PREFACE.
I have been called, in many of the public journals, a “professed
tourist;” but I am sorry to say that I have no title to the appellation
in its usual sense. On the one hand I possess too little wit and
humour to render my writings amusing; and, on the other, too little
knowledge to judge rightly of what I have gone through. The only
gift to which I can lay claim is that of narrating in a simple manner
the different scenes in which I have played a part, and the different
objects I have beheld; if I ever pronounce an opinion, I do so merely
on my own personal experience.
Many will perhaps believe that I undertook so long a journey from
vanity. I can only say in answer to this—whoever thinks
so should make such a trip himself, in order to gain the conviction,
that nothing but a natural wish for travel, a boundless desire of acquiring
knowledge, could ever enable a person to overcome the hardships, privations,
and dangers to which I have been exposed.
In exactly the same manner as the artist feels an invincible desire
to paint, and the poet to give free course to his thoughts, so was I
hurried away with an unconquerable wish to see the world. In my
youth I dreamed of travelling—in my old age I find amusement in
reflecting on what I have beheld.
The public received very favourably my plain unvarnished account
of “A Voyage to the Holy Land, and to Iceland and Scandinavia.”
Emboldened by their kindness, I once more step forward with the journal
of my last and most considerable voyage, and I shall feel content if
the narration of my adventures procures for my readers only a portion
of the immense fund of pleasure derived from the voyage by
THE
AUTHORESS.
Vienna, March 16, 1850.
Excerpts from misc. chapters ....
On the 29th of August, at 10 o’clock P.M., we saluted the southern
hemisphere for the first time. A feeling nearly allied to pride
excited every one, but more especially those who crossed the line for
the first time. We shook each other by the hand, and congratulated
one another mutually, as if we had done some great and heroic deed.
One of the passengers had brought with him a bottle or two of champagne
to celebrate the event: the corks sprang gaily in the air, and with
a joyful “huzza,” the health of the new hemisphere was drunk.
No festivities took place among the crew. This is at present
the case in most vessels, as such amusements seldom end without drunkenness
and disorder. The sailors, however, could not let the cabin-boy,
who passed the line for the first time, go quite scot-free; so he was
well christened in a few buckets of salt water.
16th December. We had entered the Ganges yesterday. At
a late hour this evening we hove to near the little village of Commercolly.
The inhabitants brought provisions of every description on board, and
we had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the prices of the
various articles. A fine wether cost four rupees (8s.); eighteen
fowls, a rupee (2s.); a fish, weighing several pounds, an anna (1½d.);
eight eggs, an anna; twenty oranges, two annas (3d.); a pound of fine
bread, three beis (ld.); and yet, in spite of these ludicrously cheap
prices, the captain charged each passenger three rupees (6s.) a-day
for his board, which was not even passable! Many of the passengers
made purchases here of eggs, new bread, and oranges, and the captain
was actually not ashamed to let these articles, which were paid for
out of our own pockets, appear at his table that we all paid so dearly
for.
In the course of the day I had an opportunity of observing the watchfulness
and penetration of our commandant. A sailing-vessel was quietly
at anchor in a small creek. The commandant, perceiving it, immediately
ordered the steamer to stop, ordered out a boat, and sent an officer
to see what it was doing there. So far everything had gone correctly;
for in Russia, where the limits of every foreign fly is known, what
a whole ship is about, must also be seen to. But now comes the
comical part of the affair. The officer went near the ship, but
did not board it, and did not ask for the ship’s papers, but merely
called out to the captain to know what he was about there? The
captain answered that contrary winds had compelled him to anchor there,
and that he waited for a favourable one to sail to this place and that.
This answer satisfied the officer and the commandant completely.
To me it seemed just as if any one was asked whether he was an honourable
man or a rogue, and then trusted to his honour when he gave himself
a good character.
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