May 16 Saturday – At 10 a.m. in Pietermaritzburg Sam wrote to Livy:
I have just had my bath & coffee, Sweetheart, & am back in bed again. My proposed program is the one I used in Calcutta:
First Night. Dead Man, Plug, Ram, Smallpox, Christening.
Second. Watermelon, Duel, Crusade, Interviewer, Poem, Whistle.
Third. Punch, McWilliams, Sandpile, German. (And possibly Golden Arm.)
May 15 Friday – In Peitermaritzburg, S. Africa, Sam was awakened at 7 a.m. He bathed and had coffee and shaved, then rested in bed rehearsing for the night’s lecture. Before lunch he wrote to Livy:
May 14 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Durban at 6 p.m. on the Natal Govt. Railway for “the heat and turmoil” of the Transvaal. They were seen off at the station by David Hunter and A. Milligan. They traveled 71 miles to Pietermaritzburg, arriving at 10 p.m..
May 13 Wednesday – In Durban, Natal Sam gave his “At Home” No. 2 (morality) lecture at the Theatre Royal. Extra seats were brought in to accommodate an overflow crowd. Reviews published: May 15: Transvaal Advertiser; May 16: Natal Witness; Pretoria Press.
Sam gave an impromptu speech for the Durban Savage Club, Dr. Samuel George Campbell, chairman [Philippon 15]. Parsons writes,
May 12 Tuesday – In Durban, Natal Sam gave his “At Home” No. 1 lecture at the Theatre Royal. The house held about 1,000 and was full, tickets from 1s to 4s, with an approximate gross of £105. Sam spoke for 95 minutes, including the boy and the corpse, Civil War soldiering, Mexican plug, German language, and his Australian Poem [Philippon 15].
After the lecture he went to the Princess Café and gave a Savage Club supper speech. Fatout writes,
May 11 Monday – Durbin, Natal. Parsons writes,
May 9 Saturday – The Clemenses went sightseeing in Durban [Philippon 14].
The Chicago Tribune, p.10 ran a review of JA:
Books of the Day
Mark Twain in Sober Mood
May 8 Friday – In Durban, Natal Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
We reached here day before yesterday, 41 days out from Calcutta — breaking the journey a couple of days in Ceylon and near a fortnight in Mauritius. We have been in the pitiless and uninterrupted blaze of summer from the time I saw you last until we reached this place — more than ten straight months of it. …
May 7 Thursday – At daybreak in Durban, S. Africa, more annoyance:
May 7. A bang on the door at 6. Did I want my boots cleaned? Fifteen minutes later another bang. Did we want coffee? Fifteen later, bang again, my wife’s bath ready; 15 later, my bath ready. Two other bangs; I forget what they were about. Then lots of shouting back and forth, among the servants just as in an Indian hotel.
Evening. At 4 P.M. it was unpleasantly warm. Half-hour after sunset one needed a spring overcoat; by 8 a winter one.
May 6 Wednesday – The Arundel Castle arrived in Durban, S. Africa. Sam wrote in FE:
At 3 P.M., May 6th, the ship slowed down, off the land, and thoughtfully and cautiously picked her way into the snug harbor of Durban, South Africa [ch LXIV 643]. Note: The Natal Mercury reported a 2 p.m. arrival.