Date: January 18, 1895
Event: Tarzan gets shot at and later has dinner with Captain Gerard and Lieutenant Gernois.
Source: "That night he was Captain Gerard's guest at a little dinner." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "We are marching toward Djelda on the morrow." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the morning of January 19, 1895
Event: The Gernois detachment leaves for Djelfa.
Source: "When the column rode south from Bou Saada the next morning there were half a dozen Arabs bringing up the rear." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: January 20 through 21, 1895
Event: The Gernois detachment camp at Djelfa for two days.
Source: "After camping at Djelfa for two days the column moved to the southwest, from whence word had come that the marauders were operating against the tribes whose douars were situated at the foot of the mountains." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: late in the afternoon of January 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the soldiers reach the douars they are to protect.
Source: "Late that afternoon they went into camp at a little oasis in which was the douar of a sheik whose flocks were being stolen, and whose herdsmen were being killed." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: early the morning of January 23, 1895
Event: Tarzan helps the French soldiers hunt marauders.
Source: "Early the next morning Captain Gerard split his command in two, giving Lieutenant Gernois command of one party while he headed the other." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the night of January 23, 1895
Event: Tarzan kills his first large animal, a black lion, with a rifle, and he is captured by Arabs.
Source: "He must have slept for several hours, for when he was suddenly awakened by the frightened snorting and plunging of his horse the moon was shining full upon the little valley," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: about noon January 24, 1895
Event: The Arabs, with Tarzan their prisoner, reach their douar of about twenty tents.
Source: "When they had come out of the mountains they turned toward the south, and about daylight came to the spot where their horses stood in care of two of their number." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "For six hours they rode rapidly across the burning desert," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "About noon they came to a douar of about twenty tents." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: just before dusk January 24, 1895
Event: The Arabs turn Tarzan over to the Russian, Nikolas Rokoff.
Source: "Just before dusk several men approached the tent where he lay, and entered it." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: near midnight on January 24, 1895
Event: Sheik Kadour ben Saden's daughter, The Ouled-Nail of Ssi Aissa, rescues Tarzan. The ape-man kills his second black lion, but this time with a knife.
Source: "It must be near midnight, thought Tarzan." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "The man placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill, and, with his handsome face raised toward the full moon gave voice to the most frightful cry that ever had smote upon her ears." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan
Chat: There was a full moon visible in Algeria on January 24, 1895.
Date: about 9:00 a.m. on January 25, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the sheik's daughter, The Ouled-Nail of Sisi Aissa, arrived at her father's douar.
Source: "No sign of pursuit developed, and they came in safely about 9 o'clock to their destination." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: January 25, through January 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan remains at the sheik's douar for a week.
Source: "So he decided against the sheik's proposal, though he remained a week as his guest," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the morning of February 1, 1895
Event: Kador ben Saden's men take Tarzan back to Bou Saada.
Source: "While they were mounting in the douar of Kadour ben Saden the morning of their departure, the girl came to bid farewell to Tarzan." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: after dark February 1, 1895
Event: Tarzan arrives at Bou Saada and receives orders to go to Cape Town immediately.
Source: "Thus, making his entrance after dark, as he did, he was not seen by anyone who knew him, and reached the inn unobserved." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "One was an order from his superior to lay off on his present work, and hasten to Cape Town by the first steamer he could get." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: Tarzan arrives at Bou Saada and receives orders to go to Cape Town immediately.
Source: "Thus, making his entrance after dark, as he did, he was not seen by anyone who knew him, and reached the inn unobserved." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "One was an order from his superior to lay off on his present work, and hasten to Cape Town by the first steamer he could get." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the night of February 1, 1895
Event: Tarzan makes arrangements to leave Bou Saada for Cape Town. The ape-man then finds Nickolas Rockoff and takes the secret papers the Russian had just obtained from Lieutenant Gernois.
Source: "It was for there he headed." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: shortly before eight o'clock on the morning of February 2, 1895
Event: Tarzan rode north to Bouira and Algiers.
Source: "The next morning Tarzan rode north on his way to Bouira and Algiers." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "He shot himself about eight o'clock this morning." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the evening of February 2, 1895
Event: Tarzan arrives at Sidi Aissa and discovers Lieutenant Gernois has killed himself.
Source: "At Sidi Aissa Tarzan met a French officer with whom he had become acquainted on the occasion of his recent sojourn in the town." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "You left Bou Saada early," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "He shot himself about eight o'clock this morning." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 4, 1895
Event: Tarzan arrives in Algiers.
Source: "Two days after Tarzan reached Algiers." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 6, 1895
Event: Tarzan remains in Algiers for two days while waiting for his ship to Cape Town.
Source: "There he found that he would have a two day's wait before he could catch a ship bound for Cape Town." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 6, 1895
Event: Tarzan boards a ship for Cape Town using the name John Caldwell of London.
Source: "There he found that he would have a two day's wait before he could catch a ship bound for Cape Town." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the night of February 6, 1895
Event: Tarzan meets Hazel Strong.
Source: "At dinner that night Tarzan set next to a young woman whose place was at the captain's left." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 7, 1895
Event: Lord Tennington's yacht and Tarzan's English steamer passed in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Source: "And so it happened that on a certain day two vessels passed in the Strait of Gibraltar." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "This vessel flies the English flag." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: At first glance one assumes that Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, offers very little information to date this event, but using simple logic he does. According to Alan Hanson's A Chrono-log of ERB'S Tarzan Series the jungle lord's ocean voyage from Algiers to Cape Town takes two weeks. The passing of the two ships at the Strait of Gibraltar occurs shortly after the ape-man's departure from Algiers, so, therefore, we know the ships passing is occurring very early in the voyage.
Although exact dates can't be provided for this and the following five events all are occurring within a ten-day time period according to Alan Hanson's A Chrono-log of ERB'S Tarzan Series. Using this information, we have provided working dates that do not oppose Edgar Rice Burroughs, the authors, provided information.
Date: February 7, 1895
Event: As the yacht and steamer passed Tarzan was talking to Hazel Strong, Jane's longtime friend, and discovered she had yet to marry Clayton. The ape-man also learned Jane was in love with him instead of his cousin William Cecil.
Source: "When the yacht had passed the man resumed the conversation that her appearance had broken off." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 8-11, 1895
Event: The next few days passed uneventfully aboard the passenger steamer.
Source: "The next few days passed uneventfully." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 12, 1895
Event: Tarzan, going by the name of John Caldwell meets Nickolas Rokoff going by the name of Monsieur Thuran,
Source: "One day Tarzan found Miss Strong in conversation with a stranger, a man he had not seen on board before." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: The interesting thing here is that Tarzan is looking at Nickolas Rockoff who he had just seen less than two weeks ago in Bou Saada, Algeria, and does not recognize him either by sight or smell. Without actually saying it Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, is clearly indicating that Nickolas Rokoff had altered his appearance. Why didn't the ape-man smell the Russian's scent? As a spy, Nickolas Rokoff often played the part of an aristocrat. Therefore, the Russian spy would have used the manly perfumes of the day. Being a traveler, he most likely owned more than one brand and scent. The changing of the perfumes would keep the jungle lord's keen sense off balance.
Date: February 17, 1895
Event: Days later Nickolas Rockoff searched Tarzan's room for secret papers.
Source: "He did not see the man again for days." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the night of February 17, 1895
Event: That night Tarzan is thrown overboard.
Event: That night Tarzan is thrown overboard.
Source: "After Miss Strong had gone below that night Tarzan stood leaning over the rail looking far out to sea." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Alan Hanson in his A Chrono-log Of ERB's Tarzan Series suggests Tarzan's trip from Algiers to Cape Town takes right at two weeks. Since I have no way of researching the ship's travel time, I will depend upon Alan's research for working dates. According to William Cecil Clayton's description in Tarzan Of The Apes 10" degrees, South Latitude is the location of John and Alice Clayton's cabin which is in Portuguese Angola. By chance, this is also the exact location where Tarzan was thrown overboard by Nickolas Rokoff and Alexis Paulvitch in The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the night of February 17, 1895
Event: After a short time of swimming Tarzan noticed his secret papers were gone.
Source: "Now he knew that something more than revenge had prompted Rockoff to pitch him overboard - the Russian had managed to obtain possession of the papers Tarzan had wrested from him at Bou Saada." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: near dawn February 18, 1895
Event: Near dawn, Tarzan happened upon the wrecked bottom of a derelict. There he slept.
Event: Near dawn, Tarzan happened upon the wrecked bottom of a derelict. There he slept.
Source: "The first faint evidence of dawn was paling the stars ahead of him when the dim outlines of a low-lying black mass loomed up directly in his track. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: around forenoon February 18, 1895
Event: Tarzan awakes and discovers a little boat and a distant shoreline.
Source: "The heat of the sun awoke him." ERB- The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: late afternoon February 18, 1895
Event: By late in the afternoon Tarzan was close enough to the shore to discover he was at his birthplace.
Source: "It was late in the afternoon by the time he came close enough to distinguish objects on land, or to make out the contour of the shoreline." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 18, 1895
Event: At age twenty-two, Tarzan enters the cabin he had left nearly two years before.
Event: At age twenty-two, Tarzan enters the cabin he had left nearly two years before.
Source: "Nothing had been disturbed; there were the table, the bed, and the little crib built by his father - the shelves and cupboards just as they had stood for over twenty-three years - just as he had left them nearly two years before." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: growing dark February 18, 1895
Event: Tarzan kills Horta, the boar.
Event: Tarzan kills Horta, the boar.
Source: "While it was yet light Tarzan came to a drinking place by the side of a jungle river. On a low branch, he squatted above the trail. For an hour he waited. It was growing dark." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: growing dark February 18, 1895
Event: Jane Porter and William Cecil Clayton eat dinner on board the Lady Alice in the Indian Ocean.
Source: "He wiped his bloody hands on a bunch of leaves, slung the remains of his kill across his shoulder, and swung off through the middle terrace of the forest toward his cabin, and at the same instant Jane Porter and William Cecil Clayton arose from a sumptuous dinner upon the Lady Alice, thousands of miles to the east, in the Indian Ocean." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: following forenoon February 19, 1895
Event: Tarzan swam in the sea, ate, then went in search of weapons.
Event: Tarzan swam in the sea, ate, then went in search of weapons.
Source: "Tarzan slept late into the following forenoon, for he had been very tired from the labors and extortion of the long night and day upon the ocean, and the jungle jaunt that had brought into play muscles that he had scarce used for nearly two years." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: This is the second passage in The Return Of Tarzan that informs us Tarzan has been gone from Portuguese Angola for nearly two years.
Date: that night February 19, 1895
Event: Tarzan discovered Mbonga's village was no longer, so he went inland in search of another village. That night he slept in the jungle.
Source: "That night he slept far inland from his cabin, securely wedged into the crotch of a giant tree, swaying a hundred feet above the ground." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Edgar Rice Burroughs the author, never mentions the fate of Tibo, or his mother Momaya. All we know is that the two never again appear in the Tarzan series.
Date: early the next morning February 20, 1895
Event: Tarzan continued inland following the course of the stream.
Event: Tarzan continued inland following the course of the stream.
Source: "Early the next morning he resumed his journey, always following the course of the stream." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 20, 1895
Event: Hazel Strong, along with Nickolas Rokoff, arrives at Cape Town.
Event: Hazel Strong, along with Nickolas Rokoff, arrives at Cape Town.
Source: "Monsieur Thuran became a frequent visitor at the home of Hazel Strong's uncle in Cape Town." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: This "fourteen-day theory" of the ship traveling from Algiers to Cape Town are working dates only and are derived from A Chrono-log Of ERB's Tarzan Series, by Alan Hanson. Another researched theory, within reason, could be used and the calendar dates shifted somewhat and still be in agreement with Edgar Rice Burroughs's described information.
Chat: This is the first of two passages in The Return Of Tarzan that directly implies the events of The Return Of Tarzan cover a time span of two years.
Date: February 21, 1895
Event: Jane Porter and Hazel Strong run into each other in Cape Town.
Event: Jane Porter and Hazel Strong run into each other in Cape Town.
Source: "The next day Hazel Strong enjoyed one of the happiest surprises of her life - she ran face to face upon Jane Porter as she was coming out of a jeweler's shop." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "By the time mutual explanations had been made Hazel knew that Lord Tennington's yacht had put in at Cape Town for at least a week's stay and at the end of that time was to continue on her voyage - this time up the West Coast - and so back to England." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 23, 1895
Event: After three days of Traveling Tarzan came to a part of the jungle he had never been to before.
Source: "For three days he continued his quest until he had come to a part of the jungle in which he had never before been." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: Monday, February 23, 1895
Event: Hazel Strong's mother was summoned back to Baltimore by her attorneys. Lord Tennington offered to let Mrs. Strong, Hazel, and Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff), travel as far as England on his yacht.
Source: "Mrs. Strong had been telling them how much she had enjoyed her visit at Cape Town, and that she regretted that a letter just received from her attorneys in Baltimore had necessitated her cutting her visit shorter than they had intended." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "It's to take Mrs. Strong and Miss Strong, and Thuran too, if he will come, as far as England with us on the yacht." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: February 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan rescues Busuli, Chief of the Waziri.
Event: Tarzan rescues Busuli, Chief of the Waziri.
Source: "On the morning of the fourth day his nostrils were suddenly surprised by a faint new scent." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the morning of February 24, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff), befriends Hazel Strong the same instant Tarzan rescues Busuli, Chief of the Waziri.
Source: "And if he could have seen Rokoff at that moment as he assiduously bent every endeavor to the pleasant task of ingratiating himself into the affections of the beautiful Miss Strong, he would have longed more than ever to mete out to the man the fate he deserved." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night February 24, 1895
Event: The Waziri natives have a wild orgy in Tarzan's honor.
Event: The Waziri natives have a wild orgy in Tarzan's honor.
Source: "Tarzan's first night with the savages was devoted to a wild orgy in his honor." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Here we learn the Waziri are not your normal West Coast natives. "As the warriors danced in the firelight, Tarzan was again impressed by the symmetry of their figures and the regularity of their features - the flat noses and thick lips of the typical West Coast savage were entirely missing." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "Busuli, the warrior whom he had stalked to the village, told him many of the tribal legends - how, many years before, his people had come many long marches from the north; how once they had been a great and powerful tribe; and how the slave raiders had wrought such havoc among them with their death-dealing guns that they had been reduced to a mere remnant of their former numbers and power." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: Monday, March 2, 1895
Event: The Tennington yacht sales from Cape Town.
Event: The Tennington yacht sales from Cape Town.
Source: "And so it was settled that they should sail the following Monday." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 4, 1895
Event: Hazel showed Jane a picture of John Caldwell and explained he had been lost at sea upon their recent voyage. Jane recognized him as Tarzan.
Source: Two days out the girls were sitting in Hazel's cabin, looking at some prints she had finished in Cape Town." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 4, 1895
Event: The Lady Alice sunk and Jane, William Cecil Clayton, Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff), and three sailors end up in a lifeboat together.
Source: "two days out," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: morning March 5, 1895
Event: Jane and her boat find they have been separated from the others.
Event: Jane and her boat find they have been separated from the others.
Source: "Jane Porter had been the first of those in the lifeboat to awaken the morning after the wreck of the Lady Alice." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 8, 1895
Event: The occupants of the other three boats from the Lady Alice land.
Event: The occupants of the other three boats from the Lady Alice land.
Source: "While farther up the coast, a few miles beyond the cabin, in crude but well-built shelters, lived a little party of eighteen souls - the occupants of the three boats from the Lady Alice from which Clayton's boat had become separated." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "Over a smooth sea they had rowed to the mainland in less than three days." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 12, 1895
Event: The first sailor dies aboard Jane's boat.
Event: The first sailor dies aboard Jane's boat.
Source: "Just a week from the day the Lady Alice went down the sailor died horribly in frightful convulsions." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night March 12, 1895
Event: Sailor Wilson attacks William Cecil Clayton, then leaps overboard from the lifeboat.
Event: Sailor Wilson attacks William Cecil Clayton, then leaps overboard from the lifeboat.
Source: "The moon had risen, and as he opened his startled eyes he saw Wilson creeping stealthily toward him, his mouth open and his swollen tongue hanging out." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: the following morning March 13, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff), William Cecil Clayton, and Spider draw franc coins to see who is food.
Source: "The result of his cogitation developed the following morning in a proposition he made to Spider and Clayton." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "The oldest date is eighteen-seventy-five, and there is only one of that year." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than the other coins, but neither Clayton nor Spider could have detected it without the aid of a micrometer. When he brought forth his hand it contained an 1888 franc piece." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 20, 1895
Event: Jane had not spoken in three days and Clayton and Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) drew coins again.
Source: "The strain had exhausted those who remained to such an extent that they lay half unconscious for the balance of the day, nor was the subject referred to again for several days." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 20, 1895
Event: The night Tarzan became chief of the Waziri Jane and company were floating in the Atlantic.
Source: "The very night that Tarzan of the Apes became chief of the Waziri the woman he loved lay dying in a tiny boat two hundred miles west of him upon the Atlantic." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: From this provided description we now know the Waziri village is approximately two hundred miles east of the Greystoke cabin.
Date: March 20, 1895, through March 27, 1895
Date: March 21, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton and Jane are awakened by rain and land is sighted.
Event: Tarzan and his Waziri warriors escort the Manyuema slavers to the northern boundary of Waziri.
Source: "The week following the induction of Tarzan into the kingship of the Waziri was occupied in escorting the Manyuema of the Arab raiders to the northern boundary of Waziri in accordance with the promise which Tarzan had made them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: William Cecil Clayton and Jane are awakened by rain and land is sighted.
Source: "With a start, he gained consciousness to find himself wet through by torrents of rain that were falling upon his body and his upturned face. A tropical shower was beating down upon them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: If you will notice ERB, the author tells us William Cecil Clayton and Jane are awakened by rain. The rainy season in Portuguese Angola is between October thru May. Since Jane and William Cecil Clayton's lifeboat events occur in March my 1872 Greystoke timeline passes ERB, the author's, provided weather test.
Date: March 21, 1895
Event: After making shore and eating fruit the three slept until dark.
Event: After making shore and eating fruit the three slept until dark.
Source: "Here, thoroughly exhausted, they threw themselves down to rest, sleeping until dark." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 21, 1895, through April 21, 1895
Event: For a month Jane, William Cecil Clayton, and Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) lived on the beach.
Source: "For a month they lived upon the beach in comparative safety." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 27, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri began making preparations to visit Opar.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri began making preparations to visit Opar.
Source: "Almost immediately upon his return to the village Tarzan commenced making preparations for leading an expedition in search of the ruined city of gold which old Waziri had described to him." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: March 28, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri began their trek to Opar.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri began their trek to Opar.
Source: "So one glorious tropical morning Waziri, chief of the Waziri, set out at the head of fifty clean-limbed ebon warriors in quest of adventure and of riches." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: April 21, 1895
Source: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the mountains where Opar lay.
Source: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the mountains where Opar lay.
Event: "For days they marched up one river, across a low divide; down another river; up a third, until at the end of the twenty-fifth day they camped upon a mountainside, from the summit of which they hoped to catch their first view of the marvelous city of treasure." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: early morning April 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri scaled the cliffs that surround Opar.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri scaled the cliffs that surround Opar.
Source: "Early the next morning they were climbing the almost perpendicular crags which formed the last, but greatest, natural barrier between them and their destination." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: nearly noon April 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the top of the cliffs and view Opar from a distance.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the top of the cliffs and view Opar from a distance.
Source: "It was nearly noon before Tarzan, who headed the thin line of climbing warriors, scrambled over the top of the last cliff and stood upon the little flat table-land of the mountaintop." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: April 22, 1895
Event: After an hour's rest Tarzan and the Waziri advance upon Opar.
Event: After an hour's rest Tarzan and the Waziri advance upon Opar.
Source: "For an hour the little expedition rested upon the mountaintop, and then Tarzan led them down into the valley below." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: still light April 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the outer wall of Opar.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the outer wall of Opar.
Source: "Once in the valley their progress was rapid. so that it was still light when they halted before the towering walls of the ancient city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night April 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri camp outside the city and hear weird sounds.
Source: "That night they camped outside the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri camp outside the city and hear weird sounds.
Source: "That night they camped outside the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: morning April 23, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri enter Opar:
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri enter Opar:
Source: "In the morning the effects of it were still visible in the fearful, sidelong glances that the Waziri continually cast at the massive and forbidding structure which loomed above them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: noon April 23, 1895
Event: Tarzan is captured by the Oparians.
Event: Tarzan is captured by the Oparians.
Source: "For a moment every eye was bent upon the noonday sun, and then in unison the people in the galleries and those in the court below took up the refrain of a low, weird chant." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: shortly afternoon of April 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan kills Tha and saves La. She hides the ape-man until dark.
Source: "I will return after it is dark." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: Tarzan kills Tha and saves La. She hides the ape-man until dark.
Source: "I will return after it is dark." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night April 24, 1895
Event: La returns for Tarzan while fifty males go into the jungle after his trial.
Event: La returns for Tarzan while fifty males go into the jungle after his trial.
Source: "It was quite dark before La, the high priestess, returned to the Chamber of the Dead with food and drink for Tarzan." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night April 24, 1895
Event: La leads Tarzan to another chamber and explains she will return for him the following night. Instead, the ape-man escapes.
Source: "You will be safe here until tomorrow night," she said. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.Date: night April 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan discovers a secret passage out of Opar.
Event: Tarzan discovers a secret passage out of Opar.
Source: "A mile away lay the ruined city of Opar, its domes and turrets bathed in the soft light of the equatorial moon." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: night April 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan finds the treasure chamber of Opar.
Event: Tarzan finds the treasure chamber of Opar.
Source: Carefully feeling about, he found himself within a large chamber, along the walls of which, and down the length of the floor, were piled many tiers of metal ingots of an odd though uniform shape. To his groping hands, they felt not like double-headed bootjacks. The ingots were quite heavy, and but for the enormous number of them he would have been positive that they were gold; but the thought of the fabulous wealth these thousands of pounds of metal would have represented were they in reality gold, almost convinced him that they must be of some baser metal. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: sunrise April 25, 1895
Event: Tarzan reunites with the Waziri. The ape-man discovers the Oparians looking for him. They unknowingly passed by and continued towards the coast.
Source: "The sun was just rising as he gained the summit of the flat mountain at the valley's western boundary." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan,
Date: dusk April 25, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri return to Opar.
Source: "When Tarzan had related his adventures and told them of the yellow metal he had found, not one demurred when he outlined a plan to return by night and bring away what they could carry of the vast treasure; and so it was that as dusk fell across the desolate valley of Opar fifty ebon warriors trailed at a smart trot over the dry and dusty ground toward the giant boulder that loomed before the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: midnight April 25, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri robbed the treasure from Opar and exited.
Source: "By midnight the entire party stood once more at the foot of the bowlder." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: mid-forenoon April 26, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the summit of the cliffs.
Source: "but with their heavy loads it was mid-forenoon ere they reached the summit of the cliffs." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 26, 1895
Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the land of the Waziri.
Source: "But they bore their burdens uncomplainingly, and at the end of thirty days entered their own country." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: morning May 29, 1895
Event: Tarzan led the Waziri and the stolen gold to a sight very close to the Mangani's dum-dum sight.
Source: "Here, instead of continuing on toward the northwest and their village, Tarzan guided them almost directly west, until on the mourning of the thirty-third day he bade them break camp and return to their own village, leaving the gold where they had stacked it the previous night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 30, 1895
Event. Tarzan sent the Waziri home. The ape-man then buried the gold at the Mangani's dum-dum sight.
Source: "Leaving the gold where they had stacked it the previous night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 30, 1895
Event: Tarzan spends the night at the amphitheater.
Source: "That night he slept within the amphitheater," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan returns to his cabin by the sea.
Source: "and early the next morning set out to revisit his cabin before returning to the Waziri." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "Finding things as he had left them, he went forth into the jungle to hunt," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: Tarzan spears a lion from hiding, and saves William Cecil Clayton and Jane's life. Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) has the fever.
Source: "Nearly two months of this existence had passed when the first great calamity befell them. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan, without showing himself to William Cecil Clayton and Jane Porter, heads toward the Waziri village. Jane tells William Cecil Clayton; she could never marry him.
Source: "For several long moments Jane Porter and William Cecil Clayton stood silently looking at the dead body of the beast whose prey they had narrowly escaped becoming." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan changes his mind about going to the village and instead spends a second night at the amphitheater of the Mangani.
Source: same day as William Cecil Clayton's rescue. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "That night he slept again in the amphitheater of the apes." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: May 31, 1895, through June 15, 1895
Event: For several days Tarzan hunted and slept at the amphitheater.
Event: For several days Tarzan hunted and slept at the amphitheater.
Source: "That night he slept again in the amphitheater of the apes, and for several days he hunted from there, returning at night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 1, 1895, through June 7, 1895
Event: The Oparians capture and lead Jane to Opar.
Event: The Oparians capture and lead Jane to Opar.
Source: "For many days they traveled through the dense forest." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. In a day and a night he covered the same distance that the fifty frightful men had taken the better part of a week to traverse." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan
Date: morning June 1, 1895
Event: Monsuire Thuran's (Nickolas Rokoff) fever becomes worse. William Cecil Clayton goes hunting. Jane is captured by the men of Opar.
Source: "The next day Thuran was worse." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "The Englishman had extracted the heavy spear from the body of the lion so that when he went into the forest to hunt that morning he had a feeling of much greater security than at any time since they had been cast upon the savage shore." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: afternoon June 1, 1895
Event: The tribe of Kerchak comes to the amphitheater and discovers Tarzan.
Source: "On the afternoon of the third day he returned early." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: The tribe of Kerchak comes to the amphitheater and discovers Tarzan.
Source: "On the afternoon of the third day he returned early." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Again, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, informs us Tarzan has been gone from the jungle for two years. "There were no greetings such as would have taken place among men after a separation of two years." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 1, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton returns from hunting and finds Jane gone. The Englishman searched for the missing girl until dark.
Source: "until dark the Englishman searched the nearby jungle for a trace of the missing one for a sign of the trail of her abductor." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 1, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton is treed by a lion and spends the night in a tree.
Event: William Cecil Clayton is treed by a lion and spends the night in a tree.
Source: This put an end to his search for the balance of the afternoon, as the lion paced back and forth beneath him until dark. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: morning June 2, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton returns to camp.
Event: William Cecil Clayton returns to camp.
Source: "The next morning he returned to the beach, relinquishing the last hope of succoring Jane Porter." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 2, 1895, through June 9, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton hunted and tended Monsieur Thran (Nickolas Rockoff)
Event: William Cecil Clayton hunted and tended Monsieur Thran (Nickolas Rockoff)
Source: "During the week that followed, Monsieur Thuran rapidly regained his strength, lying in the shelter while Clayton hunted food for both." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 7, 1895
Event: The Oparians and Jane arrive at Opar.
Event: The Oparians and Jane arrive at Opar.
Source: "Late afternoon she saw the ruined walls of a mighty city looming before them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan..
Date: June 7, 1895, through June 14, 1895
Event: Jane is held captive in Opar.
Event: Jane is held captive in Opar.
Source: "For a week she saw only some of the women whose duty it was to bring her food and water." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 9, 1895, through June 14, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton was tossed with delirium but Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) would not care for him.
Source: "For days he lay tossing in delirium and suffering, but not once did the Russian come near him." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: "For days," is not enough information to provide an exact date for this event. Therefore, any non-Edgar Rice Burroughs provided date is merely speculation. My theory is since Rokoff's fever lasted a week that is approximately how long Clayton's would last. Since the description says "For days" that means less than a week. I used five days in the belief the described events are occurring rapidly back-to-back.
Date: June 15, 1895
Event: A returning Mangani tells Tarzan about Jane's capture.
Source: "Half a moon since." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: The moon's cycle is twenty-nine and one-half days. Approximately two weeks.
Event: A returning Mangani tells Tarzan about Jane's capture.
Source: "Half a moon since." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: The moon's cycle is twenty-nine and one-half days. Approximately two weeks.
Date: June 15, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rockoff) abandons William Cecil Clayton. The Russian finds the Greystoke cabin.
Source: "That same day he came to a little cabin by the beach." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: "That same day," is not enough information to provide an exact date for this event. Therefore, any non-Edgar Rice Burroughs provided date is merely speculation. My theory is that these undatable events are happening in back-to-back time sequences with little time passage occurring between each.
Date: June 15, 1895, through June 16, 1895
Event: Day and night Tarzan raced to Opar
Source: "Day and night Tarzan of the Apes raced through the primeval forest toward the ruined city in which he was positive the woman he loved lay either a prisoner or dead." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Edgar Rice Burroughs does not offer an exact date for this event. Anyone who knows Tarzan, however, knows he would have left immediately in search of Jane no matter what time of the day or night it was. In fact, the ape-man "traveling day and night" shows his urgency.
Date: nearly noon June 16, 1895
Event: Tarzan reaches Opar.
Event: Tarzan reaches Opar.
Source: "In a day and a night he covered the same distance that the fifty frightful men had taken the better part of a week to traverse, for Tarzan of the Apes traveled along the middle terrace high above the tangled obstacles that impede progress upon the ground." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "It was nearly noon when he reached the great boulder at the top of which terminated the secret passage to the pits beneath the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 16, 1895, through June 19, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) remains at the Greystoke cabin for a few days.
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) remains at the Greystoke cabin for a few days.
Source: But he did not know, and so he remained a few days to enjoy the security and comparative comforts of the cabin." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: These dates are not provided by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author. Many dates actually work and all are acceptable as long as they do not disagree with Burroughs' description. As (working dates only) I used three days for Rokoff's stay at the Greystoke cabin.
Date: late in the afternoon of June 16, 1895
Event: Tarzan rescues Jane and she regains consciousness.
Event: Tarzan rescues Jane and she regains consciousness.
Source: "Late in the afternoon Jane Porter regained consciousness." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "It cannot be that such happiness can be true after all the hideous things that I have passed through these awful months since the Lady Alice went down." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Here Jane tells us months (which is two or more) have passed since the Lady Alice sunk. This 1872 timeline shows a passage of four months since that event, so it agrees with Jane's provided information.
Date: the night of June 16, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane sleep in the jungle.
Event: Tarzan and Jane sleep in the jungle.
Source: "That night Tarzan built a snug little bower high among the swaying branches of a giant tree, and there the tired girl slept, while in a crotch beneath her the ape-man curled, ready, even in sleep, to protect her." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 17, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane set out for the coast.
Event: Tarzan and Jane set out for the coast.
Source: "It took them many days to make the long journey to the coast." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Other passages indicate a better part of a week. We know Tarzan and Jane did not linger on their journey. "Had it not been for their anxiety to reach and secure Clayton they would have drawn out the sweet pleasure of that wonderful journey indefinitely." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: June 19, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) leaves the Greystoke cabin and travels north. Lord Tennington realizes he loves Hazel Strong. Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rockoff) finds the Porter party.
Source: "Then he took his northward journey once more." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "and to think all this time we have been separated by but a few miles - scarcely a day's march." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Although this passage again gives nothing for establishing an exact date, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, finally offers a dating clue. "He started lamely a couple of times, cleared his throat, became red in the face, and finally ended by remarking that he hoped the cabins would be finished before the rainy season commenced." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
This passage clearly informs us that the rainy season has not yet set in, but is quickly approaching. The rainy season in Portuguese Angola is September thru April. From this info, we can conclude the described undatable events occurred sometime between June 12, 1895, through early August 1895.
Date: June 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane run into the Waziri.
Event: Tarzan and Jane run into the Waziri.
Source: "On the last day before they reached the coast Tarzan caught the scent of men ahead of them - the scent of black men." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "For weeks they had been searching for him, they told him." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: toward the evening of July 23, 1895
Event: Tarzan, Jane, and the Waziri arrive at William Cecil Clayton's rude shelter in time to watch him die.
Source: "Toward evening he arose again for a brief moment." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.Chat: Just before Clayton dies; he utters a statement that hints the incidents in northern Wisconsin occurred a little over a year ago. "I only wish to do now the thing I should have done over a year ago." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. In this timeline, it is a year and a day which agrees with William Cecil Clayton's dying statement.
Date: the next morning July 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan and company set out for the Greystoke cabin taking William Cecil Clayton's body to be buried beside John and Alice.
Source: "It had been the ape man's suggestion that Clayton is buried beside the former Lord Greystoke near the edge of the jungle against the cabin that the older man had built." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: July 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan and company run into Jane's father, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter.
Event: Tarzan and company run into Jane's father, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter.
Source: "They had proceeded some three miles of the five that had separated them from Tarzan's own beach when the Waziri who were ahead stopped suddenly," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: July 24, 1895
Event: Tarzan and company reach the cabin to discover Lieutenant Paul D'Arnot and the others. Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) and Lord Tennington were out hunting.
Source: "A short time later the strange party came to the clearing in which stood the ape-man's cabin." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: This is the second time French sailors have been on Portuguese Angolan soil to rescue the Porters. "D'Arnot's ship had been cruising along the coast, on patrol duty, when at the lieutenant's suggestion they had anchored off the little landlocked harbor to have another look at the cabin and the jungle in which many of the officers and men had taken part in exciting adventures two years before." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. This passage clearly informs us The Return Of Tarzan covers a span of two years.
Date: July 24, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) and Lord Tennington return and Nickolas Roloff is arrested by Captain Dufranne. Tarzan recaptures Lieutenant Gernois' secret papers.
Source: "A half hour later Rockoff and Tennington emerged from the jungle." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: sunset July 24, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton is buried.
Source: "At sunset they buried William Cecil Clayton beside the jungle graves of his aunt, the former Lord and Lady Greystoke." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Notice that Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, specifically points out that William Cecil Clayton is buried on Alice's graveside and not John's. Ever wonder if that is a hint Tarzan is buried beside his father in the far distant future?
Date: July 26, 1895
Event: Tarzan returned with the second load of gold.
Source: "The next day he returned to camp with the balance of his ingots," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: Tarzan returned with the second load of gold.
Source: "The next day he returned to camp with the balance of his ingots," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: July 27, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane, Lord Tennington, and Hazel Strong were married in a double wedding by Jane's father Professor Archimedes Q. Porter who was an ordained Presbyterian minister.
Source: "So the entire party assembled within the little cabin and above the door to witness the second ceremony that Professor Porter was to solemnize within three days." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Date: July 28, 1895
Event: The French steam cruiser sailed for civilization.
Source: "The next day they sailed." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Event: The French steam cruiser sailed for civilization.
Source: "The next day they sailed." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Mooy 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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment