Beyond Alexandra David-Néel: The European Women Who Crossed the Himalayas
At a Tibetan ritual ceremony, a monk could be seen wearing a mask. British explorer Isabella L. Bird (1831–1904) completed "Among the Tibetans" in 1889, basing it on her personal travels in the Himalayas, and in that work she recorded her travel experiences in the region. The book exhibited her characteristic sharp observations across a wide range of subjects—religious beliefs, customs, lifestyles, clothing, home furnishings, flora, folk music, and various rituals.
To experience her writing for ourselves, let's look at a few excerpts from the book. The first edition cover illustration of "Among the Tibetans" is by Bird Travel Sketch. In one passage, she describes how people welcomed her into their dark, unclean rooms where goats also stayed. They served her tea and cheese and handled her clothing. They looked like the wildest of savages, yet they were not. No family was so poor that they lacked a shrine, a wooden deity, and an altar. Her descriptions are full of rich details and are truly absorbing.
The place was steeped in a powerful religious aura, which lent it a distinctive and captivating character. In this impoverished region stood pagodas and protective deities, alongside prayer wheels—wooden cylinders filled with scrolls of scripture that passersby could spin on their wooden handles. Prayer flags bearing the mantra Om Ma Ni Bä Mê Hum fluttered from long poles atop the roofs of every dwelling.
In winter, monks are tasked with one of their most significant religious duties: reciting scriptures in every home, which brings merit to the household. The longer the recitation continues, the more merit is gained. As those flags waved in the breeze, the residents inside benefited from the mantra being chanted repeatedly. All illustrations in the book were drawn by hand by the traveler Bird.
A wealthier household that receives a set of scriptures will hear twelve or fifteen monks, each clutching a scroll, recite together in a booming chorus. Those writings, filled with Buddhist mysticism and philosophy, require five days of chanting, and throughout that time each monk keeps topping up his tea cup.
Nearly every Tibetan girl's dream revolves around a distinctive headpiece: a cloth or leather adornment set with large green turquoise, rubies, and silver decorations... Once a month, her hair is combed, greased, and braided into many strands, then tied at the back with a long tassel. In contrast, poorer families generally can only manage to have a single scroll of scripture recited, as a way to lower the expense of receiving monks.
The clothing style is highly distinctive, with belts adorned by earrings, necklaces, talismans, buttons, brass or silver bracelets, and assorted tools. The people themselves are robust and industrious—even women can carry sixty pounds across mountain passes. Their voices are rough and piercing, and their laughter is boisterous and full of cheer. Bird's narrative brims with intricate detail, drawing readers so vividly into the scene that they feel as though they are witnessing it firsthand.
Thanks to Burd's precise and vividly literary documentation, which resembles the work of a documentary filmmaker, this book continues to be regarded as an essential read for studying the early history, culture, and social life of the Himalayan region. Through these pages, one can still perceive the far-off, enigmatic traditional civilization of the Himalayas. In fact, some Himalayan travelers even call it a bible.
A celebrated verse by Tagore from "The Bird Collection" goes: "The sky never left the trace of birds, but I have flown over it." It may be that Bird's life, matching her name, came to be symbolized and spiritually outlined by this bird imagery. Much like a bird, she pushed through worldly barriers, acted against the norm, and stayed almost constantly aloft in the open sky above the earth, never pausing. Her splendid life itself was a vivid enactment of Tagore's poetic words. Various renditions of Bird's 1889 Himalayan travel journal are available.
During the Victorian era in England, Bird lived. In the book The small wooden cottage, an illustration depicts the place where Berd stayed while traveling. At that time, women had just two choices: becoming a housewife or taking factory work. The ideal woman, according to society, was virtuous, graceful, and elegant. The highest virtue was for women to renounce their individual selves and devote their lives entirely to their families, bearing children and helping their husbands.
Beneath that apparently ordinary exterior, however, lay a harsh repression of women's liberty and self-respect. Once this context is understood, Bird's decision to pursue a completely different lifestyle becomes all the more clearly courageous and remarkable. Isabella L.
Bird (1831–1904), also called Bertie, was a fearless female knight who left brave, resolute footprints across most of the world, from Western Europe and North America to the Middle East and the Far East. Traveling alone, she rode horseback through Colorado's rugged mountains, crossed snow-covered high-altitude passes in the Himalayas, trekked endless deserts in Morocco and the Middle East, and ventured into Malaysia's steamy tropical forests.
Bertie began traveling at age 23 and kept going almost without pause until she reached nearly 70, during which time she completed three solo circumnavigations of the globe via sailing, horseback riding, and hiking. That vast breadth of experience naturally made her a gifted author of travel writing.
In Jacki Hill-Murphy's biography of Isabella Bird, her journeys bore none of the lavishness or condescension typical of colonial-era travelers, nor was she drawn to the chic resort destinations favored by the elite of her day. Rather, a deep urge to "escape civilization" coursed through her rebellious disposition, driving her to venture into uncharted lands with an unfiltered, genuine spirit.
Isabella always pursued the exceptional and singular within demanding expeditions. Bird, for her part, favored ventures that were adventurous and testing, and from such experiences she drew observations and conclusions. With humor, she writes in her diary: "I use the camera tripod as a candlestick, and at night I hang my clothes and boots on it to prevent mice from nibbling ... As long as this simple and rustic safety is ensured, everything else can be enjoyed.
Even in adversity and peril, she tackled every such situation with an upbeat and tolerant outlook, channeling her clever wit into thorough and expansive narratives. Her writings on the territories she visited frequently betrayed a measure of prejudice and wariness toward the local peoples, even as she castigated and denounced her own discourteous countrymen for their callousness toward the warm and trusting natives. Anna M., Isabella's biographer.
Reading Bird’s elegantly crafted prose, audiences are immediately drawn into her striking and powerful portrayals of everything around her, and they marvel at how she preserves such precise and vivid recollections of it all even as time passes—making her world feel fully immersive. As Stoddart noted, she possessed an "ability for accurate observation and narration.
Much of Berd's exceptional writing skill can be traced to her sister, Henrietta. Berd once remarked that her sister's wisdom stood behind every one of her works. Unfortunately, in 1880, typhoid abruptly claimed the life of her dear sister. Meanwhile, the act of relating these experiences gives off a magical force that transports readers back to Berd's time, accompanying her on journeys to the world's wild, untamed territories.
Five years later, her husband—a scholarly and quiet man—also passed away from illness. The successive deaths of those dear to her wrapped Berd in a deep twilight, yet she transformed that grief into resolve. Just as she had overcome a mysterious sickness in her youth through a journey, she now had no choice but to go abroad to dispel the shadow and begin anew. The setting was India at the end of the 19th century. For Bird, only when traveling could she put aside her pent-up feelings and suffering and find fresh energy.
On this occasion, her destination was India. Setting out from there, she rode on horseback across the northern region and eventually arrived at the border of Tibet, covering an extremely long distance. After four months in the Himalayan region, she traveled alone through northern Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Turkey, moving on to Tehran. With a camera and a pen, she recorded the whole journey, continuing to do so until she reached England again in 1890. It seems her existence was meant to be confirmed solely through endless walking. India at the end of the 19th century.
After a short rest and regrouping, Bird resumed her travels in 1894. During the Sino-Japanese War, she devoted three years to the Far East, going successively to Japan, China, and Korea. In China, the ship cabin she traveled in carried a crew of 16, each responsible for their own task, and she used both pen and camera to capture everything that caught her attention. In 1901, she made her last journey, to Morocco.
Through a collection of photographs she took, we are still able to vividly observe the ancient China of more than a century ago. A woman from a Fuzhou tribe, adorned with a headdress crafted from pure silver and silk and rich in ethnic character, is depicted in one such image. This photograph had previously appeared in Bird's 1899 work, "Across the Yangtze River Basin," but the credit for taking it belongs to Dr. Kinnear. The collection also includes European children alongside their Chinese attendants.
In 1896, a four-month trek through the Himalayas left Bird with lasting impressions. During this time, a customs officer in Chongqing and troops stationed in Miaoluo, Li County, were on alert due to reports of bandits in the surrounding area. Bird, traveling by himself, was warmly received and escorted by local leaders throughout the district. Also in 1896, Bird observed a large family with several children in southern China.
In Bird’s eyes, the Himalayan journey placed her among some of the world’s most delightful people for its whole span, from beginning to end. The trip also held extraordinary weight and a unique, sacred quality unlike anything she had previously encountered—especially because, as she set out, she was close to sixty and faced severe challenges that tested both her physical strength and her resolve.
Bird felt infected by their emotions, which led to some of the most wonderful and unforgettable times in her life. The local people were deeply religious, simple and devout in how they revered and safeguarded everything true, good, and beautiful. Their devotion to spiritual practice and their focus on attaining happiness in the afterlife left them spiritually fulfilled, healthy, and content.
Image: Llibreria monimoon, 1890s Himalayas. Venturing into the hidden, enigmatic foothills of the Himalayas in the 19th century, when information and transportation systems were far from mature and material provisions were clearly insufficient, resembled parachuting into an uncharted wilderness. By comparison, in the 21st century, crossing vast oceans and mountain ranges is effortless for us, thanks to the freedom and convenience of modern transportation and abundant material resources.
The series of rugged hardships that the long journey would bring to her physical and mental well-being was plainly evident, especially for a woman traveling alone in a skirt and without an accompanying translator. In the last century, Sherpas carried goods on their backs through the Himalayas.
Bird developed an early habit of perseverance when confronting obstacles, along with a strong resolve to conquer hardship—perhaps shaped by the prolonged and agonizing illness Girls' Generation endured in their youth and the healing process that followed. The more brutal and unbearable her circumstances became, the more determination swelled within her to push back and strive until victory was achieved. Adversity propels her toward relentless exploration and ongoing advancement.
Bird’s 1891 election as the first female Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society was, to many observers, an honor that was wholly deserved and beyond dispute. In her travels—including her 1896 visit to Xuecheng Ganbao Tibetan Village, Li County, in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture—she came face to face with unknown cultures, even though each journey felt like a life-risking ordeal. She nevertheless held on to her inquisitiveness, adopted a composed and watchful stance, and wrote down her ideas and contemplations.
Bird gave two acclaimed lectures in 1892 and 1897 to the UK's Royal Geographical Society, one at its London branch and one at its Scottish branch. The audience was captivated by her descriptions of the East's grand mountains and rivers, the mighty Yangtze, pagodas towering into the sky, and magnificent palaces and temples. 1894 Beijing City through Bird's lens.
Even amid the Victorian era, when strict moral and social expectations constrained women, Bird never lost her resolute spirit. Her diary records her words: "Westerners admire most in a woman the qualities of courage." This conviction shaped nearly everything she did, becoming a guiding principle for her entire life. Regardless of the situation, she would refuse to yield and never turned back. She was convinced that true peace and fulfillment for her body and mind could only come through an unending push forward.
1896 Yuyuan Tea House in Shanghai; 1899 Countryside Courtyard in Baoning Prefecture; 1896 Three Gorges of the Yangtze River; 1896 Arch Bridge in Wanxian. Bird may not have produced any accomplishments that history would deem worthy of record. Yet what she passed down to posterity amounts to an enormous and precious spiritual inheritance. In some sense, Bird was an era’s pioneering figure in lifestyle, and a spiritual leader who fully merited that standing.
Through her remarkable spiritual presence, she inspired those who came after her to boldly strive for and shape the lives they desired, regardless of the challenges that lay ahead. This was especially significant in a society that offers women little tolerance or kindness, where Bird nevertheless demonstrated through her own actions that freedom—unbounded, undefined, and brimming with potential—remains attainable for them.
Bird has finished the hand-drawn illustrations for his book "Among the Tibetans," which include a monk, a Tibetan girl, local people, a yak, and a castle in the valley; the cover features a portrait drawn by Berd. This text was translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog.