DATE: October 1, 1897, through October 7, 1897
EVENT: It rained for a week, and Rokoff's trail was obliterated.
SOURCE: "To make things worse a heavy rain set in that lasted for a week which obliterated the spoor he followed." ERB-The Beasts Of Taran.
CHAT: The rain is definitely an ERB-provided dating clue. The events occur in Portuguese Angola where the rainy season begins in October and runs through April. It is hot and humid.
DATE: October 6, 1897
EVENT: Rokoff leaves Chief Kaviri's village three days before Tarzan arrives.
SOURCE: "Though none of these statements agreed with Kaviri's, that the Russian was but three days gone from the chieftain's village and that his following was much smaller than now stated, Tarzan was in no manner surprised at the discrepancies, for he was quite familiar with the savage mind's strange manner of functioning." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| J. Alen St. John |
DATE: October 7, 1897
EVENT: At the forenoon of the seventh day it quits raining. Since he had been traveling
without the guidance of the sun or stars, Tarzan was lost in the jungle for the first time in his life.
SOURCE: "It was forenoon of the seventh day when the rain ended and the sun once more came out. Tarzan was lost in the jungle for the first time in his life." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| Joe Jusko |
DATE: October 9, 1897
EVENT: (1) Tarzan happened upon the cannibal village and he learned from Chief M'ganwazam that the party of whites had passed several days before.
(2) Tarzan decides to spend the night there.
(3) Unknown to Tarzan the chief dispatches two runners to warn Rockoff in his nearby camp.
(4) After dark Tambudza, the chief's older wife, warned Tarzan about Chief M'ganwazam's plot to capture him. She told the ape-man the baby had died, and the white woman was being held not far away.
(5) She led Tarzan in search of her.
(6) Rokoff tries to rape Jane and she escapes.
(7) Two runners arrive at Rokoff's camp ahead of Tarzan and the old woman, They warn of the ape-man's escape.
(8) The natives abandoned the whites, and Rockoff's men mutinied against him. They tried to shoot their former Russian employer.
(9) Tarzan shows up just as Rokoff dashes into the hut that had confined Jane.
(10) Rokoff escapes using Jane's route.
(11) Tarzan thinks the two are headed for the village and he races ahead of them.
(12) Once there Tarzan realizes his mistake and returns to Rokoff's camp and picks up the trail.
(13) That night Jane slept in the crotch of a tree.
SOURCE: (1) "The second day following the cessation of the rain he came upon a native village the inhabitants of which fled into the bush the instant their eyes fell upon him." The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(2) "From him Tarzan learned, by dent of much coaxing, that a party of whites had passed through the village several days before." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(3) "It was then the runners had entered his camp." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(4) "Who is it," he asked, "that creeps upon Tarzan of the Apes, like a hungry lion out of darkness?" ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(5) "She discovered most of the camp was asleep except for one sentry and he was dozing." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(6) "That night she slept in the crotch of a tree, ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| J. Alen St. John |
DATE: October 10, 1897
EVENT: (1) Early the next morning Jane, now armed with the Sweds rifle, continued on her way.
(2) Late that afternoon Jane unnoticed from a distance sees five apes, including a panther, and a black man traveling together.
(3) A half-mile behind Jane the Russian sees the strange band also undetected.
(4) Jane finds a canoe and Rokoff catches up to her. She escapes the Russian but he finds a second canoe and follows her downriver.
(5) Tarzan comes across Mugambi and the rest of the pack while tracking Rokoff and the white woman.
(6) When Tarzan reached the river's edge he saw the canoe go around a bend with only Rokoff in sight.
(7) A half hour later Tarzan caught up to Rokoff but the ape-man was attacked by a crocodile and the Russian escaped.
SOURCE: (1) "and early the next morning continued on her way." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(2) "Late that afternoon just as Jane was about to cross a little clearing she came upon an ape making his way from the jungle on the opposite side." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(3) "A half-mile behind her following the same trail Rokoff lay frozen with terror behind an aint-hill as the weird band passed close to him." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| Zdenek Burian |
DATE: evening October 10, 1897, through the end of day October 25, 1897:
Event: (1) Jane traveled down the Ugambi for many days.
(2) Mbonga and his hideous horde chased Rockoff downriver for days.
Source: "After Jane Clayton with rifle leveled at the breast of Rockoff had succeeded in holding him off until the dugout in which she had taken refuge had drifted out upon the bosom of the Ugambi beyond the man's reach, she had lost no time in paddling to the swiftest sweep of the channel, nor did she for long days and weary nights cease to hold her craft to the most rapidly moving part of the river, except when during the hottest hours of the day she had been wont to drift as the current would take hrt, lying prone in the bottom of the canoe, her face sheltered from the sun with a great leaf." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(2) "The nightmare of that flight down the Ugambi with the hideous horde racing after him by day and by night, now abreast of him, now lost in the mazes of the jungle far behind for hours and once for a whole day, only to appear again upon his trail." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
CHAT: With descriptions like "many days", "down river for days", "for long days and weary nights", and "by day and by night", it is impossible to date the exact time travel from the Waguwazan cannibal village to the mouth of the Ugambi River. It is not impossible to develop a working date based on the information we already have. I am talking about how long it took for Jane, Rokoff, and Tarzan to travel up to the cannibal village.
- August 12, 1897 Jane escapes the Kincaid around midnight.
- August 13, 1897 Jane leaves the Mosulas village early in the day.
- August 13, 1897 The Swede purchases a native canoe.
- August 14, 1897 Canoe travel ends.
- August 16, 1897 Jane reaches Chief M'ganwazam's village after two days of land travel.
CHAT: Although Jane and the Swede were on the run for approximately three months after escaping the Kincaid they were traveling on land fighting the jungle and making very little actual headway up the Ugambi. The two only had a couple of days of canoe travel to make any real-time.
- August 8, 1897, through August 13, 1897 Tarzan is stranded on Jungle Island.
- September 9, 1897, through October 10, 1897 Tarzan traveled upriver.
- October 10, 1897, through October 12, 1897 Tarzan loses Rokoff's trail for two days.
- October 13, 1897 Tarzan rescues the Swede.
- October 14, 1897, through October 21, 1897 Tarzan lost time because of a seven-day rain.
- October 23, 1897 Tarzan reaches Chief M'ganwazam's village
CHAT: If Tarzan's actual travel up the Ugamb was counted, excluding delays the trip was approximately nine days. Naturally, Tarzan travels faster than anyone else but I think it is safe to say Tarzan was at most two weeks canoe time up the Ugambi. Studying Jane's travels does not reveal exactness like Tarzan's does, but again it is quite clear she was at most two weeks up the Ugambi. Although I have no real proof I do have a well-thought-out logical theory that agrees with ERB's provided information on all counts. For work date purposes only, the Waguwazan village was a two-week canoe travel up the Ugambi.
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| Zdenek Burian |
DATE: end of day October 25, 1897
EVENT: (1) Jane reached the Kincaid two hours ahead of the Russian.
(2) Rokoff reached the mouth of the Ugambi and the Kincaid was there in anchor.
(3) When the Russian started to board the ship Jane turned him away with a rifle.
(4) At the end of the day Jane sees a ship's boat approaching.
(5) Mugambi and the jungle horde reached the mouth of the Ugambi but on the opposite bank as Rokoff.
SOURCE: (1) "So although starting almost at the same time Jane reached the bay full two hours ahead of the Russian," ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(4) "At the end of the day Jane was alarmed by Rokoff shouting from the opposite bank." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
CHAT: It is at this point that ERB gives a description of the Kincaid. "He had sent the little steamer away to coal while he had gone up the river, leaving Paulvitch in charge of her." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan. "The terrified Russian could not figure out why no one answered on board but he continued on until he bumped against the timbers of the Kincaid." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan. A wood-sided coal steamer fits an 1897 description. How does this description fit in 1913?
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| J. Alen St. John |
DATE: after dark October 25, 1897
EVENT: (1) Tarzan reached the bay where the Kincaid lay in anchor, but it was so dark he could not see the lightless ship.
(2) Rokoff regrouped with his men.
(3) Rockoff attacked Jane on the Kincaid.
(4) Tarzan heard shots fired and swam towards the Kincaid.
(5) Mugambi and the jungle horde heard shots fired and they searched for a means to reach the Kincaid.
(6) Tarzan boards the Kincaid and rescues Jane.
(7) Rokoff and men mount a second attack but Mbonga and horde arrive in time to rescue Tarzan and Jane.
(8) Sheeta killed Nickolas Rokoff.
(9) All of Rokoff's men were killed but five, Paulvitch was unaccounted for, and the four others agreed to pilot the Kincaid in exchange for their lives.
SOURCE: (1) "So it happened that he came to the bay and within sight of the ocean just after darkness had fallen upon the same day that Jane and Rokoff ended their flight from the interior." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
(7) "So all that night Sheeta feasted upon Nikolas Rokoff and all that was left the following morning was gnawed and broken bones." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
.jpeg "Zdenek Burian") |
| Zdenek Burian |
DATE: next day October 26, 1897
EVENT: (1) Tarzan wanted to return his animal friends to Jungle Island but the sea was rough.
(2) Tarzan learned the dead baby was not Jack Clayton.
(3) Unknown to everyone Alexander Paulvitch was watching them from the shore at that very minute.
(4) Paulvitich raced to the Mosula village and stole a canoe. SOURCE: (1) "Tarzan planned to return to Jungle Island but the next morning the sea was so rough they dared not set out so they delayed it for a day.
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| Joe Jusko |
EVENT: Paulvitch snuck aboard the Kincaid and set a hidden bomb.
SOURCE: "It was night by the time Paulvitch reached the Kincaid and hearing no noise aboard he made his way to the ship's side and climbed aboard." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| Robert Abbot |
DATE: shortly after the break of day October 27, 1897
EVENT: The Kincade sailed out of the Ugambi into the Atlantic. SOURCE: Shortly after the break of day Tarzan was on deck checking out the weather which was perfect." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| Zdenek Burian |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. 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 accepted date, May 1888.
James Michael Moody also authorizes the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published on July 15, 2024.
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