The Innocents Abroad. A book of travel in pursuit of pleasure. By Mark Twain. With an introduction by Edward P. Hingston. The Voyage Out

Introduction

BY EDWARD P. HINGSTON. THE VOYAGE OUT. LONDON : JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. LONDON : 6AVILL, EDWAEDS AND CO., PBINTEBS, CHANDOS 6TEEET, COVENT siABDEN.

INTRODUCTION.

. " T MIGHT come to grief?" **■ " You might." " Roll over a precipice perhaps, and break my neck ?" " Well j that's so. Your temper might be tried in that way. The roads over the Sierra are pretty rough just now, and we are likely to have ugly weather." " Then, I think the game is hardly worth the candle, my friend. No riding over the mountains alone for me. Besides, what would there be to see when I got to Nevada ?" " You would see the big silver mines." "* I have seen the Mexican ones. They were large enough for me. Is there anything else to repay me for the journey ?" " Yes. You would see Mark Twain." " Ah ! I will go." The foregoing is, as nearly as I can remember, an abstract of a conversation with a literary friend in San Francisco, towards the close of the year 1863. I knew that in a few months I should have to visit Nevada on business.

Why not avail myself of a leisure week and ride over the Sierra to see the wonders of the new territory ? A mountain summit 6000 feet high, snow, slippery paths, and very rough roads were the hindrances. But when my friend mentioned the name of Mark Twain the moun tains grew less steep, the roads perfectly practicable, and the snow became white roses. I had read many of Mark

INTRODUCTION.

. 4 Twain's contributions to the press of the Great West. I had heard numerous reports of his talents, his jovial wit, his social singularities, and his extreme good fellowship. In one of the papers I had seen him styled — " That moral phenomenon, Mark Twain."" Believing that a " moral phenomenon" would be something to see, and that the conversation of a man who could write so humorously would be worth listening to, I started for Nevada. At the town of Placerville I came to a halt. My horse — a borrowed one — did not at all care about seeing Mark Twain. He preferred to see a veterinary doctor. The people of Placerville told me that I had better make the journey in the stage-coach. I did so ; but not till nearly two months later, when the roads were in better condition. Then it was that I landed myself in Virginia City, a terraced town, built on the side of Mount Davidson ; and there it was that I met Mark Twain.

" You will find him at the office of the Territorial Enterprise" was the direction I received. Virginia City was but a few months old. The Terri torial Enterprise was a daily paper, well edited, copious in its information, fortunate in its advertisements, of large dimensions, and published every morning, where, a year or two previous, there had been the silence of the wilder ness and the tents of the Indian savage. The newspaper office was in C Street. Its foundations were of granite, its front of iron. In its basement was a saloon for drink, furnished with a piano, the use of which I was informed was " to tone flown the troubled spirits of the visitors." Behind the drinking saloon were two of Hoe's cylinder steam-printing presses. On the first floor of the building were the offices of mining share brokers, and a wholesale brandy store. On the second story were some more brokers and some attorneys, and on the third floor were the editorial offices of the paper.

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 I asked for Mr. Mark Twain, and hearing his name mentioned, the gentleman of whom I was in quest called out to Mr. Wright, to whom I had addressed my self— " Dan, pass the gentleman into my den. The noble animal is here." A young man, strongly built, ruddy in complexion, his hair of a sunny hue, his eyes light and twinkling, in manner hearty, and nothing of the student about him, but very much of the miner — one who looked as if he could take his own part in a quarrel, strike a smart blow as readily as he could say a telling thing, bluffly jolly, brusquely cordial, off-handedly good-natured — such was the kind of man I found Mark Twain to be. Let it be borne in mind that from the windows of the newspaper office the American desert was visible ; that within a radius of ten miles Indians were encamping amongst the sage-brush ; that the whole city was populated with miners, adventurers, Jew traders, gamblers, and all the rough-and-tumble class which a mining town in a new territory collects together, and it will be readily under stood that a reporter for a daily paper in such a place must neither go about his duties wearing light kid gloves, nor be fastidious about having gilt edges to his note books.

In Mark Twain I found the very man I had expected to see — a flower of the wilderness, tinged with the colour of the soil, the man of thought and the man of action rolled into one, humorist and hard-worker, Momus in a felt hat and jack-boots. In the reporter of the Territorial Enterprise I became introduced to a Cali fornian celebrity, rich in eccentricities of thought, lively in fancy, quaint in remark, whose residence upon the fringe of civilization had allowed his humour to develop without restraint, and his speech to be racily idiomatic.

INTRODUCTION.

. The name of Mark Twain is a nom de plume for Mr. Samuel L. Clemens; whose father, Mr. Orion Clemens, held a high position in the territorial government of Nevada. Before visiting that territory Mark Twain had afforded evidence of his literary ability on the Californian side of the Sierra. At the time of my introduction to him his talents had scarcely rendered his name familiar to the public of Boston or New York, and he expressed to Artemus Ward and myself a very earnest desire to be better known in one or other of those cities. Artemus promised to get him appointed a contributor to the New York Mercury, a promise that I beheve was faithfully redeemed. Writing of himself and his friend Dan de Quille, his collaborateur on the Nevada paper in 1863, Mark Twain says, in an advertisement of the Territorial Enterprise— " Our duty is to keep the universe thoroughly posted concerning murders and street fights and balls and theatres, and pack-trains, and churches, and lectures, and school-houses, and city military affairs, and highway robberies, and Bible societies, and hay waggons, and the thousand other things which it is within the province of local reporters to keep track of and magnify into undue importance for the instruction of the readers of a great daily newspaper.

Beyond this revelation everything con nected with these two experiments of Providence must for ever remain an impenetrable mystery." With the rapid development of a literature of its own, California offered Mark Twain increased scope for his talents. A series of remarkably original articles, abound ing in drollery and grotesque humour, were contributed by him to various journals of San Francisco, among which were the Golden Era, Californian, and Overland Monthly, and he soon became transferred from the rough hfe of Nevada to undertake editorial duties in San Francisco.

INTRODUCTION.

. 7 The tale of " The Jumping Frog," a capitaUy told and richly conceived humorous story of the Californian gold mines, gave its author an immediate and widespread popularity. " The Jumping Frog" has been republished everywhere, and is as well known to the readers of Australia as it is to the literary public of London and New York. It has been highly praised by Mr. Tom Hood in the pages of Fun, and a friend of mine had it put into his hands by a Parsee merchant in Bombay, who assured him that it was the funniest thing he could read. In the spring of 1867 an extraordinary pleasure-trip was projected at New York. A steamer was to leave that port in the summer, cross the Atlantic, make the circuit of the Mediterranean, stop at the principal places along the coast of Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Syria; the passengers were to visit Eome, Cairo, Jerusalem, and everywhere else besides, see all places of interest, visit all historical sites, be back in New York in time to attend to their winter duties, and all for the sum of 1250 dollars in American currency, or less than 200Z. English.

The celebrated Bev. Ward Beecher was to have formed one of the party, but did not carry out his intention. Mark Twain went instead. To the young humorist, fresh from the rough hfe of the Far West, the Eastern world was full of the most attractive charms. It would be something to see how far Eome was hke Sacramento, and whether there was any resemblance between Cairo and San Francisco. Besides, the habits of the people at Naples and at Jerusalem were likely to be slightly dissimilar to those of a camp of miners among the mountains of Nevada. The incidents of this famous excursion, and the results arrived at, are detailed by Mark Twain in the two volumes now published. The first volume, entitled " The Inno cents Abroad," gives the details of the trip from New York as far as Naples ; while the second volume, under

INTRODUCTION.

. the title of the "New Pilgrim's Progress," furnishes an account of all that the excursionists experienced in the Holy Land, and among the classic localities of the Grecian and Syrian shores. A most aptly chosen title is that of " The Innocents Abroad," so far as Mark Twain is concerned. He visited Europe and Asia without any of the preparations for travel which most travellers undertake. His object was to see things as they are, and record the impressions they produced on a man of humorous perception, who paid his first visit to Europe without a travelling-tutor, a uni versity education, or a stock of conventional sentimentality packed in his carpet-bag. Throughout the trip he looked at all objects as an un travelled American might be ex pected to look, and measured men and manners by the gauge he had set up for himself among the gold-hills of California and the silver-mines of half-civilized Nevada.

I believe that Mark Twain has never visited England. Some time since he wrote to me asking my opinion rela tive to his giving an entertainment in London. He has appeared in New York and elsewhere as a lecturer, and from his originality would, I have no doubt, be able to repeat his lectures with success were he to visit this country. But I never met him in the character of a pubhc entertainer, and can only speak from experience of his remarkable talent as a humorous writer, and of his cordial frankness and jovial good-fellowship as a friend and companion. Edwaed P. Hingston. THE INNOCENTS ABROAD.

Chapter I. For

months the great Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land was chatted about in the news papers everywhere in America, and discussed at countless firesides. It was a novelty in the way of Excursions — its like had not been thought of before, and it compelled that interest which attractive novelties always command. It was to be a picnic on a gigantic scale. The participants in it, instead of freighting an ungainly steam ferry-boat with youth and beauty and pies and doughnuts, and paddling up some obscure creek to disembark upon a grassy lawn and wear themselves out with a long summer day's laborious frolicking under the impression that it was fun, were to sail away in a great steamship with flags flying and cannon pealing, and take a royal holiday beyond the broad ocean, in many a strange clime and in many a land renowned in history !

They were to sail for months over the breezy Atlantic and the sunny Mediterranean ; they were to scamper about the decks by day, filling the ship with shouts and laughter — or read novels and poetry in the shade of the smoke-stacks, or watch for the jelly fish and the nautilus, over the side, and the shark, the whale, and other strange monsters of the deep ; and at night they were to dance in the open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a ball-room that stretched from horizon to horizon, and was domed by the bending heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars and the magnificent moon — dance, and promenade, and smoke, and B TEE INNOCENTS ABROAD. 10 sing, and make love, and search the skies for constellations that never associate with the " Big Dipper" they were so tired of: and they were to see the ships of twenty navies — the customs and costumes of twenty curious peoples — the great cities of half a world — they were to hob-nob with nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes, Grand Moguls, and the anointed lords of mighty empires !

It was a brave conception ; it was the offspring of a most ingenious brain. It was well advertised, but it hardly needed it : the bold originality, the extraordinary charac ter, the seductive nature, and the vastness of the enterprise provoked comment everywhere and advertised it in every household in the land. Who could read the programme of the excursion without longing to make one of the party ? I will insert it here. It is almost as good as a map. As a text for this book, nothing could be better : EXCURSION TO THE HOLY LAND, EGYPT, THE CRIMEA, GREECE, AND INTERMEDIATE POINTS OF INTEREST. Brooklyn, February ist, 1867. The undersigned will make an excursion as above during the mining season, and begs to submit to you the following programme : — A first-class steamer, to be under his own command, and capable of accommodating at least one hundred and fifty cabin passengers, will be selected, in which will be taken a select company, numbering not more than three-fourths of the ship's capacity.

There is good reason to be lieve that this company can be easily made up in this immediate vicinity, of mutual friends and acquaintances. The steamer will be provided with every necessary comfort, including library and musical instruments. An experienced physician will be on board. Leaving New York about June ist, a middle and pleasant route will be taken across the Atlantic, and passing through the group of Azores, St. Michael will be reached in about ten days. A day or two will be spent here, enjoying the fruit and wild scenery of these islands, and the voyage continued, and Gibraltar reached in three or four days. A day or two will be spent here in looking over the wonderful sub terraneous fortifications, permission to visit these galleries being readily obtained. Prom Gibraltar, running along the coasts of Spain and France, Mar seilles will be reached in three days.

Here ample time will be given not only to look over the city, which was founded six hundred years before the Christian era, and its artificial port, the finest of the kind in the Mediterranean, but to visit Pan's during the Great Exhibition ; and the beautiful city of Lyons, lying intermediate, from the heights of which, A SEDUCTIVE PROGRAMME. 11 on a clear day, Mont Blanc and the Alps can be distinctly seen. Pas sengers who may wish to extend the time at Paris can do so, and, passing down through Switzerland, rejoin the steamer at Genoa. From Marseilles to Genoa is a run of one night. The excursionists will have an opportunity to look over this, the " magnificent city of palaces," and visit the birthplace of Columbus, twelve miles off, over a beautiful road built by Napoleon I. From this point, excursions may be made to Milan, Lakes Como and Maggiore, or to Milan, Verona (famous for its extraordinary fortifications), Padua, aud Venice.

Or, if passengers desire to visit Parma (famous tor Correggio's frescoes), and Bologna, they can by rail go on to Florence, and rejoin the steamer at Leghorn, thus spending about three weeks amid the cities most famous for art in Italy. From Genoa the run to Leghorn will be made along the coast in one night, and time appropriated to this point in which to visit Florence, its palaces and galleries ; Pisa, its Cathedral and " Leaning Tower," and Lucca and its baths, and Roman amphitheatre ; Florence, the most remote, being distant by rail about sixty miles. From Leghorn to Naples (calling at Civita Vecchia to land any who may prefer to go to Eome from that point) the distance will be made in about thirty-six hours ; the route will lay along the coast of Italy, close by Caprera, Elba, and Corsica.

Arrangements have been made to take on board at Leghorn a pilot for Caprera, and, if practicable, a call will be made there to visit the home of Garibaldi, Eome [by rail], Herculaneum, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Virgil's tomb, and possibly the ruins of Pæstum, can be visited, as well as the beautiful surroundings of Naples and its charming bay. The next point of interest will be Palermo, the most beautiful city of Sicily, which will be reached in one night from Naples. A day will be spent here, and leaving in the evening, the course will be taken towards Athens. Skirting along the north coast of Sicily, passing through the group of Æolian Isles, in sight of Stromboli and Vulcania, both active volcanoes, through the Straits of Messina, with "Scylla" on the one hand and " Charybdis" on. the other, along the east coast of Sicily, and in sight of Mouut Ætna, along the south coast of Italy, the west and south coast of Greece, in sight of ancient Crete, up Athens Gulf, and into the Piræus, Athens will be reached in two and a half or three days.

After tarrying here awhile, the Bay of Salamis will be crossed, and a day given to Corinth, whence the voyage will be continued to Constantinople, passing on the way through the Grecian Archipelago, the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the mouth of the Golden Horn, and arriving in about forty-eight hours from Athens. After leaving Constantinople, the way will be taken out through the beautiful Bosphorus, across the Black Sea to Sebastopol aud Balaklava, a run of about twenty-four hours. Here it is proposed to remain two days, visiting the harbours, fortifications, and battle-fields of the Crimea ; thence back through the Bosphorus, touching at Constanti nople to take in any who may have preferred to remain there ; down through the Sea of Marmora and the Dardanelles, along the coasts of ancient Troy and Lydia in Asia, to Smyrna, which will bu reached in two or two and a half days from Constantinople.

A sufficient stay will be made here to give opportunity of visiting Ephesus, fifty miles distant by rail. B From Smyrna towards the Holy Land the course will lay through the Grecian Archipelago, close by the Isle of Patmos, along the coast of Asia, ancient Pamphylia, and the Isle of Cyprus. Beirout will be reached in three days. At Beirout time will be given to visit Damascus ; after which the steamer will proceed to Joppa. From Joppa, Jerusalem, the River Jordan, the Sea of Tiberias, Nazareth, Bethany, Bethlehem, and other points of interest in the Holy Land can be visited, and here those who may have preferred to make the journey from Beirout through the country, passing through Damascus, Galilee, Capernaum, Samaria, and by the River Jordan and Sea of Tiberias, can rejoin the steamer. Leaving Joppa, the next point of interest to visit will be Alexandria, which will be reached in twenty-four hours.

The ruins of Cæsar's Palace, Pompey's Pillar, Cleopatra's Needle, the Catacombs, and ruins of ancient Alexandria, will be found worth the visit. The journey to Cairo, one hundred and thirty miles by rail, can be made in a few hours, and from which can be visited the site of ancient Memphis, Joseph's Granaries, and the Pyramids. From Alexandria the route will be taken homeward, calling at Malta, Cagliari (in Sardinia), and Parma (in Majorca), all magnificent harbours, with charming scenery, and abounding in fruits. A day or two will be spent at each place, and leaving Parma in the evening, Valencia in Spain will be reached the next morning. A few days will be spent in this, the finest city of Spain. From Valencia, the homeward course will be continued, skirting along the coast of Spain. Alicant, Carthagena, Palos, and Malaga will be passed but a mile or two distant, and Gibraltar reached in about twenty-four hours.

A stay of one day will be made here, and the voyage continued to Madeira, which will be reached in about three days. Captain Marryatt writes : " I do not know a spot on the globe which so much astonishes and delights upon first arrival as Madeira." A stay of one or two days will be made here, which, if time permits, may be extended, and passiug on through the islands, and probably in sight of the Peak of Teneriffi-, a southern track will be taken, and the Atlantic crossed within the latitudes of the north-east trade winds, where mild and pleasant weather and a smootji sea, can always be expected. A call will be made at Bermuda, which lies directly in this route homeward, and will be reached in about ten days from Madeira, and after spending a short time with our friends the Bermudians, the final departure will be made for home, which will be reached in about three days. _ Already applications have been received from parties in Europe wishing to join the Excursion there.

The ship will at all times be a home, where the excursionists, if sick, will be surrounded by kind friends, and have all possible comfort and sympathy. Should contagious sickness exist in any of the ports named in the programme, such ports will be passed, and others of interest sub stituted. The price of passage is fixed at $1250, currency, for each adult passenger. Choica of rooms and of seats at the tables apportioned in the order in which passages are engaged, and no passage considered engaged until ten per cent, ef the passage money is deposited with the A SEDUCTIVE PROGRAMME. 13 Passengers can remain on board of the steamer, at all ports, if they desire, without additional expense, and all boating at the expense of the ship. All passages must be paid for when taken, iD order that the most per fect arrangements be made for starting at the appointed time. _ Applications for passage must be approved by the committee before tickets are issued, and can be made to the undersigned.

Articles of interest or curiosity, procured by the passengers during the voyage, may be broight home in the steamer free of charge. Five dollars per day, in gold, it is believed, will be a fair calculation to make for all travelling expenses on shore, aud at the various points where passengers may wish to leave the steamer for days at a time. The trip can be extended, and the route changed, by unanimous vote of the passengers. CHAS. C. DUNCAN, 117, Wall Street, New York. E. R. G , Treasurer. Committee on Applications. J- T. H , Esq., R. R. G , Esq., C. C. DUNCAN. Committee on selecting Steamer. Capt. W. W. S , Surveyor for Board of Underwriters. C. W. C , Consulting Engineer for U.S. and Canada. J. T. H , Esq. C. 0. DUNCAN. P.S. — The very beautiful and substantial side-wheel steamship Quaker City has been chartered for the occasion, and will leave New York, June 8th.

Letters have been issued by the Government com mending the party to courtesies abroad. What was there lacking about that programme to make it perfectly irresistible ? Nothing that any finite mind could discover. Paris, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy — Garibaldi ! The Grecian archipelago ! Vesuvius ! Constantinople ! Smyrna ! the Holy Land ! Egypt and "our friends the Bermudians!" People in Europe de siring to join the Excursion — contagious sickness to be avoided — boating at the expense ot the ship — physician on board — the circuit of the globe to be made if the passengers unanimously desired it — the company to be rigidly selected by a pitiless " Committee on Applications" — the vessel to be as rigidly selected by as pitiless a " Committee on Selecting Steamer." Human nature could not with stand these bewildering temptations.

I hurried to the Treasurer's office and deposited my ten per cent. I rejoiced to know that a few vacant state-rooms were still left. I did avoid a critical personal examination into my character by that bowelless committee, but I referred to all the people of high standing I could think of in the community who would be least likely to know anything about me. Shortly a supplementary programme was issued which set forth that the Plymouth Collection of Hymns would be used on board the ship. I then paid the balance of my passage money. I was provided with a receipt, and duly and officially accepted as an excursionist. There was happiness in that, but it was tame compared to the novelty of being " select." This supplementary programme also instructed the excursionists to provide themselves with light musical instruments for amusement in the ship ; with saddles for Syrian travel ; green spectacles and umbrellas ; veils for Egypt ; and substantial clothing to use in rough pil grimizing in the Holy Land.

Furthermore, it was suggested that although the ship's library would afford a fair amount of reading matter, it would still be well if each passenger would provide himself with a few guide-books, a Bible, and some standard works of travel. A hst was appended, which consisted chiefly of books relating to the Holy Land, since the Holy Land was part of the excursion, and seemed to be its main feature. Eev. Henry Ward Beecher was to have accompanied the expedition, but urgent duties obliged him to give up the idea. There were other passengers who could have been spared better, and would have been spared more willingly. Lieut.-Gen. Sherman was to have been of the party, also, but the Indian war compelled his presence on the plains. A popular actress had entered her name on the ship's books, but something interfered, and she couldn't go.

The " Drummer Boy of the Potomac" deserted, and lo, we had never a celebrity left ! However, we were to have a " battery of guns" from the Navy Department (as per advertisement), to be used in answering royal salutes ; and the document furnished by AN OFFICIAL COLOSSUS. 15 the Secretary of the Navy, which was to make " Gen. Sherman and party" welcome guests in the courts and camps of the old world, was still left to us, though both document and battery, I think, were shorn of somewhat of their original august proportions. However, had not we the seductive programme still, with its Paris, its Con stantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem, Jericho, and " our friends the Bermudians ?" What did we care ?

Chapter II. Occasionally

during the following month I dropped in at n, Wall-street, to inquire how the repairing and refurnishing of the vessel was coming on ; how additions to the passenger hst were averaging ; how many people the committee were decreeing not " select," every day, and banishing in sorrow and tribulation. I was glad to know that we were to have a little printing-press on board and issue a daily newspaper of our own. I was glad to learn that our piano, our parlour organ and our melodeon were to be the best instruments of the kind that could be had in the market. I was proud to observe that among our excursionists were three ministers of the gospel, eight doctors, sixteen or eighteen ladies, several military and naval chieftains with sounding titles, an ample crop of " Professors" of various kinds, and a gentleman who had " Commissioner of the United States of America to Europe, Asia, and Africa" thundering after his name in one awful blast !

I had carefully prepared myself to take rather a back seat in that ship, because of the uncommonly select material that would alone be permitted to pass through the camel's eye of that committee on credentials ; I had schooled myself to expect an imposing array of military and naval heroes, and to have to set that back seat still further back in consequence of it, maybe ; but I state frankly that I was all unprepared for this crusher. I fell under that titular avalanche a torn and blighted thing. I said that if that potentate must go over in our ship, why, I supposed he must — but that to my thinking, when the United States considered it necessary to send a dignitary of that tonnage across the ocean, it would be in better taste, and safer, to take him apart and cart him over in sections in several ships.

Ah, if I had only known then that he was only a common mortal, and that his mission had nothing more overpowering about it than the collecting of seeds, and uncommon yams and extraordinary cabbages and peculiar bullfrogs for that poor, useless, innocent, mildewed old fossil, the Smithsonian Institute, I would have felt so much relieved. During that memorable month I basked in the happi ness of being for once in my life drifting with the tide of a great popular movement. Everybody was going to Europe — I too was going to Europe. Everybody was going to the famous Paris Exposition — I too was going to the Paris Exposition. The steamship lines were carrying Americans out of the various ports of the country at the rate of four or five thousand a week, in the aggre gate. If I met a dozen individuals, during that month, who were not goiDg to Europe shortly, I have no distinct remembrance of it now.