^86 OBSERVATIONS ON MR. BRUCE'S 
ought also to rejoice, that the opprobrium is removed from his 
character, of having wantonly attempted to murder the innocent 
Samaulies, at Assab Bay, and having probably succeeded in his 
attempt. 
No one, I trust, will assert, that the idea of his being on the very 
spot where the crew of the Elgin were murdered, and the more im- 
probable conjecture of his being in company with the very people 
who had committed the murder, could be any justification of the 
firing on thirty men, who quietly kept at a distance, according to 
his orders, while some of their party placed themselves, with 
unlimited confidence, in his power, answered his questions, and 
endeavoured to supply his wants. I cannot, in his own story, find 
the least grounds for his suspicions or alarm ; and even if the tale 
itself be a romance, the feelings which he professes must have been 
his own. This is too strongly exemplified by many of his former ad- 
ventures ; first at Thebes,* where he declares that " he was resolved 
upon revenge and accordingly not only fired his own gun where 
the voices were heard, but also " took his servant's blunderbuss, and 
discharged it where he heard a howl" (4to. Vol. i. p. 199). Secondly, 
when he applied to Ibrahim, Sheik of the Ababde, and received a 
promise from him that " Hassan should not die in his bed." And, 
thirdly, at Traitor s Island, when he hesitated whether he should 
not shoot the unfortunate Arabian, who did not understand his lan- 
guage, and feared to trust himself with a stranger, who was better 
armed than himself. 
It is greatly to be lamented, that a man of Mr. Bruce's talents 
should have given way to a vanity, which has caused his book to 
*Dhalac, Vol.1, p. 135. 
