28 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



fore this been to Malion and the 

 coast of Africa. He was ship- 

 wrecked on the coast of Tunis, and 

 plundered of all liis property. 



In 17GS, we find him at Aleppo, 

 and in August that year was at Cai- 

 ro, from whence he proceeded to 

 Abyssinia, whicli he is supposed to 

 have entered either the latter end 

 of that year, or the beginning of 

 1769. His stay in that country was 

 about four years, as he returned to 

 Cairo the 15th of January, 1773. 

 The transactions of this period form 

 the substance of ilie five volumes of 

 his Travels, published in 1790. 



During Mr, Bruce's absence, his 

 relations considering him as dead, 

 took some measures to posses them- 

 selves of his property, which they 

 were near succeeding in, when he 

 returned home. Soon afterwards 

 he took an effectual method of dis- 

 appointing any future hopes, by a 

 secorid marriage, the consequence 

 of which was, one, if not more, 

 children. In 1784' his lady died, 

 and in 17C0 he pubhshed his Tra- 

 vels, a new edition of which was 

 negociating with a bookseller at the 

 time of his death, which hajrpcned 

 at Kinnaird, the latter end or April 

 in this year, owing to a fall down his 

 staircase, in which he dislocated 

 his breast-bone. 



The following account. of Mr. 

 Bruce is i-xtracted from a late tra- 

 veller, Mr. Lettice, wlio visited him 

 in the autumn of 1792. 



«' L'mlhhgow, Sept. 25, 1792. 



*' It was im{)ossible to be witliia 

 two miles of Kinnaird, and to quit 

 the neij.;hbourliood without wishing 

 to offer o'ar respects to the Abyssi- 

 nian Traveller, aiid requesting per- 

 mission to inspect his n.useum. 



" The latter point being obtained, 

 fortunately gave us an opportunity 



of seeing Mr. Bruce himself, who 

 received us with flattering marks of 

 attention. When we had taken 

 some refreshment, he v/as obhging 

 enough to accompany us to his mu- 

 seum, and to direct his librarian's 

 search for such objectsas he thought 

 likely tointerestour curiosity : upon 

 many of them he himself commented 

 in a very agreeable manner, relating 

 at tlie same time several little inci- 

 dents and anecdotes connected with 

 the occasions of procuring them, 

 whicli enhanced both our entertain- 

 ment and informaliun. This repo- 

 sitory occupies a large room, and its 

 valuable furniture is arran^icd in a 

 number of neat glazed cabinets, each 

 having a cupboard below it, beauti- 

 fnlly painted with the figure of some 

 curious object of natural history, 

 described by Mr. Bruce in his Afri- 

 can Tour; many of tliem found on 

 the coasts of the Red Sea and the 

 Nile. This museum consists, as you 

 will imagine, r.ot solely of articles 

 from the a'.iimal, vegetable, and 

 mineral kingdoms, of curious pe- 

 trifactions, lusus naturas, &c: but 

 has mauy rare specimens of art, 

 distinguished by their singularity, 

 or exquisite workmanship ; and, 

 lastly, a collection of Abyssinian 

 and Arabian manuscripts. 



" As, after a cursory survey of 

 some thousand articles, without an 

 opportunity of making notes whilst 

 the objects are before the eye, it 

 is impossible to be sure that the 

 most cnrious may not have escaped 

 the memory, I find little inclination 

 to sj • eify those which mine may 

 have retained. If I mention, among 

 the petrifactions, a horse's knee 

 agatized, or speak of stones more 

 curiously reticulated than perhaps 

 most other collections can exhibit, 

 it is with the mortification of having 



forgotten 



