A Curious Life for a Lady

by Pat Barr

  The Korean Repository published during the 1890s by the missionaries in Seoul is full of out-of-the-way local colour. The Story of Korea by J. Longford (1911) is an old-fashioned history. Korea and the Politics of Imperialism 1876–1910 by C. I. E. Kim and Han-Kyo Kim (1967) gives the modern view. George Curzon’s Problems of the Far East, Japan – Korea – China (1894) includes a long section on his pessimistic view of Korea. For the opinions of a lively missionary on the spot at the time (whom Isabella met often) Rev. J. S. Gale’s Korean Sketches (Chicago, 1898) and Korea in Transition (New York, 1909). Articles about Korea appear in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Japan Branch.

  Chapter X China

  Other travellers who went along Isabella’s route were A. J. Little Through the Yangtze Gorges (1888); Ε. Η. Parker, Up the Yangtse (1895). For a very secular view of the missionaries and the work, see George Morrison’s An Australian in China (1895) and for a modern estimate of the missionary influence, Paul A. Varg Missionaries, Chinese and Diplomats, (1958). An enlightened missionary view by a popular writer of the period is China in Convulsion by Arthur H. Smith (1901); Lord Charles Beresford’s The Breakup of China (1899) gives the contemporary commercial and political view. J. B. Eamess The English in China (1909) is interesting.

  Index

  Ainu, 1

  Austin, Judge, 1

  Australia, 1

  Birch, J. W., 1, 2

  Bird, Dora (née Lawson), 1, 2, 3

  Bird, Edward, 1, 2

  Bird, Henrietta: appearance, 1; character, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7;

  childhood and early life, 1;

  illness and death, 1

  Bird, Isabella Lucy: appearance, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; birth, 1;

  character, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33;

  childhood, 1, 2;

  death, 1;

  early life, 1, 2;

  illness, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14;

  marriage, 1;

  works: Among the Tibetans, 1;

  Englishwoman in America, An, 1;

  Golden Chersonese, The, 1, 2, 3;

  Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, 1, 2;

  Korea and Her Neighbours, 1, 2, 3;

  Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, A, 1, 2;

  “Shadow of the Kurd,” 1;

  Six Months in the Sandwich Islands, 1, 2, 3;

  Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, 1, 2; 3.

  Yangtze Valley and Beyond, The, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Bird, Mary, 1, 2

  Bishop, Isabella (see Bird, Isabella)

  Bishop, Dr John: appearance, 1; character, 1, 2, 3;

  illness and death, 1

  Blackie, Professor John, and Ella, 1, 2, 3

  Bogle, George, 1

  Bruce, Dr, 1, 2, 3

  Buddhism, 1, 2

  California, 1

  Carey, William, 1, 2, 3

  Cassels, Bishop, 1

  Chalmers, Mr & Mrs, 1, 2

  China: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Canton, 1;

  Chengt’u, 1;

  Chia-ling, 1;

  Hong Kong, 1;

  Ichang, 1;

  Kuan Hsien, 1;

  Kuei Fu, 1;

  Liang-shan Hsien 1;

  Li-fan Ting, 1;

  Mieh-Chow, 1;

  Min River, 1;

  Shanghai, 1;

  Somo, 1. 2;

  Swatow, 1;

  Tsa-ku-lao, 1;

  Wan, 1;

  Yangtze River and Valley, 1, 2

  China Inland Mission, 1

  Church Missionary Society, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Clarke, Sir Andrew, 1

  Coan, Rev. Titus, 1

  Colorado: Colorado Springs, 1; Denver, 1, 2;

  Estes Park, 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Fort Collins, 1, 2;

  Greeley, 1;

  Longmount, 1;

  Long’s Peak, 1, 2

  Cummings, Constance, 1, 2, 3

  Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

  Datu Bandar, 1, 2

  Douglas, Bloomfield, 1, 2, 3

  Dunraven, Lord, 1

  Edinburgh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Evans, Griffith, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Gladstone, W. E., 1, 2

  Green, William, 1

  Griffis, William, 1

  Hartford (Hunts.), 1, 2

  Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands (see Sandwich Isles)

  Holdich, Sir Thomas, 1, 2

  Horsburgh, Rev. Heywood, 1

  Huc, Abbé, 1, 2

  Hutchinson, Dr & Mrs, 1

  India, 1, 2

  Innes, Emily and James, 1, 2, 3

  Japan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Hokkaido, 1, 2;

  Kubota, 1;

  Kyoto, 1;

  Nikko, 1;

  Shinjo, 1;

  Yokohama, 1

  Kashmir, 1

  Kingsley, George, 1, 2

  Knipe, Mr (‘Mr Kay’), 1, 2

  Korea: Chemulpo, 1, 2, 3, 4; Diamond Mountains, 1;

  Han River, 1;

  Phyong-yang, 1;

  Seoul, 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Songedo, 1;

  Tok chon, 1

  Kurdistan (see Persia and Kurdistan)

  Lister, Sir Joseph, 1, 2;

  London, 1

  Low, Hugh, 1, 2, 3

  Lunalilo, King, 1

  Malaya: Klang, 1; Kuala Kangsa, 1;

  Malacca, 1, 2, 3;

  Penang, 1, 2

  Perak, 1;

  Selangor, 1;

  Sungei Ujong, 1

  Manchuria, 1

  Maxwell, Sir William, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Meiji, Emperor, 1, 2

  Miller, F. S., 1, 2

  Morocco, 1

  Morrison, Dr George, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Mull, Isle of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Murray, John (publishers), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

  Murray, Captain P.J., 1, 2, 3, 4

  New Zealand, 1

  North, Marianne, 1, 2

  North America, 1 (see also Colorado)

  Nugent, Jim (‘Rocky Mountain Jim’), 1, 2

  Outer Hebrides, 1

  Parkes, Sir Harry, 1

  Persia and Kurdistan: 1, 2, 3; Ardal, 1;

  Bakhtiari region, 1, 2;

  Borujird, 1;

  Hamadan, 1;

  Isfahan, 1;

  Julfa, 1;

  Kermanshah, 1;

  Kum, 1;

  Kurdistan, 1;

  Tehran, 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Urmi, 1

  Pope-Hennessy, James, 1, 2

  Raffles, Sir Stamford, 1

  Raja Yusuf, 1

  Ready, Oliver, 1

  Redslob, Mr, 1

  Religious Tract Society, 1

  Robinson, Sir William, 1

  Rocky Mountains (see Colorado)

  ‘Rocky Mountain Jim’ (see Nugent, Jim)

  Royal Geographical Society, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Russia, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Sandwich Isles: Hawaii, island of, 1, 2; Hilo, 1, 2, 3;

  Honolulu, 1, 2, 3, 4;

  Kauai, 1;

  Kilauea, 1; 2,

  Mauna Loa, 1;

  Oahu, 1, 2

  Sawyer, Major Herbert, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Severance, Luther and Mrs, 1, 2

  Sinclair family, 1

  Singapore, 1, 2, 3

  Sino-Japanese War, 1, 2, 3

  Speedy, Captain Tristram, 1

  Stoddart, Anna, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

  Swettenham, Sir Frank, 1, 2, 3

  Swinburne, Major Paul, 1, 2

  Taylor, Dr. Hudson, 1

  Tibet: 1, 2, 3; Baltistan, 1;

  Deskyid, 1;

  Kailas Mountains, 1;

  Ladakh, 1, 2, 3

  Lahaul, 1;

  Leh, 1, 2, 3;

  Lhasa, 1;

  Shergol, 1, 2, 3

  Tobermory (see Mull)

  Turkey, 1, 2

  Twain, Mark, 1, 2, 3, 4


  Usman Shah, 1, 2

  Walshe, Rev. W. G., 1

  Wilberforce, William, 1

  Wills, Dr C. J., 1

  Wilson, Mr, 1, 2

  Wolff, Sir Henry Drummond, 1

  Wyton, (Hunts), 1, 2

  Yusuf, Raja, 1, 2

  1. Isabella Lucy Bird

  2. Henrietta Amelia Bird

  3. Wyton Rectory, near Huntingdon, where Isabella lived as a young woman

  4. Night scene in the crater of Kilauea

  5. ‘My home in the Rocky Mountains’. The cabin on Griff Evans’s ranch in Estes Park where Isabella lodged

  6. A dramatic view of Fujisan. It was, Isabella admits, ‘altogether exceptional’ owing to ‘exceptional atmospheric conditions’

  7. Isabella’s straw rain-cloak. ‘The cloak, hat and figure are from a sketch of myself, but the face is the likeness of a young Japanese woman’

  8. an old Ainu man of ‘a truly patriarchal and venerable aspect’

  9. Japan when Isabella first arrived there in 1878 was at the height of the social and economic revolution that followed the arrival of the western powers. This contemporary woodcut shows a Tokyo street scene

  10, Isabella on an elephant: ‘This mode of riding is not comfortable’

  11. Leh, ‘a flat-roofed, squat, vermilion-and-brown town’

  12. a lama, photographed for William Carey’s book, described as ‘standing in that wild theatre, with his trumpet of human thigh-bone’

  13. Usman Shah, Isabella’s Afghan guide, whose colourful costumes amazed and delighted her. She was unable to finish this sketch to her liking as the Afghan was arrested for murder while actually posing

  14. A gopher – the native coracle-like craft of the Euphrates and Tigris. Isabella spent some time in one with, among others, Mr Curzon, but unfortunately there is no record of their conversation

  15. George Curzon, who at the time of Isabella’s visit was gathering material for his authoritative book on Persia

  16. A dervish

  17. A Persian woman, one of those ‘bedizened creatures confined … in their languid over-perfumed room’

  18. Isabella’s ‘travelling party’ in Korea

  19. Isabella (right) and tent on the fringes of the Bakhtiari country. In the centre is Miss Bruce, daughter of Dr Bruce, the nineteenth-century crusader

  20. The King of Korea

  21. ‘The Reverend Heywood Horsburgh in native dress’

  22. One of Isabella’s own photographs of three members of the China Inland Mission dressed in native clothes

  Copyright

  This ebook edition first published in 2015

  by Faber & Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  All rights reserved

  © Pat Barr, 1970

  The right of Pat Barr to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–30586–5