20 
MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 
wards given by Bruce. Jerome Lobo, another of 
these missionaries, who resided there nine years, 
and whose History was translated by Dr. Samuel 
Johnson, also describes the “ coy fountains” of that 
celebrated river, as if he had seen them ; but whe- 
ther he actually visited them, or merely wrote from 
information communicated by others, has never been 
clearly ascertained. The names of Ludolf and Geddes 
are familiar as having written on Abyssinia ; but 
since the journey of Poncet (1(598), who visited 
Sennaar, Gondar, and other Abyssinian towns, a 
long interval had elapsed, during which the name 
of the country was almost forgotten ; and no travel- 
ler seemed inclined to revive it, until the romantic 
spirit of Bruce turned his attention to those ne- 
glected regions, in the hope of tracing the hidden 
fountains of the Nile ; a problem which had excited, 
without rewarding, the curiosity of men of science 
from the earliest ages. 
James Bruce, of Kinnaird, was descended of an 
ancient Scottish family which claims kindred with 
the royal hero of that name who restored the inde- 
pendence of his country on the field of Bannock- 
burn. He was bom at Kinnaird House in Stirling- 
shire, on the 14th of December, 1730. His mother 
was a daughter of Graham of Airth, in the vicinity 
of his own residence, who was then Dean of the 
Faculty of Advocates, and Judge of the High Court 
of Admiralty in Scotland ; a man of distinguished 
abilities, and respected for his public and private 
