Isabella Bird (1831-1904) was one of the most remarkable and intrepid explorers of her time; her unique knowledge of the customs and habits of the Mid-East and Asia, coupled with her fame as a writer, lecturer, and photographer, persuaded the Royal Geographic society to admit her as their first woman member. These writings on Hawaii, the Rocky Mountains, Japan, Persia, Tibet, and elsewhere all reveal keen anthropological interests and serve as the fifty-year diary of a Victorian feminist.