Isabella Bird was one of the greatest travelers and travel writers of all time, and this is her last major book, a sympathetic look at inland China and beyond into Tibet at the end of the 19th century. In describing the journey, Isabella provides a rich mix of observations and describes two occasions when she is almost killed by anti-foreign mobs. It many ways, Isabella created the model for travel writing today, and this one of her greatest works.

A great lady traveller's best known work
Isabella Bird was born in 1831 in Cheshire, England became one of a distinguished group of female travellers famous in the nineteenth century-a time when it was considered that a lady's place should be confined to the home. Isabella travelled and explored the world extensively and became a notable writer and natural historian. This book, her fourth and arguably both her best and best known, concerns a journey of 800 miles through the Rocky Mountains. Isabella made the trip on horseback, using a conventional saddle. The American west was still wild...

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.