Bruce crosses the Desert to the Red Sea.--Meets with the Arabs
Ababde at Cosseir.--His Adventures in the Red Sea.--Arrives at
Massuah, the ancient Harbour of Abyssinia.
It was on Thursday, the 16th of February,[21] 1769, that Bruce joined
the caravan which was setting out from Kenne, 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 Ababde, 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 Ababde had been told that Bruce's
Arab, Abd-el-gin, was an Atouni, their enemy, and that they had
therefore dragged him away to cut his throat. Bruce, dressed as he was,
with a common red turban on his head, vaulted on his servant's horse,
and galloping through the townspeople, who fancied, with alarm, that the
Ababde were pursuing him, reached the sands, and proceeding as hard as
he could go for nearly two miles, he saw a crowd of Arabs before him.
Desirous to save the life of the poor wretch his servant, he had totally
forgotten his own safety.
"Upon my coming near them," says Bruce, "six or eight of them surrounded
me on horseback, and 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
Ababde?' said I; 'are they from Sheikh Amner?' One of them nodded, and
grunted sullenly rather than said, 'Ay, Ababde, 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 Ababde. He
did not recollect me, but I dismounted close to the tent door, and had
scarcely taken hold of the pillar of the tent, and said '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 Ababde of Sheikh Amner, that cursed yourselves and your
children if you ever lifted a hand against me or mine, in the desert or
in the ploughed field? If you have repented of that oath, or sworn
falsely on purpose to deceive me, here I am come to you in the desert.'
'What is the matter?' said Ibrahim; 'we are the Ababde 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 Ababde who had
gathered round him, but no rope about his neck."
Upon inquiring why the Ababde 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 Ababde 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 L1400), 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 deg. 3' N., though, in
fact, that island lies in 23 deg. 48'; and afterward as reaching another
island, Macowar, in 24 deg. 2' N., which, in fact, lies in 20 deg. 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 Tigre 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 Kenne 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.