MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 







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THE 



UNIVEKS1TY 



ALTHOUGH the claims of Bruce, the African Tra- 

 veller, as a benefactor to science, belong rather to 

 Geography than Natural History, yet from the im- 

 portance of his discoveries as enlarging the means 

 of human knowledge, and opening up an unexplored 

 region to future adventurers in the same path, his 

 name well deserves a place in the catalogue of dis- 

 tinguished men who have contributed to the ad- 

 vancement of Natural Science. The interesting 

 countries through which he penetrated have been 

 repeatedly visited by Europeans since his time ; but 

 with him rests the merit of having first excited that 

 thirst for information respecting their antiquities, 

 mariners, and productions, which has led so many 

 enterprising travellers to the same fountain. 



Abyssinia, the most prominent theatre of Bruce's 

 discoveries, had then aroused no spirit of inquiry in 

 Great Britain ; and it was nearly as little known to 

 the inhabitants of this part of the world, even up to 

 the middle of the last century, as it was in the days 

 of Herodotus and Strabo. From the Mosaic record 

 we learn that the Jews were acquainted with 



