Travels and discoveries in Abyssinia

Preface

. Amongst the noted men of the eighteenth century, James Bruce stands out very clearly distinguished by his dignified energy and perseverance as a traveller in barbarous lands. Of imposing person (six feet four), of gentlemanly birth and position, accomplished in mind, possessed of indomitable courage, self-reliance, and sagacity, powerful, calm, taciturn, he was quite the kind of man to press his way through the deserts of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Ethiopia, and bring back accounts of them. On 14th November 1770 he reached the source of the Abai, then considered the main stream of the Nile ; this accomplish ment of the chief object of his journey filling him with the greatest exultation. He was altogether twelve years absent from his country, engaged in these remarkable travels. Bruce was born at Kinnaird House, Stirlingshire, December 14, 1730.

From Harrow he passed, in the winter of 1747, to the University of Edinburgh, with the intention of studying law ; but changing his views, he went to London, and having, in February 1754, married the daughter of a wine merchant's widow, became a partner

PREFACE.

. vi in the business. His wife dying within a year, he made a tour on the Continent, and on his father's death in 1758 he succeeded to the estate of Kinnaird. In 1761 he retired from the wine-trade, and in 1763 was appointed consul-general at Algiers. He remained there about two years, studying the Oriental languages and acquiring the rudiments of surgery. He then went to Aleppo, where he took further instructions in the medical art, whicli enabled him to perform his remarkable travels in the character of a physician. When at length, after great labour and care, he published his travels in five quartos (of which this book is an abridg ment), with an additional volume of illustrations, a torrent of sceptical derision in a great measure drowned the voice of judicious praise which was their due.

The public appears to have shown remarkable narrow-mindedness and ignorance on the matter. There was surely nothing physically impossible in man's eating lion's flesh. If it were practicable to save the country from a dangerous animal by putting a premium upon its destruction, why should not the plan have been resorted to ? Equally absurd was it to deny that there could be a people $0 barbarous as to cut steaks from the living animal. Why, in the northern parts of Bruce's own country, it was at that very time customary for the people to bleed their cattle, for the sake of a little sustenance to themselves, in times of dearth. It was creditable to George III. that he always stood up for the veracity of Bruce, while men such as Dr Johnson and others, who thought themselves better judges, denounced him as a fabulist.

PREFACE.

. vii The end of Bruce was striking. While enjoying the evening of his laborious life in his mansion of Kinnaird, on the Carse of Falkirk, he had occasion one night (April 27, 1794) to hand a lady to her carriage. His foot slipped on the stair, and he fell on his head. Taken up speech less, he expired that night, at the age of sixty-four. We need not now blame James Bruce for claiming the credit and honour of discovering the head-waters of the Nile. What he discovered was the source of the Bahr-al-Azrek, or Blue Nile, while the higher dignity belongs, not to the Blue Nile, but to the Bahr-al-Abiad, or White Nile, which has its source beyond the Victoria Nyanza, at a point much farther south than was reached by Bruce. CONTENTS. CHAP. I'ACE I. JOURNEY TO ALGIERS AND PALMYRA I II. FROM SIDON TO KENNf. 19 III.

CROSSES THE THEBARIL DESERT AND ON TO JIDDAH 66 IV. FROM JIDDAH TO MASSOWAH 93 V. MASSOWAH TO ARKIKO Ill VI. FROM ARKIKO TO ADOWA 130 VII. FROM ADOWA TO GONDAR 156 VIII. DESCRIPTION OF GONDAR 185 IX. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF GONDAR 205 X. VISITS CATARACT OF THE NILE 221 XI. REACHES THE FOUNTAINS OF THE NILE 249 XII. JOUKNEY TO SENNAAR 284 XIII. CROSSES THE GREAT DESERT OF NUKIA 327 XIV. FROM SENNAAR TO SYENE 332 XV. LANDS AT MARSEILLES 351 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Boats on Main Stream ofthe Nile Frontispiece Algiers, from the Sea 3 Portico of the Great Colonnade, Palmyra 16 Ruins of the Great Temple at Baalbek 17 Street Scene in Cairo 24 Second Pyramid of Gizeh 29 How, near Thebes 49 Ruins ofthe Temples at Thebes 52 Great Hall of Columns, Karnak 57 First Cataract ofthe Nile 64 Jiddah

Chapter I

Journey to Algiers — Bruce applies himself to the study of medicine and surgery — Voyage to Minorca, and return along the coast of Africa — Bona — Tabarca — Tunis — Roman Ruins at Dugga — Hydra — Welled Sidi Boogannim, a tribe of Arabs, living on lion's flesh — Tipasa — Medrashem, the sepulchre of the Numidian kings — Jebel Aurez, and a remarkable tribe inhabiting those mountains — Tezzoute — Lambsa — Elegant remains of antiquity at Spaitla — Muchtar — Second visit to Spaitla — Feriana — Amphitheatre at El Gemme — Caravan of pilgrims — Bengazi, and distresses of its inhabitants — Shipwreck of Bruce — Return to Bengazi — Sails for Crete — Cyprus — Journey to Palmyra. As fvWl AMES BRUCE, having been appointed to the office lW of British Consul at Algiers, set out for Italy through "^ItSM* France.

On his arrival at Rome he received orders Y to proceed to Naples, and there to await his Majesty's further commands. Having stopped a short time at that place, he returned to Rome, and thence hastened to Leghorn, where, embarking on board the Montreal man-of-war, he set sail for Algiers, and took possession of his consulship. During the first year of his residence at Algiers, constant conversation with the natives abroad, and at home with the Arabic books he had collected in Europe, enabled him to dispense with the assistance of an interpreter. The immediate A prospect of commencing his journey to the interior of Africa made him double his diligence ; neither by night nor day did he allow himself any relaxation from his studies, though he had never found the acquisition of a single language an object of time or difficulty.

His desire to commence his proposed expedition was, however, disappointed by a dispute which arose with the Algerine Government concerning passports. A number of blank Mediterranean passes for British ships having fallen into the hands of the French governor of Minorca, they were filled up by him, and, with a desire to embroil the British government with the Barbary States, they were sold to Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other enemies of these corsairs. The fraud being in several instances detected, the pirates began to imagine that the passports of all vessels they fell in with, British as well as others, were false, and issued to pro tect their enemies. To remedy this, papers, called Passavants, were sealed with the arms of the English governor of Mahon, and signed with his name and that ofhis secretary.

These papers contained a simple declaration, that the vessels which carried them were British property. The Algerine cruisers, being un instructed concerning this alteration, inquired as usual for the Mediterranean passes, and brought all vessels that were un provided with them as good prizes into Algiers. These were immediately reclaimed by Bruce, on which the Dey asked him whether, on his word as a Christian and an Englishman, these written passes were according to treaty, or whether the term Passavant could be found in any of the treaties between Great Britain and the Barbary States. Bruce was obliged to admit that they were not according to treaty, but repre sented that it was a measure of necessity, created by the situation of affairs in the Mediterranean. On this the Dey, with great emotion, made the following remarkable reply : 'The British Government know that we can neither read nor write — no, not even our own language ; we are ignorant soldiers and sailors — robbers, if you please, though we do not wish to rob you ; but war is our trade, and we live by that only.

Tell me how my cruisers are to know Algiers, from the Sea. that all these different writings and seals are Governor Mostyn's, or Governor Johnstone's, and not thc Duke of Medina Sidonia's, or Barcelot's, Captain of thc King of Spain's cruisers ?' Bruce found it impossible to reply to a question so simple and so direct. He vvas now in a critical situation : all that he could do was to employ expedients for gaining time. Admiralty passes came out, the matter was adjusted, and thus terminated one of the most dangerous affairs in which our traveller vvas ever engaged. During this interval Bruce applied himself with indefatig able assiduity to his studies. He likewise learned the art of bleeding, from Mr Ball, the king's surgeon at Algiers, who showed him thc manner of applying different kinds of bandages, and gave him an idea how to dress sores and wounds.

His subsequent acquaintance with Dr Russel, at Aleppo, tended greatly to enlarge his knowledge of physic and surgery. He possessed a small chest of medicines, a dispensary to teach him to compound others, and some short treatises on the acute diseases of tropical climates ; from this provision he hoped to derive great advantages in his future travels. Being obliged, by business of a private nature, to take a voyage to Mahon, Bruce sailed from Algiers, after taking leave ofthe Dey, who furnished him with the necessary letters and, in particular, strongly recommended him to the protection of the Beys of Tunis and Tripoli. Being disappointed in his views at Mahon, he sailed in a small vessel from that port, and having a fair wind, in a short time made the coast of Africa, and landed at Bona, the ancient Aphrodisium.

It is a considerable town, and stands on a large plain, part of which appears to have been once overflowed by the sea. Its present trade consists in the exportation of wheat, in plentiful years, when it is permitted by the government of Algiers. Pro ceeding along the coast, he passed the small island of Tabarca, which had recently belonged to the Genoese, whose garrison was surprised and carried into slavery by the regency of Tunis. The island is celebrated for its coral fishery ; its coasts are covered with immense forests of lofty oaks, more than sufficient to supply the necessities of all the maritime AT TUNIS. 5 powers in the Levant, if their quality be but equal to their size. Having, out of respect to the memory of Cato, who put an end to his life here rather than submit to Cæsar, visited Utica, of which nothing remains but a heap of rubbish, and the site of ancient Carthage, Bruce proceeded to Tunis, which is only twelve miles distant from the latter.

Tunis is low, hot, and damp, but destitute of good water. The climate is far from being so good as that of Algiers ; the inhabitants, however, are more civilised, and the government milder. Our traveller delivered his letters from the Dey, and obtaining permission to visit the country in any direction, he set out on his inland journey through the kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, accompanied by a French renegado and ten horse-soldiers, armed with firelocks and pistols, who, as he says, were as eminent for cowardice as for horsemanship. Proceeding along the river Majerda, he came to Dugga, where, among a large collection of ruins, he found one building that was easily distinguishable. It vvas a large temple of the Corinthian order, of Parian marble, with fluted columns, and the cornice highly ornamented in the best style of sculpture.

In the tympanum is an eagle flying to heaven, with a human figure on its back, which, from the numerous inscriptions still remaining, appears to have been intended for the apotheosis of Trajan, to whom the temple was erected by Adrian, his successor. Bruce spent fifteen days in taking drawings of the architecture of this temple, the magnificent remains of which are perfectly unknown at Tunis. Leaving Dugga, he continued his route through the pleasant plains inhabited by the Welled Yagoube, and arrived at Hydra, a frontier place between the two kingdoms of Algiers and Tunis, inhabited by a tribe of Arabs whose chief is a mirabout, or saint. They are called Welled Sidi Boogannim, sons of the father of flocks, and are immensely rich, as they pay no tribute either to Tunis or Algiers. The pretence for this exemption is of a singular nature : by the direction of their founder, they are obliged to live on lion's flesh, as far as they can procure it, for their daily food.

With this injunction they strictly comply, and in consideration of the utility of their vow, they pay no taxes to the state. The consequence of their mode of life is that they are excellent horsemen and un daunted hunters, which qualifications, together with their frontier situation, are supposed to have as much influence in procuring them exemption from taxes as the utility of their vow. In the tents of these Arabs, Bruce partook of their extraordinary fare. He ate with them part of three lions. One was a male-lion, whose flesh was lean, tough, smelt violently of musk, and had the taste which he imagined old horse-flesh would have. The second vvas a female, which had likewise a musky smell, but in a less degree, and had it not been for the prejudices of civilised life, the meat, when broiled, would not have appeared very bad.

The third vvas a whelp, six or seven months old, and what is not a little extraordi nary, it tasted the worst of the three. On the eating of this uncommon food Bruce makes the following characteristic remarks : ' 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 conver sation 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 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 had 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 LION EATING. 7 the contrary, I do aver, in the face of these fantastic prejudices, that I have eaten the flesh of lions — that is, part of three lions — in the tents of Welled Sidi Boogannim.' From Hydra our traveller passed to Tipasa, an ancient Roman colony, exhibiting a very extensive scene of ruins. Among the rest there is a large temple, and a four-faced trium phal arch of the Corinthian order, and in the very best taste. Crossing the river Myskiannah, which falls into the Majerda, or Bragada, he entered the province of Constantina, belonging to Algiers, whose capital of the same name was the residence of the Numidian Syphax. It stands on a lofty, gloomy, and tremendous precipice.

Only part of its aqueduct remains ; the water, which was formerly carried into the town, now dis charges itself into a chasm, or narrow valley, from the summit of a cliff four hundred feet in height. The Bey of Constantina, being at this time at war with an Arab tribe in this province, vvas in his camp. Bruce joined his army, consisting of about 12,000 men, and four pieces of cannon, and after refreshing himself for several days, continued his journey, nearly in a south-east direction, till he arrived at Medrashem, a superb pile of building, the sepulchre of Syphax and the other Numidian sovereigns, and where, as the Arabs imagine, their treasures were deposited. Passing over Jebel Aurez, which is an assemblage of some of the most craggy steeps in Africa, our adventurer, to his great surprise, met with a tribe called Nardie, who, though not so fair as the English, are a shade lighter than the natives of any country southward of Britain.

They are a savage, independent people, who live in tents, but have among the mountains huts built of mud and straw. Each of them has between the eyes a Greek cross, marked with antimony. Bruce imagines them to be a remnant ofthe Vandals, an army of whom, as we are informed by Pro copius, was here defeated, after an obstinate resistance. They acknowledged, with great pleasure, that their ancestors had been Christians ; they live in perpetual warfare with the Moors, pay no taxes to the Bey, but live in constant defiance of his authority. He next arrived at Tezzoute, which, by the numerous Latin inscriptions, is proved to have been the ancient Lambesa. Its ruins are very extensive ; seven gates are still standing, and large portions of the walls, solidly built with square masonry without lime.

One building, supported by Corinthian columns, is in a good taste. From the dimensions of the gates, Bruce suspects that it might have been designed for a stable sot elephants, or a repository for catapultæ or other large military engines. Travelling eastward, he again entered the kingdom of Tunis, and reached Spaitla. Here he found very extensive and elegant remains, among which are three temples, two of the Corinthian and one of the Composite order. A great portion of these are entire. During the eight days he stayed at Spaitla he was much incommoded by the Welled Omran, a lawless, rapacious tribe. It was a fair match, says Bruce, between coward and coward. He and his company were enclosed in a square, formed by a high wall, which surrounded the three temples. The plunderers would have attacked him had they not dreaded his firearms ; and he would have run away had he not been afraid of meeting their horse in the plain.

In this situation he vvas almost starved, when Welled Hassan and a friendly tribe of Dreeda fortunately came to his relief, and brought him both safety and provisions. Muchtar, at which place our author next arrived, contains two triumphal arches, the largest of which is equal in* mass, taste, and execution to anything of the kind he ever saw. The smaller is more simple, but extremely elegant. At Kissen there is likewise a triumphal arch, in a very good taste, and a small square temple, on which are carved various instru ments of sacrifice that are very curious. From Kissen he proceeded north-eastward to Musti and Tubersoke, thence to Dugga, and down the Bagrada to Tunis. His next, which he calls his middle journey through Tunis, led by Zowan, a lofty mountain, with a large aqueduct which formerly supplied the city of Carthage.

Not satisfied with what he had already seen of Spaitla, Bruce passed five days more at that place, correcting and revising his designs. In dependent of its architectural beauties, the town is situated in TRIPOLI. 9 one of the most beautiful spots in Barbary, embosomed in juniper-trees and watered by a charming stream, which here sinks into the earth and is seen no more. Proceeding south-east, he came to Feriana, the ancient Thala, destroyed by Metellus in his pursuit of Jugurtha. Here was nothing worthy of notice but the baths of warm water without the town, in which were a number of fish, about four inches long, resembling gudgeons. From the heat of the water, Bruce was much surprised that they could exist in it. The bath is at the head of the fountain, and a stream runs off to a considerable distance.

Into this stream, he vvas informed, the fish go down to a certain distance in the day, returning to the bath, the warmest and deepest water, at night. Arriving on the lesser Syrtis, Bruce continued along the sea coast, northward to Inshilla, and turning again to the north west, he came to El Gemme. Here he employed himself in taking drawings of a spacious amphitheatre, in perfect preservation, except the loss of four arches, which Mohammed Bey blew up from the foundation, that it might not be employed as a fortress by the rebel Arabs. Beneath this amphitheatre was a subterranean building, constructed in such a manner as to be filled with water by means of a sluice and aqueduct, which are still entire. At the exhibition of naumachiæ, or water games, the water rose through a large square hole faced with stone in the middle of the arena.

Our traveller proceeded along the coast to Susa, through a fine country planted with olive-trees, and again arrived at Tunis. It vvas not long before he quitted that city, on a very serious journey across the desert to Tripoli. The coast along which he passed vvas destitute of tree or bush or verdure of any kind, excepting the short grass which borders these coun tries before you enter the moving sands of the desert. About four days' journey from Tripoli, he fell in with the caravan of pilgrims under the Emir Hadje, who vvas conduct ing them from Fez and Suz, in Morocco, all across Africa to Mecca. The Emir, who was uncle to thc emperor, was a middle-aged man,* with a disagreeable and stupid countenance. His caravan was composed of 3000 men, and, as his people informed Bruce, of 12,000 to 14,000 camels, some of which were laden with merchandise and others with skins of water, flour, and other necessaries.

These pilgrims were a disorderly, unarmed rabble, and when our traveller's horsemen, though but fifteen in number, overtook them in the gray of the morn ing, they showed signs of great trepidation, and had begun to fly in confusion. When informed that it was not an enemy their fears subsided, and, after the manner of cowards, they became extremely insolent. From Tripoli, Bruce despatched an English servant to Smyrna with his books, drawings, and unnecessary instruments ; then crossing the Gulf of Sidra, the Syrtis Major of the ancients, he arrived at Bengazi, or Berenice, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus. This place vvas under the command of thc brother ofthe Bey of Tripoli, a young man as weak in intellect as in constitution. The whole province was in extreme disorder. Two tribes of Arabs, occupying the territory westward of the town, to which they had before been the sources of wealth and plenty, were engaged, through the mismanagement of the Bey, in a violent quarrel.

The tribe that was reputed to be the weakest had beaten the most numerous and nearest to the town, and driven them to seek shelter within its walls. For a year previous to this event, the inhabitants of Bengazi had been afflicted with famine, and by this accident four thousand persons were added to their population. Being utterly destitute of every necessary, ten or twelve victims were every night found dead in the streets, and many are said to have supported life by means at which human nature shudders. Im patient to remove from these horrid scenes, he hastened from Bengazi, and proceeded by way of Arsinoe and Barca to Ras Sem, the petrified city, concerning which so many ridiculous tales were told in England at the beginning of the last century by Cassem Aga. Approaching the sea-coast, Bruce arrived at Ptolemeta, the ancient Ptolemais, where he found a small junk belonging to Lampedosa, a little island near Crete, which had been unload ing corn, and vvas just ready to sail.

Hearing that war, famine, and pestilence were ravaging the country, and places ON BOARD A GREEK VESSEL. 11 through which he had intended to continue his route, he resolved to shun these accumulated evils, and if possible to preserve for the public that knowledge and entertainment he had already acquired. He accordingly embarked on board the Greek vessel, which, as he afterwards found, was very ill equipped. She had, it is true, plenty of sail, but not an ounce of ballast. A multitude of men, women, and children, flying from the same calamities as himself, crowded in unknown to our traveller ; but the passage was short, the vessel light, and the master, as he imagined, well acquainted with those seas. He learned, however, when too late, that the contrary vvas the case, that he vvas an absolute landsman, and though he was the proprietor of the vessel, this vvas only his first voyage.

It was in the beginning of September. They set sail at dawn of day, in favourable, pleasant weather : a light, steady breeze, though not exactly fair, promised a short and agreeable voyage. But it was not long before it began to blow fresh and cold ; a violent shower of hail succeeded, and the gathering clouds menaced thunder. Bruce observed that the ship gained no offing, and hoped, if the weather proved unfavourable, to be able to persuade the captain to put into Bengazi, particularly as the latter soon discovered that he had not provisions on board for one day. The wind, however, became contrary, and blew a violent storm. The ship being in her trim, with large lateen sails, fell violently to leeward, and all at once struck on a sunken rock, on which she appeared to be fixed. The wind at that instant fell calm, but the moment the ship struck, our traveller began to think of his own situation.

The vessel vvas not far from the shore, but there was a very great swell at sea. Two boats that had not been hoisted in still towed astern. The largest of these vvas presently unlashed by Bruce's two ser vants, who had been in the navy, and all three got down into her, followed by a multitude of people whom they were unable to hinder. All they could do was to get away from the ship with all possible expedition, and two oars were procured to row the boat to shore. Bruce had stripped himself to an under-waistcoat and linen drawers ; round him vvas wrapped a silk sash, or girdle : in the pocket of the waistcoat he had a pencil, pocket-book, and watch. Two English and two Moorish ser vants accompanied him, but the others, with more prudence, remained on board. The boat had not proceeded twice its length from the vessel when it was nearly filled by a wave.

A howl of despair from his crew announced their helpless state, and their conscious ness of a danger they could not shun. Bruce was sensible that their general fate must be decided by the very next wave that vvas rolling towards them, and apprehensive lest some helpless being should lay hold of him, and involve him to his own destruction, he called to his servants, both in Arabic and English : ' We are all lost ; if you can swim, follow me ; ' on which he let himself down in the face of the wave. Whether that or the next wave filled the boat he knew not, as he went to leeward to make his distance as great as possible. Though in the flower of life and health, an expert swimmer, and trained to every kind of exercise and fatigue, yet all these circum stances, which might have availed him much in deep water, were insufficient when he came to the surf.

From the eddy wave and reflux he received a violent blow on the breast which seemed as if given by a large branch of a tree, a thick cord, or some elastic weapon. It threw him on his back, and made him swallow a considerable quantity of water, which had nearly suffocated him. The next wave he avoided by dipping his head and letting it pass over ; but he found himself breath less, weary, and exhausted. The land, however, vvas before him, and at no great distance. A large wave floated him up. He now had the prospect of escape still nearer, and endeavoured to prevent his being carried back into the surf. His heart was strong, but his bodily strength failed in consequence of being twisted about and struck on the face and breast by the ebbing wave. He vvas now ready to give up the struggle and to abandon himself to his fate, but, as a last hope, he sank to try if he could touch the bottom, and found that he reached the sand with his feet, though the water vvas still a little above his mouth.

The result of this experiment infused into him re newed vigour; he strove manfully, floating only with thc influx CAST ASHORE. 13 of the wave, and preserving his strength for the struggle against the ebb, which, by sinking ancl touching the ground, he now rendered more easy. At length finding his hands and knees upon the sand, he fixed his nails into it, and obstinately resisted the ebbing wave, crawling a few feet when the sea had retired. After creeping so far as to be out of the reach of the waves he fainted, and remained for some time totally insensible. What first awakened Bruce from this semblance of death was a blow with the butt-end of a lance, shod with iron, on the juncture of the neck with the backbone. This produced a sensation of violent pain ; but it was mere accident that the blow was not given with the point ; for the waistcoat, sash, and drawers, being all made in the Turkish fashion, caused the Arabs, who had come down to the shore to plunder the vessel, to believe that he vvas a Turk.