Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/248

" Voyage autour du monde execute sur la corvette la Bonite" (11 vols., Paris, 1840-'8).

VAILLANT, Francois Le, South American explorer, b. in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, in 1753; d. in La Noue, near Sezanne, France, 22 Nov., 1824. He was the son of a French consul, and showed from early youth a strong desire for ad- venture, sometimes wandering alone in the forests for weeks. On his father's return to Europe, in 1763, he studied natural history at Metz, and, sail- ing for Cape of Good Hope in 1780, tried to trav- erse Africa by travelling northward in 1780-'4. Later he revisited Guiana, where he owned a large estate. He was imprisoned during the reign of ter- ror, and settled afterward at La Noue. His works include "Voyage dans Finterieur de lAfrique " (2 vols., Paris, 1790), and " Second voyage dans l'in- terieur de lAfrique " (3 vols., 1796), both of which were translated into several languages; "Histoire naturelle des oiseaux dAfrique" (6 vols., 1796- 1812) ; " Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis " (1801-6) ; " Histoire naturelle des cotingas et des todiers " (1804) ; and " Histoire naturelle des calaos " (1804). The last three describe species of birds that inhabit Guiana. Le Vaillant contributed to the Paris academy of science several papers concern- ing South America, including a " Memoire sur les coleopteres de la Guiane" (1818).

VALADES, Diego (vah-lah'-days), Mexican mis- sionary, b., according to some authors, in Spain, but, according to others, in Tlaxcala, Mexico, about 1520; d. in Italy about 1590. He entered the Franciscan order, became a missionary to the Chichimec Indians, was superior of the convent of Tlaxcala, and on account of his learning was sent to Rome in 1570 as resident procurator-general of his order. He edited Father Jean Focher's " Itinera- rium Catholicum " (1574), but his reputation rests on his remarkable work " Rhetorica Qhristiana ad concionandi et orandi usum aceommodata, quae quidem ex Indorum Historia maxime deprompta sunt" (Perugia, 1579; Rome, 1587), in which he describes the Indian customs, the ornaments of the Mexican temples, and the human sacrifices that were offered in them, while at the same time he praises highly the intellect and advanced civiliza- tion of the Aztecs and Tlaxcalans.

VALDES, Antonio Jose, Cuban historian, b. at Matanzas in 1770; d. in Mexico in 1824. He received his education in Havana and was succes- sively a goldsmith, clerk in a commercial house, a printer, a teacher, and finally a journalist. After an eventful life in his native country he went to Buenos Ayres in 1818, where he founded a success- ful newspaper, " El Censor," but in 1820 he went to Mexico, and the Emperor Iturbide appointed him in 1822 his court printer. Valdes published " Principios generales de la lengua castellana" (Ha- vana, 1806) ; " Historia General de la Isla de Cuba y en especial de la Habana " (1811 ; reprinted in the work " Los tres primeros historiadores de Cuba," 1876); and many educational works, which were used as text-books in the schools of the island.

VALDES, Gabriel de la Concepcidn, known as " Placido," Cuban poet, b. in Havana in 1809 ; d. there, 28 June, 1844. He was the son of a col- ored man and passed the first years of his life in poverty and want. His early education was en- tirely neglected, but in later years he obtained some instruction by desultory reading. When he was seventeen years old he was already known as a remarkable irnprovisatore. In 1836 he fixed his residence in the city of Matanzas, and began to publish his poems in the newspapers and literary reviews. These poems revealed at once a lyrical poet of no mean value, and gave him a wide repu- tation, which extended to all Spanish-American countries. Some patriotic lines of his cost Placido several months of imprisonment under Gen. Tacon's government. In 1844 he was ac- cused of being implicated in a supposed conspi- racy of the col- ored race against the whites, un- der Gen. O'Don- nell's adminis- tration ; and, al- though it has been proved of late that Placido had nothing to do with the plot, of whose exist- ence there have never been con- clusive proofs, he and nineteen of his unfortunate fellow - citizens were shot as trait-

ors. His poems

have passed through numerous editions in Cuba, as well as in Spain. Mexico, South America, and the United States. The first edition was published in Matanzas in 1838, another enlarged edition appeared in the same city in 1842, and the most complete edi- tion was published in Havana in 1886. The poems of Placido have been translated into French by Auguste Fontanes, and published in one volume (Paris, 1866). Many of them have been translated into English, German, Italian, and Portuguese. The best is his prayer, composed on the eve of death, and recited by him on his way to the place of exe- cution. This was translated into English by Mary Weston Chapman. Valdes is one of the most popu- lar and best known of the Spanish-American poets.

VALDES, Ger6nimo (val-days'), Spanish soldier, b. in Villarin, Asturias, in 1784; d. in Madrid in 1857. He was finishing his law studies in the University of Oviedo in 1808, when Napoleon forced Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII. to abdicate. Valdes took an active part with his fellow-students in the rising of the principality, being appointed by the provincial junta to organize the Asturian militia. With that body he took part in the whole peninsular campaign against the French, till the retreat of Marshal Soult across the Pyrenees in 1813, obtaining the rank of colonel for his valor in the battle of Albuera, 16 May, 1811. When, after the battle of Waterloo, he saw no prospect of quick promotion in Europe, he solicited transfer to the Peruvian army, and on 8 May, 1816, sailed from Cadiz in the expedition of Gen. Jose de La Serna as adjutant on the general staff. When Serna assumed the command-in-chief of the army of upper Peru, Valdes was ordered to organize the general staff, and took part in the campaign of Salta and the retreat of Jujui. He defended the coast of Arica in 1822 with 3,000 men, and defeated Gen. Alvarado, who had been sent to oppose his progress at Torata, 20 Jan., 1823, and at Moquegua on 21 Jan., for which actions he was promoted brigadier. In the following June he marched from Lima with great rapidity, arriving at La Paz in fifty-seven days, and engaged Gen. Santa Cruz at Zepita on 25 Aug. ; and, although driven back, he restrained the enemy and was able