Bright Blossom of the Pacific

by Linda Ballou

“Oh, the life on breezy hills on countless horses. This is the life meant for me. All my gear and occupations on the saddle and no thought of care.” Isabella Bird 1873

When Isabella Bird, at the age of 40, set sail for Australia and New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands were not on her mind. Desperate for diversion from the dreary weather of Scotland and nagging maladies that kept her bedridden, she found solace in travel. She suffered from botched operations to remove carbuncles on her spine and was bled regularly with incisions and by leeches. She was so weak that doctors p...