Among the Tibetans

At a time when a woman's world wasn't much wider than her own home, Isabella Bird (1831-1904) departed from her native Edinburgh for an independent life of travel. Her curiosity and spirit of adventure led her into the wildest regions of the American West, Malaysia, Kurdistan, Persia, the Moroccan desert, and China. She emerged with a trove of dazzling tales and a reputation as one of the Victorian era's most intrepid explorers and writers. One of nine popular accounts of her adventures around the world, Among the Tibetans recounts Bird's rugged passage through the Himalayas by horseback and her four-month sojourn amid "the pleasantest of people." Nearly 60 years old when she undertook the trek, Bird is matter-of-fact about her inspiring skills and experience as a world traveler. Her sensitivity to all manner of cultural expressions adds luster to her evocative accounts of Tibetan ceremonies, decorations, costumes, and music, and her vivid descriptions of palaces, temples, and monasteries offer rare glimpses of a vanished world.