In 1873, Isabella Bird visited the
Hawaiian Islands, including the rain forests and active
volcanic eruptions at the summits of Kilauea and Mauna
Loa, now part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. As
she reported after visiting the erupting volcano,
It is most interesting to be in a region of such splendid
possibilities. Her book, Six Months in the Sandwich
Islands, documents her evolution from a proper Victorian
invalid to a bold world traveler, open to physical
adventure and multicultural experiences.
Written
as a series of letters to her sister, her book paints
a vivid portrait of the geology, biology and society
of Hawaii during this era. With the written word,
she brings to life a fascinating landscape and culture
which her sister and most of her readers would never
experience directly. Isabella Birds role can be compared
to that of a modern reporter or media correspondent.
Isabella
Bird: Explorer
THE
HAWAIIAN ARCHIPELAGO
BY ISABELLA
L. BIRD.
"Isabella
Bird was one of the most remarkable and intrepid explorers
and writers of the Victorian era. Of lifelong ill-health,
her indomitable spirit carried her through some of
the least-known parts of the world, often alone on
horseback, somehow finding strength in travels of
ever-increasing daring and hardship. More akin in
spirit to her great contemporary, the explorer Sir
Richard Burton, than to the dilettante travellers
of the modish Grand Tour, Isabella showed a genuine
anthropological curiosity in the peoples and places
she came upon. " Olive Checkland
Arts
and Literature: Isabella L. Bird