VAILLANT* 
ing and embellishment which may amuse and flat- 
ter the fancy of his readers. This petite foi' 
" blesse,'^' as M. de la Richarderie calls it, cannot, 
it is said, affect the general value and authenticity 
of his narrative. In consequence, however, of 
the " little weakness'* now alluded to, M. Vail- 
lant's account of this country cannot be compar- 
ed, in point of authenticity, to that of Mr Bar- 
row ; and, as the charm of his style could not be 
preserved in a short analysis, there seems no room 
for departing, in his case, from the plan which 
we have proposed to follow in that of his prede- 
cessors. 
It is certain that Vaillant made important addi- 
tions to African ornithology. He brought home 
also to Paris the skin of the Giraffe, or Camelopar- 
dalis, a rare species, which, till then, had scarcely 
come under modern observation. He seems to 
have first ascertained, that what has been called 
the apron of the Hottentot females, is merely the 
prolongation of a particular membrane, which he 
supposes to be artificially produced ; but Mr Bar- 
row seems to have ascertained it to be a natural 
excrescence. 
In 1797* the territory belonging to the colony, 
as far as the Orange river, was traversed by Mr 
Barrow. Few gentlemen have possessed in so 
eminent a degree, all the most important requi- 
