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BRUCE, JAMES (1930-1794)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 676 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRUCE, See also:JAMES (1930-1794) , Scottish explorer in See also:Africa, was See also:born at Kinnaird See also:House, See also:Stirlingshire, on the 14th of See also:December 1730. He was educated at See also:Harrow and See also:Edinburgh University, and began to study for the See also:bar; but his See also:marriage to the daughter of a See also:wine See also:merchant resulted in his entering that business. His wife died in See also:October 1754, within nine months of marriage, and Bruce thereafter travelled in See also:Portugal and See also:Spain. The examination of See also:oriental See also:MSS. at the Escurial led him to the study of Arabic and Geez and determined his future career. In 1758 his See also:father's See also:death placed him in See also:possession of the See also:estate of Kinnaird. On the outbreak of See also:war with Spain in 1762 he submitted to the See also:British See also:government a See also:plan for an attack on See also:Ferrol. His See also:suggestion was not adopted, but it led to his selection by the and See also:earl of See also:Halifax for the See also:post of British See also:consul at See also:Algiers, with a See also:commission to study the See also:ancient ruins in that See also:country, in which See also:interest had been excited by ithe descriptions sent See also:home by See also:Thomas See also:Shaw I (1694-1751), consular See also:chaplain at Algiers, 1719-1731. Having spent six months in See also:Italy studying antiquities, Bruce reached Algiers in See also:March 1763. The whole of his See also:time was taken up with his consular duties at the piratical See also:court of the See also:dey, and he was kept without the assistance promised. But in See also:August 1765, a successor in the consulate having arrived, Bruce began his exploration of the See also:Roman ruins in See also:Barbary. Having examined many ruins in eastern See also:Algeria, he travelled by See also:land from See also:Tunis to See also:Tripoli, and at Ptolemeta took passage for See also:Candia; but was shipwrecked near See also:Bengazi and had to swim ashore. He eventually reached See also:Crete, and sailing thence to See also:Sidon, travelled through See also:Syria, visiting See also:Palmyra and See also:Baalbek.

Throughout his journeyings in Barbary and the See also:

Levant, Bruce made careful drawings of the many ruins he examined. He also acquired a sufficient knowledge of See also:medicine to enable him to pass in the See also:East as a physician. In See also:June 1768 he arrived at See also:Alexandria, having resolved to endeavour to discover the source of the See also:Nile, which he believed to rise in See also:Abyssinia. At See also:Cairo he gained the support of the See also:Mameluke ruler, See also:Ali See also:Bey; after visiting See also:Thebes he crossed the See also:desert to Kosseir, where he embarked in the See also:dress of a See also:Turkish sailor. He reached See also:Jidda in May 1769, and after some stay in See also:Arabia he recrossed the Red See also:Sea and landed at See also:Massawa, then in possession of the See also:Turks, on the 19th of See also:September. He reached See also:Gondar, then the See also:capital of Abyssinia, on the 14th of See also:February 1770, where he was well received by the See also:negus Tekla Haimanot II., by See also:Ras See also:Michael, the real ruler of the country, by the ras's wife, Ozoro See also:Esther, and by the Abyssinians generally. His See also:fine presence (he was 6 ft. 4 in. high), his knowledge of Geez, his excellence in See also:sports, his courage, resource and self-esteem, all told in his favour among a See also:people who were in See also:general distrustful of all foreigners. He stayed in Abyssinia for two years, gaining knowledge which enabled him subsequently to See also:present a perfect picture of Abyssinian See also:life. On the 14th of See also:November 1770 he reached'the See also:long-sought source of the See also:Blue Nile. Though admitting that the See also:White Nile was the larger stream, Bruce claimed that the Blue Nile was the Nile of the ancients and that he was thus the discoverer of its source. The claim, however, was not well founded (see NILE: See also:Story of Exploration).

Setting out from Gondar in December 1771, Bruce made his way, in spite of enormous difficulties, by See also:

Sennar to See also:Nubia, being the first to trace the Blue Nile to its confluence with the White Nile. On the 29th of November 1772 he reached See also:Assuan, presently re-turning to the desert to recover his See also:journals and his baggage, which had been abandoned in consequence of the death of all his camels. Cairo was reached in See also:January 1773, and in March 1 Dr Shaw's Travels See also:relating to Several Parts of Barbary . . . was first printed at See also:Oxford (1738). Bruce arrived in See also:France, where he was welcomed by See also:Buffon and other savants. He came to See also:London in 1774, but, offended by the incredulity with which his story was received, retired to his home at Kinnaird. It was not until 1790 that, urged by his friend Daines See also:Barrington, he published his Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the Years 1768-73, in five See also:octavo volumes, lavishly illustrated. The See also:work was very popular, but was assailed by other travellers as being unworthy of See also:credence. The manner in which the See also:book was written—twelve years after Bruce's return from Africa and without reference to his journals—gave some handle to his critics, but the substantial accuracy of every statement concerning his Abyssinian travels has since been amply demonstrated. He died on the 27th of See also:April 1794. Bruce wrote an autobiography, See also:part of which is printed in See also:editions of his Travels, published in 1805 and 1813, accompanied by a See also:biographical See also:notice by the editor, See also:Alexander See also:Murray. The best edition of the Travels is the third (Edinburgh, 1813, 8 vols.).

Of the abridgments the best is that of See also:

Major (afterwards See also:Sir See also:Francis) See also:Head, the author of a well-informed Life of Bruce (London, 1830). The best See also:account of Bruce's travels in Barbary is contained in Sir R. See also:Lambert See also:Playfair's Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce (London, 1877), in which a selection of his drawings was published for the first time. Several of Bruce's drawings were presented to See also:George III. and are in the royal collection at See also:Windsor.

End of Article: BRUCE, JAMES (1930-1794)

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