diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e0fe7ec51..47cf2286d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@ before_install:
  - sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable
  - sudo apt-get update -qq
  - sudo apt-get install -y make valgrind libgdal-dev libgdal1-dev libgdal1h=1.10.0-1~precise1 boost1.55 python-nose libicu-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libtiff-dev libwebp-dev libz-dev libfreetype6-dev libxml2-dev libproj-dev libcairo-dev python-cairo-dev libsqlite3-dev
+ # multi-face ttc font: https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/issues/2274
+ - sudo apt-get install ttf-wqy-microhei
 
 script:
- - ./configure CXX=${CXX} CC=${CC} XML_PARSER=$XML_PARSER DEBUG=False DEMO=True BENCHMARK=True BINDINGS='python' CPP_TESTS=True CAIRO=True FAST=True
+ - ./configure CXX=${CXX} CC=${CC} XML_PARSER=$XML_PARSER DEBUG=False DEMO=True BENCHMARK=False BINDINGS='python' CPP_TESTS=True CAIRO=True FAST=True
  - JOBS=6 make
  - make test-local
  - sudo make install
diff --git a/tests/cpp_tests/font_registration_test.cpp b/tests/cpp_tests/font_registration_test.cpp
index 93a9d5854..94d65eb47 100644
--- a/tests/cpp_tests/font_registration_test.cpp
+++ b/tests/cpp_tests/font_registration_test.cpp
@@ -87,6 +87,19 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         face_names = mapnik::freetype_engine::face_names();
         //std::clog << "number of registered fonts: " << face_names.size() << std::endl;
         BOOST_TEST( face_names.size() == 22 );
+
+        // now blindly register as many system fonts as possible
+        // the goal here to make sure we don't crash
+        // linux
+        mapnik::freetype_engine::register_fonts("/usr/share/fonts/", true);
+        mapnik::freetype_engine::register_fonts("/usr/local/share/fonts/", true);
+        // osx
+        mapnik::freetype_engine::register_fonts("/Library/Fonts/", true);
+        mapnik::freetype_engine::register_fonts("/System/Library/Fonts/", true);
+        // windows
+        mapnik::freetype_engine::register_fonts("C:\\Windows\\Fonts", true);
+        face_names = mapnik::freetype_engine::face_names();
+        BOOST_TEST( face_names.size() > 22 );
     }
     catch (std::exception const & ex)
     {