Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-11-18

travel perhaps no one so wei illustrates Its IL
resistible impulses as the subject Of this no.
tice, OF whose death we have just received
intelligence. That men like Taylor, Fremont,
Kane, Barth, aud Livingstone, in the prime
OF life, mostly with deep scientific longings to
crafty, should encounter the hardships and
dangers of foreign travel, is not to be won
dered at. But that feeble woman, of ad
vanced age, with scarcely any knowledge Of
foreign tongues, with no predominant aim in
view. should lind II impossible to silence her
native thirst for travel, and should set off tor
the most nhosptable cmes, aud twice cir
cumnaylgate the globe, is an instance with
out any parallel in the history Of our race
Ida Pie'fier was born at V emma towards the
close Of the last centuTy-the wear we have
not been able to ascertain. From her earliest
childhood, sEe cherished an intense desire to
see the different countries of the world. She
could not even meet travelling carriage with
out stopping TO watch it ii passed out of
sight, regarding the position, who had &C.
companied it as she thought, during the long
journey, the happiest of men. When a
little girl of ten or twelve years of age, she
eagerly deyoursd every book of travels that
came within her reach, and secretly enWed
the navigator or diseoverer, who was permit
ted to explore the secrets Of the natural world
The sight OF distant hill that she could not
climb would affect her to tears. Her taste for
travelling was sratded by frequent journeys
with her parents aud also after her marriage,
with her husband, until the cares of a family,
which occupied all her time, compelled her to
forego the enjoyment
At length, having completed the education
OF her two sons, she INDUCED once more in
the taucies of her youth, and so Unsuitable
was her longing to visit the scenes of sacred
history, that, in spite of every obstacle she
undertook the enterprise. Leaving Vienna
on the 22d OF March, 1912, She sailed down
the Danube, and on the morning of April
entered Constantinople, where she spent six
months Of delightful activity. Here she took
her first lesson in horseback riding, of which
she gives very amusing account. In mis-
cellaneous crowd of Oriental passengers,
against the earnest remonstrance ofalI her ac-
quaintances, she took a boat for Joppa,
whence, with an English artist she rode to
Jerusalem, where she remained week The
chief localities of the Holy Land ere visited,
always with great discomfort, and often not
without danger, and she returned home, by
way OF Alexandria, Naples, and Rome. in the
first week of Decem profoundly gratihed
with her tour, but with her love for travel
only stimulated anew.
In 1915 she set out for Iceland; and her
descriptions Of Hecla aud OF the Great Geiser
viii always render this trip one of exceeding
interest to all lovers Of the wonders of nature,
while her shrewd remarks Oh the characters
tics OF the people display her native sagacty
in the most agreeable light. This tour, com
prlslng her journeys through a part of Nor
way and Sweden, occupied about six months.
But in six months more we find her setting
out upon a far more extended and perlous
enterprise, being no less than a voyage round
the world. With Count Berchthod, she
sailed from Hamburg in the middle Of June.
1916, for Rio Janeiro In one of their excur.
sions in the neighborhood of that CITY, both
came near losing their lives, from an attack
suddenly made upon them by a reyengeful
negro. But nothing daunts Idas courage,
or satates her curiosity. From Rio she sails
to Valparaiso, thence to Canton, thoroughly
exploring Tahiti on the way, and thence
around to Singapore, Geylon, and Calcutta.
Thence she goes up country to Benares and
Delhi, and intersperses the monotony of In
dian travel with dangerous tiger hunt In
seven weeks she reaches Bombay, and soon
after trayerses the weary land route ever the
deserts, through AsIatic Russia TO Odessa,
She returns to Vienna on the LIST of Novem-
Der, the day after it was stormed by the reyo-
lutionists Of 1913.
Her second journey round the world was
begun in March, 1851, Madame Pfeitfer then
leaving Vienna for London, with the view of
going to Australia. But the rush of emgra-
ton following the discovery Of the gold fields,
frustrated her purpose, and she finally Get sal
for the Dutch East Indies. She stopped on
the route at Borneo, and visited Raiah
Brooke in Sarawak, After accomplishing her
main object, travelling seven hundred miles
on horseback and one hundred and fifty on
foot in Sumatra, alone, she sailed for San
Francisco, where she arrived in August,
1903. She went up the interior as far as Or
egon and, on her return sailed to Lima,
and visited several South American States
The next Summer she reached New Orleans
and thence assembled the Mississippi to st.
Paul. Crossing over to Chicago, she visited.
the chief Western cities, Niagara Falls, Now
York, and Boston. She passed the Winter at
the Azores, and returned home the next
Summer-thus happily ending her second
memorable journey round the world.
Her last trip was to Madagascar, of which
we have not the space to speak. The outline
OF her travels, which we have given, sufHces
to show what wonders she accomplished
wonders, even, without taking into view the
sex, age, and other personal hindrances of the
illusuiOus traveller. Many of our readers
may have seen Madame Piefer, wbeA she
was in the city, in the autumn of 1853 and
we are sure they will verify Bayard Taylor
description of her, as follows: "She is small
woman, quiet and unpretending in her man.
ners, tanned and weather. beaten from her
travels, but with keen dark eys, denoung the
boundless enthusiasm and courage which sus-
tain her" AS faithful and piquant nara
tor of her adventures and observations, Mad
Pfeifer will long be read with lively interest
OF her death we have nothing more than the
bare announcement.-BoSto Journal.