AFRICAN EXPLORERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 89 
on. The whole of this district, down to the sea, is occu¬ 
pied by colonists, who breed cattle, make butter, culti¬ 
vate timber, and collect honey, sending their merchandise 
to the Cape for sale. 
A little beyond the last post of the company, Le 
Vaillant, having entered a district peopled by thousands 
of “ turacos,” and other rare birds, pitched his hunting 
camp ; but his plans were terribly upset by the con¬ 
tinuous fall of heavy rains, the result of which was to 
reduce the travellers to great straits for want of food. 
After many a sudden change of fortune and many 
hunting adventures, an account of which would be very 
amusing, though beyond the scope of our narrative, Le 
Vaillant reached Mossel Bay. Here, with what delight 
we can easily imagine, he found letters from France 
awaiting him. One excursion after another was now 
made in various directions, until Kaffraria was entered. 
It was difficult to open relations with its peojDle, who 
sedulously avoided the whites, having suffered the loss 
of many men and much cattle at their hands. More¬ 
over the Tamboukis had taken advantage of their critical 
position to invade Kaffraria and commit numerous 
depredations, whilst the Bosjemans hunted them down 
unmercifully. Without fire-arms, and attacked on so 
many sides at once, the Kaffirs were driven to hiding 
themselves, and were retiring northwards. 
As matters stood it was useless to attempt to pene¬ 
trate into the mountainous districts of Kaffraria, and 
La Vaillant retraced his steps. He then visited the 
Schneuwberg mountains, the Karroo desert and the 
shores of the Buffalo River, returning to the Cape on the 
2nd April, 1783. 
The results of this long campaign were important. 
Le Vaillant obtained some decided information about 
the Gonaquas, a numerous race which must not be con¬ 
founded with the Hottentots properly so called, but are 
probably the offspring of their intermarriage with the 
Kaffirs. With regard to the Hottentots themselves, the 
information collected by Le Vaillant agrees on almost 
every point with that obtained by Sparkman. 
