650 DONVILLE'S FICTITIOUS TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 



the out-of-door affairs, and with the business of a small lithographic 

 printing press he had established. 



On the 27th of August, 1827, I left Buenos Ayres for the Brazils. 

 A few days after my arrival at Rio de Janeiro, which was on the 20th 

 of September, I set out for the interior, and did not return to Rio till 

 the beginning of March in the following year. There I then found M. 

 Donville engaged in the same sort of industry as at Buenos Ayres, the 

 shop being kept as formerly by Madame Laboissiere, who dressed her- 

 self habitually in masculine attire, a circumstance which greatly scan- 

 dalized the Brazilians, but still attracted people to the shop. From that 

 period I lost sight personally of M. Donville, and not wishing to assert 

 any thing of which I have not myself been a witness, I shall suppress 

 certain details which have lately come to my knowledge. 



" Several years had elapsed, and I thought no more of M. Donville, 

 when on my return to Paris in the month of June last, after a long 

 absence in the colonies, the first book which fell into my hands was the 

 voyage to Congo. The name of the author was daily exhibited in the 

 journals with extracts from his book ; the Geographical Society, after 

 awarding him a premium and a medal, elected him their secretary ; 

 several royal audiences had been granted him; in short, there was a 

 concert of praise, the harmony of which no critic ventured to disturb. 

 The name of Donville struck me. Could it be the man I had known 

 five years before in Buenos Ayres and the Brazils ? I communicated 

 my suspicions to several well-known individuals who had seen M. Don- 

 ville, and described him to them without having yet ascertained his 

 identity. The picture I gave of his person proved to be correct, and I 

 had no longer any doubt on the subject. I still hesitated, however, to 

 follow out the affair, when, on the Kith of September last, the Conslitu- 

 tionnel published a biographical article, of which M. Donville was the 

 subject, filled with details so extraordinary, to say nothing more, that to 

 put an end to a mystification which had reached such a degree of 

 audacity on the one outside, and credulity on the other, I resolved to 

 raise my voice. I saw M. Donville, and at the first glance it was im- 

 possible to be mistaken. Years have not altered his appearance ; an 

 African sun has not added a shade to that pale face. When I informed 

 him that I had been at Rio Janeiro at the same time with himself, his 

 features became disturbed, as if he had seen the sword of public opinion 

 suspended over his head. If my single testimony be not sufficent to 

 verify his identity, there are several individuals now in Paris who knew 

 M. Donville at Buenos Ayres, and I engage to produce them." 



M. Lacordaire then examines the work of M. Donville, who professes 

 to be a sort of univeral genius, and proves to demonstration his utter 

 ignorance of every science to which he pretends. In chemistry and 

 geology, zoology and astronomy, he is equally at fault. 



" I shall add but a single word," concludes M. Lacordaire, " as to the 

 proposition which M. Donville has made to the government to entrust 

 him with the superintendence of a second voyage to Africa. When a 

 man has made a false step there are two modes of extrication : the more 

 vulgar is to draw back and make your escape, saving appearances as 

 well as you can ; the other is to double your assurance, and to brave the 

 rebuffs you may meet with in adversaries. I leave the public to decide 

 whether the latter be the better course, and whether M. Donville has 

 been right in taking it." 



