Next morning, early, Le Vaillant was suddenly awakened by Klaas, who informed him of what had happened; and counselled him to arm a number of his followers, and pursue the robbers. This advice was instantly adopted. He took thirteen of the bravest, and following the track of the oxen, which was visible enough upon the sand, during six hours, found that it struck off from the river. Here they passed the night. Next morning before day they continued the pursuit, and finding that the herd had been divided into two parts, pursued the track of the more numerous, not doubting that the division had been made merely for the purpose of distracting their attention. From a Hottentot village by which they passed they obtained two guides, who, being perfectly acquainted with the country, undertook to conduct them to the hiding-places of the Bushmen. They therefore again set forward, and after tracking the robbers for several leagues, found that they had crossed the river, in which they discovered the body of one of the oxen which had been drowned in the passage. The stream being here deep and rapid rendered the passage both difficult and dangerous. They, however, succeeded in gaining the opposite shore, but what was their vexation when, having ascended a short distance up the river, it was perceived that the artful bandits had again crossed, and were therefore on the other side. This manœuvre was repeated three times, for so frequently had the Bushmen crossed and recrossed the stream. But at length the track was lost in the path leading to a kraal, in which, therefore, they concluded the oxen must be concealed.
The guides, fearful lest their presence among the traveller’s attendants might occasion a war between these bandits and their nation, here demanded permission to remain behind during the attack upon the kraal, and their request was unhappily complied with. Le Vaillant himself, conceiving that darkness would be favourable to his views, resolved to defer the execution of his project until night. They accordingly encamped upon the spot, and a little after midnight set off in the greatest silence. “Soon afterward,” says he, “we perceived, at the distance of about three-quarters of a league, the light of several fires; and advancing a little farther, we heard songs, cries of joy, and immoderate shouts of laughter. The bandits were amusing themselves, and making good cheer at my expense. Their clamour, however, had one good effect; for my dogs began to set up so loud a barking on drawing near the kraal, that it became necessary to muzzle them, so that but for the frightful tumult within we should infallibly have been betrayed. I was now, therefore, in a state of warfare with savages, and resolved to employ against them the resources of art, should they oppose me with superior force. The moment not being favourable for commencing the attack, I put it off until the break of day, and in order to conduct it in the most advantageous manner, I intrenched myself and my troop behind a copse, which, by affording us an impenetrable shield against the attacks of our enemies, would render our own doubly terrible. The copse, in fact, was sufficiently extensive to contain and conceal all my musketeers; and each of us, by pushing aside or breaking off a few branches, immediately formed a sort of porthole through which we could fire. In this position we patiently and silently awaited the moment for action. The villains themselves appeared, by their conduct, to favour our views. Their noisy merriment died away by degrees; and at length, yielding to fatigue, they retired into their huts to rest, and the noise entirely ceased.
“The day soon appeared, when we discovered that the position we had taken up was too far from the kraal. Leaving our oxen, and my two horses, ready saddled in case of a defeat, behind the bushes, under the care of one of my people, we advanced, therefore, and posted ourselves within gunshot of the kraal. It was a considerable hamlet, consisting of not less than thirty or forty huts, and occupied the slope of a hill, behind which a range of high mountains swept round in the form of an amphitheatre. Though our muskets were all loaded, it was not my intention to commence hostilities with the effusion of blood. I designed merely to alarm the brigands, and by the consternation caused by a sudden attack, to compel them to take to flight. For this reason I commanded my followers to fire in the air, and on no account to take aim at a single individual unless by my express orders. I began the assault by firing my large carbine, the report of which, multiplied by the echoes of the neighbouring mountains, produced a terrible noise. We had persuaded ourselves that at the sound of this thunder the whole horde would fly in consternation, and my companions were preparing to augment their terrors by a general discharge. But, to our astonishment, not a creature appeared. It was in vain that we fired round after round; every thing remained calm, and I knew not what to conjecture. This security was merely apparent. While external appearances announced sleep and peace, every soul within was given up to terror and confusion. But by a stratagem to which they, no doubt, had been long accustomed, no one wished to appear before the whole body were armed; and it is probable that they communicated with each other by signals. When they were ready for battle, they all at the same moment rushed out of their huts, and advancing with frightful howlings towards us, let fly a cloud of arrows, which falling far short of their mark, we still replied to by firing over their heads. Observing that none of their party were hurt, they began to imagine that our muskets would not carry so far, and therefore uniting into one body, they came on with fury. We awaited the assault with firmness. My people, in the mean time, called aloud to them to restore my oxen. Whether they heard us or not I cannot determine; but they had now advanced so near that their arrows fell about us in showers. I now thought it full time to fire in earnest, and issuing my orders to aim at their bodies, we fired several volleys in rapid succession, and had very quickly the satisfaction to see this numerous band of men scattered about like emmets, flying in all directions, and uttering fearful shrieks, which were no longer, as at first, cries of valour and defiance, but the howlings of despair. Their wives and children had retreated, during the combat, to the summit of the hill, where the oxen were grazing; and it was thither that they now fled; whence, having rapidly collected the cattle, they plunged down into the hollow on the opposite side, and disappeared. Being well persuaded that, should they once reach the defiles of the mountains, all pursuit would be vain, I mounted my horse, and dividing my men into two bodies, directed one party to cut off their retreat on one side, while I myself with the remainder should attack them on the other. It was not many minutes before we discovered the savages hurrying down the hill towards a plain, in which there was a small wood; and, in fact, the greater number of them quickly disappeared a second time, but those who drove the cattle were necessarily more slow, and seeing us close upon their heels, they likewise took to flight, leaving the oxen behind them. At this moment my other detachment coming up, fired at them, and stretched one of their number upon the earth. The rest escaped.”
Having thus regained possession of his cattle, and fearing he might fall into some ambush laid for him by the savages, he hastened back to the kraal, where he found their own herd. In lieu of one of the oxen which had been killed and eaten, he took away a young cow and two sheep, and hurried towards the spot where he had left his Kameniqua guides. Here he was shocked by a very horrible spectacle. One of the men had been torn to pieces during the night, and the other likewise had suffered severely. They had, in fact, neglected to keep alive their fire, and had been attacked by a lion in their sleep. Le Vaillant caused them to be placed upon his horses, and carried along with them; but abandoned the dying man at the first halting-place. The other eventually recovered.
Though dogged all the way by the Bushmen, he reached his camp in safety, from whence, having now entirely abandoned the idea of traversing the African continent, he turned his face southwards, and directed his course towards the Cape. His constitution had considerably suffered during this journey, and he suddenly began to experience unequivocal symptoms of illness. While he was in this condition he encountered a white family, who, having endured signal misfortunes in the world, had succeeded in snapping asunder the links which ordinarily bind men to society, and were now, with a few Hottentot servants, and a wagon which contained all their worldly possessions, proceeding towards Namaqua-land in search of a better fortune than they had hitherto met with. Le Vaillant, who could easily read indolence and inactivity in the countenance of the father, was still deeply interested in his fate, by an air of goodness which accompanied the indication of those qualities; and anticipating the consent of the owner, he bestowed upon them a small house and ground in the vicinity, four sheep, a goat, a dog, together with a quantity of toys and cutlery, wherewith to purchase the friendship of the savages. With these riches they departed on their way, blessing the friendly hand which had enabled them to live in comfort, and praying for the happiness of him who, under Providence, had been the creator of theirs.
He now pushed forward to the banks of the Kansi, where his progress was put a stop to by a buinsy, accompanied by violent fever. This disease is generally mortal in Africa. Of this circumstance he was perfectly aware, and accordingly from the beginning began to fear the worst, and gave himself up for lost. But his followers, who, with ignorance of physic equal to his own, indulged more sanguine hopes, requested his permission to apply the only remedy known among them; and having obtained his consent, applied round his neck towels dipped in boiling milk, until the skin was nearly scalded off. This treatment was continued during three days; but finding no benefit from it, he abandoned the physicians, and resolved to leave the whole to nature. Meanwhile his condition was alarming. His throat and tongue were so much swelled that he could swallow nothing but a few drops of weak tea, and at length lost entirely the power of speaking, except by signs. The fears of his Hottentots were no less than his own. When Klaas or Swanspoel entered his tent, the other attendants would thrust their black woolly heads in after them, in the expectation of gathering from their looks whether there was still any hope. Such was the state of the case when several persons of the Lesser Namaqua horde arrived in the camp, among the rest a little man, who, when informed of the disorder of the chief, immediately undertook his cure. Our traveller, willing to make trial of every means within his power, permitted the Hottentot Æsculapius to treat him as he pleased; and had once more to endure a hot cataplasm on his throat, which, together with a gargle of sage-juice, formed the whole remedy. In the course of one night his freedom of respiration and the power of swallowing were restored, and in three days he was well.
This danger being over, Le Vaillant returned to the Cape, dismissed his Hottentots, and taking leave of his South African friends, set sail for Europe, July 14th, 1784. He arrived in Paris in the beginning of the January following, and from thenceforward his whole life was occupied in putting his collections in order, in compiling the account of his travels, and in composing the various works which he afterward published or left in MS. on the natural history of the birds and quadrupeds of Africa.—Though his occupations were thus simple and peaceful, he was not able during the stormy days of the Revolution to escape unsuspected; he was apprehended and imprisoned in 1793, and is supposed to have escaped the guillotine only by the fall of Robespierre. His habitual residence during the latter part of his life was on a small estate that he possessed at La Noue, near Sezanne. There, when not engaged in his literary labours, he amused himself with hunting; and in this manner he lived during nearly thirty years. He died on the 22d of November, 1824. During the whole of that time he had seldom quitted his retreat to visit Paris, except for the purpose of seeing his works through the press. His “Travels,” upon which his hopes of fame must chiefly rest, appear to have occupied him nearly eleven years, the first part having been published in 1790, and the second in 1796. It has often been asserted, says M. Eyriès, that these travels were compiled from the author’s notes by Casimir Varron but this is a mistake; he merely read the proof sheets for the purpose of correction, Le Vaillant not being sufficiently acquainted with the French language to enable him to confide in his own judgment.
It was Le Vaillant who first made the giraffe known in France, and the stuffed specimen in the king’s collection is the one which was brought over by him. His other works are, “The Natural History of the Birds of Africa,” of the parroquet, and of the birds of Paradise. The figures, designed under his inspection by Barraband, are said to possess great merit; and his scientific works occupy the first rank among books of that kind.
BELZONI.
This able and interesting traveller, descended from a respectable Roman family, was born at Padua, whither his relations had many years previously removed. Being designed by his parents for some monastic order, he was at a very early age sent to Rome, the original abode of his ancestors, where he received his education, and spent the greater part of his youth. Here the sciences would appear to have obtained a decided preference in his mind, over every other branch of study; particularly hydraulics, to which he owed the reputation which he afterward acquired in the world, and a success which was by no means equal to his deserts. The invasion of Italy, and the capture of Rome by the French, disturbed the peaceful but insignificant plan of life which he had traced out for himself. Instead of a monk he became a traveller. Departing from Rome in the year 1800, he for some time wandered about the Continent, deriving his subsistence, as he himself observes, from his own knowledge and industry, and occasional remittances from his family, who, though by no means wealthy, seem to have been generously disposed to afford him a support, which he, in a short time, no less generously refused to accept.