BRUCE, James, Scottish traveler: b. Kin naird House, Stirlingshire, 14 Dec. 1730; d. there, 27 April 1794. He became a wine mer chant in 1754, but on the death of his wife he took tip the study of languages, and availed himself of the opportunities of his trade to visit Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. In 1758 he inherited his father's estate, and he conse quently retired from the wine trade in 1761. Lord Halifax, appreciating Bruce's character, proposed to him a tour of discovery, in which he promised him his protection and support. He pointed specially to the exploration of the coast of Barbary, in completion of the labors of Shaw, and hinted also at the discovery of the sources of the Nile. In the meantime HaMai offered him the consulship of Algiers, which was ac cepted. His consulship lasted for two years, and on its expiration in 1765 he visited successively Tunis, Tripoli, Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria and sev eral parts of Asia Minor, where, accompanied by an able Italian draughtsman, he made draw ings of the ruins of Palmyra, Baalbec and other remains of antiquity. Having now formed his•
plan for visiting Abyssinia, he set out for Cairo in June 1768, after about a year spent in Syria, navigated the Nile to Syene, crossed the, desert to the Red Sea, passed some months in Arabia Felix, and reached Gondar, the capital of Abys sinia, in February 1770. On 14 Nov. 1770, he succeeded in reaching the sources of the Abai, then considered the main stream of the Nile. His