Twenty years around the world

Early in life the author of these letters suffered from ill-health, and necessity obliged him to seek more genial climes in order to escape the rigors of our northern winters. D...

We saw several fine coffee plantations, and others exhausted, devoted to the production of sugar. Our Calesero with his droll costume wore his sword, which he flattered himself...

The writer of these Letters, finding his health, which had improved from his last winter’s trip to Cuba, again suffering in a northern climate, left the cold weather behind him,...

I left Naples by steamer, stopping at Tropea, in Calabria, for a short time; then, passing down through the straits of Messina, we saw Scylla and Charybdis, which have been the...

The coach establishment of the royal family is scarcely less magnificent than the great arsenal. I thought the coaches and equipages of the Pope of Rome must be superior to thos...

The Green Vaults, so styled, are a range of vaulted apartments on the ground floor of the royal palace, containing a vast and rich collection of valuables. The Saxon princes in...

Some of the Hessians are still living who went to America in our revolution. I have seen two of the old veterans passing along the road, with ancient chapeaux that reminded me o...

Amsterdam is a large commercial city, with a population of over two hundred thousand, and is one of the most remarkable cities in Europe for its peculiar location, being interse...

After leaving Lago Maggiore, we proceeded by diligence to Milan, which is the capital of Lombardy, and the largest city in northern Italy, its population being one hundred and f...

On our way to Argos we turned aside to visit the ancient city of Tiryns, built thirteen hundred and seventy-nine years before Christ. The Cyclopean walls of the fortress, which...

Notwithstanding the Turks differ so widely in their manners and religion, still they possess many good traits of character. They are more honest than some other nations, and not...

The first day we made but little progress against a strong current, although we had all our Arab crew ashore, with ropes across their breasts, pulling, and at night found oursel...

The streets of Siout are unpaved, narrow, and irregular; the houses are built of unburnt brick, and differ in no respect from the generality of those usually met with on the Nil...

The day we came to Ramlah, through our anxiety to arrive early, we put our dromedaries on full trot; mine stumbled and came down with me. It was a _long fall_, but I escaped wit...

My only means of passage from Jaffa to Alexandria, where I wished to take the steamer for this island, was on board of a crazy old brig, laden with bones for the manufacture of...

After making Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi, a visit, I looked into Arkansas--Natchitoches and Alexandria on the Red River, I had already seen. The rising city of Memphis an...

From Zurich, I took a northerly direction to Schaffhausen, to see the Cataract of the Rhine, which is well worth a visit; but the fall of a river of only eighty feet, although g...

We have excursions up along the river to Nassau, about six miles, which can be made by carriage or donkey. Among these, are rides to Kenmau, back of Ems, which can be accomplish...

I have visited the objects most worthy of notice in the city, viz. the palace of the late king Bernadotte, containing all the relics and souvenirs of that monarch, who was a Fre...

Yesterday I went to Sparrow Hill, some five miles from the Kremlin, to see the convicts examined by the physician before their departure for Siberia. After being presented to th...

The island of St. Croix lies forty miles south of St. Thomas, and schooners run over frequently in six hours. Having some travelling companions who are planters on this beautifu...

I could find no vessel for Hayti from Curacoa, and Captain Irminger persuaded me to continue with him to St. Thomas, where I could get the English steamer; and finding myself co...

The season of Lent will soon be over, when the functions of the Holy Week will take place; but having described to you the ceremonies at Jerusalem, and the great and gorgeous di...

We finally arrived upon the summit of a high hill in a mountainous country; the valley filled with tents, and the earth thrown up by the diggers as by an earthquake. We lodged i...

The same afternoon we procured horses, of which many are to be found, as the Kanakas are very fond of the quadruped, and proceeded to the north side of the island, through the v...

Temples and Joss Houses, where are placed the figures of their gods, are seen frequently along the river bank, and the great Temple of Honan on the opposite side of the river is...

The outer casket, or figure, is ornamented with rich gold chains and gems; the most remarkable is the figure of a gold bird, suspended by massive chains, beset with diamonds, ru...

My Parsee friend will marry his son of fifteen to his bride of twelve in a few months. They cannot eat with us or drink out of the same vessel that we do. I accept civilities am...

We have some disaffection on board among passengers of different races and tastes, as to the supplies, and a committee was formed to wait upon the commander, who is a worthy and...

It is an exciting time, and the issue will soon be known. Rosas is leaving the country. To prevent the approach of the enemy, all the supplies of hay and provender are embargoed...

Large numbers of ladies are seen in church-dresses, with black mantas covering the head; the people are not of the pure Castilian type as in the south of Spain, many showing sig...

To-morrow we shall arrive at Panama, which place I had not expected or hoped to see again, and I can scarcely realize the fact that since my last visit I have made the circuit o...

Some comfortable quarters are fitted up for the use of the governor during the heat of summer. The polite and civil colonel of the governor’s staff conducted me in his cabriolet...

Ensconced in the bedina, or front compartment of a huge lumbering diligence, at two o’clock in the morning, I left Murcia, behind eight mules, a postillion, and two drivers, wit...

Here, Ferdinand VII., in 1832, revoked the decree by which he had abolished the Salic law, and declared his daughter, the present Queen Isabel, heiress to the crown, which act b...

Not unlike our Kentucky farmers, who produce large droves of mules for the Southern States, the mountaineers here derive a handsome profit from the raising of these animals for...

The public promenades, adorned with orange trees and almonds in bloom, the gardens filled with olives and a profusion of tropical fruits, afford a grateful sight, after escaping...

The ancient city, Sienna, from which I write, is situated upon an elevation of some thirteen hundred feet, rising from the borders of a dry and dreary tract of country. Many of...

I rejoiced to get ashore, in the thriving city of Genoa, with civil custom-house officers and few police nuisances, breathing the air of constitutional liberty, and lodging in o...

It must not be supposed that these people know nothing of California. I saw once a panorama of the trip to the land of gold, via the Isthmus of Panama. My curiosity led me, a fe...

Not only are fine-looking, healthy girls seen constantly in the fields, performing men’s labor, but in the cities they perform the most menial service of wood-sawing, sweeping s...

The Jewish population is some twelve thousand; it occupies a certain portion of the city, formerly inclosed and locked at night, though now all the barriers are removed. Their o...

The ascent to the summit of the Durenburg, from the town, is about two and a half miles; it is rather tiresome to climb, but the constant changing views relieve one from the fat...

A return to the city, with its teeming population of two and a half millions, crowded thoroughfares, bustle and confusion, soon dispels the illusion. The winter is no time for s...

We will here step out for the present and wind our way through the narrow streets lined with tiny stores and shops filled with all that art and taste can conceive of, following...

The cross road took me to Dortmund, another manufacturing town, on the main road leading to this capital. Stopping at Ham, a branch road to the north conducted me to the old cat...

The village of Idria, of four thousand population, lies in a valley of a round bowl form, with an abundance of water power. The ascent of the mountain is by zigzag roads, with a...

The Boulevards, from the Madeleine to the Bastille, a distance of three miles, were lined on both sides with booths, offering every variety of fancy and useful articles for pres...

The Arab cultivation here is meagre and primitive; the plough is drawn by a camel and donkey yoked together--rather a ludicrous sight. If the Arab has a surplus of grain, or the...

The great vehicle of locomotion for the multitude is the donkey, which threads the crowded and narrow streets at a rapid rate, flogged by the boy running at his heels and keepin...

Balaklava is now a miserable village, but when its little basin was occupied by the English and French vessels it must have produced a lively effect. The streets and roads appro...

At the place named we were detained one day waiting for horses, as the commanding officer had ordered all the post horses for the use of Cossacks, who were in hot pursuit of the...

Whether it was by accident or design I know not, but a later invitation was offered from Mr. Matthew, the late English consul at Philadelphia, now consul general here, to dine t...

What struck me as most singular are the Schlambäder, or Turf Baths, charged with alkali, salt, and iron. One large bath house is adapted to this use. A number of men are employe...

The great fire of 1842, which burnt over seventy-one streets and squares, and destroyed nearly two thousand houses, was the cause of making the new city as beautiful as it now i...

I have said nothing about politics. The excitement in Germany has been great, but no unity of action. The Austrian papers lash Prussia for her neutral policy. The attacked journ...

The carnival season was being enjoyed by the masqueraders, but the balls and costumes were rather sorry affairs in comparison with those of Madrid, and other large cities of Spain.

On our departure from Sierra Leone, we proceeded down the coast of Liberia, and landed at Harper, Cape Palmas. I found the Rev. Mr. Ramba in charge of the Missionary Establishme...

At this enlightened age of the world we hear so little of cannibalism, that were I not an eye-witness, I also should be doubtful. I lauded with a party here on the shore, procee...

We are now in the height of midsummer, with the thermometer over a hundred. There is no such thing as restraining perspiration, except by the fever. What would one give for a co...