Isabella Bird

When the intrepid Isabella Bird landed in Hawaii in 1873, she discovered the islanders rode - everywhere - and the clergyman's daughter soon joined them. Having never ridden astride because of the English cultural taboo, Isabella was reluctant to cast aside her native equestrian traditions. When she did, the greatest female equestrian traveller of the Victorian age came to life. This classic account of thrilling equestrian adventure tells the story of one woman's discovery of both her own soul and the wide world beyond.

Even in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Isabelle Bird, by then an established travel writer, was able to refer to the Malay Peninsula as an almost unknown land. Travelling back from Japan, the intrepid travel writer stopped off in Singapore where the British Colonial Secretary offered her the opportunity to vist the native states of the Western Archipelago. Because she had such a good introduction, she went and was taken everywhere by local officials. And so Miss Bird's journey was less rugged than her many other trips, but, rather more comfortable and well connected, she enjoyed it immensely.

First published in 2003. Isabella Bird's account of her journeys in Korea in 1898 represents one of the very rare accounts of that country in the latter part of the nineteenth century. At that time Korea was virtually a forbidden land and had only been open to foreigners for about ten years. It was and had been under Chinese influence for centuries. The trip was very difficult but so fascinating that, true to character, Isabella adored it. She undertook many arduous journeys by land and river, observed the breathtakingly beautiful countryside, visited the Buddhist monasteries and had many audiences with the Korean king and his soon to be assassinated queen. While Isabella was on her journey the Japanese invaded Korea and she had to leave hastily, ending up in China, penniless.

Six Months In Hawaii, set in the islands in 1873, is the compelling account of the true life adventures that transformed a quiet English lady into the daring and dashing world traveller Isabella Bird, whose exploits held the world enthralled. Obliged by unforeseen circumstances to break at Honolulu a sea voyage undertaken for her health, Isabella found herself in a free, fresh, vital, careless new world that filled her with an unquenchable zest for life and an irresistible desire to break the fetters of Victorian convention. Throwing off her invalidism, she spent six months journeying through the islands, cantering through lush forests and grasslands on spirited ponies, drifting over the rolling blue seas on raffish schooners, and finally making her way to the fiery volcano of Mauna Loa. This is a book of singular charm, in which all the beauties of Hawaii and the island way of life are seen through the eyes of one who is, for the first time, tasting life to the full.