The 'most trustworthy account of the Cape Colony and the various races of people then residing in it' in the eighteenth century according to Theal.
The Swedish natural scientist and disciple of Linnaeus, Sparrman was the first zoologist to study, among other species, the African rhino. He first sailed as a botanist to China on a Royal Swedish East India Company ship to Canton via the Cape.
In 1771 his friend Capt. Ekeberg of the RSEIC obtained for him the position of tutor to the children of M. Kerst sub-Governor of the Cape.
Plans to travel to the interior were interrupted by the arrival at the Cape of Cook on his Second Voyage. Sparrman accompanied Cook from South Africa to Antarctica as assistant to the naturalist Johann Georg Forster, experiences which he recounts briefly here. Cook had urged Sparrman to delay publication until his own log books were in print.
In 1775 after raising sufficient finance he set out overland from the Cape in the company of a South African named Immelmanm paralleling the Southern coast and visiting the regions of Swellerdam, Mossel Bay and the country to the north of Port Elizabeth.
Mendelssohn Vol. 2., pp.414. "An enthusiast in the study of Natural History the author proceed[ed] to the Cape, through the influence of his friend Captain Ekeberg with the Royal Swedish East India Company. Made several excursions into the country in search of natural history specimens, and he gives valuable information respecting Cape Town and the neighbouring districts at this period. He did not return to South Africa until 1775 when he determined to make an expedition into the interior with a friend named Immelman, and they made a start on July 25th. The narrative of their travels is interesting and instructive."
Sparrman's story was recently published as The Journey of Anders Sparrman by Per Wästberg, 2010.
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