1923 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY DETAILING A GRAND JUBILEE AROUND THE WORLD TOUR WITH HISTORIC STOPS IN EGYPT AND THE SUEZ CANAL HANDWRITTEN BY A SUPER WOMAN DIARIST

ABOARD THE S.S. SAMARIA. Good. 1923. On offer is a sensational, original manuscript diary written in a souvenir Around the World Log Book for the Golden Jubilee in 1923 beginning January 24th departing New York aboard the S.S. Samaria to return four months later. The 112 page book, which has a scrapbook quality; tucked in are postcards, newspaper articles, cards, the passenger list etc., was handwritten by a super diarist, Mariana Townsend a 60 year old woman who has an excellent eye for detail and a great sense of humor that translate to the page wonderfully well. Besides the great narrative this was a historical trip in a number of ways: we learn as she writes in her wonderfully descriptive way that the Samaria was hailed: "the largest ship ever to pass through the 98 miles of ditch" having been permitted to go through the Suez Canal at the cost of $30,000. Of particular interests to Egyptologists and historians of post World War I Egypt will find extensive entries of her time there and all the more fascinating as they traveled with a noted archaeologist and then later toured tombs mere months after the discovery of Tutankhamen's Tomb. She also notes the unrest: when she is in Cairo and a bomb goes off and she writes about the presence of all the English soldiers because Egypt has become so dangerous. Uniquely the ship is used as their home base and only occasionally do they stay in a hotel. An enclosed article states: "SAMARIA SAILS FOR TRIP AROUND WORLD WITH 348 TOURISTS: Magistrate Jean Norris will study women and children's courts abroad: Insurance Heads on Ship. The Cunard liner Samaria sailed yesterday for an easterly cruise around the world, under the auspices of Thomas Cook and Son. The voyage marks the golden jubilee of their tourist business. The ship, dressed in flags of the international code, carried 848 tourists, representing practically every section of the United States. Magistrate Jean H. Norris, who is taking the trip which will end with the arrival here again of the Samaria on May 31, will observe, as far as possible, the conditions under which women and children live in other countries of the world as well as the manner in which they are treated in courts. Darwin P. Kingsley, president of the New York Life Insurance Company, accompanied by Mrs. Kingsley and their daughter, Miss Hope Kingsley, was a passenger. Although he will not have the opportunity of visiting the large financial centers abroad, Mr. Kinsley said he would study conditions of the countries at the various points of call and renew acquaintances in Japan which he visited three years ago with the Vanderbilt party. Others on the Samaria were: Forrest F. Dryden, former president of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, and Mrs. Dryden; Mrs. Stanford White widow of the architect who was slain by Harry thaw; Charles T. Barney, of 4 East Sixty-sixth street; Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. De Forest, who will visit the Luxor tomb, which is now being excavated; Henry D. Pierce, of Indianapolis, who is making his thirty eighth trip abroad and Mrs. Frank C. Henderson, who has visited every country in the world but likes no place quite as well as her home in Roslyn L. I." Mariana attends a lecture by Dr. De Forest [the Robert W. mentioned previously] while sailing in the Red Sea which she describes in detail. [De Forest was the President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art In New York and Tutankhamen's Tomb had only recently been discovered in November 1922. The Metropolitan Museum was asked to help with the excavation and I believe that's why De Forest is heading to Egypt on the Samaria.] Here are some snippets: 1923 "January 25th, At Sea. My room as I felt pretty miserable till towards evening. January 26th, At Sea. Friday a rough day. I came down before luncheon and sat in the lounge. While there my chair and table suddenly pushed itself across the room together with other people and chairs but no damage was done. At luncheon, which I had with Mamie at Dr. Maitland's table, a terrible big wave which I saw coming slapped against the side of the ship and many people were thrown down and one table smashed and much crockery in the kitchen. I held on to the table and was not disturbed." "February 3rd, Gibraltar. From my window quite early I could see the African shore and then the Rock of Gibraltar in the distance. We made an early start for the shore, in perfect weather, landing on the ocean side. We found carriages waiting for us which held three so I joined a Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft of San Francisco and went about with them. We were driven through the town to the Rock where we were taken up a steep enough climb, through the passage cut in the rock during the siege of 1784 by the British where we looked out through openings cut for guns in the living rock. I could not go all the way and saw quite enough to satisfy me so sat down on a step and waited for my party on their downward way and wrote postals dated "In the heart of the Rock of Gibraltar." We saw quantities of fortifications but of course nothing that would really show us anything. All cameras were temporarily confiscated. We went shopping but most of the things came from somewhere else so I did not want them…..Returned to the ship at 1 o'clock for luncheon and started for Algiers." She visits the Arab quarters and talks about beggars and women standing in the doorways calling out to you as you passed. Then Naples, Sorrento and on to Egypt. "February 11th, Alexandria to Cairo. We landed at Alexandria about 7 Sunday morning. The city looking quite impressive as it approaches with its domes and minaret's against the palms in the early morning sky. I saw the sun rise and the city but its outline (the city) was all that I saw of it as we were put on the train close by the boat and started at once for Cairo. The country was very interesting as we passed. Very green and well watered by irrigation ditches. The water being carried by shaduf's, walked by a buffalo each who moved a shaft round and round ceaselessly apparently. There were numerous little villages which at first I thought looked like those in Southern Colorado of adobe but the difference was that though the walls were _____ in appearance, the wraps were either of palm leaves or if brick were _____. Almost every village had a large white dome in one part which marked the tomb of someone of rank, probably in the religious world. We had luncheon on the train in our compartment but served "table d' hote". About 2:30 we reached Cairo having got quiet used to the sight of camels, donkey's with their masters sitting over their hind legs and wearing long shirted garments of various colors with either feg (I think she might mean pjr which is an Egyptian word for turban) or turbans on their heads and women veiled and unveiled in black chiefly. In Cairo we were taken to Shepherd's where Lydia and I had a room adjoining Mamie's and Marian's. The hotel was as gay as I had been led to expect. Native servants literally swarmed, all men dressed either in long white night gowns with scarlet belt and fez or in dark blue and brown uniform, gay with gold braid. I never was anywhere where there were so many servants. There were white European head waiters and chambermaids, mostly French. The guests were of every shade and color but mostly white. There were very dark Egyptians of rank and an Indian barber with two Indian ladies in wonderful gowns; Spanish, French and Italians. The hotel itself if very beautiful with Moorish and Arabic decorations and the present style of clothes are so gay that there was always a brilliant one. At times we saw English officers but here was so much unrest among the natives and white who were in the city General Allenby issued a proclamation that all people in a certain district would be searched for arms that there would be a caravan around this district and that there could be no assemblages of the people. All this was because 14 English men had lately been murdered and while we were there Cairo a bomb was thrown which injured two soldiers. Mamie saw a Dr. Geaney, an Englishman, who she had employed last year and he told her that "for the first time he must go back on Johnny Bull" as through his work among the natives he saw how the British were treating them unfairly. He had never had any fear in going about even in the worst quarters but now he said for the first time since he had lived in Cairo, over 30 years, he carried a pistol. Very grand looking Lancers with pennants fluttering from their lances paraded the streets in pairs. We understood that the native police were also under the control of the English…….Monday A.M. all four went to the pyramids and Sphinx driving out in a motor over a well made road. At the Mina House we descended and Mamie and I took a "Sand Cart", a two-wheeled affair and the girls took donkeys for the trip. Not long to the edge of the desert. We had seen the pyramids from a long way off and near by they looked exactly as I expected them to look. The Sphinx had more color there being much red in the stone and although she is so battered in her features she has a quiet dignity which is very impressive. Her origin is lost in the history of time, no one ever having been able to discover anything about her……" "February 16th, Through the Suez Canal. It took us 17 hours to pass through the canal with a pilot before us and another at the stern and a rowboat which was attached to the bow but kept over on each side of us all the way through. The bill for the passage of the boat and the attendant's boats was $30,000. The Samaria was the largest ship ever to pass through the 98 miles of ditch and extra precautions were taken on the account. She reached Suez at about sunset in time to see the numerous light houses gleam forth but we made not stop. I spent most of the day in my cabin as I had something of a cold. There was great sameness in the view, the green water of the canal except when we passed through the Bittia Lakes, the desert each side except where the winds had piled up drifts in a few places. Most of it was level with no vegetation or inhabitants except once a caravan was seen. The coloring of the waste of sand over which the clouds of time cast their shadows was very interesting to some people." "February 19th, A warm night but not unbearable, followed by a warm day but by no means as bad as we had been led to expect. Spent most of the day on the upper deck. At 5 o'clock had the pleasure of hearing with a very few others, Mr. Robert de Forest talk of what he saw at Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Sukaar as President of the Metropolitan Museum he having had the opportunity of seeing "all that there was to see" there last week. He told us that when the discovery was made by Mr. Carter, the head of Lord Carnarvon's work, they were so overwhelmed that they called him to ask if they could have the services of the Metropolitan Museum force, who were working in the next valley, to aid them, and that they would gladly pay for their services. Mr. De Forest replied that the whole Metropolitan artifact men, photographers, scientists and diggers were at their services for as long as they wanted them. Mr. De Forest told in a very simple way of the treasures seen and answered all the questions simply but refused to draw any conclusions as to the history or exact dates as the objects found as they had had no time to really study them as yet. He told us that negotiations were in progress between our government and the Egyptians in which the government of England and France were taking part to settle the whole question of the rights of explorers in Egypt. Hitherto the explorer, who always worked without support from the Egyptian government, divides equally with the aforesaid government. The men on the ship are all in white today as well as the chairs. A pleasant entertainment in the evening of Indian poetry and music closing with some Indian Love songs charmingly sung by a Miss Holmes." They head on to the Arabian Sea, Agra where she visits a deserted city, Bombay, Colombo, Bay of Bengal, Calcutta, Rangoon, Sumatra, Port of Batavia, Singapore, Manila, Canton, Hong Kong, China Sea, Magasaki, Kobbe, Osaka, Tokio, Kyoto then across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. They spend one day/night in Honolulu then head for San Francisco. Spend a few days in San Francisco and then on to the Panama Canal. That's a fantastic entry as they pass through the canal. Back out on the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic and home to New York on May 31st. The journal measures about 6" x 9" and it's a three ring binder so there are a few pages loose from the binder but all pages accounted for. Overall G.; Manuscript; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, MARIANA TOWNSEND, SS SAMARIA, AROUND THE WORLD TRAVEL, OCEAN TRAVEL, GRAND TOUR, EGYPT, GOLDEN JUBILEE, TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB, CUNARD, POST WORLD WAR I, WW1. 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