GRAND CAIRO. 87 
the Gospel of St. John, together with certam chap 
prayers in the jibyssinian language : these ma- ■ 
nuscripts are now in the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford. As General Baird had a copy of Bruce s 
Travels then in his possession, and was kind 
enough to allow us the use of it, a better oppor- 
tunity might rarely offer of submitting Bruce s 
narrative to the test of a comparison with the 
evidence afforded by a native oi Abyssinia. We 
therefore appointed a day for this purpose ; and 
sent an invitation to the Abyssinian Dean. In 
order to make the inquiry as public as possible, 
we also requested the attendance of Mr. 
Hamilton, secretary of the Earl of Elgin, of Dn 
Wittman, and of Mr. Hammer, a celebrated 
Oriental scholar, during the investigation. One 
of the Propaganda Friars served us as our inter- 
preter with the Abyssinian priest. It was at first 
disputed whether any mention should be made 
of Bruce, or not ; but at length we resolved that 
a series of questions should be put from Bruce ^ 
work, without any mention being made of him, 
or any allusion to his travels in Abyssinia. The 
sight of his volumes on the table were not likely 
to offer any clue, respecting the purport of our 
inquiry, to an Ethiopian who had never seen a 
printed quarto before in his life, and to whom 
the language in which it was written was 
