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Title: The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller

Author: Francis Head

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THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BRUCE,

THE AFRICAN TRAVELLER.

BY

MAJOR SIR FRANCIS B. HEAD.

Magna est veritas, ot prævalebit:

FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.


NEW-YORK:

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,

NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.

1840


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.


[Illustration: JAMES BRUCE.]

New York, Harper & Brothers.




ADVERTISEMENT.


The following work is one of no ordinary interest. It presents such an
example of heroic fortitude, constancy, and perseverance under trials
and difficulties, as cannot fail to excite in us the highest admiration.
Few individuals have been placed in circumstances of greater peril and
suffering than Bruce the traveller; and none, perhaps, ever more
strikingly displayed that rare combination of tact and courage, which
enables their possessor to triumph over every obstacle. Much practical
wisdom, therefore, may be gathered from reading this volume. The
country, too, visited by Bruce, and his account of its people, their
history, government, laws, customs, traditions, &c., have peculiar
claims on our attention. Abyssinia, remote and barbarous as it is, has,
from the earliest period, steadily retained a form of Christianity. This
is certainly a very remarkable phenomenon, cut off almost entirely, as
that country has been, from communication with other Christian states,
and surrounded on every side by Pagan and Mohammedan nations. Hence the
most lively curiosity has been manifested to know more of a people who
have thus marvellously preserved their ancient faith in the midst of
barbarism, idolatry, and the fierce fanaticism of the followers of the
Prophet. Of the few travellers who have succeeded in penetrating this
secluded and dangerous country, none have had anything like the ample
opportunities possessed by Bruce to obtain minute and accurate
information, and no one could more faithfully improve the advantages
thus fortunately offered him. The groundless and ungenerous distrust
with which his statements were received for years after his return (and
which is very properly noticed and rebuked by his biographer) has passed
away, and his travels may now be read as containing not only the
fullest, but the most authentic and credible account of Abyssinia, and
the singular people by which it is inhabited.

This volume will be found written in a familiar, lively, and agreeable
style, and to contain whatever is most interesting in the larger work of
Bruce. It is published from the last English edition, carefully revised
and corrected by the American editor, with the omission of a few
passages of minor interest, not essential to the completeness of the
narrative.

H. & B.

New-York, August, 1840.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

Bruce's Birth--Education--Marriage.--Travels in Europe     Page 9


CHAPTER II.

Bruce's Residence at Algiers as British Consul                 25


CHAPTER III.

Bruce Travels through the Kingdoms of Tunis and Tripoli--Is
Wrecked--Beaten by the Arabs--Sails to Crete, Rhodes, Asia
Minor, and Syria--Visits Palmyra and Baalbec--Is Detained
at Cyprus--Sails for Egypt                                     39


CHAPTER IV.

Bruce arrives at Cairo--Has very singular Interviews with the
Bey--Sails up the Nile--Gains a promise of Protection from
the Arabs Ababdé--Visits the Sepulchres of Thebes--Reaches
the Cataract of Syene--Descends the Nile to Keffe              53


CHAPTER V.

Bruce crosses the Desert to the Red Sea--Meets with the Arabs
Ababdé at Cosseir--His Adventures in the Red Sea--Arrives
at Massuah, the ancient Harbour of Abyssinia                   74


CHAPTER VI.                                                    95


CHAPTER VII.

A short Description of Abyssinia                              101


CHAPTER VIII.

A Sketch of the History of the Kingdom of Abyssinia           114


CHAPTER IX.

Bruce's Arrival and dangerous Detention in Masuah             140


CHAPTER X.

Journey from Arkeeko, over the Mountain of Tarenta to
Gondar, the Capital of Abyssinia                              153


CHAPTER XI.

Bruce resides at Gondar, and gradually raises himself
to distinction                                                199


CHAPTER XII.

Bruce accompanies the King's Army, and returns with it
to Gondar                                                     222


CHAPTER XIII.

Bruce again attempts to reach the Fountains of the Nile,
and succeeds                                                  239


CHAPTER XIV.

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 Gondar, and succeeds in obtaining Permission
to leave Abyssinia                                            271


CHAPTER XV.

Bruce leaves Gondar and travels to Sennaar, the Capital
of Nubia                                                      297


CHAPTER XVI.

Bruce leaves Sennaar.--Crosses the great Desert of
Nubia.--His Distress.--Reaches Syene, on the Nile             326


CHAPTER XVII.

Kind Reception at Assouan.--Arrival at Cairo.--Transactions
with the Bey there.--Lands at Marseilles                      354


CHAPTER XVIII.

Bruce returns to Europe.--Visits Paris--Italy.--Returns
to England.--Quarrels with the Writers of the Day.--Retires
to Scotland.--Marries.--At last publishes his Travels.--The
Incredulity of the Credulous.--Bruce's
Disappointment--Sorrow--Death                                 364




LIFE OF BRUCE,

THE AFRICAN TRAVELLER.




CHAPTER I.

     Bruce'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,[1] and David Hay of
Woodcockdale, descended from an old and respectable branch of the Hays
of Enroll, distinguished in ancient Scottish history by their bravery,
and who received from Robert I. the hereditary office of high-constable
of Scotland. Bruce'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 distinguished by his abilities, and
respected for his public and private virtues.

On the 23d of November, 1733, Bruce 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 which nothing in this world can
compensate. A few years afterward, his father married the daughter of
James Glen, of Longcroft, in the shire of Linlithgow, 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 service of the East India Company,
proposed the attack, and led on the party which, on the 3d of August,
1780, took from the Mahrattas the fortress of Gualior.

Though well formed, Bruce did not, as a child, appear to possess the
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 afterward 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, then conducted 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 purposely on Dr. Cox to get information how he was profiting,
whose answer to me on that occasion was this: 'When you write to Mr.
Bruce'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, he 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 consider what profession
he was to follow, and Mr. Hamilton was accordingly requested by the
elder Bruce to speak to him upon this important subject. Mr. Hamilton
was much pleased with young Bruce's replies; and on the 28th of July,
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
that 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 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 will reconcile the seeming contradiction. 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
ingredient, namely, health, which, in proportion to its amount, induces
men to seek occupations more or less active and sedentary; and it may be
observed, that this ingredient, like the down which conveys many
vegetable seeds to a distant soil, transports men to the remotest
regions; thus scattering over the surface of the earth talents and
application which, without a superabundance of health, would have been
all confined at home, and directed to nearly the same pursuits: and
hence it was that Bruce, when a sickly lad, as much surprised his
friends by his grave, sedentary disposition, as he afterward astonished
them by his wild, wandering propensities and daring researches.

After leaving Harrow, Bruce went, for about a year, to an academy,
where, besides the classics, he studied French, arithmetic, and
geometry. In compliance with his father's wishes, he cheerfully
abandoned his inclination to enter the church, and agreed to prosecute
his future studies with the view of becoming 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 following 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 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 been led to expect, and spent the whole of the autumn in the
enjoyment of the sports of the field, for which he suddenly acquired a
partiality 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 intricate and
tedious 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
truth and simplicity, he very rashly conceived that in the studies which
his father had proposed for him he could worship neither; 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 "Elementa Juris Civilis Heineccii," on
which stands the name of "James Bruce, 1749," we find written, in the
midst of some very grave maxims, "Bella ingrata, io morirò!" with other
equally loving sentiments from Metastasio and Ariosto. However, Bruce's
bodily sickness soon closed the serious volume of the law: his health
became impaired, and his physicians, 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 acknowledged 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 unworthy of
remark, that the boy who was thus lost in the labyrinths of Scottish law
lived to be the man who afterward reached the long-hidden fountains of
the Nile!

Bruce remained for several years without a profession. He at last fixed
on India as a field, the distance, vastness, and novelty of which were
best 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 Court 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 the
view of prosecuting this design. On arriving in London, his English
friends and former acquaintances received him with the greatest
kindness; 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 an eminent
wine-merchant, who had raised himself to opulence by diligence 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 fell in love with this interesting young
lady, and accordingly addressed himself to Mrs. Allan, who listened with
approbation to the proposal of marriage which he had already made to her
daughter; and she herself suggested that, having no profession, he
should take a share in the wine-trade; and, although Bruce knew nothing
of that business, as it was to be the link which was to connect him with
the object of his affections, he eagerly assented to the proposal. The
marriage took place on the 3d of February, 1754, and Bruce took an
active part in the management of the concern. The dealings of the
company were extensive, and 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 for her to leave the foggy atmosphere of London. She
resided at Bristol for a few months, for the benefit of the waters,
though with little advantage: her complaint was alleviated, but 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 apparently 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 during her last moments, he was driven
almost to distraction by the disgraceful bigotry of the French priests,
who, in the garb of Christian ministers, crowded around 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, their intolerant fury 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 afterward, 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 country;
my servants unacquainted with the language and country, my presence so
necessary among them, and indispensably so with my dear wife; my poor
girl dying before my eyes, 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 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 chaplain 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 ambassador. 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 10th and 11th 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 concern, threw me into a
fever; but, after repeated bleedings, and the great care taken of me by
Mr. 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 unfortunate 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 with the
wine-trade was completely broken. He therefore at once gave up the chief
burden of its management to his brother; and, resolving to embrace the
first opportunity to resign his share altogether, he applied himself to
studies calculated to divert his mind from painful thoughts and
recollections. For about two years he occupied himself with the Spanish
and Portuguese languages, which he learned to pronounce with great
accuracy. He also laboured hard in practising several different styles
of drawing. Fortunately for his views, the trade in which he was engaged
required a regular and constant intercourse with France, Portugal, and
Spain. The plan which he had secretly formed of visiting the Continent
happily coincided, therefore, with his business; and he looked forward
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 Guernsey and
Alderney, he sailed in the month of July for the Continent, and spent
the remainder of the year in Portugal and Spain. His professed object
was to be present at the vintage of that season, while his real
intention was to view the state of society and of science in those
kingdoms. He landed at Corunna, in Gallicia, on the 5th 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 manners and customs so different from those
of his own country; and his journals during this period are filled with
satirical observations on the apparent pride and stiffness of the
nobility, and the ignorance of the clergy. The following may be given as
a 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, whatever is done in the rest of the world in
one way, is in Portugal done by the contrary, even to the rocking 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 at once to Madrid, he turned to the right,
passed through Toledo, and made an excursion over the mountains into the
province of New Castile. Having 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 circumstances, 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 Moorish 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 would elucidate many of the obscure causes which
had obstructed the prosperity of that country.[2] Two large and
unexplored collections of Arabic manuscripts belonging to the Spanish
crown were lying 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 labyrinth, 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
of superior abilities; and from him he earnestly solicited assistance in
the researches which he desired to make in Arabic literature. Mr. Wall
frankly told Bruce, that the jealousy with which the Spaniards concealed
their historical records from every intelligent foreigner obstructed all
access to the Library of the Escurial; but the minister, pleased with
the adventurous spirit and the intelligence which he 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
unwilling to settle; and, like the swallow, about to take its departure
it knows not where, he kept constantly on the wing, flying apparently
everywhere rather than be at rest. After having made many observations
on the several places which he visited in Spain, on Christmas day, 1757,
he arrived at Pampeluna, the capital of Navarre, on his way to France.

Crossing the Pyrenees, he went to Bordeaux, 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 Frankfort. Returning
to the romantic valley of the Rhine, he visited 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; and Bruce, having wounded his antagonist, 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 he had ever witnessed. He had often boasted,
and still more often dreamed, of what he was always delighted to call
the _exploits_ of his ancestors, but hitherto he had only read or heard
of war. The moment he became acquainted with its reality, it appeared to
his excited mind to be a brilliant game, teeming with prizes and blanks;
a legal gambling of life, which, by comparison, made every other
employment appear trifling and insipid; and, impressed with these
feelings, he resolved to forsake the peaceful life he had hitherto led,
and seek adventures more congenial, as he conceived, 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 excellent
character and sound abilities, he was now deprived of all that he had
ever known of parental love. He immediately proceeded to England, where
he arrived 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 with his concern
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 diligently employed in
acquiring the Eastern languages; and, in the course of studying the
Arabic (a branch of learning at that time little connected with European
knowledge), he was induced to examine, in the works of Ludolf, the
Ethiopic or Geez tongue, which first directed his attention to the
mountains of Abyssinia. While he was thus employed, the establishment of
the Carron Company in Scotland made a very considerable addition to his
fortune: 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 Bruce'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 appeared to Bruce that an
attack on it by a British squadron could not fail of being 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 public, our
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 facts 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 ministry, if the king would
intrust 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 shortly after 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 that he must not fail to be ready upon a call. "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 now several meetings with Bruce, to concert an expedition
against Ferrol, the execution of which was to be intrusted to Lord Howe;
but, at the earnest request of the Portuguese ambassador, the project
was abandoned, and, on the death of Lord Egremont, Bruce'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, appreciating Bruce'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 obscurity 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 pretended 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 abundance over the whole of that
country. Lord Halifax therefore expressed a wish that Bruce should be
the first, in the reign just now commencing, to set an example of making
large additions to the royal collection; he pledged himself to be his
supporter and patron, and to make good to him the promises which he had
received from former ministers. The discovery of the source of the Nile
was also a subject of their conversation; and although it was mentioned
as a thing to be accomplished only by a more experienced traveller, yet
Bruce always declared 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. Aspinall, 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, he dying a few days afterward, the
consulship again became vacant, and Lord Halifax pressed Bruce to accept
it, as being convenient for aiding him in the proposed expedition. "This
favourable event," says Bruce, "finally determined me. I had all my life
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 great reason to
expect that it might be twice. I had furnished myself with a large
apparatus 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, 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 at 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 opportunity of improving his taste, and to qualify him for
collecting with greater ability the remains of antiquity 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 despatches which were to be there
forwarded to him.

Delighted with prospects so congenial to his disposition, being now
thirty-two years of age, he sailed from England in June, 1762; and,
though some objections had been made as to particular passports
solicited by the British government from the French secretary of state,
M. de Choiseul waived such exceptions with regard to Bruce, and politely
assured him, in a letter accompanying his passport, that those
difficulties did not in any shape regard him, but that he was perfectly
at liberty to pass through, or to remain in France, with those who might
accompany 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 farther commands. He
afterward went to Florence, where he remained most studiously occupied
for a considerable time.

It would be tedious to enter into a detail of the antiquities,
paintings, and other curiosities which Bruce observed in the course of
his journey, as they have been visited by thousands of Englishmen, 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;[3] 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, redeemed 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 endeavour to make a map of the country, with observations on its
natural history, and on the manners and language of its inhabitants, he
justly concluded that the packing and repacking, mounting and rectifying
the instruments alone would wholly occupy one man; and he therefore
wrote to several of his correspondents, 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 architecture at Rome. He was a native of Bologna, named
Luigi Balugani. Besides the assistance of this person, Bruce provided
himself in England with two camera obscuras, the largest of which was
made of separate 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 executing views of
ruined architecture, could do more work in an hour than the readiest
artist, without such assistance, in seven.

After having passed eight months at Naples, Rome, Bologna, and
Florence,[4] 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. Proceeding immediately to Leghorn, Bruce
embarked on board the Montreal man-of-war, and arrived at Algiers on the
15th of March, 1763.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Bruces of Kinnaird trace their pedigree to that Norman house
which once occupied the throne of Scotland.

[2] See M. Florian's History of the Moors of Spain, published by Harper
& Brothers, 1840.

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

[4] 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--the
Capitol--Belvidere--Albano--Barbarini Palace--in the Palaces
Spado--Little Farnese--Corsini--Borghese, &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.


We have already stated that Bruce had been appointed to the consulship
of Algiers, to succeed Mr. Aspinall, who had been recalled. This
gentleman had, with great firmness and integrity, opposed many unjust
demands made on him by the dey, who, in consequence, sent a letter to
England requesting that he might be dismissed, and Mr. Ford, a British
merchant, 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 to 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 Bruce, on his arrival at Algiers,
presented to the old dey credentials 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 appropriately distinguished by the
appellation of great men. In the history of mankind, it is curious to
observe how, in the various conditions of society, different
descriptions of men rise to the surface, where they remain until a moral
revolution, altering their specific gravity, obliges them to sink into
oblivion. In a highly-civilized community, a man rises to distinction by
the estimable qualities of his nature: in an uncivilized country he
climbs above his comrades 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 command in person, that, by
dying at the siege of Oran, he might merit Paradise.[5] On the 1st of
May, 1763, Bruce wrote to Lord Egremont to announce his arrival; and the
concluding sentence of even this, his first official communication, to
use a vulgar expression, "smells strongly of the shop," or, rather, of
the shambles, which he was doomed to inhabit: "I have nothing farther 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 afterward the prime minister, who had been expected to succeed
the dey, was arrested in his presence, and instantly strangled; and all
his relations, and even his friends, were privately put to death, in
order to stifle any inclination they might feel, to complain of the
murder of this personage. Not long after, the French Consul hesitating
to comply with some orders received from the dey, he 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 among all the public officers, who consider
it as their due rather than as a gift which they are fortunate enough to
receive. Bruce's present consisted principally of blue cloth, his
distribution of which furnished 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 "admiral," the "first commander of the navy," the
"captain of the port," and the "master carpenter," each received eight
yards; while the "captain of marine," the "secretary for prizes," the
"comptroller of the dey's house," and his highness'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
consider the circumstances of this expense of mine, so that I may not
lose this £213; yet, if they should not 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 the government at home also refused to admit), but it
placed him in a very difficult situation, 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[6] 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 or 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 3d 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 lordship
that the recall of Mr. Aspinall has had the very worst effect upon
British in particular, and Christian affairs in general: the king has
declared that he will change consuls every two years; for which he
assigns no reason, though 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 appointed 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."

Bruce proceeds to unfold the horrid private character 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
recommending that Mr. Aspinall should be restored to the consulship of
Algiers. During the whole period of Bruce'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 manuscripts, which, with great trouble, he had
collected, and his only recreation when abroad was in conversing 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 informed 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 was
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 jewels and watches, as private
presents to the regency; Venice has spent about £20,000 to make peace,
and pays £4000 yearly; France, to rescue 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 was to shrink from danger, he
concludes by saying, "Though, if there is any remonstrance his majesty
directs to be made to this regency that may interfere with this journey,
I 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 have come to what I hope is the extremity, 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 was sent out of this port by order of the dey, without any passport
endorsed, 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 farther
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 afterward, the English sailor who had been imprisoned by the
dey appeared before Bruce, hacked, mangled, and covered with bruises. He
was 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 following
letter which Bruce addressed to Lord Halifax:

"On the 18th war was declared against the emperor; and some Tuscan
sailors and passengers arriving 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[7] 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 continues in great fear; for, being _much affected
with the gout_, a very small proportion of the thousand bastinadoes
would kill him; nor could he satisfy them in a single syllable, as I
have never, in writing or 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.[8]

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 maintaining the national dignity 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 lordship 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 security, 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 that I can be of no farther service here, nothing will make me
leave Algiers but force. One brother has already, this war, had the
honour to lose his 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
survivers, 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 remembered that Bruce was remaining at Algiers
against his will, and that he had long ago repeatedly applied for his
majesty's permission to resign the consulship.

A violent dispute now took place between Bruce and the dey about
passports. On the taking of Minorca by the French, a number of English
passports fell into the hands of the enemy; and the French governor,
naturally wishing to embroil England in disputes with the Barbary
States, filled up the blanks of these 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 the ships of their nation 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, 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 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 power of any foreign prince to annul my commission." An English ship
happening to arrive about this time with a passavant, was broken in
pieces, and the crew hurried into slavery. Bruce now 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 the least pleasing, the least profitable, and one of the most
dangerous in which I was ever engaged."

In communicating intelligence of his own dismissal, 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 always
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 honour to venture my life in
his majesty's service, without rank or reward, in the station he shall
be pleased to employ me."

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 3.--"I take the liberty, my lord, to offer your lordship my
most humble thanks for having laid my request of leave to resign this
consulship before the king. Very disagreeable and dangerous 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 disposal, 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."

Again, on the 14th of December, he thus acknowledges 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 procured 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 to resign and
return home that another consul has been appointed in your stead."

Previous to the arrival of Bruce'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
necessary in order to explain the following translation of this most
curious letter.


     "MUSTAPHA HAN.

     ALLY, Son of Mohammed, God protect him.

     "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
     Mohammedans 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 England, 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.

     "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 preserve your majesty, and may our friendship
     continue for ever. Amen.


     "Allgier,
     Ally Basha,
     the 22d of month
     Ramazan, in the year
     1178, Dettusura."

     (Which corresponds with the
     16th of March, 1765.)


As soon as it was known that a consul was coming from England to succeed
Bruce, the effect was produced which he had apprehended; for every one
pretended 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, indeed, of the dey seemed to
increase with his age. In a single morning, seventeen Turks were seized
and strangled in his presence; he even condemned 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, accompanied by Captain Cleveland
of the navy. This consul was, however, shortly afterward recalled; and,
in less than two years, two others succeeded to the same dangerous
post. One of these gentlemen, on sailing from England, was recommended
by the government to do everything in his power to accommodate the
troublesome affairs of Algiers. His obsequious, courtier-like conduct
forms a striking contrast with Bruce's firm, manly behaviour; and he was
very shortly recalled for overacting his part of conciliation, by
allowing the dey to impose a tax on English vessels which he had no
right whatever to demand.

In the following letter this gentleman thus informs 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_, Alli Bashaw, who was seized
with a violent cold and pleuritic complaint the 24th past. He continued
in a declining way till Sunday the 2d 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 several forts, with a discharge of cannon. At eight I paid
my respects to the new dey, Mohammed 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 Alli
Bashaw, the dey of Algiers, the reader will probably start at the
appellation 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.

The long intervals which 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 afterward
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 afterward became his passport in all the countries 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 engrossed the whole attention of most people,
and distracted with petty distress the minds of many: but neither these,
nor the enervating effects of the African climate, could shake his
unalterable determination; 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. Accordingly, on the 25th
of August, 1765, he sailed from Algiers, his mind filled with the most
agreeable ideas, and rejoicing to run his arduous course.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Bruce's official letters from Algiers (preserved in the Colonial
Office) give so correct and extraordinary a picture of that barbarous
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, in
an authentic shape, before the public.

[6] A small flat-bottomed vessel of seventy or eighty tons burden, of
the description used for the transportation of goods on the canals in
Holland.--_Am. Ed._

[7] Dr. Ball, the bearer of despatches from Bruce for England.

[8] About the time of writing the above (in the 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 resort for pirates,
remains to be seen.--_Ed._[9]

[9] There can be no doubt that it is the intention of the French
government to keep permanent possession of that country, as they are now
(in 1840) operating with an army of not less than 50,000 men to complete
its subjugation.--_Am. Ed._




CHAPTER III.

     Bruce Travels through the Kingdoms of Tunis and Tripoli--Is
     Wrecked--Beaten by the Arabs--Sails to Crete, Rhodes, Asia Minor,
     and Syria--Visits Palmyra and Baalbec--Is Detained at Cyprus--Sails
     for Egypt.


The dey, secretly admiring the firmness and integrity 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
permission to visit the country in whatever direction he pleased. From
the French and English consuls he received great attention and
assistance; and about the middle of September, while the weather was
still dreadfully hot, he set out for the interior of the kingdoms of
Algiers and Tunis, accompanied by his draughtsman Luigi Balugani, a
French renegado named Osman, and ten spahis or foot-soldiers, "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 Tucca, he found a
Corinthian pillar of Parian marble and the ruins of a temple, among
which he remained 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, on the frontier 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 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 lion's
flesh; and, in consequence of thus eating up the enemies of the state,
they are not taxed like the other Arabs. Seated among these wild people,
Bruce openly partook of their fare, and, having done so, he acknowledged
it in words which are highly characteristic of himself:

"Before Dr. Shaw's travels first acquired the celebrity they have
maintained ever since, there was a circumstance that very nearly ruined
their credit. He had ventured to say in conversation that these 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 province 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
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, as their flesh
did 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 architecture. 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
magnificent 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
firearms; 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 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 Mohammed Bey blew up a part of it to prevent its being occupied 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 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 introduction. 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: neither bush, nor
tree, nor verdure of any kind, excepting the short grass that separates
this country 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 uncivilized 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
difficulty, 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 unfortunately 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 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 most fortunately saved the greater 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 Philadelphus.

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 think of. Bruce at once
fled from this dreadful scene. Travelling over a great part of the
Pentapolis, he visited the ruins of Arsinoë and Ras Sem, and then
approaching the seacoast, came to Ptolemeta, the ancient Ptolemais, the
walls and gates 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 appeared, 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 already so resolutely and painfully acquired.
Accordingly, with his little party, he embarked on board a small Greek
vessel bound for 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 she had plenty of sail, she
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 daybreak
the next day they sailed; and it was then discovered that the captain
was entirely ignorant of his duty, and wholly unable to manage his
ship.[10] A violent storm overtook them, and the vessel, falling to
leeward, struck on a rock near the entrance of the harbour of Bengazi:
fortunately, however, 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 they would be swamped,
they pushed off from the ship, and with two oars endeavoured to row the
boat ashore. Bruce had thrown off all his clothes except a short
under-waistcoat and his linen drawers; a silk sash or girdle was wrapped
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; and the rest of his party 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 hold upon him, entangle him,
and thus ignominiously drag him down, 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 fact of doing _something_; for the general effect
of fear is to paralyze 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 forward a few feet: perfectly exhausted, he then fainted away, and
remained for a considerable time insensible to the waves which, one
after another, were eagerly rolling towards the shore, as if greedy 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, those only being 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 he was a Turk; and, after many
hard blows, kicks, and curses, they stripped 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 "Salum 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, 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 sheikh 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 wrote to the sheikh, entreating
him to endeavour to fish up his cases, for which he offered a handsome
reward: this, however, 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,
bidding 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 Bruce had received at Bengazi left marks, which,
after a considerable time, totally disappeared; but the relentless ague,
which, in consequence of his exertions in the Sea of Ptolemeta, fixed
itself on his constitution, persecuted him through all his travels,
suddenly appearing and oppressing him 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 proceeded to Castelrosso, on the coast of
Caramania, in Asia Minor, where he had been credibly informed there were
very magnificent ruins; but his fever increasing, 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 offered to most men alluring and tranquil
occupation; 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 the enterprising spirit of Bruce remained unaltered;
and, careless of his shattered frame, he now resolved that, previously
to entering on 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
around Palmyra: the one the Anneci, remarkable for the breed of their
horses; the other the Mowulli, who are excellent soldiers. These two
tribes were not actually at war, nor were they at peace; they were
merely upon what is termed ill terms with each other--a very dangerous
time for strangers to have any dealings with either. Bruce would have
gone at once from Sidon 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 Turcomans, 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 proceeded
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 who
was there 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 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, where, to their great surprise,
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, proceeding all the while without sleeping.

Weary and exhausted, they ascended a hill of white gritty stone, hemmed
in by a narrow winding 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 extensive, was covered so thick with magnificent buildings,
that one seemed to touch the other--all of fine proportions, 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 readily shares its prosperity with the other; and Bruce,
both enraptured and refreshed with the scene before him, only thought
how he could copy it to the greatest advantage. He therefore, assisted
by Balugani, divided Palmyra into six angular views, bringing into the
foreground of each some edifice or group of columns particularly worthy
of delineation. These views were drawn on very wide 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 drawings, he
and his party quitted Palmyra, and travelled about one hundred and
thirty miles to Baalbec, the interior of the great temple of which
surpassed, in Bruce's opinion, anything he had seen even at Palmyra.
Having taken a number of views, he proceeded by Tyre; and, as he says,
"much fatigued, and satisfied beyond measure 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 he had
written, announcing the loss of his instruments at Bengazi. From his
friend Dr. Russel, at London, he learned that a reflecting telescope, as
also an achromatic one by Dollond, had been forwarded to him; from Paris
he received a timepiece and a stopwatch; 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 quadrant which had belonged to the Military
Academy at Marseilles. Flattered at the support thus extended to him,
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 Alexandria. The vessel touched at
Cyprus; but, occupied with his great 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."[11]

While thus detained at Cyprus, Bruce's thoughts and dreams were
enthusiastically filled with the distant object of his ambition; and, as
Mohammed is said to have once walked to the mountain because it declined
to visit him, so did Bruce indulge himself with the opposite idea, that
he saw the waters of the Nile flying towards him in the heavens of
Cyprus. "We observed," says he, "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
mountains 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, afterward an historian
of this phenomenon, hitherto a mystery through all ages: I exulted in
the measures I had taken!"

But Bruce has already sailed from Cyprus; and, previous to his 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 qualified
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 utmost 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 differing 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 he was six feet four
inches, and with this imposing appearance possessed great personal
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 veracity than when, like Bruce, his mind is ever
retrospectively viewing the noble conduct of his ancestors; thus showing
that he considers he has a stake in society which, by the meanness of
falsehood or exaggeration, he would be unable to transmit unsullied to
his posterity.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] 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 to 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, thus announced by this animal to his
fellow-passengers, appeared in sight at daybreak.

[11] 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, no less than excess of cold, has been observed
generally to arrest the contagion.




CHAPTER IV.

     Bruce arrives at Cairo--Has very singular Interviews with the
     Bey--Sails up the Nile--Gains a promise of Protection from the
     Arabs Ababdé--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 from it; but, seeing
that he was resolved, they kindly offered him every possible assistance.

As the government of Cairo had always been jealous of the enterprise
which Bruce had undertaken, and a formal prohibition of it had often
been made by the Porte, Bruce pretended that his destination was India.
He appeared in public as seldom as possible, 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 reputation which enabled
him privately to purchase many Arabic manuscripts, which his knowledge
of the language assisted him to select. Of the French residents Bruce
speaks in very high terms; but as to the government, he says, "a more
brutal, unjust, tyrannical, oppressive, avaricious set of miscreants
there is 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 religions, 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 which 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 Egyptian ministers! Risk professed astrology, and the bey,
like all other Turks, believed in it implicitly. To this folly he
sacrificed his own good understanding; and Risk, probably in pay to
Constantinople, led him from one wild scheme to another, till he undid
him--by the stars!"

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, nor even
touch them, and they were forwarded to Bruce without duty or fees. The
next day Risk waited upon him; and when the British traveller offered
him a small present for himself, and a very handsome one for his master,
he was most agreeably surprised to find it returned with a message "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 have arisen from any prepossession in his
favour. He was an entire stranger in the land, and therefore resolved to
ask the advice of one of his friends, who instantly cautioned him
against either offending or trusting Risk, as he was a merciless man,
capable of the blackest designs.

In a short time this Copt came to Bruce's landlord 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 foretel 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 be furnished with the
bey's farther 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 Abyssinia, 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 greatest kindness, to address
letters in favour of Bruce, and three copies were accordingly sent by
different ways, accompanied by an admonitory epistle-general to the
whole of the Greeks in Abyssinia, which, in form of a bull, was drawn up
by Bruce himself, assisted by his excellent and venerable friend. By
this the patriarch desired that, instead of pretending 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 powerful nation; while _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, to be granted to them for the attentions
they were to pay the stranger.

One night, about nine o'clock, Risk sent to Bruce desiring 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 sparkling 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 consequences of that war.
With becoming gravity, our astrologer replied, "That the Turks would be
beaten by sea and land wherever they presented themselves." Again the
bey asked, "Whether 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."

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, after desiring him to
inform Risk if any one should dare wrong him, dismissed him from his
presence.

A few nights afterward the bey again sent for Bruce. At the door he met
the janisary aga, who had absolute power of life and death, without
appeal, all over Cairo and its neighbourhood. Having learned 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, 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 "Salam!" At
first he seemed hardly to know why he had sent for Bruce; but at length,
in a melancholy tone, complained that he had been sick immediately after
dinner, and 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 religion or your soul;" and with these
words he took his leave, the bey muttering to himself, "He speaks like a
man!"

Next morning Risk came from 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 him this, by infusing a very little
green tea in a large quantity of warm water, on which Risk insinuated
that it would be farther necessary 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 physician at the same time, but very
politely offered to make Risk sick, which, he said, would answer the
purpose of instruction equally well; this suggestion, however, was not
very readily assented to, and yet Risk was evidently at a loss how to
proceed. The poor old Greek priest, Father Christopher, happening
unluckily to intrude at this very moment, it was instantly 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 obliged to submit to the experiment 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 Upper Egypt; also letters
from Ali 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 baggage as much as possible, he tore from
his books those pages only which were likely to be of service to him,
and, having taken leave of the bey, and bidding adieu to his friends,
he embarked with his little party on the 12th of 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 enclose this inconsiderable strip of
irrigated land.

Bruce's boat or canja, which was to carry him to Furshoot, the residence
of Haman, sheikh of Upper Egypt, was about one hundred feet in length,
with two masts, each bearing an enormous lateen 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 so as to be a defence against a set of
robbers on the Nile, who are in the habit of swimming under water, or in
the dark on goatskins, to pilfer from vessels everything they can lay
their hands on.

Previous to sailing, Bruce had taken the precaution of applying to his
useful friend, Mr. Secretary Risk, concerning the captain of the canja,
Haji Hassan Abou Cuffi, who was obliged to deliver up his son Mohammed
as security for his own good behaviour. The wind being contrary, the
canja was towed against the stream by a rope, and in this way it
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 pyramids, which, like beings of another world, seemed everywhere
to be haunting the desert. On the opposite bank of the Nile, an animated
and picturesque scene was displayed in the encampment of a large party
of the Howadat Arabs.

On the morning of the 13th the canja unfurled her enormous 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 Memphis, Bruce left his boat
at Sheikh Atman, and, entering an extensive and thick wood of
palm-trees, continued 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. Towards
the south, in the desert, as far as the eye can reach, there are vast
numbers of pyramids, some appearing, like vessels at sea, just above the
horizon. "A man's heart," says Bruce, "fails him in looking to the south
and southwest 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 habits 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 discovery in
the moving sands of Saccara, and embraces in safety and in quiet the
reports of others, who, he thinks, have been more inquisitive and more
adventurous than himself."

Various and conflicting are the opinions quoted by Bruce as to the
situation of Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Dr. Pococke looked
for Memphis at Metrahenni and Mohannen, because Pliny[12] says the
pyramids were between Memphis and the Delta; and Mr. Niebuhr, the Danish
traveller, agreed with Dr. Pococke. Dr. Shaw quoted a contrary sentiment
from Pliny;[13] he cited also Diodorus Siculus,[14] who describes
Memphis as being at the point of the Delta; Pliny,[15] again, who says
it was fifteen miles from the Delta; and Herodotus,[16] who declares
that Memphis lay under the sandy mountains of Libya. Dr. Shaw,
therefore, warmly contended that Memphis was at Geeza.

In this literary controversy, Bruce, with his usual warmth of character,
vehemently opposes Dr. Shaw, and insists on placing Memphis at
Metrahenni. He denies that the point of the Delta itself is a fixed and
unalterable boundary; quotes Diodorus, 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 still
called the capital[17] of that country; 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 particulars mentioned in the above argument, it is scarcely
necessary to remind the general reader that no vestige of Memphis
exists! Among the super-scientific, its ancient situation still remains
a subject of dispute; but considering how many real objects, points, and
situations there are in the world of which we are totally ignorant, it
might surely be said of Memphis, that "de non existantibus et de non
apparentibus eadem est ratio."[18]

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, both on the right and left, lay between the river and the
mountains. At Woodan the Nile was about a quarter of a mile wide; 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 opposite or
west 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 on them with feelings of curiosity and delight,
he 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;
adding, 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 put to them by inquisitive European travellers,
instead of confessing their ignorance, they were in the habit of
answering with 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, Embarcak, 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 vicinity of which
they passed the night. "All the valley here," says Bruce, "is green, the
palm grows beautiful, and the Nile is deep: still it is not a prospect
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
each side of this convent; for the poor wretches who inhabited it,
accustomed to the merciless violence of the Arabs, declined to sow,
knowing that they would not be permitted to reap. At the village of
Nizelet begin large plantations of sugarcanes, the first they had seen,
and the people were then loading boats with them for Cairo.

Proceeding onward, they came to large plantations of dates, and beyond
them the people were seen occupied in cutting the sugarcanes. The houses
here had on their roofs receptacles for pigeons, from 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 terrifying. "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 firearms 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 firing his blunderbuss. The crew
were very desirous to go on shore to attack the people; but Bruce, an
old traveller, with a very proper _esprit de corps_, says, "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 therefore 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 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 the water had left it: the wheat was at this time about four
inches high, and the acacia-trees on the opposite side in full flower.
Every object, whether trifling or serious, seemed to claim Bruce's
attention, and to afford 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 refuted 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 Haman; 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 turn or bend here. The next
morning Bruce and Balugani, impatient to visit the most extensive and
magnificent scene of ruins that are in Upper Egypt, set out for Beliani;
and at about ten o'clock in the morning they 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 persons 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 extraordinary architecture; quantity and
solidity are two principal requisites, that are seen here with a
vengeance! 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 morning to night, before he
could copy the hieroglyphics in the inside of the temple."

The next day the canja reached 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 with 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 apartments 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 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 Bruce's papers, and that one of
them, at least, is evidently the work of Luigi Balugani, who did not
live to return to Europe. 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
observations. In the small chamber where Bruce copied the harp he gave
to Mr. Burney for his history of music, _we saw that traveller's 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 afterward 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."

After roughly copying these ancient harps, which Bruce little thought
would ever be made to vibrate to the dishonour of his character, he made
preparations for proceeding farther in his researches; but his
conductors now lost all subordination. They were afraid that his
intention was to sit in this cave all night (and it really was), and to
visit the rest the 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
receptacles of the dead; and, as soon as they came to the sunshine and
freshness of the living world, they abandoned all farther researches 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 "remembrance 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 Ababdé; 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 friendship.

Sheikh Amner is a collection of villages, composed of miserable huts,
which contained, in Bruce's estimation, about a thousand effective men,
who possessed few horses, being principally mounted on camels. They form
the barrier or bulwark against the prodigious number of Arabs,
principally the Bishareen, who are nominally the subjects of the kingdom
of Sennaar. Ibrahim, the son of the 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 bountiful
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 Ababdé, named 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 and more horrid figure I never saw. 'No!' said
he, '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.[19] 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.'"[20]

Bruce now thought it a proper moment to declare, 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 Kenné, or Cuft, on the Nile, from thence to cross the
desert to Cosseir, a port on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea; 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; and 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 more 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 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 occupied 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 attitudes, they declared themselves and their
children accursed if ever they lifted their hands against Yagoube 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 understood 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 makes his way through the various difficulties
that oppose him--softening the most rigid prejudices, and often managing
to convert a barbarous enmity into disinterested friendship, 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
penetrate Africa by taking an opposite course, dressing himself in the
mean, detested garments of a European. 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 Christians, and to wear on all occasions our
English dresses;" and what was the result? "'What do you do here?' said
some women who accosted him; 'you are a Kaffir, khaleel! It is you
Christians, with the blue eyes like the hyæna, that eat the blacks
whenever you can get them far enough away from their own country!' '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 Mohammed!' 'Oh! oh! the Lord preserve us from the infernal devil!'
they all exclaimed; and screaming '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. Warrington, to excavate, explore, and carry away
the ruins of ancient Leptis, made the following replies to Captain Smyth
and the British consul, who officially waited on 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 dominions 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 which 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._

     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
getting along 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
be vauntingly 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, it may at least be maintained that
English breeches, stockings, and "coats cut to the quick," are far
better relished by the phlebotomizing moschetoes 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 unarmed janisary, dressed in long Turkish clothes, and 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, '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 hatésheriffe, or royal
mandate to you, Mohammed 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 Ali Bey of
Cairo, and wished to deliver it to him without witnesses, whenever he
pleased. The room was accordingly 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 left alone, than I told the aga that, being a
stranger, 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 servant 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 aga sent me his own horse, with mules and asses for my
servants, to go to the cataract."

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 called 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 22d, 23d, 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 stem 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 course
which had been recommended to him, he had firmly resolved to pursue; and
accordingly, on the 26th of January, he embarked at Syene, from the very
spot where he again took boat more than three years afterward.

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
opposing element; but, with her prodigious mainsail lowered, and even
her masts unshipped, she was carried broadside 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
charm of novelty!

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

On the 2d of February he again took up his quarters at Badjoura, in the
house which had formerly been assigned to him. "As I was now," says
Bruce, "about to enter on that part of my expedition in which I was to
have no farther intercourse with Europe, I set myself to work to examine
all my observations, and put my journal in such forwardness 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."

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Plin., lib. v., cap. 9.

[13] Plin., lib. xxxvi., cap. 12.

[14] Diod. Sic., p. 45, § 50.

[15] Shaw's Travels, chap. 4, p. 298.

[16] Lib. ii., p. 141, 168, 105, 103.

[17] Strabo, lib. vii., p. 944.

[18] _Things not existing and those not appearing to exist we may
account the same._

[19] The part of Egypt which is cultivated.

[20] Cairo.




CHAPTER V.

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


It was on Thursday, the 16th of February,[21] 1769, that Bruce joined
the caravan which was setting out from Kenné, the _Coene Emporium_ of
antiquity. They passed through a few dirty villages of the Azaizy, a
poor, inconsiderable tribe of Arabs, who live by furnishing cattle for
the caravans, and by attending on them. The huts of these poor people,
which are made of clay in one piece, in the shape of a beehive, are
seldom above ten feet high and six feet in diameter. 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 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 on
horseback. 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 the mind or arouse the feelings. Men, camels,
and horses, drooping as they went, seemed to be alike aware that the
courage they had now to exert was wholly of a passive character; that
all that was required of them was--to suffer! Anger, hatred, and the
other vengeful passions, which, like intoxicating draughts, often make
men thoughtless and insensible to danger, afforded no excitement here.
They had not the savage pleasure even of contending with human enemies;
and the burning sand and burning sun 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, antelope 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. They 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
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
they should join in defending each other against all common enemies. "I
cannot conceal," 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 Libya, 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 obtained the first fresh water which they
had tasted since they left the Nile. Next morning, before daybreak, 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 with which all their buildings abound. That
wonder, however, among many others, now ceases, after having passed, in
four days, more granite, porphyry, marble, and jasper than would build
Rome, Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, Memphis, Alexandria, and half a dozen
more such cities. About ten o'clock, descending very rapidly, with green
marble and jasper on each side of us, but no other green thing whatever,
we had the first prospect of the Red Sea."

To the eye which 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.

Cosseir 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. Bruce had an order from Sheikh
Haman to lodge in the castle; but, a few hours before he arrived,
Hussein Bey, landing from Mecca and Jidda, had taken possession of the
apartments. This bey, however, hearing that the English traveller had
the firman of the grand seignior, with letters from the Bey of Cairo,
and that he had, moreover, furnished the stranger Turks with water in
the desert, of his own accord made himself acquainted with Bruce,
treating him with attention and respect; and no sooner was this 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
government 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 Ababdé, armed with javelins, and mounted on camels, two on
each, sitting back to back: they conducted a thousand camels laden with
wheat. The whole town was in terror at the influx of so many barbarians;
and even Bruce sent all his instruments, money, books, and baggage to a
chamber in the castle. The following morning, as he was loitering in
dishabille on the shore, looking for seashells, one of his servants came
to him in great alarm, to say that the Ababdé 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
Ababdé 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 began to gabble in their own language. I was not
very fond of my situation. It would have cost them nothing to 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. However, I pricked up courage, and,
putting on the best appearance I could, said to them steadily, without
trepidation, '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?' 'Are those before us
Ababdé?' said I; 'are they from Sheikh Amner?' One of them nodded, and
grunted sullenly rather than said, 'Ay, Ababdé, from Sheikh Amner.'
'Then, salum alicum!' said I, 'we are brethren. How does the Nimmer? Who
commands you here? Where is Ibrahim?' At 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 surprise. 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.' '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?'
'Ibrahim,' 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 Ababdé. 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 'Fiarduc!' when
Ibrahim and his brother both knew me. 'What!' said they, 'are you
Yagoube, our physician and our friend? 'Let me ask you,' replied I, 'if
you are the Ababdé 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.'
'What is the matter?' said Ibrahim; 'we are the Ababdé of Sheikh
Amner--there are no other; and 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.' 'Then,' said I, 'you are all accursed in the desert and
in the field, for a number 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, with forty or fifty of the Ababdé who had
gathered round him, but no rope about his neck."

Upon inquiring why the Ababdé wished to murder Abd-el-gin, Bruce was
informed that the captain of his caravan, Hassan, had insidiously
persuaded 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; and for this
act he has been very severely and justly condemned.

While Bruce was thus engaged on the sands with the Ababdé Arabs, a
vessel was seen in distress, and all the boats went to tow her in.
Nothing can be more dangerous than the corn-trade as it is carried on in
the Red Sea: the vessels have no decks, are filled full of wheat, and
are continually lost; but scarcely have they sunk out of sight when
their fate is equally out of mind. The people are deaf alike to
experience, reason, and advice, and crying Ullah Kerim! (God is great
and merciful!) they launch and despatch other vessels, trusting that by
some miracle they shall be saved.

Bruce having determined to attempt making a survey of the Red Sea down
to the Straits of Babelmandel (which means the gate of affliction), took
passages for himself and his party in a vessel that was shortly to be
ready to receive him. The rais or captain was thought to be a saint; and
he 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; and, with
the assistance of a sort of straw mattress as a sail, he departed 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." Near the foot of the mountain 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 farther 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, and began muttering
to him something about the mercy and merits of Sidi Ali el Genowi.
"Confound 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 he cut it into shreds. On the 19th of March, a little before
sunset, they reached the harbour of Cosseir, where they learned that
three vessels had perished in the night, with all their hands.

Having determined the latitude and longitude of Cosseir, and also
completed a long series of other observations, Bruce embarked on the 5th
of April to continue his survey of the Red Sea, concerning the climate
of which Captain Tuckey, of the royal navy, 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 between 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
Blessed,' from Babelmandel 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 11th of April he again
sailed, coasting along the eastern shore, and landing for a short time
at Yamboo; and then continuing his course towards the south, he 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 Babelmandel.

From Yambo to Jidda Bruce slept but little; having been constantly
occupied with memoranda which he was desirous to complete. He was,
besides, suffering and shaking from his Bengazi ague; and, burned and
weatherbeaten, he was in his neglected garb 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, having proceeded thus far in the history of Bruce's life,
will have remarked with what unconquerable resolution he has hitherto
proceeded on his journey, fearless of danger, shrinking from no fatigue,
exposing himself to the scorching sun, and complaining neither of hunger
nor thirst, but his spirit, like the water of a great river, seeming to
acquire strength and boldness in its course as he daily approaches his
distant goal. But how has it fared with the body, that frail companion
of the mind, during this weary journey? On the subject of his health
Bruce himself says but little; and it is only casually, in the following
remarkable anecdote, that we are presented with a picture of his frame.

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 sitting, in a white calico waistcoat, a very high pointed white
cotton nightcap, 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
farther, 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 shut the door. 'Sir,' says he, '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. 'Are you wanting a passage to
India?' I again bowed. '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 passage to India, apply to no one but
Thornhill of the Bengal Merchant. Perhaps you are afraid of somebody; if
so, ask for 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 have no enemy that I know, either in Jidda or
elsewhere, nor do I owe any man anything.' 'I 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 supposed I did not understand, 'here is a poor
Englishman, 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
feeding 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 courtyard
where they used to expose their samples of 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."

Let this sketch of Bruce's jaded appearance be deeply engraven upon the
memory of the reader; and, while the impression is fresh, he cannot but
acknowledge what steady perseverance 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 remained still to be performed. But, while he is sleeping on
his mat, it is absolutely necessary that we should no longer delay
noticing the observations which have been made on his voyage in the Red
Sea, etc.

In the year 1805, thirty-four years after Bruce had left Abyssinia,
eleven years after his death, and 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 Marquis
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 Abyssinia and the neighbouring
countries."

With these enterprising, enthusiastic, and noble feelings, Lord
Valentia, like Bruce, proceeded to the Island of Masuah; but, on his
arrival there, not liking to venture into the interior of so dangerous
and uncivilized a country, and yet being desirous to publish "Travels to
Abyssinia," etc., he desired Mr. Salt to go forward. 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, while 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 suggestion, Mr.
Canning sent Salt again to Abyssinia with presents, which consisted of
"arms ornamented with gold and jewels, satins, cut glass, painted glass,
jewellery, a picture of the Virgin Mary, fine British muslins, two
pieces of curricle artillery, with the harness complete, one hundred and
fifty rounds of ball, and a quantity of powder." With these magnificent
presents (which amounted in value to upward 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 ras 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 'Etzub! etzub!' (Wonderful! 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."[22]

Salt, having thus got rid of fourteen hundred pounds' worth of presents
(concerning which other reflecting people besides Abyssinians might very
justly say Etzub! etzub!), returned to Downing-street, leaving behind
him Pierce the sailor, and Coffin, a remarkably handsome English boy,
who had come to Abyssinia as Lord Valentia's valet.

In October, 1814, Pierce the sailor, then in Abyssinia, wrote a "Small
but True Account of the Ways and Manners of the Abyssinians," which was
published in 1820, in the second 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 Mohammedan, 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 supposed
him to be 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; the present government having refused
to give him anything for the king of that country 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 may be
enabled to form a correct judgment, to explain the connexion which
exists between Lord Valentia, his secretary, his valet, and Nathaniel
Pierce the English sailor, who, after deserting from his majesty's brig
the Antelope, was patronised by Lord Valentia: 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 (naturally
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 no less 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 fit. I
took _two grains_ of calomel night and morning, which gradually
recovered me."--Vol. ii., p. 218. His lordship, alluding to Bruce,
farther 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 circumstance of which he
has not positively informed himself." Yet Lord Valentia not only
published "Travels to Abyssinia" (having only landed at Masuah, a
harbour which did not at that time even belong to the King of
Abyssinia), but also thus ventures, merely from hearsay, to contradict
Bruce, who had been an eyewitness 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 myself that the _accounts I had
received_ at Massowah and Suakim of its actual position were perfectly
true; and that Mr. Bruce's adventures at and near it were complete
romances. I confess that I always had some doubts in my mind respecting
this voyage from Cosseir, 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 represented himself in the first place as
visiting an island called Gibel Zumrud, in lat. 25° 3' N., though, in
fact, that island lies in 23° 48'; and afterward 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;[23] 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 Jidda, are both
correct_. I think it impossible to account for these errors in any other
way than by considering _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 fictions." 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!"

But we must now for a moment return to poor Bruce, who, the reader will
recollect, was left asleep on the mat. While he was thus at rest, his
baggage was taken to the custom-house; and the keys being in his own
pocket, the vizier, who was exceedingly 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, wrapped up in green taffeta,
magnificently written and titled, and the inscription powdered with
gold-dust. Next appeared a white satin bag, addressed to the Khan of
Tartary! 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
the most painful alarm; he ordered the mighty stranger's boxes to be
nailed up immediately, and, upbraiding the servants 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 courtyard, which was instantly
filled with a crowd of people.

"In heaven!" replied Bruce, calmly and fearlessly, to a dapper
custom-house clerk, who asked him if he could tell him where his master
was. But the question being repeated, Bruce said that the baggage
belonged to him; and he immediately rose up and introduced himself to
the vizier and to several of his countrymen that were present; who, when
they became better acquainted, united in making arrangements 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 more particularly that excellent and
honourable man, Captain Thomas Price, of the Lion, of Bombay, used all
their influence with Metical Aga to procure Bruce a good reception in
Abyssinia; and it was moreover agreed among them that an Abyssinian,
named Mohammed Gibberti, should be appointed to go with him, to be an
eyewitness of the treatment which he should receive. But, as Gibberti
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 Babelmandel. After having determined the latitude and longitude of
the straits, and of various other places on both coasts, he sailed to
the northward; and 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 Mohammed
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 Tigré in Abyssinia; a most singular personage, with whose character
the reader will very shortly be made better acquainted.

On the 3d of September they all sailed from Masuah, and on the 10th they
passed the island of Gibel Teir, which is about half way between the two
shores. It is a volcano, was then 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_,
when, on the 11th, 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, however, and Bruce remarks: "We saw the advantage of a
vessel being sewed rather than nailed together, as she was not only
unhurt, but made very little water." During the confusion, and while the
greater part of the Mohammedan 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
departure 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 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, desolate home,
that it is impossible to prevail on them to leave it. "This preference,"
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 important day in Bruce's life,
his vessel came to anchor in the harbour of Masuah, the ancient port of
Abyssinia. He was seventeen days in crossing the gulf, which is often
done in three days; but much time had been 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
description. Besides endeavouring to determine the currents, the
bearings of the different islands, and the latitude and longitude of
the principal points, Bruce surveyed a number of the harbours, and has
given minute directions for ships to enter them; as also to navigate 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
confining himself to useful, practical subjects, he directed his
attention to questions of a more speculative nature: as to 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 is the origin of polygamy among Eastern nations; what causes
the currents in the different parts of the gulf, &c., &c.

He landed but at a few places, for the Abyssinian shore was quite
desert, and the Arabian side extremely dangerous, being inhabited by a
most barbarous people. On the one shore he could get nothing, while on
the other he knew that he would be robbed of what little he had. His
observations were therefore mostly nautical; and if his description of
the charts and pilots he met with be correct, his labours were at least
well intended. 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 thus speaks: "God forgive those who have taken upon
them very lately to ingraft 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 these
twenty years and upward! I would beg leave to be understood, that there
is not in the world 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 Babelmandel is evidently a
fiction;" "that his book partakes more of romance than reality;" "that
he has so mixed truth with _falsehood_," &c., &.c, &c. In a polite and
civilized country, this style of language (most particularly from one
fellow-traveller to another) deserves no reply; it is a poison which
must carry with it its own antidote. Lord Valentia himself admits that
several of Bruce's latitudes and longitudes are correct; but he also
asserts that others 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 of those who had preceded him; nevertheless, the observations
which Lord Valentia has thought it proper to make upon our traveller are
certainly not supported by the following extract from the journal even
of his lordship's own secretary, 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 piloting 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 agreed most perfectly with what Bruce has called
them. He recognised every island, excepting two, mentioned by Bruce, as
I named them from the book." It is likewise due to Bruce to repeat here
the remark of Captain Keys of the royal navy, in whose vessel Lord
Valentia and Mr. Salt first visited the Red Sea. "Mr. Bruce," says
Captain Keys, "is a very accurate observer, and I shall take _his_
latitude and longitude."

Dr. Clark, in his travels to Egypt, &c., says, "The officers of General
Baird's army spoke highly of the accuracy of Bruce's observations; and
the general himself assured us, that he considered Great Britain as
indebted to Bruce'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 Babelmandel: because, say they, this part
of his voyage is not mentioned in the private journal either of Bruce or
his draughtsman Balugani. But how often has an eager traveller like
Bruce, baffling all sober calculation, suddenly neglected everything
else to visit a barren spot, for the empty satisfaction of being able to
say, or only to feel, that he has been there; and surely no man was more
likely to do this than Bruce, whose life was so much of it spent in
attempting to gain such trophies. Bruce declares that he left Cosseir
with a determination to make a survey of the Red Sea; and, steering
direct north to Tor, his track shows the plan upon which he had
embarked. On his arrival at Loheia he had sailed over nearly three
quarters of the gulf; and, this being the case, is it not consistent
with Bruce's general character to suppose that he should have felt a
very strong inclination to conclude his survey, and especially to reach
a point of so much geographical importance as the Straits of
Babelmandel, which were, comparatively speaking, close to him? And if it
_is_ likely that he should have entertained this feeling, there was
nothing to prevent him from gratifying it. He had time, wind, water, a
vessel, and provisions, and what could he have asked for more?

FOOTNOTES:

[21] 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 Kenné for
Cosseir, but the 16th of February is the day stated in his "Travels."

[22] Salt's Voyage to Abyssinia, p. 267.

[23] Four hundred miles in four days is not five miles an hour.




CHAPTER VI.


Previous to Bruce's landing at Masuah, the ancient port of Abyssinia, it
would seem proper to lay before the reader some account of this country,
and of the continent to which it belongs.

Of Africa in general it may be justly said, that ninety-nine parts of it
are unknown; and that, at 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 European traveller.

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 country; but it must be confessed that Africa is an
immense blank in geography which remains yet to be filled up. Instead,
therefore, of presuming to offer a map of this continent, we propose to
attempt nothing more than a short verbal description of its general
features, with a few observations thereon; and as Bruce's memoranda on
the topography and history of Abyssinia are, with little attention to
arrangement, 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 shall merely add to our sketch of Africa a slight
descriptive outline of the kingdom of Abyssinia, and an abstract of its
history up to the time when Bruce landed in that country.

We are but indifferently prepared to do justice to these subjects; but
we feel that 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 consideration
the general character and history of that country, and the character of
the continent of which it forms a part.


SKETCH OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA.

That vast portion of the globe which we call 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 length. This immense expanse of country is situated in exactly the
hottest region of the 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. The burning heat of both the torrid zones forms, therefore, the
scorching climate of the middle portion of this continent; and the
northern and southern extremities, 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 therefore, 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 perpetually exposed to a scorching sun, yet, if
it were well watered, it would be highly productive, and not unlike a
luxuriant garden. But, although heat and water give this exuberant
fertility to any 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, therefore, 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 rarefied, and flies upward: its place is
immediately filled; and thus a constant rush of air, or, as we call it,
a trade-wind, is produced, which, being also influenced by the diurnal
motion of the sun, is constantly 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
therefore, as soon as this air and vapour united rise into high and
consequently colder regions, a divorce between the two elements suddenly
takes place; the air now loses its power of retaining the vapour, which,
being immediately condensed, becomes water; and its companion, the dry
air, thus deserted by it, falls to the earth in what we term tropical
rains, which, accompanying the sun from one torrid zone to another, are,
by a most wonderful provision of Nature, perpetually assuaging the
thirst which this immense heating mass 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 he 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 burning 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 understood, the following picture
of the country is the natural consequence.

Within the limits of the tropical rains, the soil, 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 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 tall underwood and briers,
which would be almost impervious to human beings were it not for the
elephant and other large animals, which, crushing everything in their
progress, form paths in various directions. In many places the land is
highly cultivated, divided into plantations, fenced in as in England,
possessing towns of more than thirty thousand inhabitants, 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 befell 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, luxuriant regions; for the excessive rains bring into
existence vast numbers of flies, moschetoes, and ants, which not only
torment the body, but even devour the garments. Denham says (vol. ii.,
p. 91), "After a night of intolerable misery to us all, from flies and
moschetoes, 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 description: the buzz from the insects was like the singing of
birds; the men and horses groaned with 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 comparatively healthy; and, as the heat penetrates only a few
inches into the ground, a cool bed can always be obtained after sunset
by clearing away the hot sand from the surface.

The moral outline of Africa is far more gloomy than the physical face of
the country. The whole of the interior (as far as Europeans have been
able to judge, or, rather, to conjecture, from their slight acquaintance
with it) may be said to be one scene of incessant civil war. Of all the
various tribes, nations, colours, and races of men who inhabit this
immense country, there is not 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 another. The Sultan of
Mandara, on the marriage of his daughter, lately made an incursion into
the Kerdy country: three thousand unfortunate wretches were thus dragged
from their homes, and doomed to perpetual bondage.

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, starting from
their native seats in health, and, strange to say, even in spirits,
gradually decline in both: their bodies become emaciated, their legs
swell, and, 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,
or the well itself is 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 troubles have alike
ended on the same spot; who have perished from thirst and fatigue; and
whose bones the hungry 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,
and from the eastern mountains of Abyssinia to the waters of the great
Western Ocean, a distance of nearly four thousand miles, we have every
reason to believe that, throughout the whole of this immense region, the
system of slavery more or less prevails.




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, enclosed by forests of enormous extent, a small part of the Red
Sea, and unknown, trackless regions. This secluded spot, cut off from
communication with the civilized world by poisonous winds, burning
deserts of moving sand, and by the character of its people, far more
dangerous to the traveller than either their climate or country, is
nevertheless connected with Europe by two circumstances that distinguish
it from the rest of Africa. The two ties which thus connect the
Christian world with Abyssinia are its river and its church; and it is
surely 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 which, 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, the blessings of peace, civilization, and
abundance here, and everlasting happiness hereafter.

Abyssinia, surrounded by enemies, expands or contracts its boundaries
with every victory or defeat; 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 also approach
its borders on the west and partly on the east, while the rest of its
eastern frontier is formed by the Red Sea. Abyssinia has therefore 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. It 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 certain phenomena which it is necessary to describe.
It is well known that, from Suez to Masuah, the ancient harbour of
Abyssinia, and from thence to the Straits of Babelmandel, a chain of
mountains runs nearly parallel to the western coast of the Red Sea.
These mountains, to the north of Abyssinia, pass through the country of
the Shepherds, and there separate vast districts, which, though exactly
in 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 wet seasons on the two sides of these
mountains are diametrically opposite to each other. On the east side, or
in the country which lies between the mountains and the Red Sea, it
rains during the six months which constitute our winter in Europe; while
on the opposite side it rains during the whole of our summer months.
From the violence of these rains, and on account of the fly that
accompanies them, either region becomes, for six months of the year,
almost unfit for the habitation 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 from one side of the
mountains to the other; so that, although one or the other country is
always suffering from the rain and fly, the natives of both manage to
enjoy a perpetual summer; and while their cattle are feeding, in the
cool of the morning, on the most luxuriant pasture, and, during the
burning sunshine of the day, are browsing on exuberant foliage, a mere
geographical 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 stationary, civilized life.

These periodical rains, which in themselves constitute one of the
wonders 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 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 announcing
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, becomes ungovernable from the violent
punctures of these flies; his body is soon covered with lumps, which
break and putrify, and the wretched creature sinks and dies. Even the
rhinoceros and elephant, whose hides are considered almost impenetrable
to a musket-ball, are severely persecuted by these insects; but they
instinctively fortify themselves against their attack by wallowing in
the mud, which, when dried by the sun, forms a coating that is
impenetrable to their stings. All the inhabitants of Melinda, down to
Cape Gardfui, Saba, and the south coast of the Red Sea; and all those of
the countries from the mountains of Abyssinia to the confluence of the
Nile and the Astaboras, are obliged annually to quit the region of black
earth, and, driving their cattle before them, to seek refuge in the
cheerless sands of the desert; and so many human beings and huge animals
thus flying before an army of little flies, certainly forms a very
remarkable and surprising feature in the great picture of Nature.

Of all the writers on these countries, Isaiah is, we believe, the only
one, before Bruce, who has given an account of this insect. "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 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 (page 100)
strongly corroborates Bruce's statement, which has also been confirmed
by the testimony of the Abyssinian, Dean, who was publicly examined at
Cairo by Dr. Clarke. No author has ever yet been able to impart to his
reader an adequate 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, by 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 the animal and vegetable creation should be annoyed by
such scourges as the zimb and the locust; why parts of the world should
be disordered by hurricanes and earthquakes; and why the whole of
mankind should occasionally suffer from pestilential disorders, &c., are
problems which Bruce need not be called on to solve. He has merely added
one to a number of facts, concerning which all we know is, that they
form parts of a wise and beneficent system which it is entirely beyond
our power to comprehend.

Abyssinia being mountainous, lying in the middle of the torrid zone, and
being subject also to the heavy periodical rains just 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 dry, cool, temperate, and
healthy, and often even extremely cold; while the low, woody country,
hazy, close, and insufferably hot, suffers severely from the sickness
invariably produced by the excessive rains. Part of this low country,
however, is not covered with wood; and, though equally hot, from being
better ventilated, it is, generally speaking, healthy, while it is as
productive as Egypt, and covered with the finest cattle of all
descriptions. But where the waters of the rainy season, for want of
descent, stagnate on the plains, these hot, swampy marshes produce no
pasture, and are exceedingly unhealthy.

The little kingdom of Abyssinia, thus possessing within itself districts
of such various climates, is inhabited by people of races and
complexions as different as the soil and altitudes which they
respectively 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 low woods, we meet that
wretched, unfortunate being, the black, woolly-headed negro, who there,
as in other regions of the world, finds his fellow-creature, pagan as
well as Christian, a more cruel, cunning, relentless enemy than the
savage beasts of the field.


THE SHANGALLA.

The Shangalla of Abyssinia, the ancient Cushites or Ethiopians, occupy a
low, flat, sultry country, with a dark, rich soil, on an average about
forty miles broad. They are pagans, black, naked, and inveterate enemies
of the Abyssinian government. During the first half of the year, the
Shangalla live under the friendly shade of their own trees, the lower
branches of which they bend downward and fix into the ground, thus
forming a verdant tent, which they cover on the outside with the skins
of animals. For food and amusement they hunt the elephant, rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, 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 most numerous and formidable. In those
parts of the country where the large animals do not abound, the
Shangalla subsists 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, acridophagi, struthiophagi,
agriophagi, &c., which Ptolemy, 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 prepare
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 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. Soon after the rains subside, the
high grass becomes dry, brown, and parched; and, being inconvenient to
the Shangalla, they set fire to it. The flames rapidly extend over the
country, and run down the ravines and gullies, in which, but a few weeks
before, another element was seen rushing on its course!

The Shangalla have but one language, which has a highly guttural sound.
They worship trees, serpents, the moon, planets, and stars in certain
positions. They have, of course, many superstitions: for instance, 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: 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
wild fennel, are usually long and thick, and so elastic that the same
weapon is used in childish sports which afterward defends them when they
grow up--the only difference being that whereas, when boys, 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 heavy 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 are, we must all admit that there is no
one idea more deserving of respect--which more directly tends to
civilize the human mind, making all men act towards each other as
brothers, than a belief, however vague, in a state of future existence.

It would be difficult to point out a more striking contrast than what is
presented in the sedentary life of the negro or Cushite of Abyssinia,
compared with the wandering 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 constantly migrating from one side of
the mountain to the other, or else driving camels laden with merchandise
across the burning deserts of Africa.

Although the Shangalla live in separate tribes, yet they are in the
habit of joining together, and of forming alliances offensive and
defensive, but principally to assist each other in repelling the
barbarous attacks which are made upon them by the Abyssinians 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 maintain a plurality 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 different 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 connexions, 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 naturally attach themselves; then,
after we have made them monsters, we describe them as such! forgetful
that they are now not as their Maker created 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 to be told.

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 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 concluded, license 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 larger 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 Shangalla being extremely active,
intelligent, and accustomed to the intricacies of their native woods,
could 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
Abyssinians. 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 people that would rush forward to prevent such
enormities, the sport or slaughter begins. The grown-up men are all
killed and then mutilated, parts of their bodies being carried away as
trophies: several of the old mothers are also killed, while others,
frantic with fear and despair, kill themselves. The boys and girls of a
more tender age are then carried off in brutal triumph; the former are
afterward to be found as servants in all the great houses in Abyssinia;
while 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, as they say, 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 victims, must, after his first feelings have subsided, have
found himself filled with astonishment that human nature could ever be
induced deliberately to continue so guilty a traffic! To account for it,
or, rather, to excuse it, it has often been urged that negroes are a
race of inferior beings, whose minds are not susceptible 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 have none!"[24] 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,
absolutely live under the same sun, in the same country, and 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 independence 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 Shangalla are less powerful than the
Abyssinians, and for no other reason, that the former are murdered and
persecuted by the latter. The African slave-trade rests precisely on the
same foundation.


THE GALLA.

The Galla are a very numerous race of shepherds living to the south and
west of Abyssinia, and also in parts of the interior of that country. As
their land is high, and the rains screen it for a considerable time from
the sun, the general complexion of these people is brown; though some
who inhabit the valley 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
rude nobility among 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 on him
forty years of experience. 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 whenever,
between years of age and enemies slain, he shall have 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
in this way tow them across. The amount of assistance they thus receive
does not exceed a few ounces; whereas, by remaining mounted, 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,
barbarous, 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 big as pigeon's eggs, composed of a particular sort of
bean, pulverized 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.

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, present 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 goatskin. Like the
Abyssinians, they eat raw meat; but Pierce, the English sailor,
describes a Galla who drank blood warm from the neck of the cow, and
still, from an odd refinement, refused to eat the flesh of the animal
until it had been broiled.

The Galla of the south are principally Mohammedans, 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. It appears, however, 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 bridegroom 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 cow or
leave her if I do not perform my promise;" which is, that he will give
to this 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 there being 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, for her sake,
to take another to assist her in surrounding him with his most natural
protectors. To any objections he may urge, she replies by naming and
describing to him all the most interesting girls of her acquaintance;
and, as soon as he relents, her next step is to proceed to the house of
the person selected, whom she asks of her parents to be her husband's
wife, that their united families may be strong enough in the day of
battle not to fall into the hands of the enemy.

After this second marriage is concluded, the old wife still retains her
precedence, treating her companion, not as a rival, but more like a
grown-up daughter.

When the father, from old age, has become 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 Gallas, from 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 acquainted with savage life
but must recognise in Bruce's description all those general lines which
form its characteristic features.

Bruce described the Galla tribes as being intelligent and active, but,
at the same time, dirty, ignorant, and having the most absurd religious
notions; and this general description being strictly correct, his
details should in justice never have been doubted. But he unfortunately
experienced that a man may suffer from prejudices and narrow-minded
incredulity long after he has bid adieu to savage society.

The uncivilized 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 history.

FOOTNOTE:

[24] 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."




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 equally received by the Jews and
Christians 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 elevated part of Abyssinia. The
tradition farther says, that they built the city of Axum early in the
days of Abraham; and that they spread from thence until they became (as
Josephus says) the Meröetes, or inhabitants of the islands of Meröe.

While population was thus extending towards the north, it is supposed
that the mountains parallel to the Red Sea, which in all times have been
called Saba or Azaba (which means south), became peopled with the
Agaazi, or Shepherds, who first possessed the high country of Abyssinia,
called Tigré, several tribes afterward occupying the other countries,
many of which still retain particular languages of their own.[25]

In the most ancient of these languages, tribes or assemblies of people
are called Habesh, which appellation was therefore supposed to have been
given to the whole country now known to us by the name of Abyssinia.

The inhabitants of Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all of which mean south, were a
separate and distinct people from the Ethiopians or Arabs; and it was a
custom among these Sabeans to have women for their sovereigns 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 riches which he had accumulated in the north, determined to
witness for herself the reality of scenes, to the description of which
she had listened with so much delight; and, accordingly, this Queen of
Saba (Sheba), Azaba, or the South, suddenly appeared before Solomon.
Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyssinian, and, indeed, the inhabitants of all the
countries around, 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;" and 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; but that, having received Solomon's answers to the hard
questions which she put to him, she returned converted to Judaism,
bringing with her a young child called Menilek, whose paternity was
ascribed to Solomon; and it may here be observed, that both the Jews and
Christians of Abyssinia still believe that the fourteenth Psalm is a
prophecy, not only of their queen's journey to Jerusalem, but that there
she should have a son, who was to be king over a nation of Gentiles.

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

She enacted, first, that the throne should be hereditary in the family
of Solomon for ever; secondly, that, on her demise, no woman should be
capable of wearing the crown, which should thenceforward descend to
heirs-male, however distant; and, lastly, that the heirs-male of the
royal house should be kept imprisoned on a high mountain, 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, in 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 period of nearly three thousand
years, the history of the Queen of Saba is unavoidably involved in great
obscurity; yet this faint outline of her character denotes a mind
possessed of superior abilities. Secluded in the remote country where
she reigned, it required no inconsiderable enterprise and determination
to have undertaken the great journey which Scripture records that she
performed; and this desire to introduce herself into the society of her
superior, and to become acquainted with a country in a higher state of
civilization than her own, shows a liberality which, in every situation
of life, has always been considered highly creditable. Her wish that her
sex should surrender to man, its natural guardian and protector, the
dignity of command and the power of dominion, is also a remarkable trait
in her character; and, whoever may have been the father of her son
Menilek, in establishing a succession of heirs-male, it was certainly
not impolitic to confer upon him dignity, in the real or imaginary claim
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 the more surely to maintain a succession to the crown, this
involves explanations respecting the habits and manners of the
Abyssinians which will better appear in another place: it may, however,
be here observed, that time is the best test of the fitness of any law
for the particular tribe or people for whom it is designed; 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, the Queen of Sheba may very fairly be considered as
a person of wisdom, equal at least to many less ancient legislators,
whose laws and families are alike extinct.

We must now leave the Queen of Sheba, and speak of scenes which, being
nearer, are for that reason more worthy of our attention.

About one thousand three hundred years after the death of the queen, and
more than three hundred years after the birth of our Saviour, Meropius,
a Greek philosopher, accompanied by Frumentius and Ædesius, two young
men whom he had educated, 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 seemed more merciless than the rocks on which they had been
stranded. Meropius was killed, and the two youths 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 Ædesius, having received a good education, in a short
time learned the language of the country; and, as soon as their talents
and acquirements became known, they rose rapidly to distinction. Ædesius
was appointed to be keeper of the king's household, while the young
prince was intrusted to the care of Frumentius, who, after gradually
gaining possession of the affection as well as the mind of his pupil, at
length succeeded in imparting to him a love and veneration for the
Christian religion; and, as soon as this good feeling was confirmed,
Frumentius sought and obtained leave of absence, 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
statement 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 firmly cherishing the religious hopes which he
had been taught to entertain, and, encouraged by Frumentius, he now
formally embraced Christianity.

His example was rapidly followed throughout the greater part of the
kingdom; and never did the seed of the Christian religion find 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, and announced on earth peace, good will towards men.

Arianism, however, breaking out under the Emperor Constantius, he was
applied to by Athanasius to recall Frumentius; but, although the
lightning of heaven had illumined Abyssinia, 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 unconverted Abyssinians (the Christians and the Jews).
After this event there is nothing of importance in the uncertain annals
of Abyssinia for upward of four hundred and forty years. 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 pinnacle which was named
the Jews' Rock, a separate royal family of their own.

Supported by their king and by his daughter Judith, a woman of great
beauty and possessing uncommon talents for intrigue, the Jews resolved
to attempt the subversion of the Christian religion, and the destruction
of the race of Solomon. They accordingly surprised the Mountain of Damo,
the residence of the Christian princes, the whole of whom, about four
hundred in number, were massacred, with the single exception of an
infant, Del Naad, who escaped into the powerful and loyal province of
Shoa. A solitary descendant of the blood of Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba was thus preserved to represent the royal line. Thus the Jews, by
means of 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 been ordained abuna, or chief
priest of Abyssinia, persuaded the reigning king nobly to restore the
crown to the line of Solomon, which, as before stated, had been
preserved in the province of 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
maintenance of the Christian Church of Abyssinia; and, lastly, that no
native Abyssinian should thereafter be chosen abuna, but that that great
dignitary should always be ordained and sent from Cairo; by which
arrangement Tecla Haimanout wisely intended to secure to his church the
incalculable advantage of 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 their secluded
country the books, knowledge, and improvements of the more civilized
part of the world.

This treaty having been concluded, a prince of the race of Solomon was
peacefully restored to the throne of his ancestors, and the title which
he assumed, "Icon Amlac," which means, "Let him be made our sovereign,"
was expressive of the general approbation which attended the measure.
The place of confinement for the princes of the blood of Solomon was now
established on the summit of the mountain of Geshen, in the province of
Amhara, instead of being, as it had been for the space of two hundred
years before the massacre of the princes, on the rock of Damo, in Tigré.

We need not linger over the petty wars and provincial troubles which
make up the Abyssinian history for 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 repeated voyages, groping its
way over the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, Prince Henry suggested
that, to avoid all disappointment, it would be well to attempt also to
reach India by land; for it had long been reported by Christians from
Jerusalem, 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,
determined 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 Babelmandel.
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 clime; 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
permitted to send to Portugal descriptions and plans of all his
discoveries, which he most earnestly recommended should be followed up
by other expeditions from his country. But the foundation on 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 obtain for them the
assistance of Portugal, the King of Abyssinia promising that, as soon as
his throne should be re-established in security, he would submit himself
to the pope, and resign one third of his dominions to the Portuguese. A
letter was accordingly despatched by an Armenian merchant named Mateo,
who, after encountering for many years difficulties which often appeared
to be insurmountable, at last succeeded in reaching Portugal, where he
was received with every mark of attention and respect. A very numerous
embassy was accordingly sent out from Portugal; and, landing at the
north of Abyssinia, 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 with the tropical rains. They had occasionally to pass over
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 description,
appears to have been still more dreadful; for, in their journey to the
convent of St. Michael, the wood or jungle became so thick that it was
almost impossible to penetrate it: thorns and briers impeded their
progress; unlooked-for ravines suddenly yawned beneath them; while
mountains upon mountains were towering above them, their black and bare
tops appearing, as it were, calcined by the rays of a burning sun, and
by the lightning which was incessantly flashing around them.

As the little band proceeded, terrified at the thunder which was
resounding in their ears, tigers and other wild beasts at times
presented themselves, their voracity seeming for the moment to be
appeased by astonishment; while immense baboons hurried by, clambering
up the trees, as if eager to view creatures so strangely resembling
themselves. At last the woods grew thinner, and some fields appeared;
but Mateo and Don Roderigo's servant, worn out by fear, fatigue, and
fever, became unable to proceed, and died.

After incredible difficulties the embassy reached the king at Shoa, on
the 16th of October, 1520; but, bringing no presents (it was with no
small difficulty that they had been able to bring themselves), they were
very coolly received. After they had explained the object of their
mission, the king was anxious to send back an answer to Portugal; and,
contrary to the custom of Abyssinia, he at last allowed Don Roderigo to
return, though he forcibly detained several of his attendants.

Roderigo reached Lisbon in safety with Zaga Zaab, ambassador from the
court of Abyssinia. About twelve years afterward, 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 on him to
nominate as his successor John Bermudez, one of the Portuguese who had
been detained in the country ever since Roderigo'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
incomprehensible title of "Patriarch of the Sea." With these
distinctions Bermudez proceeded as ambassador from the King of Abyssinia
to Lisbon, where, on his arrival, his titles were all acknowledged, and
he himself treated with corresponding attention. His first act was to
give the Portuguese a specimen of Abyssinian 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, and of the advantages which would
be derived from an alliance with so remote and magnificent a country,
that the king promised to furnish him with four hundred troops; and many
more than that number eventually landed at Masuah, and advanced into
Abyssinia under the command of Don Christopher de Gama.

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 composed
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 Tigré. A slight action ensued,
which terminated in favour of Don Christopher; and 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; and on the first approach of the enemy they set
fire to it, which burned and frightened them very severely. The
Abyssinians, however, shortly afterward giving way, the little band of
Portuguese was instantly surrounded. Gallantly they resisted the fierce
attack that was made on them; and, Don Christopher having been wounded,
they cut their way through the enemy and retreated. During the night,
the Portuguese commander crawled into a wood alone, where he was
discovered by some Moorish horsemen, who, delighted at their prize,
immediately carried him before their general. This worthy no sooner saw
his prisoner than he began to load 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 captive, 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 scull was packed off for
Constantinople--the tribute of a barbarian to his superior in barbarism.

The victorious Moors then surrounded and attempted to seize a number of
women belonging to their enemy; but a noble Abyssinian lady, who was
married to a Portuguese officer, aware of the brutal character of the
Moors, set fire to some barrels of gunpowder that were in the tent, when
a terrific explosion took place, and the fears of the one sex, and the
savage passions of the other, were instantly hushed for ever!

The king expressed his unfeigned sorrow at the tragical fate of Don
Christopher, and sent three thousand ounces of gold to be divided among
the surviving Portuguese, who flocked around his throne, earnestly
entreating him to lead them to revenge the death of their commander.
This they had shortly afterward an opportunity of doing, in a battle in
which the Moors were defeated with great slaughter.

But, while the Portuguese troops were thus fighting 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 system, was too trifling to be
observed. The Portuguese and the Abyssinians not only intermarried, but
their children were christened sometimes by the ministers of one church
and sometimes by those of the other: but Bermudez, in his intemperate
zeal, soon gave another aspect to affairs. His bigoted policy continued
for some time to disturb the country, but it at last reacted on himself:
the king in public firmly resisted his arguments, and the flame which he
had kindled only promoted his own downfall.

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

About this time, St. Ignatius, the founder of the order of Jesuits, was
at Rome. To his active and grasping mind the conversion of Abyssinia to
the Romish church seemed of so much importance, that it is said he
proposed himself to go and be the apostle of that kingdom. The pope,
however, who had need of Loyola's talents for higher purposes, refused
this offer; but one of the same fraternity, Nunez Baretto, was fixed
upon as patriarch. On his arrival at Goa, however, the king's continued
aversion to the Catholic church being communicated to him, he resolved
not to hazard 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 emissaries arrived at the port of Masuah in 1558. The
king, fancying that they were Portuguese troops who had come to fight
for him, received them with marks of great delight; but when, on opening
their credentials, he found that they were priests instead of soldiers,
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 acknowledged 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
accepted the congratulations of Oviedo; but, hearing that he continued
to preach, and to cause divisions among the people, he called him 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 had no longer any
support: the fathers who had remained in Abyssinia being dead, and the
gate of the kingdom closed by the violent animosities of the Turks, and
the cruelties they exercised on the missionaries who fell into their
hands, the few Catholics remaining 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, and had just escaped from a
seven years' imprisonment: adversity had thus given him a severer lesson
and a clearer knowledge of the world than generally falls to the lot of
members of his fraternity. On landing at Masuah, instead of rushing
forward with hasty, intemperate zeal, in the hope of converting all at
once a country, the language, habits, and prejudices of which he had as
yet no knowledge of except from books, he calmly and deliberately set
himself to work to learn the Geez, or written language. He next set up a
school, which gave him privately, and without danger, a thorough insight
into the Abyssinian character; and, after he had thus cautiously
practised on the minds of his pupils, he at length felt himself prepared
to encounter, by argument and persuasion, the passions and prejudices of
the Abyssinian court. In April, 1604, therefore, Peter presented himself
before the king, who received him with the same honours that he bestowed
on his own people of rank: a distinction which the monks of the
Abyssinian church viewed with great jealousy, foreseeing that the
exaltation of Paez would eventually be the cause of their own
humiliation. Mass was now said according to the ritual of the Romish
church; and a sermon followed, which was almost the first ever preached
in Abyssinia. Such was the eloquence of Paez, and so convincing did his
arguments appear, that the king resolved to embrace the Catholic
religion; and, guided by the persuasive missionary, he afterward went so
far as to write to Pope Clement VIII. and to Philip III. of Spain, to
ask for Jesuits to instruct his people.

Many of the courtiers soon followed the royal example. Latin prayers
were now repeated; mass was said; the incense smoked; and the host was
elevated in triumph. A party, however, was suddenly raised against Paez:
the abuna not only declared him excommunicated, but pronounced a curse
on all those who had supported, or who might support him or his cause. A
battle was in consequence fought; and the King of Abyssinia, the first
who had publicly avowed the Romish religion, died in the field.

After a series of sanguinary 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 made profession of the Catholic faith; and
Paez, thus encouraged, asked the king for the territory of Dembea. This
province, lying around the great lake Tzana, is the most fertile and
cultivated country in Abyssinia. It is entirely flat, and seems to have
been formed by the subsidence of the water of the lake, which, from
visible marks, appears to have once covered four times its present
surface. Dembea, although fruitful, 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 except 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 spot 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 but 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 him a
palace, which he readily undertook; and, as story was mounted upon
story, the fame of the builder rose with the edifice. This feeling Paez
artfully exerted all his abilities to turn to the advantage of the see
of Rome: his attempt, however, caused most violent dissensions; and the
mild principles of Christianity were disregarded 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 reprobate, and condemned to
everlasting punishment. This latter opinion was soon expressed 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 Socinios,
who, hearing a monk deny the two natures of Christ, put a sudden 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 the
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 bloodshed. Socinios resolving publicly to
renounce the Alexandrian faith and to profess the Catholic, 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 saying the "Nunc dimittis!" "Lord! now lettest thou thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!" and
from being thus exposed to the burning sun, aided perhaps by the highly
excited state of his feelings, he was taken violently ill, and died of a
raging fever on the 3d of May, 1624.

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, 1625, reached Abyssinia the following year. Accompanied by
several missionaries, they experienced very great difficulties and
dangers in crossing the country to join King Socinios. When they at
length presented themselves before the king, he ordered Mendez to be
placed on his right hand; and at that very audience (on the 11th of
February, 1626) it was settled that Socinios should take an oath of
religious submission to the See of Rome. This 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 his
people, in Portuguese and Latin, not a word of either of which languages
could they understand. In return, a sermon was preached to Mendez, and
the missionaries who attended him, in the Amharic, which was equally
unintelligible to them. When this prelude was 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, was 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 this 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 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 presented to us! and how melancholy the
change in the aspect of the Christian faith, since we saw it first
established among the simple inhabitants of Abyssinia!

As soon as the oath was concluded, one of the king's governors drew his
sword, and swore that he would punish with that weapon any one who
should fall from his religious vows; 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 issued, requiring all
persons intending to become priests to embrace the Catholic religion
under pain of death; and that all persons should follow the forms of the
Church of Rome in the celebration of Easter and Lent, under the same
dreadful penalty. Mendez vigorously followed up his success. The
Abyssinian clergy were reordained; the churches were 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 formally abrogated.

Mendez, however, had 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 repeating 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 unobjectionable, was fatal to the
views of Mendez. As long, therefore, 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, although in secret he
still did everything in his power to uphold his system. Thus Abyssinia
again became, as might naturally be expected, a scene of war; and
Tellez, the Portuguese historian, has published a long list of the names
of those who died in that country, 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 adversity, that stern but useful monitor, at last made him
sensible of 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 Mohammedans: they were Christians, once your
subjects and your friends. In killing these you drive the sword into
your own vitals." Still, however, the Jesuit Mendez hovered around him,
and for some time succeeded in keeping him in 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 following 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. Socinios lingered for two or three months after
this, and died firmly professing himself a Catholic to the last.

As soon as the new king had buried his father, 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
indispensable. He therefore commanded him and the Catholic priests to
retire to Fremona, there to await his farther 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 peremptorily told
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 Portuguese, 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 monks to send Lobo to
India or Spain, to solicit troops for the country. The king, however,
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 Lobo, to escape to the protection of a man of considerable
power who favoured them. The king wrote to this person, and desired him
to give them up, which he declined to do; but, by an odd sort of
compromise, agreed, instead of it, to sell them to the Turks.

The whole were accordingly, for a certain sum, delivered to the Basha of
Masuah. As soon as the intelligence reached Europe of the loss of
Abyssinia to the See of Rome, it became a subject of most violent
discussion. 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 that country six French
capuchins of the reformed order of St. Francis.

Two of these attempted to enter Abyssinia by the Indian Ocean; but,
shortly after their landing, they were massacred. Two succeeded in
making their way into the country, and they suffered martyrdom by being
most barbarously stoned to death. The remaining two gave up the attempt,
and returned to Europe to report the sad fate of their companions. Three
other capuchins, deaf to the stern admonition which their church had
thus received from Abyssinia, volunteered their services to make a new
endeavour for the conversion, as it was termed, of that 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 previously written to by the
King of Abyssinia, who, after acquainting him with the expected arrival
of these three priests, concluded by earnestly requesting him to "treat
them," as he said, "according to their merits." As soon, therefore, as
they landed, their heads were cut off, and the skins of their sculls and
faces were stripped, stuffed, and sent off to the King of Abyssinia at
Gondar, "to satisfy him," as it was declared, "that these people had met
with the attention which they deserved."

There was no mistaking the meaning of this most unjust and barbarous
act; and when intelligence of it reached the Vatican, all hopes of
converting Abyssinia vanished.

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 chymist 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 for some time at Sennaar, and at
length arrived in 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 the
expense of his own, which was completely exhausted by the hardships to
which it had been subjected. He proceeded to Masuah, embarked on the Red
Sea, and reached Cairo, whence he proceeded to Paris, and published an
account of his travels.

Four years afterward, the King of Abyssinia having favourably received
several French letters which had been addressed to him, M. du Roulé,
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
was the secret cause of M. du Roulé'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 Roulé's murder, he was much
disappointed and displeased, for he had really been desirous of
receiving this French ambassador, as well as the valuable presents which
he supposed he would bring with him. Unable to detect the sinister
conspiracy which had caused his death, he conceived that it had taken
place at the instigation of the Pasha of Cairo; and he accordingly
addressed to him and to his divan the following very singular
communication:


_Translation of an Arabic Letter from the King of Abyssinia to the Pasha
and Divan of Cairo._

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

"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 Mohammedans and Christians, protector of the confines of
Alexandria, observer 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 Mohammedans, 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, 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 to 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 would be
sufficient to punish you, since God hath put into our power his
fountain, his outlet, and his increase, and that we 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."

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

Several years afterward 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 victory, were conveyed in triumph to 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 them
ventured to land at Masuah. They were silversmiths; 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 afterward 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, and
the other poisoned by Ras Michael, the governor of the province of
Tigré, a most singular personage, with whom the reader will very shortly
be made acquainted.

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

Since the death of M. du Roulé, which took place seventy years before
Bruce's arrival, Abyssinia had been so much forgotten in Europe that it
seemed almost to have been blotted from the map of the world. The
immense distance, the climate in which it was situated, the deserts
which nearly surrounded it, and the barbarous character of the nations
on its borders, were of themselves quite sufficient to deter any
ordinary traveller; and the dangers of the route, great as they really
were, had been much exaggerated by the disappointed 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 chasm which now separated them no one seemed
desirous to pass.

Having thus given a short sketch of so much of the history of Abyssinia
as seemed absolutely necessary to interest the reader in the following
narrative, it remains only to be observed, that Bruce has furnished a
minute account (which occupies about a thousand pages of his volumes) of
the reigns of the several kings of Abyssinia, with 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, however, feel probably but little curiosity to spend his time over
the records of so remote a country; and more particularly as, after all,
they are not implicitly to be relied on.

FOOTNOTE:

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




CHAPTER IX.

     Bruce's Arrival and dangerous Detention in Masuah.


Masuah is a small island on the Abyssinian shore, standing in front of
the town of Arkeeko, and forming an excellent harbour: it is three
quarters of a mile in length, by about half that distance in breadth.
One third of it 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, possessing a share of the
Indian trade; but its importance declined from the time when, with
several other towns of the western coast of the Red Sea, it fell under
the dominion of Selim, emperor of Constantinople.

When the Turks first came in possession of this island, a governor was
sent to it from Constantinople; but its commerce having been 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 conquest of the place by a chieftain of
the mountains of Habab, he was 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 janisaries 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.

The naybe, 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 dependant upon Abyssinia for provisions, 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 Abyssinia 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 Abyssinia whatever provisions, &c., he might require. The
friendship of Abyssinia being thus secured, and the power of the Turks
constantly declining in Arabia, the naybe began gradually to withdraw
himself from paying tribute to the Pasha of Jidda, to whose government
he had been annexed by the Porte. He, in short, annually received his
firman as a matter of form, offering in return trifling presents, but
giving nothing in the way of tribute.

It has already been stated, that, a short time before Bruce arrived at
Masuah, Abyssinia, under the influence of its minister, Ras Michael, had
been plunged into a war, and the great province of Tigré (bordering on
the little dominion of Masuah) being thus drained of its troops, the
naybe fraudulently availed himself of the 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 Tigré,
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 imbecile, superstitious old man. On its being observed to him that
Hamnes 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, Hamnes
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 mistaken. 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 campaign he
would lay waste Arkeeko and Masuah, until they should be as desert as
the wilds of Samhar!" 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 smallest portion of his revenues either to the King of
Abyssinia or to the Pasha of Jidda.

Masuah was in this disturbed state, when information 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 different 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 at once be put to death, and his
property divided among themselves. This expeditious and customary mode
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 Ras 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 he 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. Achmet
therefore proposed 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 person
he was, and on what errand he came; and that, if it should turn out that
he was one of those foreign disturbers of the country who had heretofore
occasioned so much trouble, then, indeed, they might treat him with as
much severity as they pleased. 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 arguments were therefore approved of by all,
and it was agreed that the fate of the English prince should be left at
his disposal.

Bruce was always of opinion that the salute with which he had been
honoured in the port of Jidda was the means of saving his life on his
landing in Abyssinia; 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 Mohammed
Gibberti, who was ordered peremptorily to demand payment from the naybe,
and also privately to request Ras Michael to lend his aid in compelling
him to fulfil his engagement.

Mohammed Gibberti, a sincere friend to Bruce's interests, landed
therefore immediately; and being an Abyssinian, and having also
connexions at Masuah, he managed to despatch that same night to Adowa,
the capital of Tigré, 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 protect him. These letters were addressed to the
care of Janni, a Greek, who was then residing at Adowa, in Tigré. 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, Mohammed Gibberti waited
upon Achmet and the 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 ensure the safety
of his English friends, Bruce landed at Masuah 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, which were before him; while
the other chair, on his left, 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 between 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 country
that the life of the guest was not in danger.

"We have expected you here for some time," said Achmet, "but thought you
had changed your mind and gone to India. Are you not afraid, so thinly
attended, to venture upon these long and dangerous 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
firman I have now the honour to present to you, or to the Regency of
Cairo and port of Janisaries (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 preserve me from ill usage
so long as I did no wrong."

Achmet returned the letters to Bruce, saying, "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 town had been provided 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 afterward the baggage arrived unopened, which gave him much
pleasure, 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 carelessly about him: he wore a pair of loose cotton drawers,
and a white cap was on his head. Bruce rose to meet him, and thanked him
for his civility in sending his baggage.

After expressing great surprise that Bruce, a Christian, had managed to
get letters from Mohammedans; and inquiring whether he really was a
prince, if he had been banished from his own country, 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 persuade
Bruce to remain at Masuah, and not to proceed into Abyssinia.

Instead of making a long reply to these questions, and to a request to
which he knew he could give no satisfactory answer, Bruce soon 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 the 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 than an
instrument of music. 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 gray hairs on the point of his chin: his eyes were large and
heavy; and a malicious, contemptuous smile sat on his countenance. 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 interpreter) with you," he
said to Bruce. "Do you think I shall read all these 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 lower coast of
the Red Sea, is at all times a most unhealthy spot, were sinking under
the smallpox in such numbers that the living were scarcely able to bury
the dead; and the whole island, night and day, 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, which he requested 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
representative 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: 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 was not a trafficker who bought and sold; that
he had brought no merchandise with him; and that, therefore, 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, undauntedly, "with
the Grand Seignior, the government of Cairo, the Pasha of Jidda, and the
Sherriffe of Mecca, you will, no doubt, do as you 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 shirt 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 mean time, I here announce it to you, that I have letters
from the Sherriffe of Mecca to Ras Michael, governor of Tigré, and to
the King of Abyssinia; let me, therefore, continue my journey!"

"What, Michael too!" muttered the naybe, writhing 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 barn, with about
sixty of his janisaries and officers of state, all naked. The first
question which the naybe asked Bruce was, "What the comet meant, and why
it had appeared?" He added, "The first time it was visible it brought
the smallpox, 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 they say
you are to carry it with you into Abyssinia. What have you to do with
the comet?" To this strange, barbarous speech our traveller 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 Masuah 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!" 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 refusal to see him; and
concluded by desiring that the bearer should be allowed to take charge
of Bruce's gate until he could himself come to Masuah. Bruce now
discovered the falsehood and treachery of the naybe, and resolved to
follow Achmet's advice. At midnight his gate was attacked; but, on his
threatening to fire, the assassins retired.

On the 4th of November Bruce went to Arkeeko, and found Achmet in his
own house, ill of an intermittent fever, which had the very worst
symptoms: he therefore remained with his patient and prescribed for him
until he was free from the disorder. On the 6th, in the morning, while
at breakfast, he was rejoiced to hear that three servants had arrived
from Tigré. 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, and that he wondered why a physician sent to him from
Arabia, of whose arrival at Masuah he had long ago heard, was not at
once allowed to proceed to Gondar. 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 servants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the
naybe.

Without farther interruption, he got everything in readiness, and,
having concluded his observations upon this inhospitable island,
infamous for the quantity of Christian blood which had been shed there
under various pretences, he left Masuah on the 10th of November, after
a detention of nearly two months. On arriving at Arkeeko, he found
Achmet considerably better; but, as he still appeared to be greatly
afraid of dying, Bruce remained with him until he was convalescent, for
which he testified the warmest 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 to
give up all thoughts of proceeding to Abyssinia, as in passing through
Samhar, among the many barbarous people whom the naybe commanded there,
he would most surely be cut off. Bruce, however, peremptorily replied
that he was determined to go forward; and accordingly, early in the
morning of the 15th, he ordered his tents to be struck and his baggage
made ready, 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
no small fluency of speech, to enumerate the difficulties of the
journey, the rivers, precipices, mountains, woods, wild beasts, savage,
lawless people, &c., which were to be encountered, in order still to
induce Bruce to remain at Masuah. In the midst of their conversation, 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 common passage from Masuah to Tigré, had revolted, driven
away his servants, and declared themselves 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
unjustly imputed 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 had considered it his duty to warn him of his
danger. "We have plenty of firearms," replied Bruce, "and your servants
have often seen at Masuah that we are not ignorant of the use of them.
It is true we may lose our lives--that is in the hands of the
Almighty--but we shall not 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 the 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 his final
deliverance upon himself, and concluded by advising him to set out
immediately.

The short account which we have here given of the Naybe of Masuah may
appear exaggerated to those who have never had the fortune to treat with
human beings of this description. But, in fact, no human beings can be
worse than the people of Masuah; who, as we have already observed, are a
mongrel race between the savages of the western coast of the Red Sea,
and those super-savages, the Turkish janisaries.

Salt visited this place in 1810, forty-one years after Bruce had left
it. Notwithstanding the handsome presents he made to the governor, he
was unable to resist the impositions of the naybe, his brothers, and his
sons; "and among this tribe of locusts," says Salt, "I was compelled to
distribute nearly five hundred dollars before I could get clear of the
place. With a pleasure somewhat similar to that expressed by Gil Blas,
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-civilized 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 but the vices
of their more civilized 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 thus invariably 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 remarked, "makes
men friends;" but, though Bruce and Salt suffered at Masuah and Arkeeko
under the same rod, yet the latter even there takes every opportunity of
supporting Lord Valentia in his petty attempt to convict Bruce of
"falsehood" and "exaggeration." The tide of public opinion was still
strong against Bruce, and on its faithless waters Lord Valentia and his
secretary were enabled to float in triumph.




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; and the third a range of sharp-pointed
mountains, which would be considered high in any part of Europe. Far
above them all towered that stupendous mass, the Mountain of Tarenta,
the apex of which is sometimes buried in the clouds; while at other
times, enveloped in mist and darkness, it becomes the seat of lightning,
thunder, and storm. Tarenta is the highest pinnacle of that long, steep
chain of mountains which, running parallel to the Red Sea, forms the
boundary of the seasons. On its east side, or towards the Red Sea, the
rainy season is from October to April; while on the western or
Abyssinian side, cloudy, cold, and rainy weather reigns from May till
October.

While Bruce was in his tent he was visited by his grateful friend and
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 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 a too minute
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 Bruce's
residence at Masuah and Arkeeko, and which still threatened, though in a
different shape, to oppose his journey into Abyssinia, would have been
sufficient to deter 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 banks of
which, shaded from the sun by the impending mountains, were covered with
rack-trees, capers, and tamarinds.

Following the course of this ravine, 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 November, is found 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 smallpox.
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, while a knife
was peeping from his girdle.

Although they were on higher ground, they appeared uneasy at the sight
of strangers. Bruce saluted the chief, asking him if he would sell a
goat out of their large flock; but the man seemed to think it prudent to
decline entering into conversation, and the whole tribe passed in
silence onward. 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 bed of the torrent. The weather had been
perfectly good since he left Masuah; but this afternoon the mountains
were quite hid, and heavy clouds were sweeping along the sides of the
lower range of hills; the lightning was frequent, in broad flakes, and
deeply tinged with blue, and long, rumbling peals of thunder were heard
at a distance. As Bruce's description 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 people to be carried away by the
violent "fiumaras," which are even there produced by the sudden rains;
and Bruce's description of a storm _within the tropics_ does not appear
at all exaggerated. But it seems that Mr. Salt's storm was not quite
equal to the one described by poor Bruce, and he therefore makes up the
difference by raising a little tempest of his own against a
fellow-traveller: still, in a very few pages after, he says, "We heard
that the dead bodies of three men had been found washed down by the
torrent on this side of Tarenta." "Dead men," it has been said, "tell no
tales!" yet in this instance they certainly do very strongly corroborate
Bruce's account of the storm he witnessed: but Lord Valentia and his
secretary seem to have fancied that they were to find everything 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 undigested branches." He also observed the paths
where 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 by 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 else 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 generally 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 sweet water always affords to a tired,
thirsty traveller. The shade of the tamarind-tree and the coolness of
the air invited them to rest on this delightful 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 surrounded
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 sycamore 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 encamped 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 agreeable 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 natural arbours. Every tree
was full of birds, variegated 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 impertinence, 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 mountain 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 instruments.

The quadrant had hitherto been carried by eight men, four of whom
relieved the others; but they now gave up the undertaking after
proceeding a few hundred yards. Various expedients, such as dragging it
along the ground, etc., were then proposed. "At last," says 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 mountain, which before had been considered as impracticable 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 quadrant, 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
baggage 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 had been
carried by the party up to the instruments; and it was then proposed, as
a thing very easy to be done, to make the unladen beasts follow the
baggage; but they no sooner found themselves at liberty, and that it was
required of them to ascend a steep mountain, than they began to kick and
bite each other violently; and finally, with one consent, away they ran,
braying down the hill, until at length they stopped to eat some bushes.

The hyænas, which were lurking about, had probably been seen or smelt by
these animals, as they all collected in a body; and in this defensive
position they were found by their masters, who proceeded again to drive
them up the mountain. The hyænas, however, followed them step by step,
until the men began to be quite as much afraid for themselves 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;
but it was nearly midnight before these jaded long and short eared
stragglers joined their masters.

Bruce having encouraged his people by good words, increase of wages, and
promises of reward, early the next morning they started 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 as 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 hyæna or troglodytical cave, and, luckily, 'had not _our 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 Bruce never said that the hyænas of Tarenta would find Mr.
Salt, or that Mr. Salt would find the caves which Bruce says he went out
of his path to see: yet, if Mr. Salt had ever read the following extract
from the account of a journey made into Ethiopia (by Father Remedio 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
ventured to accuse Bruce of exaggeration, more especially in regard to
"the thorns and briers of Tarenta."

"Our way" (from Masuah), says one of those 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, everybody is obliged to lay in the
open air, exposed to the depredations of robbers, and liable every
moment to become the prey of wolves, lions, tigers, and beasts of a
similar 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 Valentia published "Voyages and
Travels to Abyssinia," etc., although he had merely landed at the port
of Masuah, which does not belong to Abyssinia; his evidence, therefore,
cannot carry with it much weight, and still with his own secretary he
may 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 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."

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 his "Travels to Abyssinia," page 201, he
again says, "on the 10th the party ascended Senafé, which is said to be
full as high, _though not so difficult to pass, as Tarenta_."

The trifling, cavilling remarks made against Bruce's character by Lord
Valentia and Mr. Salt, admitting his history of Abyssinia, as they do,
and his general descriptions, to be correct, remind one 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 here was very bad, being only what remained of the rain
that had been collected in hollows of the rocks, or in pits artificially
prepared for it. Being greatly fatigued, Bruce and his party pitched
their tents on the top of the mountain. The night felt dreadfully 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 wholly uncovered, a goat's skin is thrown
over their shoulders, they wear a piece of 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, with large dewlaps hanging down to their
knees, hair like silk, and wide horns. The sheep are of good size and
black: they have large heads, which they carry very erect, and small
ears, and are covered with hair instead of wool.

Early on the morning of the 22d, 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 burned 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 compared it to a sugar-loaf."

Dixan, like most frontier towns, is a rendezvous for the bad people of
the two contiguous countries. "The town," says Bruce, "consists of Moors
and Christians, 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 traffic occurred between two
priests, who were slaves in the naybe's house, while Bruce was at
Masuah.

These two men had formerly dwelt at Tigré as most intimate friends--the
youngest 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 fine account of his son's reception, treatment, and brilliant
future prospects. The other child, who was about eight years old,
hearing of the wonderful good fortune of his elder brother, entreated to
be permitted to pay him a visit. The old man said that he did not
altogether disapprove of his design, but at the same time observed that
he felt a sort of scruple--a kind of repugnance--in short, that he was
unwilling 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 consented to
attend her son, 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 arrived, the two priests 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, the father, was sold
also! The whole family were thus, by treachery, doomed to finish their
days in bondage. 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 they
fell upon him and bound him too as their slave, the woman and the young
priest begging for permission, meanwhile, to pluck out his beard; and as
that ceremony, besides its well-merited pain, would add to the old
gentleman's value by making him look younger, leave was readily 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
when Bruce left 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 firearms to his provinces of Tigré, which gives him
superiority over all Abyssinia. As a return for these firearms, 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 exported."

On the 25th of November Bruce and his party left Dixan, and, descending
the very steep hill on 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 Tigré 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 hyænas. 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 owed 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, recommended to me one of his
servants or companions to take care of him. He was an Arab, from the
neighbourhood of Medina, a superior horseman himself, and well versed in
everything that concerned the animal. I took him immediately into my
service. We called the horse Mirza, a name of good fortune. 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 firearms, which
he ordered to be cleaned and charged anew.

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 learned that caravans were very
frequently robbed. He therefore, for the first time, mounted his black
charger Mirza, and, to the great delight and astonishment of his party,
and of those who had joined them, galloped and paraded the animal in
every direction, firing from his back in the Arab fashion, all of which
tended to impress the minds of his rude attendants with a notion of his
superiority that induced them to obey, and to place confidence in, the
orders of one who appeared so well fitted to command.

Having now entered a rocky, uneven country, covered with brushwood, wild
oats, and high grass, they found lying on the ground a very fine animal
of the goat species, which had been just attacked by a lion. It was
scarcely dead; and as the blood was still running, every one, Moor and
Christian, cut out a portion of the flesh. The general aversion of the
Abyssinians to anything 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 only a very slight
duty was exacted from him.

Proceeding onward, they passed a high rock, resembling 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 Mohammedan Gibbertis, or native
Abyssinians of that religion. They were here stopped again 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
could say would induce the people to diminish. "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 them, that, with great artifice
and difficulty, he managed to send a letter by one of the natives to
Janni, the 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 immediate effect, and on the 4th of December Bruce 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 mountains
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 perpendicular 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
hedgerows of jasmine, honeysuckle, 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 signifies "pass or
passage." The town consisted of about three hundred houses, each
dwelling being enclosed by hedges and trees. Adowa was not formerly the
capital of Tigré, but at the time of Bruce'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 ras's absence by his deputy, and resembled a
prison rather than a palace; for in and about it more than three hundred
persons were confined in irons, the object of their imprisonment being
to extort money from them. Many of these unhappy individuals 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 unavoidably still to give him. I
embraced him with great acknowledgments of kindness and gratitude,
calling him father: a title I always used in speaking either to him or
of him afterward, when I was in higher fortune, which he constantly
remembered with great pleasure.

"He conducted us through a courtyard 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 stopped 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, he 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 performed 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 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 to Jerusalem.

"This was no sooner finished than a great dinner was brought,
exceedingly well dressed. But no consideration or entreaty could prevail
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 afterward dined with some visiters, 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 appearance. 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.

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 surrounding
country there are three harvests annually. The first seedtime 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 November 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 astonishing verdure immediately follows.

"The province of Tigré," says Bruce, "is all mountainous; and it has
been said, without any foundation in truth, that the Pyrenees, Alps, and
Apennines are but molehills 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 Abyssinia 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 hearthstone 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, pyramids pitched upon their points, with
their base uppermost, which, if it were possible, as it is not, that
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 show
is "extravagant;" yet at page 240 he himself describes the mountains of
this province 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 a
surface like that described by these 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 stone with mortar. The walls, about twenty-five feet in height, are
flanked by towers loopholed for musketry. In short, it resembles 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
imbecility being of too sluggish a description, ordered his breakfast
to be poisoned; and, having thus got rid of him, he had just placed
young Tecla Haimanout on the throne of his father. The Abyssinians had
been wearied by a series of events, none of which had been foreseen, and
which had ended in a manner which no one could have expected. Nobody
liked Ras 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 recommended 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, Abyssinians, and Mohammedans.

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
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 saw 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 Mohammed 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 Mohammedans and pagans.

"Within the outer gate of the church, below the steps, are three small
square enclosures, all of granite, with small octagon pillars in the
angles, apparently Egyptian; on the top of which formerly were small
images of the dog-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 long oblong slab like a hearth, which is not of granite, but of
freestone. The inscription, though much defaced, may be safely restored.


     [Greek: PTOLEMAIOU EUERGETOU BASILEÔS]."


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 guttæ, being most regularly, instead of irregularly,
disposed, as will be seen in my representation of it. I am now perfectly
satisfied that all Bruce's pretended knowledge of drawing 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 Bruce's description of 'the
mountain of red marble' of the 'wall, cut out of the same five feet
high,' with its '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 exaggerated 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 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 Abyssinian princesses." "It is
extremely vexatious," says Lord Valentia 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 more evidently show the narrow and prejudiced feelings with
which Salt travelled than the above observations. Neglecting the great
book of nature which lay open before him, he seemed to have been only
occupied with a paltry desire minutely to criticise Bruce's volumes, as
he carried them along in his hand. With respect to the ruins of Axum,
travellers 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 attempted to copy inscriptions
in hieroglyphics, the meaning of which he cannot penetrate, will admit
that parts and figures, which to him appear highly important, might very
excusably be passed over by another as unworthy of attention.

Again, with respect to the costume of the Abyssinian ladies, more than
one third of a century had elapsed between Bruce's departure from
Abyssinia and Salt's arrival in that country, and why should Mr. Salt
have taken it for granted that this costume must necessarily have
continued invariably the same? But, what is still more to the point, the
Ozoros, of whose costumes Bruce has given drawings, were ladies of
another province--the province of Gondar! Bruce never asserted that the
fashions of Abyssinia were unalterable, nor that the Bedouee would
always prefer blue cloth to white.

It is not a little surprising that Salt and Lord Valentia should have
indulged in these censures against Bruce, while the former admits that
his general history and observations are invariably correct. Even at
Axum, Salt 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 Tigré
against the Emperor Yasous; his standing a siege on the mountain 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," he
continues, "have been still more frequent since the departure of Mr.
Bruce, _whose history is in general accurate_."... Again, page 227, he
says, "We also derived some benefit from the information, relative to
the history of Abyssinia, which we had acquired from Bruce and Poncet,
and _which 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, then, Bruce's historical account of Abyssinia, as is
admitted, be correct, ought he to have been accused of "falsehood,"
"exaggeration," and "want of veracity" by men of rank and education,
because, after a lapse of thirty-five years, certain antiquities which
he described had disappeared, and the dresses of the ladies were found
to be different from his account of them?

Salt gives a translation of one of the inscriptions at Axum, which
shows, he says, that the Abyssinian monarchs have no claim to a descent
from Solomon, but that they considered themselves descended from Mars!
The inscription runs thus: "We Aeizanus, sovereign of the Axomites"
(&c., &c., &c.), "king of kings, son of God the invincible Mars."

Lord Valentia, of course, supports Mr. Salt's interpretation: he says,
"The account of the descent from Solomon is now proved to be false by
the inscription of Axum." Still this inscription says nothing against
the descent from King Solomon. Aeizanus certainly calls himself "son of
the invincible Mars;" but this, within the tropics, may, after all, have
been only an hyperbole, meaning that he considered himself a hero, a
vanity by no means uncommon among men in every climate. Bruce, however,
nowhere says that the kings of Abyssinia were descended from Solomon; he
merely states that this tradition is still believed by the Abyssinians
and all the surrounding nations; and this, it is not denied, is
perfectly true.

On the 20th Bruce left the ruins of Axum. For several miles the air was
perfumed from the profusion of flowering shrubs growing by the way,
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."

He now witnessed 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, we overtook three travellers driving a cow before them; they
had black goatskins 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
arrived 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
forefeet; while the third, who had a knife in his hand, to my very great
surprise, in place of taking her by the throat, sat astride her just
before her hind legs, and gave her a very deep wound in the upper part
of her haunch.

"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 disappointed 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, and stayed myself behind, till I
saw, with the utmost astonishment, two pieces, thicker and longer than
our ordinary beefsteaks, cut out of the higher part of the haunch 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 anything 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 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, even when privately
received, it was against his nature to shrink from any unjust
degradation which the public might attempt to inflict upon him. A man
like Bruce, who had fearlessly looked real danger in the face, was not
to be stopped in an honest course by threats of imaginary danger. He
therefore unhesitatingly, or, as his friends termed it, "most
obstinately," published the fact; and the following observations, 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 disbelief,
and was answered that people who had never been out of their own
country, and others well acquainted 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 counselled 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
attempt to inculcate in the minds of my readers the belief of a thing
that men who had travelled pronounced 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 that his having
ate part of a lion was impossible, he had abandoned this assertion
altogether, and afterward 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 represent as truth a thing I know to be a falsehood,
and not to avow a truth I ought to declare--the one is fraud, 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
readers 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,
disbelieved and ridiculed 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 an English custom, 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 strongly and fully corroborate. Its improbability
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, in the first place, be
observed, that "de gustibus non est disputandum,"[26] and, consequently,
we can only 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 it to be nauseous, that forms no proof
that it is not likely to be the food of man, for it is well known that
there are few animals that feed more grossly than he sometimes does.
Captain Parry, for instance, thus describes 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 besmeared with 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 by-standers amused themselves 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."[27]

A hundred other examples might be given of the nauseous food upon which
men in different countries have been found to subsist; but the above
extracts are sufficient to refute the first argument against Bruce's
statement, while they also afford a very remarkable exemplification of
the effect which the criticism of the day may have on the credulity or
incredulity of the public: for it is surely more difficult to believe
that human beings should eat raw fish-blubber than that they should eat
raw beef, the former being so much more nauseous than the latter; and
yet the first statement has never for a moment been doubted, while the
other is scarcely yet credited; the fact being that the ruling critics
of Bruce's time were opposed to his African discoveries, whereas those
of the present day have eagerly supported the Northern discoveries, and
whatever relates to them. Parry and Bruce, therefore, although equally
honourable men, and equally anxious to contribute to our knowledge of
the earth, met with very different fates. The one was justly rewarded,
the other most unjustly neglected and condemned.

In reply to the second argument against Bruce's account, namely, its
cruelty, we may refer, first of all, to the slave-trade, which exists
over such a vast portion of the globe, and which indisputably proves
that man is cruel even to his fellow-creatures, and, consequently, that
it is only to be expected he should be cruel to the beasts of the field;
and that it is so, is sufficiently shown by the bullfights of Spain,
where animals are subjected to the most horrid torture, merely for the
amusement of men, women, and children. In one of Johnson's beautiful
allegories, an old eagle is represented as exhorting her brood, whenever
they see men assembling together, and fire flashing along the ground, to
hurry to the spot, because "the food of eagles is at hand." One of the
eaglets, exclaiming against the cruelty of men thus fighting against
each other, observes, "I could never kill what I could not eat." But man
is less merciful than the young eagle; he will both torture and kill
animals merely for amusement; why not suppose him capable, then, of
inflicting pain on an animal, by taking a portion of its flesh, when
alive, to satisfy his hunger?

Having made these general remarks, we now offer the testimony of
different individuals to substantiate the truth of Bruce's account.

It is well known that the celebrated traveller, Dr. Clarke, publicly
examined at Cairo an Abyssinian dean respecting such of Bruce's
statements as were at that time 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
marauding incursions, sometimes maim cows after this 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
Abyssinians, raw meat, esteemed delicious through the country, is
frequently taken from an ox or a cow in 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." "Jerome 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 that we eat the best partridges."

Captain Rudland, of the royal navy, 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 understand, 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
farther ceremony, to the operation. This consisted of cutting out two
pieces of flesh from the haunch, 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 forward, 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, deliberately 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 we spoke denied its ever 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 has not only seen the
operation which Bruce described performed, but that he has 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.[28]

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 are 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."

This disgusting subject is now concluded. That it will have shocked the
sensibility of the reader is but too certain; but it is equally true
that the vindication we have offered is only common justice to Bruce's
memory; and that the English public, who have been so cruelly regardless
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 were intended for arbours.

While Bruce was loitering in this cheerful spot, he heard his servants
cry Robbers! robbers! His party had been taken for Mohammedans, and the
inhabitants 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 restoring peace. Proceeding on his journey,
he arrived, late at night on the 22d, at Siré, the largest town in the
province of that name; but, although Siré 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 both them and their
fever behind him.

Bruce now learned that on the 10th 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 Tacazzé, a river about two hundred yards broad and about
three feet deep, which forms the boundary of the province of Siré. 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 unhappy 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 Tacazzé were covered to the water's edge with
tamarisks. "Beautiful and pleasant, however, as the river is," says
Bruce, "like everything 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 inhabitants retire and live in villages on the tops of the
neighbouring mountains; and these are all robbers and assassins, who
descend from their habitations 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 Tigré and Siré,
this passage had never been so far cleared but that 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 voracious and vigilant animals. There
are also many hippopotami, which in this country are called gomari. I
never saw any of these in the Tacazzé; 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 hyænas 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 farther 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 hyænas 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 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 hyæna was not so to be deterred. I shot one of them dead on
the night of the 31st of January, and on the 2d 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 upon me as if unhurt. The second shot, however, took effect,
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 demolished the carpets, cutting them into
shreds, also part of the lining of the tent, and every bag or sack they
could find. Their bite causes 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
Brace's merchandise, 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.

"On the 2d of February the shum 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
that 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 consultation 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
3d, and would send us that evening some 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 provisions was gone,
and we had tasted nothing all that day since our breakfast."

The country of the Shangalla lies forty miles to the northwest. All this
district from the Tacazzé is called Salent in the language of Tigré, 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 morning; but
our loss of a mule obliged us, when we packed up our tent, to arrange
our baggage differently. While employed in making ready for our
departure, which was just at the dawn of day, a hyæna, 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 hyæna 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 hyæna, and made him let go the ass; but he stood
ready to fight Yasine, who, not amusing himself with a 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 was 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 hyænas, was,
that the bodies of their dead companions, which we hauled a long way
from us, and left there, were almost entirely eaten by the survivers the
next morning; and I then observed, for the first time, that the hyæna 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 reaching 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, and that there were others ahead 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 difficulty 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. He 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 Tigré, 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 that 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 we 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 hyæna. 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 custom; 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.'

"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 he would not again pass that
river. Peace was concluded 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
between the mountain called Debra Toon and the village of that name.
Still farther to the northwest is a desert, hilly district, called
Adebarea, the country of the slaves, as being in the neighbourhood of
the Shangalla--the whole waste and uninhabited.

The mountains of Waldubba, resembling those of Adebarea, were about four
or five miles northward of Waldubba, which signifies the valley of the
monks, who, for the sake of penance and mortification, had retired to
this unwholesome, hot, and dangerous country. 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 process of time, these holy chrysalises return like
butterflies to the world, leaving their outward skin, the cowl and
sackcloth, in Waldubba.

These monks are held in great veneration. Many believe that they have
gifts of prophecy and of working miracles, and they are very active
instruments in stirring up the people in times of trouble.

Violent fevers perpetually reign there. The inhabitants are of the
colour of a corpse; and their neighbours the Shangalla, by constant
inroads, destroy many of them, though lately they have been stopped, as
they say, by the prayers of the monks, or, rather, by the smallpox,
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. Jerome Lobo says that the whole country so swarms with
churches, "that you can hardly sing in one without being heard in
another;" and Alvarez states that sub-deaconship and inferior orders in
the church are conferred even on infants at the breast.

There is scarcely a monk in the hot, unwholesome monastery of Waldubba,
a hermit who passes his life shivering on the bleak, solitary mountains,
or 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 the society of men are allowed to assume the priestly
character: they then wear a scullcap like men; and these priests, male
and female, all pretend to possess charms, of a nature both offensive
and defensive, the efficacy of which is almost universally believed in.
Even the hyænas, which every night flock around Gondar, the capital of
Abyssinia, attracted by the smell of carrion, are considered to be the
human inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains, transformed by
enchantment. The Abyssinians, almost to a man, are afraid of darkness,
during which period they conceive that the world belongs to small
vindictive genii. In the Synaxar, or history of their saints, one is
said to have thrown the Evil One over a high mountain; and another to
have had a holy longing for partridges, upon which a brace perched on
his plate 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 Mohammedanism, "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 everything 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 the fruits of the poor labouring country people. The larger
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 Evil One. One of Pearce's wives was
afflicted with a disorder of this kind, 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 unaccountable 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 declared 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 matchlock well loaded, so as to make a good
report: the moment she starts, he starts with her; but, before she has
run the distance, where she drops as if she were dead, he is left half
way behind. As soon as he comes 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
and churches. Her friends afterward 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 disorders of Abyssinia
are not all of this unearthly, incomprehensible description. "The itch,"
says Pearce, "is common, from the king to the very lowest subject."

Since passing the Tacazzé, 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 covered 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, 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 had sallow faces, yellow cowls, and yellow
gowns.

After travelling some days Bruce reached Lamalmon, 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
Mohammedans, 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 Bruce's tent, and brought a quantity of bread
and bouza. He seemed to be much taken with the firearms, and was very
inquisitive about them. "I gave him," says Bruce, "every sort of
satisfaction, and, little by little, saw I 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, was 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, he 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 the 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 accoutrements. He threw at last the
sandals off his feet, twisted his upper garment into his girdle, and set
off 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 goat, and a woman carrying a jar of honey-wine. I had not
quitted the horse; and, when I saw what his intention was, I put Mirza
to a gallop, and, with one of the barrels of the gun, shot a pigeon (a
common feat among the Arabs), and immediately fired 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 tent, where he invited himself to my house at Gondar. 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. He would, moreover, take no _awide_, and said he would
be favourable in his report to Gondar.

"Our friend likewise sent his own servant to Gondar 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 surmount 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,
strenuously, and painfully exerted himself to acquire.

As we accompany him on his toilsome, rugged course, we cannot but
observe his intimate acquaintance with the passions and prejudices of
the African character; and although he has been cruelly ridiculed for
his occasional frivolity of conduct, contrasted with an abrupt dignity
of demeanour, it is but too evident that it was with an aching heart
that he assumed this front of haughtiness as his only weapon of defence.
In a climate which produces but two characters, he was forced to be
either the tyrant or the slave, and was obliged to govern 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 moment he found
it was impolitic to persevere: though we see him at all times
resolutely proceeding towards his goal, yet he is not unfrequently
observed to retreat from positions which he had previously declared he
would maintain, and to pay duties and make presents which he had for a
while obstinately refused.

But, besides his acquaintance with manners and languages, it is curious
to observe how, to meet various difficulties, he draws upon his
checkered 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. We 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 be
still considered as a mountebank and a juggler, sometimes living by his
head, sometimes hanging by his heels; but those who liberally take into
consideration the unusual difficulties which opposed his solitary
progress, will see, in the many lines and features of his conduct, the
noble picture of a brave man successfully struggling with adversity.

On the 9th of February, at seven o'clock, Bruce and his party took leave
of the friends whom they had so newly acquired at Lamalmon, all equally
joyful 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
civilized people in Abyssinia.

After travelling over this extensive and valuable country for some days,
and having suffered, with infinite 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] _About differences of taste there can be no dispute._

[27] See Polar Seas and Regions, p. 236, Harpers' Family Library.

[28] 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 beefsteaks_.




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 mode of construction within the region of 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 magnificent view of the country southward to the great lake
Tzana. A part of this palace had been burned, 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
Mohammedans, which contained about one thousand houses; and at the north
of Gondar was situated Koscam, the palace of the iteghe, or
queen-mother.

Bruce was much surprised, on arriving at the river Angrab, that no
person had come to him from Petros, Janni's brother; but Petros,
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 himself; for,
though he had letters both for the king and for Ras Michael, they, as
well as the principal Greeks, were absent.

Nothing, therefore, remained for him but to present a letter, which he
had received from his friend Janni, to Negade Ras Mohammed, who was
chief of the Moors at Gondar, and the principal merchant of Abyssinia.
However, on inquiring for this person, he learned that he also was with
the king and the army. In this dilemma, a Moor intimately acquainted
with Negade Ras Mohammed 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 Christians may eat together; but, although there was a
great abundance of animal food, yet, as it had been killed by
Mohammedans, 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, Bruce's landlord was alarmed at
seeing a number of armed men at his door; and his surprise was still
greater at seeing Ayto Aylo, who had probably never before been in the
Moorish town, descend from his mule, uncovering his head and shoulders
as if he had been approaching a person of distinction.

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

Aylo then told Bruce that Welled Hawaryat, the son of Ras Michael, had
arrived from the camp ill of a fever, which was supposed to be the
smallpox; and Janni having reported that Bruce had saved the lives of
many young people at Adowa, the iteghe, or queen-mother, had sent to
desire that he would come the next morning to her palace at Koscam.
Accordingly, Bruce, dressed in a Moorish costume, and attended by his
landlord and Yasine, went early the next day to Ayto Aylo, and thence,
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 went 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 was waiting for him. Alarmed 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.
On approaching his tent, however, he suddenly recognised the stuffed
skin of a very intimate friend swinging from a tree and drying in the
wind. Terrified and horror-struck at the spectacle, he was scarcely able
to communicate to a person who met him the intelligence of Bruce's
arrival; and, as soon as he had done this, 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 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 Ayto 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 smallpox is a disease that will
have 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, and, accompanied by Aylo, again
proceeded towards Koscam. They were just entering the palace door when
they saw 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 declared
that he had neither 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 consequence of which, 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 easiest
kind of cure of any, and will not do his constitution the least harm
afterward, 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 his 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 folly
than my concealing this from you in the beginning, 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 between the Catholics and us, on
account of the difference 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 civilized of Frank
or Catholic countries.' '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; '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.
'I believe so,' says she, smiling; 'but is there any harm in believing
too much, and is not there great danger in believing too little?'
'Certainly,' continued I; 'but all I meant to say to Ayto Aylo was, that
I did not believe laying a picture upon Welled Hawaryat would recover
him when delirious in a fever.' She answered, '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 that Welletta Selasse was dead; and at night,
Welled Hawaryat died also. 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 abandoned since Welled Hawaryat's
death; and that it was the desire of the queen and Ozoro Esther that he
should remove to Koscam, to the iteghe's palace, where all their
children and grandchildren would be placed under his care.

One cannot help here remarking the favourable effect produced by the
strong manly sense which seems on this and every other occasion to have
regulated Bruce's conduct. His sound religious sentiments he does not
fear to avow; though a stranger in the land, he firmly declares to the
iteghe that he has no faith in the miraculous remedy proposed for Welled
Hawaryat; and yet, a short time before, we see him prostrating himself
at the feet of the very person whose opinions he now opposed; for
Bruce's mind rightly appreciated those distinctions which to so many are
imperceptible. He had no paltry objections to conform to the ceremonial
customs of Abyssinia, absurd as they might be; no foolish pride to
present himself before the iteghe with a salutation which she could not
comprehend, by offering an English bow, when an African obeisance, such
as she had been accustomed to, was required: obstinacy on this point
would have at once ruined all his hopes. Had he, again, through fear or
any other weakness, concealed his religious opinions, or hesitated to
avow his incredulity in the remedy administered to Welled Hawaryat, not
only would he have been guilty of duplicity, but would have lost the
favourable occasion now presented for raising himself in the opinion of
the iteghe. It was Bruce's good sense as well as his unconquerable
resolution--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 would 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."

Bruce's first advice after he arrived at Koscam was, that the young and
beautiful Ozoro Esther, her son by Mariam Barea, and a son by 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 be removed, and they resolved to abide the issue all in the
palace together.

Before entering upon his charge, Bruce desired Petros, who had now
recovered from his fright, Aylo, and several others, to assemble
together. He then frankly stated to them the difficulty of the task
imposed on him, a stranger, without acquaintance, protection, power, or
control. He declared his intention of doing his utmost, but insisted
that one condition should be granted him, namely, that no directions as
to regimen and management, even of the most trifling kind, should be
given without his permission and superintendence. They all assented to
this; and a priest who was present not only pronounced those
excommunicate who should break this promise, but offered to Bruce the
assistance 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, among which was that
of the infant child of Ras Michael, adding, "I tell these actions to
satisfy the reader about the reason of the remarkable attention and
favour showed to me afterward, upon so short an acquaintance." The fear
and anxiety of Ozoro Esther, whose son, a most promising boy, was
infected, were 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 convulsions which every one
feared would be fatal. The attention Bruce showed to this young man was
increased 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 Ayto Confu."

Bruce's patients being at last all likely to do well, were removed to a
large house, which stood, however, within the boundaries of Koscam,
while the rooms underwent another cleansing and fumigation, after which
the patients returned; and Bruce, for his fee, was presented with a
house which had a separate entry, without going through the palace; but,
as he had now received most positive orders from Ras Michael not to
leave the iteghe's palace until farther orders, he thought it best to
obey this mandate to the letter, and not to stir out of Koscam, not even
to his landlord's or to Ayto Aylo's, though they both 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 of
the inmates of the palace. One day, as he was leaving the presence 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 a man of a pleasing countenance, short, and of a very fair
complexion, and, being exceedingly eloquent and bold, had been a great
favourite of the iteghe, or queen-mother. At first he did not know
Bruce, from his change of dress; but, soon recollecting him, he 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 by no means Bruce's
policy to reply, namely, "How many natures are there in Christ?" "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 instruct 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 disputes 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;
therefore, 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. He gives me a rule, and I implicitly follow it." "Truth! truth!"
says he; "by St. Michael, that is right; it is answered well; by St.
George, he is a clever fellow. They told me he was a Jesuit. Will 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 one 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 Bruce was, and that he had 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 complaints," 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 of his
family." A few minutes after the young king came, passing at some
distance: Michael was then led out of his tent to the door, where he
was supported standing. 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 was causing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the Galla, whom he
had taken prisoners, to be pulled out, and the unfortunate sufferers
turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night by the hyænas." 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 Tigré.
He was bareheaded, with long hair as white as snow; over his shoulders
and down his back hung a cloak of black velvet with a silver fringe. A
boy at his right stirrup held a silver wand about five feet and a half
long. Behind him, all the soldiers who had killed an enemy and taken his
spoils 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 doorkeeper 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 the 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 smallpox.

"One thing most remarkable in this cavalcade was the headdress of the
governors of provinces. A large 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, binding his forehead, tied with a large double
knot behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. Around him
were his officers of state, the young nobility who were without command,
and after these the household 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 appropriated for public executions.

The 13th of March arrived without Bruce's having heard from Ozoro Esther
or the ras, though removed 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 except by the Moors, who were very
grateful for his successful treatment of their children. In the evening,
however, Negade Ras Mohammed, 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 Mohammed," 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 was most anxious about at present was to
know when it would be convenient to admit me to see the ras, and deliver
my letters as a stranger." Mohammed went away and returned, bringing
Mohammed Gibberti, who told Bruce that, besides the letter which Metical
Aga, his master, had given Bruce for Ras Michael, he had himself been
charged with 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 with Metical Aga, who was
devoted to them for his own interest, that his utmost exertions 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 of 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 consideration in his own country, a 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 Mohammed Gibberti was to provide whatever 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 moment, 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 Ayto Aylo, who was then
present, "but you don't know the man; he is an astonishing fellow 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 agreed, therefore, that the letters the Greeks had
received should be read to the king, and that Bruce should be
immediately introduced to his majesty 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 the form of a bull, addressed to all the Greeks in
Abyssinia. In this, after a great deal of pastoral admonition, the
patriarch said that, knowing their propensity 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
might judge best, and 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; and that
the best among them should deem himself 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 punctually and fully obeyed;
Petros was their spokesman, and, although a great coward, on the present
occasion he was forward enough.

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, who squeezed him by the hand and said, "Refuse nothing; it can be
all altered afterward; 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 hanging
loose in many short curls. He appeared to be thoughtful, but not
displeased; his countenance was highly intelligent, his face thin, his
eyes quick and vivid, but still a little sore from exposure to the
weather; and he seemed to be about six feet high. Bruce, as was
customary, 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 about 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 recommend 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 be how 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," exclaimed 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 liberty 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 appointment:
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 beautiful Ozoro Esther,
whose young heart was overflowing with gratitude to the man who 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 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 these 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 that he should
not be in haste. 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 remain and perform one of the
duties of his employment, which was to take charge of the door of his
bedchamber that night. However, Ayto Heikel, taking courage, came
forward to the king, pretending to have a message from the queen; and,
whispering something in his ear, he laughed and dismissed them all.

They accordingly all hurried to supper, in no very good humour at having
been so long detained. 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 Guebra Mascal; he was a
sister's son of the ras, and commanded one third of the troops of Tigré
which carried firearms, 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 most exalted opinion of his
skill in the use of firearms, to which he did not scruple to say Ras
Michael owed all his victories.[29]

During supper, Guebra Mascal, as was his custom, vaunted incessantly
about his skill in firearms. Petros said to him, laughing, "Now Yagoube
(meaning Bruce) is come, he will teach you something worth talking
about." They had all drunk rather freely: Guebra Mascal, full of wine
and pride, uttered words in contempt 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 to the ground. Guebra Mascal drew his knife as he was falling, and
gave Bruce a trifling wound on the crown of his head. Bruce wrested the
knife from him, and struck him violently on his face; the combatants
were then separated. 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 ras 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 was so much
annoyed at his situation, and the many difficulties which seemed to
render hopeless his ultimate, and, indeed, his only object in visiting
Abyssinia, that he almost resolved to abandon his place, and ask
permission to return by Tigré; "and to this resolution," says Bruce, "I
was more inclined by the death of Balugani, a young man who accompanied
me through Barbary, and who 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 his despondency, Bruce's health
became much impaired: his melancholy, however, was in some degree
diverted by a scene of general festivity in Gondar. Ozoro Esther's
sister, the iteghe's youngest daughter, and, consequently, the
grand-daughter of Michael, was married to Powussen, the governor of
Begemder.[30] The king gave her extensive districts of land in that
province, and Ras Michael a large portion, consisting 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 the same 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 short, it is impossible to convey, 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 among 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 saying 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?'
'Certainly, sir,' replied Bruce, 'I did so.' '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; 'there is _nobody 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; Engedan'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.' Tecla Mariam had
also brought such a shield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla another, both
of which were most excellent of 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.

"'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
gun 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 naught?' A great shout
of applause followed from about a thousand people that were gathered
together. The three shields were carried to the king, who exclaimed 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, declared 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, confidence, 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 Bruce's hands thus became a step in
that ladder by which he managed, with such admirable ability, to raise
himself to notice; and this anecdote, trifling as it may appear, affords
a lesson worthy to be remembered by every one who attempts to penetrate
a new country.

The possibility of this 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
its practicability had never been shown, it would be evident to any one
who reflected on the subject for a moment, that such a result must
unavoidably take place. The momentum, or force of a shot, is not
separately the effect either of its weight or of its velocity, but the
joint product of both. A light or soft body, therefore, propelled with
great velocity, may have an effect equal to that of a heavy or hard body
propelled with less: air, for instance, rapidly displaced by the passing
of a cannon-shot, is known to produce very unexpected results; and all
sailors know how heavily water strikes when it falls with any velocity.
But, though a deal table and tallow candle must have been at the
disposal of the meanest of Bruce's critics, it cost them less, and was,
at the same time, more gratifying to them 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 afterward. "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 examine my features, and
repeatedly inquired whether I was any relation of Yagoube (Mr. Bruce).

"He afterward conversed with me for some time respecting that traveller,
and in almost every particular confirmed the account I have already
quoted upon the authority of Dofter Esther. He related in addition, that
the Emperor Tecla Haimanout never paid much attention to Mr. Bruce till
after '_his 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 Baalomaal; 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 experienced an instance of kindness in Ayto Confu, the son of
Ozoro Esther, which gave him great pleasure. On the west of Abyssinia,
adjoining the frontiers of Sennaar, there is a hot, unwholesome strip of
low country, inhabited only by Mohammedans, and divided into several
small districts, which are known by the general name of Mazuga.

Ayto Confu possessed several of these districts; one of which, Ras el
Feel, having been always commanded by a Mohammedan, as Bruce says, "had
no rank among the great governments of the state." To this command Bruce
was now unexpectedly appointed, and was, in consequence, 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 interests 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 children when
Bruce was in Abyssinia, told him they had "_never heard_" that Bruce was
governor of Ras el Feel. Bruce, however, never pretended that he acted
as governor of this district; he merely says that he was appointed
governor, with permission for his friend Yasine to act as his deputy,
his sole object being to form an acquaintance with that barbarous
country; and considering that, in Abyssinia, appointments are not
gazetted, Salt should have felt that Bruce's statement might be
perfectly correct, even though the people he met with had "never heard"
of it.

"I now," says Bruce, "for the first time since my arrival at 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 attacked by his old and relentless enemy the
Bengazi ague. For some time he was unable to leave the house, and was
even confined to his bed: his journal barely mentions this illness, but
his handwriting 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.

Gusho and Powussen having sworn to Michael that they would never return
without Fasil's head, decamped next morning, but with the secret
determination to arrange a conspiracy against the ras.

While preparations for the war were making, the iteghe, or queen-mother,
seeing the declining state of Bruce's health, endeavoured to dissuade
him from the undertaking which was apparently always uppermost in his
thoughts. "See! see!" said the 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 discourage 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 happened. 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 strongly throughout Abyssinia.

The greatest happiness which, in the opinion 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 their homes with
the view of performing 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
the Turks, and, far from happiness, Jerusalem, or their own country,
they thus end their days in misery and bondage.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] 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
Tigré by Tecla Georgis in 1788, and, though deposed, died much regretted
in 1805.

[30] Powussen was a powerful chief of the Galla tribes; and the object
of Ras Michael in this alliance was to conciliate these formidable
barbarians.--_Am. Ed._




CHAPTER XII.

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


By the queen's permission, Bruce 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
containing 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 Mohammedan 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 accordingly, 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 getting a good breakfast and
meeting with a warm reception. As 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
campaign, 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 interesting
patient both advice and prescriptions, 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
forward 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 learned 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 the following circumstance
occurred. Old Ras Michael had long endeavoured to get possession of
Welleta Israel, a sister of his own wife, Ozoro Esther. She now again
refused his unnatural addresses, on which he was heard to say that he
would order her eyes to be put out.

Welleta Israel was at this time 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. In the dead of the night
Welleta Israel escaped, and in the morning she and the tent had equally
disappeared. To the astonishment of every one, it was found that she had
actually crossed the river, having fled from the vengeance of the ras
with an intrepid conductor, her own nephew.

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, dependant 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 also to know the depth of the rivers,
the state of the fords, the extent and thickness of the woods, and, in
short, to be acquainted generally with the geography and state of the
country. The governor of every province has an officer of this
description. The fit-auraris, therefore, may be compared to an officer
of the quarter-master-general's department in an European army.

From Tsoomwa the king marched to Derdera, and being now in the territory
of his enemy, the whole country was set on fire. Those who could not
escape were slain, and all sorts of wanton barbarities were perpetrated.

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, encountering many
hardships and dangers: at last he met with his friend Negade Ras
Mohammed (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 Mohammed, with a
grave, thoughtful 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!"

"Mohammed," 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 Christians. I do not ask you whether I am
to go or not, for that is resolved on; and, though you are a Mohammedan
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 expedition as possible, leaving the
rest to Heaven." Mohammed accordingly promised to send his son and four
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, proceeded very rapidly. 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, "Good Lord! to
see you here! Good Lord! 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
then told him that he was on board the Lion when Bruce's little vessel,
all covered with sail, passed with such briskness among the English
ships, which all fired their cannon; "and," added he, "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 with
saying, "Drink! no force! Englishman very good! drink no good!"

As soon as the horses were fed, Bruce would stay no longer, but mounted
to proceed to the cataract. They first came to the bridge, which
consists of a single arch of about twenty-five feet broad, the
extremities of which were let into and strongly fastened to the solid
rock on both sides. The Nile here is confined between two rocks, and
runs in a deep ravine with great velocity, and a deep, roaring sound.
They were obliged to remount the stream above half a mile before they
came to the cataract, through trees and bushes of most beautiful
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, perfectly 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.

"I measured the fall, and believe, within a few feet, it was the height
I have mentioned; but I confess 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 superior 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 Mohammed, and on the 22d 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 extraordinary fragrance, he
descended towards the passage of the Nile. Here he experienced the use
of Mohammed'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 flat country, which, from
the constant rains that now fell, began to stand in large pools,
threatening to turn it 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 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 reduced to ruins, and smoking
like so many kilns: even the grass or wild oats, which were grown very
high, were burned in large plots of a hundred acres together; everything
bore the marks that Ras Michael was gone before, while not a living
creature appeared in those extensive, fruitful, and once well-inhabited
plains. An awful silence reigned everywhere around, interrupted 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. Amid this universal silence that
prevailed all over this scene of extensive desolation, 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 hyænas," 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 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 attempted 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 oppressed 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 perfectly 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
mistaken in the situation of Karcagna. It was then near four in the
morning of the 25th. I called up my companions, happily buried in deep
sleep, as I was desirous, if possible, to join the king that day."

If the reader will but recall to mind the picture of Bruce's personal
appearance on his arrival at Jidda on the Red Sea--how much he was
shaken by the fatigue he had even at that period undergone, and will
then reflect on the wear and tear of constitution which he had since
suffered, he will comprehend, better than Bruce himself seems to have
done, why his spirits now began to fail him, and why, like an exhausted
taper, life burned dimly in the socket.

Bruce and his party were three or four miles from Derdera 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 troublesome 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
the country was in tillage, and had been apparently covered with
plentiful crops; but all had been cut down by the army for their horses,
or, out of recklessness or vengeance, trodden under foot, so that a
green blade could scarcely be seen. They met a number of persons this
day, chiefly straggling soldiers, who, in parties of three and four,
were seeking, in all the bushes and concealed parts of the river, for
the miserable natives who had hidden themselves therein; and in this
dreadful occupation many had been successful. Some of them had three,
some four women, boys, and girls, whom, though Christians like
themselves, 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 his
party great joy, as they supposed the army not to be far off; a few
minutes after they heard several single shots, and in less than a
quarter of an hour 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 retreating, Bruce and his party
mounted their horses to join it. Still it appeared to them scarcely
possible that Fasil should defeat Ras Michael so easily, and with so
short a resistance.

They had not gone far in the plain before, to their 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 of the army
as it advanced, had been gradually driven before it.

The whole country was overgrown with wild oats, many of the villages
having been burned the year before; and in this shelter the wild animals
had taken up their abode in very great numbers. As the army turned to
the left towards Karcagna, the silence and solitude on the opposite side
induced these animals to turn to the right, where the Nile makes a very
large semicircle, the Jemma being behind them, and much overflowed. When
the army, therefore, instead of marching southeasterly towards Samseen,
directed its course northwest, they fell in with these immense herds of
deer and other beasts, who, confined between the Nile, the Jemma, and
the lake, had no way to return but by the one they had come. Finding
themselves encountered by men in every direction, they became desperate;
and, not knowing what course to take, they at length fell an easy prey.
The soldiers, happy at the opportunity of procuring animal food, fired
upon the beasts wherever they appeared; and this continued for nearly an
hour. A numerous herd of the largest deer, called bohur, met Bruce and
his party at full speed, apparently intending to run them down; some
forced their way through, while others escaped across the plain.

The king and Ras Michael were in the most violent agitation of mind;
for, though the cause of the firing was before their eyes, it was at
this moment reported that Woodage Asahel had attacked the army; and this
occasioned a general panic, every one being convinced that he was not
far off. The firing, however, continued; the balls flew in every
direction; some few were killed, and many soldiers and horses were
wounded: still they continued to fire, while Ras Michael stood at the
door of his tent, crying, threatening, and tearing his gray 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 for encamping), and then the firing immediately ceased.
But it was a long while before all the army could be made to believe
that Woodage Asahel had not been engaged with some part of it that day.
Fortunately, he was not in a situation to avail himself of this
favourable opportunity; for if he had then attacked Michael on the
Samseen side with five hundred horse, the whole army would probably have
fled without resistance, and been entirely dispersed.

Bruce was making his way towards the king's tent when he was met by a
confidential servant 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 seek for Strates and
Sebastos, who were disabled on the road.

Bruce soon came up with them, and was exceedingly 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 exclaiming 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; while Sebastos scarcely said anything, but sighed
piteously. Bruce asked him whether his arm was broke; he answered feebly
that he was dying, and that his legs, arms, and ribs were broken. The
by-standers, meanwhile, were bursting into fits of laughter.

Ali, Mohammed's servant, the only person who appeared concerned, said
that it was all owing to Prince George, who had frightened their mules.
This prince was fond of horsemanship; he rode with saddle, bridle, and
stirrups, like an Arab; and, though young, had 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 when at about five hundred yards'
distance, charged with powder only; he then, keeping his gun still
presented, gallops up to him, levels the muzzle, 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 think it impossible that they
should escape being bruised or burned. The prince had learned this
exercise from Bruce, and was highly delighted as he became perfect in
it. Bruce had procured him a short gun, with a lock and flint instead of
a match, and he shot not only true, but gracefully, on horseback. He had
been hunting 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 presented, and, not seeing Bruce, fired
a shot under the belly of Strates's mule, and then, turning like
lightning to the left, he was out of sight in a moment.

Never was compliment less relished or understood. 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, Strates and Sebastos rode. The mules, as well as their burden,
belonged to the king, and the men were permitted to ride only because
they were a little unwell. Strates went first, and, to save trouble, the
halter of Sebastos's mule was tied to his companion's saddle, and thus
the mules were fastened to, and followed one another. As soon as the
explosion took place, Strates's mule, not accustomed to such noisy
compliments, started, turned about, and threw his rider to the ground;
when, trampling upon him, the animal began to run off, and, winding the
halter around Sebastos, who was behind, dragged him to the ground among
some stones. Both the mules began kicking at each other, or, rather, at
each other's panniers and pack-saddles, until they broke everything that
was in them. Nor did the mischief end here; for, in running away, they
came like a bar-shot across 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 and his ankle broke, so that he could
not walk alone for several months afterward. As soon as a tent was
pitched for the wounded, and 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 resolved to cross the Nile
immediately, and march back to Gondar; and that they were just
commencing this retrograde movement 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 they reached the banks of the river. "From the time
we had decamped from Congo," 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."

The Abyssinian armies pass the Nile at all seasons, though the
appearance of the river is often terrific; but the Greeks crowded about
Bruce in despair, lamenting that they had ever 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, swam to the opposite side. The king
followed next; 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 appeared quite wonderful. Bruce and the king's
troops now followed. The confusion which ensued it is impossible to
describe; mules, horses, and men stuck for some time in the muddy
landing-place, the latter screaming for help, when they were at length
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 had
actually fainted several times, should cross in the same manner that he
had himself, and those who 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 the river, the ras, who, although he was
one of the most aged and infirm men in the army, seemed to require
neither sleep nor rest, engaged and defeated Fasil in the battle of
Limjour; in consequence of which, Fasil, the following day, sent to
inform Michael of the manner in which the king had been betrayed by
Gusho and Powussen; and, offering his submission, he 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, after this submission, was appointed governor of Damot and
Maitsah.

"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 passage 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 for 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 activity. 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.'"

Bruce had now violent threatenings of the ague, and retired to bed full
of reflections on the extraordinary events that in a few hours had
crowded upon one another.

On the 30th of May he reached Gondar, and on the 3d 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 confidential 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 that
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 officers, who saw farther, wore very different
countenances, 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 Phaëton:


     "Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem,
     Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet."

     OVID, _Metam._, lib. ii.


     "The frighted Nile ran off, and under ground
     Concealed his head, nor can it yet be found."

     ADDISON--_Trans._


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 Tacazzé that the army could not retire
into Tigré; and it was now thought that the king's proclamation in
favour of Fasil, especially in giving him Gojam, would hasten the
movements of the rebels.

"As I had never despaired," says Bruce, "some way or other, of arriving
at the fountains of the Nile, 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 hemlock or cicuta, recommended by Dr. Stork, a
physician 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 plentifully of whey
when he used this medicine. They were overjoyed at having succeeded so
well in their commission, and declared before the king 'that Fasil,
their master, would be more pleased with receiving a medicine that would
restore Welleta Yasous to health, than with the magnificent appointments
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; '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 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 easiness 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 forefingers of my right hand, and one after
the other laid the two forefingers 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, '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 among 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 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 fountains" of the Nile; but,
like the young Eastern prince, he was yet doomed to linger, till
relentless Time should permit him to view the object of his warmest
affection, the sole subject of his dreams and thoughts.

Very different notions, however, were occupying Michael and his
officers. They were afraid to trust Fasil, and, besides, he could do
them no service; the rain had set in, and he was gone home; the western
part of the kingdom was ready to rise against the ras; Woggora also, 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 to Tigré; that
his heart was bent on accomplishing 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.

Ras Michael having in vain urged certain brutal measures of violence on
the king, now retired in disgust into his own province of Tigré. 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.




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, she did
not positively forbid the attempt; and therefore, on the 28th of
October, 1770, he and his party commenced the undertaking. Bruce's
quadrant required four men, relieving each other, to carry it, and his
timekeeper and telescopes employed two more. His difficulties, however,
were now all in his own cause; he had no longer to expose himself to
danger amid the quarrels and jarring interests of others; his _own_
great object was now before him--an object which he had long determined
to attain, 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 expansive lake, through which run the waters of the
Nile; it then views with pleasure the flat, rich countries of Dembea,
Gojam, and Maitsha; and the high hills of Begemder and Woggora terminate
the prospect. It was this healthy, beautiful situation which was chosen
by Peter Paez for the site of a most magnificent church and monastery.

On reaching the borders of the lake on the 30th, neither the fear of
crocodiles nor of hippopotami could deter Bruce from swimming in it for
several minutes: although the sun was exceedingly hot, he found the
water intensely cold, owing to the streams which ran into it from the
mountains.

Proceeding on their journey, they now met multitudes of peasants flying
before Fasil's army, which, for some unknown purpose, he had suddenly
put in motion. Fasil was at Bamba, a collection of small villages
situated in a valley; and as Bruce knew it was in this chieftain's power
to forward him in his object, he anxiously repaired to him. The
following day he received a message to wait upon him, and his interview
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 garment 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 behaviour afterward.

"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 looked
steadfastly at me, saying, half under his breath, 'Endet nawi? bogo
nawi?' which, in Amharic, is, '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 his 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 surprise; '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! are you
raving?' repeats he again: 'are you to get there, do you think, in a
twelvemonth, or more, or when?' '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.' '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 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. '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 farther; 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 befall 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 would 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 defenceless
stranger ill. But the worst and lowest individual among the most
uncivilized people never treated me as you have done to-day under your
own roof, where I have come so far for protection.' He asked, '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 farther 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 hundred 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. 'As to myself,' continued I, 'unskilled in
war as I am, could it be now without farther consequence, let me but be
armed in my own country-fashion, on horseback as I was yesterday, I
should, without thinking myself overmatched, 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.

"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 stanched by washing
my face with cold water. I sat down to recollect myself, and the more I
calmed, the more I was dissatisfied at being put off my guard; but it is
impossible 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 farther, 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 reflection from very early life, continual habits of
suffering in long and dangerous travels, where nothing but patience
would do, had, I flattered myself abundantly, subdued my natural
proneness to feel offences which common sense might teach me I could
only revenge upon myself.

"However, upon farther consulting my own breast, I found there was
another cause that had co-operated 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 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."

Shortly after Bruce had retired to his tent, Fasil sent to 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 slackened 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 feet; 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, and 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 encamped close to him, and, anxious to raise himself
in 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; and choosing two which were gliding near him, he shot first
one on the right, then one on the left, when a great shout immediately
followed from the spectators, to which Bruce seemingly paid no
attention, pretending the most complete indifference, as if nothing
extraordinary had been done.

Fasil was at the door of the tent, and, having beheld the shots and
horsemanship, ordered the kites immediately 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 passed through. Before this
difficulty, however, could be solved, Fasil, perceiving the quantity of
blood upon Bruce's trousers, 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 Bruce's acceptance
except the one he himself 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 offering 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,"
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 Tigré." 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 afterward 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 his house: fear nothing, I
shall answer for your safety. 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. Fasil now took off the one that he
had put on himself new in the morning, and placed it on Bruce'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.

"Hear what I say to you," continued Fasil; "I think 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 Welleta
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
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 our brethren." Bruce dutifully bowed. Fasil then
jabbered 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 it may,
they know I cannot deny it you."

Bruce, of course, asked to be conducted immediately to the head of the
Nile. Fasil then turned again to his seven chiefs, who rose 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." Upon this Bruce
offered to kiss his hand, and they all went to the door of the tent,
where there stood a very handsome gray horse, saddled and bridled. "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 permission 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 Ægis 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 Bruce entered this hero was at his toilet: in
other words, he was rubbing melted tallow on his arms and body, and
twining in his hair the entrails of an ox, some of which hung like a
necklace round his throat. Bruce 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 smallpox, if it made its appearance in a
village the custom was at once to surround the house, set fire to it,
and burn both it and its inhabitants.

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 these dainties with all the disdain of a Dr. Johnson, declared
that they were "bitter; that they burned their stomachs, and made them
thirsty."

Though the Galla guides paid but little attention to Bruce, 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 entirely covers the
rock over which it is precipitated, and in solemn magnificence rushes
down with irresistible violence and force.

"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 we 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 distance
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 belonging to Goutto,
Bruce, on the 2d 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 forward, and proceeded with redoubled strength and
determination.

The Nile was before him, and he 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, with
craggy, pointed rocks, and overshaded 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 ancient inhabitants, in whose hearts a
veneration for their river seemed to be more firmly rooted than the more
recent doctrines of Christianity, crowded to the ford, and protested
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 signified that they would stone those who attempted to wash
the dirt from their clothes. The servants naturally returned rudeness
for rudeness; "but," says Bruce, "I sat by, exceedingly happy at having
so unexpectedly found the remnants of veneration for that ancient deity
still subsisting in such vigour."

The people now asked Woldo, Bruce'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 Waragna
Fasil? are you not his slaves? But you want payment, do you?" upon which
he fell upon them and beat them. Not contented with this, he pretended
that they 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, although these poor people, with the utmost
curiosity, would have flocked around him had they known that he was a
stranger from Gondar, 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 proper to inform Woldo 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 noble act, but one which appeared to Woldo to savour
much more of the ridiculous; for he not only most conscientiously
approved of taxes, but appeared to agree in opinion with the Englishman,
whose little pamphlet in favour of the same 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 removed, Woldo
reluctantly yielded to his mandate.

The next day, the 3d of November, they proceeded 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.

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
accordingly, 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 oppressive that it quite overcame them all. Even
Woldo declared himself to be ill, and talked of going no farther:
however, by Bruce'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, disposed 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 Lunæ_ 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 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, which Bruce took possession
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 continued their journey, and, although they saw no
inhabitants, they often heard voices whispering among the trees and
canes. Bruce made many endeavours to catch some of these people, in
order to apprize 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, however, by proposing to ride upon his own
saddle, and with this proviso mounted Fasil's horse.

After proceeding 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 afterward they
passed the Googueri, a stream of about sixty feet broad and about
eighteen inches deep, very clear and rapid, and 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 one made by the sheep or goats, and which had no
appearance of having been frequented by men; for it was broken, full of
holes, and in some 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, "appeared the Nile itself, strangely
diminished in size, and now only a brook that had scarcely water to turn
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 perpetual
obscurity and concealment."

Bruce was roused from this revery 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, was in the wood shooting; but they
soon appeared without Woldo. They said that they had seen some enormous
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 hanging 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 among 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 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 that he was 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; Bruce,
however, gave him a very handsome sash, which he 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 south 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! Geesh
is on the face of the rock where yon green trees are. If you go to 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 was 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,
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 capable 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 vainglory, 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 overwhelmed me but
for the continual goodness and protection 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 me, and blasting the crown of laurels I had too
rashly woven for myself."

There is nothing which stamps authenticity more strongly upon Bruce's
narrative than the artless simplicity with which he writes; and it is
only justice to infer, that he, who so honestly expresses what he feels,
must be equally faithful in relating what he sees; for how many more
inducements have we to conceal the truth in the one case than in 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
do they offer! For a few moments he riots in the extravagance of his
triumph, exulting that a Briton had done what kings and armies had been
unable to accomplish; and yet he suddenly finds himself overpowered with
a melancholy which, at such a moment, might first appear even more
singular than any of the very extraordinary scenes which he had
previously described; still, as the artless child of nature, how much
real cause had he for such feelings! It may appear strange that Bruce
should dread, on his return, dangers which, in advancing, he had so
carelessly and daringly encountered; but he had then his object to gain:
the inestimable prize was before him, to his ardent imagination decked
with ten thousand charms, and beckoning to him to advance: when,
however, he had reached the goal, he suddenly awoke as from a dream--the
vision now vanishes--nothing remains before him but "a hillock of green
sod;" and then, with Byron, he is ready to exclaim,


     "The lovely toy, so keenly sought,
     Has lost its charms by being caught."


The Nile was no more an object of anxious curiosity. Bruce had no longer
to fly towards its source on the light wings of expectation; but, like
the bee laden with its honey, he must now carry his burden to his
distant hive; and, thus freighted, his shattered frame worn by fatigue,
exhausted by a burning sun, and no longer supported by the excitement of
his mind, he naturally trembled at the dangers which 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 not improbable that his
melancholy sprang mainly from the thought, how little, after all, his
discovery was worth the trouble it had cost him. It had, it was true,
"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, in the great scheme of creation, rank
as an object worthy of so much attention? What proportion did a puny
rill, that might flow through a pipe of two inches in diameter, bear to
that vast rolling mass of waters which gave fertility to Egypt? And
again, Was the "hillock of green sod before him" actually the source of
that immense river, or did it only nourish one of the innumerable
streams which fed the "father of waters?" In short, had not human
curiosity been pushed too far, and had it made any other discovery than
of its own weakness?

Bruce, drooping, bending in despondency over the fountains of the Nile,
forms a striking picture, strongly exemplifying the practical
difference 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, and all of it
that is useful is worth knowing; but the source of the one is as the
birth of the other, and "the hillock of green sod" is the "infant
mewling and puking in its nurse's arms."

Bruce, however, soon recovered from his despondency, though 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. 'Strates,' said I, 'faithful
squire! come and triumph with your Don Quixote at that island of
Barataria 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 farther to seek than your sash, for he has been talking with
the old devil-worshipper 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 cocoanut shell, which I procured in Arabia, and
which was brimful.[31] He drank to the king speedily and cheerfully,
with the addition of 'confusion to his enemies,' and tossed up his cap
with a loud huzza. 'Now, friend,' said I, 'here is to a more humble, but
still a sacred name; here is to--Maria!'[32]. 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 disapprobation. '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 cross 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, who came down to the edge of the swamp, had
seen the grimaces and action of Strates; on which they 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
effecting the cure 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."

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 unquiet
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 interrupt 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 tormented me."

Bruce remained at Geesh four days, during which time he was constantly
occupied in making various surveys and astronomical observations. "The
hillock of green sod" is in the middle of a small marsh of 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 centre of this
hillock there is a hole, filled with water, which has no ebullition or
perceptible motion of any kind on its surface: this hole is about three
feet in diameter and about six feet deep. At the distance of 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
unites; 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 altitude above
the level of the sea of more than two miles. The thermometer, on the 6th
of November, in the morning, was 44°, at noon 96°, and at sunset 46°.

Having now given the result of Bruce's observations, it is necessary to
make a few general remarks 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.
Had this river flowed through a rich and populous country, the
information sought after would, like its waters, have descended rapidly
from its source to its mouth; but in the great sandy desert of Nubia the
problem of its origin was absorbed; and, thus flowing in mysterious
solitude and silence, it reached Egypt, leaving its history behind it.

The curiosity, therefore, not only of the Egyptians, but of strangers of
all countries, was constantly excited. The fruitless attempt of Cambyses
to penetrate 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 evidences of
this curiosity.

If a river, like a canal, were 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 seen what the source of a river is, and which
may be defined as that point from which the most remote particle of its
waters proceed.

In a populous country like England, where nearly every field has been
the subject of a lawsuit, and where every one has been surveyed with the
most scrupulous accuracy, the source of the Thames is of course no
mystery; yet not one person out of a hundred thousand knows where it is,
and for the reason that there is no practical use in the inquiry: all
that one cares to know is how far the Thames is navigable; at what
point, in short, it ceases to be useful to the community. But if this be
the case in a highly civilized country, how wild a project must it
appear to search for the source of a river through sands and deserts,
and savage and barbarous nations, merely to determine from what
particular spot its most distant drop of water proceeds! We might as
well inquire, in an army of soldiers, which is the individual whose
father or grandfather was born farthest from the capital: a question
which some might call exceedingly curious, but which would certainly be
very idle, and lead to endless and equally senseless discussion.

He who embarks in a useless enterprise is subject to disappointments
which no rational being can lament; and, although we have hitherto
supported Bruce in all his facts and feelings, in truth and justice we
must now admit, that, of the above remark, this enterprising traveller
is himself a most striking 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 European 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 divides into two branches--the White river and the
Blue river. The White river runs 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 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 it is indisputably settled that the White river is the
main branch or artery of the Nile. Nay, much to Bruce's honour, he
himself admits this; and states not only that the White river is by far
the larger and deeper of the two, but that it evidently proceeds from a
more remote source; since, instead of periodically rising and falling as
the Blue river does (which shows that the latter depends on the tropical
rains), the waters of the White river are unceasingly flowing; which, as
Bruce justly remarks, denotes that this river is fed by those distant
rains which are known to be always falling in the neighbourhood of the
equator. Our candid traveller adds, that if it were 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
Bowiha, and the Tacazzé) would be absorbed in the sands of the desert of
Nubia, and that the Nile would consequently 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 that feed
it descend.

Bruce, who had hazarded 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 true 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, by 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 justified 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 had also been always so considered in Europe; and Bruce
accordingly did reach the goal which human curiosity had so long been
striving to attain.

In regard, however, to his having been the discoverer of the source of
the Blue river, or Abyssinian Nile, it must also be admitted that Bruce
was not the first European who visited it. Peter Paez, the intelligent
Jesuit, whose career has been already noticed in our slight sketch of
the history of Abyssinia, certainly visited, one hundred and fifty years
before Bruce, these fountains, which he describes with very tolerable
exactness; 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 eyewitness. Paez, it is true, 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, conjectures
as to distance are almost always erroneous; and a Jesuit's calculation
of the range of a cannon-shot would not, probably, be anywhere very
correct.

But, although Paez first saw and described the fountains of Geesh, it
may fairly be said that Bruce was the first to impart the intelligence
to the European public; for Paez's description, which was originally
written in Portuguese, was published in Latin, after his death, by
Athanasius Kircher, a brother Jesuit, well known for his extensive
learning and his voluminous writings; and appearing in this form, and
containing also a number of improbable statements, it made no progress
beyond the little circle or society to which it was originally
addressed.

It is undoubtedly true, 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, the
intelligence had never reached the public ear, the fact having been
unnoticed from the absurdities with which it was combined. In short, it
is evident 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.[33]

It must farther be admitted, that Bruce manfully performed his task; and
his solid reputation can well afford, if necessary, to throw aside
altogether the bawble for which, as a young man, he so eagerly and
enthusiastically contended: the reader has only to glance his eye over
the immense country he has delineated to perceive the justice of this
remark. But to return to the narrative.

When Bruce first reached the fountains of Geesh, the miserable Agows
eagerly assembled around Woldo, to inquire how long the party was to
remain among them. Fasil's horse was quite sufficient to explain from
whence the strangers had arrived; and it was consequently expected that
they were to be maintained as long as they might think proper to stop.
Woldo, however, soon dissipated all their fears. He told them of the
king's grant of the village of Geesh to Bruce; and added, that he was
come to live happily among them, to pay them for everything, and,
moreover, 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 fountain, he met with a very hearty welcome at the village.

The shum, the priest of the river, gave up his own house to our
traveller, 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 Buré, to subdue the evil spirit which he had
swallowed in the enchanted water."

Woldo was also perfectly happy. Out of sight of everything belonging to
Fasil except his horse, he displayed Bruce'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 insist that Bruce and his attendants
should take his daughters as their housekeepers. "The proposal was,"
says Bruce, "a most reasonable one, and readily accepted. He accordingly
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 understood
not one word of her language, though she comprehended very easily the
signs that we made."

The next day a white cow was killed, and every one was invited to
partake of her. The shum should 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, deluded 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 "Servant 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 father of eighty-four children, it would appear that his race
was likely to flow as long as the Nile itself. He had a long white
beard; and 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 show.

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 an herb called mot-moco. This country, although within
ten degrees of the line, is, from its elevation, healthy and temperate;
the sun is, of course, scorching, but the shade is cool and agreeable.
The Agows are said not to be long livers, but their precise age it is
very difficult to ascertain. "We saw," says Bruce, "a number of women,
wrinkled and sunburned, so as scarce to appear human, 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."

[Illustration: _Kefla Abay, or "Servant of the River."_]

By the 9th of November Bruce had finished all his observations relating
to these remarkable places: he 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, nothing 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 we, seemed to pay little
attention to these, which announced to her the 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 country and end of my
little sovereignty."

FOOTNOTES:

[31] This shell was brought home by Bruce, and is still preserved.

[32] A lady in England to whom Bruce was very deeply attached.

[33] Still doubts have been expressed whether the fountains discovered
by Bruce are the most distant source of the Bahr el Azrek or Blue river,
Mr. English, an American, who was in the service of Ishmael Pasha, in
his narrative of an expedition to Dongola and Sennaar, expresses an
opinion that "the Nile of Bruce has not its principal fountain in
Abyssinia, but rather in the lofty range assigned for its origin by the
people of Sennaar. On viewing the mass of water downward while he was in
the kingdom now mentioned, even before the flood had attained two thirds
of the usual magnitude it acquires during the rainy season, he thought
it very improbable that the main source of such a river was not distant
more than three hundred miles."--See _History, &c., of Nubia and
Abyssinia_, Harpers' Family Library.--_Am. Ed._




CHAPTER XIV.

     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 Gondar, and
     succeeds in obtaining Permission to leave Abyssinia.


On the 10th of November, 1770, Bruce left Geesh to return to Gondar, and
on the evening of the 11th he reached the house of Shakala Welled Amlac,
to whom he had been addressed by Fasil. This singular 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
conversible.

"Fasil's two sisters," says Bruce, "had been out, helping my servants in
disposing the baggage; but 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, while no abuse or
opprobrious names were spared by my servants; one of whom came to tell
me her impudence, and that they believed 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 impossible 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, entertained 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.

"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."

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 return as soon as possible to
Gondar. He therefore resolved to depart at once. "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, handkerchiefs, 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 journey, crossed the Nile
at Delakus, 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 give us meat for ourselves or
horses; and, as we had 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 Tacazzé 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 on 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 servants arrived on the
17th of November. "Two things," he says, "chiefly occupied my mind, and
prevented me from accompanying my servants and baggage 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
Ras Michael and the king." Bruce proceeded, 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, however, 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 Bruce'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 facts, and from the whole tenour of his conduct,
the ras was universally hated and feared; and King Tecla Haimanout
suffering from the unpopularity of his minister, his throne, during
Bruce's visit to Geesh, had been usurped by Socinios, who immediately
appointed Fasil to be 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, encamping within two miles of
Gondar, he invited all who wished to escape the vengeance of Michael to
join his standard. Socinios fled; but he was taken by some soldiers,
who, after stripping him naked, gave him a good horse, and 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 Ohha, where it was encamped, he waited on Ras
Michael, who admitted him as soon as he was announced. On presenting
himself, 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 neighbouring 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 his majesty, who had
always expressed towards 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 scene had the appearance of a party of pleasure assembled 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 Tigré,
the best soldiers in the empire; about six thousand were armed with
muskets, 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 23d of December, the ras ordered the signal to be
given for striking the tents; when the whole army was instantly in
motion, and at night it encamped on the banks of the river just below
Gondar. In consequence of this movement, a report was spread that the
king and Ras Michael had determined to burn the town, and put all the
inhabitants to the sword, which 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 a 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 attention to the horse than to the branch of kantuffa
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 particular 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?' Unhappily, 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 was 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 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 Tigré."[34] This was but an omen
of the executions which were immediately to follow.

In the evening of the 23d came Sanuda, the person who had made Socinios
king, and who had been a ras under him: he was received with great marks
of favour, in reward for the treacherous part he had acted. He brought
with him, as 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 Tigré. These were, one
after the other, thrown violently on their faces before the king.

About two hours later came Ayto Aylo, whom the king had named governor
of Begemder: he brought with him Chremation, brother to Socinios, and
Abba Salama, Bruce'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. Very
soon afterward 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.

"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 difficulty 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 ecclesiastical 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 churchman, 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 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 Salama 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 its 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 upward, his officers and nobility on each
side, and behind him the rest of the cavalry 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
Mohammedan town and encamped upon the river Kahha, in front of the
market-place.

There were at Gondar a set of mummers, a mixture of buffoons and
ballad-singers. Upon all public occasions, these people run about the
streets; and while the poor wretches, men and women, to the number of
thirty or upward, were now in a song celebrating Michael's return to
Gondar, the Siré horse, on a signal made by the ras, turned short round,
fell upon them, and cut them to pieces. In less than two minutes they
were all laid dead upon the field, excepting one young man, who, though
mortally wounded, had strength enough to reach within twenty yards of
the king's horse, where he fell lifeless without speaking a word.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when Bruce entered Gondar, and
every person he met in the street wore the countenance of a condemned
malefactor. 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 opened the charge against him with great force and eloquence. He
stated, one by one, the crimes which he had committed at different
periods; concluding the catalogue with an accusation of high treason, or
cursing the king, and absolving his subjects from their allegiance,
which he declared to be the greatest crime that human nature was capable
of, involving in its consequences all other crimes. Abba Salama did not
often interrupt him, but to every new charge he roughly pleaded not
guilty, by exclaiming, "You lie." "It is a lie."

"Being desired to answer in his own defence, he commenced 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 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 went roundly
into the murder of King Joas, and of his two brothers, Adigo and Aylo,
on the mountain of Wechne, and he openly charged Michael with that
crime, as also with poisoning the late king, Hatze Hannes, father of the
present king."

The old ras pretended not to hear this, by sometimes speaking to people
standing behind him, and sometimes 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 Salama, and it was
not long before I had my return."

Abba Salama, 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. Here the ras interrupted him,
by saying "Confine yourself to your own defence; clear yourself first,
and then accuse any one you please."

When Abba Salama had concluded, the king's secretary sent up to the
window the substance of his defence; the criminal, in the mean time, was
carried at some distance to the other end of the room, and the judges
deliberated while the king was reading. Very few words were said among
the rest; the ras himself was all the time speaking to different people.
After he had concluded his conversation with the by-standers, he called
upon the youngest judge to give his opinion, which he did 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 the abuna, he was hanged in the very
robes in which he used to sit before the king, without one badge of his
civil or sacerdotal pre-eminence having been taken off from him. In
going to the tree, he recollected that he had four hundred cows, which
he bequeathed to priests who were to say prayers for his soul; but the
old ras 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 unfortunate
people hanging upon the same branch."

The next morning came on the trials of 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 Tigré. Guebra
Denghel behaved with great unconcern, declaring that his only reason for
taking up arms against the king was, that he saw no other way of getting
rid of Michael's tyranny, and his insatiable thirst of money and power.
He wished the king to know that this was his sole motive for rebellion;
and declared that, unless it had been to make this declaration, he would
not have opened his mouth before so partial and unjust a judge as
Michael.

Welleta Selasse, his only daughter, hearing the danger her father was
in, broke suddenly out of Ozoro Esther's apartment, which was
contiguous, and rushing into the council-room at the instant he was
condemned to die, she threw herself at the ras's feet in an attitude
and with an expression of the utmost distress; but the old tyrant
spurned her away with his foot, and then ordered her father to be
instantly hanged. Welleta Selasse fell speechless to the ground. The
father, forgetful of his own situation, flew to his daughter's
assistance, and they were both dragged out at separate doors--the one to
death, the other to after sufferings more dreadful than death itself;
for, though not seventeen, the ras, who was her 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 arsenic, having no other way of escaping from the persecution of
the murderer of her father."

The next to be tried were Kefla Mariam and Sebaat Laab, who were
condemned by the ras to lose their eyes--a very common punishment in
Abyssinia to this day.

To avoid shocking the reader with any farther details of these horrid
cruelties, it will only be observed, 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 the knife or the cord,
while their 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 servants, bringing into
the courtyard the heads and arms of slaughtered men, and which I could
no way prevent but by the destruction of the dogs themselves; the
quantity of carrion, and the stench of it, brought down the hyænas 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 anything 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 desert into Atbara."

The king, missing Bruce for some days at the palace, and hearing he had
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
which Bruce was sent for to the palace, where he found the king, with no
one about him but menial servants. He immediately remarked to Bruce that
he 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
king asked him, in a condoling tone, "What ailed him?" observing that,
"besides looking sick, he seemed as if something 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 Mariam, the ras's
doorkeeper, with three men bound, one of whom he hacked to pieces in his
presence; that, as he was running across the place with his hand to his
nose, Mariam called to him to stop till he should despatch the other
two, as he wanted to speak to him; that the soldiers immediately fell
upon the two men, whose cries, he said, were still remaining in his
ears; that the hyænas at night would scarcely suffer him to pass in the
streets as he returned from the palace; and that the dogs fled into his
house to eat pieces of human flesh 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." "The men you saw with Za Mariam just now," says he, "are
rebels, sent by Kefla Yasous for examples: he has forced a junction with
Tecla and Welleta Michael in Samen, and a road is now open through
Woggora, and plenty established in Gondar. The men you saw suffer were
those that cut off the provisions from coming into the city; they have
occasioned the death of many poor people: as for the hyæna, he never
meddles with living people; he seeks carrion, and will soon clear the
streets of these encumbrances that so much offend you. People say they
are the Falasha of the mountains, who take that shape of the hyæna, 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, "perhaps the
hyænas 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
Bruce, "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 nothing 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, "I do not know if I am brave or not; but if to see
men tortured or murdered, or to live among dead bodies without concern,
be courage, I have it not, nor desire to have it."

In the eager expression of these manly sentiments, which sparkle in the
moral darkness amid which they appear, Bruce was interrupted 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
antechamber 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
them, saying, "My son is ill; Ozoro Esther has just sent to me, and
complains you visit her now no more. Go 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 recommended 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, 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 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 the country--_never to allow a stranger to quit
Abyssinia_."

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 everything 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 himself of this favourable
opportunity, Bruce managed to obtain from him the history of the
Abyssinian kings who had reigned in Shoa, which curious document he
afterward 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: the time, however, had not yet
arrived; for, having embarked on the political stream, he was against
his will still carried along by it.

For many months the rebels, in immense numbers, under the command of
Gusho and Powussen, were committing every sort of violence, burning
houses, barns, and villages. At last the cries of the people, who came
flying to him for projection, determined Ras Michael to risk a battle.
He accordingly marched 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 by Ras Michael in person, who, being now
seventy-four years of age, had passed half a century in a succession of
victories.

The force of the enemy amounted to about thirty thousand. 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 were 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 perfectly silent when he cried, 'Well, what do you
say to us now, Yagoube?' I answered, 'Is this the order in which your
majesty means to engage?' He laughed, and said, 'Ay, why not? you will
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.
'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 whole army
proceeded towards Begemder. He had scarcely taken up his position on the
hill of Serbraxos when he was attacked by Powussen; a severe battle
ensued, distinguished on both sides by feats of wild, undisciplined
valour; however, the king's troops prevailed, and Powussen retreated,
having lost about nine hundred of his best men. Everybody seemed to
agree that Ras Michael had shown the most astonishing intrepidity and
military skill.

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 Tigré; 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 hands,
when a most violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain ensued.

The army, therefore, fell back, and, the storm subsiding, the evening
was passed in pleasure and 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 dryness of the ground.

"In the middle of this great cloud," says Bruce, "we began to perceive,
indistinctly, part of the horsemen, then a much greater number, and the
figure of the horses more accurately defined, which came moving
majestically upon us, sometimes partially seen, at other times concealed
by being wrapped up in clouds and darkness; the whole made a most
extraordinary, but truly picturesque appearance."

The whole of Powussen's army now appeared; they advanced, riding forward
and backward with great violence, and appeared to be diverting
themselves 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 among
them nearly one hundred and eighty young men of the best families in the
kingdom. The enemy's loss amounted to about nine thousand.

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 of heroes, he threw
down his barbarous trophy before his chief.

The account which Bruce gave of this ceremony was disbelieved; 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 remained in Abyssinia from
the time of Lord V.'s departure until the year 1827, has verbally
informed us that he has himself seen upward of two thousand of these
trophies heaped before the ras.

"For my own part," says Bruce, "tired to death, low in spirits, and
execrating the hour that brought me to such a country, I almost
regretted that 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
morning, 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 Engedan, had been also wounded. I had, however, a sound
and refreshing sleep. I think madness would have been 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, at the same time, 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 1-12th dwts. of fine gold. "It was with the utmost
reluctance," says Bruce, "that, being in want of everything, I sold
great part of this honourable distinction at Sennaar, 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 farther diminishing this
honourable monument which I have left them."

A third battle was fought at Serbraxos, which, though obstinately
contested, was not attended on either side with much loss; and soon
after secret intelligence reached Tecla Haimanout and Ras Michael, 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 instantly lifted up unhurt, and again mounted.
Proceeding onward, 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 these repeated falls as
an omen that his power and fortune were gone from him for ever. On
reaching Gondar, the king went to the palace, and 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 family and property who, from fear of Ras Michael,
had fled to Fasil. The capital was soon filled with men and arms; and
Gusho, who had been born and bred in Gondar, was looked up to as the
father of his country; he raised all Waggora in arms against Michael, so
that not a man could pass between Tigré and Gondar.

These steps having been taken, a proclamation was now issued, "that all
soldiers of the province of Tigré, or who had borne arms under Ras
Michael, should, on the morrow, before midday, bring their 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 farther 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 razed to their foundation." Six thousand
of the Tigré 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 and too infirm to escape, resolutely
continued in the house belonging to his office. He ate, drank, and
slept as usual; rose, and, 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 no little 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 great expense from Venice. The largest of these was
immediately smashed by the Galla; and they would probably have proceeded
to murder the king and Bruce, had not two hundred young men of Gondar,
hearing that these savages had got into the palace, rushed forward to
defend their king, and obliged them to retire.

On the 1st of June Gusho and Powussen came to the house of Ras Michael,
to interrogate him as to his past conduct. They found him clothed in
white serge, with a priest's cowl of the same material on his head; and
the old ras, seeing that his power was gone, and that ferocity and high
personal courage could no longer avail him, resolved to save himself by
hypocrisy now that he could no longer do it by force: he therefore
declared that "he had ended his political career," and should devote the
remainder 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 into Gondar with a thousand horse,
and, without farther ceremony, ordered Ras Michael to be placed on a
mule, and to be led away to Begemder. Gusho now took possession of his
house; the king's officers and servants returned to the palace, the
troops decamped, and Gondar was once more quiet.

Meanwhile, as Bruce's health had been daily declining, he had spent a
considerable part of his time with the iteghe and Ozoro Esther at
Koscam. Here he had received intelligence from Sennaar that the whole of
that country was in arms; that for a white man to come hither from Ras
el Feel would be almost impossible, since, besides the natural
difficulties of the country, and the excessive heat of the climate, he
would be in the utmost danger from the soldiery and slaves, who were in
a complete state of insubordination. He was therefore conjured to
abandon his intention, and either remain in Abyssinia, or return, as he
came, through Tigré: "But," says Bruce, "besides that I was determined
to attempt completing my journey through Sennaar and the desert, I by no
means liked the risk of passing again through Masuah, to experience a
second time the brutal manners of the naybe and garrison of that place.
I therefore resolved to complete my journey to Syene, the frontier of
Egypt, by Sennaar and Nubia, or perish in the attempt.

"It is here," says Bruce, "a proper period to finish the History of
Abyssinia, as I was no farther present at, or informed of, the public
transactions which followed. My whole attention was now taken up in
preparations for my return through the kingdom of Sennaar 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
personages with whom I had lived so long in the most perfect and cordial
friendship. Men of little and envious minds would perhaps think I was
composing a panegyric upon myself, from which, therefore, I most
willingly refrain. But the several marks of goodness, 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
attempted the same journey hitherto had met with disappointment,
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, were 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 drawing to a close, one
may pause to observe of what honest materials his character seems to
have been composed. Personal courage, that gem of the human breast,
which, however roughly set, is brilliant even in the rude conduct of the
savage, shines with unusual lustre in Bruce's life; while his gratitude
to Captain Price, his friendship for those with whom he lived, his
loyalty to his king, his attachment to Scotland, his native country, his
respect for his ancestors, and other similar sentiments which we have
seen constantly escape from him, prove him to have been eminently a
sound-hearted man.

Two days previous to his departure, our 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
apparently surprised 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, it not being
the custom at a 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 their
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 recommending them to the patriarch Abba Salama,
pronounced at random, with great seeming devotion, 'Amen! so be it.'"

This serio-comical valedictory malediction, which Bruce bequeaths to
"twenty greasy monks of Koscam," 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, and no one has raised the
veil which Bruce lifted up; no one has penetrated the mist through which
he found his way, or encountered the dangers which he overcame.

Yet by far the most arduous and dangerous undertaking in the history of
Bruce's life remains to be related; for, whatever may have been his
difficulties in Abyssinia, however roughly he may have been treated
there, he had warm and powerful friends, and was in a country
professedly Christian; but his homeward journey is now to be undertaken,
through the centre of some of the most savage, burning, steril regions
in the world; and if the reader but reflects on the many distinguished
individuals who, full of health and enthusiasm, have left Cairo to
ascend the Nile, and have yet very early found it impossible to proceed,
he will feel for poor Bruce, while with a broken and exhausted
constitution he is about to enter on this painful and perilous journey.


When Mr. Salt visited Abyssinia, nearly forty years after Bruce had left
it, he was informed that Ras Michael, who was even then talked of as
"the old lion," died in 1780, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. The
beautiful Ozoro Esther, too, was dead; and, indeed, nearly all Bruce's
friends had gone to their long home.

"Yusuph," says Salt, "spoke of him (Bruce) with much regret. He, and
every one with whom I have conversed, confirmed the character of Ras
Michael as given by Bruce." "He left," said Dofter Esther, a learned
Abyssinian, "a great name behind him."

FOOTNOTE:

[34] Some years ago, the Pasha of Tripolitza, 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 he. 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 the English army in Egypt by the nickname of
Djezzar, or the "The Butcher," was a man of a much more merciful
disposition. One day he went to inspect a small redoubt which 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 comparison, 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, there is an
end of him.




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, Bruce,
after having resided in Abyssinia two years and three months, took leave
of Gondar and proceeded to the palace at Koscam. The king, who had done
everything to delay his departure, still continued to trouble him with
advice, and to throw trifling 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 begged that he might be
left to follow his own fortunes, whatever they might be.

On the morning of his departure, an officer of rank and fifty mounted
soldiers were sent by the king to attend him; but, being convinced that
any distinction with which he might travel in Abyssinia would only
increase his difficulties in passing through Sennaar, he declined the
escort, and, starting on his perilous journey, he 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 he left Cairo; another, named Georgis, was infirm, and nearly
blind; while the rest of the party consisted of an old Turkish janisary,
who had come into Abyssinia in the escort of the abuna, a Copt, who left
Bruce at Sennaar, and a few common muleteers.

"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 impression upon
my spirits. But it was 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
unprejudiced 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; and it would certainly have been well
for him if he had confined his thoughts to his own breast, and, treating
his reader with greater reserve, had declined intrusting to him the
secret feelings of his heart; but, right or wrong, prudent or imprudent,
it was not in Bruce's nature to conceal his sentiments.

On the evening of the 28th, as Bruce and his party were in the vicinity
of a very thick wood, they were suddenly surrounded by a multitude of
men armed with lances, shields, slings, and clubs. A volley of stones
having been 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 farther off, they
continued whooping, shrieking, and making violent gesticulations; when
Bruce sent a message to them by a woman, that, if they continued to show
the smallest sign of aggression, he would burn their town, and put every
one of them to the sword. This bravado had its effect, and a very
submissive answer was returned.

For five days Bruce steadily pursued his journey through a rugged
country covered with thick woods. On the 2d 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 growth, and watered by a limpid brook, that ran
over pebbles as white as snow. As soon as he reached the town, a man
waited on him 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, 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 having taken away my husband, Ras
Michael, God knows where, and, therefore, being now a single woman, I am
resolved 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 anything surprising in all this?"

"But tell me truly," said Tecla Mariam, "you that know everything 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."

Breakfast now appeared; the conversation took a natural and very lively
turn. Bruce learned 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 learned that
there was a great quantity of all sorts of game, elephants,
rhinoceroses, buffaloes, &c. On the 6th, an hour before daybreak, the
party mounted their horses, attended by a number of people who made
hunting the elephant their particular occupation. These men dwell
constantly in the woods, and subsist principally on the flesh of the
enormous 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 they kill the elephant is as follows: two men,
entirely naked, mount a single horse; one has nothing in his hand but a
switch or a short stick, which he uses to manage the animal, while his
comrade, armed with a broadsword, 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 comparison to them!" This nonsense (which is used
by the Abyssinians to almost every description of enemy) the man
actually fancies is understood by the enormous beast, who, getting at
last vexed and angry at being so pestered, rushes at the horse,
following and turning after him, and endeavouring to seize him with his
trunk, or, by a single blow with it, to level him with the dust. While
the elephant is thus occupied, the horseman suddenly wheels about, and
then, rapidly riding past him, the swordsman slips off and cuts his
tendon just above the heel of the hind leg. The horseman now wheels
again, and, returning at full gallop, his companion vaults up behind
him. The mischief being done, and the poor victim, as it were, tethered
to the ground, the horsemen leave him to look 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 breaking, recoil
with such violence that they often have been known to dash both horse
and driver to the ground; whereupon the elephant generally turns, and,
trampling on his puny enemy, luxuriously tears in pieces "the lord of
the creation," limb by limb. 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 danger.

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 of January, they separated. Bruce on that day bade
adieu to his Abyssinian friends, and to the beautiful Ozoro Esther, for
whom he had long entertained a feeling of esteem and affection.

With a heavy heart he now left Tcherkin, and the road being bad and
intricate, and the camels overladen, 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, 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 no little 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 morning they were again on their journey, and in about five
hours they reached Sancaha, 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
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 provisions for his party and their camels. A very
impertinent answer was returned; when 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 so much 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 elephants' 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 our 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 first 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 Mohammedan killed?" "No," replied Gimbaro; and,
begging Bruce's pardon, he promised to send him bread, honey, camels,
etc.

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 gunshot before them;
but, whenever it came to an open 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 passed 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 exceedingly; their clothes were
torn to rags, and men and beasts were equally exhausted; the forests
were swarming with game, particularly Guinea-fowls and paroquets; and
when one of the party fired his gun, the first probably that had 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 afterward Bruce reached the Guangue, which abounds with
hippopotami and crocodiles, and was the largest river, except the Nile
and Tacazzé, that he had seen in Abyssinia. Shortly afterward he arrived
at Yasine's village, Hor Cacamoot, which means, literally, the valley of
the shadow of death; "A bad omen," says Bruce, "for weak and wandering
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 114°, which was at 61 at
sunrise, and 82 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 midday; and this I
constantly observed in this sultry country, that what was hot by the
glass never appeared to carry with it anything proportionate 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 Mohammed, was a man of high character for courage and probity;
and Bruce had often corresponded 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 to
him soap-pills and lime, with directions how to make lime-water. Bruce
therefore despatched 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. But while he
was making these vigorous exertions to advance, his exhausted body was
gradually becoming more and more unable to follow. Trembling under the
burning heat of the climate, and feeble from the effects of the most
debilitating of disorders, "Yagoube, the white man," would probably have
ended his career at his petty government of Ras el Feel, had it not been
for the kind attention of Yasine, and the skilful treatment of the
woolly-headed physician. 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 companions 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 their first acquaintance. The
last tie which connected Bruce'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 pursue his dreary way.

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 there after the rains. The water was almost
exhausted, and the little that remained had an intolerable stench.
Thousands of Guinea-fowls, partridges, and other kinds of birds had
crowded around it to drink; but it was a melancholy omen to see that
they were reduced to absolute skeletons.

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 resort to these deserts.

At a quarter past eleven Bruce arrived at Quaicha, the bed of a torrent
where there was no water: the wood now seemed to be growing thicker, and
to be full of wild beasts, especially lions and hyænas. These did not
fly from them as those which they had hitherto seen, but came boldly up,
especially the hyæna, with apparently a determination to attack them. On
lighting a fire, however, they retired for a time, but towards morning
they approached in greater numbers than before. A lion carried off one
of the asses, and a hyæna 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 firearms 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 hyænas 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 them howling at a distance till
daylight, either from hunger or the smarts of the wounds they had
received--perhaps from both; for each ship-blunderbuss 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 their way through the thick woods,
which scarcely admitted the rays of the sun. From this station, however,
they enjoyed a most magnificent sight, the mountains, 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 entirely dried up, and they can remain no
longer, they set fire to the underwood, and to the dry grass below it.
The flame runs under the trees, and scorches the leaves and the 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 luxuriance, the Arabs revisit their former stations. This
conflagration is resorted to twice in the year--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 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
Imserrha, our little company, all but myself, fell mortally sick with
the quantity of poisonous vapour that they had imbibed. I apprehend,
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 headaches so
violent, that we could not pitch our tent, but, each wrapping himself in
his cloak, resigned himself immediately to sleep under the cool shade of
the large trees."

While they were in this unconscious 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 themselves 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.

Bruce's servants now called to him to come with all haste. A lion had
killed a deer, had eaten a part of it, and had retired; but five or six
hyænas had seized the carcass. Neither the dysentery nor the simoom had
subdued 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 leave 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 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."

Here, as usual, Bruce was accused of "exaggeration." People would not
take into account the circumstances of the case; they would not
consider that the noses of these savage hyænas, devouring their prey,
were all close together, like the herd of critics over Bruce's book;
upon whom, had he fired a blunderbuss loaded with forty slugs, two at
least would have given up the ghost, while many more would have howled
out lame apologies for having accused him of exaggeration. This incident
was most unjustly judged by the experience of a civilized country; and
because people in England were not in the habit of killing four hyænas
at a shot, Bruce's statement was declared, like his blunderbuss, to have
been overcharged.

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.
The party, therefore, instantly proceeded. In the evening, having lost
their way, they were obliged to halt in the wood. Here they were
terrified at finding the water entirely gone from the girbas. These
skins had still the appearance of being full, but their lightness too
surely proved the contrary fact. The whole party were sick from the
effect of the simoom, but the horror of being without water drove them
to go on. "A general murmur of fear and discontent," says Bruce,
"prevailed through our whole company."

The next day (being the sixth from Ras el Feel) they set off in great
despondency; but in a short time they providentially succeeded in
regaining the road, and shortly afterward reached a well called
Imgellalib, containing plenty of water, a leathern bucket, and a straw
rope. Every one pressed forward to quench their thirst, and the fatal
effects of this eager haste were soon seen; for two Abyssinian Moors
died immediately after drinking. There was something truly appalling in
thus seeing death, as it were, on either side; men perishing with
thirst, and others from quenching it!

The thick forests which, without interruption, had 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
119½°. 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 23d, 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 horse, as he
declared it was his intention to walk by the side of Bruce's mule till
he entered the town of Teawa; mounting, however, 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,
which had been ordered by the sheikh for the residence of Bruce; and,
after crossing the square, they came to the sheikh's house, or rather
his collection of houses, which were one story high, and built of canes.
They then entered a large hall, built of unburned bricks, and 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 great humility, and pretending 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, and 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 woods 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 manner 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 any in Habesh. Several
times you escaped very narrowly, and by mere chance, from being cut off
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 sexes appeared with 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
ear, 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, to avoid the flies; adding that the road to Sennaar was in
a very unsettled state, and making 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 anything. 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, possessing 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 outer 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 compose
yourself; I will see you to-morrow morning." Bruce was going out, when
the sheikh exclaimed, "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 thousand 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."

Bruce stepped one pace backward, and dropped the burnoose behind him,
holding a small 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, '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 good-night.

About a week afterward 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 desired 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, would be furnished, and
that he might set out as soon as he pleased, provided he would promise
to forgive the sheikh, and not to make any complaint against him at
Sennaar or elsewhere. This having been assented to, 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; "a country," says Bruce, "that seemed under the immediate 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 Mohammed the sheikh, who declared
that 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!
Mohammed provided all sorts of refreshments; and the whole party were
filled with joy except Bruce, who was suffering 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 warm water to serve as an emetic, he retired supperless to his bed--a
buffalo's hide.

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 distant; and from another powerful race
called Wed abd el Gin--_Son of the slaves of the devil_--who live to the
southwest, between the Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier
town of Sennaar, on the side of 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, without any villages near it, that they and their
flocks may come at certain seasons until the grass grows, and the pools
or springs fill elsewhere.

On the 21st of April Bruce and his party left Beyla. After travelling
four days they crossed the Dender river, and came to a large plain, in
which were 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
Mohammedans, but they have never attempted to convert these Nuba; on the
contrary, they entertain in every village a number of pagan 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 celebrate the birth of every new
moon. They are immoderately fond of swine's flesh, and maintain great
herds of these animals. There is no running stream in the immense plain
which they inhabit, and their water is all procured from draw-wells.

On the 25th Bruce set out from the villages of the Nuba, intending to
reach Basboch, which is the ferry 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, "was red earth, which had been plentifully moistened
by a shower in the nighttime. The unfortunate camel that had been taken
by the cohala seemed to be 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 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 dispersed the materials all over the plain,
leaving the other half standing.

"As soon as we recovered ourselves we 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 ordinary 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 I could have been capable of
bleeding."

These people gave Bruce a piece of roasted hog, which he ate, very much
to their satisfaction. In return, as the camel was lame, Bruce ordered
it to be killed, and the flesh to be given to the Nuba of the village,
who feasted upon it for several days. With these people Bruce spent a
very cheerful evening, and then, having a clean hut, he retired to rest
from the effects of the whirlwind.

On the 26th he left the village, his way being still across an immense
plain. After encountering several violent storms of thunder, lightning,
and rain, he arrived 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 no little 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; near
the banks it is shallow, but deep in the middle, and in this part is
much infested with crocodiles. 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,[35]
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, and the walls were hung with
tapestry. He was sitting upon a mattress, 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, however, 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 complexion as an Arab. He seemed
to be a man about thirty-four; his feet were bare, or only covered by
his shirt. "He had," says Bruce, "a very plebeian countenance, on which
was stamped no decided character; I should rather have guessed him to be
a soft, timid, irresolute man. At my coming forward and kissing his
hand, he looked at me for a minute as if undetermined what to say. He
then asked for an Abyssinian interpreter, as there are many of these
about the palace. I said to him in Arabic, 'That I apprehended I
understood as much of that language as would enable me to answer any
question he had to put to me.' Upon which he turned to the people that
were with him. 'Downright Arabic, indeed! You did not learn that
language in Habesh?' said he to me. I answered, 'No; I have been in
Egypt, Turkey, and Arabia, where I learned it; but I have likewise often
spoken it in Abyssinia, where Greek, Turkish, and several other
languages were used.' He said, 'Impossible! he did not think they knew
anything of languages, excepting their own, in Abyssinia.'"

There were sitting by the side of the room, opposite to him, four men
dressed in white cotton shirts, with a white shawl covering their heads
and part of their face, by which it was known they were religious men,
or men of learning, or of the law. Bruce presented first the Sherriffe
of Mecca's letter, and then one from the King of Abyssinia. The king
took them both and read them, and said, "You are a physician and a
soldier." "Both, in time of need," replied Bruce. "But the sherriffe's
letter," said the sheikh, "tells me, also, 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 Mohammedan as well as Christian 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 on 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, and 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 dervis," said the three men of learning.
"I am, then, one of these dervis," said Bruce, "content 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 about?" "Near twenty years," replied Bruce.
"You must be very young," observed the king, "to have committed so many
sins, and so early." "I did not say," replied Bruce, "that I was one of
those who travelled on account of their sins, but that there were some
dervises 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, ay, 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 follow to such a place 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, who
all offered him some taunt or insult. "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
Roulé and his companions, though under a protection which should have
secured them from all danger, every part of which I was then unprovided
with."

The drum beat a little after six o'clock in the evening. Bruce then had
a very comfortable dinner sent to him, which consisted of camel's flesh
stewed with an herb, a slimy substance, called bammia. After having
dined, and finished his 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
were 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, '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 customs 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, 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 blue Surat 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 _esclavage_, 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 afterward 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 gristle 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 multitude of their
complaints; being a lady's physician, discretion and silence are my
first duties. It is sufficient to say, that there was not one part of
their whole bodies 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, the 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 little playful, and were exceedingly
curious to inspect Bruce'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 farther than the shoulders and breast. Upon seeing the
whiteness 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 any 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 consequences 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 disgusted 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 observations, and in inquiring into the
history of the country, a great part of which he minutely relates.

"Nothing," he says, "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 ornamented at certain
intervals with groups of villages, the conical tops of the houses
presenting at a distance the appearance of small encampments. Through
this immense plain winds the Nile, a delightful 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 can.

"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, though the natives bear it with astonishing ease; for on the
2d of August, while Bruce was lying perfectly enervated in a room
deluged with water, at noon, the thermometer being at 116°, he saw
several black labourers working without any appearance of being
incommoded.

His observations on heat are so practical, and so 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 Sennaar, 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 ordinarily large and light."

If Bruce's enemies could but have been subjected to this last degree of
temperature, they would, perhaps, for once have agreed to admire the
indefatigable exertions which, under such a climate, and in spite of ill
health, he still continued to make. The history, ancient and modern, of
the kingdom of Sennaar, its natural history, its trade, money, measures,
diseases, etc., etc., 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 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
beginning, 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, "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 great
reason, thought we had seen the worst of them."

FOOTNOTE:

[35] Although this city is at the present day but little better than a
heap of ruins, it bears the marks of former magnificence. See _Russell's
Nubia and Abyssinia_, p. 59, Harpers' Family Library.--_Am. Ed._




CHAPTER XVI.

     Bruce leaves Sennaar.--Crosses the great Desert of Nubia.--His
     Distress.--Reaches Seyne, on the Nile.


On the 8th of September the camels were at last laden, and sent forward
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 this precious token of his
hard-earned honour, Bruce, after having been detained four months at
Sennaar, proceeded once again on his journey towards his native land:
although he had been so long directing his course to the north, he had
still to travel nearly seven hundred miles before he could escape from
that burning region of the earth, the torrid zone. His way was long, his
path beset with dangers; but the relentless persecution of a tropical
sun is what no man can adequately describe: every animal pants beneath
it, and the very atmosphere they breathe trembles and quivers like air
at the mouth of a furnace; still Bruce resolutely proceeded onward; and,
about ten o'clock at night, he and his little party joyfully reached
Soliman. He now formally addressed his people; he recommended diligence,
sobriety, and subordination; and assured them that, until the journey
was terminated, they should share with him one common fare and fortune.
Never was a discourse more gratefully received. "Sennaar," says Bruce,
"sat heavy upon all their spirits," and beyond description did they
rejoice at having escaped from it.

Constantly advancing, on the 16th they arrived 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 our
traveller'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, with 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 of passing the camels at this
ferry is by fastening cords under their hind quarters, and then tying a
halter to their heads. Two men hold on to these cords, and a third the
halter, so that the animals, by swimming, carry the boat on shore. One
is fastened on each side of the stem and stern. These useful beasts
suffer greatly by such rude treatment, and many die in the passage, with
all the care that can be taken; but they still oftener perish through
the tricks of the boatmen, who 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
finally drowned; they have then gained their object, and feast upon the
flesh.

Having thus crossed the Nile, they proceeded to Halfaia, where the
tropical rains terminate. A very important change was about to take
place in the character of the country, and Bruce, in bidding adieu to
the wet portion of Africa, was now entering on the confines of the
deserts. Here there are palm-trees, but no dates. The people eat cats,
the hippopotamus, 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 inclination,
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 no little credit on Bruce's
character, and it should put to silence those who have so 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°; while 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 the Arabian; but if beautiful and symmetrical parts, great size
and strength, the most agile, nervous, and elastic movements, great
endurance of fatigue, docility of temper, and seeming attachment to man
beyond any other domestic animal, can promise anything, the Nubian
stallion is, above all comparison, 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, and the expense
would not be great."

All noble horses in Nubia are believed to be descended from one of the
five upon which Mohammed 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 a white man should
venture so far in such an ill-governed country. "Allow me, madam," said
Bruce, "to complain of a breach of hospitality in you, which 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 the next day.

"On the 13th," 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
tottering, our throats were 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 meaning 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 magnificently 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 platted in ten
or twelve small divisions, like tails, which hung down below her waist,
and over her was thrown a common white cotton 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.

"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 excellent 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
familiarity 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 afterward, 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 Mohammed Towash, who had lately set off. He replied he did not
like the company, and was very much mistaken if their journey would end
well. On pressing him farther if this was the true reason, 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 that was his name) was a man
of some substance in his own country, and had a daughter married to the
schourbatchie at Assouan. A bargain was accordingly made. Bruce redeemed
the camel and cloak, and Idris agreed to show him the way to Egypt,
where he was to be paid and rewarded according to his behaviour.

Bruce having thus secured a guide, was now prepared to leave Shendi;
but, previous to his departure, he waited upon Sittina to thank her for
her favours; for she had sent for Idris, had given him very positive
instructions, which she enforced by threats, and had also furnished
Bruce with useful letters. He therefore 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
works his way, by invariably bending before the difficulties which
assail him. He is bold and daring among the brave, resolute before
tyrants, a physician to his friends, a magician before the rabble, and
before the gentler sex (in these latitudes we should offend them were we
to call them fair) he is on his knee, and respectfully kisses their
hands, whether it be their custom or no.

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 Tacazzé, 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 waters came from Abyssinia, a country yet
fresh and dear in Bruce's recollection. "I reflected," he says, "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 across 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 our 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 assurances possible from
Idris that he would live and die in their service, boldly committed
themselves to the desert. The party consisted of Ismael the Turk, two
Greek servants besides Georgis, who was almost blind and useless, two
Barbarins, that took care 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 blunderbusses, 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 the Tucorory
joined the party at the watering-place, much against Bruce'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 here 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 they were water-tight.

"While the camels were loading," says Bruce, "I 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 river, and slowly entering what may not unjustly be termed the
gate of the great desert of Nubia (that valley of the shadow of death),
they came to a bare spot of cemented gravel, 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 now found that the camels were too heavily laden, but they
comforted themselves with the reflection that this would be remedied by
the daily consumption of the provisions. The next day, after travelling
six hours with great diligence, their misfortunes began, from a trifling
circumstance which had not been attended to. Their shoes, which had long
required repair, had now become absolutely useless; their feet were much
inflamed by the burning sand, and the skin rubbed off in different
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 world. In that vast expanse of desert, from W.
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 slowness; at intervals we thought they were
coming in a very few minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities 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, 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 Mohammed, all the rest of
his words were mere gibberish and nonsense. Ismael, the Turk, violently
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 this day proceeded very slowly, their feet being sore and greatly
swelled. "The whole of our company," 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 disappeared." In the
evening they came to Waadi Dimokea, 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 over 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 diminished, 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;
hearing somebody stir, however, and fearing detection, he withdrew 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 presented 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
appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became desperate; 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 extreme 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 warned 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 inhale
the outward air as long as they could hold their breath. They alighted
at six o'clock at a small rock called Ras el Seah, or El Mout, which
signifies _death_. It is surrounded with sand, is without trees or
herbage, and 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 Barbarins 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 passive 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,
'Fall upon your faces, for here is the simoom!' I saw from the southeast
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. We 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 a 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 asthmatic
sensation till I had been some months in Italy at the baths of Poretta,
near two years afterward.[36]

"A universal despondency had taken possession of our people. They
ceased to speak to one another, and when they did it was in whispers, by
which I easily 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 farther, but from which no
earthly good 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 eloquent, and never
had eloquence a more sudden effect. They 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 submit 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 might 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 spare the camels for the last resort, 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 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 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, entirely desert, and abandoned to moving sands;
which might be said to "sweep 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
principal 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 eagerness with which Bruce and his party rushed to these wells can
scarcely be imagined; for no one would believe the effect which the
sight of water under such circumstances produces on the human frame,
unless he had himself experienced the burning thirst of the desert.

The springs were exceedingly 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
the putrid substances with which they were filled. Bruce saw a number of
partridges on the face of the bare rock, but he did not dare shoot at
them, for fear of being heard by wandering Arabs that might be 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, 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 except the Tucorory, 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, Bruce, 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. Regularly, at noon, he had described, in a rough
manner, his course through the day, carrying always a compass, with a
needle of 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
complained 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, was 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 east, 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: it was otherwise, however, with
the simoom, for they all were firmly persuaded that another passage 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 produced. These hillocks
were from seven to thirteen feet high, formed into perfect cones, with
very sharp points and well-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 pillars were
distinctly seen in every heap, so that here again, while we were
repining at the simoom, Providence was busied keeping us out of the way
of another 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 course being
N., a little inclined to W. 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 degree of 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 stolen or carried off. While Bruce was occupied in deep
thought, he heard the chain of the camels clink, as if somebody was
unloosening 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. Mohammed, Idris's nephew, hearing Bruce's voice, came running up
from the well to see what was the matter. They went down together to the
camels, and, upon examination, found that the links of one of the chains
had been broken, but the opening was 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, nevertheless, more than sufficient for
destroying them; for large tribes of Arabs (two or three thousand
encamped together) were cantoned wherever there was water enough to
supply their numerous 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 uttered a loud cry, "God
is great! let them come!" but, when the day broke, no Arabs appeared;
all was still: Bruce, however, 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, following
them behind the point of a rock which seemed calculated for concealing
thieves, they saw two ragged, old, dirty tents, pitched with 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 at 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 afterward 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 distinguished 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 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 Christian feelings, 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 protection, 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, '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, to give them and their child milk;
you shall chain the husband's right hand to the left of some of yours,
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 who 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 wells 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 they 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, they 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.

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 20th, 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."

At half past eight in the evening they alighted at a brackish well
called Naibey, in a bare, sandy plain, where there were a few straggling
acacia-trees. They found near the well the corpse of a man and two
camels; it was apparently long since that their deaths had taken place,
for the camels were so dried up that their remains would weigh but a
very few pounds; no vermin had touched them, 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 among
sharp-pointed rocks, which, it was easy to foresee, would very soon
disable the camels. At about eight they had a view of the desert to the
westward as before, and saw that the sands had already begun to rise in
immense twisted pillars, which darkened the heavens. The rising of these
so early in the morning was a sure sign of a hot day, of a calm about
midday, 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 columns were this day more magnificent than any they had yet
seen, being thicker, and containing more sand; and, the sun shining
through them, they appeared as if spotted with stars of gold.

"The simoom," says Bruce, "with the wind at southeast, immediately
follows the wind at north, and the usual despondency that always
accompanies it. The blue meteor, with which it began, passed over us
about twelve, and the ruffling wind that followed it continued till near
two. Silence, and a desperate kind of indifference about life, were the
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 considerable 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 22d, at six o'clock, as they were crossing this sandy flat, one
of the Tucorory was seized with phrensy or madness. He rolled upon the
ground, moaned, and refused to continue his journey, or to rise from
where he lay. It was death to stop with him; and as each man was barely
able to support his own sufferings, and could not participate in those
of others, the wretched maniac was left to die among the thirsting
sands, 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 plenty of camel's flesh in
its stead; our water, though in all appearance we were to find it more
frequently than in the beginning of our journey, was nevertheless
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 I could spare, or what was not absolutely necessary, such as all
shells, fossils, minerals, and petrifactions that I could get at, the
counter-cases of my quadrant, 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 that distance
would be doubled by some of the wells being found dry; and, if that were
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 element, 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 neatly made a wrapper to defend Bruce's feet
during 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 and 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 are 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
much enlivened by passing the body of a man who had been murdered,
stripped naked, and was lying on his face unburied. A wound in the hind
sinew of his leg was apparent; and he was, besides, thrust through the
back with a lance, and had two sword-wounds in the head. During the next
day they saw many dead bodies of the Tucorory, who had been scattered by
the Bishareen, and left to perish with thirst. 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 with his blunderbuss; but Bruce
desired him to refrain, being desirous to ascertain, by its flight,
something as to the probable distance of the Nile; he therefore obliged
it to take wing. The bird flew straight west, rising as he flew (a
melancholy proof that his journey was a long one), till at last, being
very high, he vanished from their sight, without seeking to approach the
earth: from which it was but too evident that the Nile was yet far
removed from them.

This night Georgis and the Turk Ismael were both so ill and so
desponding that they had resolved to pursue their journey no farther,
but submit to their destiny, as they called it, and stay behind to die.
It was with the utmost difficulty Bruce could persuade them to lay aside
this resolution; and the next morning he promised they should ride by
turns upon one of the camels, a thing that no one had yet attempted.

"After travelling for nearly three days," says Bruce, "we had an
unexpected entertainment, which 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 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 consumed, 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 a height 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, telescope, and
timekeeper, and save our lives by riding the camels alternately. But
Providence had already decreed that we should not terminate this
dangerous journey by our own ordinary foresight and contrivance, 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
afterward. This the Arabs all declared to be the effects of cold; and
yet Fahrenheit's thermometer, an hour before day, stood at 42°. 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 caravans making long journeys 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 have no fresh supply
of water; 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 nourishment from the bodies of the dead, yet the difficulties
which opposed them seemed greater than their strength, and they began to
abandon even the hope of ever getting out of the desert. "We were
surrounded," says Bruce, "with 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 misfortune; 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 to Italy, they might be
in a state of receiving farther improvement, which might carry them to
that perfection I have since been enabled to 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 maintain 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 desperate and impracticable to accomplish for more than two thousand
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 west:
the vicinity of the Nile, however, was very evident, from the high,
uniform mountains that confine its torrent when it comes out of Nubia.
The evening was still; and sitting down and covering 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 continued their course for two days; when,
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
important news, which was confirmed by Idris. A cry of joy followed
this annunciation. Christians, Moors, and Turks all burst into floods of
tears, kissing and embracing one another, and thanking 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 afterward reached a grove of palm-trees on the north of that
city.

In justice to Bruce's character, it is our duty to state, that we have
given but a very imperfect idea of the real fatigue of this journey to
Assouan; for, however weary the reader may have been with the desert
from which he has just returned, however he may rejoice to quit the
deep, heavy sand, and once more behold 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. Not only is it
impossible adequately to describe, from the report of others, real
sufferings and dangers, but those who have actually undergone either
soon find it impossible to bring back an unfaded picture of them to the
mind; of which there can be no stronger proof than the everyday
occurrence of people cheerfully returning to difficulties which, while
actually felt, they had firmly resolved never again to encounter.

FOOTNOTE:

[36] The appearance and effects of this "wind of the desert" are more
fully described in the following account. "The sky, at other times
serene and cloudless, appears lurid and heavy; the sun loses his
splendour, and appears of a violet colour. The air, saturated with
particles of the finest sand, becomes thick, fiery, and unfit for
respiration. The coldest substances change their natural qualities;
marble, iron, and water are hot, and deceive the hand which touches
them. Every kind of moisture is absorbed; the skin is parched and
shrivelled; paper cracks as if it were in the mouth of an oven. When
inhaled by men or animals, the simoom produces a painful feeling, as of
suffocation. The lungs are too rarefied for breathing, and the body is
consumed by an internal heat, which often terminates in convulsions and
death. The carcasses of the dead exhibit symptoms of immediate
putrefaction, similar to what is observed to take place in bodies
deprived of life by thunder, or the effect of electricity," &c. See
_Crichton's History of Arabia_, vol. i., p. 63, _et seq._, Harpers'
Family Library.--_Am. Ed._




CHAPTER XVII.

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


Without stopping to congratulate each other on their escape and safe
arrival, Bruce's companions, with one accord, ran eagerly to the Nile to
drink, notwithstanding that, in the course of the journey, they had
witnessed the dreadful consequences of such imprudence. Bruce himself
sat down under the shade of some palm-trees. It was very hot, and he
fell into a profound sleep. But Hagi Ismael, who, neither sleepy nor
thirsty, was exceedingly 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 janisaries who met him, one of whom asked
him what he was doing and where he had come from. Ismael, in a violent
passion and broken Arabic, exclaimed that he was a janisary of Cairo;
had come last from Tophet, and had walked through a desert of fire and
flames.

The soldier, hearing 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! do you imagine that I came this journey alone?" "Go,"
says Ismael, "to the palm-trees; and when you find the tallest man you
ever saw in your life, more 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 dulness and insensibility," says Bruce, "a
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 what 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 inclination 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 blunderbuses, 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.

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 have left in the desert." "Go in peace," said the aga, "eat and
sleep. Carry them," he said, speaking to his attendants, "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 afterward, 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 the desert for forty miles, had at
last the indescribable 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 torn 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, for his faithful services, he made him choose for himself 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 then return and follow him as a servant wherever he should
go. Bruce, however, 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 been very evident. But it was his system
always to provide against accidents; and by this means, and his intimate
knowledge of human nature, he had been enabled to reach Syene in safety.

To raise Bruce's character by undervaluing that of other travellers
would be an unworthy 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 cannot
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, at all
times, respect; and the reader has seen what was his behaviour, and the
treatment which he received during this perilous undertaking.

Burckhardt's resolution was unconquerable, and his patience in the
desert almost equal to that of the camel. Science had never a more
faithful servant; but then he neglected to seek information by giving
it, and the disguise under which he travelled concealed not only his
person, but his mind. All civilized men, from the philosopher down to
the mountebank, carry with them a fund either of instruction or
amusement; and the old fable of the basket-maker explains how possible
it is for any one to make himself, at least, useful to uncivilized
tribes; but of this Burckhardt neglected to avail himself, and a few
brief 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 insulting 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 midday hour in great
distress." "I was afraid to take any notes." "I hid myself to do it,"
&c., &c., &c....

On the 11th of December Bruce embarked at Syene, and without masts being
shipped or any sails set, the vessel or canja floated down the Nile.

There is no greater trial to the constitution than sudden change from an
active to a sedentary life: the human frame seems made for hardship; 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 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; he insisted, however, 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 woollen blanket, trousers
of the same, and an upper blanket of the same wrapped about me, and in
these I was lying. I had cut off my long beard at Furshoot, but still
wore prodigious mustaches. 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 wrapped 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 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 Mohammed Bey. Two large sofas, furnished with
cushions, took up a great part of a spacious saloon. These cushions 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 the 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 affluence. 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 walking at all
occasioned gave me altogether so crouching and cringing a look, that the
bey, upon seeing me 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, 'Mohammed Bey, I am Yagoube, an
Englishman; very unfit to appear before you in the condition I am in,
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 presently." Bruce soon left, and was accompanied 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 on which the bey gave them, at an audience, the worst
orange in that basket, the happiest 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 forbidden 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! 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 sensible 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, "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 obligation
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 estimation 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 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
Mohammed 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, our
traveller had the pleasure of sending the following firman to Mocha:


_Translation of the Firman procured by Mr. Bruce from Mohammed Bey
Aboudahab, 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 followers. Next, let
this order be obeyed with the assistance of God in all parts, which is
written from the Divan of Cairo the fortified, and which contains an
agreement with the esteemed Captains and Christian 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
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,[37] servant of the two holy places, and lord of
the two lands and the two seas; may God always give him strength and
victory! I make you sure, therefore, that you may come to Suez 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 anybody's incommoding or troubling you. So you shall
have repose more than you desired; and these promises 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 (February, 1773)."

Mohammed 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 in
the beginning of March. With as little delay as possible, he embarked on
board a small vessel, the crew of which, during some heavy weather,
proposed to throw his baggage overboard, conceiving that such large
cases must contain dead men, which all sailors consider as unlucky
guests. Bruce, however, manfully protected his hard-earned treasure,
and, after a tedious passage of three weeks, landed safely at
Marseilles.

FOOTNOTE:

[37] The Grand Seignior.




CHAPTER XVIII.

     Bruce returns to Europe.--Visits Paris--Italy.--Returns to
     England.--Quarrels with the Writers of the Day.--Retires to
     Scotland.--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 burn'd,
     As HOME his footsteps he has turn'd,
      From wandering on a foreign strand?"


But, although "home is home, though ever so homely," there is, perhaps,
no idea in the human mind more indefinite than that which circumscribes
the precise limits of our "home;" for, like the pupil of the eye, it
dilates and contracts according to circumstances.

The European who has long sojourned 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 town, parish, house, room, are homes of different dimensions; and,
regardless of all these, the sailor-boy has often felt that he was not
really "at home" till he once more found himself in his mother's arms.

Bruce considered himself "at home" as soon as he landed at Marseilles;
and we have deemed the foregoing 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 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 intellectual happiness which is only known in civilized
life. His health, however, was much impaired, and for five-and-thirty
days he suffered very great agony from a worm, called faranteit, which
had bedded itself in his leg below the knee. This worm is supposed 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 head, and 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." The
inflammation, however, was at last reduced, though 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 subject of general conversation, and
his company was courted by people of learning and rank.

As an acknowledgment of the favours which he had received from the
French nation during the early 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, he had a still stronger inclination to complete 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, made him obstinately determine,
against the advice of all his friends, to proceed to Italy. Before Bruce
was consul at Algiers, he had fallen in love with a Scottish 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, among the mountains of
Abyssinia, and in the burning desert of Nubia, Bruce'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 how
he insisted that Strates should drink to the health of MARIA! and he had
at last hasted homeward, hoping to have all his delightful anticipations
realized. But, 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.

Sorely disappointed, his feelings highly irritated, his leg still
inflamed from the farenteit, gaunt, weather-beaten, sunburnt, and in
stature six feet four inches, good English measure, Bruce suddenly
appeared at Rome before Filippo Accoramboni, to demand that he should
apologize 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 Bruce most unreasonably insisted that
this declaration should be expressed in writing, which the marquis very
properly 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 Abbé 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 repairing
     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 my carriage to your
     gate; if my carriage does not please you, let your own be ready.
     Let us go together 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 sort of epistle came upon the marchese like the simoom. It was
impossible to stand against it; and there was nothing left for him but
to prostrate himself to the earth, as Bruce had done in the desert. He
therefore made the following reply:


     _Sign. Accoramboni to Mr. Bruce._

     "SIR--When the marriage with Miss M., at present my wife, was
     contracted, it was never mentioned 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 for some months at
Rome. From the nobility, as well as his countrymen who were there, he
received marks of very particular attention; and Pope Clement XIV., the
celebrated Ganganelli, presented him with a series of gold medals,
relating to the different 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 afterward 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
desirous to seek his acquaintance. He was introduced at court, and
graciously received by his majesty George III., who was pleased not only
to accept his drawings[38] of Baalbec, Palmyra, and the African cities,
but to express his high approbation of the very great exertions which he
had made to extend the boundaries of geographical knowledge.

"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 humanity 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 length to the Count de Buffon, and Mons. Gueneau de Montbeliard, and
the very amiable and accomplished Madame d'Aubenton. I cannot say by
whose industry, but it was in consequence of this friendly
communication, 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 civilized
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 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, and, in complying with their request, he gave them good
measure, and told them of people who wore rings in their lips instead of
their ears; who anointed themselves, not 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.

At that time (to say nothing about the present day) the English public
indolently allowed itself, with regard to particular regions of the
earth, to be led and misled by a party of individuals, who dogmatically
dictated what idle theory was to be believed, and what solid information
was to be rejected. These brazen images Bruce refused to worship. In
their presence he maintained his statements, and they frowned upon him
with pompous incredulity. With just indignation, he sneered at their
impertinence and folly; but they knew their power, and they deliberately
banded together to run him down.

"There has not," says Dr. Clarke (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 contradiction 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 efforts to conceal it,
shows itself through the veil of their pretended liberality and
impartiality; and the latter, because they are unable to control their
bad propensity to dispute and condemn everything they have no knowledge
of."[39]

"It was the misfortune of that traveller (Bruce), who is now no more,"
says Dr. Russel, in his history of Aleppo, "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 conversation, 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 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 unjustifiable insult. Determined in no way to
compromise his honour, he felt that he had better quit 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 affectionate attention and regard which we must
admit the Scotch to have been always ready to pay to any one among them
who has reflected 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 disorder, but had become
involved in legal difficulties.

For more than a year and a half he was thus employed, enjoying the
bustle and arrangements which served to divert 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 Fingask, and of 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 transcribing and arranging
his journals; but, happy in his own domestic circle, and conscious that
he had been a faithful servant to his country, he seemed to prefer
repose to the vexation of laying his travels before the public.

Always fond of astronomy, from which he had derived so much practical
advantage, he erected, on the top of his house at Kinnaird, a temporary
observatory; and, dressed in Abyssinian costume, wearing even the
turban, he occasionally enjoyed very natural and delightful reflections
in gazing, from a tranquil and civilized country, upon constellations in
the heavens, which he had so often watched in moments of danger and
privation; but a man's notions seldom fit his neighbours; and, "Eh! the
laird's gaen daft!" was the opinion which the country people of Kinnaird
secretly expressed among themselves at Bruce's astronomical operations.

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 daughter. 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 to 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 ignoble it was, after all my dangers and difficulties, to be
conquered by a misfortune incident to all men, the indulgence of which
was unreasonable in itself, fruitless in its consequence, and so unlike
the expectation I 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
anonymous letters and paragraphs in the newspapers; and thereby absurdly
endeavoured to oblige me to publish an account of those travels, which
they affected, at the same time, to believe I had never performed."

"It is universally known," states the Gentleman's Magazine for 1789,
"that doubts have been entertained _whether Mr. Bruce was ever in
Abyssinia_. The Baron de Tott, speaking of the sources of the Nile,
says, '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 knowledge
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 sincere friend, the Hon. Daines
Barrington. In the mean while, his enemies triumphantly maintained a
clamour against him, and in his study he was assailed by the most
virulent accusations of exaggeration and falsehood; and all descriptions
of people were against him, from the moralist of the day down to the
witty Peter Pindar.

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1789, it is stated that Johnson had
declared to Sir John Hawkins, "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 afterward altered his opinion_!"

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 volumes, and was entitled, "Travels to discover the Sources of
the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773, by James
Bruce of Kinnaird, Esq., F.R.S."

The work was dedicated to the king; and in his preface Bruce frankly
explains the reasons which had delayed for so many years the publication
of his travels, and 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 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."

He concludes his preface with the following noble 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 gratefully
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
objections, such as every new publication seems unavoidably to give
birth to, nor ever reply to those witticisms and criticisms that appear
in newspapers and periodical 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, had the public thus addressed been really "impartial,
well-informed, and judicious," what a favourable impression would it
have formed of a work appearing under circumstances which so peculiarly
entitled it to belief! The author was not only of good family, but a man
evidently proud of the same, and therefore not 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 for the travels he had performed. He had not hastily passed
through the countries which he described, but remained in them for six
years. His descriptions were not of that trifling personal nature which
in a short time it might be difficult to confirm or confute, but, with
mathematical instruments in his hands, he professed to have determined
the latitudes and longitudes of every place of importance that he
visited, thus offering to men of science of all future ages data whereby
to condemn him if he was inaccurate; while these data were of a
description not to afford the slightest pleasure or amusement to the
general reader. The work was not a hasty production; on the contrary, it
appeared seventeen years after the travels it described had been
concluded; and, finally, it was the production of an old man, who 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 his protracted absence.

But his enemies, with pen in hand, like Shylock whetting his knife,
impatiently were waiting for his book; and it no sooner appeared than
Bruce was deprived of what was nearest his heart--his honour and his
reputation.

It was useless to stand against the storm which assailed him. His
volumes were universally disbelieved; and yet it may be most confidently
stated, that they do not contain a single statement which, according to
our present knowledge of the world, can even be termed improbable.

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
information to give, but he wanted skill to impart it as it deserved;
and certainly nothing can be worse than the arrangement of his
materials. He hardly starts with his narrative before we have him
talking quite familiarly of people and places known only to himself;
and, although perfectly at ease and at home, he forgets that his reader
is an utter stranger in the land.

He seems, likewise, never to have reflected that the generality of
mankind were not as fond as himself of seeking to trace a dark
speculative question to its source. His theories, which, whether right
or wrong, are certainly ingenious, constantly 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 this day, they 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 importance, he occasionally neglected
his narrative, confused his facts and dates, and from his notes being
made on separate slips of paper, he fell into several careless mistakes.
His dates also 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 sickness. Besides, it must
be evident to every one, that, when a man visits such immense countries
as Bruce travelled over, his great difficulty is to attend to details.
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 that he should be very attentive to minute
parts; and if he be particular in his details, he can look but little to
the general character of the regions he describes.

But Bruce was disbelieved _in toto_; and it was even proclaimed that he
had never been in Abyssinia at all! Dr. Clarke says: "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 consequence of
the calumnies circulated against the author's veracity."

Nothing could be more dignified than his behaviour under such cruel
treatment. He treated his country with the silent contempt which it
deserved, disdaining to make any reply to publications impeaching his
veracity; and when his friends earnestly entreated him to alter, modify,
and explain the accounts which he had given, he firmly replied, in the
words of his preface, "What I have written I have written!"

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 constant companion; and he used to teach her the proper mode of
pronouncing the Abyssinian words, "that he might leave," as he observed,
"some one behind him who could pronounce them correctly." He repeatedly
said to her, with feelings highly excited, "I 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 afterward married John Jardine, 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 Bruce's statements, Mrs. Jardine, who was then ill
in bed, sketched with her pencil a short account of this confirmation,
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 life she was devotedly attached to the memory of her excellent
father; and in a memorandum written by one of the ablest authors of the
present day, she has been described to us as one of the most amiable 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 Barrington
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.

His notions of his own consequence and of the antiquity of his family
were high, and he had, consequently, the reputation of being a proud
man; yet he was in the habit of entertaining at Kinnaird, with great
hospitality, strangers, and those people of distinction who visited him;
and in his own family he was a charming companion, entering into the
amusements 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 stout and lusty, rode slowly over his
estate to his collieries, mounted on a horse of great power and size. At
Kinnaird he was often seen wearing the 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 respecting 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, he 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, Bruce calmly observed, "Now, sir, you will never again
say it is _impossible_!"

Single-speech Hamilton was Brace'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
Balugani, 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 up now here, and make another speech
as good, we shall believe it to have been your own."

These trifling anecdotes sufficiently show how sensitive Bruce was to
the unjust insults 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, he had been
complimented by Dr. Blair and a few others 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
public in mass an individual can do nothing. Bruce's happiness was now
at an end; he had survived his reputation. When he was asked, "What
could he do against so many?" he answered, "DIE!" and this catastrophe
soon happened.

The last act of Brace's life was one of refined and polite attention. A
large party had dined at Kinnaird, and, as they were about to depart,
Bruce was gayly talking to a young lady in the drawing-room, when,
suddenly observing that her aged mother was proceeding to her carriage
unattended, he hurried to the great staircase. In this effort, the foot
which had carried him safely through all his dangers chanced to fail
him; he fell down several of the steps, broke some of his fingers,
pitched on his head, and never spoke again!

Thus died, 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;
he but selected for the employment of his life enterprises of danger, in
which haste, eagerness, and impetuosity were converted into the means of
serving the cause of science and his country. The zeal with which he
toiled for the approbation of the world, and the pain he felt from its
cruelty and injustice, exclude him from ranking among those great men
who, by the help of religion, or even philosophy, may have learned to
despise both; yet it must be observed, that, had he possessed this
equanimity of mind, he would never have undertaken the great things
which he accomplished.

Bruce belonged to that fearless 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 knight-errant in search of new regions of the world; yet
the steady courage with which he encountered danger--his patience and
fortitude in adversity--his good sense in prosperity--the skill and
judgment with which he steered his lonely course through some of the
most barren and barbarous regions of the earth, bending even the
ignorance, passions, and prejudices of the people he visited to his own
advantage--the graphic truth with which he describes the strange scenes
that he witnessed, and his inflexible courage in maintaining the truth
of his assertions against the mean, barbarous incredulity of his age,
most deservedly place him at the head of his own class, where he stands
second to none. His example, therefore, is well worthy the attention and
study of every individual whose duty or inclination may lead him to
attempt to penetrate the yet unknown, perilous, and uncivilized regions
of the globe.

Four days after his death, his remains, attended by his tenantry and by
several of the principal men in the country, were deposited in the
churchyard of Larbert, in a tomb which Bruce had built for his wife and
his infant child.

On the south side of the monument there is the following inscription:


     IN THIS TOMB ARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS
                       OF
        JAMES BRUCE, ESQ., 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 TRAVERSED THE DESERTS OF NUBIA.

        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 WERE CONSPICUOUS
     FOR GENIUS, FOR VALOUR, AND FOR VIRTUE.


The descendants of James Bruce of Kinnaird remain to this day in their
country--unrewarded.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] 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 liberally assumed were the productions of Balugani, his
Italian clerk. But, even admitting that Balugani held the pencil, we
submit that Bruce was fully entitled to present them to the king and 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; and their merit consisted in the danger and difficulty with
which such details had been procured.

[39] The writer of this was acquainted with Belzoni, and has heard him
describe scenes in his travels perhaps quite as marvellous as anything
told by Bruce; and, knowing the character of the man, he could not for a
moment doubt their entire truth.--_Am. Ed._





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