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Article LITERARY NOTICES. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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Literary Notices.
The narrow limits within which we are constrained to confine our observations _ on the present work , must of necessity prevent us from doing anything like justice to the scientific portion of its contents . It will be found , however , to contain much that is new and valuable concerning the Nile and the manners and customs of tbe varied inhabitants of the countries through which it flows , and adjacent to tbe many streams and tributaries of that mystic river . But the object of the author of this pamphlet appears not to have been much to
so establish for himself any additional reputation as a scientific traveller , as to expose to the world of literature and science a serious imposture that he considers has been practised upon it , by a gentleman upon whom our French neighbours have recently conferred honours to which , if we are to credit Dr . Beke's anatomy of his preposterous pretensions to ribands aud medals , M . D'Abbadie has no legitimate title whatever . The work is , in short , an "Inquiry" into , and a denial of , the authenticity of M . A . D'Abbadie ' s Journey to Kaffaalleged to have been performed bhim in the
, y years 1 S 43 and 1844 . It appears that , in 1837 , M . A . D'Abbadie , accompanied by his brother , left Europe for the purpose of visiting the source of the White Nile , believing , with Bruce , that it was situated in Kaffa . Having spent some years in researches and observations in countries to the south of Abyssinia , and more especially in the kingdom of Kaffa , the communications in which these travellers declared that they were the first Europeans who had visited these remote districts naturally attracted much attention , and created
much interest , on tbe part of the learned societies of England and the Continent . It happened , however , that Dr . Beke had visited many of the places described in the statements alluded to , and was led to entertain very serious doubts whether the journey in question had really been undertaken . These doubts—now , we believe , amounting to conviction—became publicly known , and a lengthened controversy on the subject arose , the -ultimate result of which has been the publication of the present pamphlet—a result to which the writer has been driven , not only by the manner in which that
controversy was conducted against him , but by the duty which he felt he owed to science to expose to public observation , if not to public reprobation , that which the evidence he produces clearly places before our own mind as a barefaced endeavour to obtain for braggart pretension and flagrant imposture those literary or scientific honours which should ever be preserved as the rewards of modest merit and the successful prosecution of learned labour and research . It further appears that M . D'Abbadie states that , in 1843 he gained admission into Kaffa from Enareacrossing the river
God-, , jeb ( which , though only a tributary of the Nile , he speaks of as being the Nile itself , ) within a few miles of its source , and yet not deigning to visit that source which had been for several years the professed object of his travels . Statements such as these could not fail to excite the surprise and curiosity of so experienced and intelligent a traveller as Dr . Beke . They have been exposed , we need scarcely add , to keen and searching examination in the pages of this pamphlet . To attempt even an analysis of the critical test to which the learned Doctor has subjected them would require
more space than remains at our disposal ; but a single passage from the work itself will briefly furnish our readers with ample inducement to make themselves more fully acquainted with the various reasons which have led the author to the conclusion at which he has arrived , and , at the same time , convey an idea of the many complicated circumstances he bas had to consider and investigate in his laudable endeavour to expose this French traveller ' s fictitious performance . He says : —
" When the news of this journey first reached Europe , I at once saw reason to entertain doubts as to the correctness of several points connected with it . These doubts , instead of becoming weaker , were much strengthened when , in the course
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literary Notices.
The narrow limits within which we are constrained to confine our observations _ on the present work , must of necessity prevent us from doing anything like justice to the scientific portion of its contents . It will be found , however , to contain much that is new and valuable concerning the Nile and the manners and customs of tbe varied inhabitants of the countries through which it flows , and adjacent to tbe many streams and tributaries of that mystic river . But the object of the author of this pamphlet appears not to have been much to
so establish for himself any additional reputation as a scientific traveller , as to expose to the world of literature and science a serious imposture that he considers has been practised upon it , by a gentleman upon whom our French neighbours have recently conferred honours to which , if we are to credit Dr . Beke's anatomy of his preposterous pretensions to ribands aud medals , M . D'Abbadie has no legitimate title whatever . The work is , in short , an "Inquiry" into , and a denial of , the authenticity of M . A . D'Abbadie ' s Journey to Kaffaalleged to have been performed bhim in the
, y years 1 S 43 and 1844 . It appears that , in 1837 , M . A . D'Abbadie , accompanied by his brother , left Europe for the purpose of visiting the source of the White Nile , believing , with Bruce , that it was situated in Kaffa . Having spent some years in researches and observations in countries to the south of Abyssinia , and more especially in the kingdom of Kaffa , the communications in which these travellers declared that they were the first Europeans who had visited these remote districts naturally attracted much attention , and created
much interest , on tbe part of the learned societies of England and the Continent . It happened , however , that Dr . Beke had visited many of the places described in the statements alluded to , and was led to entertain very serious doubts whether the journey in question had really been undertaken . These doubts—now , we believe , amounting to conviction—became publicly known , and a lengthened controversy on the subject arose , the -ultimate result of which has been the publication of the present pamphlet—a result to which the writer has been driven , not only by the manner in which that
controversy was conducted against him , but by the duty which he felt he owed to science to expose to public observation , if not to public reprobation , that which the evidence he produces clearly places before our own mind as a barefaced endeavour to obtain for braggart pretension and flagrant imposture those literary or scientific honours which should ever be preserved as the rewards of modest merit and the successful prosecution of learned labour and research . It further appears that M . D'Abbadie states that , in 1843 he gained admission into Kaffa from Enareacrossing the river
God-, , jeb ( which , though only a tributary of the Nile , he speaks of as being the Nile itself , ) within a few miles of its source , and yet not deigning to visit that source which had been for several years the professed object of his travels . Statements such as these could not fail to excite the surprise and curiosity of so experienced and intelligent a traveller as Dr . Beke . They have been exposed , we need scarcely add , to keen and searching examination in the pages of this pamphlet . To attempt even an analysis of the critical test to which the learned Doctor has subjected them would require
more space than remains at our disposal ; but a single passage from the work itself will briefly furnish our readers with ample inducement to make themselves more fully acquainted with the various reasons which have led the author to the conclusion at which he has arrived , and , at the same time , convey an idea of the many complicated circumstances he bas had to consider and investigate in his laudable endeavour to expose this French traveller ' s fictitious performance . He says : —
" When the news of this journey first reached Europe , I at once saw reason to entertain doubts as to the correctness of several points connected with it . These doubts , instead of becoming weaker , were much strengthened when , in the course