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 Chapter 1: Databases and Database Users 1

Solution Manual for Fundamentals of Database

Systems, 6/E 6th Edition : 0136086209
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CHAPTER 1: DATABASES AND DATABASE USERS

Answers to Selected Exercises

1.8 - Identify some informal queries and update operations that you would expect to apply to
the database shown in Figure 1.2.

Answer:
(a) (Query) List the names of all students majoring in Computer Science.

(b) (Query) What are the prerequisites of the Database course?.

(c) (Query) Retrieve the transcript of Smith. This is a list of <CourseName,

SectionIdentifier, Semester, Year, Grade> for each course section that Smith has
completed.

(d) (Update) Insert a new student in the database whose Name=Jackson,

StudentNumber=23, Class=1 (freshman), and Major=MATH.

(e) (Update) Change the grade that Smith received in Intro to Computer Science section
119 to B.

1.9 - What is the difference between controlled and uncontrolled redundancy?

Answer:
Redundancy is when the same fact is stored multiple times in several places in a database.
For example, in Figure 1.5(a) the fact that the name of the student with StudentNumber=8 is
Brown is stored multiple times. Redundancy is controlled when the DBMS ensures that
multiple copies of the same data are consistent; for example, if a new record with
StudentNumber=8 is stored in the database of Figure 1.5(a), the DBMS will ensure that
StudentName=Smith in that record. If the DBMS has no control over this, we have
uncontrolled redundancy.

1.10 - Specify all the relationships among the records of the database shown in Figure 1.2.

Answer:
(a) Each SECTION record is related to a COURSE record.

(b) Each GRADE_REPORT record is related to one STUDENT record and one SECTION
record.

(c) Each PREREQUISITE record relates two COURSE records: one in the role of a course
and the other in the role of a prerequisite to that course.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley.

2 Chapter 1: Databases and Database Users

1.11 - Give some additional views that may be needed by other user groups for the database
shown in Figure 1.2.

Answer:
(a) A view that groups all the students who took each section and gives each student's
grade. This may be useful for printing the grade report for each section for the
university administration's use.

(b) A view that gives the number of courses taken and the GPA (grade point average) for
each student. This may be used to determine honors students.

1.12 – Cite some examples of integrity constraints that you think can apply to the database
shown in Figure 1.2.

Answer:
We give a few constraints expressed in English. Following each constraint, we give its
type in the relational database terminology that will be covered in Chapter 6, for
reference purposes.

(a) The StudentNumber should be unique for each STUDENT record (key constraint).

(b) The CourseNumber should be unique for each COURSE record (key constraint).

(c) A value of CourseNumber in a SECTION record must also exist in some COURSE
record (referential integrity constraint).

(d) A value of StudentNumber in a GRADE_REPORT record must also exist in some

STUDENT record (referential integrity constraint).

(e) The value of Grade in a GRADE_REPORT record must be one of the values in the set
{A, B, C, D, F, I, U, S} (domain constraint).

(f) Every record in COURSE must have a value for CourseNumber (entity integrity
constraint).

(g) A STUDENT record cannot have a value of Class=2 (sophomore) unless the student
has completed a number of sections whose total course CreditHours is greater that 24
credits (general semantic integrity constraint).

1.13 - Give examples of systems in which it may make sense to use traditional file
processing instead of a database approach.

Answer:
1.1. Small internal utility to locate files Formatted: Bullets and Numbering
2.2. Small single user application that does not require security (such as a customized
calculator or a personal address and phone book)
3.3. Real-time navigation system (with heavy computation and very little data)
4.4. The students may think of others.

1.14 - Consider Figure 1.2.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley.

 Chapter 1: Databases and Database Users 3

a.a. If the name of the ‘CS’ (Computer Science) Department changes to ‘CSSE’ (Computer Formatted: Bullets and Numbering
Science and Software Engineering) Department and the corresponding prefix for the
course number also changes, identify the columns in the database that would need
to be updated.
b.b. Can you restructure the columns in COURSE, SECTION, and PREREQUISITE tables so
that only one column will need to be updated?

Answer:
a. The following columns will need to be updated.
Table Column(s)
STUDENT Major
COURSE CourseNumber and Department
SECTION CourseNumber
PREREQUISITE CourseNumber and PrerequisiteNumber

b. You should split the following columns into two columns:

Table Column Split Columns
COURSE CourseNumber CourseDept and CourseNum
SECTION CourseNumber CourseDept and CourseNum
PREREQUISITE CourseNumber CourseDept and CourseNum
PREREQUISITE PrerequisiteNumber PreReqDept and PreReqNum

Note that in the COURSE table, the column CourseDept will not be needed after the above
change, since it is redundant with the Department column.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley.

Random documents with unrelated
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The last travels of Ida
Pfeiffer: inclusive of a visit to Madagascar, with a
biographical memoir of the author
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The last travels of Ida Pfeiffer: inclusive of a visit to

Madagascar, with a biographical memoir of the author

Author: Ida Pfeiffer

Translator: H. W. Dulcken

Release date: October 12, 2019 [eBook #60474]

Most recently updated: October 17, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images available at The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LAST

TRAVELS OF IDA PFEIFFER: INCLUSIVE OF A VISIT TO
MADAGASCAR, WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR
***
 MADAME IDA PFEIFFER.

THE

LAS T T RAV E L S

OF
 IDA PFEIFFER:
INCLUSIVE OF A VISIT TO MADAGASCAR.

WITH

An Autobiographical Memoir of the Author.

TRANSLATED BY H. W. DULCKEN.

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1861.
 PREFACE.
It was at Buenos Ayres that I received the intelligence of the death of my
beloved mother. Shortly before her decease she had expressed the wish that
I should arrange and prepare for publication the papers she left concerning
her last voyage to Madagascar. The dangerous illness which befell her in
the Mauritius immediately after she had left Madagascar, and which, in
spite of the most careful medical attention, and the kindest nursing on the
part of her friends, proved fatal, prevented her from doing this herself.
When, after a few months, I returned from Buenos Ayres to Rio de
Janeiro, I found my mother’s papers waiting for me there; but the loss was
too recent, and my grief too violent, to allow me to read them then, much
less to peruse them with the care and attention which must necessarily
precede their publication.
At length I made up my mind to the task. I was obliged to go through it,
for it was my mother’s last wish. Filial duty induced me to leave my dear
mother’s journal as little altered as possible. In thus giving this last work of
my mother to the world, I trust that our kind readers will receive it with the
indulgence they have so frequently extended to the other works of the late
enterprising traveler.
Oscar Pfeiffer.
Rio de Janeiro, July 8th, 1860.
 CONTENTS.
Biography of Ida Pfeiffer Page ix

CHAPTER I
Departure from Vienna.—Linz.—Salzburg.—Munich.—The Artists’ Festival.—
The King of Bavaria.—Berlin.—Alexander von Humboldt.—Hamburg 41

CHAPTER II
Arrival in Holland.—Amsterdam.—Dutch Architecture.—Picture Galleries.—Mr.
Costa’s Diamond-cutting Works.—The Haarlem Lake.—A Dutch Cattle-stable.—
Utrecht.—The Students’ Festival 51

CHAPTER III
Zaandam.—The little Village of Broeck, celebrated for its Cleanliness.—Strange
Head-dresses.—The Hague.—Celebrated Pictures.—Leyden.—Rotterdam.—
Departure from Holland 63

CHAPTER IV
London.—Paris.—Sitting of the Geographical Society.—News from Madagascar.
—Popular Life in Paris.—Sights.—A Tale of Murder.—Versailles.—St. Cloud.—
Celebration of Sunday 72

CHAPTER V
Return to London and Holland.—Separation Festival in Amsterdam.—Departure
from Rotterdam.—My traveling Companions.—Emigrant Children.—Story of a
poor Girl.—Cape Town.—Fortunate Meeting.—Alteration of my traveling Plans 87

CHAPTER VI
Voyage to the Island of Bourbon.—The Mauritius.—Wealth of the Island.—The
City of Port Louis.—Manner of Life among the Inhabitants.—Indian Servants.—
Grand Dinners.—Country Houses.—Creole Hospitality 103

CHAPTER VII
The Sugar-cane Plantations.—Indian Laborers.—A Lawsuit.—The Botanic
Garden.—Plants and Animals.—Singular Monument.—The Waterfall.—Mont
Orgeuil.—Trou du Cerf.—The Creoles and the French.—Farewell to the
Mauritius. 116
 CHAPTER VIII
A Geographical and Historical Account of the Island of Madagascar. 131

CHAPTER IX
Departure from the Mauritius.—The old Man-of-War.—Arrival in Madagascar.—
Mademoiselle Julie.—Account of Tamatavé.—The Natives.—Comical Head-
dresses.—First Visit in Antandroroko.—Malagasey Hospitality.—The Europeans
at Tamatavé.—The Parisio-Malagasey.—Domestic Institutions. 139

CHAPTER X
The “Queen’s Bath.”—Soldiers and Officers.—Banquet and Ball.—Departure
from Tamatavé.—Second Visit to Antandroroko.—Vovong.—The Fever.—
Andororanto.—Land and Cultivation.—Condition of the People.—Manambotre.
—The bad Roads and the Bearers.—Ambatoarana. 157

CHAPTER XI
Celebration of the National Feast.—Song and Dance.—Beforona.—The elevated
Plateau of Ankay.—The Territory of Emir.—Solemn Reception.—Ambatomango.
—The Sikidy.—The Triumphal Procession.—Arrival in Tananariva. 173

CHAPTER XII
Mr. Laborde.—Prince Rakoto.—Anecdote of his Life.—The Sambas-Sambas.—
Mary.—Review on the Field of Mars.—The Nobility in Madagascar.—The
Secret Treaty.—The English Missionary Society and Mr. Lambert. 187

CHAPTER XIII
Introduction at Court.—The Monosina.—The Royal Palace.—The Hovas.—
Scenes of Horror under the Queen’s Rule.—Executions.—The Tanguin.—
Persecution of the Christians.—One of the Queen’s Journeys.—Her Hatred of
Europeans.—Bull-fights.—Taurine Mausoleum. 206

CHAPTER XIV
Dinner at Mr. Laborde’s.—Foot-boxing.—Ladies of Madagascar and Parisian
Fashions.—The Conspiracy.—A Dream.—A Fancy-dress Ball.—An unquiet
Night.—Concert at Court.—The Silver Palace.—An Excursion of the Queen. 222

CHAPTER XV
Failure of the Coup d’État.—Prince Ramboasalama.—The Pas de Deux.—
Discovery of the Plot.—Death of Prince Razakaratrino.—Freedom of Manners.
—Irreligion.—Beginning of our Captivity.—A Kabar.—Persecution of the
Christians.—The Delivery of the Presents. 239
 CHAPTER XVI
Banquets in Madagascar.—A Kabar at Court.—The Sentence.—Our Banishment.
—Departure from Tananariva.—Military Escort.—Observations on the People.—
Arrival in Tamatavé.—Departure from Madagascar.—A false Alarm.—Arrival in
the Mauritius.—Conclusion. 260
 A BIOGRAPHY OF IDA PFEIFFER

(COMPILED FROM NOTES LEFT BY HERSELF).

Several biographies of Ida Pfeiffer are already scattered through various

encyclopædias and periodicals. These are based partly on oral
communications made by the deceased lady, partly on particulars collected
from her friends. No authentic sketch of her life has, however, yet been
published, though many whose sympathy has accompanied the dauntless
voyager on her dangerous way will doubtless be glad to hear something of
the earlier life of Ida Pfeiffer. In remarkable people, the germs of
extraordinary faculties are generally recognizable in early youth; and those
readers who have followed the course of a remarkable life from its meridian
to its close will doubtless be gratified by the opportunity of casting a glance
backward to its early years, when the seeds of future distinction were sown.
This consideration will probably be thought a sufficient justification for
publishing the following pages; the more so as the facts given in this
biographical sketch rest exclusively on the authority of the heroine herself.
Madame Ida Pfeiffer left behind her a short outline of her life written by her
own hand, and her family very courteously permitted this manuscript to be
used. It is to be followed by a summary of her travels, and by her diary in
Madagascar, to which her son, Mr. Oscar Pfeiffer, has added the narrative of
her sufferings and death. Thus the whole career of the late adventurous
pilgrim, with particular reference to the latest circumstances of her
checkered life, namely, her interesting and eventful voyage to Madagascar,
will be placed before the reader.
Our traveler was born in Vienna on the 14th of October, 1797. She was
the third child of the wealthy merchant Reyer, and at her baptism received
the name Ida Laura. Till she was nine years old, all the family in her
parents’ house, except herself, were boys, so that she was the only girl
among a party of six children. Through continual intercourse with her
brothers, a great predilection for the games and pursuits of boys was
developed in her. “I was not shy,” she says of herself, “but wild as a boy,
and bolder and more forward than my elder brothers;” and she adds that it
was her greatest pleasure to romp with the boys, to dress in their clothes,
and to take part in all their mad pranks. The parents not only abstained from
putting any check on this tendency, but even allowed the girl to wear boy’s
clothes, so that little Ida looked with sovereign contempt upon dolls and toy
saucepans, and would only play with drums, swords, guns, and similar
playthings. Her father seems to have looked with complacency upon this
anomaly in her character. He jestingly promised the girl that he would have
her educated for an officer in a military school, thus indirectly encouraging
the child to a display of courage, resolution, and contempt of danger. Ida
did not fail to cultivate these qualities, and her most ardent wish was to
carve her own way through the world, sword in hand. Even in her early
childhood she gave many proofs of fearlessness and self-command.
Mr. Reyer had peculiar ideas on the subject of education, and carried out
these notions strictly in his family circle. He was a very honest, and,
moreover, strict man, holding the opinion that youth should be carefully
guarded against excess, and taught to moderate its desires and wishes;
consequently, his children were fed on simple, almost a parsimonious diet,
and were taught to sit quietly at table, and see their elders enjoy the various
dishes that were served up, without receiving a share of those dainties. The
little people were, moreover, forbidden to express their wish for any much-
coveted plaything by repeated requests. The father’s strictness of discipline
went so far as to induce him to refuse many of the children’s reasonable
requests, in order, as he said, to accustom them to disappointments.
Opposition of any kind he would never allow, and even remonstrances
against a discipline that bordered on harshness were always unavailing.
There is no doubt that the old gentleman carried his system to excess,
but it is equally certain that, but for this Spartan education, little Ida would
never have ripened into the fearless traveler, able to bear the heaviest
fatigue for months together, living meanwhile on the most miserable food.
The chief characteristics of Ida Pfeiffer’s courage, endurance, and
indifference to pain and hardship became developed by an eccentric course
of education, which would hardly find a defender at a time like the present,
when every thing peculiar is hastily condemned. The unusual, with its sharp
outlines and deep shadows, disappears more and more in the light of
common-sense mediocrity, and the characteristic heads that we remember in
our youth gradually disappear, and are succeeded by very rational, but
somewhat tedious and commonplace figures.
 Ida’s father died in the year 1806, leaving a widow and seven children.
The boys were in an educational institution, and the mother undertook the
education of the girl, who was now nearly nine years old. Though the father
had appeared formidable to the children by his strictness, his rule appeared
to the girl far preferable to the melancholy régime of her mother, who
watched the child’s every movement with suspicion and alarm, and caused
her daughter to spend many a bitter hour, merely from an exaggerated
notion of duty.
A few months after her father’s death the first attempt was made to
deprive the girl of the attire she had hitherto worn, and substituted petticoats
for their masculine equivalents. Little Ida, then ten years old, was so
indignant at this measure that she absolutely fell ill from grief and
indignation. By the doctor’s advice her former costume was restored to her,
and it was resolved that the girl’s obstinacy must gradually be subdued by
remonstrance.
The boy’s garments were received by Ida with a burst of enthusiasm, her
health returned, and she behaved more like a boy than ever. She learned
every thing that she thought a boy should know with industry and zeal, and,
on the other hand, looked with the greatest contempt on every female
occupation. Piano-forte playing, for instance, she despised as a feminine
accomplishment, and would actually cut her fingers, or burn them with
sealing-wax, to escape the hated task of practicing. For playing the violin,
on the contrary, she showed a great predilection. But her mother would not
allow her to have her way in this matter, and the piano-forte was formally
subsidized and maintained at its post by maternal authority.
When the year 1809 came, a most eventful period for Austria, Ida was
twelve years old. From what has been said of her ideas and inclinations, it
will readily be believed that she took great interest in the fortunes of the
war. She read the newspaper eagerly, and often traced out on the map the
relative positions of the two armies. She danced and shouted with glee, like
a good patriot, when the Austrians conquered, and wept bitter tears when
the fortune of war brought victory to the enemy’s standard. Her mother’s
house was situated in one of the busiest streets of the capital; and the
frequent marching past of troops caused many interruptions to study, and
gave many opportunities for the expression of ardent wishes that the
Austrian banners might triumph. When Ida, looking from the window, saw
her fellow-countrymen march past to battle, she would vehemently deplore
her youth that prevented her from taking part in the impending struggle. She
considered her youth the only obstacle that prevented her from going to
war.
Unhappily, the French were victorious; the enemy entered the capital,
and the affairs of Austria were in a very bad way. The little patriot had the
mortification of seeing a number of the hated conquerors quartered in her
mother’s house, and evidently considering themselves masters of the
situation—dining at the table with the family, and expecting to be treated
with the most anxious civility. The members of the household generally
thought it best to keep up an appearance of friendship toward the
conquerors, but nothing could induce the girl to look at the Frenchmen with
favor; on the contrary, she showed her feelings by obstinacy and silence;
and when requested by the Frenchmen to express her sentiments, she broke
out in words of passionate anger and dislike. She herself has said on this
subject, “My hatred to Napoleon was so great, that I looked upon the
attempt of the notorious Staps to assassinate him at Schönbrunn as a highly
meritorious action, and considered the perpetrator, who was tried by a
court-martial and shot, in the light of a martyr. I thought if I myself could
murder Napoleon, I should not hesitate one instant to do so.”
It is related that Ida was compelled to be present at a review of his troops
held by Napoleon in Schönbrunn. When the hated emperor rode past, the
girl turned her back, and received a box on the ear for her
demonstrativeness from her mother, who then held her by the shoulders lest
she should repeat the trick. But nothing was gained by this manœuvre, for
when the emperor came riding back with his glittering staff of marshals
around him, Miss Ida resolutely closed her eyes.
At the age of thirteen she again dressed in female attire, and this time the
change was persevered in. She had indeed become sensible enough to
acknowledge the necessity of the measure, but still it cost her many tears,
and made her very unhappy. With the garb of her sex, she was also obliged
to adopt different manners and occupations, and a new system of life. “How
awkward and clumsy I was at first!” she exclaims, in her diary; “how
ridiculous I must have looked in my long skirts, jumping and racing about,
and behaving generally like a wild, restless boy!”
“Fortunately, a young man came to us at that time as tutor, who took
particular pains with me. I afterward heard that my mother had given him
secret directions to treat me with especial indulgence, as a child whose
earliest impulses had received a wrong bias. He certainly behaved to me
with great kindness and delicacy, and showed great patience and
perseverance in combating my overstrained and misdirected notions. As I
had learned rather to fear my parents than to love them, and he was, so to
speak, the first human being who had displayed affection and sympathy
toward me, I clung to him, in return, with enthusiastic attachment, seeking
to fulfill his every wish, and never so happy as when he appeared satisfied
with my endeavors. He conducted my entire education; and though it cost
me some tears to give up my youthful visions, and busy myself with
pursuits I had looked upon with contempt, I did it out of affection for him. I
even learned many female occupations, such as sewing, knitting, and
cookery. I owe to him the insight I received in three or four years into the
duties of my sex; and he it was who changed me from a wild hoydenish
creature into a modest girl.”
At the period when Ida was compelled to give up her boyish character,
there arose in her the first wish to see the world. She turned her thoughts
from war and soldiering to fix them upon travel; descriptions of voyages
excited her warmest interest, and literature of this kind occupied in her
mind the place that, in the majority of young girls’ heads, is filled with
thoughts of dress, balls, theatres, and amusements generally. When she
heard of any one who had attained celebrity by travel, she would grieve to
think that she was debarred by her sex from the happiness of ever crossing
the sea and exploring strange lands. Often she felt an inclination to occupy
herself with scientific studies; but she always suppressed it, seeming to
recognize therein a relapse into the “extravagant ideas” of earlier days. It
must be remembered that at the beginning of the present century the
daughters of middle-class families did not enjoy the education they receive
now.
An important passage in the life of Ida Pfeiffer shall be related in her
own words. She tells us:
“In my seventeenth year a wealthy Greek proposed for my hand. My
mother declined to entertain his offer because he was not a Catholic, and
she thought me too young for such a step. According to her ideas, it was
indecorous for a girl under twenty years of age to marry.
 “A great change now took place in my character. I had hitherto had no
idea of the powerful passion which makes mortals the happiest or the most
miserable of beings. When my mother told me of the proposal made to her,
feelings of which till then I had been unconscious became clearly defined
within me, and I felt that I could love no one but T——, the guide of my
youth.
“I was not aware that T—— was attached to me with his whole soul. I
scarcely knew my own feelings, and far less was I capable of guessing
those of another person. When, however, T—— heard of the proposal that
had been made for me, and when the possibility of losing me arose before
him, he confessed his love to me, and determined to urge his suit to my
mother.
“T—— had devoted himself to the Civil Service, and had for some years
occupied a post, with a salary on which he could live very well. He had
long given up the profession of a tutor, though he continued to visit our
house as frequently as ever, passing all his leisure hours with us, as if he
belonged to the family. My five brothers were his friends, and my mother
was so fond of him that she often called him ‘her dear sixth son.’ He was at
every party in our house, and went with us wherever we accepted an
invitation; always accompanying us to theatres, in our walks, and so on.
What was more natural than that we should both persuade ourselves that my
mother had intended us for each other, and would perhaps only stipulate for
our waiting till I had attained my twentieth year, and T—— had a better
appointment?
“Accordingly he proposed for my hand.
“But who can paint our grievous surprise when my mother not only
entirely refused her consent, but from this moment detested T—— just as
much as she had before liked him. There could be no other objection to T
—— except that I could look forward to having a tolerable fortune, while T
—— had at present nothing but his modest salary. If my mother could have
imagined what was one day to become of my fortune, how very different
my fate would be from what she had sketched out for me in her mind, what
deep sorrow and endless grief might she not have spared me!
“After T——’s proposal, my mother wished to get me married as
quickly as possible. I declared resolutely that I would become T——’s wife,
or remain unmarried. T—— was, of course, forbidden to come to our
house, and as my mother knew how obstinately I adhered to my resolutions
when I was in earnest about a matter, she took me to a priest, who was
enjoined to explain to me the duty of children toward their parents, and
particularly the obedience the latter are authorized to exact. They wanted to
bind me by a solemn oath, sworn on the crucifix, that I would not see T
—— secretly, nor correspond with him. I refused to take the oath, but gave
the required promise, stipulating, however, that I should be allowed to
inform T—— of every thing. My mother at last made this concession, and I
wrote a long letter to T——, acquainting him with every thing, and begging
him not to believe any thing he heard concerning me from other people. I
added that it was out of my power either to see him or to write to him again,
but that if another suitor presented himself and was accepted by my mother,
I would at once inform T—— of the circumstance.
“T——’s reply was short, and full of bitter sorrow. He seemed to
understand that, under the circumstances, there was no hope for us, and that
nothing remained but to obey my mother’s commands. He declared
positively, however, that he would never marry.
“And thus our correspondence closed. Three long, sorrowful years
passed away without my seeing him, and without any change in my feelings
or position.
“Walking one day with a friend of my mother’s, I met T—— by chance.
We both stopped involuntarily, but for a long time neither he nor I could
utter a word. At last he conquered his emotion, and asked after my health. I
was too deeply moved to be able to reply. My knees trembled, and I felt
ready to sink into the earth. I seized my companion by the arm and drew her
away with me, and rushed home, scarcely conscious of what I was doing.
Two days afterward I was stretched on my couch in a burning fever.
“The physician who was called in seemed to have a suspicion of the
cause of my illness, and declared to my mother, as I afterward heard, that
the source of evil was mental, not bodily; that medicines would be of little
avail in my case, and that every effort must be directed.... But my mother
persisted in following her own course, and told the physician she could not
alter any thing about me.”
The patient’s life hung for a long time in the balance, and in her fevered
state of mind she wished ardently for death. When by chance she heard
from an indiscreetly-communicative nurse that her dissolution was daily
expected, this intelligence produced such a quieting effect that she sank into
a deep slumber, and the crisis of her disease was happily passed.
Ida’s father had left a considerable fortune, and there was no lack of
suitors for her hand. She refused every offer, however, and thereby
increased the discomfort of her position at home, for her mother insisted
more and more strongly upon Ida’s making her choice. These domestic
broils at length broke the girl’s spirit, and any fate seemed to her preferable
to the continuance of such a state of things. She accordingly declared
herself ready to accept the next proposal that should be made, provided the
suitor was of advanced age. She wished to convince T—— that moral
coercion, and not her own inclination, had impelled her to take this course.
In the year 1819, when Ida was twenty-two years old, Doctor Pfeiffer,
one of the most distinguished advocates in Lemberg, and a widower,
moreover, with a grown-up son, was introduced to the Reyers. He staid in
Vienna a few days for professional purposes, and at his departure
recommended his son, who was studying law at the University of Vienna, to
the notice of the family.
About four weeks afterward came a letter from Dr. Pfeiffer, containing a
formal proposal for Ida’s hand. As he had only exchanged a few words with
her on totally unimportant subjects, she had not the least anticipation of an
offer in that direction; but her mother did not fail to remind her of the
promise she had made to accept the next suitor who came forward.
“I promised to consider the matter,” she says in her diary. “Dr. Pfeiffer
seemed to me a very intelligent, well-educated man; but a circumstance that
told far more in his favor in my estimation was that he lived a hundred
miles from Vienna, and was twenty-four years older than I.”
A week afterward she consented to the marriage on the condition that
she should be allowed to acquaint Dr. Pfeiffer with the real state of her
affections. This she did in a long letter, in which she concealed nothing
from her suitor, evidently indulging the hope that he would abandon his
pursuit of her; but Dr. Pfeiffer at once replied, expressing himself not in the
least surprised to hear that a maiden of twenty-two years had already loved.
The honest, candid avowal of this passage in her life made Ida appear in his
eyes all the more worthy of respect; and he avowed his intention of
persisting in his suit, feeling assured that he should never have cause to
regret it.
 The difficult duty of acquainting T—— with this change in her destiny
now devolved upon Ida. This duty she fulfilled by means of a few lines, and
it will readily be imagined that they were painful ones. The answer was
conceived in the manliest spirit, full of self-abnegation and nobility of
mind. T—— repeatedly declared that he would never forget her, and would
never marry. He kept his word.
The marriage with Dr. Pfeiffer was celebrated on the 1st of May, 1820,
and a week afterward the newly-wedded couple departed for Lemberg. The
journey brought relief by reviving in the young wife the old predilection for
traveling, and allowing the pair an opportunity of becoming better
acquainted. Ida found that her husband possessed high principle, candor,
and intelligence; and if it was beyond her power to love him, she could not
withhold from him respect and hearty appreciation, especially as he showed
as much affection as delicacy in his conduct toward her. She was resolved
to fulfill her duties honorably, and looked forward with a certain amount of
tranquillity to the future.
Dr. Pfeiffer was one of those straightforward, independent-spirited men
who attack and expose wrong wherever they find it, and make no secret of
their sentiments.
In the official routine in Galicia in those days there were many weak
points, and the number of dishonest and venal employés was not small. In
an important lawsuit which he brought to a triumphant conclusion, Dr.
Pfeiffer discovered peculation of the gravest kind. This he fearlessly and
unflinchingly denounced to the highest authorities in Vienna. An
investigation was ordered; Dr. Pfeiffer’s accusations were found to be well-
grounded, and several officials were dismissed, and others moved.
Very disagreeable results, however, accrued to Dr. Pfeiffer himself. By
his report of these delinquencies he had drawn down upon himself the
enmity of the majority of official personages; and this enmity was so
frequently and so openly manifested, that Dr. Pfeiffer found himself
compelled to resign his appointment as councilor, for he found that his
advocacy, so far from benefiting his clients, became absolutely prejudicial
to their interests.
“My husband,” writes Ida Pfeiffer, “had foreseen all this; but it went
against his nature to shut his eyes to flagrant injustice. In the same year he
resigned his office, and, after he had arranged his private affairs, we
removed, in 1821, to Vienna, where, trusting to his skill and knowledge, he
hoped to have no difficulty in obtaining employment. But his reputation had
preceded him: his sentiments and his mode of action were as well known in
Vienna as at Lemberg, and he was looked upon with suspicion as a restless
character and an enemy of existing institutions. All his applications for
employment in agencies, etc., were consequently unavailing. Posts which
he had solicited in vain were continually given away to the most
insignificant and least talented of the profession.”
All this had naturally a very disastrous effect on Pfeiffer’s mind. He saw
himself every where crossed and hampered in his work and in his efforts;
and labors which he had formerly performed with zeal and pleasure now
fretted and annoyed him. At length he lost a portion of his energy, and what
he did brought him little or no advantage.
Thus the social position of the Pfeiffers became more and more critical
from day to day. As a skillful lawyer, Dr. Pfeiffer had earned a considerable
income at Lemberg; but he had liked to live in good style, kept carriages
and horses, and a good table, and had not thought of providing for the
future. Many people who knew his generosity made use of him, and
borrowed his money. Thus Ida’s paternal inheritance vanished also, being
lent to a friend of Pfeiffer’s, whom it was to help out of his embarrassments.
The man failed in spite of the loan, and thus the whole fortune was lost.
After vainly seeking employment in Vienna, Dr. Pfeiffer returned, with
his wife, to Lemberg, but afterward came back again to Vienna, and at
length even tried his fortune in Switzerland, his native country, where he
had, however, only passed the earliest years of his life. But fortune would
nowhere smile upon him, and bitter poverty knocked at the door of the
family.
“Heaven only knows what I suffered during eighteen years of my
married life!” exclaims Ida Pfeiffer; “not, indeed, from any ill treatment on
my husband’s part, but from poverty and want. I came of a wealthy family,
and had been accustomed from my earliest youth to order and comfort; and
now I frequently knew not where I should lay my head, or find a little
money to buy the commonest necessaries. I performed household drudgery,
and bore cold and hunger; I worked secretly for money, and gave lessons in
drawing and music; and yet, in spite of all my exertions, there were many
days when I could hardly put any thing but dry bread before my poor
children for their dinner.
“I might certainly have applied to my mother or my brothers for relief,
but my pride revolted against such a course. For years I fought with poverty
and concealed my real position, often brought so near to despair that the
thought of my children alone prevented me from giving way. At last the
urgency of my necessities broke my spirit, and several times I had recourse
to my brothers for assistance.”
Ida Pfeiffer had two sons. A daughter was born to her, but only lived a
few days. The education of the children devolved entirely upon the mother;
and as the younger showed a great appreciation for music, she took great
pains to cultivate his talents.
In the year 1831 old Madame Reyer died. During the long illness which
preceded her death she was tended by her daughter with the most
affectionate care. After her mother’s death Ida betook herself again to
Lemberg, from whence Dr. Pfeiffer had again written, announcing that he
had a sure prospect of employment. He was now sixty years old, and lived
in a state of constant illusion; a mere promise was sufficient to inspire him
with the greatest confidence in the future. After experiencing a series of
hopes and disappointments during a period of two years, she returned to
Vienna, where she could at least obtain for her sons a better education.
At her mother’s death she had not, indeed, come into a great property,
but she inherited enough to keep her in a respectable style, and to provide
good teachers for her children. In 1835 she settled definitely in Vienna. Dr.
Pfeiffer remained in Lemberg, where he was kept by force of habit, and by
his affection for his son by his first marriage. From time to time, however,
he visited Vienna to see his wife and children.
During a journey to Trieste which Ida Pfeiffer undertook with her
youngest son, in order that he might have sea-baths, she enjoyed her first
sight of the ocean. The impression made upon her by the sea was
overpowering. The dreams of her youth came back, with visions of distant
unexplored climes, teeming with strange, luxuriant vegetation; an almost
irresistible impulse for travel arose in her, and she would gladly have
embarked in the first ship to sail away into the great, mysterious, boundless
ocean. Her duty toward her children alone restrained her; and she felt happy
when she had quitted Trieste, and miles of mountain and plain intervened
between the sea and herself, for the longing to see the world had weighed
like a mountain on her spirit in the maritime city.
Returning to the routine of every-day life in Vienna, she still secretly
nourished the wish that her health and strength might be spared until her
sons should have been established in life, and she should be enabled to go
out into the world depending on her own resources alone. This wish of hers
was to be fulfilled. Her sons grew and throve, and became prosperous,
successful men in their profession.
The completion of their education and the establishment of each in his
vocation gave Ida Pfeiffer leisure to mature her plans of travel. The old
project of seeing the world arose anew, and now no obstacle existed in the
calls of duty and common sense. She began to mature a plan for a long
journey, to be undertaken alone; for she must journey by herself, as her
husband’s advanced age prevented him from participating in the toil and
fatigue of such an undertaking, and her sons could not be spared from their
professional duties. The financial aspect of the question required much
consideration. In the countries she wished to visit railways and hotels were
unknown institutions, and travelers in those regions would be necessarily
subjected to the expense of carrying with them all they required during the
journey; and after she had devoted part of her maternal inheritance to the
education of her sons, the funds at Ida Pfeiffer’s disposal were limited
indeed.
“But I soon settled these weighty points to my satisfaction,” she writes in
her diary. “Respecting the first, namely, the design that I, a woman, should
venture into the world alone, I trusted to my years (I was already forty-
five), to my courage, and to the habit of self-reliance I had acquired in the
hard school of life, during the time when I was obliged to provide, not only
for my children, but sometimes for my husband also. As regarded money, I
was determined to practice the most rigid economy. Privation and
discomfort had no terrors for me. I had endured them long enough by
compulsion, and considered that they would be much easier to bear if I
encountered them voluntarily with a fixed object in view.”
Another question, namely, whither she should bend her steps, was
quickly answered. Two projects had occupied her mind for many years—a
voyage to the North, and a journey to the Holy Land. When, however, she
imparted to her friends her intention of visiting Jerusalem, she was looked
upon simply as a crazy, enthusiastic person, and nobody thought her in
earnest in the matter.
Nevertheless, she kept to her resolution, but concealed the real goal of
her journey, declaring that her intention was to visit a friend at
Constantinople, with whom she had for a long time kept up an active
correspondence. She kept her passport concealed, and no one of those from
whom she parted had any idea of her destination. Very painful was the
parting from her sons, to whom she was tenderly attached; but she fought
bravely against her softer emotions, consoled her friends with the prospect
of soon meeting them again, and on the 22d of March, 1842, embarked on
the steamer that was to convey her down the Danube to the Black Sea and
the City of the Crescent. She visited Brussa, Beyrout, Jaffa, Jerusalem, the
Dead Sea, Nazareth, Damascus, Baalbek, the Lebanon, Alexandria, and
Cairo, and traveled across the Desert to the Isthmus of Suez and the Red
Sea. From Egypt she returned by way of Sicily and the whole of Italy to her
home, arriving in Vienna in December, 1842.
As she had carefully kept a diary of her journey, from which she
frequently read extracts to friends and acquaintances, she was often
requested to print her experiences. The thought of becoming an authoress
was repugnant to her modesty, and it was only when a publisher made her a
direct offer that she consented to trust her first book to the press. It bore the
title, “Journey of a Viennese Lady to the Holy Land.” The first edition
appeared in two volumes in 1843, the fourth in 1856; and though the
authoress neither had much that was new to tell, nor rode her Pegasus in the
approved style of the traveled ladies of the period, her little book was still
successful, as the four editions sufficiently prove. The very simplicity of the
narration, and its appearance of unvarnished truth, at once gained numerous
readers for the book.
The good result of this first journey, which gave the pilgrim fresh funds
in the form of copyright money, awakened within her fresh plans; and this
time she felt impelled toward the far north, where she expected to see
majestic sights, and to behold nature exhibited in new and startling forms.
After various preparations, among which may be mentioned the study of
the English and Danish languages, and of the art of taking Daguerreotypes,
and after obtaining accurate information concerning the countries she
purposed visiting, she began her journey to the north on the 10th of April,