338 
CHELICUT. 
statements of Dofter Esther : he may have been mistaken upon 
some few immaterial points of his narrative, but upon the whole I 
have reason to think it extremely correct. In this account it is to 
be observed, that the most material points (besides those noticed 
in a former part of this work) which affect Mr. Bruce's veracity, 
are those, of his never having received any district or command ; 
his not having been engaged in the battles of Serbraxos — the 
overthrow of his pretensions to an almost intuitive knowledge 
of the languages of the country — his mis-statements respecting 
Guanguol, Amha Yasous, and the living feast, and the unpardon- 
able concealment of the fact, that Balugani attended him on his 
journey to the sources of the Nile. Many of these points, how- 
ever inconsistent in themselves, or however strongly they may be 
contradicted by the evidence which I have collected, are of such 
a nature, that they do not admit of any positive proof by which 
they may be actually set aside ; but the confutation of the latter 
circumstance, resting upon data accessible to every one in 
possession of Mr. Bruce' s work, is more particularly worthy of 
notice, as it appears to me, that there was something of cruelty 
so perfectly inexcusable in his whole conduct towards this young 
man, who very materially assisted him in his researches, that it 
can admit of no apology.* 
In March, 1770, (vide Vol. IV. p. 430-1,) Mr. Bruce remarks, 
I more than twenty times resolved to return by Tigre, to which 
* Mr. Bruce mentions Sig. Balugani only three times in his work : the first is in the 
preface, where he slightly notices his being engaged; the second is in Vol. IV. p. 431, 
where he antedates his death, and the third is in Vol.^VII. p. 248, where he makes some 
additional remarks respecting him, and again mentions his death. 
