mountain. We tried also the depth of the fountains, and put a lance into the first, which, entering eleven palins, seemed to touch, as it were, some roots of the neigh bouring trees entangled with one-another. "The second fountain bears from the first cast about a stone's cast; trying the depth of this, by putting in a lance of twelve palms, we found no bottom, but having tied two lances together, in length twenty palms, we tried the thing again; but not even then could we find bottom, and the inhabitants say that the whole mountain is full of water, of which they gave this sign, that all the plain about the fountain shook and bubbled, a plain mark of concealed water, and that, for the same reason, the water did not overflow at the sources, but threw itself out with very great force at the foot of them; and the inhabitants affirmed, as well as the emperor himself, who was present along with his army, that the ground had trembled little that year, on account of the great dryness of the season, but in other years it shook and bubbled so, that it could scarcely be approached without danger. The circumference of the place is like a round lake, the breadth of which may be a sling's cast." Further, the plain of the fountains of the Nile is difficult of ascent, on every side but on the north, where it is easily ascended. Below the mountain about a league, in a very deep valley, rises another river from the bowels of the earth, which however joins itself a little after to the Nile; they believe it has the same source with the Nile, but that, conducted under ground by secret channels, it rises first here. But the rivulet from the source, which breaks out below the mountain, runs a gun-shot to the east, then, winding suddenly, flows to the north, then, about the fourth-part of a league afterwards, a new river presents itself, dashing from the stones and rocks, to which two other rivers a Little after join themselves, breaking from the east quarter; and so on, by receiving constantly one stream after another, the Nile increases remarkably. After a day's journey, it meets with a large river, that is called Jama (Jemma); then turning towards the west for twenty-five leagues, or thirty-five leagues from its sources, it next reflects its course to the east, winding into a large lake (situated in the province called Bed, and partly adjarent to the kingdom of Goyam, partly to that of Dambia), which it passes through in such a manner, as that the waters of the Nile shew a remarkable difference from the waters of the lake; and the whole stream, unmixed with the lake waters, holds on its course." tillian and not a Portugueze) which he is accused of having stolen; omitting only a few trifling parts of no importance whatever, for the sake of brevity. Let his own account be now examined. "In the middle of this marsh (that is, about forty yards from each side of it), and something less from the bottom of the mountain of Geesh, arises a hillock of a circular form, about three feet from the surface of the marsh itself, though apparently founded much deeper in it. The diameter of this is something short of twelve feet; it is surrounded by a shallow trench, which collects the water and voids it eastward; it is firmly built with sod or earthen turf, brought from the sides, and constantly kept in repair; and this is the altar upon which all their religious ceremonies are performed. In the middle of this altar is a hole, obviously made, or at least enlarged, by the hand of man. It is kept clear of grass, or other aquatic plants; and the water in it is perfectly pure and limpid, but has no ebullition or motion of any kind discernible upon its surface. This mouth, or opening of the source, is some parts of an inch less than three feet diameter; and the water stood at that time, the 5th of November, about two inches from the lip or brini, nor did it either increase or diminish during all the time of my stay at Geesh, though we made plentiful use of it. "Upon putting down the shaft of my lance at six feet four inches, I found a very feeble resistance, as if from weak rushes or grass; and about six inches deeper I found my lance had entered into soft earth, but met with no stones or gravel. This was confirmed by another experiment made on the 9th with a heavy plummet and line besmeared with soap, the bottom of which brought up at the above depth only black earth, such as the marsh itself and its sides are composed of. "Ten feet distant from the first of these springs, a little to the west of south, is the second fountain, about eleven inches in diameter; but this is eight feet three inches deep. And about twenty feet distant from the first, to the S. S. W. is the third source, its mouth being something more than two feet large, and it is five feet eight inches deep. Both these last fountains stand in the middle of small altars, made, like the former, of firm sod, but neither of them above three feet diameter, and having a foot of less elevation than the first. The altar in this third source seemed almost dissolved by the water, which in both stood nearly up to the brim; at the foot of each appeared a clear and brisk running rill; these uniting joined the water in the trench of the first altar, and then proceeded dipointing eastward, in a quantity that would rectly out, I suppose, at the point of the triangle, have filled a pipe of about two inches diameter.” It is to be remembered also that Bruce has himself given in the text of his book the whole sum and substance of the very account by Pedro Paez (who was a Cas*This is unintelligible; Kircher having misunderstood, or obtained an incorrect copy of the original. "The Nile, keeping nearly in the middle of the marsh, runs east for thirty yards, with a very little increase of stream, but perfectly visible, till met by the grassy brink of the land declining from Sacala. This turns it round gradually to the N. E. and then due north; and, in the two miles it flows in that direction, the river receives many small contributions from springs that rise in the banks on each side of it: there are two, particularly one on the hill at the back of St Michael Geesh, the other a little lower than it on the other side, on the ground declining from Sacala. These last-mentioned springs are more than double its quantity; and being arrived under the hill whereon stands the church of St Michael Sacala, about two miles from its source, it there becomes a stream that would turn a common mill, shallow, clear, and running over a rocky bottom about three yards wide: this must be understood to be variable according to the season; and the present observations are applicable to the 5th of November, when the rains had ceased for several weeks. There is the ford which we passed going to Geesh, and we crossed it the day of our arrival, in the time of my conversation with Woldo about the sash. Nothing can be more beautiful than this spot; the small rising hills about us were all thick-covered with verdure, especially with clover, the largest and finest I ever saw; the tops of the heights crowned with trees of a prodigious size; the stream, at the banks of which we were sitting, was limpid and pure as the finest crystal; the ford, covered thick with a bushy kind of tree, that seemed to affect to grow to no height, but thick with foliage and young branches, rather to court the surface of the water, whilst it bore, in prodigious quantities, a beautiful yellow flower, not unlike a single wild rose of that colour, but without thorns; and, indeed, upon examination, we found that it was not a species of the rose, but of hypericum.” "Here, at the ford, after having stepped over it fifty times, I observed it no larger than a cominon mill stream. The Nile, from this ford, turns to the westward, and, after running over loose stones occasionally, in that direction, about four miles farther, the angle of inclination increasing greatly, broken water, and a fall commences of about six fcet, and thus it gets rid of the mountainous place of its nativity, and issues into the plain of Goutto, where is its first cataract; for, as I have said before, I don't account the broken water, or little falls, cataracts, which are not at all visible in the height of the rains. "Arrived in the plain of Goutto, the river seems to have lost all its violence, and scarcely is seen to flow; but, at the same time, it there makes so many sharp, unnatural windings, that it differs from any other river I ever saw*, making above twenty sharp anigular peninsulas in the course of five miles, through a bare marshy plain of clay, quite destitute of trees, and exceedingly inconvenient and unpleasant to travel. After passing this plain, it turns due north, receives the tribute of many small streams, the Gometti, the Googueri, and the Kebezza, which descend from the mountains of Aformasha; and, united, fall into the Nile about twenty miles below its source; it begins here to run rapidly, and again receives a number of beautiful rivulets, which have their rise in the heights of Litchambara, the semi-circular range of mountains that pass behind, and seem to inclose Aformasha: These are the Caccino, the Carnachiuli, the Googueri, the Iworra, the Jeddeli, and the Minch; all which, ruuming into the Davola, join the Nile something less than a mile west of the church of Abbo. "It is now become a considerable stream; its banks high and broken, covered with old trees for the space of about three miles; it inclines to the north-east, and winds exceedingly, and is then joined by the small river Diwa from the east. It then makes a semicircle, and receives Dee-ohha, turns sharply to the east, and falls down its second cataract at Kerr. About three miles below this cataract, the large, pleasant, and limpid Jemma, pays its tribute to the Nile. Though its course is now mostly north, through Maitsha on the east, and Aroossi and Sankraber on the west, it still is inclining toward the lake Tzana, and, after receiving the rivers Boha and Amlac Ohha, small streams from the west, and the Assar, Aroossi, and Kelti, large rivers from the east, it crosses the south end of the lake Tzana, for about seven leagues, preserving the colour of its stream distinct from that of the lake, till it issues out at the west side of it, in the territory of Dara, where there is a ford, though very deep and dangerous, immediately where it first resumes the appearance of a river." Is there any greater resemblance between these descriptions than there neCessarily must be between two descrip tions of the same place, made at different times by different persons? if any thing remarkable is to be discovered in them, it is in the points of difference, not of agreement. But what motive for plagiarism can now be assigned? It is not pretended that the whole story of these travels is the impudent forgery of a man who was never in Abyssinia; what then was to prevent him from proceeding to Geesh? The difficulties and dangers of the journey were not likely to intimidate A plan of the windings of the Nile in the plain of Goutta is inserted by Balugani in the Journal. These are singularly numerous, and very much resemble, though on a different scale, what are called the links of the river Forth," near Stirling, in Scotland. man who had reached Gondar. And that he did visit Geesh is proved, as far as any such fact is capable of proof, by his own journal taken on the spot, and by the journal of Balugani. As for the resemblance between his account and that of Pedro Paez, both are alike because both are true; so also his map agrees with that in Balthezar Tellez, because both are made from authentic documents, not because one is copied from the other. Bruce has sinned against the jesuits, but not as a plagiarist. not enumerate him among his authorities That we are not disposed to depreciate the merit of this traveller must already have been apparent, and how highly we value his labours will presently be seen; but it must be confessed that the object of his journey was an unworthy one. It was the search after what was curious, not what was useful; a-kin to the pursnits of the collector and virtuoso, rather than of the philosopher. However great the effort, however valuable the result, vanity was the motive. Attributing an undue importance to the discovery of these sources, he unduly attempted to appropriate the whole merit of the discovery to himself. No passion so easily tempts to falsehood as vanity. He could not be content with being the partner of Pedro Puez, to use his own expression, A similar jealousy lest any person and has therefore laboured with much should share the imaginary honour of disingenuity to prove that neither he, nor this discovery is discernible in his whole any of the jesuits had visited the sacred management respecting Balugani the spot, the Kebla to which all his ambitious Italian, who assisted him in his drawings, aspirations were directed. The extract and kept a daily journal of their route, from Pedro Paez published by Kircher, like himself. We suspect that the menhe says, was not in three manuscripts of tion of his death (Vol. iv. p. 426) is purthat father's history which he examined posely antedated, and introduced before at Milan, at Bologna and at Rome. He the journey to the springs, least it should does not pretend to have read through be known that he also had seen them, these manuscripts, but only to have ex- and been the partner of Bruce; for it is amined the place where this description mentioned as having taken place before enght to have been. Mr. Murray, how the journey, and as one motive which ever, is so well satisfied with the account almost induced him to return without in Kircher, as fairly to concede the point, accomplishing it. This was not overand to declare it cannot be doubted but sight. In the journal of the journey a that Pedro Paez had visited the sources. servant is spoken of, who the editor tells On this head we are not so fully satisfied us in a note was Balugani. In this proud as the editor; whoever wrote the descrip- and unfeeling language does he speak of tion in Kircher, certainly had seen the his only literary companion, of the artist place which he describes; but if the who shared all his dangers, and died in passage is not to be found in the three his service. Not one expression of remanuscripts which Bruce consulted, it spect, or kindness, or endearment tomay very possibly have been inserted in wards this young man ever escapes him, that which Kircher used, by the tran--though the death of a dog whom one scriber, from the account of some other jesuit. This we suspect to have been the case, because Tellez, though he had the writings of Pedro Paez before him, does had taken from Europe into such country should have made an Englishman shed tears. In no other instance does Bruce appear like a proud and hard hearted man, but it is the tendency of that mean passion which was in him so predominant, to warp the understanding and to deaden the heart. So far then as regards Luigi Balugani, and the claim of the jesuits to the discovery of these sources, the errors in Bruce are misrepresentations, not mistakes; falsehoods, not inaccuracies. He was not ignorant of the truth, and he had obvious motives for concealing it. Many other errors occur in his work, which can only be called inaccuracies or blunders, and which must have proceeded from an undue reliance upon his own memory. Some of these we shall notice. Bruce is speaking of the conquest of Spain by the Moors: he says On "A great influx of trade followed the conquest; and the religion, that contained little restraint and great indulgence, was every where embraced by the vanquished, who long had been Christians in name only. the other side, the Arabs were now no longer that brutish set of madmen they were under the Khalifat of Omar. They were now eminent for their rank and attainments in every species of learning. This was a dangerous crisis for Christianity, which threatened nothing else than its total subversion. The whole world, without the help of England, had not virtue enough to withstand this torrent. That nation, the favourite weapon in the hand of Heaven for chastising tyranny and extirpating false religion, now lent its assistance, and the scale was quickly turned.” It is impossible to explain the gross ignorance of this paragraph. Charles Martel was the man who preserved christendom. As for England, it had not the slightest influence upon the continent of Europe till the Norman conquest. "John I. king of Portugal, he tells us, after many successful battles with the Moors, had at last forced them to cross the sea and return vanquished to their native country. By this he had changed his former dishonourable name of Bastard, to the more noble and more popular one of John the Avenger." John the First never fought a battle with the Moors in his life, till he crossed to Ceuta. They had been completely subdued in Portugal a hundred years before he came to the crown. The whole of this chapter is full of such errors. We know not whether they are his own, or taken from some French blunderer,-for the orthography or rather kakography of many of the names is French. Covillan, he says, (it should be Covilham) sent frequent dispatches from Abyssinia to the king of Portugal, who on his part spared no expence to keep open the correspondence. Of course it must have been carried on by the regular postoffices. He even describes the contents of Covilham's journal, and adds, that he sent a map with it. All this Bruce has dreamt by his own fire-side. The contemporary chroniclers of Joam II. all say that Covilham was lost, and the contemporary historians of Emanuel all say when he was found. He wonders why no mention is made by Tellez of the three capuchins who were stoned to death at Gondar in 1714. The wonder would have been if Tellez had mentioned them, for he died in 1675 himself. One might almost suspect that Bruce never revised his own writings; he tells you that he has a Coptic MSS. three times as old as the books of Numa were in Pliny's days, that is, above two thousand five hundred years; and a few pages on he adds, that it is a Gnostic treatise. It would be tedious to proceed with instances which might be enumerated to great length. Enough has been adduced to show that he wrote often carelessly, and sometimes presumptuously, but such blunders do not affect the main value of his work. Whichever be the source of the Nile, whoever may be the first European who beheld it, and whatever be the historical inaccuracies and trifling blunders of the traveller, the main value of his travels remains unaffected. This consists in the state of society which he has most admirably delineated, a state the most extraordinary in which any people upon the face of the globe exist. It has fallen to his lot to reside among a people half Jews, half Christians; half savages, half civilized; half black, half white, half cannibals;-a people standing in so little fear of God, that oaths and sacraments go even for less among them than they do at an election or a custom-house; yet in such dread of the devil that they will not spill water upon the ground least it should splash some of his imps, and dare not travel in the night for fear of meeting him upon the road: so ignorant that they believe hyenas to be Jews in disguise, and oblige their blacksmiths to live *This is not mentioned by Bruce, but we give it on the authority of Francisco Alvarez, the first traveller into the country.. apart from the rest of the community, as men who can have acquired such extraordinary skill from none but from the devil; and it must be confessed that certainly these artificers do practise the black art: a people, who, in direct violation of that hospitality which all savages practise, detain every stranger who is unhappy enough to venture among them, and who send for their patriarch from Cairo, lest the little learning and miserable remains of christianity among them should be utterly extinguished. Such is their known barbarity, that the unfortunate Copt who is condemned to be their primate, must be put in chains and sent into the country under a guard of janizaries, lest he should run away. This country Bruce describes, where the inhabitants live in such a state of insecurity that the saddle and bridle can never be taken off, nor the bit slipt from the horse's mouth while the roads are passable, nor the shield and lance hung up in the hall till the rainy season sets in, and brings with it what may there truly be called the truce of God;-a country where dead bodies are left in the streets of the metropolis for the hyenas;-where if the small-pox make its appearance, the neighbours surfound the house and consume it, with all its inhabitants, by fire, -where they eat animals alive, and men and women intoxicating themselves together at these bloody feasts, satisfy their lusts publicly, like dogs, in open daylight! were most connected. Without incurring the dangerous suspicion of being wealthy, he appeared as a noble, and was accordingly valued by others as he valued himself. His person and his personal qualities were such as to obtain and to secure respect; tall and powerful beyond the ordinary strength and stature of man, he excelled the barbarians of Abyssinia in their own accomplishments: his excellence in horsemanship delighted them, and his skill in the management of a double-barrelled rifle astonished people who did not fire the clumsy muskets of the Arabians without fear and trembling.. Wherever human courage or human prudence can be of any avail, Bruce might have travelled safely; never offering an insult, never submitting to one, not ambitiously exalting himself, not meanly self-abased, conferring favours instead of soliciting them,-fearless in times of danger, yet never losing sight of caution when in most security,-a soldier in the camp and courtier in the city-the friend of the great, the healer of the sick, the favourite of the woman. Long will it be before another so qualified shall undertake such a journey, and any one less qualified would have perished in the attempt. The historical portion of his work is valuable to collate with the jesuits' accounts, and to supply the chasm from the time of their expulsion to our own days; that part in which he himself bore a share is particularly interesting. When the inThere is not the slightest reason for tercourse between Abyssinia and Europe disbelieving or distrusting any part of this shall again be opened, and the nation hudescription. It is authenticated by other manized by future missionaries more foraccounts, as far as they go, coherent with tunate than Pedro Paez (more able and itself, probable in all its parts. There is mote deserving they need not be; and nothing which could have warped the unless, like the jesuits, they unite policy veracity of the traveller here; nothing and religion they must fail)-whenever which could be affected by neglect of that happy age for Africa shall arrive, the documents or failure of memory. It inhabitants will read their own history in depends not upon single facts, but upon the writings of Yagoube the Englishman. accumulation; the whole history of Abyssinia agrees with the representation, and every circumstance in their laws and manners, their forms, ceremonies, and customs, public and private, is in keeping. No traveller ever left Europe better qualified to travel in safety, and to keep up the honour of his country. Well acquainted with the language of the people among whom he was adventuring, he took with him recommendations and safe conducts from the chiefs of their religion, and the different powers whom they most respected, or with whom they We have better books of travels in the English language; that is, books more uniformly good, and without the faults of this; but none that contains so much interesting matter. Encumbered as it is with theoretical dissertations, it excites a livelier and more abiding interest than any traveller of our own, or of any other country. This is partly because he was a witness of great events, and an actor in them; still more, because he knew so intimately the most important persons in the drama, and has so admirably delineated them. It has been said that Mi |