James Bruce was the first of the great group of notable British explorers who between them in a century and a half have laid bare to the world nearly every notable feature in the geography of the Nile basin. This remarkable Scotchman was born at Kinnaird House, Stirlingshire, in 1730. He was the son of a land-owner, and was educated at Harrow. Soon after leaving school he was put (against his will) into the wine trade with Spain and northern Portugal. In this pursuit he visited Galicia and the northwest coast of the Spanish peninsula. His trade, never very successful, was interrupted by the war with Spain, which broke out in 1758. Bruce conceived a plan for landing a British force at Ferrol, in Galicia, and to prosecute this idea he obtained an introduction to the Earl of Halifax, then president of the Board of Trade. George Montagu Dunk, second Earl of Halifax, was a widely read man,[28] who took an interest in many subjects, amongst others the mystery of the Nile. He is a curious link in that chain of persons who have contributed efforts toward the revelation to the civilised world of the whole course of this wonderful river. Lord Halifax brushed aside the scheme for landing a force at Ferrol as unnecessary and impracticable. But he began to consult Bruce about the Nile Quest, as a man who had travelled considerably about Europe even at that period--his travels having been undertaken to assuage the grief caused by the loss of his wife. Bruce took up the matter with energy. Lord Halifax, therefore, secured for him the appointment of consul at Algiers, with the idea that this place and post would enable Bruce to prepare for the exploration of the Nile by learning Arabic and acquiring information concerning the interior of Africa. Apparently the consulate at Algiers in those days was not harassed with any restrictions regarding residence; indeed, Bruce’s consular duties appear to have been merely nominal, for he was only a year at Algiers, and spent it in the study of Arabic and Turkish.[29] In 1763 Bruce started on a remarkable tour through Tunis and Tripoli, in which he drew and measured (with the aid of a professional Italian draughtsman) the wonderful Roman ruins in those countries. He then extended his journeys to the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, and explored Syria and Palestine. The greater part of the drawings which he made of buildings in all these Mediterranean lands are now stored in the British Museum.