Bruce James

Bruce, James, traveller, was born in 1730, at Kinnaird, Stirlingshire. Educated at Harrow and Edinburgh University, he began business in London as a wine merchant. In 1763 he became consul-general at Algiers, and in 1768 set out for Cairo, navigated the Nile as far as Syene, crossed the desert to the Red Sea, and after spending some months in Arabia Felix arrived at the Abyssinian capital, Gondar, in 1770. In the same year he reached the sources of the Abawi, which he mistook for the source of the Nile. After quite a couple of years' enforced stay in Abyssinia, he returned to Cairo, and, visiting France and Italy, to Scotland in 1774. In 1790 his Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile in the years 1768-73 were published, and excited the incredulity of many on account of the curious accounts of the manners and customs of the Abyssinians. Though he received the personal notice of the king, he was hurt, on his return, that no honour was conferred on him, and it was only the instigation of friends and the need of occupying his mind that induced him to write his travels. He died at Kinnaird of a fall on the stairs in 1794.