A Woman's Journey Round the World

Ida Pfeiffer

3 ideas

1. Middle-aged widow circles the globe

   In 1846 Ida Pfeiffer, a Viennese widow of modest means with her sons grown, sailed from Hamburg to Rio de Janeiro and returned via Russia in 1848, passing through Chile, Tahiti, China, India, Mesopotamia and Persia. She often travelled cheaply, though her outward passage was first cabin, and she used escorts at points along the way. Near Rio a man attacked her with a knife on a forest road, and she and her companion Count Berchthold fought him off, wounded, until help arrived.

2. Plain appearance supports a pilgrim ruse

   Pfeiffer's plain clothes and small baggage made a staged story that she was a poor pilgrim believable to robbers who had stopped her. The ruse persuaded them to let her go.

3. Missionary luxury hinders conversion

   Pfeiffer observes that some missionaries lived in comfort and luxury apart from the people they meant to convert. She argues that this display created fear and reserve among locals and so hindered the work of conversion.

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