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. 26

early in the morning - ^May 4th We passed [[Nassau]] in [[Bavaria]] this forenoon, which has a very fine appearance from the river; we were glad to escape from the intense heat in the boat to the cool shade of its [?] for a few minutes - There was also a convenience in getting into the [?] world for a little, in order that [Mr. N?] who peformed the office of maitre-de-cuisine, might ^obtain a fresh supply of eggs, milk, butter, bread +c, he fulfilled his duties to admira = tion, making excellent tea in a tea kettle which acted the double part of tea kettle + tea pot - while he introduced very strict regulations to guard against any wasting of our small stock, so that the culprit who had left any broken bread at break = fast, had to finish his scraps at dinner, before he was allowed a fresh roll - After we had passed [[Nassau]], we entered the Austrian

Last edit almost 4 years ago by kleclair

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p. 27

territory at Engelhartzell [Engelhartszell], where there is a [?] + where we were of course subjected to search, which however ^was done in a civil enough way, it is so much the custom for travellers to inveigh loudly + bitterly against these vexations, that it is worth while trying a new mode + determining to keep one's good humour; it was well at least for us not to lose ours before the time, but to reserve our ill humour for our entrance into the Czar's do = minions which was a little more formidable - When we went into the room where the gentle = men had to undergo their examination, I being there only as part of Mr. D's [group?] + having no questions to an = swer, had got Mr. H's sketch book to look over by way of passing the time, by which means however I contrived

Last edit almost 4 years ago by kleclair

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p. 28

to excite as much attention as any of the party, the curiosity especially of our partly consequential looking per = sonage was so much excited, that he left his more important avo = cations, + came to look over the book along with me - perhaps it was one way of finding out what sort of people we were -

We slept this night at Ashach [Aschach] where we found a clean + com = fortable village Inn - Next day May 5th We passed [[Linz]] which is prettily situated, + were whirled through the romantic pass of the Wirbel + Strudel, remaining for the night at [[Marbach]]; where we got quarters in a room, which from the dimentsions of the table +c seemed to be the beer drinking room of the village, every thing was so beautifully clean however (betokening that we were now in Austria, ) that we had no cause to complain; though bye the bye I think

Last edit almost 4 years ago by kleclair

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p. 29

I had to speak the young lady fair, who waited upon us, in order to bring her to acquiesce in a fresh supply of visitors requiring fresh bed linen, for it is cu = rious to observe how in Inns clean + comfortable in other respects, this is a luxury not thought at all necessary.

Our active dwarfish elfin looking attendant however objected to nothing that was required of her, + after pro = ducing a most luxurious quantity of cold water, (which can only be duly valued where it cannot always be pro = cured, ) bade us adieu with an air of grace, which many who have passed through all a dancing masters discipline would vainly endeavour to imitate -

May 5th We reached [[Vienna]] in approaching which the river loses its interest + beauty, the last striking object that we passed was the Castle of Dürrenstein [Castle of Dürnstein] once the prison of our Richard first, the ruins of which are situated on an [?], amidst walls of wild + jagged rock, a most for = midable looking place of imprisonment -

We landed shortly afterwards at [[Stein]] a small town on the left bank of the river

Last edit almost 4 years ago by kleclair

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p. 30

+ climbed the steep hill behind it which is clauthed with vineyards, there is nothing howvere of much culture here. In the evening we found ourselves at Vienna + bade adieu to our boat & boatman the latter had had hard enough work along with his men in bringing us down indeed one or two of them had got knocked up-

[drawing of man] our Danube boatman

These wide boats never ascend the river again but are sold or broken up at Vienna-

Last edit almost 2 years ago by Kareobl

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