I just re-read some excerpts of letters and diaries of the German travelers down the Danube River (published in Homesteaders on the Steppe by Joseph S. Height). One of the letters was written by Johann Christian Bidlingmaier, a fellow traveler of Katharina Barbara Raile and her family of the Oetlingen Harmony. His letter was written to friends back in Germany six weeks into their journey. He documented their various stops along the river and some of the problems they encountered. He compared the swarm of mosquitoes that kept them from sleeping one night to the Egyptian plague of insects.
I thought of Katharina Barbara's children when he mentioned passing through the rapids near Alt -Balanka. He said they could hear the roar of the water an hour before they reached the rapids. Once they passed through safely, the children were hoping the whole trip would continue that way.
He was overwhelmed with the plentifulness of the areas they were visiting on their trip and remarked how cheap everything was compared to what it was in Germany. He was especially impressed with the "splendid good wine with fire."
The letter was written half way through their trip while delayed in Galatz. At that point, the trip had proved to be an adventure, but nothing compared to the last half of the trip that brought enormous difficulties with the majority of them dying either en-route on in quarantine in Ismail, Turkey.
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