The New International Encyclopædia/Pfeiffer, Ida

PFEIFFER, Ida (1797–1858). An Austrian traveler. She was born at Vienna, and began her career as a traveler by a trip to Palestine and Egypt when she was forty-five years old. This expedition was succeeded by others to Scandinavia and Iceland in 1845, and in 1846-48 to Brazil, Chile, China, India, Persia, Armenia, and the Caucasus. Another journey was taken, in 1851-55, to Africa, Australia, and America, resulting in some valuable acquisitions for the Museum of Natural History at Vienna. In 1856 she set out for Madagascar, where she was imprisoned. Broken in health, she returned thence to die. Her works, which have been translated into English, include Journey of a Viennese to the Holy Land (1843); Journey to the Scandinavian North (1846); and A Woman's Journey Round the World (1850).