MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 31 



opposed the cruel resolution of the Dey to order 

 every ship carrying a passavant, or written certificate, 

 to be captured, concluding that as they differed 

 from the old printed form they must have been 

 forgeries. The result of this determined conduct 

 was, that the British consul had his dragoman taken 

 from him, and was commanded to quit the country 

 in three days ; and had not the savage passion of 

 the Dey been somewhat abated by the opportune 

 arrival of proper admiralty passes, the discoverer of 

 the sources of the Nile might have fallen a sacrifice 

 to the caprice of an ignorant barbarian. The dan- 

 gerous post from which Bruce had so narrowly 

 escaped, was immediately filled by a successor, who 

 overstepped the bounds of conciliation so far as to 

 allow the Algeriiie tyrant to impose a tax on British 

 vessels, which he had no right to levy. 



The time that elapsed between Bruce's dismissal 

 and his obtaining an answer from Lord Halifax to 

 his despatch, was assiduously devoted to study in 

 making him familiar with every thing that was 

 requisite for his intended journey. From Father 

 Christopher, a Greek priest of Cyprus, who had 

 formed his acquaintance at Algiers, he acquired a 

 thorough knowledge of the Romaic or modern 

 Greek, which was of great importance to him in 

 Abyssinia. From Mr. Bell, the king's surgeon, and 

 from his friend Dr. Russell, physician to the British 

 factory at Aleppo, he obtained some professional 

 information on the compounding and administering 



