The book was part of Mundell’s “Heroine’s Library”.
No preface
From chapter I The Heroism of Travel [9-11]
In all ages and in every country travelers have been regarded with unusual interest by their own people. To visit a strange land, to face unknown dangers, and to undergo privations voluntary to satisfy a desire for travel, has always been regarded as a species of heroism worthy of praise and admiration. The majority of the early travellers in foreign countries, the pioneers of commerce and civilisation in various parts of the globe, were in almost every instance men. For though the early settlers were accompanied by the female members of their families, the work of exploration was regarded as essentially [10] the business of a man, and until recent times there have been few instances on record of long journeys being undertaken by women except in the performance of some family duty. This was due, no doubt, to the fact that the explorer and traveller had not only to face the dangers and difficulties incidental to undeveloped countries, where the means of communication and conveyance were of the rudest description, and the climate more or less unhealthy, but he might also have to encounter the hostility of barbarous natives and be compelled to fight his way through their country. Nor do we question the power of endurance or the courage of women when we say that they are not physically fitted to engage in such hazardous work as that performed by many of the pioneer explorers. It is probably owing to the recognition of this fact by themselves that even in more modern times women travellers have journeyed in civilised or semi-civilised countries, where even if they had to endure hardships their womanhood would be respected. This limitation has lessened their opportunities for adventure, and saved them from many of the perils which form the most attractive feature of the stories told by such men as Sir John Franklin, H. M. Stanley, and the like. Only within the last half-century have women engaged in travel on a large scale for its own sake, and no doubt it is because of this fact that the biographer of Madame Ida Pfeiffer describes that lady [11] as “one of the most remarkable women of modern times.” Nor is this praise undeserved when we consider the journeys she made without escort or protection of any kind. Since then, however, quite a number of women have dared to follow in her footsteps, and have ventured into some of the least known countries of the world. Foremost among such women travellers are Miss Bird (Mrs. Bishop) and Miss Gordon Cumming. The story of their wanderings in foreign lands fills many volumes, and both ladies stand to-day in the front rank of modern travellers. In the following pages we have brought together some of the incidents of travel recorded by these and other notable women. There is no attempt at a continuous narrative of any one traveller’s experiences, and in choosing the incidents regard has been had to introducing the reader to a variety of countries.
Contents
I. The Heroism of Travel 9II. Round the World 12
III. In the Rockies 26
IV. To the Himalayas 37
V. Fire and Storm 53
VI. Peril and Adventure in Asia Minor 64
VII. In South Africa 77
VIII. In the Holy Land 83
IX. A Peep into Central America 89
X. To the Great Lake 97
XI. By Boat, Wheelbarrow, and Chair 106
XII. To the Great Wall of China 114
XIII. A Girl in the Karpathians 125
XIV. Lady Florence Dixie in Patagonia 134
XV. The First Circumnavigation of Lake Chala 145
XVI. Through Cannibal Country 156