Francois le Vaillant: Travels into the interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. Vol I

François Vaillant is gebore in Suriname (destyds Nederlands Guiana). Sy pa, ‘n Franse prokureur, was die Franse Konsul vir die Nederlandse kolonie. François word groot in die woude en ontwikkel, nes sy ouers, ‘n belangstelling in die inheemse fauna. Hy versamel graag voëls en insekte. In 1763, toe François 10 jaar oud is, keer sy familie terug na Frankryk. In 1772 sluit hy aan by die Berry kavallerie regiment in Metz as ‘n kadet offisier. Hy word later egter afgekeur as ‘n offisier omdat hy nie lank genoeg was nie. Hy trou en trek in 1777 na Parys. Vermoedelik wou hy ‘n bestaan maak uit die handel van voëls en ander natuurlike spesimen wat hy in arseen-gebaseerde seep gepreserveer het. Teen 1780 is hy bekend in Parys as ‘n voël taksidermis en versamelaar.

Francois Le Vaillant

Hy vertrek in 1780 vanuit Holland na die “verre, eksotiese” Kaap om nog voël- en dier spesies te versamel. Le Vaillant (soos hy homself hernoem tydens sy reise) is bekend as die vader van Suid-Afrikaanse ornitologie, maar hy was veel meer bekend vir sy invloedryke boek “Voyage dans l’intérieur de  l’Afrique”  (“Travels”) wat in 1790 uitgegee is. Dié boek prikkel Europeërs se verbeelding oor Suid-Afrika en ontvang goeie resensies in die Moniteur, ‘n gewilde Franse koerant tydens die rewolusie. Koning Lodewyk XVI, ‘n ywerige jagter, laat ‘n spesiale kaart maak gebaseer op die reise beskryf in die boek.

Le Vaillant se kamp by Kokskraal

“Travels” word verskeie keer in Frankryk herdruk en word ook vertaal en versprei deur Europa. Dit word dus een van die mees invloedryke publikasies wat oor Suid-Afrika handel van alle tye. Dit bevat die eerste geïllustreerde vertelling van ‘n jag ekspedisie; die eerste safari of reis vertelling wat die vryheid van die wildernis gebruik om die reëls van beskawing te bevraagteken; die eerste kritiese verslag van Nederlandse kolonialisme en die gepaardgaande brutaliteit van die setlaars se uitbreiding; die eerste gedetailleerde etnologiese beskrywing wat gebaseer is op praktiese navorsing. Ten spyte van die feit dat die boek verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse literêre genres en temas beïnvloed het, was dit lank uit druk in beide Engels en Frans. Hier word ‘n nuwe vertaling van die eerste volume gepubliseer. Die voorwoord plaas Le Vaillaint se geskiedenis en intellektuele agtergrond in konteks en bespreek die literêre en geskiedkundige belang van “Travels“.

UITTREKSEL VANUIT DIE TEKS

“I noticed a young girl of sixteen. Lost in the crowd, she demonstrated less eagerness to have a share of the jewels that I was distributing to her companions than curiosity about my appearance. She was looking at me with such obvious interest that I went nearer to her to give her all the time to look at me at her leisure. I found her figure charming. She had the healthiest and most beautiful teeth in the world, she was elegant and slender, and the sensual curves of her body could have made her a model for the brush of Albani. She was the youngest of the Graces in the guise of a Hottentot.

The impressions made by beauty are universal.   It is a sovereign whose empire is everywhere. I could feel by the lavishness of my gifts that I was swaying a little under its power.   My young savage soon got used to me.   I had just given her a belt, bracelets, a necklace of little white beads that seemed to delight her. I took a red handkerchief from my neck and she wrapped it around her head. With this adornment she was, as one might say in elevated language, adorable. I took pleasure in dressing her up myself.   When her toilette was finished, she asked me for some jewels for her sister who had stayed behind with the horde.   She pointed out her mother and told me she no longer had a father. I burdened her with questions as I found her responses so charming.   Nothing could equal the pleasure I had in looking at her, unless it was my pleasure in hearing her. I asked her to stay with me and made her all sorts of promises, but when, in particular, I talked to her of taking her to my country where all the women are queens and rule over large hordes of slaves, far from letting herself be tempted, she rejected my proposition out of hand, openly making several impatient and angry movements. A monarch could not have overcome her resistance and the sorrow that the very idea of leaving her family and her horde caused her. Eventually I begged her to bring me her sister at least, who would in her turn have reasons to be satisfied. She promised me this. At that moment she looked intently at a chair near me. She showed me a knife that I had left there by accident. I hastened to offer it to her and she immediately gave it to her mother.

She was busy the whole time with her new trinkets. She touched her arms, her feet, her necklace, her belt, put her hand on her head twenty times to touch and feel her handkerchief that she liked so much.   I opened my toilet-chest and took from it a mirror that I placed before her. She looked at herself in it very attentively and even with self-satisfaction. She showed clearly by her gestures and her different poses how pleased she was – I do not say with her looks, but rather with her accessories which made a stronger and stronger impression on her.