Innocents Abroad: Day By Day

November 3 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-one” dated Aug. 22 at “Odessa” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 137-42].

November 6 Wednesday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-two” dated Aug. 27 at “Yalta” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 150-57].

November 9 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Holy Land, The First Day in Palestine” dated Sept. at “Baldwinsville, Galilee” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 209-13].

October 1 Tuesday – QC departed Jaffa at 7:30 AM Sam wrote at sea to his nephew Sammy Moffett, enclosing a pressed rose in a New Testament [MTL 2: 95-7]. From Sam’s notebook: “Oct 1.—Sailed for Egypt” [MTNJ 1: 443].

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eleven” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 83-9].

October 10 Thursday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Thirteen” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 95-100].

October 11 Friday – From Sam’s notebook: “At sea, somewhere in the neighborhood of Malta. Very stormy” [MTNJ 1: 446].

October 13 Sunday – QC arrived at Cagliari, island of Sardinia at 9 PM, and left at midnight without disembarking passengers. Sam began a letter to his mother and family, writing on Oct. 13, 15, and 17 brief notes about his whereabouts, travel plans, the restrictions of quarantine and arrival back in New York [MTL 2: 97-8].

October 15 Tuesday – QC arrived at Algiers at 3:30 PM; left at 5:30 PM without disembarking passengers.

October 17 Thursday – QC arrived at Malaga at 1 PM and left at 4 PM without disembarking passengers. It arrived at Gibraltar at 11PM.

“We were all lazy and satisfied, now, as the meager entries in my note-book (that sure index, to me, of my condition,) prove. What a stupid thing a note-book gets to be at sea, any way” [IA Ch. 59].

October 18 Friday – Sam, Dr. Jackson, Julius Moulton, Miss Julia Newell, and a guide left Gibraltar at noon, traveling overnight by horseback and carriage to Algeciras, Vejer, and San Fernando.

Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Fifteen” dated Aug. 15 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 100-110].

October 19 Saturday – Sam and group took a 4 PM train to Seville, arriving at midnight.

The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County was reviewed by Fun, a English rival to Punch, edited by Tom Hood:

October 2 Wednesday – QC arrived at Alexandria at sunset. Here he had the cedar branch from Jerusalem fashioned into a gavel for his Masonic lodge in St. Louis [Jones 365].

October 20 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Sixteen” dated Aug. 20 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 110-115].

October 22 Tuesday – Sam and group took a train to Cordoba.

October 23 Wednesday – Sam and group returned by 9 AM train to Seville, then left for Cadiz, stopping briefly in Jerez.

The ship had to stay a week or more at Gibraltar to take in coal for the home voyage.

October 24 Thursday – Sam and group arrived in Cadiz. Meanwhile, the QC departed Gibraltar at 6 PM. Sam wrote from Cadiz to his mother and family about dodging quarantine and his hard journey to Seville. “…will arrive in New York ten days after this letter gets there” [MTL 2: 99].

October 25 Friday – QC arrived at Cadiz at 7:30 AM. Sam and group boarded at 10:30 AM. The QC departed Cadiz at 11 AM. Sam’s article, dated Aug. 31 “A Yankee in the Orient” ran in the New York Tribune [McKeithan 128-32].

October 27 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Eighteen” dated only August, “Constantinople” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 120-23].

October 28 Monday – QC arrived at Funchal, island of Madiera, at noon, then left at 8 PM without disembarking passengers.

October 29 Tuesday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Nineteen” dated only August, “Constantinople” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 123-28].

October 3 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Café d’ Europe, Hotel d’Europe, Catacombs—pass along another King, Pompey’s pillar, Cleaopatra’s Needles, Great Cemetary, Mahmoudeea Canal, Nile boats, Fine streets & dwellings, Fine shade-tree avenues, Luxurious bowers, Great fountain in main street” [MTNJ 1: 443-4].

October 4 Friday – Sam, Slote, Van Nostrand, and others unidentified left Alexandria by train at 4 PM, arriving in Cairo late that evening.

October 5 Saturday – Sam and companions left Cairo on donkeys in the early AM. They visited the Sphinx and the pyramids at Giza. They returned to Cairo that night.

October 6 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twelve” dated Aug. “Naples” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 89-94].

October 7 Monday – Sam and group left Cairo for Alexandria to board the QC, which departed Alexandria at 5 PM.