Journal of Travel and Natural History 41 



D UPTON'S ABYSSINIA* 



TN the last century, Bruce, who will always be recognised as 

 "*■ one of the most accomplished of modern travellers, was 

 subjected to much illiberality, and bore with calm endurance 

 the unprovoked taunts and coarse ridicule of the shallow critics 

 of the day, who more than questioned the veracity of his account 

 respecting some of the manners and customs of Abyssinia. 

 Since his death, however, his reputation has been cleared from the 

 aspersions of his detractors, for many subsequent travellers through 

 the same region have borne testimony to the general truthfulness 

 of his statements. 



But this desirable termination can scarcely be expected by all 

 the writers of the present day ; for whilst some declare the attempt 

 to invade the country an impossibility, and paint the most alarming 

 pictures of arid plains, mountain torrents, malaria-laden valleys, 

 and frightful precipices ; whilst they almost threaten the expedi- 

 tionary force with all that is loathsome and dangerous in natural 

 history, from guinea-worms and poisonous flies to gliding reptiles 

 and men-devouring lions — the obverse side glows with vivid descrip- 

 tions of the salubrity of the climate and beauty of the country, with 

 its undulations of hill and dale, and either ignore the bugbears of 

 the pessimists, or leave them in doubtful obscurity. 



The work before us can scarcely be dignified into a book of 

 travel. Exploration, for its own sake, was not the cause of the 

 journey ; and although the author affords a few brief glimpses of 

 the country, and touches slightly on the most prominent customs, 

 it vAW, we think, be desirable to give a brief resume of the little we 

 know of these equatorial highlands, more especially as the author 

 candidly admits that, in the compilation of his narrative, he has 

 drawn largely on his memory. 



In many modern maps, Abyssinia is depicted as extending to 

 the coast of the Red Sea, whereas, in fact, it is a mountainous 

 inland country, whose actual boundaries nowhere reach the coast, 

 and which, indeed, it would be difficult to define at all, for the 

 warlike races of the various provinces bordering on Abyssinia 



* Narrative of a Journey through Abyssinia in 1862-3 ; witli an Appendix on 

 the Abyssinian Captive Question, by Henry Dufton. London : Chapman & 

 Hall. 1867. 



