Anders Sparrman

Sparrman, Anders, 1748-1820.

A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic polar circle, and round the world : but chiefly into the country of the Hottentots and Caffres from the year 1772 to 1776 ... London : Printed for G.G.J. and J. Robinson, 1785.

Anders Sparrman, a Swedish naturalist and student of medicine, voyaged to South Africa in 1771. There he met other explorers, impressing members of Captain James Cook's crew with his knowledge. After two and a half years spent with Cook on the Resolution, collecting and classifying plant and animal life, he returned to the Cape, where he resumed his naturalist studies of the area. He also began to study the Hottentot (Khoi) people. Although he believes claims of travelers regarding imaginary beings "have almost entirely disappeared in this enlightened age," he feels it necessary to debunk some accounts of the natives printed in earlier, more sensational accounts.