''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773'' is a multi-volume account by the Scottish traveller James Bruce (1730–94) of his journeys in the Horn of Africa, which includes an eye-witness account of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n history and culture, as well as a description of that country and the neighboring kingdom of

Sennar Sennar ( ar, سنار ') is a city on the Blue Nile in Sudan and possibly the capital of the state of Sennar. It remains publicly unclear whether Sennar or Singa is the capital of Sennar State. For several centuries it was the capital of the F ...

and the Ottoman province of Habesh. Bruce and his sensational stories were received with incredulity upon his return to London in 1774 after more than a dozen years of travel in North Africa and Abyssinia (

) where he traced the

Blue Nile The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to ...

His ''Travels'' was issued in 1790, after he retired to his home at Kinnaird, at the urging of his friend Daines Barrington. It was published in five

octavo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

volumes, lavishly illustrated, but was ridiculed by scholars and other travellers as being exaggerated nonsense. An example of the criticism his account received would be the comments of Henry Salt, who after visiting Ethiopia and interviewing a number of inhabitants who knew him, wrote: :"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 unpardonable concealment of the fact, that he artist LuigiBalugani attended him on his journey to the sources of the Nile." However, the substantial accuracy of his Abyssinian travels was later confirmed by explorers who included William George Browne and E.D. Clarke, and it is considered that he made a real addition to the geographical knowledge of his day.Paul Hulton et al, ''Luigi Balugani's Drawings of African Plants'', CRC Press (1991), pp. 41–54 A new edition of the ''Travels'' was prepared by Alexander Murray in 1813, who added copious footnotes and appendices on Bruce's sources and accuracy, as well as a portion of Bruce's autobiography. Murray's most notable revision to Bruce's account was replacing his chapter on Emperor

Bakaffa Bakaffa ( Ge'ez: በካፋ) birth name: Missah; throne name Aṣma Giyorgis (Ge'ez: ዐፅመ ጊዮርጊስ), later Masih Sagad (Ge'ez: መሲሕ ሰገድ) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 May 1721 to 19 September 1730, and a member of the ...

, removing the semi-legendary accounts of how Bakaffa met his future queen

Mentewab Mentewab ( Ge'ez: ምንትዋብ; c. 1706 – 27 June 1773) was Empress of Ethiopia, consort of Emperor Bakaffa, mother of Iyasu II and grandmother of Iyoas I. She was also known officially by her baptismal name of Walatta Giyorgis (Ge'ez: ወ ...

and her important supporter Waragna with a factual drawn from the ''Royal Chronicles'' of the ruler. Of the 19th century abridgments, the best is that of Major (afterwards Sir) Francis Head, the author of a well-informed ''Life of Bruce'' (London, 1830). Wrote Head of Bruce's descriptions:

Selected editions

* ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773''. Five Volumes, G.G.J. and J. Robinson, London, 1790. * ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773'', Second edition, Ed., Alexander Murray, 1805. * ''Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773'', Third edition, 8 volumes; Ed., Alexander Murray; Edinburgh, 1813. * ''Travels''. Abridged edition, by Major Francis Head, 1830. * ''Travels''. Abridged edition, by C.F. Beckingham. Horizon Press, New York, 1964.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Travels To Discover The Source of the Nile 18th century in Ethiopia British travel books Scottish books 1760s books 1770s books 1760s in Scotland 1770s in Scotland Books about Africa Books about Ethiopia 1760s in Ethiopia 1770s in Ethiopia Scottish non-fiction books African travel books Pilgrimage accounts