TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: VOLUME I. By Adulphe Delegorgue.

(1847) 1990 paperback edition. 8vo (150 x 233mm). Ppxxxii,xii,359. B/w illustrations, map, bibliography. Laminated card covers.

"To South Africa in 1838 came Adulphe Delegorgue, a young French naturalist with a passion for information, a keen eye and a ready wit... and a mighty elephant gun. The first volume of his famous Travels describes his brief journeyings in the Cape Colony and the early part of his several years of hunting and specimen-collecting in Natal and Zululand. Fleur Webb's lively translation allows English readers, for the first time, to enjoy Delegorgue's ebullience, and to see through his eyes the Port Natal settlement, Trekker life, and the pomp and pageantry of Mpande's court. An especial pleasure is his account of the plants and animals of Natal and Zululand, still fresh and unspoiled by pollution and destructive exploitation." WIth an index and preface by historian Colin Webb, assessing the importance of Delegorgue's observations at a critical moment of transition in South Africa's history. Zoologist Stephanie Alexander has contributed a natural history index and a perceptive portrait of Delegorgue as a scientist. "No other tale of hunting and adventure... offers the reader such a rich blend of history, biology, Gallic charm - and vigorous entertainment."