Mrs. Daw's travel diaries, 1838. Volume 1 (Travel Diaries and Journals)

Mrs. Daw's travel diaries, 1838. Volume 1

UPenn Ms. Coll. 850 Volume 1

This two-volume diary traces the nine-month journey (April to December 1838) of Mr. and Mrs. W. Daw as they travel from London, England to Moscow, Russia, and their return trip home. Mrs. Daw writes almost daily about their experiences and observations, which are embellished with eighteen watercolor sketches. Mrs. Daw reports on other travelers, captains of vessels, and their travel companion, Mr. White. The couple travels by ship, steamboat, coach, horseback, and train, stopping at small villages and large cities. On the outbound trip from England to Russia, Mr. and Mrs. Daw travel chiefly by boat through Germany and via the Danube River to Galati, Romania. Mrs. Daw describes the landscapes and towns as seen from the Danube and at stops along the river. From Galati the couple travels to Constantinople, Turkey, and here Mrs. Daw records the dress of Muslims, the mosque, and her experience of watching the dancing dervishes from behind a latticed screen in the mosque; she includes a watercolor of the event. She also records Mr. W. Daw's encounter at a Turkish Bath. Mrs. Daw often interrupts her own narrative to record in quoted passages the observations of her husband; she signs his initials at the end of the entries. Leaving Turkey, the Daws arrive in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine), where they are quarantined for fifteen days: Mrs. Daw writes about the indignity of the situation, including the fumigation rooms. After quarantine they travel to the Crimean peninsula and stay at Yalta and Alupka, where Mr. Daw and Mr. White go on a three-week journey of their own. Reuniting, the party travels by coach and horseback through the steppes of Russia; Mrs. Daw writes of the landscape and the fields of buckwheat and corn. Arriving in Moscow, they visit the czars' palaces and churches. From Moscow, with a coachman and Jewish guide, Mr. and Mrs. Daw travel through Lithuania. Here Mrs. Daw records the number of versts they have traveled, the desolate land, and the customs and dress of the Jewish families managing the inns along the route to Warsaw. They reach Poland, and Mrs. Daw observes that the country is "feeling the effects of the unfortunate revolution--a people broken rather than subdued." Leaving Warsaw, they visit Mr. White's sister-in-law in Radom, Poland and then continue on to Krakow, a free state at the time. They move on to Czechoslovakia and Austria, staying in Vienna, where, while sightseeing, Mrs. Daw writes that she is much disturbed by Rubens paintings. The Daws leave Vienna, travel through Salzburg onto Germany, where in Stuttgart they take leave of Mr. White. From Cologne, Germany the couple boards a steamship to Brussels, Belgium, where they stay almost a week. They then travel by train to Antwerp, staying for a few days, and continue on to Ostend, where they board a ship to London. Through keen observations and watercolors Mrs. Daw captures many aspects of this lengthy Eastern European journey, including local people, their costumes, customs, religious beliefs, and social attitudes. She describes the landscapes, vistas, hotels, palaces, homes, and buildings. Curiously, Mrs. Daw does not provide the reason for the journey, nor does she reveal the first name of herself or her husband.

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p. 36

this mingled company came to put themselves in various attitudes of repose for the night, [high?] in one corner a Hungarian dame is seen disrobing herself regardless of all around, in another a gentleman from more civilised lands groaning perhaps at this unseemly sight, perhaps at his own awkward position; some young men lying roaring in boisterous merriment in a third, which Mr [Mister] D— had raised or at least increased by taking up his pencil to try the hard task of putting on paper what he saw.

I had rather unwillingly allowed a dirty little fat boy, to make his dormitory beside me, but I soone found he was only the forerunner of his more formidable papa, who bye & bye made his way over all obstacles, & lodged himself in the same corner, this was a little too much to bear, so up I got in despair; but either he did not find himself so

Last edit almost 4 years ago by Mick

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comfortable as he expected, as his good nature determined him to make his retreat, & he finally left me to en= joy such rest as was to be got in such a situation _ Happily for us our company soon decreased, the next night there were very few in the ladies' cabin, & after a night or two I got it all to myself as far as [[Constantinople]] _ The third day (May 13th) we came to [[Semlin]] early in the morning, which has nothing striking about it _ [[Belgrade]] is close to it the first Turkish place we had seen _ [[Servia]] [illegible?] lay to our right, the banks towards the [[Danube]] are very pretty _ We were now looking upon [[Turkey]] from whence had come the scourge of this part of [[Europe]], the land of the plague, & the destroyer; which even to look upon subjected us to the penalty of enduring quarantine — Towards evening we again got into mountainous country before reaching [[Drenkova]] _ At [[Basiasch]] which is a mere station for taking in coal we stopped or a short time, & seeing the Steward go on shore to gather flowers

Last edit almost 4 years ago by Mick

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we followed his example, & found quite a garden of them _ I was amused by ^hearing one of the English engineers of whom we had two on board, discussing the continental fashion of kissing, we had been putting out a passenger, & I suppose he had been seeing her exchange salutes with her friends on shore, when he broke out somewhat in the following way — "Well that there thing is a thing I cannot [illegible] with, I offend all the people here about that; a young fellow says to me, I have a great regard for you now, more than for any body in the ship; & surely now I am going away you'll give me a kiss — I'd give him a cuffing first —" So much for trying to teach John Bull to be sentimental, he was a true John Bull in every way, the Captain whether properly or improperly admitted him to the Cabin table, & there he sat in his working jacket, bold & free, as no doubt he thinks every Englishman aught to be, ready to look the highest noble the proudest

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Hungarian Baron in the face, & think him= self as good as him, & in his engine room the greatest man of the two _

Approaching [[Drenkova]] the banks of the river, reminded me of the banks by the [[Avon]] ^near [at] [[Bristol]], (another person on board acquainted with [[Bristol]] had been making the same remark, only the broad [[Danube]] instead of the nar= row [[Avon]] lay between & the mountains here are part of the [[Carpathian range]].

We spent the night at [[Drenkova]], ^on board our boat (which is a mere station with a house,) _ From [[Drenkova]] for about 50 miles the [[Danube]] is not navigable by steam, we next morning therefore left the steam boat, & got into a row boat, which took us twenty or thirty miles to a small place called [[Orsova]] where we remained till next day, the scenery of this part of the river is ex= ceedingly fine; [illegible?] it is the last fine scenery on the [[Danube]], & I would almost say it exceeds all we hd already seen — Especially where the wide swelling stream is suddenly contracted within

Last edit almost 4 years ago by Mick

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p. 40

the narrow defile of [Rasau?] where the high rocky banks close closely in on every side, it is a most striking pass, on the southern bank are marks still remaining in the rock of the roman way, which was formed here by a sort of wooden gallery over the river _ Our road book gave a most formidable account of th[illegible?] rapids in this part of the river, but we had only its account of them, for the river was so full at this time that there was not much ^or rather anything that was formidable to be encountered _

So difficult is it to get certain infor= mation about times & places of sailing [&c?] in these regions, that we actually came to [[Orsova]], not able certainly to know whether we were to meet the steam boat there or not, & whether we were to stay all night or to proceed _

We remained all night, & found the Kaiser von Oesterreich a clean small Inn, where ^we were made very tolerably comfortable, after so many nights spent on board the steam boat _ In the evening we had a most delightful walk

Last edit almost 4 years ago by Mick

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