March 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from the Henry Chauncey en route from New York to Aspinwall, Panama to his mother and family.

…the weather is fearfully hot—that the Henry Chauncey is a magnificent ship—that we have twelve hundred passengers on board—that I have two staterooms, & so am not crowded—that I have many pleasant friends here & the people are not so stupid as on the Quaker City—that we had Divine Service in the main saloon at 10.30 this morning—that we expect to meet the upward bound vessel in latitude 23… [just below the tip of Florida]. [MTL 2: 203-4].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Forty-six” dated Sept. 1867 at “Jerusalem” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 272-7].