shum, preceded by a well-
dressed young man carrying his gun, had only a whip
in his own hand ; the rest had lances, but none of
the horsemen had shields. Bruce and his party had
no doubt that these people were coming against him,
or indeed that there were others before ready to join
them, for it was clear that nine horses would not
venture to do anything.

" Our people," says Bruce, " were now all on foot,
and the Moors drove the beasts before them. I got
immediately upon horseback, when they were then
about five hundred yards below, or scarcely so much.
As soon as they observed us drive our beasts into the
river, one of their horsemen came galloping up, while
the others continued at a smart walk. When the
horseman was within twenty yards' distance of me, I
called upon him to stop, and, as he valued his life,
not to approach nearer. On this he made no diffi-
culty to obey, but seemed rather inclined to turn
back. As I saw the baggage all laid on the ground,
at the foot of a small round hill, upon the gentle
ascent of which my servants all stood armed, I turned
about, my horse, and with Yasine, who was by my
side, began to cross the river. The horseman upon
this again advanced ; again I cried to him to stop.

ALTERCATION WITH THE SI1UM. 235

lie then pointed behind him, and said, ' The Shum !'
I desired him peremptorily to stop, or I would fire ;
upon which he turned round, and the others joining
him, they held a minute's counsel together, and
came all forward to the river, where they paused a
moment, as if counting our number, and then began
to enter the stream. Yasine now cried to them in
Amharic, as I had done before in Tigre, desiring
them, as they valued their lives, to come no nearer.
They stopped, a sign of no great resolution ; and,
after some altercation, it was agreed the Shum, and
his son with the gun, should pass the river.

" The Shum complained violently that we had left
Addergey without his leave, and now were attacking
him in his own government upon the high road.
; A pretty situation,' said I, ' was ours at Addergey,
where the Shum left the king's stranger no other
alternative but dying with hunger, or being eaten by
the hyaena. Now, pray, Shum, tell me what is your
business with me ; and why have you followed me
beyond your government, which is bounded by that
river ? ' — He said, ' That I had stolen away privately
without paying custom.' — ' I am no merchant,'
replied I ; ' I am the king's guest, and pay no cus-
tom ; but, as far as a piece of red Surat cloth will
content you, I will give it you, and we shall part
friends.'

" I now gave orders to my people to load the mules.
At hearing this, the Shum made a signal for his
company to cross ; but Yasine, who was opposite to
them, again ordered them to stop. ' Shum,' said I,
' you intend to follow us, apparently with a design to
do us some harm. There is a piece of ordnance,'
continued I, showing him a large blunderbuss, ' a
cannon that will sweep fifty such fellows as you to
eternity in a moment.'

230 LIFE OF BRUCE.

" The conversation lasted about five minutes ; and
our baggage was now on the way, when the Shum
said he would make a proposal : — since I had no
merchandise, and was going to Ras Michael, he would
accept of the red cloth, provided we swore to make
no complaint of him at Gondar, nor speak of what
had happened at Debra Toon ; while he likewise
would swear, after having joined his servants, that
lie would not again pass that river. Peace was con-
cluded upon these terms. I gave him a piece of red
Surat cotton cloth, and added some cohol, incense,
and beads for his wives."

The mountain-range of Hauza was about eight
miles distant, and had a very romantic appearance.
At one o'clock, Bruce alighted about half way be-
tween the mountain called Debra Toon and village
of that name. Still further to the north-west is a
desert, hilly district, called Adebarea, the country of
the slaves, as being the neighbourhood of the Shan-
galla — the whole waste and uninhabited.

The mountains of Waldubba, resembling those of
Adebarea, were about four or five miles towards the
north of Waldubba, which signifies the valley of the
hyama. This is a territory entirely inhabited by
monks, who, for mortification's sake, had retired to
this unwholesome, hot, and dangerous country, volun-
tarily to spend their lives in penitence, meditation,
and perspiration. It is also a retreat for great men
in disgrace or in disgust. They shave their hair,
put on a cowl like the monks, renounce the world,
and take vows of solitude and celibacy ; but in pro-
cess of time these holy chrysalises return like butter-
flies to the wrorld, leaving their outward skin, the
cowl and sack-cloth, in Waldubba.

These monks are held in great veneration. Many
believe that they have gifts of prophecy, and work-

THE MONKS OF WALDUBBA. 237

ing miracles, and they are very active instruments in
stirring up the people in times of trouble. A num •
her of women, whom we should call nuns, though
not residing in Waldubba, go at times thither to enjoy
the conversation of these saints ; nay, sometimes the
devotees retire, one of each sex, a hermit and a nun,
sequestrating themselves for months, to eat herbs
together hi private upon the top of the mountain.

Violent fevers perpetually reign there. The in-
habitants are of the colour of a corpse ; and their
neighbours, the Shangalla, by constant inroads, de-
stroy many of them, though lately they have been
stopped, as they say, by the prayers of the monks, or
rather by the small-pox, which has greatly reduced
their strength and number, and exterminated, to a
man, whole tribes of them.

The Abyssinians, like all secluded and illiterate
people, are highly superstitious. Jereme Lobo says
that the whole country so swarms with churches,
" that you can hardly sing in one without being heard
in another." Alvarez says that sub-deaconship and
inferior orders in the church are conferred even on
infants at the breast. The Jesuits very justly ridi-
culed these " sucking priests," forgetting, however,
those ecclesiastical animalcule of their own — those
cocked-hatted, robin-legged little priestlings, that,
to this day, one sees hopping about the streets of
Rome.

There is scarcely a monk in the hot, unwholesome
monastery of Waldubba — not a hermit who passes
his life shivering on the bleak, solitary mountains, —
not a priest who has lived sequestered from society,
— who does not pretend that he is enabled to see and
foretel what is to happen in future, from his perfect
ignorance of the present and the past. All women,
who choose to renounce acquaintance with men, are

238 LIFE OF BRUCE.

allowed to turn priests ; they then wear a skull-cap,
like the men ; and these priests, male and female, all
pretend to possess charms of a nature both offensive
and defensive, which are most generally believed in.
Even the hyaenas, which every night flock round
Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, attracted by the
smell of carrion, are considered to be the human
inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains, trans-
formed by enchantment. The Abyssinians, almost
to a man, are afraid of darkness, during which period
they conceive that the world belongs to small vin-
dictive genii. In the Synaxar, or history of their
saints, one is said to have thrown the devil over a
high mountain ; another (who probably chanced to
pick him up) persuaded him to live as a monk for
forty years ; another had a holy longing for partridges,
upon which a brace perched on his plate — martyrs
ready roasted ! Salniel, the chief of their rebel angels,
is supposed to be in stature " 100,700 cubits, angelic
measure ; " his eyebrows are said to be three days'
journey asunder ; and it takes him just a week to
turn his eyes !

" All the Abyssinians," writes Pearce, the English
sailor, after he had given up Mahometanism, " have
a father or confessor, and I myself am obliged to
have, or pretend to have, one of these holy fathers,
else it would not be allowed that I was a Christian,
and perhaps create many enemies that would disturb
my dwelling. It is a very unprofitable thing to fall
out with these priests, as every thing is in their
hands ;- the whole country of Abyssinia is overrun
with them. The very smallest church, that is not
larger than a small sheep-pen that would not hold
more than fifty sheep, built with mud and stone, and
thatched over with canes and dry grass, has from
fifteen to twenty of these impostors, who devour all

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ABYSSIXIANS. 239

the fruits of the poor labouring country people. The
laro-er churches have from fifty to one hundred :
Axum, Larlabeller (Lallabella), have some thousands.
Waldubba is the most famous for them, where the
wretches pretend that, being holy men, they ride upon
lions which God has provided for them."

In mentioning the superstitions of Abyssinia, it
may here be observed, that there are various kinds of
complaints in that country which are supposed to be
caused by the devil. One of Pearce's wives was
afflicted with one of these disorders, in describing
which, Pearce, in his letter to the Bombay Literary
Society, honestly acknowledges, that he himself
" thinks the devil must have some hand in it ;" and
most certainly no earthly physician ever met with
such a patient as Mrs. Pearce.

" After the first five or six days," says the husband,
" she began to be continually hungry, and would eat
five or six times in the night — never sleep ; and she,
like all others troubled with this complaint, called a
man ' she,' and a woman ' he/ " Indeed the poor
creature was so severely afflicted with her unaccount-
able disorder, that, in the presence of her friends, she
even addressed, in the wrong gender, Mr. Pearce,
calling him " she," or, more probably, " it ;" " for,"
says Pearce, " it vexed me so much that I swore she
should not stop in the house."

The remedy for this disorder is about as mysterious
as its symptoms. The woman has an unaccountable
inclination to run. " The fastest running young
man," says Pearce, " that can be found is employed
by her friends to run after her with a match-lock well
loaded, so as to make a good report : the moment
she starts, he starts with her, but before she has mn
the distance, where she drops as if she were dead,
he is left half-way behind. As soon as he comes

240 LIFE OF BRUCE.

up to her, he fires right over her body, and asks her
name, which she then pronounces, although during
the time of her complaint she denies her Christian
name, and detests all priests or churches. Her friends
afterwards take her to the church, where she is
washed with holy water, and is then cured."

It is some comfort, however, to learn that the dis-
orders of Abyssinia are not all of this unearthly in-
comprehensible description. " The itch," says Pearcc,
" is common, from the king to the very lowest subject."

Since passing the Tacazze, Bruce and his party
had been in a country wild by nature, and still wilder
from having been the theatre of civil war. The
whole was a wilderness without inhabitants. They at
last reached a plain filled with flowering shrubs, roses,
jasmines, &c., and animated by a number of people
passing to and fro. Several of these were monks and
nuns from Waldubba, in pairs two and two together.
The women, who were both young and stout, were
carrying large burdens of provisions on their shoulders,
which showed that they did not entirely subsist upon
the herbs of Waldubba. The monks, their " com-
pagnons de voyage," had sallow faces, yellow cowls,
and yellow gowns.

After travelling some days, Bruce reached Lamal-
mon, one of the bers or passes at which the customs
and other duties are levied with great rigour and
violence. An old man and his son had the right
of levying these contributions : the former professed a
violent hatred to all Mahometans, — a sentiment which
seemed to promise nothing favourable to Yasine and
his companions ; but in the evening, the son, who
appeared to be the active man, came to Brace's tent,
and brought a quantity of bread and bouza. He
seemed to be much taken with the fire-arms, and was
very inquisitive about them. " I gave him," says

ARRIVES AT LAMALMON. 241

Bruce, " every sort of satisfaction, and, little by little,
-aw 1 might win his heart entirely; which I very
much wished to do, that I might free our companions
from bondage.

" The young man, it seems, \vas a good soldier ;
and, having been in several actions under Ras Michael,
as a fusileer, he brought his gun, and insisted on
shooting at marks. I humoured him in this ; but, as
I used a rifle, which he did not understand, lie found
himself overmatched, especially by the greatness of
the range — for he shot straight enough. I then
showed him the manner we shot flying, there being
quails in abundance, and wild pigeons, of which I
killed several on wing, which left him in the utmost
astonishment. Having got on horseback, I next
went through the exercise of the Arabs with a long
spear and a short javelin. This was more within his
comprehension, as he had seen something like it ;
but he was wonderfully taken with the fierce and fiery
appearance of my horse, and, at the same time, with
his docility, the form of his saddle, bridle, and ac-
coutrements. He threw at last the sandals off his
feet, twisted his upper garment into his girdle, and
set oft* at so furious a rate, that I could not help
doubting whether he was in his sober understanding.

" It was not long till he came back, and with him
a man servant carrying a sheep and a iroat, and a
woman carrying ajar of honey-wine. I had not quit-
ted the horse ; and, when I saw what hi.s intention
was, I put Mirza to a gallop, and, with one of the
barrels of the gun, shot a pigeon (a common feat
amono- the Arabs), and immediately iired the other
into the ground. There was nothing after this that
could have surprised him, and it was repeated several
times at his desire; after which he went into the t-.-nt,
where he invited himself to my house at Oondar.
R

242 LIFE OF BRUCF.

There I was to teach him everything he had seen,
We now swore perpetual friendship ; and a horn or
two of hydromel being emptied, I introduced the case
of our fellow-travellers, and obtained a promise that
we should have leave to set out together. lie would,
moreover, take no awide, and said he would be
favourable in his report to Gondar.

" Our friend likewise sent his own servant to Gon-
dar, with the billet to accompany the caravan. But
the news brought by his servant was still better than
all this. Ras Michael had actually beaten Fasil, and
forced him to retire to the other side of the Nile, and
was then at Maitsha, where it was thought he would
remain with the army all the rainy season. This was
just what I could have wished, as it brought me at once
to the neighbourhood of the sources of the Nile,
without the smallest shadow of fear or danger."

Although Bruce speaks thus lightly and fearlessly
of his difficulties, yet to the unprejudiced reader it
must be evident how impossible it would have been
for him to have surmounted them, without that general
knowledge of mankind, and those various and unusual
accomplishments which, for many years previous to
commencing his undertaking, he had steadily, strenu-
ously, and painfully exerted himself to acquire.

As the reader accompanies him on his toilsome
rugged course, he cannot but observe his intimate
acquaintance with the passions and prejudices of the
African character ; and although Bruce has been
cruelly ridiculed for his occasional frivolity of con-
duct, contrasted with an abrupt dignity of demeanour,
yet it is but too evident that it was with a heart
aching rather than trembling at the danger which
opposed him, that he assumed this front of haugh-
tiness as his only weapon of defence. In a climate
which produces but two characters, he was forced to

HIS DIFFICULTIES. 243

1)C cither the tyrant or the slave, and was obliged to
Lr«>vern that he might not serve. Yet with what
tact and judgment has he already, in many instances,
" changed his hand and checked his pride," the mo-
ment he found it was impolitic to persevere ; though
we see him resolutely proceeding towards his goal,
yet he is not seldom observed to retreat from posi-
tions which he had declared he would maintain, and
to pay duties and make presents which he had for
some time obstinately refused.

But besides his acquaintance with manners and
languages, it is curious to observe how, to meet dif-
ferent difficulties, he draws upon his chequered fund
of general information.

•Sometimes he is a physician, pretending to greater
knowledge than he actually possesses; at other times
he is seen protesting a total ignorance of the art.
A\re have seen with what success he brought forward
his knowledge of astrology at Cairo, and we have
now just left him " winning the heart" of a young
man by " putting Mirza to a gallop, and with one of
the barrels of his gun shooting a pigeon in the air ! "

In the harsh judgment of those who gravely make
it a rule to disapprove of, and even to ridicule every
thought or action which quiet English domestic life
has not stamped as regular and customary, Bruce
must (at their expense, not at his own) be still con-
sidered as a mountebank and a juggler, sometimes
living by his head, sometimes hanging by his heels ;
but those who liberally take into their consideration
the unusual difficulties which stemmed his solitary
progress, will see, in the many lines and features of
his conduct, the noble picture of a brave man success-
fully struggling with adversity.

On the 9th of February, at seven a'clock, Bruce,
and his party took leave of the friends whom they

244 LIFE OF BRUCE.

had so newly acquired at Lamalmon, all equally joy-
ful and happy at the news. They began to ascend
what still remained of the mountain ; till, after much
labour, they reached the lofty summit of Lamalmon,
which is highly cultivated, and is inhabited by the
most civilised people in Abyssinia.

After travelling over this extensive and valuable
country for some days, and having suffered, with infi-
nite patience and perseverance, the hardships and
dangers of this long journey, Bruce on the 14th of
February (ninety-five days having elapsed since he
left Masuah), enjoyed the proud and indescribable
delight of seeing before him, and within ten miles'
distance, Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia.

245

CHAPTER XI.

Bruce resides at Gondar, and gradually raises himself to distinction.

GONDAR, the metropolis of Abyssinia, is situated
upon the flat summit of a hill of considerable height,
and was peopled, in the time of Bruce, by about ten
thousand families. The houses are chiefly of clay,
with conical roofs — the usual construction within the
tropical rains. At the west end of the town stands
the king's house, a square building flanked by towers.
It was formerly four stories high, and had a magnifi-
cent view of the country southward, to the great lake
Tzana. A part of this palace had been burnt, but
the lower floors remained entire, the principal
audience chamber being more than a hundred and
twenty feet in length.

The palace, as well as the buildings which belonged
to it, were surrounded by a stone wall thirty feet
high, and broad enough for a parapet and path. The
four sides of this wall were about a mile and a half
in length.

On the opposite side of the river Angrab stood a
large town of Mahometans, which contained about
one thousand houses ; and at the north of Gondar
wa.> .situated Koscam, the palace of the Iteghe, or
<pecn mother.

Bruce was much surprised, on arriving at the
river Angrab, that no person had come to him from
Petros, Jauni's brother; but Petros having been.

246 LIFE OP BRUCE.

frightened by the priests?, who told him that a Frank
was on his way to Gondar, had fled to the Ras to
receive his directions on the subject. There was,
therefore, no one to whom Bruce could address him-
self; for, though he had letters both for the king
and for Ras Michael, they, as well as the principal
Greeks, were absent.

Nothing, tli3refore, remained for him but to pre-
sent a letter, which he had received from his friend
Janni, to Negade Ras Mahomet, who was chief of
the Moors at Gondar, and the principal merchant of
Abyssinia, However, on inquiring for this person,
lie learnt that he also was with the king and the army,
In this dilemma, a Moor intimately acquainted with
Negade Ras Mahomet, conducted Bruce to a house
in the Moorish Town, where he promised that he
should be screened from the priests until he could
procure protection from the government, or from the
great people of the country. He was to be supplied
with flour, honey, and such food as Moors and Chris-
tians may eat together; but although there was a
great abundance of animal food, yet, as it had been
killed by Mahometans, Bruce did not dare to touch it;

Ayto Aylo, the queen's chamberlain, was not only
the constant patron of the Greeks in Abyssinia, but
was privately a great enemy to the priests of his own
country ; and he had often declared that he would
willingly abandon the title and estates which he held
in Abyssinia, and go to Jerusalem, to finish the
remainder of his days in the Convent of the Holy
Sepulchre.

Late in the evening of his arrival, Brace's land-
lord was alarmed at seeing a number of armed men
at his door, and his surprise was still greater at see-
ing Ayto Aylo (who had probably never before been
in the Moorish Town) descend from his mule,

REACHES GONDAF. 47

uncovering his head and shoulders, as if he had \>- -\\
approaching a person of distinction.

On his entering the house, a contention of civilities
ensued. Bruce offered to stand until Aylo was
covered, and he refused to sit until Bruce was
seated. Their discourse commenced in Arabic, but
it was soon continued in Tigre, the language ni^st
used in Gondar. Aylo seemed astonished to hear
Bruce speak this language so well ; and, turning
round to ihe bystanders, he observed, " Come, come,
he'll do ! if he can speak, there is no fear of him j
he'll make his own way !"

Aylo then told Brace, that Welled Hawaryat, the
son of Ras Michael, had arrived from the camp ill of
a fever, which was supposed to be the small-pox;
and that, as Janni had declared that Bruce had saved
the lives of many young people at Adowa, the Iteglie,
or queen mother, had sent to desire that he would
come next morning to her palace at Koscam. Ac-
cordingly, Bruce, dressed in a Moorish costume, and
attended by his landlord and Yasine, went early the
next day to Ayto Aylo, and then, with their heads
uncovered, the whole party rode in state to Koscam,
where they alighted, and were 'shown into a low room
in the palace. Ayto Aylo wrent by himself to his
mistress the queen, with whom he remained more
than two hours. On returning to Bruce, he said
that Welled Hawaryat had received much benefit
from a saint of Waldubba, who had administered
some medicine, which consisted of certain characters
written with common ink upon a tin-plate, and then
washed off and given him to drink. Aylo therefore
dismissed Bruce, but appointed a meeting with him
at his own house in the evening.

When Bruce returned home, he found that Petros,
Janni's brother, had arrived from the army, and \va«

248 LIFE OF BRUCE.

waiting for him. Scared by the priests who had
•told him of Bruce's arrival at Gondar, Petros (as
has been already stated), in great tribulation, had
fled to consult Ras Michael. However, on approach-
ing his tent, he suddenly recognised the stuffed skin
of a very intimate friend of his swinging from a tree,
and leisurely drying in the wind. Terrified and hor-
ror-struck at the spectacle, he was scarcely able to
communicate to a person who met him the intelli-
gence of Brace's arrival ; and then, without seeing
the Ras, he returned, haunted by the ghost of his
friend's skin, to Gondar, in still greater fear than
he had left it ; and he even there continued to be so
much alarmed, that Bruce found it necessary to give
him some laudanum, and send him to bed.

He had scarcely retired, when Ay to Aylo came to
Bruce to say that Welled Hawaryat was so very ill,
that his mother, Ozoro Esther, the beautiful wife of
old. Ras Michael, and the Iteghe, or queen, mother,
desired that Bruce, on the following day, would
come to see him. and some others, who were also
sick.

"Look ! " said Bruce to Ayto Aylo, " the small-
pox is a disease that will havo its course, and during
the long time the patient is under it, if people feed
them and treat them according to their own ignorant
prejudices, my seeing him or advising him is in vain.
This morning you said a man had cured him by
writing upon a tin-plate, and, to try if he was well,
they have since crammed him with raw beef. I do
not think the letters that he swallowed will do him
any harm, neither will they do him any good ; but I
shall not be surprised if the raw beef kills him and
the sick daughter too before I see them to-morrow."

In the morning Petros was still ill and feverish,
from fatigue and fright. However, Bruce left him,

INTERVIEW WITH THE ITEGHE. 249

and, accompanied by Aylo, again proceeded towards
Koseam. They were just entering the palace door
when they yaw a numerous procession of monks and
priests carrying a large cross, also a picture in an
old dirty gilt frame; and they were informed that
three great saints, from Waldubba (one of whom, a
sort of holy chameleon, declared that he had nei-
ther eaten nor drank for twenty years), had come
to cure Welled Hawaryat by laying upon him a
cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary ; in conse-
quence of which prescription, Bruce was requested
not to meddle with the patient. " I assure you, Ayto
Aylo," replied Bruce, " I shall strictly obey you. If
they can cure him by a miracle, I am sure it is the
t kind of cure of any, and will not do his con-
stitution the least harm afterwards, which is more
than I will promise for medicines in general ; but
remember what I say to you, it will be a miracle
indeed, if both the father and daughter are not dead
before to-morrow night."

After the procession, in great solemnity, had passed,
Aylo again went to the Iteghe. Bruce was then
formally introduced, and according to the custom of
Abyssinia, he immediately prostrated himself on the
ground, falling first on his knees, then on the palms
of hi* hands, and lastly touching the earth with his
forehead. Aylo then said, " This is our gracious
mistress ; you may safely say before her whatever is
in your heart."

" Our first discourse," says Bruce, " was about
Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, Calvary, the City
of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with the
situations of which she was perfectly well acquainted.
•She then asked me to tell her truly if I was not a
Frank { ' Madam,' said I, ' if I was a Catholic,
which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater

250 LIFE OF BRUCE.

folly than my concealing this from you in the begin-
ning, after the assurance Ayto Aylo has just now
given ; and, in confirmation of the truth I am now
telling (she had a large Bible lying on the table
before her, upon which I laid my hand), I declare to
you, by all those truths contained in this book, that
my religion is more different from the Catholic than
yours is : that there has been more blood shed be-
tween the Catholics and us, on account of the differ-
ence of religion, than ever was between you and the
Catholics in this country; even at this day, when
men are become wiser and cooler in many parts of
the world, it would be full as safe for a Jesuit to
preach in the market-place of Gondar, as for any
priest of my religion to present himself as a teacher
in the most civilised of Frank or Catholic countries.'
4 How is it then,' says she, ' that you do not believe
in miracles?'

" ' I see, madam,' said I, ' Ayto Aylo has informed
you of a few words that some time ago dropped from
me. I do certainly believe the miracles of Christ
and his apostles, otherwise I am no Christian ; but I
do not believe these miracles of latter times wrought
upon trifling occasions, like sports and jugglers'
tricks.' ' And yet,' says she, ' our books are full
of them.' ' I know they are,' said I, ' and so are
those of the Catholics ; but I never can believe that
a saint converted the devil, who lived, forty years
after, a holy life as a monk ; nor the story of another
saint, who, being sick and hungry, caused a brace of
partridges, ready roasted, to fly upon his plate that
he might eat them.' ' He has been reading the
Synaxar,' says Ayto Aylo, 4 I believe so,' says
she, smiling ; 4 but is there any harm in believing
too much, and is not there great danger in believing
too little ? ' ' Certainly,' continued I ; 4 but all I

meant to sa^

INTERVIEW WITH THE ITEGIIE. 251

leant to say to Ayto Aylo was, that I did not believe
laying a picture upon Welled Hawaryat would re-
cover him when delirious in a fever/ 8he answered,
4 There was nothing- impossible with God/ I made
a bow of assent, wishing heartily the conversation
might end there."

Bruce, leaving Aylo with the queen, now returned
to the Moors' town. In the afternoon he heard
Welletta Selasse was dead ; and, at night, died also
Welled Hawaryat. The contagion from Masuah
and Adowa had spread itself all over Gondar. The
daughter of Ozoro Altash was now sick, and a violent
fever had fallen upon Koscam. The next morning
Aylo came to Bruce and told him, that all faith in
the saint, who had not eaten or drank for twenty
years, was perfectly abandoned since Welled Hawar-
yat's death : that it was the desire of the queen, and
Ozoro Esther, that he should transport himself to
Koscam, to the Iteghe' s palace, where all their chil-
dren and grand-children, by the different men the
queen's daughters had married, would be placed
under his care.

One cannot help here remarking the favourable
effect produced by the strong manly sense which
always seems to have regulated Bruce's conduct.
His sound religious sentiments (like Paul before
Festus) he does not fear to avow ; although a
stranger in the land, he firmly declares to the
Iteghe, that he has no faith in the miraculous re-
medy proposed for Welled Hawaryat ; and yet, a
few minutes before, he was seen prostrating himself
in the dust at the feet of the very person (the
Iteghe) whose opinions he was so shortly about to
oppose ; but Bruce's mind clearly saw those distinc-
tions which to so many are imperceptible. He had
no paltry objections to conform to the vain customs

i2 LIFE or BRUCE.

of Abyssinia ; no narrow inclination to address the
Iteghe in a foreign language of respect, which she
could not comprehend, by offering that stunted nod
— the English bow, when an African obeisance, such
as she had been used to, was required : mistaken
firmness or obstinacy on this point would have at
once ruined all his hopes. Again, had he, from fear
or any other weakness, concealed his opinions as to
religion, or the fallacy of the remedy administered to
Welled Hawaryat, not only would his testimony as
a traveller have deservedly been suspected, but he
would, after all, have lost the opportunity which we
now see most justly raised him in the opinion of the
Iteghe. It was Brace's good sense as well as his
resolution — it was his head as well as his heart which
enabled him to penetrate the regions of Abyssinia.

Bruce at first declined attending the Iteghe, as
Petros had desired him to stay in the Moors' town
till the Ras should arrive, but Aylo again came to
him to say that he must come immediately.

" I told him," says Bruce, " that new and clean
clothes in the Gondar fashion had been procured for
me by Petros, and that I wished they might be sent
to his house, where I w^ould put them on, and then
go to Koscam, with a certainty that I carried no
infection with me ; for I had attended a number of
Moorish children, while at Hagi Saleh's house, most
of whom happily were doing well, but that there was
no doubt there would be infection in my clothes. He
praised me up to the skies for this precaution, and the
whole was executed in the manner proposed. My
hair was cut round, curled, and perfumed in the
Amharic fashion, and I was thenceforward, in all
outward appearance, a perfect Abyssinian."

Brace's first advice, when arrived at Koscam, was,
that the young and beautiful Ozoro Esther, her son

ACTS AS PHYSICIAN. 253

by Mariam Barea, and a son by old Ras Michael,
should remove from the palace, in order to give the
part of the family that were yet well a chance of
escaping the infection. Her young son by Mariam
Barea, however, complaining, the Iteghe would not
suffer him to remove, and they resolved to abide the
issue all in the palace together.

Before Bruce entered upon his charge, he desired
Petros, who had now recovered from his fright, Aylo,
and several others to assemble. He then frankly
stated to them the difficulty of the task imposed
upon him, a stranger, without acquaintance, protec-
tion, power, or controul. He professed an intention
of doing his utmost, but he insisted that one condi-
tion should be granted him, namely, that no direc-
tions as to regimen, and management, even of the
most trifling kind, should be suffered, without his
permission and superintendence. They all assented
to this, and a priest who was present, not only de-
clared those excommunicated who should break this
promise, but he literally offered to Bruce the assist-
ance of his prayers, and those of the monks, morning
and evening ; Aylo whispered in his ear, "You need
have no objection to this saint ; I assure you he eats
and drinks very heartily, as I shall show you when
once these troubles are over."

Bruce now set to work. He opened all the doors
and windows, washed them with warm water and
vinegar, and adhered strictly to the rules which his
worthy and skilful friend, Dr. Russell, had given him
at Aleppo. A treatment of the disorder, so different
from the suffocating system which had hitherto been
adopted in Abyssinia, had very successful results, and
Bruce mentions a number of cures which he effected,
amongst which was that of the infant child of Ras
Michael, adding, " I tell these actions to satisfy the

254 LIFE OF BRUCE.

reader about the reason of the remarkable attention
and favour showed to me afterwards, upon so short
an acquaintance." The fear and anxiety of Ozoro
Esther, whose son, a most promising boy, was in-
fected, was excessive ; many promises of Michael's
favour, of riches, greatness, and protection, followed
every instance of Bruce's care and attention towards
his patient. Confu, the favourite of all the queen's
relations, and the hope of their family, had convul-
sions which every one feared would be fatal. The
attention Bruce showed to this young man was in-
creased by a prepossession in his favour, which he
had taken up at first sight of him. " Policy," says
Bruce, " as well as charity, alike influenced me in
the care of my other patients ; but an attachment,
which Providence seemed to have inspired me with
for my own preservation, had the greatest share in
my care for Ay to Confu."

Bruce's patients, being at last all likely to do well,
were removed to a large house, which, however, stood
within the boundaries of Koscam, while the rooms
underwent another lustration and fumigation, after
which the patients returned ; and Bruce got, as his
fee, a present of a house which had a separate entry,
without going through the palace : however, as he
had now received most positive orders from Ras
Michael not to leave the Iteghe's palace, until
further orders, he thought it better to obey this
mandate to the letter, and not stir out of Koscam,
not even to his landlord's, or to Ayto Aylo's, though
both of them frequently endeavoured to persuade
him that the order had not so strict a meaning.
This leisure time Bruce employed in mounting his
instruments, his barometer, thermometer, telescopes,
and quadrant. Of course all was now wonder, and
he lost a good deal of time in satisfying the curiosity

ACTS AS PHYSICIAN. 255

of the palace. One day, as he was leaving the pre-
sence of the queen, in came Abba Salama, who was
the first religious officer in the palace. He had a
very large revenue, and a still greater influence. He
was exceeding rich, and although he had taken vows
of poverty and chastity, he had at that time above
seventy mistresses in Gondar, an establishment which
formed but an odd commentary on his text. Ex-
ceedingly eloquent and bold, he had been a great
favourite of the Iteghe, or queen mother, was a man
of a pleasing countenance, short, and of a very fair
complexion. At first he did not know Bruce, from
his change of dress : but soon after recollecting him,
lie called him back, and, after some words, he asked
him in a pert tone of voice, if he would answer him
a question to which it was not at all Bruce's policy
to reply, namely, " how many natures are there in
Christ C " I thought," answered Bruce to Salama,
who, during the whole period of his residence in
Abyssinia, was always his enemy, " the question to
be put, was something relating to my country,
travels, or profession, in which I possibly could in-
struct Abba Salama ; and not belonging to his, in
which he should instruct me. I am a physician in
the town, a horseman and soldier in the field. Physic
is my study in the one, and managing my horse and
arms in the other. This I was bred to ; as for dis-
putes and matters of religion, they are the province
of priests and schoolmen. I profess myself much
more ignorant in these than I ought to be ; there-
fore, when I have doubts, I propose them to some
holy man, like you, Abba Salama (he bowed for the
first time), whose profession these things are. lie
gives me a rule, and I implicitly follow it." " Truth 1
truth !" says he ; " by St. Michael, prince of angels,
that is right ; it is answered well ; by St. George,

256 LIFE OF BRUCE.

he is a clever fellow. They told me he was a Jesuit.
AVill you come to see me ? You need not be afraid
when you come to me'' " I trust," said Bruce,
bowing, " I shall do no ill, in that case I shall have
no reason to fear." Upon this Bruce withdrew.

It was on the 8th or 9th of March that Bruce met
Ras Michael at Azazo. This man, feared by almost
every person in Abyssinia, was dressed in a coarse,
dirty cloth, wrapped about him like a blanket, with
a sort of table-cloth folded about his head : he was
lean, old, had sore eyes, was apparently much fatigued,
and sat stooping upon a favourite mule, that carried
him speedily without shaking him. As Bruce saw
the place where the Ras was to alight, which was
marked by four cross lances, having a cloth thrown
over them like a temporary tent, he did not speak
to him ; but a Greek priest told the Ras who Brace
was, and that he was come on purpose to meet him.
The soldiers then made way, and Bruce advancing
kissed his hand ; after which Michael pointed to a
place where he was to sit down. " A thousand com-
plaints," says Bruce, " and a thousand orders came
immediately before him from a thousand mouths,
and we were nearly smothered ; but he took no
notice of me, nor did he ask for any one of his
family." In some minutes after came the young
king, who passed at some distance : Michael was
then led out of the shelter of his tent to the door,
where he was supported on foot. As the king passed
by, he pulled off the towel that was upon his head,
and then returned to his seat in the tent.

" All the town was in a hurry and confusion ; thirty
thousand men were encamped upon the Kahha ; and
the first horrid scene Michael exhibited there, wa.s
causing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the Galla,
whom he had taken prisoners, to be pulled out, and

RAS MICHAEL AND THE KING. 257

the unfortunate sufferers turned out to the fields, to
be devoured at night by the hyaenas." Two of these
poor creatures Bruce took under his care ; they both
recovered, and from them he learned many particulars
of their wild country and rude manners.

The next day, which was the 10th, the army
marched into the town in triumph, and the Ras
placed himself at the head of the troops of Tigre.
He was bareheaded, with long hair as white as snow ;
over his shoulders, and down to his back, hung a
cloak of black velvet with a silver fringe. A boy,
at his right stirrup, held a silver wand of about five
feet and a half long. Behind him all the soldiers,
who had slain an enemy and taken the spoils from
them, had their lances and firelocks ornamented with
their horrid trophies, and also with small- shreds of
scarlet cloth, one piece for every man he had slain.

" Remarkable among all this savage multitude was
the door-keeper of the Ras. This man, always well
armed and well mounted, had followed the wars of his
master from his infancy, and had been so fortunate
in this kind of single combat, that his whole lance
and javelin, horse and person, were covered over with
the shreds of scarlet cloth. At the last battle of
Fagitta, this inhuman being is said to have slain eleven
men with" his own hand, most of them probably being
wretched, weary, naked fugitives, mounted upon tired
horses, or else flying on foot."

Behind, came Gusho, Governor of Amhara, and
Powussen, lately made Governor of Begemder for
his behaviour at this battle of Fagitta ; and, as a
farther reward, the Ras had given him his grand-
daughter, who, under Bruce's care, had just recovered
from the small-pox.

" One thing most remarkable in this cavalcade, was
the head-dress of the governors of provinces. A large

258 LIFE OP BRUCE.

broad fillet was bound upon their forehead, and tied

behind their head. In the middle of this was a horn,
or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four inches
long, much in the shape of our common candle-
extinguishers. It is called kirn, or horn, and is only
worn in reviews or parades after victory." This is
probably taken from the Hebrews, and explains the
several allusions which are made to it in Scripture.
" And the horn of the righteous shall be exalted."
(Psalms, &c. &c.)

Next to these governors came the king, with a
fillet of white muslin, about three inches broad, bind-
ing his forehead, tied with a large double knot behind^
and hanging down about two feet on his back. About
him were his officers of state, the young nobility who

RAS MICHAEL AND THE KING. 259

were without command, and, after these, the house-
hold troops.

Then followed the Kanitz Kitzera, or executioner
of the camp, and his attendants ; and, last of all,
came a man bearing upon a pole the stuffed skin of
Petros's unfortunate friend, which he hung before
the king's palace, upon a branch of the tree appro-
priated for public executions.

The 13th of March arrived, without Bruce having
heard from Ozoro Esther, or the Ras, though re-
moved to a house in Gondar near to Petros. He
had every day visited the children at Koscam, and
been received with the greatest cordiality by the
Iteghe, who had given orders for his free admission
upon all occasions like an officer of her household.
But he had been completely neglected excepting by
the Moors, who were very grateful for the successful
attention he had shown their children. In the even-
ing, however, Negade Ras Mahomet, who was the
chief of the Moors at Gondar, came to Bruce's house,
and told him that Ayto Aylo had spoken several
times to the Ras about him, and that it had been
agreed between them that Bruce should be appointed
Palambaras, which he translates, " Master of the
king's horse," a very great office both for rank and
revenue.

" I told Mahomet," says Bruce, " that far from
being any kindness to me, this would make me the
most unhappy of all creatures ; that my extreme
desire was to see the country, and its different
natural productions ; to converse with the people as
a stranger, but to be nobody's master or servant ;
to see their books ; and, above all, to visit the
sources of the Nile ; to live as privately in my own
house, and have as much time to myself, as possible ;
and what I wras most anxious about at present, was
s2

260 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to know when it would be convenient for them to
admit me to see the Ras, and deliver my letters as
a stranger." Mahomet went away, and returned
bringing Mahomet Gibberti, who told Bruce that,
besides the letter which Metical Aga, his master,
had given to Bruce for Ras Michael, he had been
charged with a particular one, out of the ordinary
form, dictated by the English at Jidda, who all,
particularly Bruce's friends Captain Thornhill and
Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, had agreed to
make a point with Metical Aga, who was devoted to
them for his own interest, that his utmost exertion
should be employed to induce Ras Michael to provide
for Bruce's safety.

This letter from Metical Aga informed Michael
of the power and riches of the English nation ; that
they were absolute masters of the trade on the Red
Sea, and strictly connected with the Sherriffe of
Mecca ; that any accident happening to Bruce would
be an infamy and disgrace to him, and worse than
death itself, because, knowing Michael's power, and
relying on his friendship, he had become security
for Bruce's safety ; that he was a man of considera-
tion in his own country, servant to the king of it ;
that his only desire was to examine springs, rivers,
trees, flowers, and the stars in the heavens, from
which he drew knowledge very useful to preserve
man's health and life ; that he was no merchant, —
had no dealings whatever in any sort of traffic ; and
stood in no need of any man's money, as Mahomet
Gibberti was to provide any sum he might require.

" Upon reading this letter, Michael exclaimed,
" Metical Aga does not know the situation of this
country. Safety ! where is that to be found ? I am
obliged to fight for my own life every day. Will
Metical call this safety ? Who knows, at this mo-

SPEECH OF RAS MICHAEL. 261

ment, if the king is in safety, or how long I shall be
so ? All I can do is to keep him with me. If I
lose my own life and the king's, Metical Aga can
never think it was in my power to preserve that of
his stranger." — " No, no," said Ay to Aylo, who was
then present, " but you don't know the man ; he is
a devil on horseback; he rides better, and shoots
better, than any man that ever came into Abyssinia ;
lose no time, put him about the king, and there is no
fear of him." It was therefore agreed, that the let-
ters the Greeks had received should be read to the
king, and that Bruce should be immediately intro-
duced to the king and to the Ras.

The reader will remember that, when Bruce was
at Cairo, he obtained letters from the Greek patriarch
to the Greeks at Gondar ; and particularly one, in
form of a bull, addressed to all the Greeks in Abys-
sinia, In this, after a great deal of pastoral admo-
nition, the patriarch said, that knowing their pro-
pensity to lying and vanity, and not being at hand to
impose proper penances upon them for these sins,
he ordered them in a body to go to the king in the
manner and time they knew best, and to inform him
that Bruce was not to be confounded with the rest
of white men, such as Greeks, who were all subject
to the Turks, and slaves ; but that he was a free
man of a free nation ; that the best of them should
be happy in being his servant, as one of their brethren
then actually was. This was rather a bitter pill, for
the Greeks were high in office, all except Petros,
who had declined employment after the murder of
king Joas, whose chamberlain he had been. The
order of the patriarch, however, was fairly and punc-
tually performed ; Petros was their spokesman, and
although a great coward, yet, on the present occasion,
he was forward enough.

262 LIFE OF BRUCE.

It was about the 14th that these letters were to
be all publicly read ; five in the evening was the
hour appointed, and notice was sent to Koscam. A
little before the time Bruce came, and met Ayto
Aylo at the door. He squeezed him by the hand
and said, " Refuse nothing, it can be all altered after-
wards ; but it is very necessary, on account of the
priests and the populace, that you should have a
place of some authority, otherwise you will be robbed
and murdered the first time you go half a mile from
home : fifty people have told me you have chests
filled with gold, and that you can make gold, or bring
what quantity you please from the Indies ; and the
reason of all this is, because you refused the queen
and Ozoro Esther's offer of gold at Koscam, which
you must never do again."

On entering, the old Ras was sitting upon a sofa ;
his white hair was hanging loose in many short curls.
He appeared to be thoughtful, but not displeased ;
his countenance was most intelligent, his face was
thin, his eyes quick and vivid, but still a little sore
from exposure to the weather : he seemed to be about
six feet high. Bruce, as usual, kissed the ground
before him ; of this he seemed to take little notice,
but on his rising, he shook hands with him.

Bruce was then pressing to offer his present, when
the Ras, with an air of natural dignity, thus calmly
addressed him : " Yagoube, I think that is your name,
hear what I have to say to you, and mark what I re-
commend to you. You are a man, I am told, who make
it your business to wander in solitary places to search
for trees and grass, and to sit up all night alone looking
at the stars of heaven. Other countries are not like
this, though this was never so bad as it is now. These
wretches here are enemies to strangers; if they saw you
alone in your own parlour, their first thought would

r

INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 263

bow to murder you; though they knew they were
to get nothing by it, they would murder you for mere
mischief." — (" The devil is strong in them," ex-
claimed a distant voice, which appeared to be that of
a priest.) " Therefore," continued the Ras, " after a
long conversation with your friend Aylo, I have
thought that situation best which, leaving you at li-
berty to follow your own designs, will put your person
in such safety, that you will not be troubled with
monks about their religious matters, or in danger from
these rascals that may seek to murder you for money."

" What are the monks ?" muttered the voice from
the same corner of the room; "the monks will never
meddle with such a man as this." — " Therefore the
king," continued the Ras, without taking any notice
of the interruption, " has appointed you Baalomaal,
and commander of the Koccob horse. Go, then, to
the king, and kiss the ground upon your appoint-
ment : I see you have already learned this ceremony
of ours; Aylo and Heikel are very proper persons
to go with you." After taking leave of the Ras,
Bruce had a short private interview with the beauti-
ful Ozoro Esther, whose young heart was overflowing
with gratitude to the man that had saved her child.
He then proceeded towards the king's palace, and
met Aylo at the door of the presence-chamber.
Tecla Mariam, the king's secretary, walked before
them to the foot of the throne, and after Bruce had
advanced and prostrated himself upon the ground, he
said facetiously, " I have brought you a servant from
so distant a country, that if you ever let him escape,
we shall never be able to follow him or know where
to seek him." The king was sitting in an alcove ;
his mouth, according to the custom of Abyssinia, was
covered ; he evinced no alteration of countenance,
and made no reply. The old questions were then put

264 LIFE OF BRUCE.

to Bruce about Jerusalem and the holy places — where
his country was? (they knew the situation of no
country but their own) — why he came so far ? —
whether the moon and the stars were the same in his
country as in theirs ? &c. &c.

To escape from those interrogatories, Bruce had
several times offered to take his present from the man
who held it, that he might offer it to his majesty and
go away ; but the king as often made a sign to defer
this. At last, after having kept Bruce standing so
long that he was almost fainting from fatigue, the
king proposed that, instead of returning with the
Greeks, he should perform one of the duties of his
employment, which was to take charge of the door of
his bed-chamber that night. However, Ayto Heikel,
taking courage, came forward to the king, pretending
a message from the queen; and whispering something
in his ear, he laughed, and dismissed them all.

They accordingly all hurried to supper in bad
tempers, as is usual with hungry men. They brought
with them from the palace three of Bruce's brother
Baalomaals, and one who had stood to make up the
number, though he was not in office : his name was
Gruebra Mascal ; he was a sister's son of the Ras, and
commanded one third of the troops of Tigre which
carried fire-arms, that is, about two thousand men.
He was reputed one of the best officers the Ras had;
and was about thirty years of age, short, square, and
well made, but with a very unpromising countenance.
He was also very conceited, and had the greatest
opinion of his own knowledge in the use of fire-arms,
to which he did not scruple to say Ras Michael owed
all his victories *.

* We are told in Mr. Salt's Journal, in vol. iii. of Lord Valentia's
Travels, that Guebra Mascal, this very person, was made Governor
of Tigr£ by Tecla Georgia in 1788, and, though deposed, died in
1805 much regretted.

FESTIVITY AT GONDAR. 265

During supper, Guebra Mascal, as usual, vaunted
incessantly of his skill in fire-arms. Petros said,
laughing, to him, " Now Yagoube (meaning Bruce)
is come, he will teach you something worth talking
about." They had all drunk abundantly : Guebra
Mascal, full of wine and pride, uttered words in con-
tempt of Bruce, who quickly replied by saying, that
the end of a tallow-candle in his gun would do more
execution than an iron ball in Guebra Mascal's !
Guebra immediately rose up and gave Bruce a kick
with his foot, calling him a Frank and a liar ; on
which Bruce, blind with passion, seized him by the
throat, and threw him on the ground. Guebra
Mascal drew his knife as he was falling, and gave
Bruce a trifling wound on the crowTi of his head.
Bruce wrested the knife from him, and struck him
violently on his face ; the combatants were then sepa-
rated. The lifting of a hand in the precincts of the
palace is punished in Abyssinia by death ; Guebra
Mascal, therefore, fled to the dwelling of Kefla Yasous,
his relation, — but in a few hours he was in irons at
the Ras's house. The next morning Bruce proceeded
there by the advice of his friends, and having told his
story, he at last succeeded in prevailing on the Has
to overlook the occurrence, and to forgive Guebra
Mascal ; in short, although the king had been made
acquainted with it, the whole affair was made up.
Bruce attended in his place, and received very great
marks of royal favour ; but he himself was so much
annoyed at the circumstance, and at the many difficulties
which seemed to interrupt his ultimate, and, indeed,
his only object in visiting Abyssinia, that he almost
resolved to abandon it, and ask permission to return
by Tigre ; " and to this resolution," says Bruce, " I
was more inclined by the death of Balugani, a young
man wlio accompanied me through Barbary, and who

266 LIFE OF BRUCE.

assisted me in drawings of architecture : a dysentery
which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end
to his life at Gondar." From the effects of the de-
spondency Bruce's health became much impaired ;
however, his melancholy was in some degree diverted
by a general festivity in Gondar. Ozoro Esther's
sister, the Iteghe's youngest daughter, and conse-
quently the grand-daughter of Michael, was married
to Powussen, the governor of Begemder. The king
gave her large districts of land in that province, and
Has Michael a large portion of gold, muskets, cattle,
and horses. Every one that wished to be well looked
upon by either party, brought something considerable
as a present. The Ras, Ozoro Esther, and Ozoro
Altash, entertained all Gondar. A vast number of
cattle were slaughtered every day, and the whole town
was one great market ; the common people, in every
street, appearing laden with pieces of raw beef, while
drink circulated in like profusion. The Ras insisted
upon Bruce's dining with him every day. After dinner
they slipped away to parties of ladies, where anarchy
prevailed as completely as at the house of the Ras.
All the married women ate, drank, and smoked like
the men ; in fact, it is impossible to convey to the
English reader, in terms of proper decency, any idea
of this bacchanalian scene.

Although the king's favour, the protection of the
Ras, and Bruce's obliging, unassuming behaviour to
everybody, had made him as popular as he could
wish at Gondar, and amongst the Tigrans, yet it was
easy to perceive that that "untoward" occurrence, his
quarrel with Guebra Mascal, was not forgotten.

" One day," says Bruce, " when I was standing by
the king in the palace, he asked, in discourse, 'Whether
I, too, was not drunk in the quarrel with Guebra
Mascal before we came to blows ?' and upon my

FIRES A CANDLE FROM A GUN. 267

saving that I was perfectly sober, he asked with a
degree of keenness, ' Did you then soberly say to
Guebra Mascal, that an end of a tallow candle in a
gun in your hand, would do more execution than an
iron bullet in his ?' 4 Certainly, Sir,' replied Bruce,
* I did so/ c And why did you say this ?' said the
king ; 'you will not persuade me that, with a tallow-
candle, you can kill a man or a horse ?' ' Pardon me,
Sir,' said Bruce, bowing very respectfully, ' I will
attempt to persuade you of nothing but what you
please to be convinced of. When will you see this
tried ?' ' Why now,' says the king ; 4 there is no-
body here.' ' The sooner the better,' said Bruce ;
' I would not wish to remain for a moment longer
under so disagreeable an imputation as that of lying,
an infamous one in my country, whatever it may be
in this. Let me send for my gun ; the king will
look out at the window.'

" The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I saw
plainly, incredulous. The gun was brought ; Enge-
dan's shield was produced, which was of a strong
buffalo's hide. I said to him, ' This is a weak one,
give me one stronger.' He shook his head, and
said, ' Ah, Yagoube, you will find it strong enough ;
Engedan's shield is known to be no toy.' Tccla
Mariam had also brought such a shield, and the Bille-
tana Gueta Tecla another, both of which were most
excellent in their kind. I loaded the gun before
them, first with powder, then upon it slid down one
half of what we call a farthing candle ; and, having
beat off the handles of three shields, I put them
close in contact with each other, and set them all
three against a post.

kw • Now, Engedan,' said I, ' when you please say
— Fire ! but mind you have taken leave of your good
shield for ever.' The word was given, and the gam

268 LIFE OF BRUCE.

fired. It struck the three shields, neither in the
most difficult nor the easiest part for perforation,
something less than half-way between the rim and
the boss. The candle went through the three shields
with such violence, that it dashed itself to a thousand
pieces against a stone wall behind it. I turned to
Engedan, saying very lowly, gravely, and without
exultation or triumph, on the contrary, with absolute
indifference, ' Did I not tell you your shield was
nought ?' A great shout of applause followed from
about a thousand people that were gathered together.
The three shields were carried to the king, who ex-
claimed in great transport, ' I did not believe it
before I saw it, and can scarce believe it now I have
seen it/ "

Bruce then repeated this common schoolboy's
experiment, by firing the other half of the candle
through a table of sycamore. Some priests who
were present, unable to comprehend the matter,
voted it was done by " mucktoub" (magic), and so
the wonder with them ceased. But it was not so
with the king : "it made," says Bruce, " the most
favourable and lasting impression upon his mind; nor
did I ever after see in his countenance any marks
either of doubt or diffidence, but always, on the
contrary, the most decisive proofs of friendship, con-
fidence, and attention, and the most implicit belief of
everything I advanced upon any subject from my
own knowledge."

One half of a farthing candle, in Brace's hands,
thus became a step in that ladder by which he man-
aged, with such admirable ability, to raise himself to
notice ; and this anecdote, trifling as it may sound,
affords a moral and a lesson worthy to be remembered
by every man who attempts to penetrate a new
country.

CONTINENT OF AFRICA. 269

The possibility of the occurrence, however, many
of Bruce's enemies have obstinately refused to believe.
The experiment of firing a candle through a door is
one which has very often been performed ; and even
if it had never been shown, it would be evident, to
any one who reflected on the subject for a moment,
that this result would unavoidably take place. The
momentum, or force of a shot, is not the sole effect
either of its weight or of its velocity, but the product
of both. A light or soft body, propelled with great
velocity, may therefore have an effect equal to that
of a heavy or hard body, propelled with less velocity :
for instance, air rapidly displaced by the passing of a
cannon-shot, is known to produce very unexpected
effects ; and all sailors know how heavily water
strikes when it falls with any velocity. But though
a deal table and a tallow candle must have been at the
disposal of the meanest of Bruce's critics, yet it cost
them less, and was more agreeable, to accuse the
traveller of falsehood, than to put his experiment to the
proof, or to reason on the truth of his statements.

Salt himself, however, corroborates the story forty
years afterwards. " In the course of the same day,"
he says, " these two Greeks paid me a visit ; and I
have seldom been acquainted with more venerable or
respectable-looking men. The elder was exceedingly
infirm, and appeared to be nearly blind — so that it
was with some difficulty that he could be brought up,
on a mule, into the room in which we were sitting.
On being seated, he expressed great anxiety to ex-
amine my features, and repeatedly inquired whether
I was any relation of Yagoube (Mr. Bruce).

" He afterwards conversed with me for some time
respecting that traveller, and in almost every particu-
lar confirmed the account I have already quoted, upon
the authority of Dofter Esther. He related in addi-

270 LIFE OP BRUCE.

tion, that the Emperor Tecla Haimanout never paid
much attention to Mr. Bruce till after ' 7m shooting
through a table with a candle ' — a fact which I had
never before heard mentioned in the country — when
he became a great favourite and was called Baalo-
maal ; he added that, on a particular occasion, the
Emperor took a fancy to Mr. Bruce's watch, and
asked him for it, but that that gentleman refused, and
said abruptly — ' Is it the custom in this kingdom for
a king to beg ?' which answer made a great noise
throughout the court."

Bruce now received an instance of kindness from
Ayto Confu, the son of Ozoro Esther, which gave
him great pleasure. On the west of Abyssinia, ad-
joining the frontiers of Sennaar, there is a hot, un-
wholesome strip of low country inhabited only by
Mahometans, and divided into several small districts,
which are known by the general name of Mazuga.

Ayto Confu possessed several of the districts ; one of
which, Ras el Feel, having been always commanded by
a Mahometan, as Bruce says, "had no rank among the
great governments of the state." To this command
Bruce was unexpectedly appointed, and was, in conse-
quence, created by the king Governor of Ras el Feel,
with permission to appoint his Moorish friend, Yasine,
as his deputy. Bruce considered that he would be
enabled by Yasine's friendship, to secure to his inter-
ests the Arabs and Sheikhs of Atbara ; for he had
already resolved to return to England by Sennaar,
"and," as he says, "never to trust myself again in the
hands of that bloody assassin, the Naybe of Masuah."

Salt has taken great pains to endeavour to prove
that Bruce never was Governor of Ras el Feel. He
says (forty years after Bruce had quitted the country)
that people, several of whom must have been chil-
dren when Bruce was in Abyssinia, told him they had

FASIL ATTACKS THE AGOWS. 271

r heard" that Bruce was Governor of Ras el
Feel. Bruce, however, never said that he acted as
governor of this district ; he only says that he was
appointed governor, with permission for his friend
Yasine to act as his deputy, his object being merely
to fonii an acquaintance with that barbarous country ;
and considering that, in such a country, appointments
are not gazetted, Salt ought to have felt that Bruce's
statement might have been perfectly correct, although
the people he met had " never heard " of it.

" I now," says Bruce, " for the first time since my
arrival in Abyssinia, abandoned myself to joy ;" but
his constitution was too much weakened to bear this
excitement, and accordingly, the following day, when
he went home to Emfras, he was visited, or rather
attacked, by his old and relentless enemy the Bengazi
ague. For some time he was unable to leave the
house, and was even long confined to his bed : his
journal barely mentions this illness, but his hand-
writing, during this period, shows very affectingly
the weak and exhausted state of his frame.

The rebel Fasil had no sooner heard of Ras Michael's
return to Gondar than he marched against the Agows.
A bloody battle was fought at one of their principal
settlements, in which Fasil proved victorious. A
council was forthwith held, in which Ras Michael
declared that, although the rainy season was at hand,
the king's forces should immediately take the field.

CJusho and Powusscn having sworn to Michael
that they would never return without Fasil's head,
decamped next morning, but with the secret determi-
nation to arrange a formal conspiracy against the Ras.

While preparations were proceeding, the Iteghe, or
• jin .'en-mother, seeing the declining state of Brace's
health, frequently endeavoured to dissuade him from
the undertaking whieh was apparently always upper-

272 LIFE OF BRUCE.

most in his thoughts. " See ! see ! " said this royal
moralist, "how every day of our life furnishes us with
proofs of the perverseness and contradiction of human
nature : you are come from Jerusalem, through vile
Turkish governments, and hot, unwholesome climates,
to see a river and a bog, no part of which you can
carry away, were it ever so valuable — of which you
have in your own country a thousand larger, better,
and cleaner ; and you even take it ill when I dis-
courage you from the pursuit of this fancy, in which
you are likely to perish, without your friends at
home ever hearing when or where the accident hap-
pened. While I, on the other hand, the mother of
kings, who have sat upon the throne of this country
more than thirty years, have for my only wish, night
and day, that, after giving up everything in the
world, I could be conveyed to the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and beg alms for my
subsistence all my life after, if I could only be
buried at last in the street within sight of the gate of
that temple where our blessed Saviour once lay ! "

It may here be observed, that this feeling still
exists very generally and very strongly throughout
Abyssinia.

The greatest happiness which, in the opinion of
many of the Abyssinians, can be found in this life, is
to reach Jerusalem. Burning with this desire, great
numbers of men and women continually bid adieu to
the happy valley in which they were born, to endea-
vour to perform this holy pilgrimage. The fate that
awaits them is a sad return for the mistaken goodness
and piety of their intentions ; for, in crossing the
Red Sea, they are almost always taken prisoners by
Turks — and, far from happiness, Jerusalem, or their
own country, they thus end their days in misery and
slavery.

273

CHAPTER XII.

Bruce accompanies the King's Army, and returns with it to
Gondar.

BY the queen's permission, I^ruce, for a short time,
took up his abode at Emfras, situated on the east
side of Tzana, the greatest lake in Abyssinia, being
about fifty miles long, thirty-five broad, and con-
taining several islands.

On the 13th of May, 1770, the king's army
approached the town of Emfras, which, in a few
hours, was completely deserted; for although Ras
Michael was strict, and even just, in time of peace,
yet it was known that the moment he took the
field, like the tiger roused from his lair, he became
licentious and cruel. The Mahometan town, near
the water, was plundered in a moment : and some of
the straggling troops came even to Bruce's residence
to demand meat and drink. He therefore thought
it prudent at once to repair to the king, and accord-
ingly the next morning at daybreak he mounted his
horse, and in a few hours reached the tents of his
majesty and Ras Michael, which were placed about
five hundred yards asunder, — no one daring to stand,
or even pass, between them.

Although Bruce's appointment gave him a right
of access at all times to the king, he did not choose
at that moment to enter the royal presence, but
preferred going to the tent of his kind and lovely
friend, Ozoro Esther, where he was sure, at least, of
T

274 LIFE OF BRUCE.

getting a good breakfast and a warm reception. A.s
soon as Ozoro Esther saw Bruce, she exclaimed,
"There is Yagoube ! there is the man I wanted!"
The tent was cleared of all but her women, and she
began to tell Bruce of several complaints which she
seemed to think would, before the end of the cam-
paign, carry her to her grave. " It was easy to see,"
says Bruce, " that they were of the slightest kind,
though it would not have been agreeable to have told
her so, for she loved to be thought ill, to be attended,
condoled with, and flattered!" After giving to his
elegant and agreeable patient both advice and pre-
scriptions, the doors of the tent were thrown open,
and an abundant breakfast was displayed in wooden
platters on the carpet.

The Abyssinian gourmands say, " that you should
plant first and then water," which means that nobody
should drink till he has finished eating. Stewed
fowls, highly seasoned with Cayenne pepper, roasted
Guinea-hens, and the never-failing brind, or raw
beef, were eaten, therefore, in great quantities ; after
which wine, a beer called bouza, and hydromel, were
drunk in equal proportion. Ozoro Esther, leaning
forwards from her sofa, kindly reminded her guests
that their time was short, and that the drum would
soon give the signal for striking the tents. From
this scene Bruce escaped to the king, where he learnt
that Fasil was preparing to repass the Nile into the
country of the Galla.

The next morning the king marched, and then
remained for two days encamped on the banks of
the Nile, where a trifling circumstance occurred.
Old Ras Michael had long endeavoured to get pos-
session of Welleta Israel, a sister of his own wife,
Ozoro Esther, and, if possible, as lovely as herself.
She now again refused his unnatural addresses, on

K.s( Al'E OF WELLETA ISRAEL. 275

which he was heard to say that he would order her
ryes to be pulled out.

Welleta Israel, at this time, was in the camp with
her sister Ozoro Esther. In the evening, a small
tent suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the
Nile, which was not only both broad and deep,
but, with its prodigious mass of water, a number
of large, slippery stones were rolling along at the
bottom of the river. Iri the dead of the night
Welleta Israel escaped, and in the morning she and
the tent had equally disappeared. To the astonish-
ment of every person, it was found that she had
actually crossed the river. She had fled from the
vengeance of the Ras with an intrepid conductor, her
own nephew, with whom she had for some time
established a relationship nearer than propriety should
have permitted.

The next morning the king crossed the Nile at
a pass, and encamped, on the other side, near a small
village called Tsoomwa, where his fit-auraris had
taken post early in the morning. The fit-auraris
(which means, literally, front of the army) is an
officer, in the Abyssinian service, dependent only on
the commander of the forces. He is always selected
from the bravest, most robust, and most experienced
men in the army. His duty is to mark out, by a
lance, the position most proper for the king's tent ;
he is expected to know the depth of the rivers, tin-
state of the fords, the extent and thickness of the
woods : in short, to be acquainted with the general
curt? du pays. The governor of every province has
an officer of this description. The fit-auraris may,
therefore, be compared to an officer of the quarter-
master-generars department in an European army.

From Tsoomwa the king marched to Derdera,
and being now in the territory of his enemy, the
T 2

276 LIFE OF BRUCE.

whole country was set on fire. Those who could
not escape were slain, and all sorts of wanton barba-
rities were permitted.

The king's passage of the Nile was the signal
agreed upon for Bruce to set out from Emfras to
join him. Accompanied by Strates, a Greek, and
other attendants, he travelled for several days, en-
countering many hardships and dangers : he at last
met with his friend Negade Ras Mahomet (the chief
of the Moors of Gondar), to whom he expressed his
ardent desire to be enabled to visit the neighbouring
cataract of the Nile. " Unless you had told me you
was resolved," said Mahomet, with a grave, thought-
ful air, though full of openness and candour, " I
would in the first place have advised you not to
think of such an undertaking. Again, if anything
was to befall you, what should I answer to the king
and the Iteghe ? It would be said the Turk has
betrayed him ! "

" Mahomet/' said Bruce, " you need not dwell on
these professions ; I have lived twelve years with
people of your religion, my life always in their power,
and I am now in your house, in preference to being
in a tent out of doors, with Netcho and his Chris-
tians. I do not ask you whether I am to go or not,
for that is resolved on ; and, though you are a Ma-
hometan, and I a Christian, no religion teaches a
man to do evil. We both agree in this, that God,
who has protected me thus far, is capable to protect
me likewise at the cataract, and farther, if he has
not determined otherwise, for my good. I only ask
you, as a man who knows the country, to give me
your best advice, how I may satisfy my curiosity in
this point, with as little danger and as much expedi-
tion as possible, leaving the rest to Heaven." Ma-
homet accordingly promised to send his son and four

VISITS A CATARACT OF TUB NILE. 277

of his servants to protect Bruce ; he then took leave
of him, saying with much feeling, " Do not stay!
return immediately, and — Ullah Kerim (God is
merciful) !"

Early next morning Bruce mounted his horse, and
accompanied by four active, resolute young men,
they proceeded very quickly. In a few hours they
came in sight of a considerable village ; and as they
were proceeding to call upon the chief, or Shum,
they were surrounded by several of his servants,
who seemed desirous to pay them every possible
respect.

Bruce happened to be on a very steep part of the
hill, full of bushes ; and one of the Shum's servants,
dressed in the Arabian fashion, in a bornoose, and
turban striped white and green, led his horse, to
prevent his slipping, till he got into the path leading
to the Shum's door; when, all of a sudden, the
fellow exclaimed in Arabic, as he led the horse,
" Good Lord ! to see you here ! Good God ! to see
you here ! " Bruce asked him to whom he was
speaking, and what reason he had to wonder to see
him there. The man told him he was on board the
Lion when Bruce's little vessel, all covered with sail,
passed with such briskness through the English
ships, which all fired their cannon ; " and," said the
man, *' everybody said, there is a poor man making
a great haste to be assassinated among those wild
people in Habbesh ; and so we all thought." He
concluded, " Drink ! no force ! Englishman, very
good! G — d damn, drink !" monosyllables which we
invariably manage to sow in every part of the globe
that we visit, leaving them behind us as odd speci-
mens of our language, and equally curious relics of
our religion.

As soon as the horses were fed, Bruce would stay

278 LIFE OF BRUCE.

no longer, but mounted his horse to proceed to the
cataract. They first came to the bridge, which con-
sists of one arch, of about twenty-five feet broad, the
extremities of which were strongly let into and rested
on the solid rock on both sides. The Nile here is
confined between two rocks, and runs in a deep ravine
with great roaring and impetuous velocity. They
were obliged to remount the stream above half a mile,
before they ' came to the cataract, through trees and
bushes of most beautiful and delightful appearance.

" The cataract itself," says Bruce, " was the most
magnificent sight that ever I beheld. The height
has been rather exaggerated. The missionaries say,
the fall is about sixteen ells, or fifty feet. The
measuring is, indeed, very difficult ; but, by the
position of long sticks, and poles of different lengths,
at different heights of the rock, from the water's edge,
I may venture to say, that it is nearer forty feet than
any other measure. The river had been considerably
increased by rains, and fell in one sheet of water,
without any interval, above half an English mile in
breadth, with a force and noise that was truly terrible,
and which stunned, and made me, for a time, per-
fectly dizzy. A thick fume, or haze, covered the
fall all round, and hung over the course of the stream
both above and below, marking its track, though the
water was not seen. The river, though swelled with
rain, preserved its natural clearness, and fell, as far
as I could discern, into a deep pool, or basin, in the
solid rock. It was a magnificent sight, that ages,
added to the greatest length of human life, would
not efface or eradicate from my memory ; it struck
me with a kind of stupor, and a total oblivion of
where I was, and of every other sublunary concern.
It was one of the most magnificent, stupendous sights
in the creation.

VISITS A CATARACT OF THE NILE. 279

" I measured the fall, and believe, within a few
feet, it was the height I have mentioned ; but I con-
fess I could at no time in my life less promise upon
precision ; my reflection was suspended or subdued ;
and, while in sight of the fall, I think I was under a
temporary alienation of mind ; it seemed to me as if
one element had broke loose from, and become supe-
rior to, all laws of subordination ; that the fountains
of the great deep were again extraordinarily opened,
and the destruction of a world was once more begun
by the agency of water."

From the cataract Bruce returned to the house of
his Moorish friend Negade Ras Mahomet, and on the
22nd of May he resumed his journey to join the
king. After passing a number of hills covered with
trees and shrubs of indescribable beauty, and extra-
ordinary fragrance, he descended towards the passage
of the Nile. Here he experienced the use of Ma-
homet's servants, three of whom, each with a lance
in one hand, holding that of his companion in the
other, waded across the violent stream, sounding with
the end of their lances every step they took.

" From the passage to Tsoomwa," says Bruce, " all
the country was forsaken, the grass trodden down,
and the fields without cattle. Everything that had
life and strength fled before that terrible leader (Ras
Michael) and his no less terrible army : a profound
silence was in the fields around us, but no marks yet
of desolation." After travelling two days under a very
hot sun, they came to a plain flat country, which, by
the constant rains that now fell, began to stand in
lari't- pools, and threatened to turn all into a lake.

" We had hitherto," says Bruce, " lost none of the
beasts of carriage, but now were so impeded by
streams, brooks, and quagmires, that we despaired of
ever bringing one of them to. join the camp. The

280 LIFE OF BRUCE.

horses, and beasts of burden that carried the baggage
of the army, and which had passed before us, had
spoiled every ford, and we saw to-day a number of
dead mules lying about the fields, the houses all re-
duced to ruins, and smoking like so many kilns : even
the grass, or wild oats, which were grown very high,
were burnt in large plots of a hundred acres together ;
everything bore the marks that Ras Michael was gone
before, whilst not a living creature appeared in those
extensive, fruitful, and once well-inhabited plains.
An awful silence reigned everywhere around, inter-
rupted only at times by thunder, now become daily,
and the rolling of torrents, produced by local showers
in the hills, which ceased with the rain, and were but
the children of an hour. Amidst this universal silence
that prevailed all over this scene of extensive deso-
lation, I could not help remembering how finely
Mr. Gray paints the passage of such an army, under
a leader like Ras Michael : —

Confusion in his van with Flight combined,
And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind."

As they advanced, they passed a great number of
dead mules and horses ; " and the hyaenas," says
Bruce, " were so bold as only to leave the carcass for
a moment, and snarl, as if they regretted to see any
of us pass alive."

" Since passing the Nile," continues Bruce, " I found
myself more than ordinarily depressed ; my spirits
were sunk almost to a degree of despondency, and yet
nothing had happened since that period, more than
what was expected before. This disagreeable situation
of mind continued at night while I was in bed. The
rashness and imprudence with which I had engaged
myself in so many dangers, without any necessity for
so doing; the little prospect of my being ever able
to extricate myself out of them, or, even, if I lost my

BRUCE'S DEPRESSION OF SPIRITS. 281

life, of the account being conveyed to my friends at
home; the great and unreasonable presumption which
had led me to think that, after every one that had at-
tempted this voyage had miscarried in it, I was the
only person that was to succeed ; all these reflections
upon my mind, when relaxed, dozing, and half op-
pressed with sleep, filled my imagination with what
I have heard other people call the horrors, the most
disagreeable sensation I ever was conscious of, and
which I then felt for the first time. Impatient of
suffering any longer, I leaped out of bed, and went
to the door of the tent, where the outward air per-
fectly awakened me, and restored my strength and
courage. All was still, and at a distance I saw several
bright fires, but lower down, and more to the right
than I expected, which made me think I was mis-
taken in the situation of Karcagna. It was then near
four in the morning of the i!5th. I called up my
companions, happily buried in deep sleep, as I was
desirous, if possible, to jtfin the king that day."

If the reader will but recal to mind the picture of
Bruce's personal appearance on his arrival at Jidda
on the Red Sea — how much he was then shaken by
the great fatigue he had even at that period under-
gone—and will then reflect on the wear and tear of
constitution which Bruce had since suffered, he will
comprehend, better than Bruce himself seems to have
done, why his spirit now began to fail him, and why
life, like an exhausted taper, burnt dimly in the socket.

Bruce and his party were three or four miles from
Dcrdcra when the sun rose : there had been little
rain that night, and they found very few torrents in
their way ; but it was slippery and uneasy walking,
the rich soil being trodden into mire. About seven
o'clock they entered the broad plain of Maitsha,
leaving the lake behind them. Here great part of

282 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the country was in tillage, and had been, apparently,
covered with plentiful crops ; but all was cut down
by the army for their horses, or trodden under foot,
from carelessness or vengeance : so that a green blade
could scarcely be met with. They saw a number of
people this day, chiefly straggling soldiers, who, in
parties of threes and fours, had been seeking, in all
the bushes and concealed parts of the river, for the
miserable natives who had hidden themselves therein ;
in this dreadful occupation, many had been success-
ful. Some of them had three, some four women,
boys, and girls, whom, though Christians like them-
selves, they were hurrying along, to sell to the Turks
for a very small price.

A little before nine Bruce heard the report of a
gun, which gave all his party joy, as they supposed
the army not to be far off: a few minutes after, they
heard several dropping shots, and, in less than a quar-
ter of an hour's time, a general firing began from
right to left, which ceased for an instant, and then
was heard again as smart as ever.

Thinking that the army was beaten and retreat-
ing, Bruce and his party mounted their horses to join
it. Still, however, it appeared to them scarcely pos-
sible that Fasil should beat Ras Michael so easily,
and with so short a resistance.

They had not gone far in the plain, before, to their
very great surprise and delight, they had a sight of
the enemy. A multitude of deer, buffaloes, boars,
and various other wild beasts, alarmed by the noise
and the advance of the army, had been gradually
driven before them.

The whole country was overgrown with wild oats,
a great many of the villages having been burnt the
year before ; and in this shelter the wild beasts had
taken up their abodes in very great numbers. When

REJOINS THE KING. 283

the army pointed towards Karcagna to the left, the
silence and solitude on the opposite side made them
turn to the right, to where the Nile makes a very
large semicircle, the Jemma being behind them, and
much overflowed. When the army, therefore, instead
of marching south and by east towards Samseen, had
turned the course north-west, they fell in with these
innumerable herds of deer and other beasts, who, con-
fined between the Nile, the Jemma, and the lake,
had no way to return but as they had come. These
animals, therefore, finding men in every direction in
which they attempted to pass, became desperate, and
not knowing what course to take, they at last fell
a prey to the troops. The soldiers, happy at the
opportunity of procuring animal food, soon fell to
firing wherever the beasts appeared; every loaded
gun was discharged upon them, and this continued
for very near an hour. A numerous flock of the
largest deer, called bohur, met Bruce and his party,
at full speed, and apparently attempted to run them
down ; some forced themselves through, while others
escaped across the plain.

The king and Ras Michael were in a most violent
agitation of mind, for though the cause of the firing
was before their eyes, yet it was instantly reported
that Woodage Asahel had attacked the army; and
this occasioned a general panic and disorder, every-
body being convinced that he was not far off. The
firing, however, continued ; the balls flew about in
every direction; some few were killed, and many
people and horses were hurt : still they fired, while
Ras Michael stood at the door of his tent, crying,
threaten i no-, and tearing his grey locks, at finding
that the army was not under his command. The
king, however, now ordered his tent to be pitched,
his standard to be set up, his drums to beat (the signal

284 LIFE OF BRUCE.

for encamping), and the firing then immediately
ceased. But it was a long while before all the army
could believe that Woodage Asahel had not been
engaged with some part of it that day. Fortunately
he was not able to lay hold of this favourable opportu-
nity; for if, at that moment, he had attacked Michael
on the Samseen side, with five hundred horse, the
whole army would probably have fled without resist-
ance, and would have been entirely dispersed.

Bruce was making his way towards the king's
tent, when he was met by a servant of confidence of
Kefla Yasous, who had that day commanded the rear
in the retreat ; an experienced officer, brave even to
a fault, but full of mildness and humanity, and one
of the most sensible and affable men in the army.
He sent to desire that Bruce would come to him
alone. This he promised to do ; but he first wished
to search for Strates and Sebastos, who had been sick
upon the road.

Bruce soon came up with them, and was exceed-
ingly surprised to see them both lying extended on
the ground; Strates bleeding at a large wound in his
forehead, moaning in Greek to himself, and exclaim-
ing that he had broken his leg, which he pressed with
both his hands below the knee, apparently regardless
of the gash in his head, which seemed to be a very
serious one. Sebastos was also lying stretched along
the ground, scarcely saying anything, but sighing
very piteously. — Bruce asked him whether his arm
was broken ? he answered feebly, that he was dying,
and that his legs, arms, and ribs, were all. broken to
pieces. The bystanders, meanwhile, were bursting
into occasional fits of laughter.

All, Mahomet's servant, the only person who
appeared concerned, said that it was all owing to
prince George, who had frightened their mules.

ARABIAN SALUTATION. 285

This prince was fond of horsemanship ; he rode with
saddle, bridle, and stirrups, 'ik3 an Arab ; and, though
young, was become an excellent horseman, superior to
any in Abyssinia. The manner in which two Arabs
salute one another, when they meet, is this : — the
person inferior in rank or age, presents his gun at
the other, about five hundred yards' distance, charged
with powder only ; he then, keeping his gun always
presented, gallops up, then lowers the muzzle of his
gun, and fires just under his friend's stirrups, or the
horse's belly. This the Arabs do, sometimes twenty
at a time ; and one would often think it was impos-
sible they could escape being bruised or burnt. The
prince had learned this exercise from Bruce, and was
as delighted as he wTas perfect at it. Bruce had pro-
cured him a short gun, with a lock and flint instead
of a match, and he shot not only justly but gracefully
on horseback. He had been hunting the deer all
the morning ; and hearing that his friend Bruce had
arrived, and seeing the two Greeks riding on their
mules, he came galloping furiously with his gun pre-
sented, and not seeing Bruce, fired a shot under the
belly of Stratcs's mule, and then turning like light-
ning to the left, he was out of sight in a moment.

Never was a compliment less relished or under-
stood. Strates had a couple of panniers upon his
mule, containing two great earthen jars of hydromel ;
Sebastos, the king's cook, had also sundry jars and
pots, besides three or four dozen drinking glasses ; a
carpet almost covered the animals and the panniers ;
and upon the pack-saddles, between these panniers,
did Strates and Sebastos ride. The mules, as well
as the burden, belonged to the king, and the men
were only permitted to ride because they were a
little sick. Strates went first, and, to save trouble,
the halter of Sebastos's mule was tied to Strates's

286 LIFE OP BRUCE.

saddle, so the mules were fastened to, and followed,
one another. As soon as the explosion took place,
Strates's mule, not accustomed to noisy compliments
of this kind, started, turned about, and threw his
rider to the ground ; the animal then trampled upon
him, began to run off, and winding the halter around
Sebastos behind, dragged him also along the ground
among some stones. Both the mules then began
kicking at each other, or rather at each other's pan-
niers and pack-saddles, until they broke everything
that was in them. The mischief did not end here ;
for, in running away, they came like a bar -shot
against the mule of Azage Tecla Haimanout, one
of the king's criminal judges, a very feeble old man,
who found himself suddenly thrown upon the ground,
with an ankle broken, so that he could not walk
alone for several months afterwards. As soon as a tent
was pitched for the wounded, and when Bruce had
dressed Tecla Haimanout's foot, he went to the tent
of Kefla Yasous, who instantly rose up and embraced
him. He then told Bruce that Ras Michael had re-
solved to cross the Nile immediately, to march back
to Gondar, and that they had accordingly wheeled
about, when they were interrupted by the firing.

On the 26th of May, 1770, Bruce marched with
the army towards the Nile. About four o'clock the
army reached the banks of the river. " From the
time we had decamped from Cogo," says Bruce, " it
poured incessantly the most violent rain we had ever
seen, violent claps of thunder followed close one
upon another, almost without interval, accompanied
with sheets of lightning, which ran on the ground
like water ; the day was more than commonly dark,
as in an eclipse, and every hollow or footpath
collected a quantity of rain, which ran into the Nile
in torrents."

ARMY CROSSES THE NILE. 287

The Abyssinian armies pass the Nile at all seasons,
though the appearance of the river is often terrific,
but the Greeks crowded round Bruce in despair,
cursing the hour they had first entered the country.
The first person who crossed was a young officer,
a relation of the king; he walked in with great
caution, marking a track for the king to pass, but
his horse plunging into deep water he swam to the
opposite side. The king next followed; then
came the old Ras on his mule, with several of
his friends, swimming both with and without their
horses, on each side of him, in a manner that ap-
peared quite wonderful. The king's troops and
Bruce followed. The confusion which afterwards
ensued it is impossible to describe ; mules, horses,
and men, stuck for some time in the muddy landing-
place, and the latter screaming for help, they were
at last all hurried away by the stream. Rafts
were made for some of the women, but the old
Ras sullenly insisted that Ozoro Esther, though
she was with child, and had actually fainted several
times, should cross in the same manner he had
crossed himself, and those who both admired and
pitied her, swam by her side. It was said that
the old Ras had even been heard to declare that
if she could not pass, he had resolved to murder
her, lest she should fall into the hands of his enemy,
Fasil.

Two days after the passage of this river, the Ras,
who, although he was one of the most infirm and
npi'd men in the army, seemed to require neither
sleep nor rest, engaged Fasil, and defeated him in
the battle of Limjour ; in constquence of which, the
following day Fasil sent to inform Michael of the
manner in which the king had been betrayed by
Gusho and Powussen ; and, offering his submission,

288 LIFE OF BRUCE.

added, " that he never again intended to appear in
arms against the king ; that he would hold his
government under him, and pay his contributions
regularly." Fasil was, after this submission, ap-
pointed Governor of Damot and Maitsha.

, "Late in the evening," says Bruce, "Ozoro Esther
came to the king's tent. She had been ill, and
alarmed, as she well might, at the passsage of the
Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than
ordinary ; she was dressed all in white, and I thought
I seldom had seen so handsome a woman. The king
had sent ten oxen to old Ras Michael, but he had
given twenty to Ozoro Esther ; and it was to thank
him for this extraordinary mark of favour that she
had come to visit him in his tent. I had for some
time past, indeed, thought they were not insensible
to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the
young king for the distinction he had shown her,
' Madam,' said he, ' your husband, Ras Michael,
is intent upon employing, in the best way possible
foj1 my service, those of the army that are strong
and vigorous ; you, I am told, bestow your care
on the sick and disabled, and by your attention
they are restored to their former health and acti-
vity. The strong, active soldier eats the cows that
I have sent to the Ras; the enfeebled and sick
recover upon yours, for which reason I sent you
a double portion, that you may have it in your
power to do double good.' After this the room was
cleared, and she had an audience alone for half
an hour. I doubt very much whether Ras Michael
had any share in the conversation ; the king was
in the very gayest humour, and went to rest about
twelve. The Ras loved Ozoro Esther, but was not
jealous."

Bruce had now violent threatenings of the ague,

RESIDENCE IX GONDAR. 289

and retired to bed full of reflections on the extraordi-
nary events that, in a few hours, had crowded upon
one another.

On the 80th of May he reached Gondar, and on
the 3rd of June the army was encamped on the river
below the town. " From the time we left Dingleber,"
says Bruce, " some one or other of the Ras's confiden-
tial friends had arrived every day. Several of the
great officers of state reached us at the Kemona; many
others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not perceive
the news they brought increased the spirits either of
the king or the Ras : the soldiers, however, were all
contented, because they were at home ; but the offi-
cers, who saw farther, wore very different counte-
nances, especially those that were of Amhara. I, in
particular, had very little reason to be pleased ; for,
after having undergone a constant series of fatigues,
dangers, and expenses, I was returned to Gondar,
disappointed of my views in arriving at the source of
the Nile, without any other acquisition than a violent
ague. The place where that river rises remained
still as great a secret as it had been ever since the
catastrophe of Phaeton : —

Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbera,
Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet.

OVID, Metam. lib. ii."

The king had heard that Gusho and Powussen,
and all the troops of Belessen and Lasta, were ready
to fall upon him in Gondar as soon as the rains
should have so swelled the Tacazze that the army
could not retire into Tigre ; and it was now thought
that the king's proclamation in favour of Fasil, espe-
cially in giving him Gojam, would hasten the motion
of the rebels.

" As I had never despaired," says Bnice, " some
way or other, of arriving at the fountains of the Nile,
u

290 LIFE OF BRUCE.

from which we were not fifty miles distant when we
turned back at Karcagna, so I never neglected to
improve every means that held out to me the least
probability of accomplishing this end. I had been
very attentive and serviceable to Fasil's servants,
while in the camp. I spoke greatly of their master ;
and when they went away, gave each of them a
small present for himself, and a trifle also for Fasil.
They had, on the other hand, been very importunate
with me, as a physician, to prescribe something for a
cancer on the lip, as I understood it to be, with
which Welleta Yasous, Fasil's principal general, was
afflicted.

" I had been advised, by some of my medical
friends, to carry along with me a preparation of hem-
lock, or cicuta, recommended by Dr. Stork, a physi-
cian at Vienna. A considerable quantity had been
sent me from France by commission, with directions
how to use it. To keep on the safe side, I prescribed
small doses to Welleta Yasous ; being much more
anxious to preserve myself from reproach, than
warmly solicitous about the cure of my unknown
patient. I gave him positive advice to avoid eating
raw meat, to keep to a milk diet, and drink plenti-
fully of whey when he used this medicine. They
were overjoyed at having succeeded so well in tneir
commission, and declared, before the king, i that
Fasil, their master, would be more pleased with
receiving a medicine that would restore "Welleta
Yasous to health, than with the magnificent appoint-
ments the king's goodness had bestowed upon him.'
' If it is so,' said I, ' in this day of grace I will ask
two favours.' ' And that's a rarity,' says the king,
4 come, out with them. I don't believe anybody is
desirous you should be refused ; I certainly am not ;
only I bar one of them — you are not to relapse into

INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 291

your usual despondency, and talk of going home.'
* Well, Sir,' said I, * I obey ; and that is not one
of them. They are these : — You shall give me, and
oblige Fasil to ratify it, the village Geesh, and the
source where the Nile rises, that I may be from
thence furnished with money for myself and servants ;
it shall stand me instead of Tangouri, near Emfras,
and, in value, it is not worth so much. The second
is, that when I shall see that it is in his power to
carry me to Geesh, and show me those sources,
Fasil shall do it upon my request, without fee or
reward, and without excuse or evasion/

" They all laughed at the cashless of the request ;
all declared that this was nothing, and wished to do
ten times as much. The king said, < Tell Fasil I
do give the village of Geesh, and those fountains he
is so fond of, to Yagoube and his posterity for ever,
never to appear under another name in the deftar,
and never to be taken from him, or exchanged, either
in peace or war. Do you swear this to him in the
name of your master/ Upon which they took the
two fore- fingers of my right hand, and, one after the
other, laid the two fore-fingers of their right hand
across them, then kissed them — a form of swearing
used there, at least among those that call themselves
Christians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king's
secretary and historian, was then present, the king
ordered him to enter the gift in the deftar, or
revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the
king's lands are registered. ' I will write it,' says
the old man, 4 in letters of gold ; and, poor as I am,
will give him a village four times better than either
Geesh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and stay
amongst us, at least till my eyes are closed/ It will
be easily guessed this rendered the conversation a
cheerful one. Fasil's servants retired, to set out the
u 2

292 LIFE OF BRUCE.

next day, gratified to their utmost wish ; and, as
soon as the king was in bed, I went to my apartment
likewise."

Bruce was now legally wedded to the " coy foun-
tains" of the Nile; but, like the young Eastern
prince, he was yet doomed to linger, till relentless
time should permit him to view the real object of
his affection — the sole subject of his dreams and
thoughts.

Very different notions, however, were occupying
Michael and his officers. They were afraid to tmst
Fasil, and, besides, he could do them no service ;
the rain was set in, and he was gone home : the
western part of the kingdom was ready to rise against
the Ras ; Woggora, to the north, immediately in
Fasil's way, was in arms, and impatient to revenge
the severities they had suffered when Michael first
marched to Gondar ; and the next morning the whole
army was in motion.

Bruce had a short interview with the king. He
frankly told him that he was weak in health, and
quite unprepared to attend him in Tigre ; that his
heart was bent on completing the only object which
had brought him into Abyssinia ; and that, should
he be disappointed in effecting that object, he could
only return to his country in disgrace. The young
king appeared affected by Bruce' s statement, and,
with great kindness, desired him to remain for the
present with the Iteghe at Koscam.

Has Michael, having in vain urged certain brutal
measures of violence on the king, now retired, in
considerable disgust, into his own province, Tigre ;
on the 10th of June, Gusho and Powussen entered
Gondar ; and, for several months, the capital, as well
as the country, of Abyssinia, was convulsed with a
series of petty disturbances.

293

CHAPTER XIII.

Bruce again attempts to reach the Fountains of the Nile, and
succeeds.

ALTHOUGH the Iteghe showed great aversion to
Bruce's design of exploring the source of the Nile,
in times of such trouble and commotion, yet she did
not positively forbid the attempt ; and therefore, on
the 28th of October, 1770, he and his party com-
menced the undertaking. Bruce's quadrant required
four men, relieving each other, to carry it, and his
timekeeper and telescopes employed two men more.
However, his difficulties were now all in his own
cause ; he had no longer to place himself in danger,
to be an unwilling spectator of the quarrels and
jarring interests of others ; his own great object was
now before him, and he had long determined to attain
it, or to perish in the attempt.

After passing a number of torrents, which were all
rushing through the flat country of Dembea towards
the great lake Tzana, they came to Gorgora, an
elevated peninsula, running into the lake for several
miles. This is one of the pleasantest situations in
Abyssinia. The eye passes rapidly over the ex-
pansive lake, through which run the waters of the
Nile ; it then views with pleasure the flat, rich
countries of Dembea, Gojam, and Maitsha ; the high
hills of Begemder and Woggora close the prospect.
It was this healthy, beautiful situation which was
chosen by Peter Paez for the site of a most magni-
ficent church and monastery.

294 LIFE OF BRUCE.

On reaching the borders of the lake on the 30th,
neither the fear of crocodiles nor of hippopotami
could prevent Bruce from swimming in it for some
minutes ; although the sun was exceedingly hot, the
water was intensely cold, owing to the streams which
came into it from the mountains.

Proceeding on their journey they now met multi-
tudes of peasants, flying before Fasil's army, wThich
he had lately, for some unknown purpose, suddenly
put in motion. Fasil was at Bamba, a collection of
small villages, placed in a valley, and as Bruce knew
it was in this chieftain's power to forward him to his
object, thither he anxiously repaired. The following
day he received a message to attend ; and his inter-
view with this great rebel he thus describes : —

"After announcing myself, I waited about a quarter
of an hour before I was admitted. Fasil was sitting
upon a cushion, with a lion's skin upon it, and
another, stretched like a carpet, before his feet. He
had a cotton cloth, something like a dirty towel,
wrapped about his head ; his upper cloak, or gar-
ment, was drawn tight about him over his neck and
shoulders, so as to cover his hands. I bowed, and
went forward to kiss one of them, but it was so
entangled in the cloth that I was obliged to kiss the
cloth instead of the hand. This was done, either as
not expecting I should pay him that compliment,
(as I certainly should not have done, being one of
the king's servants, if the king had been at Gondar,)
or else it was intended for a mark of disrespect, which
was very much of a piece with the rest of his beha-
viour afterwards.

" There was no carpet or cushions in the tent, and
only a little straw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly
about it. I sat down upon the ground, thinking
him sick, not knowing what all this meant. He

INTERVIEW WITH FASIL. 295

looked steadfastly at me, saying, half under hi-
breath, ' Endet nawi ? bogo nawi ? ' which, in Am-
harie is, 4 How do you do ? are you very well ? ' I
made the usual answer, * Well, thank God.' He
again stopped, as for me to speak. There was only
one old man present, who was sitting on the floor,
mending a mule's bridle. I took him at first for an
attendant, but, observing that a servant, uncovered,
held a candle to him, I thought he was one of hi*
Galla ; but then I saw a blue silk thread, which he
had about his neck, which is a badge of Christianity
all over Abyssinia, and which a Galla would not
wear. What he was, I could not make out : he
seemed, however, to be a very bad cobbler, and took
no notice of us.

" ' I am come,' said I, ' by your invitation, and
the king's leave, to pay my respects to you in your
own government, begging that you would favour my
curiosity so far as to allow me to see the country of
the Agows, and the source of the Abay (or Nile),
part of which I have seen in Egypt.' ' The source
of the Abay ! ' exclaimed he, with a pretended sur-
' prise, fc do you know what you are saying? Why,
it is God knows where, in the country of the Galla,
wild, terrible people. The source of the Abay ! arc
you raving ? ' repeats he again : ' are you to get
there, do you think, in a twelvemonth, or more, or
when ? ' 4 Sir,' said I, ' the king told me it was
near Sacala, and still nearer Geesh ; both villages of
the Agows, and both in your government.' c And
so you know Sacala and Geesh ? ' says he, whistling
and half angry. ' I can repeat the names that I
hear,' said I ; 'all Abyssinia knows the head of the
Nile.' ' Ay,' says he, imitating my voice and
manner, ' but all Abyssinia won't carry you there,
that I promise you.' ' If you are resolved to the

296 LIFE OF BRUCE.

contrary/ said I, ' they will not : I wish you had
told the king so in time, then I should not have
attempted it ; it was relying upon you alone I came
so far — confident, if all the rest of Abyssinia could
not protect me there, that your word singly could
do it/

" He now put on a look of more complacency.
1 Look you, Yagoube,' says he, ' it is true I can do it;
and, for the king's sake, who recommended it to me,
I would do it ; but the chief priest, Abba Salama,
has sent to me, to desire me not to let you pass
further ; he says it is against the law of the land to
permit Franks, like you, to go about the country, and
that he has dreamed something ill will befal me, if
you go into Maitsha/ I was as much irritated as I
thought it possible for me to be. ' So, so,' said I,
' the time of priests, prophets, and dreamers, is coming
on again/ ' I understand you,' says he, laughing
for the first time ; ' I care as little for priests as
Michael does, and for prophets too, but I would have
you consider the men of this country are not like
yours ; a boy of these Galla w^ould think nothing of
killing a man of your country. You white people
are all effeminate ; you are like so many women ;
you are not fit for going into a province where all is
war, and inhabited by men, warriors from their
cradle/

" I saw he intended to provoke me ; and he had
succeeded so effectually, that I should have died, I
believe, if I had not, imprudent as it was, told him
my mind in reply. ' Sir,' said I, ' I have passed
through many of the most barbarous nations in the
world ; all of them, excepting this clan of yours, have
some great men among them, above using a defence-
less stranger ill. But the worst and lowest indivi-
dual among the most uncivilised people never treated

INTERVIEW WITH FASIL. 297

me as you have done to-day, under your own roof,
where I have come so far for protection.' He asked,
4 How?' 'You have, in the first place,' said I,
' publicly called me Frank, the most odious name in
this country, and sufficient to occasion me to be
stoned to death without further ceremony, by any
set of men, wherever I may present myself. By
Frank, you mean one of the Romish religion, to
which my nation- is as adverse as yours ; and again,
without having ever seen any of my countrymen but
myself, you have discovered, from that specimen,
that we are all cowards and effeminate people, like,
or inferior to, your boys or women. Look you, Sir,
you never heard that I gave myself out as more than
an ordinary man in my own country, far less to be a
pattern of what is excellent in it. I am no soldier,
though I know enough of war to see yours are poor
proficients in that trade. But there are soldiers,
friends and countrymen of mine, who would not
think it an action to vaunt of, that with five hun-
dred men they had trampled all your naked savages
into dust.' On this Fasil made a feigned laugh,
and seemed rather to take my freedom amiss. It
was, doubtless, a passionate and rash speech. 4 As
to myself,' continued I, ' unskilled in war as I am,
could it be now without further consequence, let me
but be armed in my own country-fashion, on horse-
back, as I was yesterday, I should, without thinking
myself over-matched, fight the two best horsemen
you shall choose from this your army of famous men,
who are warriors from their cradle ; and if, when the
king arrives, you are not returned to your duty, and
we meet again, as we did at Limjour, I will pledge
myself, with his permission, to put you in mind of
this promise, and leave the choice of these men in
your option.' This did not make things better.

298 LIFE OF BRUCE.

" He repeated the word duty after me, and would
have replied, but my nose burst out in a stream of
blood ; and, that instant, a servant took hold of me
by the shoulder, to hurry me out of the tent. Fasil
seemed to be a good deal concerned, for the blood
streamed out upon my clothes. I returned, then, to
my tent, and the blood was soon staunched by wash-
ing my face with cold water. I sat down to recollect
myself, and the more I calmed, the more I was dis-
satisfied at being put off my guard ; but it is impos-
sible to conceive the provocation without having
proved it. I have felt but too often how much the
love of our native soil increases by our absence from
it ; and how jealous we are of comparisons made to
the disadvantage of our countrymen by people, who,
all proper allowances being made, are generally not
their equals, when they would boast themselves their
superiors. I will confess further, in gratification to
my critics, that I was, from my infancy, of a sanguine,
passionate disposition ; very sensible of injuries that
I had neither provoked nor deserved ; but much re-
flection, from very early life, continual habits of suf-
fering in long and dangerous travels, where nothing
but patience would do, had, I flattered myself abun-
dantly, subdued my natural proneness to feel offences,
which common sense might teach me I could only
revenge upon myself.

" However, upon further consulting my own breast,
I found there was another cause that had co-ope-
rated strongly with the former in making me lose
my temper at this time, which, upon much greater
provocation, I had never done before. I found now,
as I thought, that it was decreed, decisively, my hopes
of arriving at the source of the Nile were for ever
ended ; all my trouble, all my expenses, all my
time, and all my sufferings for so many years, were

INTERVIEW WITH FASIL. 299

thrown away, from no greater obstacle than the
whimsies of one barbarian, whose good inclinations I
thought I had long before sufficiently secured ; and,
what was worse, I was now got within less than forty
miles of the place I so much wished to see; and my
hopes were shipwrecked upon the last, as well as the
most unexpected, difficulty I had to encounter."

Any liberal foreigner would surely have expected
that these apologies would have been more than
sufficient to have appeased at least Brace's country-
men, for the error he committed in having lost his
temper, when stopped by Fasil in his journey to the
sources of the Nile. Yet some of Brace's implacable
enemies have not only declared that his conversation
with Fasil is unnatural, and ought not, therefore, to be
believed, but have even thought it necessary to sup-
port this accusation, by denying that his nose could
have "streamed with blood" merely from anger.

With respect to the conversation, the only part of
it which seems at all extraordinary, is, that Bruce
having from passion acted wrong, frankly acknow-
ledged his error, -which people (particularly narrow-
minded people) certainly, in general, are not apt to
do. With respect to the ridiculous objection about
his nose, it need only be observed, that in crossing
high mountains, we have often observed even a mule's
nose to bleed ; and it is, therefore, very hard upon
Brace's nose to judge of it by common English rules,
when, nearly two miles above the level of the sea, it
was thus ploughing its course across the lofty moun-
tains of Abyssinia. We know that elevation may be
roughly estimated by the degree of heat at which
water boils. The nose is in like manner a man's
travelling barometer, and Brace's anecdote particu-
larly proves the height of the promontory on which
he stood.

300 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Bruce, leaving Fasil, retired to his tent, where he
shortly received from him two lean sheep, and a guard
of men to protect him during the night. In the
morning, twelve horses saddled and bridled were
brought to him by Fasil's servant, who asked him
which he would ride. Bruce left the man to select
for him a quiet horse, and forthwith mounted the
one which was offered to him.

" For the first two minutes after I mounted," says
Bruce, " I do not know whether I was most in the
earth or in the air ; he kicked behind, reared before,
leaped like a deer, all four off the ground, and it was
some time before I recollected myself; he then
attempted to gallop, taking the bridle in his teeth,
but got a check which staggered him ; he, however,
continued to gallop, and, finding I slacked the bridle
on his neck, and that he was at ease, he set off and
ran away as hard as he could, flinging out behind
every ten yards; the ground was very favourable,
smooth, soft, and up-hill. I then, between two hills,
half up the one and half up the other, wrought him
so that he had no longer either breath or strength,
and I began to think he would scarce carry me to
the camp.

" The poor beast made a sad figure, cut in the sides
to pieces, and bleeding at the jaws ; and the seis, the
rascal that put me upon him, being there when I
dismounted, held up his hands upon seeing the horse
so mangled, and began to testify great surprise upon
the supposed harm I had done. I took no notice of
this, only said, ' Carry that horse to your master ;
he may venture to ride him now, which is more than
either he or you dared to have done in the morning.' "

Bruce then mounted his own horse, and took with
him his double-barrelled gun. The Galla were en-
camped close to him, and anxious to raise himself in

INTERVIEW WITH FASIL. 301

the estimation of these wild people, by those sort of
feats which they most admire, he galloped about,
twisting and turning his horse in every direction.
A vast number of kites were following the camp,
living upon the carrion ; choosing two which were
gliding near him, he shot first one on the right, then
one on the left ; a great shout immediately followed
from the spectators, to which Bruce seemingly paid
no attention, pretending absolute indifference, as if
nothing extraordinary had been done.

Fasil was at the door of the tent, and, having seen
the shots and horsemanship, ordered the kites im-
mediately to be brought to him ; his servants had
laboured in vain to find the hole where the ball, with
which Bruce must needs have killed the birds, had
entered ; for none of them had ever seen small-shot,
and he took care not to undeceive them. Bruce had
no sooner entered his tent than he asked him, with
great earnestness, to show him where the ball had
gone through. Before this difficulty could be solved,
Fasil, perceiving the quantity of blood upon Brace's
trowsers, held up his hands, with a show of horror
and concern which plainly was not counterfeited :
he protested, by every oath he could devise, that he
knew nothing about the matter, and was asleep at
the time; that he had no horses with him worth
Brace's acceptance, except the one that he rode,
but that any horse known to be his, driven before
the traveller, would be a passport, and procure him
respect among all the wild people whom he might
meet, and for that reason only he had thought of
giving him a horse. He repeated his protestations
that he was innocent, and heartily sorry for the
accident, which, indeed, he appeared to be : adding,
that the groom was in irons, and that, before many
hours passed, he would put him to death. " Sir,"

302 LIFE OF BRUCE.

said Bruce, " as this man has attempted my life,
according to the laws of the country, it is I that
should name the punishment." "It is very true,"
replied Fasil, " take him, Yagoube, and cut him in a
thousand pieces, if you please, and give his body to
the kites." "Are you really sincere in what you
say," said I, " and will you have no after excuses ? "
He swore solemnly he would not. " Then," said I,
" I am a Christian : the way my religion teaches me
to punish my enemies is by doing good for evil ;
and, therefore, I keep you to the oath you have
sworn, and desire you to set the man at liberty, and
put him in the place he held before, for he has not
been undutiful to you."

Every one present seemed pleased with these
sentiments ; one of the attendants could not contain
himself, but turning to Fasil, said, " Did not I tell
you what my brother thought about this man ? He
was just the same all through Tigre." Fasil, in a low
voice, very justly replied, " A man that behaves as
he does may go through any country ! "

In an interview which Bruce afterwards had with
Fasil, he made him some handsome presents, for
which he appeared to be exceedingly grateful. " I
have nothing to return you for the present you have
given me," said Fasil, "for I did not expect to meet
a man like you here in the fields ; but you will
quickly be back ; we shall meet on better terms at
Gondar ; the head of the Nile is near at hand ; a
horseman, express, will arrive there in a day. I
have given you a good man, well known in this
country to be my servant; he will go to Geesh with
you, and return you to a friend of Ayto Aylo's and
mine, Shalaka Welled Amlac ; he has the dangerous
part of the country wholly in his hands, and will
carry you safe to Gondar ; my wife is at present in

INTERVIEW WITH FASIL.

liis house : fear nothing, I shall answer for your
sifrty. "When will you set out ? to-morrow?"

Bruce replied, with many thanks for his kindness,
" that he wished to proceed immediately, and that
his servants were already far on the way."

" You are very much in the right," says Fasil ;
" it was only in the idea that you were hurt with that
accursed horse that I would have wished you to stay
till to-morrow ; but throw off these bloody clothes ;
they are not decent ; I must give you new ones ;
you are my vassal. The king has granted you
Geesh, where you are going, and I must invest you."
A number of his servants hurried Bruce out, and he
was brought back in a few minutes to Fasil's tent,
with a fine loose muslin under-garment or cloth
round him, which reached to his feet. On his
coining back to the tent, Fasil took off the one that
he had put on himself new in the morning, and
placed it on Brace's shoulders with his own hand,
(his servants throwing another immediately over
him,) saying at the same time to the people, " Bear
witness, I give to you, Yagoube, the Agow Geesh,
as fully and freely as the king has given it me."
Bruce bowed and kissed his hand, as is customary
for feudatories, and he then pointed to him to sit
down.

u Hear what I say to you," continued Fasjl ; " I
tli ink it right for you to make the best of your way
now ; for you will be the sooner back at Gondar.
You need not be alarmed at the wild people you
speak of, who are going after you, though it is better
to meet them coming this way, than when they are
going to their homes; they are commanded by
"VVelleta Yasous, who is your friend, and is very
grateful for the medicines you sent him from Gondar :
he has not been able to see you, being so much

304 LIFE OF BRUCE.

busied with those wild people; but he loves you
and will take care of you, and you must give me
more of that physic when we meet at Gondar."
Bruce again bowed, and he continued- — " Hear me
what I say ; you see those seven people (I never
saw, says Bruce, more thief-like fellows in my life) ;
these are all leaders and chiefs of the Galla — savages,
if you please; they are all your brethren. You
may go through their country as if it were your own,
without a man hurting you : you will be soon related
to them all ; for it is their custom that a stranger
of distinction, like you, when he is their guest, sleeps
with the sister, daughter, or near relation of the
principal men among them. " I dare say," added
he, archly, " you will not think the customs of
the Galla contain greater hardships than those of
Amhara." Bruce dutifully bowed. Fasil then jab-
bered something to them in Galla. They all answered
by a wild scream or howl ; then struck themselves
upon the breast, as a mark of assent, and attempted
to kiss Bruce's hand. " Now," continued Fasil,
" before all these men, ask me anything you have at
heart, and, be it what may, they know I cannot
deny it you."

Bruce, of course, asked to be conducted imme-
diately to the head of the Nile. Fasil then turned
again to his seven chiefs, who got up : they all stood
round in a circle, and raised the palm of their hands,
while he and his Galla together repeated, with great-
apparent devotion, a prayer about a minute long.
" Now," says Fasil, "go in peace, you are a Galla ;
this is a curse upon them, and their children, their
corn, grass, and cattle, if ever they lift their hand
against you, or yours, or do not defend you to the
utmost if attacked by others, or endeavour to defeat
any design they may hear is intended against you."

VISITS THE JUMPER. 305

Upon this Bruce offered to kiss his hand, and they
all went to the door of the tent, where there stood
a very handsome grey horse, bridled and saddled.
" Take this horse," says Fasil, " as a present from me;
but do not mount it yourself, drive it before you,
saddled and bridled as it is ; no man of Maitsha will
touch you when he sees that horse." Bruce then
took leave of Fasil, and having, according to the
custom of the country towards superiors, asked per-
mission to mount on horseback before him, was
speedily out of sight.

On the 31st of October, Bruce and his little party
once more set out in search of the source of the
Nile ; Fasil's horse being driven before them — a
magician to lead them towards their object — an
/Egis to shield them on their way.

After travelling till one o'clock in the morning,
they reached a small village, near that dangerous
ford on the Nile which, with the king's army, Bruce
had before passed with so much difficulty. They
there found some of the Galla, commanded by a
robber called the Jumper. Bruce next morning
waited upon this personage, who was quite naked,
except a towel about his loins. When Bruee entered,
this hero was a this toilet : in other words, he was
nibbing melted tallow on his arms and body, and
plaiting his hair with the large and small entrails of
an ox, some of which hung like a necklace round his
throat. Bnice paid his respects ; but, overcome with
the perfume of blood and carrion, escaped as soon as
possible from his presence.

At the village of Maitsha, Bruce was informed
that, such was the dread these people entertained of
the small-pox, if it made its appearance in a villaofp,
the custom was at once to surround the house, set
fire to it, and burn both it and its inhabitants.
x

306 LIFE OF BRUCE.

After passing the Assar river, they entered the
province of Goutto, where they found the people
richer and better lodged than in the province of
Maitsha. The whole country is full of large and
beautiful cattle of all colours, and is finely shaded
with the acacia vera, or Egyptian thorn, the tree
which, in the sultry parts of Africa, produces the
gum-arabic. Beneath these trees were growing wild
oats, of such a prodigious height and size, that
they are capable of concealing both a horse and his
rider : some of the stalks were little less than an
inch in circumference, and they have, when ripe, the
appearance of small canes.

The soil is a fine, black, garden mould; and Bruce
supposes that the oat is here in its original state, and
that it is degenerated with us.

With these magnificent oats before him, Bruce
could not resist cooking some oat cakes, after the
fashion of Scotland ; but his companions, regarding
such dainties with all the disdain of a Dr. Johnson,
sighed ; and as the oatmeal in dust flew from their
mouths, they voted that the composition "was bitter —
that it burnt their stomachs, and made them thirsty."

Though the Galla guides paid but little attention
to Bruce, yet it was curious to observe the respect
they all showed to Fasil's horse. Some gave him
handfuls of barley, while others, with more refined
knowledge of the world, courted his favour "by
respectfully addressing him."

After passing several streams, they came to the
cataract, or cascade, of the Assar, which runs into
the Nile. This river is about eighty yards broad,
and the fall is about twenty feet. The stream covers
the rock over which it is precipitated, and the whole
river, in solemn magnificence, rushes with incredible
violence and with force irresistible.

FLOWERS AND BIRDS. 307

" The strength of vegetation," says Bruce, "which
the moisture of this river produces, supported by the
action of a very warm sun, is such as one might
naturally expect from theory, though we cannot help
being surprised at the effects when wre see them
before us ; trees and shrubs covered with flowers of
every colour, all new and extraordinary in their
shapes, crowded with birds of many uncouth forms,
all of them richly adorned with variety of plumage,
and seeming to fix their residence upon the banks of
this river, without a desire of wandering to any dis-
tance in the neighbouring fields. But as there is
nothing, though ever so beautiful, that has not some
defect or imperfection, among all these feathered
beauties there is not one songster ; and, unless of the
rose or jasmine kind, none of their flowers have any
smell ; we hear, indeed, many squalling, noisy birds
of the jay kind, and we find two varieties of wild
roses, white and yellow, to which I may add jasmine
(called Leham), which becomes a large tree ; but all
the rest may be considered as liable to the general
observation, that the flowers are destitute of odour,
and the birds of song."

After passing the Assar, and several villages be-
longing to Goutto, Bruce, on the 2nd of November,
1770, for the first time, obtained a distinct view
of the mountain of Geesh, the long-wished-for object
of his most dangerous and troublesome journey ;
and now, in sight of his goal, he bent firmly for *
wards, and proceeded with redoubled strength and
determination.

The Nile was before him, and he now joyfully
descended to its banks, which were ornamented on
the west with high trees of the salix or willow tribe,
while on the east appeared " black, dark, and thick
groves, wTith craggy, pointed rocks, and overshadcd
x 2

308 LIFE OF BRUCE.

with old, tall timber trees, going to decay with age :
a very rude and awful face of nature ; a cover from
which fancy suggested that a lion might issue,
or some animal or monster yet more savage and
ferocious."

Having reached the passage, the old inhabitants,
in whose hearts a veneration for their river seemed
to be more firmly rooted than the more recent doc-
trines of Christianity, crowded to the ford, and pro-
tested against any man's riding across the stream
either on a horse or mule. They insisted that Bruce
and his party should take off their shoes, and they
even made a sign that they would stone those who
attempted to wash the dirt from their clothes or
trowsers. The servants naturally returned rudeness
for rudeness ; " but," says Bruce, " I sat by, exceed-
ingly happy at having so unexpectedly found the
remnants of veneration for that ancient deity still
subsisting in such vigour."

The people now asked Woldo, Brace's guide from
Fasil, to pay them for carrying over the baggage and
instruments. In a most violent passion the man
threw away his pipe, and seizing a stick, exclaimed
— " Who am I then ? a girl, a woman, a Pagan dog,
like yourselves ? and who is TVaragna Fasil ? are
you not his slaves ? But you want payment, do
you?" — upon which he flew upon them, and beat
them. Not contented with this, he then pretended
that these poor people had robbed him of some
money — which they consented to pay to him, fearing
lest some fine or heavy chastisement should fall upon
their village.

As Bruce proceeded, he had some little difficulty
in obtaining meat or provisions of any sort ; for, al-
though these poor people, with the utmost curiosity,
would have flocked around him if they had known

VISITS A CATARACT. 309

that he was a stranger from Gondar, yet the sight
of Fasil's horse drove them away, for they fancied
that some contribution was to be levied upon them.

Bruce, being now within the sound of a cataract
which he was desirous to visit, took the liberty of
mounting Fasil's horse, and, with a single guide, he
galloped about four or five miles to see it ; but he was
disappointed in its appearance, the river being only
about sixty yards broad, and the fall only sixteen feet.
On his return, he found that a cow was about to be
killed for his party. Woldo had managed to discover
one by bellowing through his hands, in a manner
which induced the unfortunate animal to reply, and
the hiding-place, in which she had been concealed
by her owner, was thus detected.

Bruce now thought it proper to inform "W oldo that
the king had granted to him the small territory of
Geesh, and that it was his intention to forgive to its
poor inhabitants the taxes which they had been in
the habit of paying : a sublime act, which, to "Woldo's
palate, savoured very much of the ridiculous ; for he
not v only highly and conscientiously approved of
taxes, but appeared to agree in opinion with the
Englishman, whose little pamphlet in favour of the
same subject commenced with — " It is in the nature
of taxes, as it is in the nature of lead, to be heavy !"
Bruce, however, insisting that the burden should be
relieved, Woldo reluctantly yielded to his mandate.

The next day, the 3rd of November, they pro-
ceeded through a plain, covered with acacias. Several
of the tops of these trees had been cut off, for the
purpose of making baskets for bees, which were hung
outside the houses, like bird-cages : numerous hives
were at work, and although they took no notice of
the inhabitants, yet they waged war against Bruce
and his party, and stung them very severely.

310 LIFE OF BRUCE.

After, passing some hills, they descended into a
large plain full of marshes. " In this plain," says
Bruce, " the Nile winds more in the space of four
miles than, I believe, any river in the world : it
makes above a hundred turns in that distance, one
of which advances so abruptly into the plain, that we
concluded we must pass it, and were preparing ac-
cordingly, when we saw it make as sharp a turn to the
right, and run far on in a contrary direction, as if we
were never to have met it again. The Nile here is not
above twenty feet broad, nor more than a foot deep.

In crossing the plain of Goutto, the sun had been
intensely hot, and here it became so dreadfully op-
pressive, that it quite overcame them all. Even
Woldo declared himself to be ill, and talked of going-
no farther : however, by Brace's persuasions, they
pushed towards three ranges of mountains, among
which were situated the small village of Geesh, and
the long-expected fountains of the Nile.

Bruce says — " This triple ridge of mountains, dis-
posed one range behind the other, nearly in form of
portions of three concentric circles, seems to suggest
an idea that they are the Mountains of the Moon,
or the Montes Lunce of antiquity, at the foot of which
the Nile was said to rise ; in fact, there are no others.
Amid -amid may perhaps exceed half a mile in height ;
they certainly do not arrive at three-quarters, and are
greatly short of that fabulous height given them by
Kircher. These mountains are all of them excellent
soil, and everywhere covered with fine pasture ; but
as this unfortunate country had been for ages the
seat of war, the inhabitants have only ploughed and
sown the top of them, out of the reach of enemies
or marching armies. On the middle of the mountain
are villages built of a white sort of grass, which makes
them conspicuous at a great distance ; the bottom is

VILLAGE OF GEESH. 311

all grass, where their cattle feed continually under
their eye ; these, upon any alarm, they drive up to
the top of the mountains, out of danger. The hail
lies often upon the top of Amid-amid for hours, but
snow was never seen in this country, nor have they
a word in their language for it. It is also remarkable,
though we had often violent hail at Gondar, and when
the sun was vertical, it never came but with the
wind blowing directly from Amid-amid."

As they proceeded the people continued to fly
from their little villages, scared by the appearance
of Fasil's horse. In one village they found only one
earthen pot containing food, w7hich Bruce took pos-
session of, leaving in its place a wedge of salt, which,
strange to say, is still used as small money in Gondar,
and all over Abyssinia. The following day they
proceeded, and although they saw no inhabitants, yet
they often heard voices whispering among the trees
and canes. Bruce made many endeavours to catch
^omc of these people in order to apprise them of the
real object of his visit, but " equo ne credite Teucri !"
it was quite impossible, for they fled much faster
than he could follow.

He, therefore, determined to conceal Fasil's horse,
that scarecrow which created such universal alarm ;
but as it is considered treason at Gondar, to sit on
the king's chair, or on his saddle, Woldo was for
some time very anxious to maintain inviolate the
dignity of his master. Bruce compromised the
matter by proposing to ride upon his own saddle,
and with this proviso mounted Fasil's horse.

After coasting for some little time along the side
of a valley, they began to ascend a mountain, and,
reaching its summit about noon, came in sight of
Sacala, which joins the village of Geesh. Shortly
after wards they passed the Googueri, a stream' of

312 LIFE OF BRUCE.

about sixty feet broad, and about eighteen inches
deep, very clear and rapid, running over a rugged,
uneven bottom of black rock. At a quarter past
twelve, they halted on a small eminence, where the
market of Sacala is held every Saturday. Horned
cattle, many of the highest possible beauty, with
which all this country abounds, large asses, honey,
butter, ensete for food, and a manufacture of the leaf
of that plant, painted with different colours like
mosaic-work, for mats, were here exposed for sale
in great plenty.

At a quarter after one o'clock they passed the
river Gometti, the boundary of the plain : they were
now ascending a very steep and rugged mountain,
the worst pass they had met on the whole journey.
They had no other path but a road made by the
sheep or the goats, which had no appearance of
having been frequented by men ; for it was broken,
full of holes, and in other places obstructed with
large stones that seemed to have been there from the
creation. Besides this the whole was covered with
thick wood, which often occupied the very edge of
the precipices on which they stood, and they were
everywhere stopped and entangled by that execrable
thorn the kantuffa, and several other thorns and
brambles nearly as inconvenient. Bruce ascended,
however, with great alacrity, as he conceived he was
surmounting the last difficulty of the many thousands
he had been doomed to struggle with.

At three-quarters after one they arrived at the top
of the mountain, from whence they had a distinct
view of all the remaining territory of Sacala, the
mountain of Geesh, and the church of St. Michael
Geesh. " Immediately below us," says Bruce, " ap-
peared the Nile itself, strangely diminished in size,
and now only a brook that had scarcely water to turn

RETURN OF WOLDO. 313

a mill. I could not satiate myself with the sight,
revolving in my mind all those classical prophecies
that had given the Nile up to peqDetual obscurity
and concealment/'

Bruce was roused from this reverie by an alarm
that Woldo the guide was missing. The servants
could not agree when they saw him last. Strates
the Greek with another of the party were in the
wood shooting, but they soon appeared without
Woldo. They said that they had seen some enor-
mous shaggy apes or baboons without tails, several
of which were walking upright, and they, therefore,
concluded, either that these creatures had torn Woldo
to pieces, or that he was lagging behind for some
purpose of treachery; however, while they were thus
talking, Woldo was seen approaching, pretending to
be very ill, and declaring that he could go no farther.
Bruce was at this moment occupied in sketching a
yellow rose tree, several of which species were hang-
ing over the river.

" The Nile," he says, " here is not four yards over,
and not above four inches deep where we crossed ; it
was indeed become a very trifling brook, but ran
swiftly over a bottom of small stones, with hard
black rock appearing amongst them : it is at this
place very easy to pass, and very limpid, but a little
lower, full of inconsiderable falls ; the ground rises
gently from the river to the southward, full of small
hills and eminences, which you ascend and descend
almost imperceptibly. The day had been very hot
for some hours, and my party were sitting in the
shade of a grove of magnificent cedars, intermixed
with some very large and beautiful cusso-trees, all in
flower ; the men were lying on the grass, and the
beasts fed with their burdens on their backs in most
luxuriant herbage." Above was a small ford, where

314 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the Nile was so narrow that Bruce had stepped across
it more than fifty times : it had now dwindled to the
size of a common mill-stream.

When Woldo came to Bruce, he declared he way
too ill to proceed, but this imposition being detected,
he then confessed that he was afraid to enter Geesh,
having once killed several of its inhabitants ; however,
Bruce gave him a very handsome sash, which lie
took, making many apologies. " Come, come," said
Bruce, " we understand each other ; no more words ;
it is now late ; lose no more time, but carry me to
Geesh, and the head of the Nile directly, without
preamble, and show me the hill that separates me
from it. He then carried me round to the soutli
side of the church, out of the grove of trees that
surrounded it. . . . ' This is the hill,' says he, looking
archly, ' that, when you were on the other side of it,
was between you and the fountains of the Nile ; there
is no other. Look at that hillock of green sod in the
middle of that watery spot; IT is IN THAT THE TWO

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE ARE TO BE FOUND! Geesll

is on the face of the rock where yon green trees are.
If you go the length of the fountains, pull off your
shoes, as you did the other day, for these people are
all Pagans, -worse than those who were at the ford ;
and they believe in nothing that you believe, but
only in this river, to which they pray every day
as if it were God; but this perhaps you may do
likewise.' "

" Half undressed as I wTas, by loss of my sash, and
throwing my shoes off, I ran down the hill, towards
the little island of green sods, which was about two
hundred yards distant ; the whole side of the hill
was thick grown with flowers, the large bulbous roots
of which appearing above the surface of the ground,
and their skins coming off on treading upon them,

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 315

occasioned me two very severe falls before I reached
the brink of the marsh. I after this came to the
altar of green turf, which was in form of an altar,
apparently the work of art, and I stood in rapture
over the principal fountain, which rises in the middle
of it.

" It is easier to guess than to describe the situation
of my mind at that moment — standing in that spot
which had baffled the genius, industry, and inquiry
of both ancients and moderns for the course of near
three thousand years ! Kings had attempted this
discovery at the head of armies, and each expedition
was distinguished from the last only by the difference
of the numbers which had perished, and agreed alone
in the disappointment which had uniformly and
without exception followed them all. Fame, riches,
and honour, had been held out for a series of ages to
every individual of those myriads these princes
commanded, without having produced one man capa-
ble of gratifying the curiosity of his sovereign, or
wiping off this stain upon the enterprise and abilities
of mankind, or adding this desideratum for the
encouragement of geography. Though a mere
private Briton, I triumphed here, in my own mind,
over kings and their armies! and every comparison
was leading nearer and nearer to presumption, when
the place itself where I stood, the object of my vain-
glory, suggested what depressed my short-lived
triumph. I was but a few minutes arrived at the
sources of the Nile, through numberless dangers
and sufferings, the least of which would have over-
whelmed me, but for the continual goodness and pro-
tection of Providence. — I was, however, but then half
through my journey, and all those dangers which I
had already passed, awaited me again on my return —
I found a despondency gaining ground fast upon

316 LIFE OF BRUCE.

me, and blasting the crown of laurels I had too
rashly woven for myself."

There is nothing which stamps authenticity more
strongly in Brace's narrative than the artless sim-
plicity with which he writes, and it is only justice to
infer, that he, who so honestly expresses what he feels,
must surely be equally faithful in relating what he
sees ; for how many more inducements have we to
conceal the one fact than the other! To describe
what we see is an easy and no unpleasing task ; but
to unbosom our feelings is almost always to expose
our weakness ! But Bruce has no concealments ; and
his thoughts and sentiments, whatever they are, are
always frankly thrown before his reader. How very
natural are his feelings on reaching the fountains of
the Nile, and what a serious moral they offer ! For
a few moments he riots in the extravagance of his
triumph, exulting that a Briton has done what kings
and armies had been unable to perform, and yet he
adds that he suddenly found himself overpowered
with a melancholy which, at such a moment, may at
first appear to many to be even more unnatural and
incredible than any of the very singular scenes which
he has described; nevertheless, as the artless child
of nature, how much real cause had he for such
feelings ! It may sound strange to hear Bruce dread-
ing, on his return, dangers which, in advancing, he
so carelessly and daringly encountered ; but he had
then his object to gain — the inestimable prize was to
be won — to his ardent imagination it was constantly
before him, decked with ten thousand charms, and
beckoning to him to advance ; but when he gained
the spot, he suddenly awoke from his distempered
dream — the vision had vanished — nothing remained
before him but u a hillock of green sod;" and then,
with Byron, well might he exclaim,

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 317

The lovely toy, so keenly sought,
Has lost its charms by being caught.

The Nile was now at an end ! — Bruce had no longer
to fly towards its source on the light wings of
expectation ; but, like the bee laden with its honey,
he had to carry his burden to his distant hive ; and,
thus encumbered, his shattered frame worn by fa-
tigue, exhausted by a burning sun, and no longer
supported by the excitement of his mind, he naturally
trembled at the dangers that threatened to intercept
him.

The texture of the human mind is so delicately
fine, that it is often affected by causes which to the
judgment are imperceptible; and although Bruce
does not declare it, yet it is but too probable that his
melancholy sprang mainly from the thought, how
little, after all, his discovery was worth the trouble
it had cost him. It had, indeed, " baffled the genius,
industry, and inquiry, of both ancients and moderns,
for near three thousand years," and it was equally
true that " a mere private Briton had triumphed
over kings and their armies;" but, after all, did
the source of the Nile really in creation rank as
an object worthy of such an attention ? What
proportion did a narrow stream (which could have
flowed through a pipe of two inches in diameter)
bear to that vast rolling mass of waters which gave
fertility to Egypt ? Was the " hillock of green sod
before him" actually the source of that immense
river, or did it only nourish one insignificant member
of an innumerable congregation of streams, most of
which issued not from the earth, but fell, like the
dew, from heaven ? In short, had not human
curiosity been pushed too far — had it made any
other discovery than its own weakness ? for if it be
+rue that the north Etesian winds blow the Meditcr-

318 LIFE OF BRUCE.

ranean clouds to burst on the mountains of Abyssinia,
their waters to be again restored to that distant sea,
is not the Nile like the serpent whose tail is in his
mouth — an emblem of eternity ? and in this great
circle may it not be said, why is Geesh alone to
assume importance ?

Bruce, drooping, bending in despondency over the
fountains of the Nile, must ever form a most striking
picture, exemplifying the real practical difference
whicli exists between moral and religious exertions ;
for although, among men, he had gained his prize, it
may justly be asked what was it worth ? The course
of a river is like the history of a man's life. All of
it that is useful to us is worth knowing ; but the
source of the one is the birth of the other, and " the
hillock of green sod" is the "infant mewling and
puking in its nurse's arms."

There is, however, no adversity, no disappoint-
ment in life, that does not leave behind it some
serious, useful moral; and although one vessel
founders and sinks, yet its masts often stand in the
shoal water — beacons to warn others of its fate.
While the little village of Geesh is yet before the
reader, and while he joins with Bruce in feelings of
" despondency," let us for one moment pause again to
reflect on those theories of the present day, in support
of which victim after victim is still sent, to hunt for
minute objects which are, most unfortunately, of no
more real sterling value than that before him. At
the bottom of the sea we might, indeed, expect to
find " wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearls,
unvalued jewels ;" but at the north pole of the earth,
or in the equally lifeless deserts of Africa, what are
we to find but the death which Bruce escaped, or the
disappointment which he experienced ? "We all know
that men. like bull-dogs, may be set at anything,

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 319

but is it right that their courage and determination
should, for the sake of any man's theory, however
ingeniously supported, be pitted against objects which
are worthless, and after all too strong for them?
" Dulce et decorum est pro patrid mori" yet the life
even of the most humble citizen should be spared,
unless it can gain for his nation at least its equiva-
lent ; and surely no liberal person will say that those
who have lately perished in search of " the grand
African problem of our day," have given information
which, in a generous country, should be considered
as valuable as their lives.

It must be too evident that our African travellers
have lately been running in blinkers, on iron rail-
ways, to support a little contracted theory which no
Englishman (or what before the world is much more
discreditable to us) — no foreigner can now refuse to
worship without being subjected to personal and very
illiberal abuse. In obedience to this system, it has
already been shown that poor Denham (like Major
Laing) was persuaded to attempt to penetrate the
immense continent of Africa in the ill-adapted dress
of " an English country gentleman" — garments which,
however deservedly they may be respected in this
country, are, in Central Africa, not only totally un-
known, but appear hateful, grotesque, and barbarous
beyond the power of description. Again, we know
that when Captain Clapperton, after the death of his
worthy, unassuming, and excellent companion, Dr.
Oudney, at last succeeded in reaching Saccatoo, the
Sultan Bello, who evidently received him with the
very greatest suspicion, " inquired (Denham, vol. ii.
p. 309) if the king of England would give him a
couple of guns, with ammunition and some rockets?"
" I assured him," says Clapperton, " of his Majesty's
compliance with his wishes, if he would consent to

320 LIFE OF BRUCE.

put down the Slave Trade on the Coast!" In abruptly
proposing this most singular bargain, Clapperton was
only an honest sentinel at his post ; but might he not
as well have asked the Sultan to abjure his religion ?
for what should we say to a stranger who should
arrive among us from an almost unknown country, to
request that we should, in return for such a trifling
present, give up slavery even in our own colonies ?

That the slavery of Africa is deplorable, no one is
disposed to deny ; but even in this religious, moral,
reflecting, and free country, we are told that it abso-
lutely cannot suddenly be abolished. How, then,
could it ever have been supposed that the universal
system of the vast, unknown continent of Africa (a
system which we have humbly endeavoured to show
is produced by physical causes : namely, immense
deserts and feverish regions which keep the human
mind as barren and putrid as themselves) could be
suddenly overturned — that such a gigantic, unheard-
of moral revolution could be effected, in return for " a
couple of guns," £c., to oblige an individual pro-
fessing a detested creed — and coming from a nation
which, after all, absolutely supports slavery itself?
The African traveller has surely difficulties enough,
without quixotically encountering the very greatest
prejudice of the country !

But in all countries under the sun, there is, most
surely, one great road which leads directly to every
man's heart, namely, his own interest. And in Africa,
if we would but resolve to travel on that road, " to
be a light to lighten the Gentiles," we might then,
with some reason, pride ourselves on being " Britons
and Christians." If we were calmly to impart to
these ignorant people the valuable information we
possess — if we were to satisfy them that our object
is really to do them good — to give them gratis the

SUGGESTIONS TO TRAVELLERS. 321

inestimable benefits which science can bestow upon
rude labour ; if we were to offer to the poor woman a
wheel for her draw-well — to show people who pound
their corn in a mortar, a more simple method by
which they might grind it — if we would, by a common
filter, sweeten for them impure water, and by a herb
lull the painful disorder which it creates — if we would
come forward to replace a dislocated limb — and on a
much larger scale, if we would explain to these peo-
ple, that, by a very simple operation immense portions
of their vast country , might either be irrigated or
drained, and that even their climate might thus be
purified — if we could show them manure lying un-
known before them — in short, if on great subjects, as
well as small, we were chemically and mechanically to
assist them, we should undoubtedly find that the value
and good qualities of a mind truly civilised would,
rising to its proper level, be in Africa, as elsewhere,
fully appreciated — that our fame would justly extend
— and that every tribe and nation would be eager to
receive us.

But on the other hand, if, instead of conferring
benefits, we invade these people for narrow, selfish,
and suspicious objects, the value of wrhich, as rational
beings, they cannot possibly comprehend — if we tell
them that we have come from a most distant country
to discover the source of their rivers — to carry away
a copy of their temples, or to make mysterious notes
and observations on the stars — that we want also
specimens of their grubs, insects, and plants — in short,
that we seek

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
T-i/ard's log, and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble —
Y

322 LIFE OF BRUCE.

what can we justly expect but the persecution which
the search of these objects actually brought upon its
devotees even in England, in the century of " Demon-
ology and Witchcraft" which has so lately ended ?

But if, going far beyond all this, we are to give
positive, as well as negative, grounds of offence — if
our political travellers, entering a capital dressed in
gaiters, and round hats, are to cry, " Down with
slavery!" and our missionaries, in sable garments,
are equally prematurely to exclaim, " Down with your
religion !" may it not fairly be asked, does our non-
intercourse with the Africans proceed from their
prejudiced and uncivilised conduct — or our own ?

Those who seem still determined to support such
desperate theories ought surely to be desired, like
Bruce, to go themselves, for certainly nothing can he
more ominous, or smell more rankly of theory, than
a few individuals encountering danger by deputy, and
shrinking from the execution of a project which each
of them so eloquently recommends. Traveller after
traveller in Africa, jaded, worn out, and exhausted,
yet still leaning against his collar, nobly pushes for-
ward, until Death sends to inform us that he can do
no more.

Et Tartuffe ? Et Tartuffe ! il se porte h merveille !
Gros et gras, le teint frais, et la bouche vermeille.

Whether joint-stock companies make money or
lose it, matters but little ; but when theorists and
speculators meddle, trifle with, misdirect and expend
the lives of such useful men as Tuckey, Hawkey,
Eyre, Ritchie, Oudney, Denham, Clapperton, Pearce,
Laing, &c. &c. &c., the subject becomes one of very
serious consideration.

Caillie, a Frenchman, has at last succeeded in not
only reaching Timbuctoo, but surviving to describe

APPEARANCE OF TIMBUCTOO. 323

it ; and his account of this capital, which was one of
" the grand problems of the day," not only most
forcibly reminds us of the " hillock of green sod," but,
when compared with the sad fate of those who have
perished in search of it, fills us with those very
" feelings of despondency," which Bruce has so art-
lessly described.

" I looked around," says Caillie, " and found that
the sight before me did not answer my expectations.
I had formed a totally different idea of the grandeur
and wealth of Timbuctoo. The city presented, at
first view, nothing but a mass of ill-looking houses,
built of earth. Nothing was to be seen in all direc-
tions but immense plains of quicksand of a yellowish
white colour. The sky was a pale red as far as the
horizon : all nature wore a dreary aspect, and the
most profound silence prevailed ; not even the war-
bling of a bird was to be heard." " This

mysterious city, which has been an object of curi-
osity for so many ages, and of whose population,
civilisation, and trade with the Soudan, such exag-
gerated notions have prevailed, is situated in an im-
mense plain of white sand, having no vegetation, but
stunted trees and shrubs, such as the mimosa ferru-
ginea, which grows no higher than three or four
feet."

Such then is Timbuctoo ! and can any one read
the above description of it without acknowledging

'Tis time to sheathe the sword and spare mankind !

But after all, after the death of travellers whose
memory we cannot but respect, and with whose
sufferings and hardships we must surely all have
sympathised, is it not an insult to the noble profes-
sion to which they belonged, and to the service in
which they expired*, that " discovery," as it is termed,
y 2

324 LIFE OF BRUCE.

should now be officially committed to an individual,
who (although he may be an excellent, worthy,
faithful man) is nevertheless only known to the
world as having been — Clapperton's valet !

And is it then come to this ? In England are
there no gentlemen left ? No enterprising men of
birth, science, and education, to whom the country
can apply ? Among those groups of our half-pay
officers, who stand muffled in their thread-bare cloaks
asking only for " employment," are there not hun-
dreds who would be willing, on a proper service, to
encounter danger ? On the Continent shall it be
said, that our naval, diplomatic, and military services
are invariably directed by men of honour and dis-
tinction, but that in the cause of science and dis-
covery we send our menials ? Is it not an insult to
foreign travellers to ask them to live and communi-
cate with individuals with whom we ourselves would
decline to associate ? Are they fit members for their
honourable club ?

To an inquisitive African sultan, in whose bar-
barous opinion a servant is a slave, is it a proper com-
pliment to send a person that HE most surely cannot
look upon without contempt ? But this is not all :
how can we expect, generally speaking, that men who
have passed their lives in servile dependence can
possibly possess that steady independence of mind
without which a traveller is indeed but the " servant"
of him who sends him — viewing every thing with his
master's eyes — supporting his theory, whatever that
may be — and, like the Persian ambassador, declarino-
wherever he goes, that he is the distingiiished
favourite of some " Cousin germain du soleil et oncle
de la lune !"

If ever a man's mind requires the support and
assistance of a liberal education, it is surely in judg-

AFRICAN DISCOVERY. 325

in^ correctly of unknown countries ; for the idolatrous
attention he may receive in one place, the inde-
scribable insults to which he may be exposed in
another, the amusements which in some places may
await him, and the hunger, thirst, and fatigue, which
in other spots may afflict him, all tend to injure
the impartiality of his judgment. It is hard to
think well of the land in which one has been
spit upon and reviled — it is difficult to think ill of
the country in which one has been richly fed;
and besides the head thus taking offence at any
neglect which has been offered to the stomach, how
often even does the heart shed a fictitious halo
round a spot which possesses any object of its
attraction ?

Under such circumstances, not only to preserve
equanimity, but, until the whole country has been
seen, to suspend the judgment which we all know is
ever eager to rush to a hasty conclusion, and to pro-
nounce its petty verdict before the evidence is con-
cluded, must surely be no easy task ; and yet it is to
perform this task that we are now it seems to send
our servants !

If a servant happen to be shipwrecked on a strange
coast, his unprejudiced observations, as far as they
go, may deserve great attention, but it is altogether
a different case when he is sent by any particular
party, for then his uneducated mind appears in its
true colours — the livery of his employers : and if this
i- not the case — if birth and education are worth
nothing, the whole fabric of society must surely coma
to an end ; for why may not any man claim a high
situation in the corps diplomatique, army, or navy, it'
his fellow-servant is deemed capable of succeeding
-noli men as Colonel Denham, Captain Clapperton,
Dr.Oudney, Lieutenant Toole, Major Laing, £c. £c. ?

326 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Whatever is worth doing has always hitherto been
considered as worthy of being done well.

But this sad necessity to which we are reduced
clearly shows the narrow plan upon which we have
been acting. The discovery of Africa on the system
on which it has been conducted, deserted by men of
rank or education, is now at its last gasp — it has
literally bled to death ; and the greatest and strongest
proof of its desperate case is, that the very party
which is now " impatiently waiting for the important
accounts*, which are to arrive from (Jlappertons
servant and his brother, are heaping most unjusti-
fiable abuse upon poor Caillie for being illiterate ! J"
Admitting that Caillie is as illiterate even as a
servant, how comes it that, with so little but his own
feeble funds, he reached and returned in triumph
from Timbuctoo — a feat which poor Laing and our
English-dressed travellers have all in succession been
unable to perform ? The answer which Caillie gives
to the above question is as simple as that given by
the pilgrim who boiled his peas. . . . "I WORE A
TURBAN !" .... So much for the little-hat-coat-
waistcoat-breeches-and-gaiter theory of our day !

We have now concluded a few observations which
have naturally flowed from the fountains of the Nile.
That they contain more bitterness than that pure
water we very readily admit ; but it requires alkali to
neutralise acidity — if a man's deliberate object is to
oppose a small party which is merciless in its obser-
vations towards those who oppose it, he can know
but little of the world, (" Croyex-vous done, Monsieur,
quon fasse de$ revolutions avec de I'eau de rose ?")

* We understand that very unsatisfactory " accounts " have
lately arrived, :md that the " savans " abroad are most properly
drawing very freely on the " dcmi-savans " at home, on the prin-
ciple of " Eat-, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die !"

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 327

if in doing anything he docs not resolve to do
his utmost — and, most conscientiously believing the
whole theory to be erroneous, as a faithful tribute of
ivspuct to those travellers who have already perished,
and for the sake of those young men who might yet
thoughtlessly be induced to risk their lives and con-
stitutions on so forlorn a hope, we acknowledge that
it has been our humble endeavour to expose so vain
and so merciless a system.

But to return to Bruce. He soon recovered from
his despondency ; he could not reason it away ; and
he says, " I resolved, therefore, to divert it, till -I
could, on more solid reflection, overcome its progress.
I saw Strates expecting me on the side of the hill.
4 Strates,' said I, ' faithful squire ! come and tri-
umph with your Don Quixote at that island of Bara-
taria to which we have most wisely and fortunately
brought ourselves ! Come and triumph with me over
all the kings of the earth, all their armies, all their
philosophers, and all their heroes !' ' Sir,' says
Strates, ' I do not understand a word of what you
say, and as little what you mean : you very well know
I am no scholar. But you had much better leave
that bog : come into the house, and look after Woldo;
I fear he has something further to seek than your
Mish, for he has been talking with the old devil- wor-
-hipper ever since we arrived/ * Come,' said I,
' take a draught of this excellent water, and drink
with me a health to his Majesty King George III.,
and a long line of princes.' I had in my hand a large
cup, made of a cocoa-nut shell, which I procured in
Arabia, and which was brim-full*. He drank to
the king speedily and cheerfully, with the addition of
4 confusion to his enemies,' and tossed up his cap

* This shell was brought home by Bruce, and is still preserved.

328 LIFE OF BRUCE.

with a loud huzza. ' Now, friend,' said I, < here Is
to a more humble, but still a sacred name ; here is
to — Maria*!' He asked if that was the Virgin
Mary ? I answered, ' In faith, I believe so, Strates.'
He did not speak, but only gave a humph of disappro-
bation. c Come, come,' said I, ' don't be peevish, I
have but one toast more to drink.' ' Peevish or not
peevish,' replied Strates, ' a drop of it shall never
again across my throat : there is no humour in this
— no joke. Show us something pleasant, as you
used to do ; but there is no jest in meddling with
devil-worshippers, witchcraft and enchantments, to
bring some disease upon one's self here, so far from
home, in the fields. No, no ; as many toasts in
wine as you please, or better in brandy, but no more
water for Strates.'"

A number of the Agows had appeared upon the
hill, just before the valley, in silent astonishment at
what Strates and Bruce could possibly be doing at
the altar. Two or three only had come down to the
edge of the swamp, and had seen the grimaces and
action of Strates ; on which they had asked Woldo,
as he entered into the village, what was the meaning
of all this ? Woldo told them that the man was only
out of his senses, having been bitten by a mad dog ;
with which they were perfectly satisfied, observing,
that he would be infallibly cured by the Nile ; but
that the proper mode of curing such a misfortune
was to drink the water in the morning fasting. " I
was very well pleased," says Bruce, " both with this
turn Woldo gave the action, and the remedy we
stumbled upon by mere accident, which discovered a
connexion, believed to subsist at this day, between
this river and its ancient governor, the dog-star."

* A lady in England, to whom Bruce was very deeply attached.

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 329

After this scene of affected cheerfulness, Bruce
retired to his tent, where he was again haunted by
the reflections which he had in vain endeavoured to
shake off. He says, " Relaxed, not refreshed, by un-
quiet and imperfect sleep, I started from my bed in
the utmost agony. I went to the door of my tent ;
everything was still ; the Nile, at whose head I
stood, was not capable either to promote or to inter-
rupt my slumbers ; but the coolness and serenity of
the night braced my nerves, and chased away those
phantoms that, while in bed, had oppressed and tor-
mented me."

Bruce remained at Geesh four days, during which
time he was constantly occupied in making various
surveys and astronomical observations. It appears
from them that " the hillock of green sod " is in the
middle of a smail marsh of about eighty yards broad ;
it is about three feet high, and about twelve feet in
diameter, surrounded by a wall of sod, at the foot of
which there is a narrow trench, which collects the
water. In the middle of this hillock there is a hole,
filled with water, which has no ebullition or percepti-
ble motion of any kind on its surface : this hole is
about three feet in diameter, and about six feet deep.
About ten feet from the hillock there is a second
small fountain, about eleven inches in diameter, and
eight feet deep ; and at twenty feet there is another
hole, some two feet broad and six feet deep. These
holes, or altars, are surrounded by walls of sod, like
the former. The water from all these joins ; and the
quantity, Bruce says, " would have filled a pipe of
about two inches in diameter."

The result of about forty observations places these
fountains in north latitude 10° 59' 25", and 36° 55'
30" east longitude. The mercury in the barometer
stood at twenty-two inches, which indicates an alti-

330 LIFE OF BRUCE.

tude above the level of the sea of more than two
miles. The thermometer, on the 6th of November, in
the morning was 4t°, at noon 96°, and at sun-set 46°.

Having now given the result of Brace's observa-
tions, it is necessary to make a few very general re-
marks upon the subject.

There is, perhaps, no geographical problem which
has occupied the attention of so many ages as the
discovery of the sources of the Nile. If the Nile had
flowed through a rich and an inhabited country, the
information required would, like the water itself, have
rushed rapidly from its source to its mouth ; but in
the great sandy desert of Nubia the problem was
absorbed, and the river, thus flowing in mysterious
solitude and silence, reached Egypt— having left its
history behind it.

The curiosity, therefore, not only of the Egyptians,
but of strangers of all countries, was constantly ex-
cited. The fruitless attempt of Cambyses to pene-
trate Ethiopia — the eager inquiries which Alexander
is said to have made on his first arrival at the temple
of Jupiter Ammon, and the expedition of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, are the most ancient of these inquiries,
which were occasionally the subject of discussion to
the time of Bruce, and from his death up to the
present day.

If a river, like a canal, was as broad and valuable
at one end as at the other, its source would be a point
of as much importance as its mouth ; but we have
just received an idea of what the source of a river
really is, and in words, it may be defined to be that
spot from which the most remote particle of its water
proceeds.

In a populous country like England, where almost
every field has been the subject of a lawsuit, and
where everything is surveyed with the most scrupu-

THE WHITE AND BLUE RIVERS. 331

lous accuracy, the source of the Thames has of course
l>trii determined, yet not one person out of a hun-
dred thousand knows where it is ; the reason being,
that there is no practical use in the inquiry — all that
one cares to know being how far the Thames is na-
vigable ; in short, at what point it ceases to be useful
to the community. But if this be the case in a highly
civilised country, how wild a business must it appear
to search for the source of a river through sands and
deserts, and savage, barbarous nations, merely to de-
termine from what particular spot its most remote
particle of water proceeds ! In an army of soldiers,
we might as well inquire which is the individual
whose father or grandfather wras born farthest from
the capital ; a question which some might call ex-
ceedingly curious, but which, we all perceive, would
admit of endless and equally senseless discussion.

He who embarks in a useless speculation is sub-
ject to disappointments which no rational being can
lament ; and, although we have hitherto supported
Bruce both in his facts and feelings, yet, in truth and
justice, we have now to admit that, of the above
observation, this enterprising traveller himself is a
most remarkable example; for, after all his trouble
and perseverance, there can be no doubt, 1st, that
the fountains of Geesh are not the real source of the
Nile ; and, 2dly, that Bruce was not the first Euro-
pean who visited even them.

A glance at any common map will show that, at
about sixteen degrees, or eleven hundred miles, from
the line, at the boundary of the tropical rains, the
river Nile splits into two branches — the white river
and the blue river. The white river continues to
run very nearly north and south ; the blue river,
bending towards the east, comes from Ethiopia, or, as
we term it, Abyssinia. Now, a question naturally

332 LIFE OF BRUCE.

arises, which of these two rivers is the principal
stream ? The Ethiopians have, of course, always
claimed that distinction for the blue river ; and
Cambyses, Alexander, Ptolemy, and almost every one
down to Bruce, looked to Ethiopia for the sources of
the Nile ; but the vote or verdict of man cannot alter
truth, and most true it is that the white river is the
main branch or artery of the Nile. Nay, much to
Bruce's honour, he himself admits this; and de-
clares, not only that the white river is by far the
larger and deeper of the two, but evidently proceeds
from a more remote source ; since, instead of periodi-
cally rising and falling as the blue river does (which
shows that it is created by the tropical rains), the
waters of the white river are everlastingly flowing —
which, as Bruce justly says, denotes that the river
is fed by those distant rains, which are knowm to be
always falling in the neighbourhood of the equator.
Our honest traveller adds, that, if it was not for the
constant supply of the white river, the waters of the
blue or Abyssinian river (which is formed by the
union of three great streams, the Mareb, the Bowilia,
and the Tacazze) would be absorbed in the sands of
the desert of Nubia, and that the Nile would conse-
quently never reach Egypt.

The real source of the Nile, therefore, still remains
unknown, or rather it hangs in the equatorial clouds
from which the rains descend.

Bruce, who had risked everything to solve the
quixotical problem of his day, naturally clings to the
fact, that the blue river was in Abyssinia, and even
in Sennaar, considered as the Nile. His statement
has lately been corroborated by Burckhardt, who, in
his Travels to Nubia, in 1816, says — " It is usual
with the native Arabs to call the branch of the river
on which Sennaar lies, and which rises in Abyssinia,

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 333

l»y the name Nil, as well as that of Bahr el Azrek
(blue river). Thus every one says that Sennaar is
situated on the Nile ; so far, therefore, Bruce is jus-
tified in styling himself the discoverer of the Nile;
but I have often heard the Sennaar merchants declare,
that the Bahr el Abyad (white river), which is the
name invariably given to the more western branch, is
considerably larger than the Nile."

But the blue river was not only looked upon as the
Nile in Nubia and Abyssinia — it assuredly had always
been considered so in Europe also ; and, accordingly,
Bruce certainly did reach the goal which human
curiosity had so long been striving to attain.

With respect, however, to his having been the
discoverer of the source of the blue river, or Nile,
Bruce's memory must again meet with the unsatis-
factory fate which this sort of inquiry deserves ; for
it must be admitted that he was not the first European
who visited it. Peter Paez, the intelligent Jesuit,
whoso career has already appeared in our slight
sketch of the history of Abyssinia, certainly visited
(one lumdr&l and fifty years before Bruce) these
fountains, which he describes with very tolerable ex-
actness; and although Bruce, eager and jealous, very
naturally endeavours to detect small inaccuracies, yet
it is perfectly evident that Paez's description is that
of an eye-witness. It is true, Paez says that the
fountains " are about a league or a cannon-shot distant
from Geesh" — whereas, on measuring this distance,
Bruce found it to be only a third of a mile ; but, in
a strange country and atmosphere, a guess at distance
is almost always an error, and a Jesuit's calculation
of the range of a cannon-shot must, in any part of
the world, have been equally liable to unintentional
mistake.

But, though Paez saw and described the fountains

334 LIFE OF BRUCE.

of Geesh before Bruce, yet it may fairly be said that
Bruce was the person who first imparted the intelli-
gence to the European public; for Paez's description,
which was written in Portuguese, was published iu
Latin, after his death, by Athanasius Kircher, a bro-
ther Jesuit, well known for his extensive learning and
voluminous writings; and appearing in such a form,
and being also smothered with a number of improba-
ble statements, made no progress beyond the little
circle or society to which it was originally addressed.

Indeed, the mind of a Catholic priest, during the
time of religious war, is so inflamed by his zealous
but mistaken ardour, that his descriptions of placid
nature are seldom worthy of attention. Jereme
Lobo, for instance, in his Travels in Abyssinia, says
— " My continual employment was the object of my
mission." He then states that sixty monks of the
Abyssinian religion threw themselves over a precipice
rather than embrace the Catholic doctrines (which
at least shows with what violence they were admi-
nistered). " I continued," he says, " two years at my
residence in Tigre, entirely taken up with the duties
of my mission, preaching, confessing, baptizing." On
finding, after a tedious search, the bones of Don
Christopher de Gama, the Portuguese general, Lobo
says — " I gathered the teeth and the lower jaw. No
words can express the ecstasies I was transported with
at seeing the relics of so great a man, and reflecting
that it had pleased God to make me the instrument of
their preservation; so that one day, if our holy father
the Pope shall be so pleased, they may receive the
veneration of the faithful."

Without offering any comments on this picture of
the Pope, the faithful, and the decayed teeth of Don
Christopher, the above extract might be sufficient to
show how little attention the world was likely to pay

FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE. 335

to the travels of the Jesuits in Abyssinia. But it
is an indubitable truth, that, in Bruce's time, the
discovery of the source of the Abyssinian river was
still the idle problem of the day ; and, therefore,
although Paez had gone thither before him, and
though Kircher had actually published Paez's account
of these fountains, yet the intelligence never reached
the public ear, the fact having been neutralised by
the absurdities with which it wTas combined. In short,
it does appear, that to Bruce the public is practically
indebted for the description (whatever it may be
worth) of the " hillock of green sod," the source of
the Bahr el Azergue, one of the great branches of
the Nile.

Bruce manfully performed his task ; and in his day
he did what, in our day, Captain Parry would have
done, had he succeeded in fixing the British flag on
the north pole of the earth. The humble individual
who gallantly undertakes for his country a most dan-
gerous service, is surely, if successful, entitled to his
ri-ward; and it is the country, or rather the age
in which he lived, and not he, that should be held
responsible for the propriety or folly of the problem.

But Bruce's solid reputation can well afford, if
necessary, to throw aside altogether the bauble for
which, as a young man, he so eagerly and enthusias-
tically contended ; and the reader has only to glance
his eye over the immense country which Bruce has
delineated, to admit the justice of this observation.
But to return to the narrative.

When Bruce first reached the fountains of Geesh,
the miserable Agows eagerly assembled round Woldo,
to inquire how long the party was to remain among
them. Fasil's horse was quite sufficient to explain
from whom the strangers had arrived; and it was con-
sequently expected that they were to be maintained

336 LIFE OF BRUCE.

as long as they should think proper to stop. Woldo,
however, soon dissipated all their fears. He told
them of the king's grant of the village o"f Geesh to
Bruce ; and added that he was come to live happily
among them, to pay them for everything, and, more-
over, that no military service would be required from
them, either by the king or the governor of Damot.
This joyful intelligence was quickly circulated among
these simple people ; and, when Bruce returned from
the fountains, he met with a very hearty welcome at
the village.

The Shum, the priest of ^the river, gave up his
own house to Bruce, and his attendants were lodged
in four or five others. " Our hearts," says Bruce,
" were now perfectly at ease, and we passed a very
merry evening. Strates, above all, endeavoured,
with many a bumper of the good hydromel of Bure,
to subdue the devil which he had swallowed in the
enchanted water."

Woldo was also perfectly happy. Out of the
sight of everything belonging to Fasil, but his horse,
he displayed Brace's articles for barter to the Shum,
to whom he explained that oxen and sheep would be
paid for in gold. The poor Shum, overpowered at
the sight of so much wealth and generosity, told
Woldo that he must beg to insist that Bruce and his
attendants would take his daughters as their house-
keepers. " The proposal was," says Brace, " a most
reasonable one, and readily accepted. He accord-
ingly sent for three in an instant, and we delivered
them their charge. The eldest, called Irepone, took
it upon her readily ; she was about sixteen years of
age, of a stature above the middle size, but she was
remarkably genteel, and, colour apart, her features
would have made her a beauty in any country in
Europe : she was, besides, very sprightly ; we under-

THE SERVANT OF THE NILE.

337

-t»'«d not one word of her language, though she
comprehended very easily the signs that we made."

Kefia Abay, or " Servant of the River.1'

338 LIFE OP BRUCE.

The next day a white cow was killed, and every
one was invited to partake of her. The Shum ought
to have been of the party, but he declined sitting or
eating with the strangers, though his sons were not
so scrupulous. He accordingly was left to pray to
the Spirit of the River, which these poor people call
" The Everlasting God, Light of the World, Eye of
the World, God of Peace, Saviour, and Father of
the Universe ! "

Bruce asked the old Shum if ever he had seen the
Spirit ? he answered, without hesitation, " Yes, very
frequently ! "

The Shum, whose title was Kefla Abay, or " Ser-
vant of the River," was a man of about seventy. The
honourable charge which he possessed had been in
his family, he conceived, from the beginning of the
world ; and, as he was the happy father of eighty-
four children, it appeared that his race was likely to
flow as long as the Nile itself. He had a long white
beard ; round his body was wrapped a skin, which
was fastened by a broad belt. Over this he wore a
cloak, the hood of which covered his head ; his legs
were bare, but he wore sandals, which he threw off
as soon as he approached the bog from which the
Nile rises — a mark of respect which Bruce and his
attendants were also required to perform.

The Agows, in whose country the Nile, or Blue
River, rises, are, in point of number, one of the most
considerable nations in Abyssinia, although they have
been much weakened by their battles with the Galla
tribes. They supply Gondar with cattle, honey,
wheat, hides, wax, butter, &c. To prevent their
butter from melting on the road, they mix with it
the yellow root of a herb called mot-moco. This
country, although within ten degrees of the line, is,
from its elevation, healthy and temperate ; the sun

DEPARTURE PROM GEESH. 339

is, of course, scorching, but the shade is cool and
agreeable. The Agows are not said to be long livers,
but their precise age it is very difficult to ascertain.
" We saw," says Bruce, " a number of women,
wrinkled and sun-burnt, so as scarce to appear hu-
man, wandering about under a burning sun, with
one and sometimes two children upon their back,
gathering the seeds of bent grass to make a kind of
bread."

By the 9th of November Bruce had finished all
his observations relating to these remarkable places :
he had traced again, on foot, the whole course of the
Nile, from its source to the plain of Goutto.

" Our business," says he, " being now done, no-
thing remained but to depart. We had passed our
time in perfect harmony ; the address of Woldo, and
the great attachment of our friend Irepone, had kept
our house in a cheerful abundance. We had lived,
it is true, too magnificently for philosophers, but
neither idly nor riotously : and, I believe, never will
any sovereign of Geesh be again so popular, or reign
over his subjects with greater mildness. I had
practised medicine gratis, and killed, for three days
successively, a cow each day, for the poor and the
neighbours. I had clothed the high priest of the
Nile from head to foot, as also his two sons, and
had decorated two of his daughters with beads of all
the colours of the rainbow, adding every other little
present they seemed fond of, or that we thought
would be agreeable. As for our amiable Irepone,
we had reserved for her the choicest of our presents,
the most valuable of every article we had with us,
and a large proportion of every one of them ; we
gave her, besides, some gold : but she, more generous
and noble in her sentiments than us, seemed to pay
little attention to these, which announced to her the
z2

340

LIFE OP BRUCE.

separation from her friends ; she tore her fine hair,
which she had every day before braided in a newer
and more graceful manner ; she threw herself upon
the ground in the house, and refused to see us mount
on horseback or take our leave, and came not to the
door till we were already set out — then followed us
with her good wishes and her eyes, as far as she
could see or be heard.

" I took my leave of Kefla Abay, the venerable
priest of the most famous river in the world, who
recommended me, with great earnestness, to the care
of his god, which, as Strates humorously enough
observed, meant nothing else than that he hoped the
devil would take me. All the young men in the
village, with lances and shields, attended us to Saint
Michael Sacala, that is, to the borders of their coun-
try, and end of my little sovereignty."

341

CHAPTER XIY.

Bruce returns to Gondar — His Residence there — Accompanies the
King in the Battles of Serbraxos — Revolution at Gondar —
Defeat and Overthrow of Ras Michael — Bruce returns to Gon-
dar— and succeeds in obtaining Permission to leave Abyssinia.

ON the 10th of November, 1770, Bnice left Geesh
to return to Gondar, and on the evening of the llth,
he reached the house of Shakala Welled Amlac, to
whom he had been addressed by Fasil. This sin-
gular character was from home, but his wife, mother,
and sisters received Bruce kindly, knowing him by
report ; and, without waiting for Amlac, a cow was
instantly slaughtered.

The venerable mistress of this worthy family,
Welled Amlac's mother, was a very stout, cheerful
woman, and bore no signs of infirmity or old age :
" but his wife," says Bruce, " was, on the contrary,
as arrant a hag as ever acted the part on the stage ;
very active, however, and civil, and speaking very
tolerable Amharic." His two sisters, about sixteen
or seventeen, were really handsome ; but Fasil's
wife, who was there, was the most beautiful and
graceful of them all ; she seemed to be scarcely
eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable carriage
and manners. At first sight, a cast of melancholy
seemed to hang upon her countenance, but this soon
vanished, and she became very courteous, cheerful,
and convertible.

" Fasil's two sisters," says Bruce, " had been out,
helping my servants in disposing the baggage j but

342 LIFE OP BRUCE.

when they had pitched my tent, and were about to
lay the mattress for sleeping on, the eldest of these
interrupted them, and not being able to make herself
understood by the Greeks, she took it up, and threw
it out of the tent-door : whilst no abuse or oppro-
brious names were spared by my servants; one of
whom came to tell me her impudence, and that, if
they understood her, she said I was to sleep with
her this night, and they believed, therefore, that we
were got into a house of thieves and murderers. To
this I answered by a sharp reproof, desiring them to
conform to everything the family ordered them.

" Immediately after this, Welled Amlac arrived,
and brought the disagreeable news, that it was im-
possible to proceed to the ford of the Abay, as two
of the neighbouring Shums were at variance about
their respective districts, and in a day or two would
decide their dispute by blows."

Satisfied that Bruce understood him, Amlac put
on the most cheerful countenance. Another cow
was killed, great plenty of hydromel produced, and
he prepared to regale his guests as sumptuously as
possible, after the manner of the country. " We
were there," says Bruce, " as often before, obliged
to overcome our repugnance to eating raw flesh.
Shakala Welled Amlac set us the example, enter-
tained us with the stories of his hunting elephants,
and feats in the last wars, mostly roguish ones. The
room where we were (which was indeed large, and
contained himself, mother, wife, sisters, his horses,
mules, and servants, night and day) was all hung
round with the trunks of these elephants, which he
had brought from the neighbouring Kolla, near
Guesgue, and killed with his own hands ; for he was
one of the boldest and best horsemen in Abyssinia,
and perfectly master of his arms,

SHAKALA WELLED AMLAC. 343

u This Polyphemus feast being finished, the horn
of hydromel went briskly about. Welled Amlac's
eldest sister, whose name was Melectanea, took a
particular charge of me, and I began to find the
necessity of retiring and going to bed while I was
able. Here the former story came over again ; the
invariable custom of all Maitsha and the country of
the Galla, of establishing a relationship, was insisted
upon ; and, as the young lady herself was present,
during this polite dispute, I do not know whether it
will not be thought a greater breach of delicacy to
have refused than to have complied : —

But what success Vanessa met

Is to the world a secret yet ;

Can never to mankind be told,

Nor shall the conscious muse unfold."

The next day Bruce observed that Fasil's wife still
appeared in low spirits ; he, therefore, conversed with
her : she said her husband was at Gondar, that it was
the custom of the country, that the conqueror should
marry the wives of his enemies, and in grief she added,
" Fasil will be married, therefore, to Michael's wife,
Ozoro Esther." Bruce started at this declaration,
remembering that he was losing his time, forgetful
of a promise he had made that he would retum as
soon as possible to Gondar. He, therefore, at once
resolved to decamp. " In the afternoon," he says,
" we distributed our presents among the ladies.
Fasil's wife was not forgot; and his sister, the
beautiful Melectanea, was covered with beads, hand-
kerchiefs, and ribands of all colours. Fasil's wife,
on my first request, gave me a lock of her fine hair
from the root, which has ever since, and at this day
does, suspend a plummet of an ounce and a half at
the index of my three-feet quadrant."

Accounts being thus settled, Bruce resumed his

344 LIFE OF BRUCE.

journey, crossed the Nile at Delaktis, and proceeded
till three-quarters past seven, when he alighted at
Googue, a considerable village, and, as he had
already several times mistaken his way in the dark,
he resolved to go no farther. " We found the
people of Googue," says Bruce, " the most savage
and inhospitable we had yet met with. Upon no
account would they suffer us to enter their houses,
and we were obliged to remain without, the greatest
part of the night. At last they carried us to a
house of good appearance, but refused absolutely to

five us meat for ourselves, or horses; and, as we
ad not force, we were obliged to be content. It
had rained violently in the evening, and we were
all wet. We contented ourselves with lighting a
large fire in the middle of the house, which we kept
burning all night, as well for guard as for drying
ourselves, though we little knew at the time that
it was probably the only means of saving our lives ;
for, in the morning, we found the whole village sick
of the fever, and two families had died out of the
house where these people had put us." — This fever
prevails in Abyssinia in all low grounds and plains,
in the neighbourhood of all rivers which run in
valleys ; it is not in all places equally dangerous ;
but on the banks and neighbourhood of the Tacazze
it is particularly fatal, the valley where that river
runs being very low and sultry, and also being
full of large trees. It does not prevail in the high
grounds, or mountains, or in places much exposed
to the air.

On the 14th, at three-quarters past seven in the
morning, Bruce left the inhospitable village of
Googue ; and for four days, under a burning sun,
continued his journey towards Gondar, where his
sen-ants arrived on the 17th November. " Two

RETURNS TO GONDAR. 345

things," he says, " chiefly occupied my mind, and
prevented me from accompanying my servants and
l.wo'n'aire into Gondar. The first was my desire of
instantly knowing the state of Ozoro Esther's health :
the second was, to avoid Fasil, till I knew a little
more about Has Michael and the king." Bruce pro-
ceeded, therefore, to Koscam, and went straight to the
Iteghe's apartment, but was not admitted, as she was
at her devotions. In crossing one of the courts, how-
ever, he met a slave of Ozoro Esther, who, instead
of answering the question he put to her, gave a loud
shriek, and ran to inform her mistress. Bruce hastened
to Ozoro Esther ; he found her considerably recovered,
her anxiety about Fasil having ceased.

During Brace's absence, a great revolution had
been effected at Gondar.

The reader must be reminded, that just before
Bruce landed at Masuah, Ras Michael had caused
one king to be assassinated, and his successor to be
poisoned. From these acts, and from the whole tenor
of his conduct, the Ras was universally hated and
feared, and King Tecla Haimanout suffering from the
unpopularity of his minister, his throne had, during
Brace's visit to Geesh, been usurped by Socinios,
who immediately appointed Fasil Ras, giving him
the command of every post of importance in the
government of Abyssinia.

Still the people loved King Tecla Haimanout as
much as they secretly detested Socinios, and Fasil,
sensible of this feeling, and dreading the displeasure
of Ras Michael, at last declared his intention of
restoring Tecla Haimanout to the throne, and, en-
camping within two miles of Gondar, invited all
people who wished to escape the vengeance of Mi-
chael, to join his standard. Socinios fled, but was
taken by some soldiers, who stripped him naked, and

346 LIFE OF BRUCE.

then giving him a good horse, dismissed him like
Mazeppa to seek his own fortune.
, As the servant of Ozoro Esther, Bruce proceeded
to join the king's army ; and on arriving at Mariam
Oliha, where it was encamped, he waited on Ras
Michael, who admitted him as soon as he was an-
nounced. On entering his presence Bruce kissed
the ground, though Michael did everything in his
power to prevent it; many compliments passed,
and the Ras recommended Bruce, before all his
attendants, to go at once to the king. " I had been,"
says Bruce, "jostled and almost squeezed to death
attempting to enter, but large room was made me
for retiring. The reception I had met with was the
infallible rule according to which the courtiers were to
speak to me from that time forward. Man is the same
creature everywhere, although different in colour ;
the court of London and that of Abyssinia are, in
their principles, one."

The king was surrounded by thousands of people,
for the inhabitants of Gondar and all the neighbour-
ing towns had assembled, fearing lest Ras Michael
should consider their absence as a proof of adherence
to the usurper Socinios. Bruce was very kindly
received by the king, who had always expressed to-
wards him feelings of esteem and regard. He kissed
his hand, and, says Bruce, " as I took leave of him, I
could not help reflecting, as I went, that of the vast
multitude then in my sight, I was, perhaps, the only
one destitute of hope or fear."

The hill before him was actually covered with
people, and from the white cotton garments in which
they were dressed, it appeared like snow. It was in
the month of December, which, in Abyssinia, is the
most agreeable time of the year. The sun and the
rains were in the southern tropic, and the whole

THE KING'S ENCAMPMENT. 347

had the appearance of a party of pleasure
nibled to convoy the king to his capital. The
priests from all the neighbouring convents, dressed
in yellow or white cotton, and holding crosses in
their hands, gave variety to the picture.

Ras Michael had brought with him about twenty
thousand men from Tigre, the best soldiers in the
empire ; about six thousand were armed with mus-
kets, about twelve thousand had lances and shields,
and the rest were mounted on horses, and had been
employed in scouring the country, to collect such
unhappy people as were destined for public example.

On the morning of the 23rd of December, the
Ras ordered the signal to be made for striking the
tents ; the whole army was instantly in motion, and
at night it encamped on the banks of the river just
below Gondar ; in consequence of which a report
was spread, that the king and Ras Michael had
come determined to burn the town, and put all
the inhabitants to the sword. This occasioned the
utmost consternation, and caused many to fly to
Fasil.

" As for me," says Bruce, " the king's behaviour
showed me plainly all was not right, and an accident
in the way confirmed it. He had desired me to ride
before him, and show him the horse I had got from
Fasil, which was then in great beauty and order, and
which I had kept purposely for him. It happened
that, crossing the deep bed of a brook, a plant of the
kantuffa hung across it. I had upon my shoulders
a white goat-skin, of which it did not take hold ;
but the king, who was dressed in the habit of peace,
his long hair floating all around his face, wrapped up
in his mantle, or thin cotton cloak, so that nothing
but his eyes could be seen, was paying more atten-
tion to the horse than to the branch of kantuffa

348 LIFE OF BRUCE.

beside him ; it took first hold of his hair, and the
fold of the cloak that covered his head, then spread
itself over his whole shoulder in such a manner, that
notwithstanding all the help that could be given him,
and that I had, at first seeing it, cut the principal
bough asunder with my knife, no remedy remained
but he must throw off the upper garment, and appear
in the under one, or waistcoat, with his head and
face bare before all the spectators.

" This is accounted great disgrace to a king, who
always appears covered in public. However, he did
not seem to be ruffled, nor was there anything parti-
cular in his countenance more than before, but with
great composure, and in rather a low voice, he called
twice, ' Who is the Shum of this district ? " Unhap-
pily he was not far off. A thin old man of sixty,
and his son, about thirty, came trotting, as their
custom is, naked to their girdle, and stood before
the king, who w^as, by this time, quite clothed again.
What had struck the old man's fancy I know not,
but he passed my horse laughing, and seemingly
wonderfully content with himself. I could not help
considering him as a type of mankind in general,
never more confident and careless than when on the
brink of destruction. The king asked if he was
Shum of that place ? he answered in the affirmative,
and added, which was not asked him, that the other
was his son.

" There is always near the king, when he marches,
an officer called Kanitz Kitzera, the executioner of
the camp ; he has upon the tore of his saddle a
quantity of thongs made of bull hide, rolled up very
artificially ; this is called the tarade. The king
made a sign with his head and another with his
hand, without speaking ; and two loops of the tarade
.were instantly thrown round the Shum and his son's

EXECUTION OF THE SHUM, ETC. 349

neck, and they were both hoisted upon the same
tree, the tarade cut, and the end made fast to a
branch. They were both left hanging, but I thought
so awkwardly, that they would not die for some
minutes, and might surely have been saved had any
one dared to cut them down ; but fear had fallen
upon every person who had not attended the king
to Tigre *." This was but an omen of the executions
which were immediately to follow.

In the evening of the 23rd, came Sanuda, the
person who had made Socinios king, and who had
been a Has under him ; he was received with great
marks of favour, in reward of the treacherous part
he had acted. He brought with him prisoners,
Guebra Denghel, the Ras's son-in-law, one of the
best and most amiable men in Abyssinia, but who
had unfortunately embraced the wrong side of the
question; and with him Sebaat Laab and Kefla
Mariam, both men of great importance in Tigre.
Thesa were, one after the other, thrown violently on
their faces before the king.

About two hours later came Ayto Aylo, whom

* Some years ago, the Pasha of Tripolizza, in riding through the
town, inquired who had thrown some rubbish into the street? A
remarkably honest-looking man instantly popped his head out of
his window, to acknowledge that it was him. The Pasha made a
slight sign to the executioner who attended him, and the poor
man's head never returned to his shop !

Hassen Pasha, well known to our army in E^ypt by the nick-
name of Djezzar, or " The Butcher," was a man of a much more
merciful disposition. One day he went to inspect a small redoubt
xvhich had been thrown up by his particular desire : a part of it
rather displeased him ; but instead of barbarously sending for the
head of his commanding engineer, he desired the executioner
merely to bring him one of his ears. Some of Djezzar's best
officers had slit noses, which proved that he possessed, by com-
parison, a very humane, considerate, and reflecting mind ; for, after
all, a one-eared man may enjoy in this world many little pleasures ;
whereas, when once his head is off, voila la piece Jinie !

350 LIFE OP BRUCE.

the king had named governor of Begemder; he
brought with him Chremation, brother to Socinios,
and Abba Salama, Brace's constant enemy, and who
had even thrice endeavoured to have him assassinated.
While they were untying Abba Salama, Bruce went
into the presence-chamber, and stood behind the
king's chair. Yery soon afterwards Aylo's men
brought in their prisoners, and, as is usual, threw
them down violently with their faces to the ground ;
and their hands being bound behind them, they had
a very rude fall upon their faces.

" Abba Salama rose in a violent passion ; he
struggled to loosen his hands, to perform the act
of denouncing excommunication, which is by lifting
the right hand and extending the forefinger ; finding
that impossible, he cried out, ' Unloose my hands,
or you are all excommunicated.' It was with diffi-
culty he could be prevailed upon to hear the king,
who, with great courage and composure, or rather
indifference, said to him, ' You are the first ecclesi-
astical officer in my household ; you are the third in
the whole kingdom ; but I have not yet learned you
ever had power to curse your sovereign, or exhort
his subjects to murder him. You are to be tried for
this crime by the judges to-morrow, so prepare to
show in your defence, upon what precepts of Christ,
or his apostles, or upon what part of the general
councils, you found your title to do this.'

" * Let my hands be unloosed,' cried the church-
man violently ; * I am a priest, a servant of God ;
and they have power, said David, to put kings in
chains, and nobles in irons. And did not Samuel
hew king Agag to pieces before the Lord ! I
excommunicate you, Tecla Haimanout ! ' He was
proceeding in this wild strain, when Tecla Mariam,
son of the king's secretary, a young man, striking

MASSACRE AT GONDAR. 351

him so violently on the face, that his mouth gushed
out with blood, said, ' What ! this in the king's
presence ?' Upon which both Chremation and Abba
ISalaina were hurried out of the tent without being
able to say more ; indeed the blow seemed so much
to have disconcerted the latter, that it deprived him
of the power of speaking.

" In Abyssinia it is death at the time to strike, or
lift the hand to strike, before the king ; but in this
case the provocation was considered so great, so
sudden, and unexpected, that a slight reproof was
ordered to be given to young Tecla Mariam, but he
lost no favour for what he had done, either with the
King, Michael, or the people.

" When the two prisoners were carried before the
Ras, he refused to see them, but loaded them with
irons, and committed them to close custody." On the
24th the drum beat, and the army was on their march
by dawn of day ; they halted a little after passing
the rough ground, and then doubled their ranks, and
formed into close order of battle, the king leading
the centre ; a few of his black horse were in two
lines immediately before him, their spears pointed
upwards, his officers and nobility on each side, and
behind him the rest of the horse distributed in two
wings. Prince George and Ayto Confu, son of Ras
Michael, commanded two small bodies, not exceeding
a hundred, who scoured the country, sometimes in
front, and sometimes on the flank ; they marched
close and in great order, and every one trembled for
the fate of Gondar. They passed the Mahometan
town, and encamped upon the river Kahha, in front
of tl\r market-place.

There were at Gondar a set of mummers, who
were a mixture of buffoons and ballad-singers. These
people, upon all public occasions, run about the

352 LIFE OF BRUCE.

streets. While these wretches, men and women, to
the number of about thirty and upwards, were in a
song celebrating Michael's return to Gondar, the Sire
horse, on a signal made by the Ras, turned short
about, fell upon the singers, and cut them all to pieces.
In less than two minutes they were all laid dead
upon the field, excepting one young man, who mortally
wounded, had just strength enough to arrive within
twenty yards of the king's horse, and there fell dead
without speaking a word.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when
Bruce entered Gondar ; every person he met in the
street wore the countenance of a condemned male-
factor ; the Ras went immediately to the palace with
the king, who retired, as usual, to a kind of cage or
lattice- window, where he always sits unseen when in
council. Bruce proceeded to the council chamber,
where four of the judges were seated. Abba Salama
was brought to the foot of the table without irons,
at perfect liberty. The accuser for the king began
the charge against him with great force and elo-
quence. He stated, one by one, the crimes com-
mitted by him at different periods ; concluding this
black list with the charge of high treason, or cursing
the king, and absolving his subjects from their alle-
giance, which he stated to be the greatest crime
human nature was capable of, involving, in its conse-
quences, all sorts of other crimes. Abba Salama did
not often interrupt him, but to every new charge,
he rudely pleaded not guilty, by exclaiming, u You
lie." " It is a lie."

" Being desired to answer in his own defence, he
commenced it with great dignity, and with an air of
superiority very different from his behaviour in the
king's tent the day before. He smiled, and made
extremely light of the charges made against him

TRIAL OF ABBA SALAMA. 353

respecting women, which he said he would neither
confess nor deny; but would only observe, that
these might be crimes among the Franks (looking
at Bruce), but were not so among the Christians of
that country, who lived under a double dispensation,
the law of Moses and the law of Christ. He said
the Abyssinians were Beni Israel, that is, children
of Israel ; and that, in every age, the patriarchs had
acted as he did, and were not less beloved of God.
He went roundly into the murder of King Joas, and
of his two brothers, Adigo and Aylo, on the moun-
tain of Wechne, and he openly charged Michael with
tli at crime, as also with poisoning the late king,
llat/e Hannes, father of the present king."

The old Ras pretended not to hear this, by some-
time s speaking to people standing behind him, some-
times by reading a paper ; but he asked Bruce, who
was standing immediately behind his chair, in a low
voice, " What is the punishment in your country for
such a crime ?" Bruce replied, " High treason is
punished with death in all the countries I have ever
known." " This," says Bruce, " I owed to Abba
Sal am a, and it was not long before I had my return."

Abba fcfalama, pointing to Bruce, then accused the
Iteghe of living with Catholics, and he added, that
it was against the law of the country that Bruce
should be suffered to remain ; that he was accursed,
and ought to be stoned as an enemy to the Virgin
Mary. There the Ras interrupted him, by saying,
" Confine yourself to your own defence ; clear your-
self first, and then accuse any one you please."

"When Abba ISalama had concluded, the king's
secretary sent up to the window the substance of his
defence ; the criminal was carried at some distance
to the other end of the room, and the judges delibe-
rated whilst the king was reading. Very few words

A A

354 LIFE OP BRUCE.

were said among the rest ; the Ras was all the time
speaking to other people. After he had ended this,
he called upon the youngest judge to give his opinion ;
and he gave it as follows : " He is guilty, and should
die •" the same said all the officers, and after them
the judges.

The following sentence was, therefore, pronounced
upon him by the king : — " He is guilty, and shall die
the death. The hangman shall hang him upon a tree
to-day." The unfortunate Acab Saat was immediately
hurried away by the guards to the place of execution,
which is a large tree before the king's gate ; where,
uttering, to the very last moment, curses against Ras
Michael, the king and Abuna, he was hanged in the
very robes in which he used to sit before the king,
without one ornament of his civil or sacerdotal pre-
eminence having been taken from him before the
execution. In going to the tree, he recollected that
he had four hundred cows : these he bequeathed to
priests who were to say prayers for his soul ; but the
old Ras, with better judgment, ordered them to be
brought to Gondar, and distributed among the soldiers.

Socinios's brother was next called ; and, half dead
with fear, he also was sentenced to be hanged. " I
went home," says Bruce, " and my house being but a
few yards from the palace, I passed the two unfor-
tunate people hanging upon the same branch."

The next morning came on the trial of the unfor-
tunate Guebra Denghel, Sebaat Laab, and Kefla
Mariam : the Ras claimed his right of trying these
three at his own house, as they were all subjects of
his government of Tigre. Guebra Denghel bore his
hard fortune with great unconcern, declaring that his
only reason for taking up arms against the king was,
that he saw no other way of preventing Michael's
tyranny and monstrous thirst of money and power.

EXECUTION OF THE REBELS. 355

He wished the king to know that this was his only
motive for rebellion, and that, unless it had been to
make this declaration, he would not have opened his
mouth before so partial and so unjust a judge as he
considered Michael to be.

Welleta Selasse, his only daughter, hearing the
danger her father was in, broke suddenly out of Ozoro
Esther's apartment, which was contiguous ; and rush-
ing into the council-room at the instant her father
was condemned to die, she threw herself at the Ras's
feet in an attitude and with an expression of the most
extreme sorrow ; but the old tyrant spurned her away
with his foot, and then ordered her father to be im-
mediately hanged. Welleta Selasse fell speechless to
the ground. The father, forgetful of his own situa-
tion, flew to his daughter's assistance, and they were
both dragged out at separate doors — the one to death,
the other to after sufferings, greater than death
itself; for, though not seventeen, the Ras, who was
IKT grandfather, after having deprived her of her
parent, so alarmed her by his brutality, that in despair
and agony of mind she swallowed poison ! "I saw
her," says Bruce, " in her last moments, but too late
to give her any assistance ; and she had told her
women-servants and slaves, that she had taken arsi'iuV,
h iv ing no other way to avoid committing so monstrous
a crime as incest with the murderer of her father."

The next to be tried were Kefla Mariam and
Sebaat Laab, who were condemned by the Ras to
loso their eyes — a very common punishment in Abys-
sinia to this day.

To avoid shocking the reader with any further
details of these horrid cruelties, it will only be ob-
served, that blood continued to be spilt as water, day
after day, till the Epiphany ; priests, laymen, young
men and old, noble and vile, daily found their end by

356 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the knife or by the cord. The bodies were hewn to
pieces and scattered about the streets. " I was almost
driven to despair," says Bruce, " at seeing my hunting
dogs, twice let loose by the carelessness of my ser-
vants, bringing into the court-yard the heads and arms
of slaughtered men, and which I could no way pre-
vent but by the destruction of the dogs themselves ;
the quantity of carrion, and the stench of it, brought
down the hyaenas in hundreds from the neighbouring
mountains ; and, as few people in Gondar go out after
it is dark, they enjoyed the streets by themselves, and
seemed ready to dispute the possession of the city with
the inhabitants. Often when I went home late from the
palace (and it was this time the king chose chiefly for
conversation), though I had but to pass the corner of
the market-place before the palace, had lanterns with
me, and was surrounded with armed men, I heard them
grunting by twos and threes, so near me, as to be
afraid they would take some opportunity of seizing me
by the leg ; a pistol would have frightened them, and
made them speedily run, and I constantly carried two
loaded at my girdle ; but the discharging a pistol in
the night would have alarmed every one that heard it
in the town, and it was not now the time to add any-
thing to people's fears. I at last scarcely ever went
out, and nothing occupied my thoughts but how to
escape from this bloody country by the way of
Sennaar, and how I could best exert my power and
influence over my faithful friend Yasine, at Ras el
Feel, to pave my way, by assisting me to pass the
deserts into Atbara."

The king, missing Bruce for some days at the
palace, and hearing he had not been at Ras Michael's,
began to inquire who had been with him. Ayto
Confu soon found Yasine, who informed him of the
whole matter ; upon this Bruce was sent for to the

DESPAIR OP BRUCE. 357

palace, where he found the king, without anybody
wit menial servants. He immediately remarked that
Bruce looked very ill ; which was indeed the case, as
he had scarcely ate or slept since the king saw him
last, or even for some days before. The Iking asked
him, in a condoling tone, " What ailed him?" observr-
ing that, " besides looking sick, he seemed as if some-
thing had ruffled him, and put him out of humour."
Bruce replied, that what he observed was true:
that, coming across the market-place, he had seen
Za Mariano, the Ras's door-keeper, with three men
bound, one of whom he hacked to pieces in his pre-
sence ; — that as he was running across the place,
stopping his nose, Mariam called to him to stop till
he should despatch the ether two, as he wanted to
vpeuk to Bruce: that the soldiers immediately fell
upon the two men, whose cries, Bruce said, were
still remaining in his ears : that the hyaenas at night
would scarcely let him pass in the streets when he
returned from the palace ; and that the dogs fled into
his house to eat pieces of human carcasses at leisure.

" Although," says Bruce, " the king's intention was
to look grave, I saw it was all he could do to stifle a
laugh at grievances he thought very little of." u The
men you saw with Za Mariam just now," says he,
" are rebels, sent by Kefla Yasous for examples : he
lias forced a junction with Tecla and Welleta Michael
in Samen, and a road is now open through Woggor.i,
and plenty established in Gondar. The men you saw
Miffer, were those that cut off the provisions from
coming into the city; they have occasioned the death
of many poor people : as for the hyaena, he never
meddles with living people, he seeks carrion, and will
soon clear the streets of those incumbrances that -o
•much offend you. People say that they are the
Falasha of the mountains, who take that shape of

358 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the hyaena, and come down into the town to eat
Christian flesh in the night." " If they depend upon
Christian flesh, and eat no other," said Bruce, " per-
haps the hyaenas of Gondar will be the worst fed of
any in the world ! " " True," said the king, bursting
out into loud laughter, " that may be ; few of those
that die by the knife anywhere are Christians, or
have any religion at all ; why then should you mind
what they suffer?" " Sir," said I, "that is not my
sentiment ; if you were to order a dog to be tortured
to death before me every morning, I could not bear
it. The carcasses of Abba Salama, Guebra Denghel,
and the rest, are still hanging where they were upon
the tree ; you smell the stench of them at the palace
gate, and will soon, I apprehend, in the palace itself.
This cannot be pleasant, and I do assure you it must
be very pernicious to your health, if there was no-
thing else in it. At the battle of Fagitta, though
you had no intention to retreat, yet you went half a
day backward, to higher ground and purer air, to
avoid the stench of the field ; but here in the city
you heap up carrion about your houses, where is your
continual residence." " The Ras has given orders,"
said the king, gravely, " to remove all the dead bodies
before the Epiphany, when we go down to keep that
festival, and wash away all this pollution in the clear-
running water of the Kahha ; but tell me, Yagoube,
is it really possible that you can take such things as
these so much to heart ? You are a brave man ; we
all know you are, and have seen it : we have all
blamed you, stranger as you are in this country, for
the little care you take of yourself; and yet about
these things you are as much affected as the most
cowardly woman, girl, or child could be."

" Sir," said Bruce, u I do not know if I am brave
or not; but if to see men tortured, or murdered,

VISITS THE KING. 359

or to live among dead bodies without concern, be
courage, I have it not, nor desire to have it. War
is the profession of noble minds ; it is a glorious one ;
it is the science and occupation of kings, and many
wise, and many humane men have dedicated their
whole life to the study of it in every country ; it
softens men's manners, by obliging them to society,
to assist, befriend, and even save one another, though
at their own risk and danger."

In the eager expression of these manly sentiments,
which sparkle in the moral darkness amidst which
they appear, Bruce was internipted by the arrival of
a young nobleman, who, according to custom, threw
himself on his face before the king.

Ras Michael was now announced, and Bruce made
haste to get away. In the ante-chamber he passed
the Ras, attended by a great many people, and
endeavoured to slide by him in the crowd, but he
noticed him, and called him before him. Bruce
kissed his hands, and the Ras kept hold of one of
tin m, saying, " My son is ill ; Ozoro Esther has just
*ent to me, and complains you visit her now no more.
(10 see the boy, and don't neglect Ozoro Esther ; she
is one of your best friends." Bruce inquired if she
was at Gondar, and was answered, " No ; she is at
Koscam." He, therefore, went home to plan his
route to Sennaar, and to prepare letters for Hagi
Belal, a merchant there, to whom he was recom-
mended from Arabia Felix.

On the 31st of December, 1770, the last day of a
year which in the history of Bruce's life had been
so eventful, he went to Koscam. The next night,
on the 1st of January, 1771, Bruce was desired to
wait on the king ; and after a very long discussion,
he at last succeeded in obtaining permission to send
letters to Sennaar, arranging his departure from

360 LIFE OP BRtJCE.

Abyssinia, under a solemn engagement, that as soon
as he should recover his health in England, he would
return with as many of his brethren and family as
possible, with horses, muskets, and bayonets. " This
permission," says Bruce, " greatly composed my
mind at the time, as I now no longer considered
myself as involved in that ancient and general rule
of th,e country — never to allow a stranger to quit
A byssinia."

While the king was keeping the festival of the
Epiphany, he received a visit from the son of the
governor of Shoa, who came to offer personal service,
a present of five hundred ounces of gold, and one
thousand horsemen ready equipped. This person had
heard from some priests in his country, that there
was a very strange white man, in favour with the
king, at Gondar, who could do every thing but raise
the dead; he accordingly requested to be made
acquainted with Bruce, who, by the king's orders,
waited upon him every morning, and, availing him-
self of this favourable opportunity, Bruce managed
to procure the history of the Abyssinian kings, who
had reigned in Shoa, which curious document he
afterwards brought with him to Europe. The Moor
Yasine now returned from Sennaar, and informed
Bruce, that, by the inquiries he had been able to
make, it appeared that he would be probably well
received if he could get to Sennaar, but that he
would have very great difficulty in passing from Ras
el Feel to the banks of the Dender. Bruce would
most willingly have commenced his journey at once,
being naturally most anxious to escape from the
horrors of civil war, but the time had not yet arrived ;
for having embarked in the political stream, he was
against his will still carried away by its eddies.

For many months the rebels, in immense numbers,

MARCHES AGAINST THE REBELS. 361

under the command of Gusho and Powussen, were
committing every sort of violence, burning houses,
l>;irns, and villages. At last the cries of the people
who came flying out of Gondar for protection, deter-
mined Ras Michael to risk a battle. He accordingly
1 1 mrched out of Gondar, taking with .him the king,
the Abuna, as head of the church, Ozoro Esther, and
other principal people.

The king's army was composed of about thirty-
two thousand men, of whom about seven thousand
five hundred were mounted. In this army were a
number of excellent officers, who had spent their
lives in war. The whole was commanded in person
by Ras Michael, who, seventy-four years of age, had
passed half a century in a succession of victories.

The forces of the enemy amounted to about thirty
thousand men. The king's army (if it may be so
termed) was in a most undisciplined state. " All our
officers," says Bruce, " had left their command, and
were crowding about Ras Michael and the king ;
women bearing provisions, horns of liquor, and mills
for grinding corn, upon their backs ; idle women of
all sorts, half dead with fear, crying and roaring,
mounted upon mules ; and men driving mules loaded
with baggage, mingled with the troops, and passing
through in all directions, presented such a tumultuous
appearance, that it surpassed all description. There
wen' above ten thousand women accompanying the
army : the Ras had about fifty loaded with bouza,
and the king, I suppose, near as many.

•• The sight threw me for a moment into low
spirits. I know not if the king saw it. I was per-
fectly silent, when he cried, ' Well, what do you say
to us now, Yagoube?' I answered, 4 Is this the
order in which your majesty means to engage ?'
He laughed, and said, ' Aye, why not ? you °will

362 LIFE OF BRUCE.

see.' ' If that is so,' I replied, ' I only hope it is
the enemy's custom, as well as your majesty's, to be
in no better order/ A partial engagement ensued,
which lasted about an hour: in it Confu, son of
Ozoro Esther, was severely wounded. Ras Michael,
notwithstanding the natural hardness of his heart,
showed great sensibility, and came to see him.
Ozoro Esther also in the deepest concern attended
her son, and both she and the Ras earnestly entreated
Bruce to see him safe to Gondar. 4 Go ! go, for
God's sake go,' said the Ras, ' Ozoro Esther has been
here almost out of her senses !' "

Bruce therefore consented to accompany both Confu
and Ozoro Esther to Koscam, and having done this,
he then returned to the army.

Ras Michael now ordered the tents to be struck,
and his wThole army proceeded towards Begemder.
He had scarcely taken up his position on the hill of
8erbraxos when he was attacked by Powussen ; a
severe battle ensued, distinguished on both sides by-
feats of wTild, undisciplined valour; however the king's
troops prevailed, and Pow^ussen retreated, having lost
about nine hundred of his best men. Everybody
seemed to agree that Ras Michael had shown a
degree of intrepidity and military skill of a most
astonishing description.

The day after the battle messengers arrived from
Gusho and Powussen, offering allegiance to king
Tecla Haimanout, on condition that Ras Michael
should be sent, never to return, to his government
of Tigre ; but fear or gratitude induced the king to
refuse their demands.

On the 19th of May intelligence was received that
the whole rebel host was again in motion. The
king's army instantly descended into the valley, and
the troops were ready with lighted matches in their

BATTLE OF SERBRAXO9. 363

hands, when a most violent storm of thunder, light-
ning, and rain ensued.

Tin* jinny, therefore, fell back, and the storm
subsiding, the evening was passed in pleasure arid
festivity.

All the young nobility were, as usual, at Ozoro
Esther's. " It was with infinite pity," says Bruce,
" I heard them thoughtlessly praying for a warm
and fair day to-morrow, the evening of which many
of them were never to see."

The next morning the troops returned to the plain,
and took up their old position. In about half an
hour the enemy's army was in motion. The Ras first
perceived it, and immediately ordered the drums to
be beat, and the trumpets to be sounded. The army
advanced, covered with dust from the excessive dry-
ni'ss of the ground.

" In the middle of this great cloud," says Bruce,
" we began to perceive indistinctly part of the horse-
men, then a much greater number, and the figure of
the horses more accurately defined, which came
moving majestically upon us, sometimes partially
-in, at other times concealed by being wrapt up in
clouds and darkness ; the whole made a most extra-
ordinary, but truly picturesque appearance."

The whole of Powussen's army now appeared;
they advanced riding forwards and backwards with
great violence, and appeared to be diverting them-
selves, rather than attacking their enemy.

After a most desperate battle, the king's troops
fell back, under the hill of Serbraxos, but on the
right the rebel forces were obliged to retire. Near
three thousand men perished on the king's side, and
an long them nearly one hundred and eighty young
men of the best families in the kingdom. The
enemy's loss amounted to about nine thousand men.

364 LIFE OF BRUCE.

The king now received the compliments of his
troops ; and a most barbarous ceremony, which is
still customary in Abyssinia, ensued. Each man,
who had killed an enemy, appeared with a certain
part of the man he had slain hanging upon the wrist
of his right hand, and after making a speech, in
which he extolled himself as the greatest hero that
ever existed, he threw down his barbarous trophy
before his chief.

The account which Bruce gave of this ceremony,
was, at the expense of his reputation, of course dis-
believed— the reason, as usual, being, that it was a
savage custom which had not been described before ;
but Pearce, the English sailor, left in Abyssinia by
Lord Valentia, confirms it. He says, in his letter
published by the Literary Society of Bombay, in
1817, "I saw and counted eighteen hundred and
sixty-five of these inhuman trophies brought before
the Ras after not more than seven hours' fight."

Mr. Coffin, Lord Valentia's valet, and who remain-
ed in Abyssinia from the time of Lord V.'s depar-
ture, until the year 1827, has verbally informed us,
that he has himself seen upwards of two thousand ol
these trophies heaped before the Ras.

" For my own part," says Bruce, " tired to death,
low in spirits, and cursing the hour that brought me
to such a country, I almost regretted I had not died
that day in the field of Serbraxos. I went to bed,
refusing to go to Ozoro Esther, who had sent for me.
I could not help lamenting how well my apprehensions
had been verified, that some of our companions at last
night's supper, so anxious for the appearance of morn-
ing, should never see its evening. Four of them, all
young men, and of great hopes, were then lying dead
and mangled on the field ; two others, besides Engu-
dan, had been also wounded. I had, however, a sound

BATTLE OP SERBRAXOS. 365

and refreshing sleep. I think madness would have
IK (ii the consequence, if this necessary refreshment
had failed me ; such was the horror I had conceived
of my present situation."

About eleven o'clock next morning Bruce received
an order from the Ras to attend him, and he was
introduced to the king, who put a large chain of
massive gold round his neck ; the secretary saying,
" Yagoube, the king does you this honour, not as
payment for past services, but as a pledge that he
will reward them, if you will put it in his power."

The chain consisted of one hundred and eighty-
four links, each of them weighing 3 and 1-1 2th dwts.
of fine gold. " It was with the utmost reluctance,"
Bruce, " that, being in want of everything, I
sold great part of this honourable distinction at Sen-
naar, in my return home ; the remaining part is still
in my possession. It is hoped my successors will
never have the same excuse I had, for further dimi-
nishing this honourable monument which I have left
them."

After this, a third battle was fought at Serbraxos,
which, though obstinately contested, was not attended
on either side with much loss. Soon after, secret
intelligence reached Tecla Haimanout and Ras Mi-
chael, which made them instantly resolve to decamp
by night and fall back upon Gondar. The confusion
of this march in the dark was beyond all description ;
men, horses, and mules, were rolling promiscuously
over each other. Ras Michael's mule fell, and threw
him on his face in a puddle of water, but he was in-
stantly lifted up unhurt, and placed again upon his
mule. Proceeding onwards, the creature again fell,
and threw the Ras a second time into the dirt ; on
which a general murmur and groan was heard from his
attendants, who superstitiously interpreted his falls

366 LIFE OF BRUCE.

as an omen that his power and fortune were gone
from him for ever. On reaching Gondar, the king
went to the palace, the Ras to his own house. The
palace was quite deserted ; even the king's slaves, of
both sexes, had hidden themselves with the monks,
and in the houses of private friends, so that the king
was left with very few attendants. The following
morning, Gondar was completely invested by Gusho
and the confederate army, and towards it were now
flocking in every direction all those people of famib
and property who, from fear of Ras Michael, had fle
to Fasil. The capital was soon filled with men anc
arms ; and Gusho, who had been born and bred ii
Gondar, was looked up to as the father of his coun-
try ; he raised all Waggora in arms against Michael,
so that not a man could pass between Tigre anc"
Gondar.

These steps having been taken, a proclamation
now issued, " That all soldiers of the province of
Tigre, or who had borne arms under Ras Michael,
should, on the morrow before mid-day, bring theii
arms, offensive and defensive, and deliver them up,
on a spot fixed upon near the church of Ledata, to
commissaries appointed for the purpose of receiving
them ;" with further intimation to the inhabitants of
Gondar, " that any arms found in any house in that
town, after noon of the day of proclamation, should
subject the owner of such house and arms to death,
and the house or houses to be rased to their foun-
dation." Six thousand of the Tigre troops belonging
to the Ras's province at once laid down their arms.
All the rest of the principal officers followed, and
even the king's arms were surrendered.

The Ras, too brave to fear, too infirm to escape,
resolutely continued in the house belonging to his
office. He ate, drank, and slept as usual — rose, aiul

SUCCESS OP THE REBELS. 367

talking of the event with equanimity and apparent
indifference, dressed himself as richly as possible in
gold stuff; and then, with the utmost composure,
awaited his death. Once only, when he heard that
his disarmed troops had been treated with indignity
by the populace, did he, for a moment, give vent to
his feelings : he then burst into tears, exclaiming,
" Before this, I could have died happy !"

The king also behaved with considerable firmness
and composure ; he had eaten nothing during the first
day but some wheaten bread, which he divided with
the few servants that remained about him. A body
of lawless Galla troops entering Gondar unobserved,
rushed into the palace, and into the presence of the
king, before whom Bruce and two attendants were
seated on the floor. The room, in the days of the
luxury and splendour of the Abyssinian court, had
been magnificently hung with mirrors which had
been brought, at a great expense, from Venice. The
largest of these was immediately smashed by the
Gal la, and they would probably have proceeded to
murder the king and Bruce, but two hundred young
men of Gondar, having hoard that the Galla had got
into the palace, rushed forward to defend their king,
and obliged these savages to retire.

On the 1st of June, Gusho and Powussen came to
tlio house of Ras Michael, to interrogate him as to his
past conduct. They found him clothed in white
sorge, with a priest's cowl of the same material on
his head ;

When the devil grew sick, the devil a monk would be ;

and the old Ras, seeing that his power was gone, and
that ferocity and high personal courage could no
longer avail him, resolved to endeavour to steal by
fraud and hypocrisy that safety which he had not

368 LIFE OF BRUCE.

force to obtain ; he, therefore, not very unlike one
whose earthly, or rather unearthly career has hut
lately closed, wished it to be believed that " he had
ended his political career," and had devoted the re-
mainder of his days to peace, penitence, meditation,
and prayer. Gusho and Powussen listened to him
in sullen silence, and then proceeded to the king's
palace, where it was determined that Gusho should
be Ras.

On the 4th of June, Powussen marched intoGondj
with a thousand horse, and without further ceremony
ordered Ras Michael to be placed on a mule, and
be led away to Begember. Gusho took possession
his house ; the king's officers and servants returnee
to the palace, the troops decamped, and Gondar om
again was quiet.

Meanwhile, as Bruce's health had been daily
clining, he had spent a considerable part of his time
with the Iteghe and Ozoro Esther at Koscam. Here "
had received intelligence from Scnnaar that the whol
of that country was in arms ; that for a white man
come thither from Ras el Feel would be almost
impossibility, for, besides the natural difficulty of th<
country and excessive heat of the climate, he wculc
be in the utmost danger from the soldiery and slaves
who were in a complete state of insubordination. H<
was, therefore, conjured to abandon his intention, am
either to remain in Abyssinia, or return as he cai
through Tigre ; " But," says Bruce, " besides that
was determined to attempt completing my jourm
through Sennaar and the desert, 1 by no means lik<
the risk of passing again through Masuah, to exp(
rience a second time the brutal manners of the Nayl
and garrison of that place. I, therefore, resolved
complete my journey to Syene, the frontier of Egypl
by Sennaar and Nubia, or perish in the attempt.

RAS MICHAEL. 369

" It is here," says Bruce, " a proper period to finish
the History of Abyssinia, as I was no further present
at, or informed of, the public transactions which fol-
lowed. My whole attention was now taken up in
preparations for my return through the kingdom of
Scnnaar and the desert. Neither shall I take up the
reader's time with a long narrative of leave-taking, or
what passed between me and those illustrious person-
ages with whom I had lived so long in the most per-
fect and cordial friendship. Men of little and envious
minds would perhaps think I was composing a pane-
gyric upon myself, from which, therefore, I most
willingly refrain. But the several marks of good-
ness, friendship, and esteem, which I received at
parting, are confined within my own breast, where
they never shall be effaced, but continue to furnish
me with the most agreeable reflections, since they
were the fruit alone of personal merit, and of honest,
steady, and upright behaviour. All who had attempt-
ed the same journey hitherto had met with disap-
pointment, disgrace, or death ; for my part, although
I underwent every sort of toil, danger, and all manner
of hardship, yet these were not confined to myself.
I suffered always honourably, and in common with the
rest of the state ; and when sunshiny days happened
(for sunshiny days there were, and many brilliant
ones too), of these I was permitted freely to partake;
and the most distinguished characters, both at court
and in the army, wrere always ready to contribute, as
far as possible, to promote what they thought or saw
was the object of my pursuits or entertainment."

As Bruce's residence in Abyssinia is now rapidly
hastening to a close, one may pause to observe of
what honest materials his heart seems to have been
composed. Personal courage, that gem of the human
breast which, however roughly set, is brilliant even

B B

370 LIFE OF BRUCE.

in the rude conduct of the savage, shines with un-
usual lustre in Bruce's character ; while his gratitude
to Captain Price, his friendship for those with whom
lie lived, his loyalty to his king, his attachment to
Scotland, his native country, his respect for his an-
cestors, and other similar sentiments which have con-
stantly escaped from him, prove him also to have
been what is commonly called a good-hearted man.
And surely no higher compliment can be paid to the
heart of any man than to show that it possesses the
magnetic properties of repelling enemies and of at-
tracting friends.

Two days previous to his departure, the traveller
called to take leave of the Iteghe, and found there
Tensa Christos, one of the chief priests of Gondar.
Bruce replied with great dignity and firmness to
several impertinent questions put to him concerning
his religion by this man. " And now, holy father,"
he said, " I have one last favour to ask of you, which
is, your forgiveness, if I have at any time offended
you ; your blessing, now that I am immediately to
depart, if I have it not ; and your prayers while on
my long and dangerous journey through countries of
infidels and pagans."

A hum of applause sounded throughout the room.
Tensa Christos was surprised apparently at Bruce's
humility, and cried out, with tears in his eyes, " Is it
possible, Yagoube, that you believe my prayers can
do you any good?" — " I should not be a Christian,
as I profess to be, father," replied Bruce, " if I had
any doubt of the effect of good men's prayers." So
saying, Bruce stooped to kiss the hand of Christos,
who laid a small iron cross upon his head, and, to
his great surprise, instead of a benediction, repeated
the Lord's prayer. After which, Bruce made his
obeisance to the Iteghe, and immediately withdrew,

BRUCE AND COLUMBUS COMPARED. 871

it not being the custom, at public audience, to salute
any one in the presence of the sovereign.

" Twenty greasy monks," says Bruce, " however,
had placed themselves in my way as I went out, that
they might have the credit of giving me the blessing
likewise after Tensa Christos. As I had very little
faith in the prayers of these drones, so I had some
reluctance to kiss their greasy hands and sleeves;
however, in running this disagreeable gauntlet, I
thus gave them my blessing in English : — Lord send
you all a halter, as he did to Abba Salama (meaning
the Acab Saat). But they, thinking I was recom-
mending them to the patriarch Abba Salama, pro-
nounced at random, with great seeming devotion,
4 Amen ! — so be it/ "

This serio-comical, valedictory malediction, which
Bruce bequeaths to " twenty greasy monks of Kos-
cam," abruptly closes his history of Abyssinia, and
upon the distant sources of the Nile the curtain now
drops ! More than half a century has elapsed, yet
no one has raised the veil which Bruce lifted tip-
no one has penetrated the mist through which he
found his way — no one has encountered the dangers
which he overcame.

Every " undiscovered country" is guarded by diffi-
culties, real and imaginary, and the latter (" ay !
there's the rub !") are oftentimes its best protectors.

For instance, in Columbus's first voyage to Ame-
rica, the alteration of the compass, the uricanes, or
hurricanes, the tropical rains, the waterspouts, the
sea covered with weeds, the heat which made the
vessels yawn and crack, the sword-fish which stabbed
them, and the teredo which ate holes in them, were
real dangers, of greater or less importance ; but it is
well known, that it was the imaginary dangers in
the minds of his crew which Columbus had the
B B 2

S7'2 LIFE OF BRUCE,

greatest difficulty to contend with. They dreaded
the rocks of loadstone, which were to extract every
iron bolt from the ship ; they feared that, having
once sailed over the belly of the round globe, they
would have no power to return to its mouth ; they
thought that the trade- winds, which were treacher-
ously propelling them, were also sternly forbidding
their return ; and, with great truth and reason, they
reflected that, in the new world of waters which they
were daring to explore (the very fishes of which
were seen to fly !) they might meet with dangers
and phenomena which it had never entered into the
head of man to conceive. But as soon as land was
discovered, the imaginary dangers vanished, and
those who had afterwards to perform the voyage had
only the real ones to contend with ; and of this
essential difference Columbus was so sensible, that
he exemplified, by the breaking of an egg, how much
easier it is to follow than to lead ; and that, of pene-
trating new countries, it may very justly be said,
" CTest le premier pas qui coute."

Now, if the comparison be calmly continued be-
tween Columbus and Bruce, how does the matter
stand ? The voyage which confers immortal credit
upon the former is now performed by every vessel
that can dare go to sea : the journey which was
effected by the latter, during upwards of sixty years,
has never since been performed. Browne, Lord
Valentia, Salt, Burckhardt, Pearce, &c., have all
been travellers in that direction, but where Bruce
led the way, no man has since followed. The foun-
tains of Geesh, insignificant as they may be, have,
since the visit of Bruce, been as much out of our
view, as they were once beyond our knowledge. We
have seen them, as the traveller sees by night the
rude features of a mountain, which a single flash of

HIS CHARACTER RESPECTED. 373

jhtning most vividly displays for a moment, and
then leaves him as he was, in darkness and confu-
sion.

Yet by far the most arduous and dangerous un-
dertaking in the history of Brace's life remains to be
related ; for, whatever may have been his difficulties
in Abyssinia, — however roughly he may have been
treated there, still he was under the parental roof of
Christianity ; but he has now to hurry homewards,
through the centre of some of the most rude, uncivil-
ised, burning, barren countries in the world ; and if
the reader will but reflect on the names of the many
distinguished individuals who, full of health and en-
thusiasm, have left Cairo to ascend the Nile, and
have yet very early found it impossible to proceed,
he will probably be induced to feel for poor Bruce,
who at the eleventh hour, and with the fag-end of
his constitution, had to undertake so painful and
perilous a journey.

"When Mr. Salt visited Abyssinia, nearly forty
years after Brace's departure, he was informed ^that
Ras Michael, who was even then talked of as " the
old Lion," had died in 1780, in the eighty-eighth
year of his age. The lovely Ozoro Esther, too, was
dead ; and indeed almost all Bruce's friends had gone
to their long homes.

" Yusuph," says Salt, " spoke of him (Brace)
with much regret. He, and every one with whom
I have conversed, confirmed the character of Ras
Michael as given by Brace/' " He left," said Dofter
Esther, a learned Abyssinian, " a great name behind
him."

374

CHAPTER XV.

Bruce leaves Gondar, and travels to Sennaar, the Capital of
Nubia.

ON the 26th of December, 1771, at one o'clock in
the afternoon, Bnice, after having resided in Abys-
sinia two years and a quarter, left Gondar, and pro-
ceeded to the palace at Koscam. The king, who had
done every thing to delay his departure, still con-
tinued to encumber him with advice, and to throw
several petty difficulties in his way ; but Bruce at
last declared to him, that his servants had already
set out, that he was determined to follow them the
next morning, and that he begged to be left to follow
his own fortunes, whatever these mig'ht be.

The morning of his departure, an officer of rank
and fifty horse soldiers were sent by the king to
attend him ; but, being perfectly sensible that any
distinction with which he might travel in Abyssinia
would increase his difficulties in getting through the
wilds of Sennaar, he declined the escort, and, com-
mencing his perilous journey, slowly ascended the
mountain which overlooks the palace of Koscam.

He was accompanied by three Greeks, one of whom
had been his servant ever since his departure from
Cairo ; another, named Georgis, was infirm, and
nearly blind : the rest of the party consisted of an
old Turkish Janissary, who had come into Abys-
sinia, in the escort of the Abuna, a Copt, who left
Bruce at Sennaar, and a few common muleteers.

LEAVES GONDAR. 375

" All the disasters," says Bruce, " which I had
been threatened with in the course of that journey
which I had thus begun, now presented themselves
to my mind, and made, for a moment, a strong im-
pression upon my spirits. But it wras too late to draw
back, the die was cast, for life or for death ; home
was before me, however distant ! and if, through the
protection of Providence, I should be fortunate
enough to arrive there, I promised myself both ease
and the applause of my country, and of all unpre-
judiced men of sense and learning in Europe, for
having, by my own private efforts alone, completed
a discovery, which had from early ages defied the
address, industry, and courage of all the world."

These expressions have been construed by Bruce's
enemies into the language of arrogance and conceit.
It would certainly have been well for him, if he had
confined his thoughts to his own manly breast, and,
treating his reader with cold suspicion, had declined
to intrust him with the secret feelings of his heart ;
— however, right or wrong, prudent or imprudent,
it was not in Bruce's nature to conceal his senti-
ments.

On the evening of the 28th, Bruce and his party
were in the vicinity of a very thick wood, when they
wrere suddenly surrounded by a multitude of men
armed with lances, shields, slings, and clubs. As a
volley of stones was thrown by these people, Bruce
ordered a couple of shots to be fired over their heads.
This hint they seemed perfectly to understand, but,
retreating to the top of a hill further off, they con-
tinued whooping, shrieking, and making signs; how-
ever, Bruce sent a message by a woman, who agreed
to go to them, that if they continued to show the
smallest sign of violence, he would burn their town,
and put every one of them to the sword. This

376 LIFE OF BRUCE.

bravado had its effect, and a very submissive answer
was returned.

For five days Bruce steadily continued his journey
through a rugged country covered with thick woods.
On the 2nd of January, 1772, he approached the
town of Tcherkin, and pitched his tent in the market-
place, which appeared like a beautiful lawn shaded
with fine old trees of an enormous size, and watered
by a limpid brook, which ran over pebbles as white
as snow. As soon as he reached the town, a man
called to say that he was the servant of Ayto Confu,
and that he had orders to conduct Bruce into the
presence of his master. He accordingly followed to
a house built on the edge of a precipice, where he
was startled, and most agreeably surprised, by being-
introduced to Ozoro Esther, whom he found sitting
on an ottoman or couch, with the beautiful Tecla
Mariam at her feet. " Ozoro Esther ! " exclaimed
Bruce, " I cannot speak for surprise ; what is the
meaning of your having left Gondar to come into
this wilderness?" "There is nothing so strange in
it," she replied; "the troops of Begemder have taken
away my husband Ras Michael, God knows where,
and, therefore, being now a single woman, I am re-
solved to go to Jerusalem to pray for my husband,
to die there, and to be buried in the Holy Sepulchre.
You would not stay with us, so we are going with
you. Is there any thing surprising in all this ?"

" But tell me truly," said Tecla Mariam, "you that
know every thing by peeping and poring through
those long glasses, did not you learn by the stars that
we were to meet you here ?" " Madam," answered
Bruce, " if there was one star in the firmament that
had announced to me such agreeable news, I should
have relapsed into the idolatry of this country, and
worshipped that star for the rest of my life,"

ELEPHANT HUNTING. 377

Breakfast now appeared ; the conversation took a
natural and very lively turn. Bruce learnt that the
king, from gratitude to Ras Michael, had given some
villages to Ozoro Esther, and that her son Ayto
Confu, who happened to be going to Tcherkin to
hunt, had offered to put her in possession of her new
property.

" "We now," says Bruce, " wanted only the presence
of Ayto Confu to make our happiness complete ; he
came about four, and with him a great company.
There was nothing but rejoicing on all sides. Seven
ladies, relations and companions of Ozoro Esther,
came with Ayto Confu, and I confess this to have
been one of the happiest moments of my life. I
quite forgot the disastrous journey I had before me,
and all the dangers that awaited me. I began even
to regret being so far on my way to leave Abyssinia
for ever."

Confu having come to Tcherkin on purpose to
hunt, Bruce was easily persuaded to join in the
amusement, particularly as he learnt that there was
a great quantity of every sort of game, elephants,
rhinoceroses, buffaloes, &c. On the 6th, an hour
before day-break, the party mounted their horses,
attended by a number of people, who made hunting
the elephant the particular business of their lives.
These men dwell constantly in the woods, subsist-
ing entirely on the flesh of the enonnous animals
which they slay. They are thin, slight, active
people, of a swarthy complexion, but with European
features, and are called Agageer, from the word Agar,
which means " to hamstring."

The manner in which these people kill the ele-
phant is as follows : two men absolutely naked mount
a single horse ; one has nothing in his hand but a
switch or a short stick which he uses to manage the

378 LIFE OP BRUCE.

horse, while his comrade, armed with a broad sword,
sits patiently behind him. As soon as the elephant
is discovered feeding, the horsemen ride before him,
as near his face as possible, and, crossing him in all
directions, they each vauntingly exclaim, " I am such
a man, and such a man ; this is my horse that has
such a name ; I killed your father in such a place,
and your grandfather in such another place, and now
I am come to kill you, who are but an ass in com-
parison to them !" This nonsense (which is used
by the Abyssinians to almost every description of
enemy) the man actually fancies is understood by
this enormous animal, who, getting at last vexed
and angry at being " so pestered by a popinjay,"
rushes at the horse, following and turning after him,
to endeavour to seize him with his trunk, or, by one
blow with it, to level him with the dust. While
he is thus occupied, the horseman suddenly wheels
about, and then rapidly riding past the animal, the
swordsman slips off and cuts the elephant's tendon
just above the heel of the hind leg. The horseman
again wheels, and returning at full gallop, his com-
panion vaults up behind him. The mischief being
done, and the poor victim as it were tethered to the
ground, the horsemen leave him to search for another
of the herd, while a party on foot attack him with
lances, and at last put an end to his sufferings and
his life.

One of the greatest dangers in riding after the
elephant proceeds from the stumps of the trees which
he breaks in forcing his way among them, and also
from the young trees which, bending without break-
ing, recoil with such violence that they often have
been known to dash both horse and rider to the
ground ; whereupon the elephant generally turns,
and trampling on his tiny enemy, luxuriously tears

ELEPHANT HUNTING. 379

the lord of the creation" limb by limb to pieces. —
Besides this, the soil, like that of all hot countries
during the dry season, is cracked and split into such
deep chasms, that riding is attended with very great
dsnger.

After hunting the elephant and the rhinoceros for
some days, Bruce was anxious to proceed on his
journey, but Ozoro Esther insisted on his remaining
with her until she and her attendants returned to
Gondar.

At last, on the 15th January, they separated.
Bruce on that day bade adieu to his Abyssinian
friends, and to the beautiful Ozoro Esther, for whom
he had Jong secretly entertained a feeling very like
love and affection.

With a heavy heart he now left Tcherkin, and the
road being bad and intricate, and the camels overladen,
he and his party proceeded very slowly. During the
whole day, they travelled through woods which were
almost impenetrable. The thermometer was often
at 115°, there was little or no motion in the air, which
quivered from the sun, and the ground was rent in
every direction by the excessive heat. Occasionally
they crossed pools of impure muddy water, the resort
of buffaloes and elephants, and reaching the banks of
the river Woldo, they passed the night there in con-
siderable alarm from human footmarks in the sand,
which, by the length of the foot, and the breadth of
the heel, the guides pronounced to be Shangalla.

Early next morni»gf they were again on their
journey, and in about five hours they reached San-
t-aha, the old frontier territory of Abyssinia, and
which was subject^to Bruce's government of Ras el
Feel. The town consisted of about three hundred
huts neatly built of canes, and curiously thatched
with leaves of the same. The immense plain which

380 LIFE OF BRUCE.

surrounds it belongs to no one, and its wilds and woods
are the haunts of beasts of various descriptions.

As soon as Bruce had encamped, he sent to
Gimbaro, the chief of the Sancaha, to demand pro-
visions for his party and their camels. A very im-
pertinent answer was returned. Bruce immediately
armed himself with a fusil and a pair of pistols, and
took with him two of his servants, each carrying
pistols and a ship's blunderbuss. After mounting a
hill with such difficulty that they were several times
obliged to pull each other up by the hands, they
reached the residence of the chief, and entered a
large room of about fifty feet in length. The walls
were all covered with elephantsr heads and trunks,
and with the skeleton heads of rhinoceroses, enormous
hippopotami, and giraffes ; lions' skins were on the
floor, and at the end of the room, naked and upright,
stood Gimbaro, " the largest man," says Bruce, " I
ever remember to have seen, perfectly black, flat-
nosed, thick-lipped, and woolly-headed, a picture of
those cannibal giants which we read of as inhabiting
enchanted castles in the fairy tales."

Gimbaro scarcely noticed the traveller when first
he entered the room, but finding that no obeisance
was offered to himself, he at last stepped awkwardly
forward, bowed, and attempted to kiss his hand.
" I apprehend, sir," said Bruce with great firmness,
and at the same time drawing away his hand, " you
do not know me ?" Gimbaro bowed, and said he
did, but that he was not at fiij^t aware who it was
that had encamped at the brook ; he added, that the
message he had sent was only in sport ! " And was it
sport, sir," said Bruce, " when you said you would
send me the flesh of elephants to eat ? Did you
ever know a Christian eat any sort of flesh that a
Mahometan killed ?" " No," replied Gimbaro ; and

ARRIVES AT THE GUANGUE. 381

ing Brace's pardon, he promised to send him
bread, honey, camels, &c.

Bruce, having thus gained his object, returned to
his tent, and the next morning continued his march.
The second day they were preceded on their journey
by a lion, which generally kept about a gun-shot
before them ; but whenever it came to an arena or
bare spot, the creature crouched down and growled,
as if it had made up its mind to dispute the way.
" Our beasts," says Bruce, " trembled, and were all
covered with sweat, and could scarcely be kept on
the road. As there seemed to be but one remedy
for this difficulty, I took a long Turkish rifle gun,
and crawling under a bank as near as possible, shot
it in the body, so that it fell from the bank on the
road before us quite dead, and even without muscular
motion."

Proceeding on their journey, they came to the
corpse of a man who had evidently been murdered,
for his throat was cut, and he was also hamstrung.
The next day they suffered very much — their clothes
were torn to rags, and men and beasts were equally
exhausted ; the forests were swarming with game,
particularly guinea-fowls and parroquets ; and when
one of the party fired his gun. the first that probably
ever resounded in these woods, there was instantly
such a wild scream of terror from birds on all sides,
some flying to the place whence the noise came^
and some flying from it, that the confusion of the
moment was beyond all description.

Two days afterwards, Bruce reached the Guangue,
which abounds with hippopotami and crocodiles, and
was the largest river, except the Nile and Tacazzv,
he had seen in Abyssinia. Shortly afterwards he
arrived at Yasine's village, Hor Cacamoot, which
means, literally, the valley of the shadow of death —

382 LIFE OP BRUCE.

" A bad omen," says Bruce, " for weak and wander-
ing travellers as we were, surrounded by a multitude
of dangers, and so far from home."

" This," says Bruce, "is, I suppose, one of the
hottest countries in the known world. On the 1st
day of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon,
Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, was one
hundred and fourteen degrees, which was at sixty-
one at sunrise, and eighty-two at sunset. And yet
this excessive heat did not make a proportional
impression upon our feelings. The evenings, on the
contrary, rather seemed cold, and we could hunt at
mid-day ; and this I constantly observed in this
sultry country, that, what was hot by the glass,
never appeared to carry with it anything propor-
tionate in our sensations."

Some time before Bruce left Gondar, he had been
threatened with an attack of dysentery. On his
arrival at Hor Cacamoot it grew worse, and had
assumed many unpromising symptoms, when he was
cured by the advice and application of a common
Shangalla.

Bruce's faithful friend, Yasine, had made every
exertion to secure him a good reception from Fidele,
the Sheikh of Atbara. The Sheikh of Beyla, by
name Mahomet, was a man of high character for
courage and probity; and Bruce had often corre-
sponded with him upon the subject of horses for
the king while he was at Gondar. He was greatly
tormented with a most painful disorder, and, through
Yasine, Bruce had several times sent soap-pills and
lime, with directions how to make lime-water.
Bruce, therefore, sent a servant with a letter to
the Sheikh of Beyla, mentioning his intention of
coming to Sennaar by the way of Teawa and Beyla,
and desiring him to forward his servant to Sennaar.

ARRIVES AT ENGALDI. 383

But while he was making these vigorous exertions
to advance, his exhausted body was gradually be-
coming unable to follow ; the spirit, indeed, was
willing, but the flesh was weak. Trembling under
the burning heat of the climate, and feeble from the
effects of the most weakening of disorders, " Yagoube,
the white man," would probably have ended his
career at this petty government of Ras el Feel, had
it not been for the kind attention of Yasine, and the
skilful treatment of the black woolly-headed physi-
cian. But kindness, medicine, and time, at last
recruited his strength ; and after a delay of two
months, he set out, on the 17th of March, from Hor
Cacamoot, to proceed to Teawa, the capital of Atbara.
His path was through thick brushwood: his com-
panions were eleven naked men, driving before them
asses laden with salt.

The second morning, they reached Surf el Shekh,
which is the boundary of Ras el Feel ; and here
Bruce took a painful and affectionate leave of his
sincere friend Yasine, who showed at parting that
love and steady attachment which he had maintained
since his first acquaintance. The last tie which
connected Brace's heart with Abyssinia was now
severed. He had said farewell to his last friend ;
and with a burning desert under his feet, and a
still more burning sun over his head, he had now,
in danger, sickness, and solitude, to prosecute his
gloomy course.

At half-past seven in the evening, he came to
Engaldi, a large basin or cavity, about thirty feet
deep and several hundred yards in length, made
for the Arabs who encamp tliore after the rains.
The water was almost exhausted, and the little
that remained had an intolerable stench. Thou-
sands of guinea-fowls, partridges, and various de-

384 LIFE OF BRUCE.

scriptions of birds, had crowded round to drink ;
but it was a melancholy omen to see that they
were reduced to absolute skeletons ; and as the
French soldiers, in their retreat from Moscow, sat
freezing into corpses over the dying embers of their
fires, so these birds, from an opposite cause, were
equally expiring from the gradual extinction of
water.

At eight they came to Eradeeba, where is neither
village nor water, but only a resting-place about
half a mile square, which has been cleared from
wood, that travellers, who pass to and from Atbara,
might have an esplanade to guard themselves from
being attacked unawares by the banditti which re-
sort to those deserts.

At a quarter past eleven Bruce arrived at Quaicha,
a bed of a torrent where there was no water : the
wood seemed growing still thicker, and to be full
of wild beasts, especially lions and hyeenas. These
did not fly from man, as those which Bruce had
hitherto seen, but came boldly up, especially the
hysena, with apparently a resolution to attack them.
On lighting a fire they retired for a time, but
towards morning they came in greater numbers than
before. A lion carried away one of the asses, and a
hyaena attacked one of the men, tore his cloth from
his middle, and wounded him in the back. " As we
now expected," says Bruce, " to be instantly devoured,
the present fear overcame the resolution we had
made, not to use our fire-arms, unless in the utmost
necessity. I fired two guns, and ordered my servants
to fire two large ship-blunderbusses, which presently
freed us from our troublesome guests. Two hyaenas
were killed; and a large lion, being mortally wounded,
was despatched by our men in the morning. They
came no more near us: but we heard numbers of

ARRIVES AT RASHID. 385

them howling at a distance till day-light, either
from hunger or the smarts of the wounds they had
received — perhaps from both ; for each ship-blun-
derbuss had fifty small bullets, and the wood towards
which they were directed, at the distance of about
twenty yards, seemed to be crowded with these
animals."

Though this first day's journey from Falatty and
Ras el Feel to Quaicha occupied eleven hours, the
distance travelled was not more than ten miles ; for
the beasts were heavily laden, and it was with the
utmost difficulty that they could force themselves
through the thick woods, which scarcely admitted
the rays of the sun. From this station, however,
they enjoyed a most magnificent sight, the moun-
tains, in almost every direction, being in a flame of
fire.

The Arabs feed all their flocks upon the branches
of trees. When, therefore, the water is dried up,
and they can no longer stay, they set fire to the
underwood, and to the dry grass below it. The
flame runs under the trees, and scorches the leaves
and new wood, without consuming the body of the
tree. After the tropical rains begin, vegetation
immediately returns, the springs increase, the rivers
run, and the pools are again filled with water.
Verdure being now in the greatest luxuriancy, the
Arabs revisit their former stations. This conflagra-
tion is performed at two seasons — in October and
March.

After travelling two days, Bruce came to Rashid,
a sandy desert, where he was surprised to see the
branches of the shrubs and bushes covered with a
shell of that white and red species of univalve called
turbines. Some of these were three or four inches
long, and not to be distinguished from the sea shells
c c

386 LIFE OP BRUCE.

of the same species which are brought in great
quantities from the West Indian islands,

Bruce had now a new enemy to contend with.
" We were just two hours," he says, " in coming to
Rashid, for we were flying for our lives; the Simoom,
or hot- wind, having struck us not long after we had
set out from Iinserrha, and our little company, all
but myself, fell mortally sick with the quantity of
poisonous vapour that they had imbibed. I appre-
hend, from Rashid to Imserrha, it is about five miles;
and though it is one of the most dangerous halting-
places between Ras el Feel and Sennaar, yet we were
so enervated, our stomachs so weak, and our headachs
so violent, that we could not pitch our tent, but each
wrapping himself in his cloak, resigned himself imme-
diately to sleep under the cool shade of the large trees."

While they were in this helpless state, a Ganjar
Arab, who drove an ass laden with salt, took the
opportunity of stealing one of the mules, and got
safely off with his booty. Having refreshed them-
selves with a little sleep, the girbas or water skins
were filled. On the 21st, the fifth day of their
journey, they travelled about five hours ; yet, from
the weak state they were in, they had advanced but
seven or eight miles, so dreadfully were the mules,
camels, and horses, affected by the simoom. They
drank repeatedly and copiously, but water seemed to
afford them no refreshment.

Brace's servants now called to him to come
speedily. A lion had killed a deer, had eaten a
part of it, and had retired, but five or six hyaenas
had seized the carcass. Most people are bold under
the excitement of health or wine, but Cassius says
that even Caesar,

When the fit was on him,
Cried, give me some drink, Titinius,
Like a sick girl ;

KILLS FOTK II \\KNA8. 387

but neither the dysentery nor the simoom could
sul idue Bruce's enterprising spirit. " I hastened,"
he says, " upon the summons, carrying with me a
musket and bayonet, and a ship-blunderbuss, with
about forty small bullets in it. I crept through the
bushes, and under banks, as near to them as possible,
for fear of being seen; but the precaution seemed
entirely superfluous, for though they observed me
approaching, they did not seem disposed to lea\7e
their prey, but in their turn looked at me, raising
the bristles upon their backs, shaking themselves as
a dog does when he comes out of the water, and
giving a short but terrible grunt. After which they
fell to their prey again, as if they meant to despatch
their deer first, and then come and settle their affairs
with me. I now began to repent having ventured
alone so near ; but knowing, with the short weapon
I had, the execution depended a good deal upon the
distance, I still crept a little nearer, till I got as
favourable a position as I could wish behind the root
of a large tree that had fallen into the lake. Having
set my musket at my hand, near and ready, I levelled
my blunderbuss at the middle of the group, which
were feeding voraciously, like as many swine, with a
considerable noise, and in a civil war with each other.
Two of them fell dead upon the spot ; two more died
about twenty yards' distance ; but all the rest that
could escape, fled without looking back, or showing
any kind of resentment."

Bruce was here, as usual, accused of " exaggera-
tion." People would not take into consideration the
circumstances of the case ; they would not consider
that the noses of these savage hyaenas, devouring the
deer, were all close together, like the herd of critics
who assembled over Bruce's book, — upon whom, if
he had but fired a blunderbuss loaded with fortv
c c 2

388 LIFE OF BRUCE.

slugs, two at least would have given up the ghost,
while many more than two would have uttered very
lame apologies for having accused him of exaggera-
tion. But his performance was, very unjustly, only
measured by the customs of this country ; and be-
cause people in England were not in the habit of
killing four hyaenas at a shot, Brace's statement was
declared, like his blunderbuss, to have been over-
charged.

Bruce was now much alarmed at finding some
traps for birds, which, having been newly set, showed
that the Arabs could not be very far off. He and
his party, therefore, instantly proceeded. In the
evening, having lost their way, they were obliged to
halt in the wood. Here they were terrified at dis-
covering that the water was entirely gone from the
girbas. These skins had still the appearance of being
full, but their horrid lightness suddenly discovered
the contrary. The whole party were sick from the
effect of the simoom, but the terror of being without
water drove them to proceed. " A general murmur
of fear and discontent," says Bruce, "prevailed through
our whole company."

Next day (being the 6th from Ras el Feel), they
set off in great despondency, but in a short time they
providentially succeeded in regaining the road, and
shortly afterwards reached a well called Imgellalib,
containing plenty of water, a leathern bucket, and
a straw rope. Every one pressed forwards to drink,
and the fatal effects of this hurry were soon seen,
for two Abyssinian Moors died immediately after
drinking. — There was something unusually appalling
in thus seeing death, as it were, on both sides, —
men dyin<? from thirst, and others dying from
quenching it !

The thick forests which, without interruption, had

ARRIVES AT TEAWA. 389

reached from Tcherkin, ended here. The country
was perfectly flat, and contained very little water.
To destroy the flies the Arabs had burned the grass,
and Bruce had no means of avoiding the rays of the
scorching sun, and the pestilential breath of the
simoom, but by seeking shelter in the tent, which
was insufferably close and hot.

The next day they traversed an extensive plain,
in which is situated Teawa, the capital, or principal
village, of Atbara. The thermometer slung under
the camel, in the shade of the girba, was now from
111° to 119|°. At six in the evening they arrived
at the village of Carigana, " whose inhabitants," says
Bruce, "had all perished with hunger the year before ;
their wretched bones being unburied and scattered
upon the surface of the ground where the village
formerly stood. "We encamped among the bones of
the dead ; no space could be found free from them,
and on the 23rd at six in the morning, full of horror
at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa."
Late in the evening, when they had arrived within a
quarter of a mile from this capital, they were met by
a man on horseback, clothed in a large loose gown
of red camlet, with a white muslin turban on his head,
and attended by about twenty naked servants on foot,
armed with lances, and preceded by a pipe and two
small drums. The leader of this savage band was
about seventy, with a very long beard, and a graceful
appearance. It was with the utmost difficulty that
he could be prevailed upon to mount his hoi-
he declared it was his intention to walk by the side
of Bruee's mule, till he entered the town of Teawa ;
however, mounting at last, he made a great display
of his horsemanship, as a mark of humiliation or
politeness. On entering the town, they passed a
very commodious house, the residence ordered for

390 LTFE OF BRUCE.

Bruce by the Sheikh, and after crossing the square
they came to the Sheikh's house, or rather his collec-
tion of houses, which were of one story high and
built of canes. They then entered a large hall of
imburnt bricks covered with straw mats. In the
middle there was a chair to which obeisance was
made, it being considered as the seat of the Grand
Seignior. The Sheikh was sitting on the ground,
affecting humility and to be devoutly occupied in
reading the Koran. When Bruce entered, he seemed
to be surprised, and made an attempt as if to rise,
but the traveller prevented it, by holding him down
by his hand, which he kissed.

" I shall not fatigue the reader," says Bruce, " with
the uninteresting conversation that passed at this
first interview. He affected to admire my size and
apparent strength, introduced some loose hints about
Abyssinian women ; and, in general, pretended to
blame me for exposing myself to travel in such a
country. In return, I complained of the extreme
fatigue of the journey and heat, the beasts of prey,
the thick w^oods without shade, the want of water,
and, above all, the poisonous blasts of the simoom
that had almost overcome me, the effects of which
I was at that instant feeling.

" He then blamed himself very politely, in a man-
ner natural to the Arabs, for having suffered me to
come to him before I had reposed myself, which he
excused by his desire of seeing so great a man as
me. He said also, that he would detain me no
longer ; bid me to repose a day or two in quiet and
safety ; and upon my rising to go away, he got up
likewise, and holding me by the hand, said, ' The
greatest part of the dangers you have passed in the
way are, I believe, as yet unknown to you. Your
Moor, Yasine, of Ras el Feel, is a thief worse than

INTERVIEW WITH THE SHEIKH. 391

any in llnbesh. Several times you escaped very nar-
rowly, and by mere chance, from being cut oft' by
Arabs whom Yasine had posted to murder you. But
you have a clean heart and clean hands. God saw their
designs and protected you : and I may say also on
my own part, I was not wanting.' Being then on
my legs for retiring, I returned no answer, but the
usual one (Ullah Kerim), i.e. God is merciful!"

Bruce and his party had scarcely taken possession of
their lodging, and had but just thrown off' their clothes
to enjoy rest and ease, when several slaves of both
9 appeared with a quantity of dishes of meat from
the Sheikh, who also sent flattering compliments and
good wishes. But Bruce was very much astonished
at one young man, who, putting his mouth to his
car, whispered these few words of comfort. " Seitan
Fidele ! el Sheikh el Atbara Seitan !" (Fidele is the
devil, the Sheikh of Atbara is the devil himself!)

Bruce, fearing from this hint that he was in
danger, privately and prudently despatched a man to
Ras el Feel, begging Yasine to send some person in
the name of the king of Abyssinia, or of Ayto Confu,
to remonstrate against his detention : until an answer
could arrive, he had resolved to see as little of the
Sheikh as possible ; but by and by, getting restless
and anxious to depart, he waited on the Sheikh with
presents ; and these being apparently very graciously
received, he asked for camels. The Sheikh replied
that they were fifteen days off, in the sandy desert,
for fear of the flies ; added that the road to Seminar
was in a very unsettled state, and made many other
trifling excuses. At last his real object could no
longer be concealed, and he openly insisted on having
a part of the treasure which he declared that Bruce
was carrying with him.

Bruce resolutely refused to give him any thing.

392 LIFE OF BRUCE.

And the wretch then endeavoured to have him
assassinated by Soliman, to whom he offered half the
plunder of his baggage ; but Soliman saved his life
by declaring that the stranger had no treasure, pos-
sessing only a few instruments and glass bottles, the
use of which no one understood but himself.

Bruce was again sent for by the Sheikh. He was
in the alcove of a spacious room, sitting on a sofa
surrounded by curtains. After he had taken two
whiffs of his pipe, and when the slave had left the
room, " Are you prepared," he said, " have you
brought the money along with you ?" Bruce replied,
" My servants are at the other door, and have the
vomit you wanted." " Curse you and the vomit too,"
says he with great passion : "I want money, and not
poison. Where are your piastres ?" " I am a bad
person," replied Bruce, " Fidele, to furnish you with
either. I have neither money nor poison; but I
advise you to drink a little warm water to clear your
stomach, cool your head, and then lie down and com-
pose yourself ; I will see you to-morrow morning."
Bruce was going out, when the Sheikh exclaimed,
u Hakim, infidel, or devil, or whatever is your name,
hearken to what I say. Consider where you are ;
this is the room where Mek Baady, a king, was
slain by the hand of my father : look at his blood,
where it has stained the floor, which never could be
washed out. I am informed you have twenty thou-
sand piastres in gold with you ; either give me two
thousand before you go out of this chamber, or you
shall die ; I will put you to death with my own
hand." Upon this he took up his sword -that was
lying at the head of his sofa, and, drawing it with a
bravado, threw the scabbard into the middle of the
room ; and, tucking the sleeve of his shirt above his
elbow, like a butcher, he said, "I wait your answer,"

INTERVIEW WITH THE SHEIKH. 393

Bruce stepped one. pace backwards, and dropped
the burnoose behind him, holding a little blunderbuss
in his hand, without taking it off the belt. In a firm
tone of voice, he replied, " This is my answer : I am
not a man, as I have told you before, to die like a
beast by the hand of a drunkard ; on your life, I
charge you, stir not from your sofa." — " I had no
need," says Bruce, " to give this injunction ; he heard
the noise which the closing the joint in the stock of
the blunderbuss made, and thought I had cocked it,
and was instantly to fire. He let his sword drop,
and threw himself on his back on the sofa, crying,
4 For God's sake, Hakim, I was but jesting/ " In
all climates, and under all circumstances, the bully
is always a coward. Bruce, however, was only
acting on the defensive ; it was neither his intention
nor his wish to triumph over the Sheikh, and he
therefore most willingly accepted the explanation,
and retired, calmly wishing his enemy a good night.

About a week afterwards letters arrived from
Yasine, declaring that, unless Bruce was instantly
allowed to depart, he would burn every stalk of corn
between Beyla and Teawa. This threat had the de-
sired effect ; and, after having been most vexatiously
detained more than three weeks, Bruce received a
message to say that the camels were all ready — that
girbas for water and provisions of all sorts wrould be
furnished, and that he might set out as soon as he
pleased, provided he would promise to forgive the
Skeikh, and not to make any complaint against him
at Sennaar or elsewhere. This savage agreement
being concluded, Bruce was at last suffered to escape
from Teawa.

For the first seven hours his path was through a
barren, sandy plain, without a vestige of any living
creature, without water, and without grass — " ;i

394 LIFE OF BRUCE.

country," says Bruce, " that seemed under the imme-
diate curse of Heaven."

After travelling all night, they rested at Abou
Jehaarat till the afternoon. The sun was intensely
hot, but fortunately there were some shepherds'
caves into which they crept for shelter. On" the
19th of April they again set out, and that evening
arrived at Beyla. At the very entrance of the town
they were met by Mahomet, the Sheikh, who said
he looked upon them as beings who had risen from
the dead, and that they must be good people to have
escaped from the Sheikh of Atbara ! Mahomet pro-
vided all sorts of refreshments ; and the whole party
were filled with joy, except Bruce, who was suffer-
ing so severely from the Bengazi ague, that he had
the greatest repugnance even to the smell of meat.
He had, besides, a violent headache; so, having
drunk a quantity of w^arm water to serve as an
emetic, he retired " impransus" and supperless to
his bed — a buffalo's hids.

There is no water at Beyla but what is got from
deep wells. Large plantations of Indian corn were
everywhere about the town. The inhabitants were
in continual apprehension from the Arabs Daveina
at Sim-Sim, about forty miles from them ; and from
another powerful race called Wed abd el Gin — /Son
of the slaves of the Devil — who live to the south-
west, between the Dender and the Nile. Beyla
another frontier town of Sennaar, on the side o
Sim-Sim; and between Teawa and this, on the
Sennaar side, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelga,
upon the Abyssinian side, all is desert and waste, the
Arabs only suffering the water to remain there with-
out villages near it, that they and their flocks may
come at certain seasons while the grass grows, anc
the pools or springs fill elsewhere.

F.r.AVES BEYLA.

395

On the 21st of April, Bruce and his party left
Hey la. After travelling four days, they crossed the
Dender river, and came to a large plain, in which
a number of villages, nearly of one size, and
forming a semicircle. The plain was of a red, soapy
earth, and the country is in perpetual cultivation.
The villages were inhabited by soldiers of the Mek
of Sennaar, who have small features, but are woolly-
headed and flat-nosed, like negroes. Their masters
at Sennaar pretend to be Mahometans, yet they have
never attempted to convert these Nuba ; on the con-
trary, they entertain, in every village, a number of
pairan priests, who receive soldiers' pay. These
people worship the moon, and appear delighted to
see her shine. Coming out of their dark huts, they
express great joy at her brightness, and they cele-
brate the birth of every new moon. They are im-
moderately fond of swine's flesh, and maintain great
herds of these animals. There is no running stream
in the immense plain which they inhabit ; their
water is all procured from draw-wells.

On the 25th, Brace set out from the villages of
the Nuba, intending to reach Basboch, which is the
terry over the Nile ; but he had scarcely advanced
two miles into the plain, when he and his party
were enveloped by that sort of whirlwind which, at
sea, forms the water-spout. " The plain," says Bruce,
w> was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened
by a shower in the night-time. The unfortunate
eainel that had been taken by the Cohala seemed to
he nearly in the centre of the vortex. The animal
was lifted and thrown down at a considerable distance,
and several of its ribs broken. Although, as far as
I could guess, I was not near the centre, it whirled
me off my feet, and threw me down upon my face,
so as to make my nose gush out with blood. Two

396 LIFE OF BRUCE.

of the servants, likewise, had the same fate. It
plastered us all over with mud, almost as smoothly
as could have been done with a trowel. It took
away my sense of breathing for an instant, and my
mouth and nose were full of mud when I recovered.
I guess the sphere of its action to be about two
hundred feet. It demolished one half of a small hut,
as if it had been cut through with a knife, and dis-
persed the materials all over the plain, leaving the
other half standing.

" As soon as we recovered ourselves, \ve took
refuge in a village, from fear only, for we saw no
vestige of any other whirlwind. It involved a great
quantity of rain, which the Nuba of the villages told
us was very fortunate, and portended good luck to
us, and a prosperous journey ; for they said that,
had dust and sand arisen with the whirlwind in the
same proportion it would have done had not the
earth been moistened, we should all infallibly have
been suffocated ; and they cautioned us, by saying,
that tempests were very frequent in the beginning
and end of the rainy season, and whenever we should
see one of them coming, to fall down upon our faces,
keeping our lips close to the ground, and so let it
pass ; and thus it would neither have power to carry
us off our feet, nor suffocate us, which was the ordi-
nary case.

" Our kind landlords, the Nuba, gave us a hearty
welcome, and helped us to wash our clothes first, and
then to dry them. When I was stripped naked, they
saw the blood running from my nose, and said, they
could not have thought that one so white as me could
have been capable of bleeding."

These people gave Bruce a piece of roasted hog,
which he ate, very much to the satisfaction of the
Nuba. In return, as the camel was lame, Bruce

ARRIVES AT BASBOCII. 397

ordered it to be killed, and the flesh to be given to the
Nuba of the village, who feasted upon it for several
• lays. With these people Bruce spent a very cheerful
evening, and then, having a clean hut, he retired to
rest himself from the effects of the whirlwind.

On the 26th, he left the village, his way still being
across an immense plain. After encountering several
violent storms of thunder, lightning, and rain, he ar-
rived at Basboch — a large collection of huts bearing
the appearance of a town — where the governor, a
venerable old man of about seventy, received him
with considerable dignity and urbanity. " Christian,"
said he, taking him by the hand, " what dost thou at
such a time in such a country?"

Basboch is on the eastern bank of the Nile, or Blue
river, not a quarter of a mile from the ford below.
The river here runs north and south ; towards the
sides it is shallow, but deep in the middle of the
current, and in this part it is much infested with cro-
codiles. Sennaar is two miles and a half S.S.W. of
it. " We heard," says Bruce, " the evening drum very
distinctly, and not without anxiety, when we reflected
to what a brutish people, according to all accounts,
we were about to trust ourselves."

After waiting at this place three days, Bruce and
his party having at last received permission to enter
Sennaar, the capital of Nubia, they were conducted to
a very spacious good house, belonging to the Sheikh
himself, and about a quarter of a mile from the palace.
The following morning a messenger came from the
king, desiring Bruce to wait upon him.

The palace, which covers a prodigious deal of
ground, is one story high, built of clay, and the floors
of earth. The king was in a small room which was
covered with a Persian carpet ; the walls were hung
with tapestry. The king was sitting upon a mattress,

398 LIFE OF BRUCE.

laid on the ground, which was likewise covered with
a Persian rug, and round him were a number of
cushions of Venetian cloth of gold. His dress did not
correspond with this magnificence ; for it was nothing
but a large common loose shirt of Surat blue cloth.
His head was uncovered ; he wore his own short
black hair, and was as white in colour as an Arab.
He seemed to be a man about thirty- four ; his feet
were bare, but covered by his shirt. " He had," says
Bruce, " a very plebeian countenance, on which wa.<
stamped no decided character ; I should rather have
guessed him to be a soft, timid, irresolute man. Al
my coming forward and kissing his hand, he look<
at me for a minute as if undetermined what to say.
He then asked for an Abyssinian interpreter, as the
are many of these about the palace. I said to him ii
Arabic, * That I apprehended I understood as mucl
of that language as would enable me to answer air
question he had to put to me/ Upon which hi
turned to the people that were with him. ' Down-
right Arabic, indeed ! You did not learn that langua«
in Habesh ?' said he to me. I answered, ' No ;
have been in Egypt, Turkey, and Arabia, where
learned it ; but I have likewise often spoken it ii
Abyssinia, where Greek, Turkish, and several othei
languages were used.' He said, ' Impossible ! IK
did not think they knew anything of languages ex-
cepting their own, 'in Abyssinia.' "

There were sitting in the side of the room, op]
site to him, four men dressed in white cotton shii
with a white shawl covering their heads and part
their face, by which it was known they wrere religious
men, or men of learning, or of the law. Bruce pi
sented first the Sherritie of Mecca's letter, then one
from the king of Abyssinia. The king took tli
both and read them, and said, " You are a physician

and a soldier." " Both in time of need," replied Bruce.
" I iuttl ic SI icrriffe's letter," said the Sheikh, "tells me
als >, that you are a nobleman in the service of a great
king that they call Englise-man, who is master of all
the Indies, and who has Mahometan as well as Chris-
tian subjects, and allows them all to be governed by
their own laws." " Though I never said so to the
Sherriffe," replied Bruce, " yet it is true; I am as noble
as any individual in my nation, and am also servant
to the greatest king now reigning upon earth, of
whose dominions, it is likewise truly said, these
Indies are but a small part." " How comes it," said the
king, " you that are so noble and learned, that you
know all things, all languages, and so brave that you
fear no danger, but pass, with two or three old men,
into such countries as this and Habesh, where Baady,
my father, perished with an army — how comes it that
you do not stay at home and enjoy yourself, eat,
drink, take pleasure, and rest, and not wander like a
poor man, a prey to every danger?" "You, Sir,"
replied Bruce, " may know some of this sort of men;
certainly you do know them ; for there are in your
religion, as well as in mine, men of learning, and those
too of great rank and nobility, who, on account of
sins they have committed, or vows they have made,
renounce the world, its riches, and pleasures : they
lay down their nobility, and become humble and poor,
so as often to be insulted by wicked and low men,
not having the fear of God before their eyes." " True,
these are Dervish," said the three men of learning.
" I am then one of these Dervish," said Bruce, " con-
tent with the bread that is given me, and bound for
some years to travel in hardships and danger, doing
all the good I can to the poor and rich, serving every
man and hurting none." " Tybe ! that is well," said
the king. " And how long have you been travelling

400 LIFE OF BRUCE.

about ?" " Xear twenty years," replied Bruce. " You
must be very young," observed the king, " to have
committed so many sins, and so early ; they must all
have been with women ?" " Part of them, I suppose,
were," replied Bruce, " but I did not say that I was
one of those who travelled on account of their sins,
but that there were some Dervishes that did so on
account of their vows, and some to learn wisdom." The
king now made a sign, and a slave brought a cushion,
which Bruce would have refused, but was forced to
sit down upon it.

A cadi who was present then asked Bruce when
the Hagiuge Magiuge were to arrive ? " Hagiuge
Magiuge," said the cadi, " are little people, not so big
as bees, or like the zimb, or fly of Sennaar, that come
in great swarms out of the earth, aye, in multitudes
that cannot be counted ; two of their chiefs are to ride
upon an ass, and every hair of that ass is to be a pipe,
and every pipe is to play a different kind of music,
and all that hear and follow them are carried to hell.'
" I know them not," says Bruce, " and in the name of
the Lord, I fear them not, were they twice as little as
you say they are, and twice as numerous. I trust
in God I shall never be so fond of music as to go to
hell after an ass, for all the tunes that he or they can
play." The king laughed violently. Bruce then went
away, and found a number of people in the street, all
offering him some taunt or affront. " I passed," he
says, " through the great square before the palace, and
could not help shuddering, upon reflection, at what
had happened in that spot to the unfortunate M. du
Roule and his companions, though under a protection
which should have secured them from all danger,
every part of which I wras then unprovided with."

The drum beat a little after six o'clock in the even-
ing. Bruce then had a very comfortable dinner sent

INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 401

to him, which consisted of camel's flesh stewed with
an herb, a slimy substance, called bammia. After
having dined, and finished the journal of the day, he
began to unpack his instruments, when a servant came
from the palace, telling him to bring his present to the
king. " I sorted," says Bruce, " the separate articles
with all the speed I could, and we went directly to
the palace. The king was then sitting in a large
apartment ; he was naked, but several cloths lying
upon his knee and about him, and a servant was
rubbing him over with very stinking butter or grease,
with which his hair was dropping, as if wet with
water. Large as the room was, it could be smelled
through the whole of it. The king asked me, if ever
I greased myself as he did ? I said, 4 Very seldom,
but fancied it would be very expensive.' He then
told me that it was elephant's grease, which made
people strong, and preserved the skin very smooth."

This simple toilet being finished, Bruce produced
his present, which he said the king of Abyssinia had
sent, hoping that, according to the faith and custom
of nations, he would transmit him safely and speedily
into Egypt. The king answered, " There was a
time when he could have done all this, and more,
but that times were changed. Sennaar was in ruins,
and was not like what it once was."

Several days having passed unsatisfactorily, Bruce
was again summoned to the palace. " The king," he
says, " told me that several of his wives were ill, and
desired that I would give them my advice, which I
promised to do without difficulty, as all acquaintance
with the fair sex had hitherto been much to my
advantage. I must confess, however, that calling
these the fair sex is not preserving a precision in
terms. I was admitted into a large square apartment,
very ill-lighted, in which were about fifty women,

D D

402 LIFE OF HRTCF..

all perfectly black, without any covering but a very
narrow piece of cotton rag about their waists. While
I was musing whether or not these all might be
queens, or whether there was any queen among them,
one of them took me by the hand, and led me rudely
enough into another apartment. This was much better
lighted than the first. Upon a large bench or sofa,
covered with blueSurat cloth, sat three persons clothed
from the neck to the feet with blue cotton shirts.

" One of these, who I found was the favourite,
was about six feet high, and corpulent beyond all
proportion. She seemed to me, next to the elephant
and rhinoceros, the largest living creature I had ever
met with. Her features were perfectly like those of
a negro ; a ring of gold passed through her under-
lip, and weighed it down, till, like a flap, it covered
her chin, and left her teeth bare, which were very
small and fine. The inside of her lip she had made
black with antimony. Her ears reached down to her
shoulders, and had the appearance of wings ; she had
in each of them a large ring of gold, somewhat
smaller than a man's little finger, and about five
inches in diameter. The weight of these had drawn
down the hole where her ear was pierced so much,
that three fingers might easily pass above the ring.
She had a gold necklace, like what we used to call
eeefawge, of several rows, one below another, to
which were hung rows of sequins pierced. She had
on her ankles two manacles of gold, larger than any
I had ever seen upon the feet of felons,. with which
I could not conceive it was possible for her to walk,
but afterwards I found they were hollow. The others
were dressed pretty much in the same manner ; only
there was one that had chains, which came from her
ears to the outside of each nostril, where they were
fastened. There was also a ring put through the

ITK10S1TY OF THE QUEENS. 403

Bristle of her nose, and which hung down to the
opening of her mouth. I think she must have
breathed with great difficulty. It had altogether
something of the appearance of a horse's bridle.
Upon my coming near them, the eldest put her hand
to her mouth, and kissed it, saying, at the same time
in very vulgar Arabic, ' Kifhalek howaja?' (How
do you do, merchant) — I never in my life was more
pleased with distant salutations than at this time.
I answered, ' Peace be among you ! I am a physician,
and not a merchant/

" I shall not entertain the reader with the multi-
tude of their complaints ; being a lady's physician,
discretion and silence are my first duties. It is suffi-
cient to say, that there was not one part of their
whole bodies, inside and outside, in which some of
them had not ailments. The three queens insisted
upon being blooded, which desire I complied with,
as it was an operation that required short attendance ;
but, upon producing the lancets, their hearts failed
them. They then all cried out for the Tabange,
which, in Arabic, means a pistol; but what they meant
by this word was, the cupping instrument, which goes
off with a spring like the snap of a pistol. I had two
of these with me, but not at that time in my pocket.
I sent my servant home, however, to bring one, and,
that same evening, performed the operation upon the
three queens with great success. The room was
overflowed with an effusion of royal blood, and the
whole ended with their insisting upon my giving them
the instrument itself, which I was obliged to do, after
cupping two of their slaves before them, who had no
complaints, merely to show them how the operation
was to be performed."

When the " black spirits" of these queens had
somewhat revived, the creatures naturally became a
D D 2

404 LIFE OF BRUCE.

little playful, and were exceedingly curious to inspect
Brace's skin.

" The only terms," he says, " I could possibly, and
that with great difficulty, make for myself were, that
they should be contented to strip me no further than
the shoulders and breast. Upon seeing the white-
ness of my skin, they gave all a loud cry in token
of dislike, and shuddered, seeming to consider it
rather the effects of disease than natural. I think
in my life I never felt so disagreeably. I have been
in more than one battle, but surely I would joyfully
have taken my chance again in any of them to have
been freed from that examination. I could not help
likewise reflecting that, if the king had come in
during this exhibition, the consequence would either
have been impaling, or stripping off that skin whose
colour they were so curious about ; indeed it was
impossible to be more chagrined at, or more dis-
gusted with, my present situation than I was ; and
the more so, that my delivery from it appeared to
be very distant, and the circumstances were more
and more unfavourable every day."

During his tedious detention at Sennaar, Bruce
occupied himself, as usual, in making celestial obser-
vations and inquiring into the history of the country,
a great part of which he minutely relates.

" Nothing," says Bruce, " is more pleasant than the
country around Sennaar, in the end of August and
beginning of September, I mean so far as the eye is
concerned ; instead of that barren, bare waste, which
it appeared on our arrival in May, the corn now
sprung up, and covering the ground, made the whole
of this immense plain appear a level, green land,
interspersed with great lakes of water, and orna-
mented at certain intervals with groups of villages,
the conical tops of the houses presenting, at a dis-

(•MM ATE OF SENNAAR. 405

tance, the appearance of small encampments. Through
this immense, extensive plain winds the Nile, a de-
lightful river there, above a mile broad, full to the
very brim, but never overflowing. Everywhere on
these banks are seen numerous herds of the most
beautiful cattle of various kinds, the tribute recently
extorted from the Arabs, who, freed from all their
vexations, return home with the remainder of their
flocks in peace, at as great a distance from the town,
country, and their oppressors, as they possibly cart.

" The banks of the Nile about Sennaar resemble
the pleasantest parts of Holland in the summer
season ; but soon after, when the rains cease, and
the sun exerts his utmost influence, the dora begins
to ripen, the leaves to turn yellow and to rot, the
lakes to putrify, smell, and be full of vermin, all
this beauty suddenly disappears ; bare scorched Nubia
returns, and all its terrors of poisonous winds and
moving sands, glowing and ventilated with sultry
blasts, which are followed by a troop of terrible
attendants, epilepsies, apoplexies, violent fevers,
obstinate agues, and lingering, painful dysenteries,
still more obstinate and mortal.

" War and treason seem to be the only employment
of this horrid people, whom Heaven has separated, by
almost impassable deserts, from the rest of mankind."

To any one who will consider that Sennaar is only
thirteen degrees from the line, it is scarcely necessary
to observe that its heat is excessive, yet the natives
bear it with astonishing ease; for on the 2nd of
August, while Bruce was lying perfectly enervated
in a room deluged with water, at noon, the thermo-
meter being at one hundred and sixteen degrees, he
saw several black labourers working without any
appearance of being incommoded.

His observations on heat are so practical, and so

406 LIFE OF BRUCE.

admirably expressed, that we give them in his own
words : — " Cold and hot are terms merely relative, not
determined by the latitude, but elevation of the place ;
when, therefore, we say hot, some other explanation
is necessary concerning the place where we are, in
order to give an adequate idea of the sensations of
that heat upon the body, and the effects of it upon the
lungs. The degree of the thermometer conveys this
very imperfectly ; ninety degrees is excessively hot
at Loheia in Arabia Felix, and yet the latitude of
Loheia is but fifteen degrees, whereas ninety degrees
at Sennaar is, as to sense, only warm, although Sen-
naar, as we have said, is in latitude thirteen degrees.

" At Sennaar, then, I call it cold, when one, fully
clothed and at rest, feels himself in want of fire. I
call it cool, when one fully clothed and at rest feels
he could bear more covering all over, or in part more
than he has then on. I call it temperate, when a
man, so clothed and at rest, feels no such want, and
can take moderate exercise, such as walking about a
room, without sweating. I call it warm, when a
man, so clothed, does not sweat when at rest, but,
upon moderate motion, sweats and again cools. I call
it hot, when a man sweats at rest, and excessively on
moderate motion. I call it very hot, when a man,
with thin or little clothing, sweats much, though at
rest. I call it excessive hot, when a man, in his shirt,
at rest, sweats excessively, when all motion is painful,
and the knees feel feeble as if after a fever. I call it
extreme hot, when the strength fails, a disposition to
faint comes on, a straitness is found in the temples,
as if a small cord was drawn tight around the head,
the voice impaired, the skin dry, and the head seems
more than ordinary large and light."

If Bruce's enemies could but have been subjected
to this last degree of temperature, they would, per-

SIENNA AK. 407

haps, for once have agreed to admire the indefatigable
exertions which, under such a climate, Bruce, in
spite of ill health, continued to make. The history,
ancient and modern, of the kingdom of Sennaar, its
natural history, its trade, money, measures, diseases,
<S:c. &c. were objects of his most eager inquiry; and
it may truly be said, that his thirst for information
seems actually to have increased with the heat and
difficulties which oppressed him.

He made every exertion to leave Sennaar : in vain
were represented to him the dangers which awaited
him. " I persisted," says he, " in my resolution — I was
tied to the stake. To fly was impossible ; and I had
often overcome such dangers by braving them ;" but a
new difficulty now arose. His funds were exhausted,
and the person with whom he had credit refused to
supply him. " This was a stroke," says Bruce, " that
seemed to ensure our destruction, no other resource
being now left. My servants began to murmur ; some
of them had known of my gold chain from the begin-
ning, and these, in the common danger, imparted what
they knew to the rest. In short, I resolved, though
very unwillingly, not to sacrifice my own life, and
that of my servants, and the finishing my travels,
now so far advanced, to childish vanity. I determined,
therefore, to abandon my gold chain, the honourable
recompense of a day full of fatigue and danger.

" It was on the 5th of September," says Bruce,
u that we were all prepared to leave this capital of
Nubia, an inhospitable country from the beginning,
and which, every day we continued in it, had engaged
us in greater difficulties and dangers. We flattered
ourselves, that, once disengaged from this bad step,
the greatest part of our sufferings was over ; for we
apprehended nothing but from men, and, with very
ijreut reason, thought we had seen the worst of them."

408

CHAPTER XVI.

Bruce leaves Sennaar — Crosses the great Desert of Nubia — Hit
Distress — Reaches Syene on the Nile.

ON the 8th of September, the camels were at last
laden, and sent forwards to a small village, three or
four miles from Sennaar. Bruce then finally settled
his accounts, " and I received back," he says, " six
links, the miserable remains of one hundred and
eighty-four, of which my noble chain once consisted."
Thus robbed, even of his hard-earned honour, a
tinsel which no man breathing could more enthu-
siastically venerate, Bruce, after having been detained
four months at Sennaar, proceeded once again on his
journey towards his native land ; and although he
had so long been bending forwards towards the
north, yet he had still to travel nearly seven hundred
miles before he could even escape from that burning
region of the earth — the torrid zone. His way was
long — his path was beset with dangers ; but the
relentless persecution of a tropical sun is what no
man can describe to another — every animal pants
beneath it, and the very atmosphere they breathe
trembles and shakes like air at the mouth of a fur-
nace; however, onwards Bruce proceeded, and, about
ten o'clock at night, he and his little party joyfully
reached Soliman. Bruce now formally addressed his
people ; he recommended diligence, sobriety, and sub-
ordination ; he assured them that, until the journey
was terminated by good or bad success, they should
share with him one common fare and one common
fortune. Never was a discourse more gratefully re-

PASSA<!K OF T11K NILE. 409

<ri\ rd. " Sennaar," says Bruce, "sat heavy upon all
their spirits," and beyond description did they rejoice
at having escaped from it.

Constantly advancing, they arrived on the 16th
at Herbagi, a large, pleasant village; and Bruce
immediately waited upon Wed Ageeb, an hereditary
prince of the Arabs subject to the government of
Sennaar. He had never before seen a European,
and testified great surprise at Brace's complexion.
After resting two days at Herbagi, Bruce proceeded
along the river. " Nothing," he says, " could be more
beautiful than the country we passed that day, partly
covered with very pleasant woods, and partly in lawns,
witli a few fine scattered trees." After travelling
three days, they came, on the 21st, to the passage
of the Nile, which river they crossed. The manner
they pass the camels at this ferry is by fastening
cords under their hind quarters, and then tying a
halter to their heads. Two men sustain these cords,
and a third the halter, so that the camels, by swim-
ming, carry the boat on shore. One is fastened on
each side of the stern, and one along each side of the
stem. These useful beasts suffer much by this rude
treatment, and many die in the passage, with all the
care that can be taken, but they oftener perish
through malice, or out of revenge ; for the boatmen
privately put salt in the camel's ears, which makes
him desperate and ungovernable, till, by fretting and
plunging his head constantly in the water, he loses
his breath, and is drowned ; the boatmen then have
gained their object, and feast upon the flesh.

Having thus crossed the Nile, they proceeded to
Elalfaia, the limits of the tropical rains. A very
important change was now about to take place in
the character of the country, and Bruce, in bidding
adieu to the wet portion of Africa, had to enter the

410 LIFE OF I3KUCK.

suburbs of the deserts. Here there are palm-trees,
but no dates. The people eat cats, the hippopo-
tamus, and the crocodile. Having remained at
Halfaia a week, they set out on the 29th, and soon
reached the village of Wed Hojila, where the great
Bahar el Abiad, or White River, falls into the Bahar
el Azergue, or Blue River ; and here, with great
frankness, Bruce acknowledges that the Abiad " is
larger than the Nile." " The Abiad," he says, " is
a very deep river ; it runs dead, and with little incli-
nation, and preserves its stream always undiminished,
because, rising in latitudes where there are continual
rains, it, therefore, suffers not the decrease the Nile
does by the six months' dry weather."

This confession certainly reflects great credit on
Bruce's character, and it should surely silence those
who have very unfairly insinuated that he always
endeavoured to conceal the fact that the Bahar el
Abiad was a much larger branch of the Nile than
the Abyssinian river, the sources of which it had
cost him so much to visit.

" At Halfaia," says Bruce, "begins that noble race
of horses justly celebrated all over the world. They
are the breed that was introduced here at the Saracen
conquest, and have been preserved unmixed to this
day. They seem to be a distinct animal from the
Arabian horse, such as I have seen in the plains of
Arabia Deserta, south of Palmyra and Damascus,
where I take the most excellent of the Arabian
breed to be, in the tribes of Mowalli and Annecy,
which is about lat. 36°; whilst Dongola and the dry
country near it seem to be the centre of excellence
for this nobler animal.

" What figure the Nubian breed of horses would
make, in point of fleetness, is very doubtful, their
make being so entirely different from that of tho

INTERVIEW WITH SITTINA. 411

Arabian ; but if beautiful and symmetrical parts,
great size and strength, the most agile, nervous, and
elastic movements, great endurance of fatigue, doci-
lity of temper, and seeming attachment to man
beyond any other domestic animal, can promise any-
thing for a stallion, the Nubian is, above all com-
parison, the most eligible in the world. Few men
have seen more horses, or more of the different
places where they are excellent, than I have, and
no one ever more delighted in them, as far as the
manly exercise went. What these may produce for
the turf is what I cannot so much as guess ; as there
is not, I believe, in the world, one more indifferent
to, or ignorant of, that amusement than I am. The
experiment would be worth trying in any view : the
expense would not be great."

All noble horses in Nubia are said to be descended
from one of the five upon which Mahomet and his
four immediate successors fled from Mecca to Medina
on the night of the Hegira. The horses of Halfaia
and Gherri are rather smaller than those of Dongola,
few of which are less than sixteen hands.

After travelling along the Nile two days, Bruce
reached Chendi or Chandi, a large village, the capital
of its district — the government of which belonged to
Sittina, which means " the mistress." She was the
sister of Wed Ageeb, the principal of the Arabs, in
that part of Africa.

On the 12th of October, about a week after his
arrival, Bruce waited upon Sittina, who received him
behind a screen, so that it was impossible he could
see either her figure or face. She expressed herself
with great politeness, and wondered exceedingly how
.1 white man should venture so far in such an ill-
governed country. "Allow me, Madam," said Brwi1,
u to complain of a breach of hospitality in you, which

412 LIFE OP BRUCE.

no Arab has been yet guilty of towards me." "Me \"
said Sittina, "that would be strange indeed, to a man
that bears my brother s letter. How can that be ?"
" Why, you tell me, Madam," said Bruce, "that I am
a white man, by which I know that you see me,
without giving me a like advantage. The queens
of Sennaar did not use me so harshly ; I had a full
sight of them, without having used any importunity."
Sittina burst into a fit of laughter, and desired Bruce
to come to her next day.

" On the 1 3th," says Bruce, " it was so excessively
hot that it was impossible to suffer the burning sun.
The poisonous simoom blew as if it came from an oven.
Our eyes' were dim, our lips cracked, our knees totter-
ing, our throats perfectly dry, and no relief was found
from drinking an immoderate quantity of water. The
people advised me to dip a sponge in vinegar and
water, and hold it before my mouth and nose, and
this greatly relieved me. In the evening I went to
Sittina. Upon entering the house, a black slave laid
hold of me by the hand, and placed me in a passage,
at the end of which were two opposite doors. I did
not well know the reason of this ; but had stayed only
a few minutes, when I heard one of the doors at the
end of the passage open, and Sittina appeared magni-
ficently dressed, with a kind of round cap of solid
gold upon the crown of her head, all beat very thin,
and hung round with sequins ; with a variety of gold
chains, solitaires, and necklaces of the same metal,
about her neck. Her hair was plaited in ten or
twelve small divisions like tails, which hung down
below her waist, and over her was thrown a common
cotton white garment. She had a purple silk stole,
or scarf, hung very gracefully on her back, brought
again round her waist, without covering her shoulders
or arms.

KN<;A(;KS AN AKAU (il'IUE. 413

Allow me, Madam," said Bruce, suddenly kissing
her hand, " as a physician, to say one word." Sittina
bowed her head, and received Bruce in a private
room. " Are the women handsome in your country?"
said Sittina. " The handsomest in the world, Madam,"
replied Bruce; " but they are so good, and so excel-
lent in all other respects, that nobody thinks at all
of their beauty, nor do they value themselves upon
it." " And do they allow you to kiss their hands ?"
said she. " I understand you, Madam," replied Bruce,
" though you have mistaken me. There is no fami-
liarity in kissing hands — it is a mark of homage and
distant respect paid in my country to our sovereigns,
and to none earthly besides." " But do you know,"
said Sittina, " that no man ever kissed my hand but
you ?" " It is impossible I should know that," replied
Bruce, " nor is it material. Of this I am confident,
it was meant respectfully, cannot hurt you, and ought
not to offend you."

Some days afterwards, as Bruce was sitting in his
tent, musing upon the very unpromising aspect of
his affairs, an Arab of very ordinary appearance,
naked, with only a cotton cloth round his middle,
came up to him, and offered to conduct him to
Barbar, and thence to Egypt. He said his house
was at Daroo, on the side of the Nile, about twenty
miles beyond Syene, or Assouan, nearer Cairo.
Bruce asked him why he had not gone with
Mahomet Towash, who had lately set off. He said
he did not like the company, and was very much
mistaken if their journey would end well. On
pressing him further if this was really the only rea-
son, he confessed that he had contracted debt, had
been obliged to pawn his clothes, and that his camel
was detained for what still remained unpaid. After
much conversation, Bruce found that Idris (for t.!u«

414 LIFE OF BRU( K.

was his name) was a man of some substance in his
own country, and had a daughter married to the
Schourbatchie at Assouen. A bargain was accord-
ingly made. Bruce redeemed the camel and cloak ;
and Idris agreed to show him the way to Egypt,
where he was to be recompensed and rewarded
according to his behaviour.

Bruce having secured this man as a guide, was
now prepared to leave Shendi, but previous to his
departure, he waited upon Sittina, to offer thanks for
all her favours ; for she had sent for Idris, had given
him very positive instruction, mixed up with threats,
and had also given Bruce general and useful letters.
He, therefore, now begged he might be allowed to
testify his gratitude by once again kissing her hand,
to which she laughingly condescended, saying, " Well,
you are an odd man ! If Idris, my son, saw me just
now, he would think me mad !"

It is curious, instructive, and amusing, to observe
how admirably Bruce worms his way, by invariably
bending before the tempest which assails him. He
is bold and daring among the brave, resolute before
tyrants, a physician to his friends, a magician be-
fore the nibble, and before the weaker sex (in these
latitudes we should offend them were we to term
them fair), he is always on his knee, respectfully
kissing their hands, whether it is their custom or
not.

After passing the small island of Kurgos, where
Bruce saw the first ruins he had met with since those
of Axum in Abyssinia, he travelled for five days,
when he reached the ferry on the great river Tacazze,
Atbara, or Astaboras, which was about a quarter of a
mile broad, and exceedingly deep. It was as clear
as Bruce had seen it in Abyssinia, but its banks had
lost their beauty, as it here flowed through a parched,

desert, barren country ; still its water came from
Abyssinia, a country yet fresh and dear in Bruce's
recollection. " I reflected," he says, u with much
satisfaction, upon the many circumstances the sight
of this river recalled to my mind ; but still the
greatest was, that the scenes of these were now far
distant, and that I was by so much more advanced
towards home."

On the 26th, leaving the Nile about a mile on
their left, they reached Goos, a very small village,
which is, nevertheless, the capital of Barbar. Bruce
and all his party here suffered from a disease in their
eyes, caused by the simoom and the fine sand blowing
through the desert. An unexpected misfortune now
happened to Idris, who was arrested for debt, and
carried to prison : " however," says Bruce, " as we
were upon the very edge of the desert, and to see no
other inhabited place till we should reach Egypt,
I was not displeased to have it in my power to lay
him under one other obligation before we trusted pur
lives in his hands, which we were immediately to do.
I, therefore, paid his debt, and reconciled him with
his creditors."

Bruce and his party having received all the as-
surances possible from Idris that he would live and die
with them, boldly committed themselves to the de-
sert. The party consisted of Ismael the Turk, two
Greek servants besides Georgis, who was almost
blind and useless, two Barbarins, who took en re
of the camels, Idris, and a young man, a relation
of his ; in all nine persons, eight only of whom were
effective. They were all well armed with blunder-
busses, swords, pistols, and double-barrelled guns,
except Idris and his lad, who had lances, the only
arms they could use. Five or six naked wretches of
tiie Tucorory joined the party at the watering-place ;

416 LIFE OF BRUCE.

much against Brace's will, for he knew that he should
probably be reduced to the painful necessity of seeing
them die of thirst before his eyes.

On the 9th of November, at noon, they left Goos
for the sakia, or watering-place, which is near a little
village called Hassa. At half past three in the
afternoon, they came to the Nile to lay in a store of
water. They filled four skins, which might contain
altogether about a hogshead and a half. Their food
consisted of twenty-two large goats' skins stuffed
with a powder of bread made at Goos, on purpose
for such expeditions. It required a whole day to
fill the skins, and soak them well in the water, in
order to make an experiment, which was of the greatest
consequence, whether these skins were water-tight
or not.

" While the camels were loading," says Bruce, "
bathed, with infinite pleasure, for a long half hour in
the Nile; and thus took leave of my old acquaintance,
very doubtful if we should ever meet again." They
now left the Nile, and slowly entering, what may
not unjustly be termed the gate of the great desert
of Nubia, that valley, in the vegetable world, of the
shadow of death, they came to a bare spot of fixed
gravel, and of a very disagreeable whitish colour,
mixed with small pieces of white marble, and pebbles
like alabaster. At half-past eight, they stopped on a
sandy plain without trees; they found the camels
were too heavily laden, but they comforted them-
selves with the reflection that this would be remedied
by the daily consumption of the provisions. The
next day, after travelling six hours with great dili-
gence, their misfortunes began, from a trifling cir-
cumstance which had not been attended to. Their
shoes, which had long required repair, had become
absolutely useless, their feet were much inflamed

DESERT OP NUBIA. 417

from the burning sand, and the skin was nibbed off
in several places. Close before them was Hambily,
a small rock, which being, nevertheless, too large to
be covered by the moving sands, is of the utmost
importance to the caravans as a landmark.

On the 14th, early in the morning, they continued
their journey, and after travelling about twenty-one
miles, alighted among some acacia trees, at a place
called "Waadi el Halbout. " We were here," says
Bruce, " at once surprised and terrified by a sight,
surely one of the most magnificent in the wrorld.
In that vast expanse of desert, from W. and to N. W.
of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand
at different distances, at times moving with great
celerity, at others stalking on with a majestic slow-
ness ; at intervals we thought they were coming in a
very few minutes to overwhelm us ; and small quan-
tities of sand did actually, more than once, reach
us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost
out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds.
There the tops often separated from their bodies ;
and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and
did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken
near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon-shot.
About noon they began to advance with considerable
swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at
north. Eleven of them ranged alongside of us about
the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of
the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it
would measure ten feet. They retired from us with
a wind at S.E. leaving an impression upon my mind
to which I can give no name, though surely one
ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of
wonder and astonishment. It was in vain to think of
flying ; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship,
could be of no use to carry us out of this danger,

£ £

418 LIFE OF BRUCE.

and the full persuasion of this riveted me as if to
the spot where I stood, and let the camels gain on
me so much in my state of lameness, that it was
with some difficulty I could overtake them.

" This stupendous sight caused Idris to repeat his
prayers, or rather incantations ; for, except the names
of God and Mahomet, all the rest of his words were
mere gibberish and nonsense. Ismael, the Turk, vio-
lently abused him for not praying in the words of
the Koran, maintaining, with great apparent wisdom,
that nothing else could stop these moving sands."

They proceeded very slowly to-day, their feet being
sore and greatly swelled. " The whole of our com-
pany," says Bruce, " were much disheartened (except
Idris), and imagined that they were advancing into
whirlwinds of moving sand, from which they should
never be able to extricate themselves ; but before
four o'clock in the afternoon these phantoms of the
plain had all of them fallen to the ground and disap-
peared." In the evening they came to Waadi Dimo-
kea, where they passed the night, much disheartened ;
and their fear was not diminished on awaking in the
morning, by finding that one side was perfectly
buried in the sand that the wind had blown above
them in the night.

From this day, subordination, though not entirely
extinct, was rapidly declining ; all was discontent,
murmuring, and fear. The water had greatly dimi-
nished, and that terrible death by thirst began to
stare them in the face, owing, in a great measure, to
their own imprudence. Ismael, who had been left
sentinel over the skins of water, had slept so soundly
that a Tucorory had opened one of the skins that
had not been touched, in order to serve himself
out of it at his own discretion ; however, hearing
somebody stir, and fearing detection, he withdrew

himself as sp

DESERT OF NUBIA. 419

ilf as speedily as possible, without tying up the
mouth of the girba, which was found in the morning
with scarce a quart of water in it.

On the 15th the same moving pillars of sand pre-
sented themselves, only they seemed to be more in
number, and less in size. They came several times
in a direction close upon them. "They began," says
Bruce, "immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood,
and almost darkened the sun. His rays shining
through them for near an hour, gave them an appear-
ance of pillars of fire. Our people now became des-
perate ; the Greeks shrieked out, and said it was the
day of judgment. Ismael pronounced it to be hell,
and the Tucorories, that the world was on fire. I
asked Idris if ever he had before seen such a sight ;
he said he had often seen them as terrible, though
never worse ; but what he feared most was that ex-
treme redness in the air, which was a sure presage
of the coming of the simoom. I begged and entreated
Idris that he would not say one word of that in the
hearing of the people, for they had already felt it at
Imhanzara in their way from Ras el Feel to Teawa,
and again at the Acaba of Gerri, before we came to
Chendi, and they were already nearly distracted at
the apprehension of finding it here."

At half-past four o'clock in the afternoon they
left Waadi Dell Aned. The sands scarcely showed
themselves this day, and only at a great distance in
the horizon. This was, however, a comfort but of
short duration. Bruce observed that Idris took no
notice of it, but w-arned him and the servants, that,
upon the coming of the simoom, they should fall on
their faces, with their mouths upon the earth, so as
not to partake of the outward air as long as they
could hold their breath. They alighted at six o'clock
at a small rock, called Ras el JSeah, or El Mout,

E E 2

420 LIFE OF BRUCE.

which signifies death. It is in the sandy ground,
without trees or herbage, so that the poor camels
fasted all that night.

On the 16th, at half-past ten in the forenoon,
they left El Mout. " Our men," says Bruce, " if not
gay, were, however, in better spirits than I had seen
them since we left Goos. One of our Barbarlns had
even attempted a song ; but Hagi Ismael very gravely
reproved him, by telling him, that singing in such a
situation was a tempting of Providence. There is,
indeed, nothing more different than active and pas-
sive courage. Hagi Ismael would fight, but he had
not strength of mind to suffer. At eleven o'clock,
while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged
top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching,
and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty
of good water, Idris cried out, with a loud voice,
fc Fall upon your faces, for here is the simoom !' I
saw from the south-east a haze come, in colour like
the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed
or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth,
and was about twelve feet high from the ground.
It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved
very rapidly, for I scarce could turn to fall upon the
ground, with my head to the northward, when I felt
the heat of its current plainly upon my face. AVe
all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us
it was blown over. The meteor, or purple haze,
which I saw, was indeed passed, but the light air
that still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation.
For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I
had imbibed a part of it, nor was I free of an asth-
matic sensation till I had been some months in Italy
at the baths of Poretta, near two years afterwards.

" An universal despondency had taken possession
of our people. Thpy ceased to speak to one another,

DESERT OF NUBIA. 421

;in<l warn tliey did, it was in whispers, by which
\ racily guessed their discourse was not favourable
to me, or else that they were increasing each other's
fears, by vain suggestions calculated to sink each
other's spirits still further, but from which no earthly
n'ood could possibly result. I called them together,
and both reprimanded and exhorted them in the
strongest manner I could. I bade them attend to
me, who had nearly lost my voice by the simoom,
and desired them to look at my face, so swelled as
scarcely to permit me to see, my neck covered with
blisters, my feet swelled and inflamed, and bleeding
with many wounds. In answer to the lamentation
that the water was exhausted, and that we were upon
the point of dying with thirst, I ordered each man a
gourd full of water more than he had the preceding
day, and showed them, at no great distance, the bare
black, and sharp point of the rock Chiggre, wherein
was the well at which we were again to fill our girbas,
and thereby banish the fear of dying by thirst in the
desert. I believe I never was at any time more elo-
quent, and never had eloquence a more sudden effect.
Th'^y all protested and declared their concern chiefly
arose from the situation they saw me in ; that they
feared not death or hardship, provided I would sub-
mit to their direction in taking proper care of myself.
They entreated me to use one of the camels, and
throw off the load that it carried, that it would ease
me of the wounds in my feet, by riding at least part
of the day. This I positively refused to do, but
recommended to them to be strong of heart, and to
span* the camels for the last resource, if any should
be taken ill and unable to walk any longer.

" This phenomenon of the simoom, unexpected by
us, though foreseen by Idris, caused us all to relapse
into our former despondency. It still continued to

422 LIFE OF BRUCE.

blow, so as to exhaust us entirely, though the blast
was so weak as scarcely would have raised a leaf from
the ground. At twenty minutes before five the
simoom ceased, and a comfortable and cooling breeze
came by starts from the north, blowing five or six
minutes at a time, and then falling calm. We were
now come to the Acaba, the ascent before we arrived
at Chiggre, where we intended to have stopped that
night, but we all moved on with tacit consent, nor
did one person pretend to say how far he guessed we
were to go." At thirteen minutes past eight, they
alighted in a sandy, barren plain, covered with loose
stones. They were now only a quarter of a mile due
north from the well, which is in the narrow gorge,
forming the southern outlet of this small plain.
Though they had travelled thirteen hours and a
quarter this day, it was but at a slow pace, the
wretched camels being famished, as well as tired, and
lamed by the sharp stones with which the ground in
all places was covered. The country, for three days
past, had been destitute of herbage of any kind, en-
tirely desert, and abandoned to moving sands ; which,
to use a scriptural phrase, " swept it with the besom
of destruction."

Chiggre is a small narrow valley, about half way
across the great desert of Nubia, and surrounded with
barren rocks. The wells are ten in number, and the
narrow gorge by which they are approached is not
ten yards broad. The springs, however, are very
abundant. Wherever a pit is dug five or six feet
deep, it is immediately filled with water. The prin-
cipal pool is about forty yards square and five feet
deep ; but the best -tasted water was in the cleft of a
rock, about thirty yards higher, on the west side of
this narrow outlet.

The rush of Bruce and his party to these wells is

WELLS OF CHIGGRE. 423

beyond the power of description ; for no one would
believe the effect which the sight of water produces
on the human frame, unless he had himself experi-
enced the burning thirst of the desert.

These wells were very foul, having been visited by
animals of many descriptions. It was impossible to
drink without putting a piece of a cotton girdle over
the mouth, to keep out, by filtration, the filth of dead
animals. Bruce saw a number of partridges on the
face of the bare rock, but he did not dare to shoot at
them, for fear of being heard by wandering Arabs that
might be somewhere in the neighbourhood ; for
Chiggre is a haunt of the Bishareen of the tribe of
Abou Bertran, who, though they do not make it a
station, because there is no pasture in the neighbour-
hood, nor can anything grow there, yet find it one of
their most valuable places of refreshment, on account
of the great quantity of water.

Bruce's first attention was to the camels, to whom
he gave that day a double feed of dora, that they
might drink sufficient for the rest of their journey,
should the wells in the way prove scanty of water.
He then bathed in a large pool of very cold water, in
a cave covered with rock, and inaccessible to the sun
in any direction. All the party seemed to be greatly
refreshed by this refrigeration, excepting the Tuco-
rory ; one of whom died about an hour after his
arrival, and another early the next morning.

With the corpses of his companions at his side, with
dangers of every sort before him, lame and exhausted,
] 'nice, as usual, deliberately unpacked his instruments
to determine, notwithstanding the piercing glare of
the sun, and the weakness of his eyes, the longitude
and latitude of Chiggre. Every day at noon, he had
described in a rough manner his course through the
day. Carrying always a compass, with a needle of

424 LIFE OF BRUCE.

five inches radius round his neck ; his ink was fixed
to his girdle, and his notes were written on very long
narrow strips of drawing paper cut for the purpose.

But subordination was now at an end, and Bruce
had great difficulty in persuading his own servants
to assist him in setting up his large quadrant, in order
that he might determine the situation of the place.

On the 17th they left Chiggre. Ismael and
Georgis, the blind Greek, had com plained of shivering
all night, and Bruce began to be very apprehensive that
some violent fever was to follow. Their perspiration
had not returned since their coming out of the cold
water. The day, however, w^as insufferably hot, and
their complaints insensibly vanished. A little before
eleven they were again terrified by an army of sand
pillars, whose march was constantly south. At one
time a number of these pillars faced to the eastward,
and seemed to be coming directly upon them : but
Bruce began now to be reconciled to this phenomenon,
and the magnificence of its appearance seemed, in
some measure, to indemnify them for the panic it had
first occasioned; but it was otherwise with the simoom,
for they all were firmly persuaded that another pas-
sage of that purple meteor would cause their deaths.

At half-past four they alighted in a vast plain,
bounded on all sides by low sandy hills, which seemed
to have been just created. These hillocks were from
seven to thirteen feet high, drawn into perfect cones,
with very sharp points, and wrell -proportioned bases.
The sand was of an inconceivable fineness, having
been the sport of hot winds for thousands of years.
"There could be no doubt," says Bruce, "that the day
before, when it was calm, and we suffered so much by
the simoom between El Mout and Chiggre, the wind
had been raising pillars of sand in this place, called
Umdoom ; marks of the whirling motion of the pil-

DESERT OF NUBIA. 425

lars were distinctly seen in every heap, so that here
again, -while we were repining at the simoom, Provi-
dence was busied keeping us out of the way of ano-
ther scene, where, if we had advanced a day, we had
all of us been involved in inevitable destruction."

On the 18th they left Umdoom, at seven in the
morning ; their direction N. a little inclined to AV. ;
at nine o'clock Idris pointed to some sandy hillocks,
where the ground seemed to be more elevated than
the rest ; and he told Bruce that one of the largest
caravans which ever came out of Egypt, was there
buried with sand, to the number of some thousands
of camels. At five o'clock in the evening they
alighted at an Oasis, called Terfowey, full of trees
and grass. As soon as they had chosen a proper
place where the camels could feed, they unloaded the
baggage, and sent the men to clean the well, and wait
the filling of the skins. They then lighted a large
fire, for the nights felt excessively cold, though the
thermometer was at 53° ; and that cold occasioned
Bruce inexpressible pain in his feet, which were now
swelled to a monstrous size, inflamed, and excoriated.
The camels were always fastened by the feet, and the
chain secured by a padlock, lest they should wander
in the night, or be liable to be stolen or carried off.
AVhile Bruce was occupied in deep thought, he
heard the chain of the camels clink, as if somebody
was unloosing them, and then, by the gleam of the
fire, he distinctly saw a man pass swiftly by, stooping
as he went along, his face almost close to the ground.
A little time after this he heard another clink of the
chain, as if from a sharp blow, and immediately after
a movement among the camels. He instantly rose,
and called out in a threatening tone in Arabic. Ma-
homet, Idris's nephew, hearing Bruce's voice, came
running up from the well to see what was the matter.

426 LIFE OF BRUCE.

They went down together to the camels, and, upon ex-
amination, found that the links of one of the chains had
been broken, but the opening not large enough to let
the whole link through. A hard blue stone was also
driven through a link of one of the chains of another
camel, and left sticking there, the chain not being
entirely broken through ; they saw, besides, the print
of a man's feet on the sand ; and they found that
several articles belonging to the party had been stolen.
This sufficiently showed the presence of hidden enemies.

" Our situation," says Bruce, " was one of the most
desperate that could be figured. We were in the
middle of the most barren, inhospitable desert in the
world, and it was with the utmost difficulty that,
from day to day, we could carry wherewithal to
assuage our thirst. We had with us the only bread
it was possible to procure for some hundred miles ;
lances and swords were not necessary to destroy us ;
the bursting or tearing of a girba, the lameness or
death of a camel, a thorn or sprain in the foot, which
might disable us from walking, were as certain death
to us as a shot from a cannon. There was no staying
for one another ; to lose time was to die, because,
with the utmost exertion our camels could make, we
scarce could carry along with us a scanty provision
of bread and water sufficient to keep us alive."

That desert, which did not afford inhabitants for
the assistance or relief of travellers, contained, never-
theless, more than sufficient for destroying them,
for large tribes of Arabs (two or three thousand
encamped together) were cantoned, as it were, wher-
ever there was water enough to supply their nume-
rous herds of cattle, and Bruce fully expected that
in the morning he should be attacked by these
merciless robbers.

He, therefore, briefly addressed his people, who

,

,

DESERT OF NUBIA. 427

uttered a great cry " God is great ! let them come !"
but when the day broke, no Arabs appeared ; all was
still ; however, Bruce then took Ismael and two
Barbarins along with him, to see who these neighbours
could be. They soon traced in the sand the footsteps
of the man who had been at their camels ; and, fol-
lowing them behind the point of a rock, which
seemed calculated for concealing thieves, they saw
two ragged, old, dirty tents, pitched writh grass cords.
The two Barbarins entered one of them, and found
a naked woman there. " Ismael and I ran," says
Bruce, " briskly into the largest, where we saw a
man and a woman, both perfectly naked, frightful,
emaciated figures, not like the inhabitants of this
world. The man was partly sitting on his hams ;
a child, seemingly of the age to suck, was on a rag
tit the corner, and the woman looked as if she wished
to hide herself. I sprang forward upon the man,
and taking him by the hair of the head, pulled him
upon his back on the floor, setting my foot upon his
breast, and pointing my knife to his throat, I said to
him sternly, ' If you mean to pray, pray quickly, for
you have but this moment to live.' The fellow was
so frightened, he scarce could beg us to spare his
life ; but the woman, as it afterwards appeared, the
mother of the sucking child, did not seem to copy
the passive disposition of her husband ; she ran to
the corner of the tent, where was an old lance, with
which, I doubt not, she would have sufficiently dis-
tinguished herself, but it happened to be entangled
with the cloth of the tent, and Ismael felled her to
the ground with the butt-end of his blunderbuss, and
wrested the lance from her. A violent howl was set
up by the remaining woman, like the cries of those
in torment. ' Tie them,' said I, ' Ismael ; keep
them separate, and carry them to the baggage, till

428 LIFE OF BRUCE.

I settle accounts with this camel-stealer, and then
you shall strike their three heads off, where they
intended to leave us miserably to perish with hunger ;
but keep them separate.' While the Barbarins were
tying the woman, the one that was the nurse of the
child turned to her husband, and said, in a most
mournful, despairing tone of voice, ' Did I not tell
you, you would never thrive if you hurt that good
man ? did I not tell you this would happen for
murdering the Aga ?' "

After a long discussion with these people, many of
Bruce's party were exceedingly desirous to kill them :
and Hagi Ismael was so enraged, that he begged he
might have the preference in cutting off one of their
heads ; but Bruce, animated by real Christian feel-
ings, thus addressed his people. " It has appeared to
me, that, often since we began this journey, we have
been preserved by visible instances of God's protec-
tion, when we should have lost our lives, if we had
gone by the rules of our own judgment only. We are,
it is true, of different religions, but we all worship
the same God ; and, therefore, my determination is to
spare the life even of this man, and I will oppose his
being put to death by every means in my power,"

" It was easy to see," continues Bruce, " that fear
of their own lives only, and not cruelty, was the
reason they sought that of the Arab. They answered
me, two or three of them at once, i that it was all
very well ; what should they do ? should they give
themselves up to the Bishareen, and be murdered ?
was there any other way of escaping ?' I will
tell you, then,' says Bruce, ' since you ask me, what
you should do : you shall follow the duty of self-
defence and self-preservation, as far as you can do it
without a crime. You shall leave the women and
the child where they are, and with them the camels,

DESERT OF NUBIA. 429

to give them and their child milk ; you shall chain
the husband's right hand to the left of some of your*,
and you shall each of you take him by turns till we
shall" carry him into Egypt. Perhaps he knows the
desert and the wells better than Idris; and if he
should not, still we have two Hybeers instead of
one ; and vdio can foretell what may happen to
Idris, more than to any other of us ? But as he
knows the stations of his people, and their courses
at particular seasons, that day we meet one Bishareen,
the man that is chained with him, and conducts him,
shall instantly stab him to the heart, so that he shall
not see, much less triumph, in the success of his
treachery. On the contrary, if he is faithful, and
informs Idris where the danger is, and where we are
to avoid it, keeping us rather by scanty wrells than
abundant ones, on the day I arrive safely in Egypt,
I will clothe him anew, as also his women, give him
a good camel for himself, and a load of dora for
them all. As for the camels we leave here, they are
she ones, and necessary to give the women food.
They are not lame, it is said ; but we shall lame
them in earnest, so that they shall not be able to
carry a messenger to the Bishareen before they die
with thirst in the way, both they and their riders, if
tlu-y should attempt it.'"

Universal applause followed this speech ; Idris,
above all, expressed his warmest approbation. The
man and the women were sent for, and had their
sentence repeated to them. Having expected death,
thry all cheerfully subscribed to the conditions ; and
the woman declared she would as soon see her child
die, as be the cause of any harm befalling them, and
that, if a thousand Bishareen should pass, she well
knew how to mislead them all, and that none of them
should follow till they were far out of danger.

430 LIFE OF BRUCE.

Bruce accordingly sent two Barbarins to lame the
camels effectually, but not so as to injure them past
recovery. After which, for the nurse and the child's
sake, he took twelve handfuls of the bread which
was their only food, and which indeed they could
scarcely spare, and left it to this miserable family.

With these precautions, on the 201J?, at eleven
o'clock they left the well at Terfowey, after having
warned the women, that their chance of seeing their
husband again depended wholly upon his and their
faithful conduct. They then took their prisoner with
them, his right hand being chained to the left hand of
one of the Barbarins. They had scarcely got into the
plain, when they felt great symptoms of the simoom ;
and about a quarter before twelve, their prisoner first,
and then Idris, cried out, " The simoom ! the simoom !"
" My curiosity," says Bruce, " would not suffer me
to fall down without looking behind me. About due
south, a little to the east, I saw the coloured haze as
before. It seemed now to be rather less compressed,
and to have with it a shade of blue. The edges of it
were not defined as those of the former, but like a
very thin smoke, with about a yard in the middle
tinged with those colours. We all fell upon our
faces, and the simoom passed with a gentle ruffling
wind. It continued to blow in this manner till near
three o'clock ; so we were all taken ill that night, and
scarcely strength was left us to load the camels and
arrange the baggage. This day one of our camels
died, partly famished, partly overcome with extreme
fatigue ; so that, incapable as we were of labour, we
were obliged, for self-preservation's sake, to cut off
thin slices of the fleshy part of the camel, and hang it
in so many thongs upon the trees all night, and after
upon the baggage, the sun drying it immediately, so
as to prevent putrefaction."

DESERT OF NUBIA. 431

At half past eight in the evening they alighted at
a brackish well, called Naibey, in a bare sandy plain,
whore there were a few straggling acacia trees. They
found near the well the corpse of a man and two
camels ; it was apparently long ago that this accident
had happened, for the moisture of the camel was so
exhaled, that it seemed to weigh but a very few
pounds ; no vermin had touched it, for in this whole
desert there is neither worm, fly, nor anything that
has in it the breath of life.

On the 21st, at six in the morning, having filled
the girbas with water, they set out from Naibey.
The first hour of the journey was through sharp-
pointed rocks, which it was easy to foresee would
very soon finish the camels. About eight, they had
a view of the desert to the westward as before, and
saw the sands had already begun to rise in immense
twisted pillars, which darkened the heavens. The
rising of these in the morning so early was a sure
sign of a hot day, of a calm about mid-day, and of its
being followed by two hours of the poisonous wind,
which Bruce and his suffering companions dreaded
more than any affliction that could assail them.

The moving sand was this day more magnificent
than any they had yet seen. The sun shining
through the pillars, which were thicker, and wrhich
contained more sand apparently than any of the
preceding days, appeared as if spotted with stars of
gold.

" The simoom," says Bruce, " with the wind at
south-east, immediately follows the wind at north,
and the usual despondency that always accompanied
it. The blue meteor, with which it began, passed
over us about twelve, and the ruffling wind that fol-
lowed it continued till near two. Silence, and a
desperate kind of indifference about life, were the

432 LIFE OF BRUCE.

immediate effect upon us ; and I began now, seeing
the condition of my camels, to fear we were all
doomed to a sandy grave, and to contemplate it with
some degree of resignation. At half past eight in
the evening we alighted in a sandy flat where there was
great store of bent grass and trees, which had a con-
siderable degree of verdure, a circumstance much in
favour of our camels. "We determined to stop here,
to give them an opportunity of eating their fill where
they could find it."

On the 22nd, at six o'clock, as they were crossing
the sandy flat, one of the Tucorory was seized with
frenzy or madness. He rolled upon the ground,
moaned, and refused to continue his journey, or rise
from where he lay. It was death to stop with him ;
and each man, barely able to support his own suffer-
ings, could not participate in those of others, the
wretched maniac was therefore left to die in frenzy,
among the thirsting sands, and under the scorching
sun which had already deprived him of his reason.
In the evening the party reached Umarack, where
another of the camels died, completely worn out and
exhausted.

" I here began," says Bruce, " to provide for the
worst. I saw the fate of our camels approaching,
and that our men grew weak in proportion ; our
bread, too, began to fail us, although we had plentv
of camel's flesh in its stead ; our water, though in
all appearance we were to find it more frequent! v
than in the beginning of our journey, was never-
theless brackish, and scarcely served the purpose to
quench our thirst; and, above all, the dreadful
simoom had perfectly exhausted our strength, and
brought upon us a degree of cowardice and languor
that we struggled with in vain. I therefore, as the
last effort, began to throw away everything weighty

DESERT OF NUBIA. 433

I could spare, or what was not absolutely necessary,
<ueh as all shells, fossils, minerals, and petrifactions,
that I could get at, the counter-cases of my qua-
drant, telescopes, and clock, and several such like
things.

" Our camels were now reduced to five, and it did
not seem that these were capable of continuing their
journey much longer. In that case, no remedy
remained, but that each man should carry his own
water and provisions. Now, as no one man could
carry the water he should use between well and well,
and it was more than probable that distance would
be doubled by some of the wells being found dry ;
and if that was not the case, yet, as it was impossible
for a man to carry his provisions who could not
walk without any burden at all, our situations seemed
to be most desperate."

The Bishareen alone, existing in his native ele-
ment, seemed to keep up his strength, and was in
excellent spirits. He had attached himself in a
particular manner to Bruce, and with a part of a very
scanty rag, which he had round his waist, he had
neatly made a wrapper, to defend Bruce's feet in the
day, but the pain occasioned by the cold in the
night was scarcely bearable. Bruce offered to free
his left hand, which was chained to some one of the
company night and day, but the man constantly
refused, saying, " Unchain my hands when you load
au<l unload your camels ; but keep me to the end of
the journey as you began with me : then I cannot
misbehave, and lose the reward which you say you
arc to give me."

Proceeding on their journey, they saw large strata

of fossil salt everywhere upon the surface of the

ground ; and this dismal scene was not enlivened by

their finding the body of a man who had been mur-

F F

434 LIFE OF BRUCE.

dered, stripped naked, and was lying on his face
unburied. A wound in the back sinew of his leg
was apparent ; he was, besides, thrust through the
back with a lance, and had two wounds in the head
with swords. During the w^hole of the next day
they passed the bodies of the Tucorory, who had
been scattered by the Bishareen, and left to perish
with thirst there. In a small pool of water at which
they now arrived, they found a small teal or widgeon.
The Turk Ismael was preparing to shoot at it wit!
his blunderbuss, but Bruce desired him to refraii
being desirous, by its flight, to endeavour to judj
something of the nearness of the Nile ; he, thei
fore, obliged it to take wing. The bird flew straight
west, rising as he flew, a melancholy proof his jour-
ney was a long one, till, at last, being very high am
at a distance, he vanished from their sight, witlioul
descending, or seeking to approach the earth ; fn
which it was but too evident that the Nile was y(
very distant.

This night Georgis and the Turk Ismael we
both so ill, and so desponding, that they had resolve
to pursue the journey no farther, but submit to theii
destiny, as they called it, and stay behind to die. II
"was with the utmost difficulty Bruce could persuax
them to lay aside this resolution, and the nexl
morning he promised they should ride by turns upoi
one of the camels, a thing that no one had y<
attempted.

" After travelling for nearly three days," sai
Bruce, " we had an unexpected entertainment, whicl
filled our hearts with a very short-lived joy. The
whole plain before us seemed thick-covered with
green grass and yellow daisies. We advanced to the
place with as much speed as our lame condition would
suffer us ; but how terrible was our disappointment

DESERT OP NUBIA. 435

when we found the whole of that verdure to consist
in senna and coloquintida, the most nauseous of
plants, and the most incapable of being substituted
as food for man or beast ! We were now very near a
crisis, one way or the other. Our bread was con-
sumed, so that we had not sufficient for one day
more ; and though we had camel's flesh, yet, by
living so long on bread and water, an invincible
repugnance arose either to smell or taste it. As our
camels were at their last gasp, we had taken so
sparingly of water, that, when we came to divide it,
we found it insufficient for our necessities, if Syene
was even so near as we conceived it to be.

" Georgis had lost one eye, and was nearly blind in
the other. Ismael and he had both become so stiff
by being carried, that they could not bear to set their
feet to the ground ; and I may say for myself, that,
though I had supported the wounds in my feet with
a patience very uncommon, yet they were arrived at
that height as to be perfectly intolerable, and, as I
apprehended, on the point of mortification. The
bandage, which the Bishareen had tied about the
hollow of my foot, was now almost hidden by the
flesh swelling over it. Three large wounds on the
right foot and two on the left continued open, whence
a quantity of lymph oozed continually. It was also
with the utmost difficulty we could get out the rag,
by cutting it to shreds with scissors. The tale is
both unpleasant and irksome. Two soles which
remained from our sandals, the upper leathers of
which had gone to pieces in the sand near Goos,
were tied with a cotton cloth very adroitly by the
Bishareen. But it seemed impossible that I could
walk farther even with his assistance, and, therefore,
we determined to throw away the quadrant, tele-
scopes, and timekeeper, and save our lives by riding
F F 2

435 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the camels alternately. But Providence had already
decreed that we should not terminate this dangerous
journey by our own ordinary foresight and contriv-
ance, but owe it entirely to his visible support and
interposition.

" On the 27th, at half-past five in the morning,
we attempted to raise our camels at Saffieha by every
method that we could devise, but all in vain ; only
one of them could get upon his legs, and that one
did not stand two minutes till he kneeled down, and
could never be raised afterwards. This the Arabs
all declared to be the effects of cold ; and yet Fahren-
heit's thermometer, an hour before day, stood at
forty-two degrees. Every way we turned ourselves
death now stared us in the face. We had neither time
nor strength to waste, nor provisions to support us.
We then took the small skins that had contained
our water, and filled them as far as we thought a
man could carry them with ease ; but after all these
shifts, there was not enough to serve us three days,
at which I had estimated our journey to Syene. which
still, however, was uncertain. Finding, therefore, the
camels would not rise, we killed two of them, and
took as much flesh as might serve for the deficiency
of bread, and, from the stomach of each of the camels
got about four gallons of water, which the Bishareen
Arab managed with great dexterity." It is well
known that the camel has within him reservoirs, in
which he can preserve water for a very considerable
time. In those caravans of long journeys, which
come from the Niger across the desert of Selima,
it has been said that each camel lays in a store of
water sufficient to support him for forty days. This
statement is probably exaggerated ; but fourteen or
sixteen days, it is well known, an ordinary camel
will live though he hath no fresh supply of water ;

DESERT OF NUBIA. 437

for when he eats, one constantly sees him throw
from his repository mouthfuls of water to dilute his
food; and nature 'has contrived this vessel with such
properties, that the water within it never putrefies,
nor turns unwholesome."

The spirits of Bruce's companions now began
completely to fail them. The miserable stock of
black bread on which they had hitherto subsisted was
nearly exhausted, and though they had extracted
water from the carcasses or stomachs of the camels,
and, like vampires, were thus sucking a horrid nou-
rishment from the bodies of the dead, yet the difficul-
ties which opposed them seemed greater than their
strength, and they began to abandon even the hopes
of ever getting out of the desert. " We were sur-
rounded," says even Bruce, " amidst those terrible and
unusual phenomena of nature which Providence, in
mercy to the weakness of his creatures, has concealed
far from their sight, in deserts almost inaccessible to
them. Nothing but death was before our eyes; and,
in these dreadful moments of pain, suffering, and
despair, honour, instead of relieving me, suggested
still what was to be an augmentation to my misfor-
tune ; the feeling this produced fell directly upon me
alone, and every other individual of the company
was unconscious of it.

" The drawings made at Palmyra and Baalbec for
the king were, in many parts of them, not advanced
farther than the outlines, which I had carried with
me, that, if leisure or confinement should happen, I
might finish them during my travels in the case of
failure of other employment, so far at least, that, on
my return through Italy, they might be in a state of
receiving further improvement, which might carry
them to that perfection I have since been enabled to

438 LIFE OF BRUCE.

conduct them. These were all to be thrown away,
with other not less valuable papers, and, with my
quadrant, telescopes, and timekeeper, abandoned to
the rude and ignorant hands of robbers, or to be
buried in the sands. Every memorandum, every
description, sketch, or observation since I departed
from Badjoura and passed the desert to Cosseir, till
I reached the present spot, were left in an undigested
heap, with our carrion camels, at Saffieha, while there
remained with me, in lieu of all my memoranda, but
this mournful consideration, that I was now to main-
tain the reality of these my tedious perils, with those
who either did, or might affect, from malice and
envy, to doubt my veracity upon my ipse dixit alone,
or abandon the reputation of the travels which I had
made with so much courage, labour, danger, and
difficulty, and which had been considered as despe-
rate and impracticable to accomplish for more than
2000 years."

On the 28th, at half past seven in the morning,
they left Waadi el Arab, and entered a narrow defile,
with rugged but not high mountains on each side.
About twelve o'clock they came to a few trees in the
bed of a torrent. Ill as Bruce was, after refreshing
himself with his last bread and water, he set out in
the afternoon to gain a rising ground, that he might
see, if possible, what was to the westward : for the
mountains seemed now rocky and high like those of
the Kennouss near Syene. He arrived, with great
difficulty and pain, on the top of a moderate hill, but
was exceedingly disappointed at not seeing the river
to the westward ; however, the vicinity of the Nile
was very evident, by the high, uniform mountains
that confine its torrent when it comes out of Nubia.
The evening was still, so sitting down and covering

ARRIVES AT SYEXE. 439

his eyes with his hands, not to be diverted by external
objects, he listened and heard distinctly the noise of
waters, which he supposed to be the cataract,
although it seemed to the southward, as if he had
passed it.

The party now proceeded, and for two days con-
tinued their course ; but on the 28th, Bruce saw a
flock of birds, which he recognised as belonging to
the Nile. Satisfied that they should soon arrive at
or below Syene, he returned to his companions ; to
whom he communicated this joyful news, which was
confirmed by Idris. A cry of joy followed this annun-
ciation. Christians, Moors, and Turks, all burst into
floods of tears, kissing and embracing one another,
and thanking one God for his infinite mercy in this
deliverance.

On the 29th, at seven o'clock in the morning, they
left Abou Seielat ; at about nine, they saw before
them the palm-trees of Assouan ; and very shortly
afterwards reached a grove of palm-trees on the north
of that city.

In justice to Bruce's character, it is our duty to
observe, what a weak imperfect idea we have given
of the real fatigue of this journey to Assouan ; for,
however weary the reader may have been in the
desert from which he has just emerged, however he
may rejoice to quit the deep heavy sand, and once
again to see the fresh-flowing waters of the Nile,
yet in a short half hour, he has travelled from Gondar,
a distance which it took Bruce eleven months to
perform — twelve weeks of which were spent in
coming from Sennaar to Syene. But it is not only
utterly impossible to describe real sufferings and real
dangers, but those who have undergone either soon
find it impossible even to bring back an unfaded

440 LIFE OF BRUCE.

picture to the mind; and of this there can be no
greater proof, than the every day occurrence of
people cheerfully returning to difficulties which, while
actually felt, they had firmly resolved never again
to encounter.

Giura il nocchier, che al mare
Non presterk piu fede
Ma, se tranquill o il vede
Corre di nuovo al mar.

Di non trattar piu 1'armi
Giura il guerrier tal volta
Ma, se una tromba ascolta
Gia nou si sa feuar*

441

CHAPTER XVII.

Kind Reception at Assouan — Arrival at Cairo — Transaction! with
the Bey there — Lands at Marseilles.

WITHOUT congratulating each other on their escape
and safe arrival, Bruce's companions with one accord
ran to the Nile to drink ; though, in the course of
the journey, they had already seen the dreadful con-
sequences of intemperance in drinking water. Bruce
sat down under the shade of some palm-trees. It
w:i« very hot, and he fell into a profound sleep. But
Hagi Ismael, who, neither sleepy nor thirsty, was ex-
ceedingly hungry, had gone into the town in search
of food. He had not proceeded far before his green
turban and ragged appearance struck some brother
janissaries who met him ; one of whom asked him wh.it
he was doing, and where he had come from ? Ismael,
in a violent passion, and broken Arabic, exclaimed,
that he was a janissary of Cairo, — had come last from
hell — and that he had walked through a desert of fire
and flames.

The soldier, who heard him talk in this incoherent,
raving tone, insisted that he should accompany him
to the Aga — the very thing that Ismael wanted. He
only desired time to acquaint his companions. — "Have
you companions," says the soldier, " from such a
country?" " Companions !" says Ismael ; " what the
devil ! do you imagine that I came this journey alone?"
" Go," says Ismael, " to the palm-trees, and when you
rind the tallest man you ever saw in your life, more

442 LIFE OF BRUCE.

ragged and dirty than I am, call him Yagoube, and
desire him to come along with you to the Aga."

The soldier obeyed, and accordingly found Bruce
still reclining at the root of the palm-tree. " A clul-
ness and insensibility," says Bruce, " an universal
relaxation of spirits which I cannot describe, a kind
of stupor or palsy of mind had overtaken me, almost
to a deprivation of understanding. I found in myself
a kind of stupidity, and want of power to reflect upon
what had passed. I seemed to be as if awakened from
a dream, when the senses are yet half asleep, and we
only begin to doubt whether wThat has before passed
in thought is real or not. The dangers that I was
just now delivered from made no impression upon my
mind; and what more and more convinces me I was
for a time not in my perfect senses, is, that I found
in myself a hard-heartedness, without the least incli-
nation to be thankful for that signal deliverance which
I had just now experienced."

From this stupor he was awakened by the arrival
of the soldier, who cried out at some distance, " You
must come to the Aga, to the castle, as fast as you
can ; the Turk is gone before you." " It will not be
very fast, if we even should do that," said Bruce ;
" the Turk has ridden two days on a camel, and I have
walked on foot, and do not know at present if I can
walk at all." He then endeavoured to rise and stand
upright, but it was with great pain and difficulty.

The Turk and Greeks were clothed no better than
Bruce ; Ismael and Michael had in their hands two
monstrous blunderbusses, and the whole town crowded
after them while they walked to the castle. The
Aga was struck dumb on their entering the room,
and observed to Bruce, that he thought him full
a foot taller than any man he had ever seen in his
life.

BRUCE AND THE AGA. 443

After a short conversation, the Aga asked for his
letters and firman. Bruce told him, that he had left
them with his baggage and dead camels at Saffieha,
and he asked the favour of fresh camels that he might
go and fetch his papers. " God forbid," said the Aga,
" I should ever suffer you to do so mad an action !
You are come hither by a thousand miracles, and
after this, will you tempt God and go back ? We shall
take it for granted what those papers contain. You
will have no need of a firman between this and
Cairo." " I am," replied Bruce, " a servant of the king
of England, travelling, by his order, and for my own
and my countrymen's information ; and I had rather
risk my life twenty times, than lose the papers I had
left in the desert." " Go in peace," said the Aga, " eat
and sleep. Carry them," he said, speaking to his at-
tendants, " to the house of the Schourbatchie."

They very shortly received from the Aga about
fifty loaves of fine wheat bread, and several large
dishes of dressed meat ; but the smell of these last no
sooner reached Bruce than he fainted, and fell upon
the floor. He made several trials afterwards, with no
better success, the first two days ; for his stomach
was so weakened by excessive heat and fatigue, that he
could not reconcile himself to any sort of food but
toasted bread and coffee.

After staying at Syene six days, Bruce obtained
dromedaries, and, resolutely retracing his steps into
tin- desert for forty miles, had at last the indescrib-
able satisfaction to find his quadrant and the whole
of his baggage. By them lay the bodies of the
slaughtered camels, a small part of one of them
having been toni by the haddaya, or kite.

Bruce now closed his travels through the desert by
discharging the debts he had contracted in it. In
order to recompense Idris "Welled Hamran, the Hybeer,

444 LIFE OF BRUCE.

for his faithful services, he made him choose for him-
self a good camel, clothed him, and gave him dresses
for his two wives, with a load of dora. The poor
fellow, thus enriched, departed with tears in his eyes,
offering to go back and deliver up what Bruce had
given him to his family, and return and follow him
as a servant wherever he should go. But Bruce had
no longer any occasion for his services ; indeed he
could have well reached Syene without him, yet, had
any accident happened in the desert to his other
guide, his prudent precaution in securing this man
would have become very evident. But it was his
system always to provide for accidents, and it was
by this sensible conduct, as well as by his intimate
knowledge of human nature, that he had managed to
reach Syene in safety.

To raise Brace's character by trampling on the
reputation of his fellow-travellers would be an un-
worthy jealousy, in which we should be very sorry
to indulge; yet the proper mode of penetrating
Africa is a problem of such vital importance to those
who may hereafter attempt it, that we will not refrain
from observing what a very remarkable difference
there is between the manner in which Bruce and
Burckhardt travelled between Egypt and Nubia.
The former possessed the magic art of commanding
respect, and his behaviour and the treatment which
he received, it is not necessary to recapitulate.

Burckhardt's resolution was unconquerable, and his
patience in the desert was almost equal to that of the
camel. Science had never a more faithful servant,
but he neglected to seek information by giving it,
and the disguise under which he travelled concealed
not only his person but his mind. All civilised men,
from the philosopher down to the mountebank, carry
with them funds either of instruction or amusement,

ARRIVES AT CAIRO. 445

and the old fable of the basket-maker explains how
possible it is for any one to make himself, at least,
useful to uncivilised tribes ; but of these funds
Burckhardt did not avail himself, and a few extracts
from his travels will show the consequences.

" I gave out," he says, "I was in search of a cousin."
— "The son of my old friend of Daraoa, to whom I
had been most particularly recommended by his father,
went so far as once to spit in my face in the public
market-place." " Indeed, I never met any of these
Egyptians in the streets without receiving some in-
sulting language from them, of which had I taken
notice, they would, no doubt, have carried me before
the Mek." " One of the slaves of Edris, to whom I
had already made some little presents, tore my shirt
to pieces, because I refused to give it to him."
" Called me boy." " I cooked my own victuals."
" Was pelted with stones." " I was often driven
from the coolest and most comfortable berth into the
burning sun, and generally passed the mid-day hour
in great distress." " I was afraid to take any notes."
" I hid myself to do it," &c. &c. &c

On the llth of December Bruce embarked at
Sycne, and without masts being shipped, or any sails
being sot, the vessel or canja floated down the Nile.

There is no greater trial to the constitution than
the sudden change from an active to a sedentary
life : the human frame seems made for adversity ;
and in the army it has been constantly remarked,
that troops which have been long exposed to a
bivouac, become unhealthy as soon as they go into
quarters.

"On the 10th of January, 1773, we arrived," says
Bruce, "at the convent of St. George, at Cairo — all
of us, as I thought, worse in health and spirits than
the day we came out of the desert. Nobody knew

446 LIFE OF BRUCE.

us at the convent, either by our face or our language,
and it was by a kind of force that we entered. Ismael
and the Copht went straight to the Bey ; and I, with
great difficulty, had interest enough to send to the
patriarch and my merchants at Cairo, by employing
the only two piastres I had in my pocket. It was
half by violence that we got admittance into the
convent. But this difficulty was to be but of short
duration : the morning was to end it, and give us a
sight of our friends, and in the mean time we were
to sleep soundly."

Bruce had scarcely enjoyed an hour's repose, when
he was awakened by a number of strange voices
which called upon him to come immediately before
the Bey, but he insisted on being allowed a few
moments to arrange his toilet.

"I had no shirt on," he says, "nor had I been master
of one for fourteen months past. I had a waistcoat
of coarse, brown, wroollen blanket, trowsers of the
same, and an upper blanket of the same wrapt about
me, and in these I was lying. 1 had cut off my long
beard at Furshoot, but still wore prodigious mus-
tachios. I had a thin, white muslin cloth round a
red Turkish cap, which served me for a night-cap,
a girdle of coarse woollen cloth that wrapt round my
waist eight or ten times, and swaddled me up from
the middle to the pit of my stomach, but without
either shoes or stockings. In the left of my girdle
I had two English pistols mounted with silver ; and,
on the right hand, a common crooked Abyssinian
knife, with a handle of rhinoceros horn. Thus
equipped, I was ushered by the banditti, in a dark
and very windy night, to the door of the convent."

The Sarach, or commander of the party, rode on
a mule, and, as a mark of extreme consideration, he
had brought an ass for Bruce, the only animal that

INTERVIEW WITH MAHOMET BEY. 447

a Christian was suffered to ride on in Cairo. As the
beast had no saddle nor stirrups, Bruce's feet would
have touched the ground, had he not held them up,
which he did with the utmost pain and difficulty, as
they were inflamed .and dreadfully sore, from the
march in the desert. " Nobody," says Bruce, " can
ever know, from a more particular description, the
hundredth part of the pain I suffered that night. I
was happy that it was all external. I had hardened
my heart ; it was strong, vigorous, and whole, from
the near prospect I had of leaving this most accursed
country, and being again restored to the conversation
of men."

He was now introduced to Mahomet Bey. Two
large sofas, furnished with cushions, took up a great
part of a spacious saloon. They were of the richest
crimson and gold, excepting a small yellow and gold
one like a pillow, upon which the Bey was leaning,
supporting his head with his left hand, and sitting in
the corner of the two sofas. Though it was late, he
was in full dress ; his girdle, turban, and handle of
his dagger, all shining with the finest brilliants, and
a magnificent sprig of diamonds was in his turban.
"The rooms," says Bruce, " were light as day with a
number of wax torches, or candles. I found myself
humbled at the sight of so much greatness and afflu-
ence. My bare feet were so dirty, I had a scruple
to set them upon the. rich Persian carpets with which
the whole floor was covered ; and the pain that walk-
ing at all occasioned gave me altogether so crouching
and cringing a look, that the Bey, upon seeing im>
come in, cried out, 'What's that? Who is that '.
From whence is he come ?' His secretary told him,
and immediately upon that I said to him in Arabic,
with a low bow, * Mahomet Bey, I am Yagoube, an
Englishman ; very unfit to appear before you in the

448 LIFE OF BRUCE.

condition I am, having been forced out of my bed by
your soldiers in the middle of the only sound sleep I
have had for many years.' "

After a short conversation, Bruce showed the Bey
the dreadful state of his feet — the effect, he told him,
of passing the desert. He immediately desired him
to sit down on the cushion. " It is the coldness of
the night, and hanging upon the ass," said Bruce,
" which occasions this — the pain will be over pre-
sently." Bruce soon left the Bey, and was accom-
panied by a slave, who presented to him a basket of
oranges, which he said were given by order of the
Bey.

"In that country," says Bruce, " it is not the value
of the present, but the character and power of the
person that sends it, that creates the value ; twenty
thousand men that slept in Cairo that night would
have thought the day the Bey gave them, at an
audience, the worst orange in that basket, the hap-
piest one in their life. It is a mark of friendship and
protection, and the best of all assurances. Well
accustomed to ceremonies of this kind, I took a single
orange, bowing low to the man that gave it me, who
whispered me, ' Put your hand to the bottom, the
best fruit is there ; the whole is for you — it is from
the Bey/ A purse was exceedingly visible. I
lifted it out ; there were a considerable number of
sequins in it ; I put it in my mouth, kissed it, and
said to the young man, ' This is indeed the best
fruit, at least commonly thought so, but it is for-
bidden fruit for me. The Bey's protection and favour
are more agreeable to me than a thousand such
purses would be/ "

The servant showed prodigious surprise. Nothing
appears more incredible to a Turk, whatever his rank
may be, than that any man should refuse money !

CAIRO. 449

The slave, therefore, insisted that Bruce should return
to the Bey, who, having heard of his behaviour,
observed, that it was evident, from his dress and
appearance, he was in want of money. " Sir," said
Bruce (who had a very important object, which
he was desirous to gain), " may I beg leave to say
two words to you ? There is not a man, to whom
you ever gave money, more grateful, or more sen-
sible of your generosity, than I am at present.
The reason of my waiting upon you in this dress
was, because it is only a few hours ago since I left
the boat. I am not, however, a needy man, or
one that is distressed for money : that being the
case, and as you have already my prayers for your
charity, I would not deprive you of those of the
widow and the orphan, whom that money may
very materially relieve. Julian and Rosa, the first
house in Cairo, will furnish me with what money
I require ; besides, I am in the service of the
greatest king in Europe, who would not fail to
supply me abundantly if my necessities required it,
as I am travelling for his service." " This being
so," said the Bey, with great looks of complacency,
u what is it in my power to do for you ? You are
a stranger now where I command; you are my
father's stranger likewise, and this is a double obliga-
tion upon me : what shall I do ? " " There are," said
I, " things that you could do, and you only, if it
were not too great presumption for me to name
them." " By no means ; if I can, I will do it ; if
not, I will tell you so."

Bruce saw, by the Bey's manner of speaking, that
he had risen considerably in character in his opinion
since his refusal of the money. " I have, Sir," said
Bruce, " a number of countrymen, brave, rich, and
honest, that trade in India, where my king has great

C G

450 LIFE OF BRUCE.

dominions. Now there are many of these that come
to Jidda. I left there eleven large ships belonging
to them, who, according to treaty, pay high duties
to the custom-house, and, from the dictates of their
own generosity and munificence, give large presents
to the prince and to his servants for protection ; but
the Sherriffe of Mecca has of late laid duty upon
duty, and extortion upon extortion, till the English
are at the point of giving up the trade altogether."
Bruce had two other audiences with Mahomet Bey
on this important subject, and, faithful to the interests
of his country, he at last succeeded in concluding an
agreement in favour of the English merchants, by
which, instead of paying fourteen per cent., and an
enormous present, the Bey agreed to be satisfied with
eight per cent., and no present at all ; and at his
own expense he had the pleasure of sending the
following firman to Mocha : —

Translation of the Firman procured ly Mr. Bruce
from Mahommed Bey Aboudakab, for the East
India Company. 1773.

" We give thanks to the God of the whole world,
wishing a good end to those who have good conduct,
and the contrary to the unjust. God shall salute
the most famous among his creatures, and his fol-
lowers. Next, let this order be obeyed with the
assistance of God in all parts, which is wrritten from
the Divan of Cairo the fortified, and which contains
an agreement with the esteemed Captains and Chris-
tian merchants, who are famed for their honesty :.
may they have a good end ! Be it known to you
all, as many of you as this reaches, that the honoured
Yagoube el Hakim has come to us, and has given
us to understand the injustice commonly practised
by his majesty the Sherriffe of Mecca, and by his

dependants i

MAHOMET BEY'S FIRMAN. 451

•pendants in the place of Jidda, and that you wish
to come into the port of Suez, but want security.
It is very agreeable that you should enjoy this in the
time of our king*, servant of the two holy places,
and lord of the two lands and the twro seas ; may
God always give him strength and victory ! I make
you sure, therefore, that you may come to Sue/
with your ships, with good profit, under the shadow
of God and of our Prophet, and under our own both
far and near ; and that you shall not be molested,
neither by us nor our servants, our soldiers nor our
subjects ; and that you shall not pay aught but
eight per cent, of the said merchandise, or its value ;
and fifty pataka for each ship to the commandant
of Suez, in name of anchorage ; and that you may
come to Cairo itself, and trade for money or barter,
as suits you best, without restraint from any one ;
and if it suits you better to trade at Suez, we will
order the merchants thither, without any body's
incommoding or troubling you. So you shall
have repose more than you desired ; and these pro-
mises are good and binding, and will not be changed
to the contrary, so that you shall not pay any other
expenses to us or to our soldiers. And may the
blessing of God rest on him that follows the right
way! The 15th of the month Zilkaade, 1186 (Fe-
bruary, 1773)."

Mahomet Bey being about to leave Cairo to visit
his father-in-law in Syria, now pressed Bruce very
much to accompany him, but he naturally enough
says, " I was sufficiently cured of any more Don
Quixote undertakings." He, therefore, proceeded
to Alexandria, where he arrived the beginning of
March. With as little delay as possible he em-
barked and sailed on board a small vessel, the crew

* The Grand Seignior.
GG2

452 LIFE OF BRUCE.

of which, during some heavy weather, proposed to
throw his baggage overboard, conceiving that such
large cases contained dead men, which all sailors
consider as unlucky guests. However, Bruce man-
fully protected his hard-earned treasure, and, after
a tedious passage of three weeks, landed safely at
Marseilles.

4.53

CHAPTER XVIII.

uce returns to Europe — Visits Paris, Italy — Returns to England
— Quarrels with the Garret -writeis of the Day — Retires to Scot-
land— Marries — At last publishes his Travels — The Incredulity
of the Credulous — Bruce's Disappointment — Sorrow — Death.

" Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself has said,

This is my own, my native land !
Whose heart has ne'er within him burnM,
As HOME his footsteps he has turn'd,

From wandering on a foreign strand ?" ^

IUT although "home is home, though ever so hofhely,"
yet in the human mind there is no idea more inde-
finite than that which circumscribes the precise limits
of our "home;" for, according to circumstances, it
dilates and contracts like the pupil of the eye.

The European who has long sojourned and tra-
velled under the constellations of the southern
hemisphere, feels that he is " at home," when, from
the neighbourhood of the Line, he first sees his old
friend the north star rising above the horizon. To
this man, home is for a moment the hemisphere in
which he was born. Our own country, our own
county, our own parish, our own house, our own
room, are homes of different dimensions ; and regard-
less of all these, the sailor-boy has often felt that ft?
is not really " at home" till he is once again in his
mother's arms.

Bruce considered himself " at home " as soon as he
landed at Marseilles; and we have deemed the above

454 LIFE OF BRUCE.

observations necessary to account for the time which
will yet elapse before he actually revisits his native
land.

The Comte de Buffon, M. Guys and many others,
who had taken a particular interest in his travels,
came to congratulate him on his return, and to
listen to his adventures and discoveries. From their
honourable friendship, and in their liberal society,
Bruce for a short time enjoyed that refined intel-
lectual happiness which is only known in civilised
life. However, his health was much impaired, and
for five-and-thirty days he suffered very great agony
from a worm called faranteit, which had planted
itself in his leg below the knee. This worm is sup-
posed by the Arabs to afflict those who have been
in the habit of drinking stagnant water, and their
mode of extracting it is by seizing it gently by the
headland then gradually winding it round a feather.
Bruce had tried this plan, but from the unskilfulness
of his attendant the worm was broken, and such
severe inflammation ensued, that the surgeon advised
him to submit to amputation ; " but," says Bruce, " to
limp through the remains of life, after having escaped
so many dangers, was hard, — so much so, that the
loss of life itself seemed more desirable." However,
the inflammation was at last lowered, thovigh it did
not entirely terminate for nearly a year after his
arrival in Europe ; and as soon as his health was
sufficiently restored, he set out for Paris, accompanied
by the Comte de Buffon.

The reception he met with in that metropolis was
exceedingly flattering. His travels became the sub-
ject of general conversation, and his company was
courted by people of learning and of rank.

As an acknowledgment of the favours which he
had received from the French nation during the early

VISITS PARIS AND ROME. 455

part of his travels, Bruce presented to the Royal
Library a copy of the Prophecies of Enoch, a literary
curiosity of great value. He also sent to the king's
garden at Paris some of the seeds of rare plants which
he had collected in Abyssinia.

In July he left Paris for Italy. He was desirous
to try the baths of Poretta; and although he was
naturally anxious to revisit Scotland, his native
country, yet he had still stronger inclination to com-
plete his drawings of Africa, for which he required
leisure, with the advice and assistance of professional
men. He had also another reason, which, however
absurd and unjustifiable, yet made him obstinately
determine, against the advice of all his friends, to
proceed to Italy. Before Bmce was consul at Algiers,
he had fallen in love with a Scotch lady, to whom he
had engaged himself by a promise of marriage. On
the banks of the Nile, on the waters of the Red Sea,
amongst the mountains of Abyssinia, and in the
burning desert of Nubia, Brace's heart had remained
faithful to his engagement — the charming vision was
constantly before him. At the " hillock of green sod"
the reader will remember he insisted that Strates
should drink to the health of MARIA ! and he had
at last hastened homewards, hoping to grasp this
lovely substance instead of its tantalising shadow.
However, on his arrival at Marseilles, he found that
the lady had so far forgotten him, that she was at
Rome, very comfortably married to the Marchese
d'Accoramboni.

Accustomed to tyrannise, there is nothing that
Cupid knows less about than law. Sorely disap-
pointed, his feelings highly irritated, his leg still
itching from the farenteit, gaunt, weatherbeaten, sun-
burnt, and in stature six feet four inches good
English measure, Bruce suddenly appeared at Rome

45G LIFE OF BRUCE.

before Filippo Accoramboni, to desire that he would
apologise in writing for having married a lady who
had been engaged to him. The Italian marquis, seeing
no good reason for fighting with such a man, politely
assured him he would not have married the lady had
he known she was engaged to him ; but Brace most
unreasonably insisted that this declaration should be
expressed in writing, which the marquis very pro-
perly declined, upon which Bruce instantly sent him
the following letter : —

Mr. Bruce to Signor Accoramboni.

" SIR, — Not my heart, but the entreaties of my
friends, made me offer you the alternative by the
Abbe Grant. It was not for such satisfaction, that
sick, and covered with wounds, I have traversed so
much land and sea to find you.

" An innocent man, employed in the service of my
country — without any provocation or injury from me,
you have deprived me of my honour, by violating all
the most sacred rights before God and man ; and you
now refuse to commit to writing what you willingly
confess in words. A man of honour and innocence,
Marquis, knows no such shifts as these ; and it will
be well for one of us to-day, if you had been as
scrupulous in doing an injury as you are in repair-
ing it.

"I am at least your equal, Marquis ; and God alone
can do me justice for the injury which you have done
me. Full of innocence, and with a clear conscience,
I commit my revenge to Him ; and I now draw my
sword against you with that confidence, with which
the reflection of having done my duty, and the sense
of the injustice and violence which I have suffered
from you, without any reason, inspire me.

" At half-past nine (French reckoning), I come in

DISAPPOINTED IN LOVE. 457

my carriage to your gate ; if my carriage docs not
please you, let your own be ready. Let us go toge-
ther to determine which of the two is the most easy,
to offer an affront to an absent man, or to maintain it
in his presence.

" I have the honour to be,
your humble servant,

JAMES BRUCE."

This "kill him and eat him" sort of epistle came
upon the Marchese like the simoom. It was impos-
sible to stand against it, and there was nothing left
for him but to throw himself, as Bruce did in the
desert, faccia a terra, upon the ground. He, there-
fore, forwarded to Bruce the following reply : —

Sign. Accoramboni to Mr. Bruce.

« SIR, — When the marriage with Miss M., at
present my wife, was contracted, it was never men-
tioned to me that there was a previous promise made
to you, otherwise that connexion should not have
taken place.

" With respect to yourself, on my honour, I have
never spoken of you in any manner, your person not
having been known to me. If, therefore, I can serve
you, command me. With the profoundest respect, I
sign myself,

" Your most humble and obliged servant,

FILIPPO ACCORAMBONI.
Al. Sig. Cavaliere Janne Bruce."

This silly affair being concluded, Bruce remained
some months at Rome. From the nobility, .as well
as from his countrymen who were there, he received
marks of very particular attention ; and Pope Cle-
ment XIV., the celebrated Ganganelli, presented him
with a scries of gold medals, relating to several

458 LIFE OP BRUCE.

transactions of his pontificate. In the spring of 1774,
Bruce returned to France, where he resided till the
middle of June, when he left Paris, and very shortly
afterwards arrived in England, after an absence of
twelve years. The public was naturally impatient to
hear his adventures, and all people of distinction and
learning appeared equally desirous to seek his acquaint-
ance. He was introduced at court, and graciously
received by his Majesty George III., who was pleased
not only to accept his drawings* of Baalbec, Palmyra,
and the African cities, but to express his high appro-
bation of the very great exertions which Bruce had
made, in order to extend the geographical knowledge
of this our earth.

" When I first came home," says Bruce, " it was
with great pleasure, I gratified the curiosity of the
whole world, by showing them each what they fancied
most curious. I thought this was an office of huma-
nity to young people, and to those of slender fortunes,
or those who, from other causes, had no opportunity
of travelling. I made it a particular duty to attend
and explain to men of knowledge and learning, that
were foreigners, everything that was worth the time
they bestowed upon considering the different articles
that were new to them, and this I did at great length
to the Count de Buffon, and Mons. Gueneau de

* A great deal has been written and said against Bruce for
having presented to the king, as his own performance, these
drawings, which it has been very illiberally assumed were the pro-
ductions of Balugani, his Italian clerk. But even admitting that
Balugani had held the pencil, yet we submit that Bruce was fully
entitled to present them to his Majesty and to his country as his
own productions. They were not works of genius or imagination,
but architectural drawings, the plan and elevation of which were
regularly shown by a scale annexed. Their value was their minute
accuracy ; their merit consisted in the danger and difficulty with
which such details had been procured for science and literature.

ARRIVES IX ENGLAND. 459

Montbeliard, and the very amiable and accomplished
Madame d'Aubenton. I cannot say by whose indus-
try, but it was in consequence of this friendly com-
munication, a list or inventory (for they could give
no more) of all my birds and beasts was published
before I was well got to England."

Frank and open in society, Bruce, in describing his
adventures, generally related those circumstances
which he thought were most likely to amuse people by
the contrast they afforded to the European fashions,
customs, and follies of the day.

Conscious of his own integrity, and not suspecting
that in a civilised country the statements of a man
of honour would be disbelieved, he did not think it
necessary gradually and cautiously to prepare his
hearers for a climate and scenery altogether different
from their own, but, as if from a balloon, he at once
landed them in Abyssinia, and suddenly showed them
a vivid picture to which he himself had been long
accustomed. They had asked for novelty ; in com-
plying with their request, he gave them good mea-

re, and told them of people who wore rings in their
instead of their ears — who anointed themselves

•t with bear's grease or pomatum, but with the
blood of cows — who, instead of playing tunes upon
them, wore the entrails of animals as ornaments —
and who, instead of eating hot putrid meat, licked
their lips over bleeding living flesh. He described
debauchery dreadfully disgusting, because it was so
different from their own. — He told them of men who
hunted each other — of mothers who had not seen
ten winters — and he described crowds of human
beings and huge animals retreating in terror before
an army of little flies ! In short, he told them the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ;
but the mind of man, like his stomach, can only

460 LIFE OP BRUCE.

contain a certain quantity, and the dose which Bruce
gave to his hearers was more than they had power
to retain.

The facts he related were too strong — they re-
quired to be diluted, and this base office Bruce
haughtily refused to perform; he had given them
plain wholesome food — he did not profess to give
them digestion.

At that time (to say nothing about the present
day), the English public indolently allowed itself,
with regard to particular regions of the world, to be
led and misled by a party of individuals — who dog-
matically dictated what idle theory was to be believed,
and what solid information was to be disbelieved.
These brazen images Bruce refused to worship. In
ther presence he maintained his statements, — they
frowned upon him with pompous incredulity. With
just indignation, he sneered at their garret-life — their
port-wine opinions : they knew their power — and
fancying that, like buffaloes, their strength lay in their
heads, they deliberately herded together to run him
down.

" There has not," says Dr. Clark (who travelled
in three quarters of the globe, and who at Cairo had
an opportunity of corroborating Bruce's statements),
— " there has not been an example in the annals of
literature, of more unfair and disgraceful hostility than
that which an intolerant and invidious party too
successfully levelled during a considerable time against
the writings of Bruce."

" I will venture to assert," says Belzoni, " that the
only reason why such doubts could have been started
respecting his (Bruce's) work, was the spirit of con-
tradiction excited by the illiberality of travellers, and
those who were no travellers : the former, because
they had not power to resist jealousy, which, in spite

of all their

BKC'EPTION IN ENGLAND. 461

>f all their efforts to conceal it, shows itself through
the veil of their pretended liberality and impartiality ;
and the latter, because they are unable to controul
their bad propensity to dispute and condemn every
thing they have no knowledge of."

" It was the misfortune of that traveller (Bruce)
who is now no more," says Dr. Russel, in his history
of Aleppo, u to have known that his veracity had too
often captiously, and sometimes capriciously, been
called in question, owing, besides the nature of his
adventures, partly, I believe, to a certain manner in
conversing as well as in writing, which alienated
many who were less than himself disposed to take
offence. He is now beyond the reach of flattery or
humiliation ; and I trust it will not be imputed
merely to the partiality of friendship, if, as a small
but just tribute to his memory, I repeat here what
I have often before asserted in occasional conver-
sation, that however I might regret a constitutional
irritability of temper, so injurious to its owner, or
however I might wish to have seen him at times
condescend to explanations which I have reason to
think would have removed prejudices, I never, either
in course of our acquaintance, or in the perusal of
his book, found myself disposed to suspect him of
any intentional deviation from the truth" (p. 423).

As soon as Bruce found that in England public
opinion was against him, in sullen indignation he
determined to retire into his own country ; for
although all ranks of people were evidently amused
with his adventures, yet, as soon as he perceived
that they doubted his facts, his mind was too just,
and his spirit too proud, to accept a smile as an
atonement for a barbarous prejudice and an unjusti-
fiable insult. Determined in no way to compromise
his own honour, he felt that he had better quit

462 LIFE OF BRUCE.

England, and that, under the storm which assailed
him, there was " no place like home !"

In the autumn, he accordingly went to the capital
of Scotland, where he was received with that affec-
tionate attention and regard which, as Englishmen,
we must admit that the Scotch have been always
ready to pay to any one among them who has re-
flected credit and honour upon their country.

From Edinburgh he proceeded to Kinnaird, where
he rebuilt his house, and for some time occupied
himself in arranging his estate, which, during his
long absence, had not only fallen into agricultural
disorder, but had also become involved in legal
difficulties.

For more than a year and a half he was thus
employed, enjoying the little bustle and arrangements
which diverted his mind from the subject which most
naturally and severely oppressed it.

On the 20th of March, 1776, he married Mary
Dundas, daughter of Thomas Dundas, Esq., of Fin-
gask, and Lady Janet Maitland, daughter of the
Earl of Lauderdale. This amiable and accomplished
person was much younger than Bruce ; and it is rather
a singular coincidence, that she was born the same
year in which his first wife had died.

For some time after his return to Scotland, Bruce
kept up a correspondence with his friends in France,
but after his marriage he had little intercourse with
literary people.

In the shooting season he generally spent some
time at a place called Ardwhillery, in the Highlands,
and there, as well as at Kinnaird, he amused himself
by translating the Prophecies of Enoch from the
Abyssinian. He also made a slow progress in tran-
scribing and arranging his journals, but happy in his
own domestic circle, and conscious that he had been

PUBLICATION OF HIS WORK. 463

a faithful servant to his country, he seemed to pre-
fer repose to the vexation of laying his travels before
the public.

Always fond of astronomy, from which he had
derived so much practical assistance, he erected,
on the top of his house at Kinnaird, a temporary
observatory : and, dressed in an Abyssinian costume,
wearing even the turban, he occasionally enjoyed
very natural and delightful reflections in looking,
from a peaceful, tranquil, and civilised country,
upon constellations in the heavens, which he had
so often gazed upon in moments of danger and pri-
vation ; but a man's notions seldom fit his neigh-
bours' brain, and, " Eh ! the Laird's gaen daft !"
was the opinion which the country people of Kinnaird
secretly expressed among themselves at Bruce's
astronomical occupations.

After having enjoyed nearly twelve years of quiet
domestic happiness, Bruce lost his wife. She died
in 1785, leaving him two children, a son and daugh-
ter. Thus deprived of his best friend and companion,
he again became restless and melancholy. " The love
of solitude," he very justly says, " is the constant
follower of affliction. This again naturally turns an
instructed mind to study." These feelings Bruce's
friends strongly encouraged, and they used every
endeavour to rouse him from his melancholy, and
persuade him to occupy his mind in the arrangement
and publication of his travels.

" My friends unanimously assailed me," he says,
"in the part most accessible when the spirits are weak,
which is vanity. They represented to me how igno-
ble it was, after all my dangers and difficulties, to be
conquered by a misfortune incident to all men, the
indulging of which was unreasonable in itself, fruitless
in its consequence, and so unlike the expectation I

464 LIFE OF BRUCE.

had given my country by the firmness and intrepidity
of my former character and behaviour.

" Others, whom I mention only for the sake of
comparison, below all notice on any other account,
attempted to succeed in the same design by anony-
mous letters and paragraphs in the newspapers ; and
thereby absurdly endeavoured to oblige me to pub-
lish an account of those travels, which they affected
at the same time to believe I had never performed.

44 It is universally known," states the Gentleman's
Magazine for 1789, " that doubts have been enter-
tained, whether Mr. Bruce was ever in Abyssinia.
The Baron de Tott, speaking of the sources of the
Nile, says, c A traveller named Bruce, it is said, has
pretended to have discovered them. I saw, at Cairo,
the servant who was his guide and companion during
the journey, who assured me that he had no know-
ledge of any such discovery.' "

To the persuasions of his friends Bruce at last
yielded, and as soon as he resolved to undertake the
task, he performed it with his usual energy and
application. In about three years he submitted the
work, nearly finished, to his very constant and sin-
cere friend, the Hon. Daines Barrington. In the
meanwhile, his enemies triumphantly maintained
a clamour against him — and in his study he was
assailed by the most virulent accusations of exag-
geration and falsehood — all descriptions of people
were against him ; from the moralist of the day,
down to the witty Peter Pindar, heavy artillery as well
as musketry was directed against Bruce at Kinnaird.

Iii the Gentleman's Magazine for 1789, it is
stated that Johnson had declared to Sir John Haw-
kins, " that when he first conversed with Mr. Bruce,
the Abyssinian traveller, he was very much inclined
to believe that he had been there, but that he had
after wards altered Ms opinion !"

PUBLICATION OF HIS WORK. 465

Peter Pindar amused all people (except Bruce)
by his satirical flings, one of which was,

Nor have I been where men (what loss, alas !)
Kill half a cow, and turn the rest to grass.

In the year 1790, seventeen years after his return
to Europe, Bruce' s work was printed and laid before
the public. It consisted of five large quarto vo-
lumes, and was entitled, " Travels to discover the
Sources of the Nile in the years 1768, 1769, 1770,
1771, 1 772, and 1773, by James Bruce of Kinnaird,
Esq., F.R.S."

The work was addressed to the king, and in the
dedication Abyssinia was described as "a country
so unhappily cut off from the rest of mankind, that
even your majesty's name and virtues had never been
known or heard of there. In laying the account of
these travels," continues Bruce, " at your majesty's
feet, I humbly hope I have shown to the world of
what value the efforts of every individual of your
majesty's subjects may be; that numbers are not
always necessary to the performance of great and
brilliant actions ; and that no difficulties or dangers
are insurmountable to a heart warm with affection
and duty to his sovereign, jealous of the honour of
his master, and devoted to the glory of his country,
now, under your majesty's wise, merciful, and just
reign, deservedly looked up to as the queen of
nations."

In his preface, Bruce frankly explains the reasons
which had delayed for so many years the publication
of his travels, and he admits that " an undeserved and
unexpected neglect and want of patronage had been
at least part of the cause. But," he continues, " it
is with great pleasure and readiness I now declare
that no fantastical nor deformed motive, no peevish
ii ii

466 LIFE OF BRUCE.

disregard, much less contempt, of the judgment of the
world, had any part in the delay which has happened
to this publication. .The candid and instructed public,
the impartial and unprejudiced foreigner, are tribunals
merit should naturally appeal to; there it always
has found sure protection against the - influence of
cabals, and the virulent strokes of envy, malice, and
ignorance."

Bruce concludes his preface with the following
noble and remarkable words : —

" I have only to add, that were it probable, as in
my decayed state of health it is not, that I should
live to see a second edition of this work, all well-
founded judicious remarks suggested should be grate-
fully and carefully attended to ; but I do solemnly
declare to the public in general, that I never will
refute or answer any cavils, captious or idle objec-
tions, such as every new publication seems unavoid-
ably to give birth to, nor ever reply to those witticisms
and criticisms that appear in newspapers and peri-
odical writings. What I have written I have written.
My readers have before them, in the present volumes,
all that I shall ever say, directly or indirectly, upon
the subject ; and I do, without one moment's anxiety,
trust my defence to an impartial, well-informed, and
judicious public."

Now if the public had been really " impartial, well-
informed, and judicious," what a favourable impression
it would have formed of a work appearing under cir-
cumstances which so peculiarly entitled it to belief !
The author was not only of good family, but was a
man who, having entailed his estate, was evidently
proud of his family, and consequently not very likely
wilfully to disgrace it. He had received a liberal
education, inherited an independent fortune, and for
a number of years had deliberately prepared himself

RECEPTION OF HIS WORK. 467

for the travels lie had performed. He had not hastily
passed through the countries which he describe <1
but he remained in them six years. His descriptions
were not of that trifling personal nature, which in a
few years it might be difficult to confirm or confute,
but, with mathematical instruments in his hands, he
professed to have determined the latitudes and longi-
tudes of every place of importance which he visited,
thus offering to men of science of all future ages, data
to condemn him, if he should deserve condemnation ;
and yet in the meanwhile these data were of a de-
scription which afforded the general reader no pleasure
or amusement. The work was not a hasty produc-
tion ; on the contrary, it appeared seventeen years
after the travels it described had been ended. It did
not proceed from a man basking in the vain sunshine
of public favour, but it was the evidence of one who,
by the public, had been most unjustly hustled from
the witness-box to the dock, and, indeed, there con-
demned before he had been heard.

And lastly, it was information most solemnly
offered to his countiy, and most respectfully dedicated
to his king, by an old man, who in theory, in fact,
and in his own just opinion, had but a very few years
to live ; whose constitution had been worn out by
the climates which he described, and whose fortune
had been seriously impaired by the misfortune of his
absence. In short, the book was the performance of
one who, with the meanest of his countrymen, had
at least a right to be considered innocent, until it
had been proved that he was guilty.

There is surely nothing which, in the opinion of
liberal men, can more degrade <i country — nothing
which, at the great table of the world, more deservedly
places it " below the salt" — than its unreasonably
disbelieving an honourable man. A man's opinions
n n2

468 LIFE OF BRUCE.

may be canvassed, his theories may be opposed, his
arguments may be resisted ; but, without rhyme or
reason, to disbelieve his statements, is at once to
sever the band which holds society together; it
destroys the allegiance which a wrell- disposed indivi-
dual would willingly feel that he owes to public
opinion ; it tells him that his only defensive weapon
is contempt. " Sir, you are no gentleman ! " exclaimed
a passionate, irrational man. — "Sir, you are no
judge ! " was the calm, contemptuous reply.

That a certain proportion of men are base, no one
can deny, and Bruce, it is true, might have belonged
to this number ; yet, in his favour, it ought to have
been recollected that there is no class of people who
have less reason to exaggerate than those who in
their travels describe the great features and pheno-
mena of nature. In a crowded, populous, and civil-
ised country, for our general welfare, the division of
labour pervades all classes of society ; and, from the
country squire to the countryman — from the head to
the tail of every department of the state — from the
man who wears silk stockings to the poor wretch who
makes them — the attention of each of us is unavoid-
ably tethered to an object of very small insignificant
dimensions. The whole country, it is most true,
bears a high polish ; but, like a mosaic tablet, it is
composed of very minute parts. Living under such
circumstances, the natural tendency of our minds is
to exaggerate the importance of the little objects
which surround us ; but when a man like Bruce —
hungry, thirsting, and weatherbeaten — has had no
other companion than Nature herself, he most surely
will feel no disposition to be deceitful — no cause nor
reason to exaggerate ; for, do what he will, his im-
perfect picture must always be too small. Who can
describe the lightning as vividly as it flashes, or echo

INJUSTICE OF THE CRITICS. 469

the thunder as loudly as it roars ? Can any man
describe the ocean from his inkhorn, or put into his
pocket a picture of the world ?

The scenes which Bruce witnessed — the real
dangers he encountered — the hardships he underwent
— the fatigue he endured, required no exaggeration ;
and as he was lying prostrate in the desert, fainting
under the simoom, he could have had no feeling
more just, than that it was out of his power to make
any one feel by pen-and-ink description the sensation
under which he was suffering. However, though his
drawing was imperfect, and its scale very diminutive,
yet when he produced his picture to the civilised
country, people all cried out that it was too large !
But the real truth was, it was not as large as life, but
that the mind of his enemy, like the Vicar of Wake-
field's fusty room, wras too small to contain the pic-
ture— and as the Arabs who inhabit villages have a
mortal hatred towards those wandering tribes who live
in tents, so did the garret critics of the day feel
jealous of the man whose tether was so much longer
than their own : and as soon as Bruce's work was
published, he experienced most severely how com-
pletely party spirit, whether in religion, politics, or
science, destroys both the heart and the head.

His enemies, with pens in their hands, had impa-
tiently waited for his book, like Shylock whetting
his knife ; and it was no sooner published, than
Bruce was deprived of what was actually nearest to
his heart — his honour and his reputation.

It was useless to stand against the storm which
assailed him ; it was impossible to swim against the
torrent which overwhelmed him. His volumes were
universally disbelieved ; and yet it may be most
confidently stated, that Bruce's travels do not contain
one single statement which, according to our present

470 LIFE OF BRUCE.

knowledge of the world, can even be termed impro-
bable. We do not descend to the corroboration which
his statements have received from the writings of
Jereme Lobo, Paez, Salt, Coffin, Pearce, Burckhardt,
Brown, Clarke, Wittman, Belzoni, &c. ; for, whether
these men support or contradict, their evidence would
be only, say ten to one, for him or against him —
which, after all, is no certainty — but we "appeal
unto Caesar," \ve appeal to our present knowledge of
the world upon which we live.

Bruce has stated that men eat raw flesh in Abys-
sinia ; we know that men in other countries eat raw
fish-blubber, and even eat each other ; we ourselves
eat the flesh of oysters raw. Bruce's statement,
therefore, is not and never was improbable.

Bruce has given a picture of the profligacy of the
Abyssinians, which, from its disgusting features, we
have purposely withheld (to a well-constituted mind
such details are only disgusting) ; yet it can very
easily be shown that it is not at all improbable. In
northern countries, a female possesses personal at-
tractions at an age in which she is also endowed with
mental accomplishments ; she has judgment as well
as beauty, ballast as well as sail, and, like the orange-
tree, she thus bears fruit and flowers on the same
stem ; but, in the precocious climate of Abyssinia, this
is not the case ; and it surely need only be hinted,
that there children of ten years of age are women^ to
explain what must be the sad effects of human
passions, working in such an ungo veined, and, con-
sequently, irrational state of society. There is no one
of Bruce's assertions which may not, by similar reason-
ing, be supported ; the English public, instead of
judging, at once condemned him ; his statements were
only compared with the habits and customs of England
— which, at that time, were as narrow and as harsh as

INJUSTICE OF THE CRITICS. 471

the iron bed of the tyrant Procrustes ; and because
the scenes which Bruce described differed from those
chcz nous, they were most unreasonably and most
unjustifiably discredited.

Nevertheless, in attentively reading the latest
edition of Bruce's Travels, it must be evident to every
one that, in point of composition, the work has very
great faults. Bruce had an immense quantity of in-
formation to give, but he wanted skill to impart it as
it deserved ; and certainly nothing can be worse than
the arrangement of his materials. In this narrative,
he hardly starts before we have him talking quite
familiarly of people and of places knowTi only to him-
self ; and although perfectly at ease and at home, he
forgets that his reader is an utter stranger in the land.

He also forgot, or rather he seems never to have
reflected, that the generality of mankind were not as
fond as himself of endeavouring to trace a dark specu-
lative question to its source. His theories which,
whether right or wrong, are certainly ingenious, con-
stantly break the thread of his narrative ; and, like
his minute history of all the kings of Abyssinia
supposed to have reigned from the time of Solomon
to his day, they tire and wear out the patience of the
reader. Yet these were evidently very favourite parts
of his volumes ; and, eager in detailing evidence and
arguments which he conceived to be of great import-
ance, he occasionally neglected his narrative, jumbled
his facts and dates, and from his notes having been
made on separate slips of paper, he made a few very
careless mistakes. For instance, the beautiful Wclleta
Selasse, long after she was poisoned, is discovered by
the reader making love with Amha Yasous ! Tecla
Mariam, also, reappears some months after he had
been drowned. Arkeeko is described after the reader
has left it ; and the palace of Koscam, in which Bruce

472 LIFE OF BRUCE.

lived so long, is not described until lie had actually
bidden adieu to Abyssinia. But Bruce's attention
was evidently engrossed by great objects ; and though
his descriptions are often brilliant, and his sentiments
always noble and manly, yet he cared comparatively
little about certain parts of his narrative ; and in the
enormous mass of notes and memoranda which he
brought home with him, he arranged a very few of
them in their wrong places. But his mistakes, ex-
cepting one, were harmless, and absolutely not worth
notice, although to the critic they were, of course,
gems of inestimable value. The only one which re-
quires explanation, is that, in describing Gondar, he
mentions the death of Balugani (his Italian draughts-
man), before he mentions his journey to the sources
of the Nile ; and as Balugani died after this journey,
Bruce's enemies in general, and Salt in particular,
have endeavoured at great length to prove that this
error was deliberately intended to rob Balugani of the
honour of having accompanied him to these fountains ;
whereas, it being perfectly well known, that Bruce
engaged Balugani at a salary of thirty-five Roman
crowns a-month, for the express purpose of accom-
panying him in his travels, it is not likely that he
should have been jealous of his own servant, parti-
cularly as, if he had wished to have gone to Geesh
without Balugani, he had only to have ordered him
to remain at Gondar. But every trifling mistake
which Bruce made was distorted, and construed into
fraud and deceit. His dates are occasionally wrong;
but in his notes, which he brought to England, they
are often inserted in so trembling a hand, that it is
but too evident they were written on a bed of sick-
ness. Besides this, it must surely be known to every
one that, when a man visits such immense countries
as Bruce travelled across, his great difficulty is to

INJUSTICE OF THE CRITICS. 473

overlook detail ; for, like a hound, if once he puts his
nose to the ground, he gets puzzled. No man can
attempt to conduct a trigonometrical survey, and to
fill it up, at the same time : if he has to determine
the grand features of the country, it is impossible he
can be very attentive to its detail ; and if he be
minute in his detail, he can have looked very little to
the general character of the country ; — a man cannot
study astronomy and botany at the same time.

However, Bruce's Travels were disbelieved in toto,
and it was even proclaimed from literary garrets that
he had never been in Abyssinia at all ! Dr. Clarke
says — u Soon after the publication of his Travels to
discover the sources of the Nile, several copies of
the work were sold in Dublin as waste paper, in con-
sequence of the calumnies circulated against the
author's veracity."

There is something so narrow-minded, and what is
infinitely worse, so low-minded, in unjustly accusing
an honest servant of exaggeration, that to do Bruce
justice — to repel the attack of his enemy — it is abso-
lutely necessary defensively to show how little this
country was entitled to pronounce such a verdict.

When Bruce published his Travels, British intel-
lect had marched exactly half-way from the Mis-
sissippi and South Sea schemes of the year 1720
towards the equally ruinous speculations of the year
1825, which, as we all know, proceeded from the
same disreputable parents — had the same pedigree,
the same sire, and the same dam — being got by Fraud
out of Folly. The first of these bubbles had burst,
the others were not yet blown ; and thus between
these two bundles of hay, stood that "Public Opinion"
which obstinately condemned Bruce — that incredulity
of the credulous.

Bruce's great object in travelling to such remote

474 LIFE OF BRUCE.

countries had been honestly to raise himself and his
family in the estimation of the world. This reward,
to which he was so justly entitled, was not only with-
held from him, but he found himself absolutely
lowered in society, as a man guilty of exaggeration
and falsehood. Under such cruel treatment, nothing
could be more dignified than his behaviour. He
treated his country with the silent contempt which
it deserved — he disdained to make any reply to the
publications which impeached his veracity; and when
his friends earnestly entreated him to alter, to modify,
to explain, the accounts which he had given, he sternly

replied, in the words of his preface " What I

have written, I have written I"

To his daughter, his favourite child, he alone
opened his heart : although scarcely twelve years of
age when he published his Travels, she was his con-
stant companion ; and he used to teach her the proper
mode of pronouncing the Abyssinian words, " that he
might leave," as he said, " some one behind him who
could pronounce them correctly." He repeatedly said
to her, with feelings highly excited, " / shall not live
to see it, but you probably will, and you will then see
the truth of all I have written thoroughly confirmed."
In this expectation, however, it may here be observed,
Bruce was deceived.

This daughter, who afterwards married John Jar-
dine, Esq., an advocate in Edinburgh, never lived to
see justice done to the memory of her beloved parent.
"When Dr. Clarke's examination of the Abyssinian
dean strongly corroborated some of Brace's state-
ments, Mrs. Jardine, who was then ill in bed,
sketched with her pencil a short account of this con-
firmation, so happily expressed, that it appeared in
the Scots' Magazine for December, 1819, with scarcely
the alteration of a word. To the last hour of her

HIS DISAPPOINTMENT. 475

life she was devotedly attached to the memory of her
excellent and respected father; and, in a memorandum
written by one of the ablest writers of the present day,
she has been described to us as one of the most ami-
able and intelligent women he ever knew.

After the publication of his Travels, Bruce occupied
himself in the management of his estate and of his
extensive collieries. He visited London occasionally,
and kept up a correspondence with Daines Barring-
ton, and with Buffon. He also employed his time
in biblical literature, and even projected an edition
of the Bible, with notes, pointing out numberless
instances in which the Jewish history was singularly
confirmed by his own observations. He took a deep
interest in the French revolution. He had received
much personal kindness from Louis XYL, and when
intelligence arrived that the king was stopped in his
attempt to escape from Paris, before the 12th of
August, 1792, Bruce was so much affected, that his
daughter observed him to shed tears.

His notions of his own consequence, and of the
tiquity of his family, were high, and he had, con-
uently, the reputation of being a proud man; yet
was in the habit of entertaining, at Kinnaird, with
at hospitality, strangers, and those people of dis-
tinction who visited him ; and, in his own family, he
was a delightful companion, entering into the amuse-
ments of his children with great delight. His young
and amiable daughter used to walk, almost every
morning, by his side, while Bruce, who had now
grown exceedingly heavy and lusty*, rode slowly

* Mr. Walker, the very respectable hydrographer of the Admi-
ralty, who engraved Bruce's map, and who had much personal com-
munication with him on the subject, has told us, " that Bruce was
latterly so large and heavy a man, that, in getting into his carriage,
it bent sideways with his weight." Asa curious instance ofBruce's

J

E:

476 LIFE OF BRUCE.

over his estate to his colleries, mounted on a charger
of great power and size. At Kinnaird he was often
seen dressed in a turban, and reclining in an Eastern
costume ; and in those moments it may easily be
conceived that his thoughts flew with eager pleasure
to the mountains of Abyssinia — that Ozoro Esther,
Ras Michael, Gusho, Powussen, Fasil, Tecla Mariam,
were before his eyes, and that, in their society, beloved,
respected, and admired, he was once again — Yagoube,
the white man ! But, although his life at Kinnaird
was apparently tranquil, his wounded feelings, respect-
ing his travels, occasionally betrayed themselves.
One day, while he was at the house of a relation in
East Lothian, a gentleman present bluntly observed,
that it was impossible that the natives of Abyssinia
could eat raw meat ! Bruce said not a word ; but
leaving the room shortly returned from the kitchen
with a piece of raw beefsteak, peppered and salted in
the Abyssinian fashion. " You will eat that, Sir, or
fight me !" he said. When the gentleman had eaten
up the raw flesh (most willingly would he have eaten
his words instead), Bruce calmly observed, " Xow,
Sir, you will never again say it is impossible ! "

Single-speech Hamilton was Bruce' s first cousin,
and intimate friend. One evening, at Kinnaird, he
said, " Bruce ! to convince the world of your power
of drawing, you need only draw us now something
in as good a style as those drawings of yours which
they say have been done for you by Baltigani, your
Italian artist." " Gerard !" replied Bruce, very gravely,
" you made one fine speech, and the world doubted
its being your own composition, but, if you will stand

opinion of his own importance being always uppermost in his mind,
we may add, that one day, while he was giving directions ahout his
engravings, he observed to Mr. Walker, " that he was entitled to
give his servants royal livery."

HIS SORROW DEATH. 477

up now here, and make another speech as good, we
shall believe it to have been your own."

These trifling anecdotes sufficiently show how sen-
sitive Bruce was to the unjust insult that had been
offered to him. For twenty years, that had elapsed
since his return to Europe, he had endured treatment
which it was totally out of his power to repel. It is
true, that he had been complimented by Dr. Blair,
and a few other people, on the valuable information
he had revealed ; but the public voice still accused
him of falsehood, or, what is equally culpable, of
wilful exaggeration, and against the gross public an
individual can do nothing. Bruce's career of hap-
piness was at an end — he had survived his reputation,
and the only remedy left him was that which a noble
Roman is supposed to have prescribed for his own
son. *' What could he do," he was asked, " against
so many?" he answered . . . . " DIE!" and this catas-
trophe—this " consummation devoutly to be wished,"
we have now the pleasure to relate.

The last act of Bruce's life was one of gentleman-
like-, refined, and polite attention. A large party
had dined at Kinnaird, and while they were about to
depart, Bruce was gaily talking to a young lady in
the drawing-room, when, suddenly observing that her
aged mother was proceeding to her carriage unat-
tended, he hurried from the drawing-room to the
great staircase. In this effort, the foot which had
safely carried him through all his dangers, happened
to fail him ; he fell down several of the steps — broke
some of his fingers — pitched on his head — and never
spoke again !

For several hours every effort was made to restore
him to the world ; all that is usual, customary, and
useless, in such cases, was performed.

There was the bustle, the hurry, the confusion,

478 LIFE OF BRUCE.

the grief unspeakable, the village leech, his lancet,
his phial, and his little pill ; but the lamp was out —
the book was closed — the lease was up — the game
was won — the, daring, restless, injured spirit had
burst from the covert, and was — " away ! "

Thus perished, in the sixty-fourth year of his age,
in the healthy winter of his life, in vigour of mind
and body, James Bruce of Kinnaird, a Scotchman,
who was religious, loyal, honourable, brave, prudent,
and enterprising. He was too proud of his ancestors,
yet his posterity have reason to be proud of him.
His temper was eager, hasty, and impetuous ; yet
he himself selected for the employment of his life
enterprises of danger in which haste, eagerness, and
impetuosity were converted into the means of serving
science and his country. The eagerness with which
he toiled for the approbation of the world, and the
pain he suffered from its cruelty and injustice, exclude
him from ranking among those great men who, by
religion, or even by philosophy, may have learnt to
despise both ; yet it must be observed, that, had he
possessed this equanimity of mind, he would never
have undertaken the race which he won.

Bruce belonged to that sect — that labouring class
— that useful race of men, who are ever ready

To set their life upon a cast,
And stand the hazard of the die.

He was merely a traveller — a knight-errant in search
of new regions of the world ; yet the steady courage
with which he encountered clanger — his patience and
fortitude in adversity — his good sense in prosperity
— the tact and judgment with which he steered his
lonely course through some of the most barren and
barbarous countries in the world, bending even the
ignorance, passions, and prejudices of the people he
visited to his own advantage — the graphic truth with

BURIAL. 479

,?li he described the strange scenes he had wit-
ne.. >d, and the inflexible courage with which he
maintained his assertions against the mean, barbarous
incredulity of his age, most deservedly place him at
the top of his own class, where he at least stands —
second to no man. His example is well worthy the
attention and study of every individual whose duty
or "•• duration may lead him to attempt to penetrate
the vet unknown, dangerous, and uncivilised regions
of this world.

Four days after his death, his corpse, attended by

his tenantry, and by several of the principal men in

the couut^-, was deposited in the churchyard of

,ii a tomb which Bruce had built for his

vl his infant child.

On tlie south side of the monument there is the
following inscription : —

IN THIS TOMB ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS
OF

JAMES BRUCE, EI-Q., OF KINNAIRD,

WHO DIED ON THE 27TH OF APRIL, 1794,
IN THE 64TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.

HIS LIFE WAS SPENT IN PERFORMING

USEFUL AND SPLENDID ACTIONS.

HE EXPLORED MANY DISTANT REGIONS.

HE DISCOVERED THE SOURCES OF THE NILE.

HE WAS AN AFFECTIONATE HUSBAND,

AN INDULGENT PARENT,
AN ARDENT LOVER OF HIS COUNTRY.

BY THE UNANIMOUS VOICE OF MANKIND,
HIS NAME IS ENROLLED WITH THOSE

WHO WEHE CONSPICUOUS
FOR GENIUS, FOR VALOUR, AND FOR VIRTUE.

The di ^dauts of James Bruce of Kinnaird
remain to ^ Ms day, in their country — unrewarded.

THE END.

LONDON:

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WHITBFRIARS.

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