Her savings
amounted to a sum insufficient, perhaps, for such travellers as Prince
Puckler-Muskau, Chateaubriand, or Lamartine for a fortnight's excursion;
but for a woman who wanted to see much, but cared for no personal
indulgence, it seemed enough to last during a journey of two or three
years. And so it proved.
The heroic woman set out alone on the 1st of May 1846, and proceeded
first to Rio Janeiro. On the 3rd of February 1847, she sailed round Cape
Horn, and on the 2nd of March landed at Valparaiso. Thence she traversed
the broad Pacific to Tahiti, where she was presented to Queen Pomare. In
the beginning of July we find her at Macao; afterwards she visited Hong
Kong and Canton, where the appearance of a white woman produced a
remarkable and rather disagreeable sensation. By way of Singapore she
proceeded to Ceylon, which she carefully explored, making excursions to
Colombo, Candy, and the famous temple of Dagoba. Towards the end of
October she landed at Madras, and thence went on to Calcutta, ascending
the Ganges to the holy city of Benares, and striking across the country
to Bombay. Late in the month of April 1848 she sailed for Persia, and
from Bushire traversed the interior as far as legend-haunted Bagdad.
After a pilgrimage to the ruins of Ctesiphon and Babylon, this bold lady
accompanied a caravan through the dreary desert to Mosul and the vast
ruins of Nineveh, and afterwards to the salt lake of Urumiyeh and the
city of Tabreez.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25