LE VAILLANT'S BIRTH-PLACE. 21 



his impressions of the things he saw. The author 

 delineates himself in his pages so unreservedly 

 and so unconsciously, in his eagerness, buoyancy, 

 enterprise, vanity, and warmth of affection, as 

 well as unbounded enthusiasm, that he makes you 

 his confidant and enlists your sympathies. 



Like Audubon, Le Vaillant has prefaced his 

 work by an autobiographical sketch of his early 

 days; and it is so entertaining and natural that the 

 reader will be pleased to have a considerable part 

 of it given in his own words. 



He was born in 1753, at Paramaribo, in Dutch 

 Guiana, where his father, a rich merchant and 

 native of Metz, was French consul. 



He thus describes the place of his birth : " That 

 part of Guiana under the government of the Dutch 

 West India Company is perhaps the least known 

 to naturalists, though it is, without dispute, of all 

 South America, the spot that offers the greatest 

 variety of curious productions. On the left shore, 

 three leagues from the sea, stands Paramaribo, the 

 capital of this vast colony, which is my native 

 country, the cradle of my infancy. Born of well- 

 educated parents, who delighted in collecting the 

 interesting and precious objects that enrich this 

 country, I enjoyed from my boyhood the contem- 

 plation of a valuable cabinet, of which I shall 

 hereafter have occasion to speak. 



