An Account of a Savage Girl, Caught Wild in the Woods of Champagne/Appendix II
No. II
PErsuaded, Sir, that the sole intention of your memoirs is to gratify the curiosity of the public, about every particular which may contribute either to its advantage or entertainment, I shall do myself the honour to answer your letter of the 2d of this month, with regard to the savage who has been found in the neighbourhood of Chalons, in which I shall acquaint you both with the accounts I have received from others on this subject, as well as with what I discovered from personal conversation with herself in my own house. And I shall begin with telling you, that as, by reason of her having hitherto had but little communication with the world; and of her knowing at present only a few French words, which she pronounces badly; it is almost impossible to conjecture, of what country she is a native: It is, however, certain, from the circumstances I am now to lay before you, that she is not a Norwegian, as has been reported. We are rather inclined to believe, that she is a native of some of the West India islands belonging to France, such as Guadaloupe, Martinico, St. Christophers, St. Domingo, &c. because a gentleman of Chalons, who has been at Guadaloupe, having shown her some cassave or manioc, a kind of bread used by the West India savages, she exclaimed for joy, and having seized a bit of it, eat it very greedily: He likeways shewed her some other curiosties of the same country, in which she took extraordinary delight, plainly discovering that she had seen things of the same kind before; whence we are led to suspect at present, that she has rather come from that country than from Norway.
By the few words we have been able to draw from her, it appears, that she has cross'd the sea; that afterwards a Lady of distinction took care of her education, and had caused her to be cloathed; before which her only covering was a skin; that this Lady kept her shut up in her house, without suffering her to be seen of any body; but the Lady's husband not chusing to have such an extraordinary figure longer in his family, constantly exposed before his wife, the girl was obliged to run away: And that at last, travelling only in the night, by the light of the moon, which she calls, the candle of the Good Virgin, she arrived in the month of September last at Songi, a village distant four miles from Chalons, the property of M. d'Epinoy, whose marriage with Madamoiselle de Lannoy, daughter of the Count de Lannoy, you have lately announced.
It is likeways certain, that before her arrival at Songi, she was seen above Vitri le François in company with a negroe girl, with whom she quarrelled, because the negroe would not allow her to adorn herself with a chaplet, which she calls a great ([1]chime:) That the savage proving strongest, the negroe left her, and had, sometime after, appeared near the village of Cheppe, not far from Songi, but was no more seen afterwards. As for our savage, having been discovered in a vineyard, skinning and eating frogs along with leaves of trees, by the shepherd of Songi, she was by him carried to the castle of M. d'Epinoy, who ordered the shepherd to lodge her in his house, and promised to take care of her diet, &c. The attention paid her for near two months by this nobleman, who kept her the greatest part of the day in his family, permitting her to fish in his ditch, and search for roots in his gardens, brought a great deal of company to his house. She was observed to eat every thing raw, such as rabbits, which she skinned with her fingers, as expertly as any cook. She climbed trees more easily than the most agile woodman, and when at the top of them she imitated the notes of the different birds of her own country. I myself saw her, in a garden at Chalons, searching in the ground for roots, and, for that purpose, making use only of her thumb and foremost finger, with which she would, in an instant, make holes of a considerable depth, and as skilfully as could have been done, with a hough.
The bishop of Chalons, and the governor of the province, have been witnesses to her exercises of this sort. The bishop has since placed her in the hospital general of this town, into which the children of both sexes, belonging to the poorer inhabitants are received, and brought up to the age of 15 or 16 years, when they are put out to trades. It is there that they endeavour at present to tame and instruct her. She sometimes eats bread, but it is entirely thro' complaisance, for it gives her the heart-burn, as does every thing that is salted. Biscuit and cook'd meat set her a vomiting; and she can endure nothing in which meal is an ingredient: The governor desired to make her eat some fritters, but on that account she would not taste them, She likes Macaroni, and is fond of brandy, calling it burn-stomach, (brule-ventre.) Water is her usual drink, which she sucks out of a pitcher like a cow, sitting on her knees. She will by no means sleep on a mattrass, contenting herself with the bare boards. She swims extremely well, and catches fish in the bottom of rivers. She calls a net debily, in her country dialect. Yas, yas, fioul, signifies in her language, good day, my girl; and when they call'd her, they said, riam, riam, fioul. From her thus explaining French words by those of her own country, it appears, that she begins to understand the meaning of the former.
As for the rest, she seems to be about 18 years old,[2] being of a middling size, and of a complexion a little dark, tho' the skin of the upper part of her arm, as well as her bosom, is white: She has lively blue eyes: Her speech is clear and quick; she seems to have a good understanding, from her learning readily what is taught her; and she sews neatly enough. She shews that she knows how to work at a kind of tapestry, by putting herself in the proper posture, and passing the needle alternately downwards and upwards. The governess of the hospital says, she understands Dresden work very well, which the must have been taught by the Lady who took care of her; but the girl could not tell in what country that was, never having conversed with any body, nor gone abroad. They are instructing her at present in the Christian religion: She says, she desires to be baptized in the terrestrial paradise, by which she means our churches. The curates in the neighbourhood of Songi have made her understand by signs, that it is improper for her to climb trees, being unseemly in a girl; and therefore she at present abstains from doing so. A rumour has been spread, of orders being given to carry her to court. It is not known how she has got notice of this; but when any body goes to see her since, she is afraid to appear, cries, and is much distrest, being apprehensive lest they intend to carry her away from the hospital, of which she is become very fond, the people there being extremely attentive and careful about her.
This, Sir, is all that I have been able to learn with respect to the situation of this girl. I shall take care to inform you of her spiritual acquisitions, and of the ceremony of her baptism, when it shall happen. I have the honour to be, &c.
- ↑ This is the word in the original, and must either be obsolete French, or of Le Blanc's own inventing; for I have not been able to discover its meaning, either from dictionaries, or verbal information.
- ↑ Here there is certainly either an error of the press, or of the copy. The extract of her baptism in June 1732, calls her only eleven years old; and she must then have had a more formed appearance, than a common child of her age, her constitution having been strengthened by the hardy life she she had led, being constantly exposed to the severity of the weather. And in this present year 1754, she does not appear to be above 33 or 34 years of age, altho' she has laboured under many and long disorders.