François le Vaillant het bekendheid verwerf vir Voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique wat die eerste keer in 1790 gepubliseer is. Die boek, wat uit twee bundels bestaan, het die Europese verbeelding oor Suid-Afrika geprikkel. In Frankryk ontvang die boek positiewe resensies in Moniteur, ‘n koerant wat veral gewild was onder die Revolusionêre Parlement. Koning Lodewyk XVI, ‘n gretige jagter, het ‘n spesiale kaart laat maak gebaseer op die reise beskryf in die boek.

Le Vaillant en sy toergeselskap kom aan by ‘n Gonaqua kraal in 1782, en word deur opperhoof Haabas en sy gevolg ontmoet.

Die eerste bundel van Le Vaillant se Travels, nuut in Engels vertaal, is deur die Van Riebeeck Vereniging uitgegee as Travels into the interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, Vol I, in 2007 (VRS Vol II-38). Die eerste bundel handel grootliks oor sy reistog ooswaarts na Kok se Kraal op die westelike oewer van die Groot Visrivier waar hy tussen Oktober en Desember 1782 gebly het. Dit is ‘n volledig geïllustreerde vertelling van ‘n jag ekspedisie en ‘n hoogs kritiese verslag van Nederlandse kolonialisme.

Die tweede volume, ook nuut in Engels vertaal, word nou deur HiPSA gepubliseer as Travels into the interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, Vol II. Hierdie bundel verskil van die eerste bundel in die opsig dat dit die inheemse mense wat hy teëgekom het by Kok se Kraal in meer detail beskryf. Op hierdie manier spreek Le Vaillant tot die intellektuele klimaat in Europa, waar die Verligte leser graag meer wou lees oor die klassifikasie van kennis oor ‘n breë spektrum van menslike aktiwiteite. Die intellektuele klimaat van die agtiende eeu was egter ingewikkeld: terwyl logika hoog geag was, is die ongebreidelde uitdrukking van emosie en die liriese beskrywing van die natuur ook gevier. Op hierdie vlak het Le Vaillant ook aan sy lesers se eise voldoen deur interessante materiaal te verskaf. Hy maak daarop aanspraak dat hy opregte beskrywings van mense en plekke gee. Tog is daar vraagtekens oor die egtheid van sy beskrywing oor sy oorsteek van die Groot Visrivier. Dit is onwaarskynlik dat Le Vaillant die laaste teks van sy verhaal alleen geskryf het, aangesien dit vol skerpsinnigheid en indirekte toespelings was. Dié was ‘n skryfstyl wat veral gewild was in die Paryse salonne, waarvan Le Vaillant min kennis gehad het. Oor die algemeen is dit ‘n komplekse en fassinerende verhaal, geskryf deur ‘n komplekse en fassinerende man.

Gravure vanuit die Le Roy uitgawe van Le Vaillant se Travels. 

Weens al die bogenoemde redes het beide bundels van Le Vaillant se Travels into the Interior of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope goed verkoop. Tydens Le Vaillant se leeftyd is daar ten minste sewe Franse uitgawes gedruk, en dit is gou vertaal na Engels, Duits, Nederlands, Russies, Sweeds, Deens en Italiaans.

‘n Gonaqua ‘Hottentot’
‘Caffre’ vrou

Sy verhale van die Khoekhoe en Gonaqua is veral insiggewend weens die tyd wat hy in hul geselskap deurgebring het en die feit dat hy, anders as die meeste Europese ontdekkingsreisigers van hierdie era, die moeite gedoen het om die Khoi-taal te leer. Hy voel dus dat hy gouer ‘n vlak bereik het waar hy verstaan kon word. Hy kon nie net hul woorde verstaan nie, maar het ook hul vertroue gewen. Sy skrywe kon dus hul sienings, hulle ervarings en opinies asook hul moeilike verhoudings met die Xhosa en koloniste weergee.

Kaart van Le Vaillant se reistog.

Om ‘n hoë resolusie kopie van die kaart te sien, kliek HIER

UITTREKSEL UIT DIE TEKS

“I had left my horse in the shade of a large tree, and it was there that they had come to compliment me. I remained there for only a few moments, in order to refresh myself, for it was with relish that I contemplated this interesting tribe, and I went towards them escorted by the whole troupe. As I passed by the huts which, like the huts of the Hottentots, have only a low doorway, the mistress of the place (who had at first shown herself in order to see me coming in the distance) immediately withdrew, with the result that I was continually obliged to bend down in order to inspect the interior. The sight of those brown, immobile faces, glued as it were against the wall at the back of the hut, and seen only in outline, was a most curious spectacle for me. I might just as well have left my visiting card with all the ladies, for I was received by none of them.

However, their shyness gradually dissipated, and in the end I was surrounded by them, each bearing a gift of milk. As Narina had not yet joined these curious ladies, I asked after her, and someone ran off to fetch her. She arrived carrying a container of warm goat’s milk which she came and gave me with great eagerness. I preferred to drink her milk, as much because of the naturally graceful manner in which she presented it to me as because of the care she had taken over the cleanliness of her vessel, which the containers of the other women were far from having.

Moreover these women, dressed in their best outfits, freshly decorated with grease, their faces painted in a hundred different ways, clearly showed both the stir that the news of my visit had caused among the tribe, and the particular consideration which they had for this stranger. Narina had adorned herself in the presents I had given her, but I was more than a little surprised to see that she had not adopted the same regime as the other women, and had not anointed herself as they had done. She knew how much I disliked this particular form of coquetry and, however difficult it might have been for her to set it aside, she had made this effort in order to please me.[1] She introduced me to her sister, who I thought was pretty; but whether it was because my feelings for another blinded me to her attractions, or because the smell of her cosmetic preparations repulsed me, I did not find that she had the same piquancy as Narina, and I felt nothing for her.

When I arrived at Haabas’s hut he pointed out his wife to me. There was nothing about her that distinguished her from the others, and I saw here (as is often seen elsewhere) that Madame la Commandante[2] was supremely old and ugly. Nonetheless, playing the part of the polite courtier, I presented her with a red handkerchief, which she received unceremoniously and immediately wound it around her head. I added a tinder box to this gift but, as I really wanted to discover what sort of things she liked, and since I really wished to see a savage woman struggling over the choice of her finery, I showed her my entire collection of glass trinkets, and invited her to choose for herself whatever she liked best. But I did not obtain the satisfaction for which I had hoped for she threw herself without hesitation on the white and red necklaces; the other colours being, she said, too close to the colour of her skin, produced no effect and were not to her liking. I have always noticed that, in general, the savages do not much favour black or blue. I also gave her some thick brass wire to make two pairs of bracelets, and it appeared to me that this was the item she liked best.

The other women were not without envy with respect to these presents: they raised their hands in ecstasy and, full of admiration, they declared in a loud voice that Haabas’s wife was the happiest of women and that her collection of jewellery surpassed anything yet seen among all the tribes of the Gonaqua nation.

Next I distributed the remainder of the glass baubles I had brought, and I openly confess that I gave the best pieces to the youngest and most beautiful women.”

VERTALING, VOORWOORD EN NOTAS DEUR D.J. CULPIN

D.J. Culpin is ‘n Buitengewone Professor in Frans aan die Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland en was voorheen Leser in Frans aan die Universiteit van St. Andrews in Skotland. Hy spesialiseer in Franse letterkunde en idees van die sewentiende en agtiende eeue, en fokus op die literatuur van idees en reisverhale. Sy publikasies sluit in ‘n monografie oor Marivaux, ‘n studentegids vir La Rochefoucauld se Maximes (1995), en ‘n kritiese uitgawe van Charles Perrault se Les Hommes illustres (2003), asook artikels in joernale soos French Studies en die Revue d’Histoire Littéraire de la France. Hy het ook ‘n vertaling en kritiese uitgawe gepubliseer van die Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Eole deur C.E. Boniface (2012), die eerste Franse boek wat in Suid-Afrika gepubliseer is. Professor Culpin het voorheen aan die Universiteit van Hong Kong en die Universiteit van Wallis, Lampeter, onderrig gegee en het Besoek- of Navorsingsgenootskappe aan die Universiteite van Oxford, Adelaide, Kaapstad en Johannesburg gehou.