Introduction 



It was not, therefore, a new species of ad- 

 venture upon which Mr. Muir embarked when 

 he started on his Southern foot-tour. It was 

 only a new response to the lure of those favor- 

 ite studies which he had already pursued over 

 uncounted miles of virgin Western forests and 

 prairies. Indeed, had it not been for the acci- 

 dental injury to his right eye in the month of 

 March, 1867, he probably would have started 

 somewhat earlier than he did. In a letter writ- 

 ten to Indianapolis friends on the day after the 

 accident, he refers mournfully to the interrup- 

 tion of a long-cherished plan. "For weeks," 

 he writes, "I have daily consulted maps in lo- 

 cating a route through the Southern States, the 

 West Indies, South America, and Eujrope — a 

 botanical journey studied for years. And so my 

 mind has long been in a glow with visions of the 

 glories of a tropical flora; but, alas, I am half 

 blind. My right eye, trained to minute analy- 

 sis, is lost and I have scarce heart to open the 

 other. Had this journey been accomplished, 

 the stock of varied beauty acquired would have 

 [ xi] 



