Sienkiewicz wanted to settle permanently in America, to start a new life on another continent. He was not a very wealthy man at the time, nor did he belong to the poor. And it was the poor who usually experienced a lot of humiliation and hardship on their journeys, which was all the more distressing since they were fleeing their home country to start a different and better life. Unfortunately, more than once, the participants of these expeditions did not survive the hardships of their journeys or arrived at their destination in poor mental condition. That issue was discussed by Sienkiewicz in his novella Za chlebem [Seeking to Earn a Crust], a dramatic account of the journey and its consequences, in his Letters from a Journey to America, and also by Adolf Dygasiński in Listy z Brazylii [Letters from Brazil]. The latter suggestively shows the conditions the emigrants travelled in the noise, the cramped spaces, and the crying of small children. Reading these accounts, one realises that the journey in search of ‘a crust’ was often linked to complete isolation from the family (this was mainly how young men attracted by the gold rush travelled). Or, it involved a change of living conditions for the whole family, as this was often how people travelled to Brazil: they sold all their possessions and started a new life in a new country that was completely alien culturally. All this deprived these long-distance journeys of the qualities of leisure travel.
We gain similar knowledge by reading about Sienkiewicz’s journeys to Africa, the subsequent stops and changes of means of transport: train, ship, and local carriers. Each mode of transport is governed by different laws, the logistics of getting tickets and planning the journey. Moving around brings different experiences. However, unlike the American or Brazilian journey, the African journey was purely for the writer to have fun and get new ideas for the novel:
I set off from Naples on the English ship Ravenna (of the Peninsular and Orient Company) on Christmas Day itself, but already towards evening. This ship does not stop anywhere along the way until it reaches Egyptian shores, from where it continues to India. I was also immediately captivated by the whirlwind of great exotic voyages. Already on board such a ship, you see faces unfamiliar to you from your European travels and hear a speech unfamiliar in Europe.
The 19th-century travel accounts are also collections of almost journalistic notes, reporting every step taken and kilometre travelled. They are both descriptions of impressions and information about the traveller’s sensibilities. Anna Nakwaska of the Krajewscy wrote down the details of her trip. Her Wspomnienia podróży odbytej roku 1837 [Memories of a Journey Made in 1837] contain a great deal of information about the traveller herself, but also about the landscape, changing as she moves. The travelling woman becomes a guide for the reader, organising the entire journey. It is she who searches out the most beautiful, must-see places. Nakwaska uses a language familiar from organised tours: the guide discusses, narrates, and sometimes throws in jokes; the participants (this time the readers of the report) are somewhat passive: ‘We are now going to visit the beautiful estate of La Doge, which, situated further down the road than the place mentioned above, offers somewhat different views’. She became not only a promoter of sightseeing but also an astute observer, realising that (quite like today) to travel, one needs financial resources:
‘Happy is he who, with leisure, good health and eyesight, and a full pocket, can visit picturesque Switzerland, for him ...also the mountains retain all their beauty. As every virgin moving with the times, it offers its charms to him, to a rich lover, according to his generosity.’