Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Diary of a Trip on the Nile River

Authors

• Unknown

Call number

Ms. Coll. 851
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania)

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

Primary language: English.

Origin

Date

From 1874 to 1875

Place

Nile River

Summary

This red leather-bound volume, beginning in August 1874 and ending in February 1875, is the unknown diary of a woman from New York City. Most entries in this vividly detailed journal begin with the date, followed by the time and the temperature and/or weather. The diarist and her companion, to whom she refers as "C." (who is probably Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1828-1887), leave from New York on 22 August 1874 on a Cunard steamer named Algeria. They arrive in Liverpool, England on 2 September and travel to London, where they tour the city and its outskirts. On 19 September they proceed to France, arriving in Paris on 22 September. Here they visit museums and tour the city, meeting friends and artists, including painter Albrecht Schenck (1828-1901). From Paris they journey to Italy, making several stops, even gambling in Monte Carlo. The writer relates details about France's landscape of eucalyptus and olive trees. They arrive in Italy, stopping in San Remo and Savona, where she records witnessing women working in the brickyards. A train takes the women through Italy, where the works of art and architecture they encounter in Florence, Rome, Pompeii, and Naples are documented. From Brindisi the pair takes a steamer to Egypt, arriving in Alexandria on 10 December. The writer describes the sounds of waterwheels, foggy mornings, the landscape (some of which is desolate and arid and some with barley and lentils), wildlife, bazaars, mud villages, irrigation, and local peoples and their dress. They arrive in Cairo on 12 December, where they visit the Cairo Museum, travel to the pyramids, see the sphinx, and are escorted by an officer to visit four mosques. On 20 December the women, Daibes (their dragoman--a guide and interpreter), and a crew of sixteen begin their voyage up the Nile River on a dahabeeyah (a shallow-bottomed boat with two or more sails) named "Southern Cross." A list of the crew and description of the boat including a layout drawing are recorded in the journal. The women often socialize with their friends the Browne's, who are traveling on a dahabeeyah called the "Lotus." Each stop along their voyage is documented; at Luxor, for example, they travel on land by donkey, reaching the temples of Thebes and seeing a Coptic monastery. The women encounter sandstorms and traverse the cataracts. Passing the Tropic of Cancer at the end of January 1875, they commence their return trip down the Nile to Cairo. The diary ends abruptly as the writer is describing Ramses III tomb on 27 February 1875. Six leaves are laid in the diary, including a list of people and distinguishing characteristics, a layout sketch of a boat, a plan to visit Syria, a landscape sketch in pencil, a clipping naming some people leaving New York on the Algeria, and a map of the Nile River Valley.

Subjects names

• Wolfe, Catharine Lorillard, 1828-1887

Subjects topical

• American diaries--Specimens--19th century
• American diaries--Women authors--19th century

Subjects geographic

• Nile River--Description and travel--19th century
• Nile River Valley--Description and travel--19th century
• France--Description and travel--19th century
• England--Description and travel--19th century

Genres

• Diaries
• Sketches
• Maps (documents)
• Diaries, American--19th century

Licenses

• Text

  Metadata is ©2014 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  These images and the content of University of Pennsylvania Ms. Coll. 851 Diary of a Trip on the Nile River are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Table of contents

• fol. 2r — August 22, 1874
• fol. 3r — September 3-4, 1874
• fol. 3v — September 5-6, 1874
• fol. 4r — September 7-8, 1874
• fol. 4v — September 9, 1874
• fol. 5v — September 10, 1874
• fol. 6r — September 11, 1874
• fol. 7r — September 12, 1874
• fol. 7v — September 13, 1874
• fol. 8v — September 14-15, 1874
• fol. 9r — September 16, 1874
• fol. 9v — September 17-18, 1874
• fol. 10r — September 19-20, 1874
• fol. 10v — September 21, 1874
• fol. 11r — September 22, 1874
• fol. 11v — September 23-24, 1874
• fol. 12r — September 25-29, 1874
• fol. 12v — September 30-October 4, 1874
• fol. 13r — October 5-6, 1874
• fol. 13v — October 8-10, 1874
• fol. 14r — October 11-14, 1874
• fol. 14v — October 15-18, 1874
• fol. 15r — October 19-20, 1874
• fol. 15v — October 21, 1874
• fol. 16r — October 22, 1874
• fol. 16v — October 23-24, 1874
• fol. 17v — October 25, 1874
• fol. 18r — October 26, 1874
• fol. 19v — October 27, 1874
• fol. 20v — October 28, 1874
• fol. 21v — October 29, 1874
• fol. 22r — October 30, 1874
• fol. 22v — October 31, 1874
• fol. 23v — November 1, 1874
• fol. 24r — November 2-3, 1874
• fol. 24v — November 4-5, 1874
• fol. 25r — November 6-8, 1874
• fol. 25v — November 9-10, 1874
• fol. 26v — November 11, 1874
• fol. 27r — November 12, 1874
• fol. 28v — November 13-15, 1874
• fol. 29r — November 16, 1874
• fol. 29v — November 17, 1874
• fol. 30r — November 18, 1874
• fol. 31r — November 19, 1874
• fol. 31v — November 20, 1874
• fol. 32r — November 21, 1874
• fol. 33r — November 22, 1874
• fol. 34r — November 23, 1874
• fol. 34v — November 24, 1874
• fol. 35r — November 25, 1874
• fol. 35v — November 26-27, 1874
• fol. 36r — November 28-29, 1874
• fol. 36v — November 30-December 1, 1874
• fol. 38r — December 2-3, 1874
• fol. 38v — December 4-6, 1874
• fol. 39v — December 7-10, 1874
• fol. 40v — December 11, 1874
• fol. 41r — December 12, 1874
• fol. 41v — December 13-15, 1874
• fol. 42r — December 16, 1874
• fol. 42v — December 17, 1874
• fol. 43r — December 18, 1874
• fol. 43v — December 19-20, 1874
• fol. 44r — December 21, 1874
• fol. 44v — December 22, 1874
• fol. 45r — December 23, 1874
• fol. 45v — December 24, 1874
• fol. 47v — December 25, 1874
• fol. 48r — December 26, 1874
• fol. 49v — December 27, 1874
• fol. 50r — December 28-29, 1874
• fol. 51r — December 30, 1874
• fol. 51v — December 31, 1874
• fol. 52r — January 1, 1875
• fol. 53v — January 2-3, 1875
• fol. 54r — January 4, 1875
• fol. 54v — January 5, 1875
• fol. 55v — January 6, 1875
• fol. 56r — January 7-8, 1875
• fol. 56v — January 9, 1875
• fol. 57v — January 10, 1875
• fol. 58r — January 11, 1875
• fol. 59v — January 12, 1875
• fol. 60v — January 13, 1875
• fol. 61r — January 14-15, 1875
• fol. 61v — January 16-18, 1875
• fol. 62v — January 19, 1875
• fol. 63r — January 20, 1875
• fol. 63v — January 21, 1875
• fol. 64r — January 22, 1875
• fol. 64v — January 23, 1875
• fol. 66r — January 24, 1875
• fol. 67r — January 25, 1875
• fol. 67v — January 26, 1875
• fol. 68r — January 27, 1875
• fol. 68v — January 28, 1875
• fol. 69r — January 29, 1875
• fol. 70r — January 30, 1875
• fol. 71r — January 31, 1875
• fol. 72r — February 1, 1875
• fol. 72v — February 2, 1875
• fol. 73r — February 3, 1875
• fol. 73v — February 4, 1875
• fol. 74v — February 5, 1875
• fol. 75v — February 6, 1875
• fol. 76r — February 7, 1875
• fol. 76v — February 8, 1875
• fol. 77v — February 9, 1875
• fol. 78v — February 10-11, 1875
• fol. 79r — February 12, 1875
• fol. 80r — February 13, 1875
• fol. 80v — February 14, 1875
• fol. 81v — February 15, 1875
• fol. 82v — February 16, 1875
• fol. 83v — February 17-18, 1875
• fol. 85r — February 19, 1875
• fol. 85v — February 20, 1875
• fol. 86r — February 21, 1875
• fol. 86v — February 22, 1875
• fol. 87v — February 23, 1875
• fol. 88v — February 24, 1875
• fol. 89r — February 25-26, 1875
• fol. 90r — February 27, 1875
• fol. Loose note 1r — Newspaper clipping
• fol. Loose note 3r — List of names
• fol. Loose note 5r — Syria: note on expenses

Decorations

• fol. 45v — Belgian and Egyptian flags
• fol. 46v — Diagram of boat (left side)
• fol. 47r — Diagram of boat (right side)
• fol. 76v — Cartouche of Rameses
• fol. 82r — "rude sort of lyre or harp or violin of 4 strings"
• fol. 83r — Cartouches at Kom Ombo
• fol. Loose note 2r — Map of Egypt
• fol. Loose note 4r — Drawing of boat
• fol. Loose note 6r — Drawing, February 2, 1875