Isabella Bird 
Six Months In Hawaii [PDF ebook] 

Six Months In Hawaii, set in the islands in 1873, is the compelling account of the true life adventures that transformed a quiet English lady into the daring and dashing world traveller Isabella Bird, whose exploits held the world enthralled. Obliged by unforeseen circumstances to break at Honolulu a sea voyage undertaken for her health, Isabella found herself in a free, fresh, vital, careless new world that filled her with an unquenchable zest for life and an irresistible desire to break the fetters of Victorian convention. Throwing off her invalidism, she spent six months journeying through the islands, cantering through lush forests and grasslands on spirited ponies, drifting over the rolling blue seas on raffish schooners, and finally making her way to the fiery volcano of Mauna Loa. This is a book of singular charm, in which all the beauties of Hawaii and the island way of life are seen through the eyes of one who is, for the first time, tasting life to the full.