Even in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Isabelle Bird, by then an established travel writer, was able to refer to the Malay Peninsula as an almost unknown land. Travelling back from Japan, the intrepid travel writer stopped off in Singapore where the British Colonial Secretary offered her the opportunity to vist the native states of the Western Archipelago. Because she had such a good introduction, she went and was taken everywhere by local officials. And so Miss Bird's journey was less rugged than her many other trips, but, rather more comfortable and well connected, she enjoyed it immensely.

"Découvrez l'épopée captivante de "The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither" par Isabella Bird, une intrépide exploratrice du XIXe siècle. Suivez Bird à travers son périple exaltant à travers la péninsule malaise, capturé avec une plume vive et immersive. Explorez des terres lointaines et des cultures fascinantes, tout en naviguant à travers les défis de l'époque victorienne. Laissez-vous emporter par cette aventure exotique, où l'intrépidité de Bird et son récit vibrant vous transportent dans une époque révolue. Un récit de voyage intemporel imprégné d'aventure, de découverte et de courage, qui continue de captiver les lecteurs à travers les âges."

In 1880, Isabella Bird visited the Malay Peninsula - romantically dubbed "The Golden Chersonese" - and was still able to refer to it as an almost unknown land. The world's most famous female travel writer of the nineteenth century set sail from Japan and called at Hong Kong, Canton and Saigon before reaching Singapore. Bearing letters of introduction to the elite of Malacca and Penang, Bird was able to observe life on the west coast of the peninsula before steaming upriver through mangrove swamps to explore the interior of the land. From courtroom to elephant back, from the grandeur of Malacca's Stadthuys to the jungle calm of a picturesque Malay village on stilts, this indefatigable Victorian explorer offers invaluable descriptions and delightful hand-drawn sketches of life in late nineteenth-century Singapore and the Malay Peninsula.