The innocents abroad, or, The new Pilgrim's
progress being some account of the steamship Quaker City's pleasure excursion to Europe and the Holy land ; with descriptions of countries, nations, incidents and adventures, as they appeared to the author |
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 | CHAPTER I. The innocents abroad, or, The new Pilgrim's
progress |  |
1. CHAPTER I.
FOR months the great Pleasure Excursion to Europe and
the Holy Land was chatted about in the newspapers
every where in America, and discussed at countless firesides.
It was a novelty in the way of Excursions—its like had not
been thought of before, and it compelled that interest which
attractive novelties always command. It was to be a picnic
on a gigantic scale. The participants in it, instead of freighting
an ungainly steam ferry-boat with youth and beauty and
pies and doughnuts, and paddling up some obscure creek to
disembark upon a grassy lawn and wear themselves out with
a long summer day's laborious frolicking under the impression
that it was fun, were to sail away in a great steamship with
flags flying and cannon pealing, and take a royal holiday
beyond the broad ocean, in many a strange clime and in many
a land renowned in history! They were to sail for months
over the breezy Atlantic and the sunny Mediterranean; they
were to scamper about the decks by day, filling the ship with
shouts and laughter—or read novels and poetry in the shade
of the smoke-stacks, or watch for the jelly-fish and the nautilus,
over the side, and the shark, the whale, and other strange
monsters of the deep; and at night they were to dance in the
open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a ball-room that
stretched from horizon to horizon, and was domed by the bending
heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars
and the magnificent moon—dance, and promenade, and
smoke, and sing, and make love, and search the skies for constellations
that never associate with the “Big Dipper” they
navies—the customs and costumes of twenty curious peoples
—the great cities of half a world—they were to hob-nob with
nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes,
Grand Moguls, and the anointed lords of mighty empires!
It was a brave conception; it was the offspring of a most
ingenious brain. It was well advertised, but it hardly needed
it: the bold originality, the extraordinary character, the seductive
nature, and the vastness of the enterprise provoked comment
every where and advertised it in every household in the
land. Who could read the programme of the excursion without
longing to make one of the party? I will insert it here.
It is almost as good as a map. As a text for this book, nothing
could be better:
EXCURSION TO THE HOLY LAND, EGYPT, THE CRIMEA, GREECE,
AND INTERMEDIATE POINTS OF INTEREST.
The undersigned will make an excursion as above during the coming season, and
begs to submit to you the following programme:
A first-class steamer, to be under his own command, and capable of accommodating
at least one hundred and fifty cabin passengers, will be selected, in which
will be taken a select company, numbering not more than three-fourths of the ship's
capacity. There is good reason to believe that this company can be easily made
up in this immediate vicinity, of mutual friends and acquaintances.
The steamer will be provided with every necessary comfort, including library and
musical instruments.
An experienced physician will be on board.
Leaving New York about June 1st, a middle and pleasant route will be taken
across the Atlantic, and passing through the group of Azores, St. Michael will be
reached in about ten days. A day or two will be spent here, enjoying the fruit and
wild scenery of these islands, and the voyage continued, and Gibraltar reached in
three or four days.
A day or two will be spent here in looking over the wonderful subterraneous
fortifications, permission to visit these galleries being readily obtained.
From Gibraltar, running along the coasts of Spain and France, Marseilles will be
reached in three days. Here ample time will be given not only to look over the city,
which was founded six hundred years before the Christian era, and its artificial port,
the finest of the kind in the Mediterranean, but to visit Paris during the Great Exhibition;
and the beautiful city of Lyons, lying intermediate, from the heights of
who may wish to extend the time at Paris can do so, and, passing down
through Switzerland, rejoin the steamer at Genoa.
From Marseilles to Genoa is a run of one night. The excursionists will have an
opportunity to look over this, the “magnificent city of palaces,” and visit the birthplace
of Columbus, twelve miles off, over a beautiful road built by Napoleon I.
From this point, excursions may be made to Milan, Lakes Como and Maggiore, or
to Milan, Verona, (famous for its extraordinary fortifications,) Padua, and Venice.
Or, if passengers desire to visit Parma (famous for Correggio's frescoes,) and Bologna,
they can by rail go on to Florence, and rejoin the steamer at Leghorn, thus
spending about three weeks amid the cities most famous for art in Italy.
From Genoa the run to Leghorn will be made along the coast in one night, and
time appropriated to this point in which to visit Florence, its palaces and galleries;
Pisa, its Cathedral and “Leaning Tower,” and Lucca and its baths, and Roman
amphitheatre; Florence, the most remote, being distant by rail about sixty miles.
From Leghorn to Naples, (calling at Civita Vecchia to land any who may prefer
to go to Rome from that point,) the distance will be made in about thirty-six hours;
the route will lay along the coast of Italy, close by Caprera, Elba, and Corsica.
Arrangements have been made to take on board at Leghorn a pilot for Caprera,
and, if practicable, a call will be made there to visit the home of Garibaldi.
Rome, [by rail] Herculaneum, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Virgil's tomb, and possibly,
the ruins of Pæstum, can be visited, as well as the beautiful surroundings of Naples
and its charming bay.
The next point of interest will be Palermo, the most beautiful city of Sicily,
which will be reached in one night from Naples. A day will be spent here, and
leaving in the evening, the course will be taken towards Athens.
Skirting along the north coast of Sicily, passing through the group of Æolian
Isles, in sight of Stromboli and Vulcania, both active volcanoes, through the Straits
of Messina, with “Scylla” on the one hand and “Charybdis” on the other, along
the east coast of Sicily, and in sight of Mount Ætna, along the south coast of Italy,
the west and south coast of Greece, in sight of ancient Crete, up Athens Gulf, and
into the Piræus, Athens will be reached in two and a half or three days. After
tarrying here awhile, the Bay of Salamis will be crossed, and a day given to Corinth,
whence the voyage will be continued to Constantinople, passing on the way
through the Grecian Archipelago, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the
mouth of the Golden Horn, and arriving in about forty-eight hours from Athens.
After leaving Constantinople, the way will be taken out through the beautiful
Bosphorus, across the Black Sea to Sebastopol and Balaklava, a run of about
twenty-four hours. Here it is proposed to remain two days, visiting the harbors,
fortifications, and battle-fields of the Crimea; thence back through the Bosphorus,
touching at Constantinople to take in any who may have preferred to remain there;
down through the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, along the coasts of ancient
Troy and Lydia in Asia, to Smyrna, which will be reached in two or two and a half
days from Constantinople. A sufficient stay will be made here to give opportunity
of visiting Ephesus, fifty miles distant by rail.
From Smyrna towards the Holy Land the course will lay through the Grecian
and the Isle of Cyprus. Beirout will be reached in three days. At Beirout
time will be given to visit Damascus; after which the steamer will proceed to
Joppa.
From Joppa, Jerusalem, the River Jordan, the Sea of Tiberias, Nazareth, Bethany,
Bethlehem, and other points of interest in the Holy Land can be visited, and
here those who may have preferred to make the journey from Bierout through the
country, passing through Damascus, Galilee, Capernaum, Samaria, and by the
River Jordan and Sea of Tiberias, can rejoin the steamer.
Leaving Joppa, the next point of interest to visit will be Alexandria, which will
be reached in twenty-four hours. The ruins of Cæsar's Palace, Pompey's Pillar,
Cleopatra's Needle, the Catacombs, and ruins of ancient Alexandria, will be found
worth the visit. The journey to Cairo, one hundred and thirty miles by rail, can be
made in a few hours, and from which can be visited the site of ancient Memphis,
Joseph's Granaries, and the Pyramids.
From Alexandria the route will be taken homeward, calling at Malta, Cagliari
(in Sardinia,) and Parma (in Majorca,) all magnificent harbors, with charming
scenery, and abounding in fruits.
A day or two will be spent at each place, and leaving Parma in the evening,
Valencia in Spain will be reached the next morning. A few days will be spent in
this, the finest city of Spain.
From Valencia, the homeward course will be continued, skirting along the coast
of Spain. Alicant, Carthagena, Palos, and Malaga, will be passed but a mile or
two distant, and Gibraltar reached in about twenty-four hours.
A stay of one day will be made here, and the voyage continued to Madeira,
which will be reached in about three days. Captain Marryatt writes: “I do not
know a spot on the globe which so much astonishes and delights upon first arrival
as Madeira.” A stay of one or two days will be made here, which, if time permits,
may be extended, and passing on through the islands, and probably in sight
of the Peak of Teneriffe, a southern track will be taken, and the Atlantic crossed
within the latitudes of the Northeast trade winds, where mild and pleasant weather,
and a smooth sea, can always be expected.
A call will be made at Bermuda, which lies directly in this route homeward, and
will be reached in about ten days from Madeira, and after spending a short time
with our friends the Bermudians, the final departure will be made for home, which
will be reached in about three days.
Already, applications have been received from parties in Europe wishing to join
the Excursion there.
The ship will at all times be a home, where the excursionists, if sick, will be surrounded
by kind friends, and have all possible comfort and sympathy.
Should contagious sickness exist in any of the ports named in the programme,
such ports will be passed, and others of interest substituted.
The price of passage is fixed at $1,250, currency, for each adult passenger.
Choice of rooms and of seats at the tables apportioned in the order in which passages
are engaged, and no passage considered engaged until ten per cent, of the
passage money is deposited with the treasurer.
Passengers can remain on board of the steamer, at all ports, if they desire, without
additional expense, and all boating at the expense of the ship.
All passages must be paid for when taken, in order that the most perfect
arrangements be made for starting at the appointed time.
Applications for passage must be approved by the committee before tickets are
issued, and can be made to the undersigned.
Articles of interest or curiosity, procured by the passengers during the voyage,
may be brought home in the steamer free of charge.
Five dollars per day, in gold, it is believed, will be a fair calculation to make for
all traveling expenses on shore, and at the various points where passengers may
wish to leave the steamer for days at a time.
The trip can be extended, and teh route changed, by unanimous vote of the
passengers.
117 Wall Street, New York.
R. R. G******, Treasurer.
Committee on Applications.
J. T. H*****, Esq., R. R. G*****, Esq., C. C. DUNCAN.
Committee on selecting Steamer. Capt. W. W. S****. Surveyor for Board of Underwriters.
C. W. C*******, Consulting Engineer for U. S. and Canada.
J. T. H*****, Esq.
C. C. DUNCAN.
has been chartered for the occasion, and will leave New York, June 8th. Letters
have been issued by the government commending the party to courtesies abroad.
What was there lacking about that programme, to make it
perfectly irresistible? Nothing, that any finite mind could
discover. Paris, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy—
Garibaldi! The Grecian archipelago! Vesuvius! Constantinople!
Smyrna! The Holy Land! Egypt and “our friends
the Bermudians!” People in Europe desiring to join the Excursion—contagious
sickness to be avoided—boating at the
expense of the ship—physician on board—the circuit of the
globe to be made if the passengers unanimously desired it—
the company to be rigidly selected by a pitiless “Committee
on Applications”—the vessel to be as rigidly selected by
as pitiless a “Committee on Selecting Steamer.” Human
hurried to the Treasurer's office and deposited my ten per
cent. I rejoiced to know that a few vacant state-rooms were
still left. I did avoid a critical personal examination into my
character, by that bowelless committee, but I referred to all
the people of high standing I could think of in the community
who would be least likely to know any thing about me.
Shortly a supplementary programme was issued which set
forth that the Plymouth Collection of Hymns would be used
on board the ship. I then paid the balance of my passage
money.
I was provided with a receipt, and duly and officially accepted
as an excursionist. There was happiness in that, but
it was tame compared to the novelty of being “select.”
This supplementary programme also instructed the excursionists
to provide themselves with light musical instruments
for amusement in the ship; with saddles for Syrian travel;
green spectacles and umbrellas; veils for Egypt; and substantial
clothing to use in rough pilgrimizing in the Holy Land.
Furthermore, it was suggested that although the ship's library
would afford a fair amount of reading matter, it would still be
well if each passenger would provide himself with a few
guide-books, a Bible and some standard works of travel. A
list was appended, which consisted chiefly of books relating to
the Holy Land, since the Holy Land was part of the excursion
and seemed to be its main feature.
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was to have accompanied the
expedition, but urgent duties obliged him to give up the idea.
There were other passengers who could have been spared better,
and would have been spared more willingly. Lieut. Gen.
Sherman was to have been of the party, also, but the Indian
war compelled his presence on the plains. A popular actress
had entered her name on the ship's books, but something interfered,
and she couldn't go. The “Drummer Boy of the Potomac”
deserted, and lo, we had never a celebrity left!
However, we were to have a “battery of guns” from the
Navy Department, (as per advertisement,) to be used in
Secretary of the Navy, which was to make “Gen. Sherman
and party” welcome guests in the courts and camps of the
old world, was still left to us, though both document and battery,
I think, were shorn of somewhat of their original august
proportions. However, had not we the seductive programme,
still, with its Paris, its Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem,
Jericho, and “our friends the Bermudians?” What did we
care?
| CHAPTER I. The innocents abroad, or, The new Pilgrim's
progress | |