Date: January 2, 1893, Monday on a full moon.
Event: Tarzan visits Mbonga's village and the older apes approach their new king about his often absence.
Source: "Once every moon Tarzan would go swinging rapidly back through the swaying branches to have a day with his books, and to replenish his supply of arrows." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "At last some of the older apes spoke to Tarzan on the subject, and for a month thereafter he remained constantly with the tribe." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. The full moon date is supplied from the U.S Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department's Phases Of The Moon.
www.rodurago.net/en/index.php?link=calendar&site=details
www.rodurago.net/en/index.php?link=calendar&site=details
Burne Hogarth
Date: January 23, 1893
Event: Terkoz and Tarzan battle for the first time, and the ape-man defeats his foster brother with the half-Nelson.
Source: "The entire matter was taken out of Tarzan's hands one day by force of circumstances," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "There was one of the tribe of Tarzan who questioned his authority, and that was Terkoz, the son of Tublat," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. This event occurs ten days before Tarzan kills Mirando, which is one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3 (?).
 |
| Burne Hogarth |
Date: afternoon of January 23, 1893
Event: On the same day Tarzan defeated Terkoz the ape man gives up his kingship.
Source: "That afternoon as the tribe came together, as was their wont before darkness settled on the jungle," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. This event occurs ten days before Tarzan kills Mirando, which is one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3.
Frank Chio
Date: morning of January 24, 1893
Event: Tarzan leaves the mangani.
Source: "The following morning," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Jamie Chase |
Date: late morning January 25, 1893
Event: Tarzan arrives at his father's cabin by the sea.
Source: "He traveled very slowly, sleeping in the jungle at night, and reaching his cabin late the following morning." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: January 25 through February 2, 1893
 |
| Joe Kubert |
Event: Tarzan remains at the Greystoke cabin.
Source: "For several days he moved about but little, only enough to gather what fruit and nuts he required to satisfy the demands of hunger." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Chat: Under normal circumstances Tarzan would have visited Mbonga's village on Wednesday, February 1, 1893, for that was the full moon and the night the natives danced. Why the ape-man failed to go is a mystery, but he does go the day afterwards on February 2, 1893.
 |
| Frank Frazetta |
Date: February 2, 1893
Event: Tarzan has recovered enough to function normally.
Source: "In ten days he was quite sound again," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Chat: Take note that while recovering Tarzan makes a second attempt to make a loin cloth out of animal skin but again fails. "During his convalescence Tarzan tried to fashion a mantle from the skin of Sabor, which had lain all this time in the cabin. But he found the hide dried as stiff as a board, and as he knew naught of tanning, he was forced to abandon his cherished plan." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: morning of February 2, 1893
Event: Tarzan kills Mirando and permanently clothes himself for the first time.
Source: "When he felt quite strong again, after his bloody battle with Terkoz, Tarzan set off one morning towards Mbonga's village," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3. "Tarzan dispatched his prisoner quickly and silently; removed the weapons and ornaments, and - oh, the greatest joy of all - a handsome doeskin breechcloth, which he quickly transferred to his own person." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Joe Kubert |
Date: February 2, 1893
Event: Tarzan returns to Mbonga's village and discards Mirando's body.
Source: This visit occurs on a day that is not on Tarzan's normal schedule because ERB makes this statement. "Taking the body across his shoulder, he moved more slowly through the trees toward the little palisaded village, for he again needed arrows." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. Tarzan's normal village visit was on a full moon which was the day before. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3.
Date: February 2, 1893
Event: Tarzan returns to his cabin and sees a ship in the harbor and white men on the beach.
Source: "Then Tarzan returned, hunting, always hunting to the cabin by the beach." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is
February 3.
 |
| Ronald William |
Date: afternoon of February 2, 1893
Event: Professor Q. Porter and his assistant, Samuel T. Philander are lost.
Source: It is during their lost wonderings that ERB provides two hints that the Porter party are in Portuguese Angola. "It was by the merest caprice of fortune that they headed toward the west coast of Africa, instead of toward Zanzibar on the opposite side of the dark continent." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. On the map of Africa, Zanzibar lies opposite the boundary areas of Portuguese Angola.
"Instead, with all the assurance that deductive reasoning from a wrong premise induces in one, Mr. Samuel T. Philander grasped Professor Archimedes Q. Porter firmly by the arm and hurried the weakly protesting old gentleman off in the direction of Cape Town, fifteen hundred miles to the south." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. By the direction of Cape Town, fifteen hundred miles to the south." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. By air, the shortest distance between two points, 1500 miles from Cape Town would bring us north to the coastal town of Benguela, which is smack in the middle of the coastline of Angola at about 12 degrees South Latitude. If you think of 1500 miles walking along the beach, then it would have to be measured from or to a point even further south (closer to Cape Town) than Benguela. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: just turned night February 2, 1893
Event: Tarzan rescues Jane and Esmeralda from Sabor, the lioness.
Source: It is at this point ERB strongly suggest three times the date. "Little did John Clayton imagine when he fashioned that crude but mighty portal that one day, twenty years later, it would shield a fair American girl, then unborn, from the teeth and talons of a man-eater." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. From this statement we know that Tarzan is twenty at this occurrence and Jane is less than twenty.
The following morning when the Porter party bury the bones of John and Alice Clayton the statement is made, "When the grave had been filled with earth the little party turned back to the cabin, and Esmeralda, still weeping copiously for the two she had never heard of before today, and who had been dead twenty years, chanced to glance toward the harbor." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
That night Jane writes a letter to Hazel Strong and the statement is made, "Within the little building a light was burning, for Clayton had found an unopened tin of oil which had stood intact for twenty years, a part of the supplies left with the Clayton's by Black Michael." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter which is February 3.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: February 3 (?), 1893
Event: Tarzan digs up and reburied Professor Porter's treasure and Jane writes Hazel Strong a letter.
Source: ERB's penned account plainly imply these events occur the day following Jane and Esmeralda's rescue. February 3 is the date Jane believes it to be when writing Hazel Strong a letter. It is my belief that ERB's presented date of 1909 is a deliberate attempt by ERB, the author, to modernize the story to protect Tarzan's true identity and sailing date.
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: February 4, 1893
Event: Tarzan reads Jane's letter.
Event: Tarzan reads Jane's letter.
Source: ERB's penned account plainly imply these events occur the day following Jane's letter writing.
Chat: Note another hint that ERB provides that John and Alice are marooned in Portuguese Angola. In Jane's letter she writes, "West Coast of Africa, about 10 Degrees South of Latitude. (So Mr. Clayton says.)
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: morning of February 5, 1893
Event: Jane finds her missing letter with Tarzan's note.
Source: "The next morning Jane found her missing letter in the exact spot from which it had disappeared two nights before." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Joe Kubert |
Date: morning of February 6, 1893
Event: Captain Dufranne's small French warship spots the Arrow.
Source: On March 6, the day the Frenchmen discovered the Porter Party, "Captain Dufranne, explained that a month before they had sighted the Arrow bearing southwest under considerable canvas, and that when they had signaled her to come about she had but crowded on more sail." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: sunset February 6, 1893
Event: The small French steam cruiser freed several shots at the Arrow, but she managed to escape.
Source: "They had kept her hull-up until sunset, firing several shots after her," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: night of February 6, 1893
Event: The Arrow heads out into the Atlantic in the cover of darkness.
Source: "It seems that the pursuit by the cruiser had so terrorized the mutineers that they had continued out across the Atlantic." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: February 7, 1893, through February 26, 1893
Event: The French steamer searches for the Arrow.
Source: "They had then continued to cruise up and down the coast for several weeks, and had about forgotten the incident of the recent chase, when, early one morning a few days before, the lookout had described a vessel laboring in through of a heavy sea and evidently entirely out of control." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: February 14, 1893
Event: Discovering the meager supply of water and provisions aboard, the Arrow turned back toward the east.
Source: "they had continued out across the Atlantic for several days after losing her; but on discovering the meager supply of water and provisions aboard, they had turned back toward the east.." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: February 17, 1893
Event: The Arrow changed from an easterly course to a northerly course.
Source: "and three days' sailing to the east did not raise land, they bore off to the north, fearing the high north winds that had prevailed had driven them south of the southern extremity of Africa." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: February 19, 1893
Event: After two days of northerly travel the Arrow was overtaken by a calm.
Source: "They kept on a north-northeasterly course for two days, when they were overtaken by a calm," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: February 25, 1893
Event: The Arrow floated helplessly for nearly a week.
Source: "they were overtaken by a calm which lasted for nearly a week." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: early morning February 26, 1893
Event: The French warship captures the Arrow.
Source: "early one morning a few days before, the lookout described a vessel laboring in the trough of a heavy sea and evidently out of control." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes..
Date: February 26, 1893
Event: The mangani dethrone Terkoz.
Source: "For several days he wandered aimlessly, nursing his spite and looking for some week thing on which to vent his pent anger. It was in this state of mind that the horrible, man-like beast, swinging from tree to tree, came suddenly upon two women in the jungle." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: March 2, 1893, Thursday
Event: Tarzan makes an unrecorded visit to Mbonga's village to watch the natives dance and to steal arrows.
Source: ERB does not write about this event, but as I have shown many many times it is Tarzan's habit to go to Mbonga's village on a full moon to watch the natives dance and to steal arrows. The full moon date is supplied from the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department's Phases Of The Moon.
Date: early afternoon March 5, 1893
Event: Terkoz abducts Jane.
Source: "A month passed," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "It was early afternoon," ERB-Tarzan
Of The Apes.
 |
Zdenek Burian
|
Date: shortly after on the afternoon of March 5, 1893
Event: Tarzan kills Terkoz, his foster brother, and rescues Jane.
Source: "Three miles were covered before Tarzan overtook them." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Joe Jusko |
Date: mid-afternoon March 5, 1893
Event: Tarzan takes Jane to the amphitheater where the Dum-Dum is held.
Source: "Though they had come many miles, it was still in the half light which filtered through the maze of encircling foliage." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| J. Allen St. John |
Date: sundown March 5, 1893
Event: The French warship, with the Arrow in toll, anchored at the beach in front of Tarzan's cabin.
Source: "They had anchored by night so as not to neglect a particle of the shore line, and it had happened that the preceding night had brought them off the very beach where lay the little camp they sought." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: sunrise March 6, 1893
Event: Tarzan and Jane eat breakfast.
Source: "And thus the rising sun found them in the morning." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: early morning March 6, 1893
Event: The French steamer find the Porter party.
Source: "Early the following morning the four within the little cabin by the beach were awakened by the booming of a cannon." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Joe Kubert |
Date: March 6, 1893
Event: Captain Dufranne selected twenty men and two officer's, Lieutenant D'Arnot and Lieutenant Charpentier, to accompany Professor Porter and Clayton in their search for Jane.
Source: The same day the Porter party was discovered.
Date: noon March 6, 1893
Event: While leisurely taking Jane back to the cabin the two stop to drink and eat.
Source: "Several times they halted for brief rests, which Tarzan did not need, and at noon they stopped for an hour at a little brook, where they quenched their thirst, and ate." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: noon March 6, 1893
Event: The expedition of searching sailors stopped for a rest.
Source: "Noon found them but a few miles inland." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: nearly sunset March 6, 1893
Event: Tarzan and Jane arrive at the Greystoke's cabin.
Source: "So it was nearly sunset when they came to the clearing, and Tarzan, dropping to the ground beside a great tree, parted the tall jungle grass and pointed out the little cabin to her." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Thomas Yeates |
Date: dusk March 6, 1893
Event: While Jane was trying to persuade Tarzan to come and meet her people the sound of many guns could be heard in the far distance and he raced off to investigate.
Source: "Mr. Philander was the first to see her. It was dusk and Mr. Philander was very near sighted." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: dusk March 6, 1893
Event: The sailors were attacked by Mbonga's warriors and D'Arnot is captured.
Source: "It was these shots that Tarzan and Jane Porter had heard." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: dusk March 6, 1893
Event: Mbonga's advance warriors, with D'Arnot, arrive at the village.
Source: "It was now dusk, but the watchers at the gate saw the approaching trio and distinguished one as a prisoner ere they reached the portals." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: last light March 6, 1893
Event: Lieutenant Charpentier ordered his ambushed sailors to make camp.
Source: "Night was falling rapidly, and their predicament was rendered doubly worse when they could not even find the elephant trail which they had been following." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: night March 6, 1893
Event: Tarzan raced to Mbonga's village and rescued D'Arnot.
Source: "Night had fallen and he traveled high along the upper terrace where the gorgeous tropic moon lighted the dizzy pathway through the greatly undulating branches of the tree tops." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: dawn March 7, 1893
Event: Lieutenant Charpentier and his sailors return to the beach.
Source: "As soon as it was light enough to see their surroundings Lieutenant Charpentier sent men in groups of three in several directions to locate the trail, and in ten minutes it was found and the expedition was hurrying back toward the beach." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: late afternoon March 7, 1893
Event: Lieutenant Charpentier and his men reach the beach.
Source: "It was late in the afternoon when the exhausted men reached the clearing by the beach, but for two of them the return brought so great a happiness that all their suffering and heartbreaking grief was forgotten on the instant." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: early morning March 8, 1893
Event: Lieutenant Charpentier and crew, with Clayton, search for D'Arnot.
Source: "The next morning Clayton left early with the relief expedition in search of Lieutenant D'Arnot." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: shortly after noon March 8, 1893
Event: The sailors reached the sight of the previous skirmish.
Source: "They reached the sight of the skirmish of the previous expedition shortly after noon, for they were now traveling a known trail and no time was lost in exploring." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: two o'clock p.m. March 8, 1893
Event: The sailors reach Mbonga's village.
Source: "It was but two o'clock when the head of the column halted upon the edge of the clearing." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: two-thirty p.m. March 8, 1893
Event: The French sailors attack Mbonga's village.
Source: "For half an hour the men with Lieutenant Charpentier crouched in the dense foliage of the jungle, waiting the signal." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: night March 8, 1893
Event: The French sailors camp in Mbonga's captured village.
Source: "At length all hope left them, and they prepared to camp for the night within the village." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: morning March 9, 1893
Event: The victorious French attackers set out upon the return march.
Source: "The next morning they set out upon the return march." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: quite late March 9, 1983
Event: The French sailors reach the cabin.
Source: "It was quite late when they reached the cabin by the beach." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 9, 1893
Event: Jane persuades Captain Dufranne to wait for a full week for Tarzan and D'Arnot.
Source: Although ERB describes the returning French as arriving "quite late" we know it was not yet dark. When Jane convinced Captain Dufranne to wait for one more week it is stated, "They had been walking from the beach toward the cabin as they talked, and now they joined a little group sitting on camp stools in the shade of a tree beside the cabin." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
During that conversation Jane says, "He left me at the edge of the jungle two days ago..." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
"When the expedition returned, following their fruitless endeavor to succor D'Arnot, Captain Dufranne was anxious to steam away as quickly as possible, and all save Jane had acquiesed." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "And so it was arranged that on the next day Lieutenant Charpentier was to take a detail of ten men, and one of the mutineers of the Arrow as a guide, and unearth the treasure; and that the cruiser would remain for a full week in the little harbor." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: morning March 10, 1893
Event: D'Arnot awakens for the first time.
Source: ERB does not provide this date directly, but it can be deducted by the amount of time which is covered from D'Arnot's capture March 6, and the Arrow's sailing date March 17, which is a total of twelve days. These daily events are plainly provided by ERB. When D'Arnot regains consciousness until he and Tarzan return to the cabin to discover the Arrow gone is a passage of eight days, which is again plainly outlined by ERB. Thus we can conclude that D'Arnot lay unconscious for four days.
Date: March 10,1893
Event: Clayton and the French sailors attempt to dig up Professor Porter's buried treasure.
Source: "And so it was arranged that on the next day Lieutenant Charpentier was to take a detail of ten men, and one of the mutineers of the Arrow as a guide, and unearth the treasure." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: toward noon March 10, 1893
Event: The French sailors return without the treasure.
Source: "Professor Porter, did not accompany the treasure-seekers on the following day, but when he saw them returning empty-handed toward noon, he hastened forward to meet them - his usual preoccupied indifference entirely vanished, and in its place a nervous and excited manner." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: afternoon March 10, 1893
Event: D'Arnot wakes for the second time.
Source: "At length he fell into a quite slumber, nor did he awake again until afternoon." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 11, 1893
Event: D'Arnot developed a fever.
Source: "The second day a fever had come and D'Arnot thought that it meant infection and he knew he would die." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: night of March 11, 1893
Event: D'Arnot lost consciousness.
Source: "That night he lost consciousness." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 13, 1893
Event: For three days D'Arnot remains in delirium.
Source: "For three days he was in delirium, and Tarzan sat beside him and bathed his head and hands and washed his wounds." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 14, 1893
Event: D'Arnot's fever broke.
Source: "On the fourth day the fever broke as suddenly as it had come, but it left D'Arnot a shadow of his former self, and very weak." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: March 16, 1893
Event: Captain Dufranne announced the Arrow would sail early the following day.
Source: "Six days later Captain Dufranne announced that they would sail early on the morrow." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 16, 1893
Event: D'Arnot began to walk with Tarzan's aid, and teach him French.
Source: "Two days after, D'Arnot was tottering about the amphitheater. Tarzan's strong arm about him to keep him from falling." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: early March 17, 1893
Event: The Arrow sets sail with the French warship.
Source: "Six days later Captain Dufranne announced that they would sail early on the morrow." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 17, 1893
Event: Tarzan began speaking little sentences of French.
Source: "He was a most eager student, and in two more days had mastered so much French that he could speak little sentences such as; "That is a tree," "this is grass," "I am hungry," and the like, but D'Arnot found that it was difficult to teach him the French construction upon a foundation of English." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: March 17, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot set out for the cabin.
Source: "On the third day after the fever broke Tarzan wrote a message asking D'Arnot if he felt strong enough to be carried back to the cabin." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: mid-afternoon March 17, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot arrive at the cabin to discover everyone gone.
Source: "Mid-afternoon brought them to the clearing, and as Tarzan dropped to earth from the branches of the last tree his heart leaped and bounded against his ribs in anticipation of seeing Jane so soon again." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: dusk March 17, 1893
Event: D'Arnot accidently shoots Tarzan.
Source: "Dusk was falling, and the interior of the cabin was very dark, but the man could see the latch moving from its place." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Joe Kubert |
Date: March 24, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot spend a week at the cabin.
Source: "For a week they did little but rest, D'Arnot coaching Tarzan in French." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot leave the cabin in search of whites.
Source: "So on the following day they started north along the shore." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: April 8, 1893
Event: Tarzan tells D'Arnot about finding and moving the Porter treasure chest, and about his father's diary.
Source: "Go back?" exclaimed D'Arnot. "But my dear fellow, we have been three weeks upon the march." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. It is also important to note the age of the diary itself. "Then he proceeded to read the diary that had been written over twenty years before." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: April 15, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot walk the coastline in search for whites. Eventually they happened upon a French mission.
Source: "For a month they traveled north," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "A week later the two men came suddenly upon a clearing in the forest." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: April 22, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot spend a week resting at the mission.
Source: "For a week they remained there," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: May 22, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot reach a small river town.
Source: "Another month brought them to a little group of buildings at the mouth of a wide river," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "Gradually he became accustomed to the strange noises and the odd ways of civilization, so that none might know that two short months before, this handsome Frenchman in immaculate white ducks, who laughed and chatted with the gayest of them, had been swinging naked through primeval forests to pounce upon some unwary victim, which, raw was to fill his savage belly." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: June 22, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot spend a month at the river town waiting for funds.
Source: "He had also cabled his bankers for funds, and the enforced wait of a month, under which both chafed, was due to their inability to charter a vessel for the return to Tarzan's jungle after the treasure." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: morning June 23, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot rent a boat and return for the Porter treasure.
Source: "Shortly after the episode of the lion hunt, D'Arnot succeeded in chartering an ancient tub for the coastwise trip to Tarzan's land-locked harbor." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: morning June 24, 1893
Event: The rented tub dropped anchor at the cabin's harbor.
Source: "The trip to the beach was uneventful, and the morning after they dropped anchor before the cabin," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: late in the evening June 25, 1893
Event: Tarzan returns with the treasure.
Source: "Late the next day he returned, bearing the great chest upon his shoulder." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: sunrise June 26, 1893
Event: The rented tub returns to the river town.
Source: "and at sunrise the little vessel worked through the harbor's mouth and took up her northward journey." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: June through July 17, 1893
Event: D'Arnot and Tarzan remain in the river town.
Source: "Three weeks later Tarzan and D'Arnot were passengers on board a French steamer bound for Lyons." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: July 17, 1893
Event: D'Arnot and Tarzan sail for Lyons, France.
Source: "Three weeks later Tarzan and D'Arnot were passengers on board a French steamer bound for Lyons, France." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: July 17, 1893
Event: William Clayton and Mr. Philander go to Wisconsin.
Source: When Jane arrives at Wisconsin it is stated, "The farmhouse, which stood on a little elevation some hundred yards from the tenant house, had undergone a complete transformation during the three weeks that Clayton and Mr. Philander had been there." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: July 23, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot arrive in Lyons, France.
Source: Phil Farmer in Tarzan Alive credits the two's voyage taking a total of five days in 1909. I do not have the means to research the ship's traveling time, so I will depend on Farmer's research. One thing to keep in mind is that Phil's research is based on 1909 travel time, where this study is based on 1893. Since my 1872 chronology shows this travel occurring sixteen years earlier I have added an extra day to Phil's to cover any extra length of time due to technology advances.
Date: July 23 through July 27, 1893
Event: Tarzan and D'Arnot spend a few days in Lyons.
Source: "and after a few days in that city D'Arnot took Tarzan to Paris." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: July 29, 1893 through August 5, 1893
Event: D'Arnot and Tarzan in Paris.
Source: ERB says, "One of the first things D'Arnot accomplished after their arrival was to arrange to visit a high official of the police department." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. At that meeting D'Arnot states, "I had hoped to know at once. Monsieur Tarzan sails for America tomorrow." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. Note that no mention of time is given between the fingerprinting appointment being made and the actual fingerprinting taking place. We do know it was not immediate because of statements made in Return Of Tarzan.
In chapter one ERB writes, "They reminded Tarzan of melodramatic villains he had seen at the theaters in Paris." ERB-Return Of Tarzan. In chapter three ERB states, "Tarzan spent the two following weeks renewing his former brief acquaintance with Paris." ERB-Return Of Tarzan.
From this information it is quite clear Tarzan spent at least a little time in Paris. We know for a fact that the jungle lord at least had enough time for more then one theater visit, and had some time to go out on the town sightseeing. My personal research indicates the Paris visit to last shortly over a week.
We also know that D'Arnot and Tarzan had the Porter treasure appraised. "The treasure was most carefully appraised by experts, but lest there should be any question in your mind, D'Arnot himself bought it and is holding it for you, should you prefer the treasure to the credit." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Harold Foster |
Date: August 4, 1893, Friday
Event: Robert Canler speaks to Professor Porter about marrying Jane.
Source: "There is young Clayton, you know," suggested Canler. "He has been hanging around for months." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. Jane at this time also makes a statement which helps establish a time perspective. "I want you to be sure papa, to indicate all that you can do without until fall." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. In North America fall is between September 23 through December 22. Therefore, we know this conversation must occur before or after those dates.
Date: August 5, 1893
Event: Tarzan was fingerprinted.
Source: "One of the first things which D'Arnot accomplished after their arrival was to arrange to visit a high official of the police department." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "You forget that for twenty years the dead body of the child who made those fingerprints lay in the cabin of his father, and that all my life I have seen it lying there." said Tarzan bitterly. ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: August 6, 1893
Event: Tarzan sails for America.
Source: "I had hoped to know at once," said D'Arnot. "Monsieur Tarzan sails for America tomorrow," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: August 7, 1893
Event: The Porter's go by train to northern Wisconsin.
Source: "She is planning on our going up there the first of the week." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: August 14, 1893
Event: Robert Canler arrives at Wisconsin.
Source: "a week later, Robert Canler drew up before the farmhouse in his purring six cylinder." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. It is important to note that the first car with a six cylinder, according to, History Of Cars, was a Napier. They were produced in London and Boston from 1906 through 1909.
Therefore, in an 1872 chronology the car as described by ERB in Tarzan Of The Apes would be impossible for Tarzan to own. It hadn't been invented yet. As mentioned in my article Apes & Cars Canler's auto was purposely modernized in description by ERB, the author, as to hide the true time period which in turn was to protect the Greystoke's true identity. It is very possible that Canler could have drove a car in an 1872 chronology, but not as ERB described. At this time steam and electric cars were the norm, but a gas powered car was produced by The Daimler Motor Company which was founded in Steinway Avenue, Long Island, N.Y. in 1891.
Date: August 14, 1893
Event: Tarzan arrives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Source: Both Phil Farmer and Alan Hanson's research show this sea voyage takes approximately seven days in 1909. Since the 1872 chronology shows this travel occurring sixteen years earlier I have added an extra day to Phil and Alan's date to cover any extra length of time due to technology advances.
Once there Tarzan looked up the Porter home where he received devastating news. The Porter's had recently moved to northern Wisconsin and Canler had followed to marry Jane. "But in Baltimore - Oh, how I have searched for you - they told me you would possibly be married by now. That a man named Canler had come up here to wed you." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: August 21, 1893
Event: Jane agrees to marry Robert Canler.
Source: "A week had passed; a tense, uneventful, but uncomfortable week for all the inmates of the little Wisconsin farmhouse." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: early morning August 22, 1893
Event: Robert Canler goes to town to bring back the license and a minister.
Source: "Early the next morning Canler set out for town." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
Date: about noon August 22, 1893
Event: Jane goes for a walk and gets trapped by a forest fire.
Source: "About noon Jane started off for a walk." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
 |
| Zdenek Burian |
Date: August 22, 1893
Event: Minutes later Tarzan arrives at the Porter's Wisconsin farmhouse in a French automobile.
Source: "Suddenly, out of the northeast, a great black car came careening down the road." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. While riding to the train station with Tarzan and Mr. Philander says, "and now you are driving me along a Wisconsin road in a French automobile." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. ERB does not provide the brand of Tarzan's auto, but in 1893 it was most probably a Panhard or a Peugeot.
Date: evening August 22, 1893
Event: The Porter party is at the train station on the way back to Baltimore. Tarzan receives the telegram providing that he is Lord Greystoke.
Source: "That evening in the little waiting room at the station Tarzan caught Jane alone for a moment." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. "She, too was happy, for was she not returning to her beloved Maryland?" ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
About The Author
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines, over a span of forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory).instead of the more excepted date May 1888.
James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, and Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022. Swordsman On Unium is going through the publishing process.
