JAMES BRUCE.

New York, Harper & Brothers.

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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
BRUCE,
THE
AFRICAN TRAVELLER.
BY MAJOR SIR FRANCIS B. HEAD.

Magna est veritas, ot prævalebit:

FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION.

NEW-YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,
NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
——
1840

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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.

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ADVERTISEMENT.

The following work is one of no ordinary interest. It presents such anexample of heroic fortitude, constancy, and perseverance under trialsand difficulties, as cannot fail to excite in us the highest admiration.Few individuals have been placed in circumstances of greater peril andsuffering than Bruce the traveller; and none, perhaps, ever morestrikingly displayed that rare combination of tact and courage, whichenables their possessor to triumph over every obstacle. Much practicalwisdom, therefore, may be gathered from reading this volume. Thecountry, too, visited by Bruce, and his account of its people, theirhistory, government, laws, customs, traditions, &c., have peculiarclaims on our attention. Abyssinia, remote and barbarous as it is, has,from the earliest period, steadily retained a form of Christianity. Thisis certainly a very remarkable phenomenon, cut off almost entirely, asthat country has been, from communication with other Christian states,and surrounded on every side by Pagan and Mohammedan nations. Hence themost lively curiosity has been manifested to[Pg iv] know more of a people whohave thus marvellously preserved their ancient faith in the midst ofbarbarism, idolatry, and the fierce fanaticism of the followers of theProphet. Of the few travellers who have succeeded in penetrating thissecluded and dangerous country, none have had anything like the ampleopportunities possessed by Bruce to obtain minute and accurateinformation, and no one could more faithfully improve the advantagesthus fortunately offered him. The groundless and ungenerous distrustwith which his statements were received for years after his return (andwhich is very properly noticed and rebuked by his biographer) has passedaway, and his travels may now be read as containing not only thefullest, but the most authentic and credible account of Abyssinia, andthe singular people by which it is inhabited.

This volume will be found written in a familiar, lively, and agreeablestyle, and to contain whatever is most interesting in the larger work ofBruce. It is published from the last English edition, carefully revisedand corrected by the American editor, with the omission of a fewpassages of minor interest, not essential to the completeness of the narrative.

H. & B.

New-York, August, 1840.

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CONTENTS.