A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pfeiffer, Madame Ida
PFEIFFER, MADAME IDA,
Has gained for herself a celebrity as wide as her travels have extended, and this is all over the world, by her extraordinary daring and enterprise. She seems to have a mission for "going about," whether it be "to do good" we have not yet learned; but certainly the extent of her travels is altogether unparalleled, even by the most celebrated travellers of either ancient or modern times. We are told that Madame Pfeiffer is, as it were, urged on by "a passionate desire for locomotion, associated with a noble ambition, that of adding by personal enterprise to the cause of knowledge." If this be the case, we must at least accord to her the praise of a noble spirit, however much we may regret that it was not developed in some more benevolent and feminine way. Of her heroism, as far as that word can be applied to mere acts of daring and defiance of danger, no one can entertain a doubt who reach the following brief outline of her locomotive life:—
Ida Pfeiffer was born, it appears, at Vienna, at the close of the last century. She married and had children, how many we know not, but we learn that she devoted much attention to the education of her two sons, and that for awhile her life glided on tranquilly in the domestic channel. But it seems that underneath this apparent tranquility there was a secret desire for travel—a restlessness that could not be conquered. She ever entertained the hope of indulging her master passion, and therefore, although her "means were small, and home duties occupied her whole time and attention, she contrived to put by a small sum yearly, so that when the death of her husband and the establishment in life of her children set her free from domestic ties, she was in possession of the means of indulging her propensity for seeing the world. Accordingly, in 1842, she set out on her first journey, and traversed Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt, expending thus the savings of twenty years. Of this, journey she published a Diary in two volumes; this was well received, and went into a second edition; and in 1845 she set out on another trip, to Scandinavia and Iceland, of which countries on her return she published a very interesting and graphic account.
All this was but preparatory; she was, as it were, trying her wings, and finding that they answered so well, she announced her intention of travelling round the world. On the 1st. of May, 1846, being then fifty-one years of age, she left Vienna to accomplish her arduous undertaking. At Hamburg she was joined by a travelling companion, one Count Berchthold, who was somewhat advanced in years; but finding him too slow for her fiery impatience, she afterwards left him behind as a useless incumbrance. He, however, went as far as Brazil with her, and in that luxuriant country assisted her in collecting specimens of its animal and vegetable productions. On one occasion when thus engaged they were attacked by a negro armed with a knife and lasso; the travellers had only two parasols and a clasp knife between them, but this latter weapon was wielded so well by the lady, who bore the chief brunt of the attack, that the assailant made off after inflicting several wounds on her arm; he was perhaps induced to fly by the fortunate approach of two horsemen. Nothing daunted by this maladventure, Madame Pfeiffer, when her wounds were dressed, was ready to pursue her wanderings, and bidding adieu to her slow companion, proceeded into the interior to visit the Puri or native inhabitants of the Brazilian forests. Mounted on a mule, and accompanied by a single guide, she set forth, and passed through swamps, and forests, and trackless llanos seldom trodden by human feet. Weeks and months she spent in these wild solitudes, sometimes tarrying awhile in the wigwams of the natives, whom with ready tact she always managed to conciliate, so that the best quarters were placed at her disposal, and grand hunts and national dances got up for her especial amusement. She had thought of crossing the continent from Rio to the Pacific, but found this impossible, in consequence of the disorganized state of the country; she therefore left Brazil in a small sailing vessel, chosen for the sake of economy, went round Cape Horn, and after stopping awhile at Chili, again took ship for China, by the way of Tahiti, which island she reached, but found it difficult to obtain accommodation there, as it was very full of French troops. She had been ill on her voyage, but having, as we are told, a sovereign contempt for drugs, "prescribed for herself salt-water baths in a cask," by which means she was restored to health. Having in a fortnight seen as much as she desired to of high and low life in Tahiti, and acquainted herself with its natural beauties, by making a tour round the island on foot, she was ready to advance another step in her journey, and hey presto! she is next in the Celestial Empire, where at Canton she manages to look about her a little, notwithstanding the dangers to which she is exposed from the prejudice of the people against the English, and especially against a woman, who seemed to have come among them to fulfil a prophecy, which said that the empire should be destroyed by such. From China to Calcutta was but a step or two for this seven-leagued-booted lady, and accordingly we next find her there, then at Bombay, which she left by a small steamer bound to Bassora. In this vessel, which was over-crowded, she had an attack of fever, and lay under the captain's dining-table on the quarterdeck until she was safely through it (the fever, not the table.) She went to Bagdad, and from thence to Mosul, travelling across the desert for a fortnight on a mule, sleeping on the bare ground, and feeding on the meanest fare. At this latter place she made up her Diary, and the curiosities she had collected, and despatched them to Europe, having yet to traverse the most dangerous part of her journey.
After many hairbreadth escapes and startling adventures, Madame Pfeiffer manages to circumvent her treacherous guide and cross the Koordish Mountains, and reach the missionary station at Oroomiah, where she was hospitably entertained for awhile. From thence she continued her journey through Persia, and returned home by way of Russia, Constantinople, and Athens, reaching Vienna on the 4th. of November, 1848. After three years of rest and quiet, during part of which she was occupied in preparing for publication the journal of this great tour, in May, 1851, Madame Pfeiffer visited London, and from thence set sail to the Cape of Good Hope intending to penetrate the African continent in the direction of the newly discovered Lake Ngami, but her funds failing her, she was obliged to content herself with a few rambles and the execution of her second project, the exploration of the Sunda Islands. Accordingly, in the beginning of 1852, she reached Sarawak, and from thence passed into the interior of Borneo. She afterwards visited Jara and Sumatra, going fearlessly into the midst of the cannibal Batacks, whom Europeans had hitherto avoided, and who considered her a kind of superhuman being. From the Molaccas she went to California, having had a fVee passage offered her to that "execrable gold land," as she terms it. From thence she passed down the western coast of America; then she visited the source of the Amazon, crossed the Andes, and then traversed the length and breadth of North America, and looked upon its most grand and beautiful lake, forest, and mountain scenery. Towards the close of 1854 we again find this extraordinary woman in London. Her account of this journey was subsequently published, and perhaps exceeds in interest and novelty any of her other books.
Madame Pfeiffer is meditating, we understand, if she has not already set out on, another journey. When we reflect on the vast amount of fatigue she has undergone, on the extent of ground over which she has travelled, on the imminent peril to which she has on many occasions exposed herself, we are struck with astonishment. She is by no means a bold masculine-looking woman, as one would suppose, but is in "her every-day life plainer, quieter, and more reserved than thousands of her own sex who have never left the seclusion of their native village."
Her books, all of which have been published in England, are pleasantly written; she has great graphic power of description, and a considerable amount of scientific knowledge, which enabled her to make correct geographical observations, and describe correctly the animals and plants that she meets with