was actuated only by a feminine curiosity. Her leading motive was a
thirst for knowledge. At all events, if she had a passion for
travelling, it must be admitted that her qualifications as a traveller
were unusual. Her observation was quick and accurate; her perseverance
was indefatigable; her courage never faltered; while she possessed a
peculiar talent for first awakening, and then profiting by, the interest
and sympathy of those with whom she came in contact.

To assert that her travels were wholly without scientific value would be
unjust; Humboldt and Carl Ritter were of a different opinion. She made
her way into regions which had never before been trodden by European
foot; and the very fact of her sex was a frequent protection in her most
dangerous undertakings. She was allowed to enter many places which would
have been rigorously barred against male travellers. Consequently, her
communications have the merit of embodying many new facts in geography
and ethnology, and of correcting numerous popular errors. Science
derived much benefit also from her valuable collections of plants,
animals, and minerals.

We conclude with the eulogium pronounced by an anonymous
biographer:--"Straightforward in character, and endued with high
principle, she possessed, moreover, a wisdom and a promptitude in action
seldom equalled among her sex. Ida Pfeiffer may, indeed, justly be
classed among those women who richly compensate for the absence of
outward charms by their remarkable energy and the rare qualities of their
minds."

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