Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
They are a disparate lot, these Victorian lady explorers about whom Dea Birkett writes so compellingly:Mary Gaunt, born in an Australian gold rush town, craved restful adventure: She toured the West African coast in a hammock.
Gertrude Bell earned an Oxford history degree in just two years, then ventured round the world twice. Onboard ship, she played draughts with her fellow passengers and speculated -- perhaps vicariously -- about whether the Malay sailors would misbehave. On land, she noted in her Egyptian journal that after her nap, she had gone to the bazaar -- "where I bought a dagger and had tea with a Persian."
Almost housebound until she was 22, Mary Kingsley whetted her appetite for faraway places with energetic reading. When she finally won her release, she dashed to tropical Gabon, wading in long skirts and white blouses through snake-infested rivers and swamps.
With her female companion, Amelia Edwards ventured a thousand miles up the Nile in a dahabeeyah, but counseled those of her gender that trips to the Middle East "should not be attempted by any who can not endure eight and sometimes ten hours of mule-riding."
That rare thing: A book both scholarly and exciting!