FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

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of fatigue. <strong>The</strong> coaches are good, the horses powerful and docile, and the drivers very expert. <strong>The</strong>re is little change in the manner of living since Lancaster. At breakfast and supper _______ fried chicken, excellent griddle cakes made of dark meal, good butter, cream, black and white toasted bread, and excellent coffee. For dinner, the same food plus turkey, ______ _______ __________. <strong>The</strong> host where we spent the day yesterday bought 10 pheasants [?] for a piaster and a quarter, about six pence [?] sterling. Everywhere there is excellent cider. On the road we had to pay a sixth of a piaster, about 3 pence sterling, for a bottle. 11 11 It is difficult to calculate a consistent exchange rate from these letters up to this point, probably due to mis-translations and problems in reading the narrow, difficult writing. At one point it appears that 1 piaster equals 7 shillings and 6 pence in British sterling, which also equals 70 US cents. But here a sixth of a piaster equals 3 pence, which means that 1 piaster equals about 18 pence, or 1 shilling and 6 pence. <strong>The</strong> website http://eh.net/hmit/exchangerates/ states that in 1808 one US dollar was worth 0.216 British pounds, or about 4 shillings. This site does not provide an historical series for 1808 for the piaster. 36
Letter 9. Pittsburg[h], Sunday, November 15, 1808 [From Jean-Baptiste Florian to his wife Marguerite; she is still in England] I arrived last Tuesday, my dear Gogo, a bit tired, ________ but nevertheless much less than I would have thought after the diabolical roads which we have traveled. It seems to me that one can do anything when one makes the effort. I left Philadelphia Tuesday morning, November 1, at 5 o’clock and ______ we spent the night at Lancaster, a distance of 62 miles. <strong>The</strong> road was a bit rough but fairly pretty. <strong>The</strong> town is quite attractive and contains 7 or 8 thousand inhabitants. <strong>The</strong> countryside [was] well cultivated after Philadelphia and generally inhabited by persons of German origin. I left Lancaster about 5 o’clock in the evening, by the mail coach that goes to Pittsburgh. We put up for the night after 12 miles and the next day, Thursday, reached Chambersburg, a town situated 75 miles from Lancaster and about halfway between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. Up to this point the road is nice enough and as you can see, one goes as fast as on the ordinary roads of Europe. But the scenery begins to change soon. Friday we took to the road again between three and four o’clock in the morning, as one does all the time on this coach, and from the break of day we commenced to climb the first chain of mountains (there are three which one crosses in succession) – Sideling Hills, whose slopes are cut off at the foot and the heights a rooster’s comb. We made about 30 or 40 miles that day without stopping for dinner. <strong>The</strong> mountains are covered with oaks, with chestnuts, and pines from which they extract much resin (tar). <strong>The</strong> floor of the forests is covered with mountain laurel with large leaves. <strong>The</strong> next day, Saturday, we crossed the Alleghany Mountains, where the ground rises in gentle contours. One climbs and goes down almost without noticing that they are covered in snow. <strong>The</strong>y tell us that it snowed this past September and that ordinarily ice would remain until the month of June. That may be, but I know from experience that on November 5 the sun was hot on our heads, the atmosphere full of wisps of clouds in the valleys and even a few degrees above the horizon, the air very mild and the heat such that we could not bear to keep on our jackets in the coach, open on every side. Sunday (November 6) we rested all day at Somerset-town, and Monday we crossed the third chain of mountains, called Laurel Hill. In the Alleghanies, rhododendron replaces mountain laurel. Here azaleas, wild roses and spindle trees [le fasain a bonnet de pretres] are found in abundance. <strong>The</strong> ground is soft, and the ruts so deep that the roads are even worse than among the rocks of the Sideling Hills. Sleeping accommodations on the road are pretty bad [p 2], but one lives well. For breakfast and supper one has grilled beef, venison, chicken, turkey, pheasant, partridge roasted over the grill, excellent griddle cakes of dark buckwheat flour, very white bread, honey, apples and raisins cooked in their juice, good butter, cream and excellent coffee. Very good cider, Madeira wine, and strong liquors. But be it because of economy or because of sobriety, it seems to me that they resort very little to drink while traveling. <strong>The</strong> expense, after all, is not extraordinary. One can count on spending from one piaster 37
Page 1 and 2: FLORIAN Th
Page 3 and 4: Section 2: Letters from Other Famil
Page 5 and 6: France still correspond, keep track
Page 7 and 8: Published Writings of Jean Baptiste
Page 9 and 10: Estelle Sims Collection. This consi
Page 11 and 12: Note on Translation and Holdings Wo
Page 13 and 14: Note on Monetary Exchange Value In
Page 15 and 16: Letter 1. 2 [Letter translated, not
Page 17 and 18: the education, with the compensatio
Page 19 and 20: Letter 2. [Letter translated, not o
Page 21 and 22: In case you receive from Messrs. Fa
Page 23 and 24: Letter 5. Halifax [Nova Scotia], 4
Page 25 and 26: Joseph Marie Le Det de Segrais Pier
Page 27 and 28: sorrow, my tender friend, that I ca
Page 29 and 30: Letter 7. Philadelphia, October 30,
Page 31 and 32: We crossed the state of New Jersey
Page 33 and 34: Letter 8. [Lancaster, PA] November
Page 35: sobbing of the women _____ _______
Page 39 and 40: years, one finds himself with a ret
Page 41 and 42: Mr. and Mrs. Linton, with all the r
Page 43 and 44: ecause the current was so rapid and
Page 45 and 46: Letter 11. Natchez, 4 January, 1809
Page 47 and 48: of 20 to 22 cents per pound, as it
Page 49 and 50: Letter 12. New Orleans, January 23,
Page 51 and 52: I have sent to Mrs. Kirkland letter
Page 53 and 54: will see all the country from there
Page 55 and 56: Letter 14. New Orleans, February 11
Page 57 and 58: Letter 15. New Orleans, February 12
Page 59 and 60: They think only of
Page 61 and 62: Letter 17. New Orleans, March 5, 18
Page 63 and 64: We have had news from England, of t
Page 65 and 66: [p 2] Madame Sain [Dai?] will entru
Page 67 and 68: Letter 19. Montesano [West Florida,
Page 69 and 70: Bring along also a few bushels of S
Page 71 and 72: Letter 20. Montesano [West Florida,
Page 73 and 74: ye-grass, clover, sainfoin, [Lucern
Page 75 and 76: Section 2 Letters From Other Family
Page 77 and 78: as much for the grandeur as for the
Page 79 and 80: Your affectionate uncle, Jolly Patr
Page 81 and 82: ignorant of the renunciation which
Page 83 and 84: Eliza talks only about her pretty f
Page 85 and 86: Elizabeth Florian Talcott, later in
Page 87 and 88:
Letter 5. [Letter from Marguerite M
Page 89 and 90:
I have seen the Couissin girls, the
Page 91 and 92:
I took [the girls?] to a grand ball
Page 93 and 94:
They should not al
Page 95 and 96:
Your sisters had promised to reimbu
Page 97 and 98:
Now I must scold you for not termin
Page 99 and 100:
My dear Papa, My sisters have told
Page 101 and 102:
Letter 8. [Letter from Marguerite M
Page 103 and 104:
hair, which is almost all white. Yo
Page 105 and 106:
some years this will be quite a lar
Page 107 and 108:
Letter 10. . [Undated letter from P
Page 109 and 110:
Duault is the most perfect and fine
Page 111 and 112:
sad, as did I, just a passerby on t
Page 113 and 114:
almost all the summer in the countr
Page 115 and 116:
Letter 12. [Letter from Pierre Rene
Page 117 and 118:
Adieu dear Friend! I hope that at l
Page 119 and 120:
Letter 14. [Letter in response from
Page 121 and 122:
attachments which had been planned
Page 123 and 124:
ealize only too well by what I have
Page 125 and 126:
For two months, while I have been a
Page 127 and 128:
I don’t have time on this occasio
Page 129 and 130:
not complain of anything, but his t
Page 131 and 132:
Letter 19. [Letter to Azelie Floria
Page 133 and 134:
Letter 20. Emma’s Narrative Proba
Page 135 and 136:
On Saturday the 21 st [unfortunatel
Page 137 and 138:
I told him I was not afraid, but as
Page 139:
The climate and th
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FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

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