Much sea transport is still by sailing ship and the idea of mass air travel is in the realm of science-fiction.

France lost the Franco-Prussian war at the battle of Sedan in 1870, which accounts for the flood of refugees from Alsasce.

She had also, in the 19th century rush to carve up the African continent, seized among other places, Algeria, which she held in subjection by force of arms.

So-called Big Game Hunters were regarded with some admiration, and indeed it was a much more perilous activity than it is today, when high power repeating rifles with telescopic sights make motor-borne "Sportsmen" little more than butchers.
Daudet's humour is on the whole inoffensive, but anti-semitism was rife in certain circles in France.

It was the era of the Dreyfus scandal, and he indulges in one or two tasteless gibes at the expense of the Jews, which I have suppressed or at least amended.