LE VAILLANT (François).
Travels from the Cape of Good Hope.
A naturalist, Vaillant was collecting specimens at Saldanha Bay when his ship was sunk by British warships, under the command of Capt. Johnstone. Having nothing more than his gun, ten ducats and the clothes on his back, Le Vaillant was forced to rely on the kindness of the Dutch fiscal Mr. Boers to whom this book was dedicated. With his help the author returned to the Cape and prepared for his inland expedition, which soon him via Swellenham to Mossel Bay, and then East to Algoa Bay and the Fish River. On his return journey Le Vaillant travelled via the “Sneuw Bergen” and through the Eastern Cape crossing the Gamka, Buffalo and Touws Rivers before finally reaching Saldanha Bay after some sixteen months.
The narrative provides much information on the natural history and the Dutch settlers of the interior of southern Africa and is “characterised by the intelligent and interesting manner in which it is written, although the rapsodies on the Hottentots must have sounded strange to colonial ears” (Mendelssohn, p890).
This edition includes a censored version of the plate of the Female Hottentot. Ogilvie 22; Mendelssohn I, p889.
