India, Sept. 1 -- On September 3, 1758, 268 years ago this week, a girl child was born into a titled family of Shropshire, the English county that borders Wales. That child, mineral collector and botanist Henrietta Herbert, would grow up to have a very close connection with Mysore, Seringapatam and Bangalore; her extensive journals, written between 1798 and 1801, are among the first written accounts of India by a British woman.

What's more, a large chunk of her journal entries record a 1,000-mile journey - part scientific expedition, part diplomatic mission - that she undertook across south India in her one-horse bundy, accompanied by her daughters Henrietta (Henry), 13, and Charlotte (Charly),12; their governess, the Italian portraitist...