Introduction 



power is sufficient to overmaster all impedi- 

 ments, and to accomplish the full measure of its 

 demands. For many a year I have been im- 

 pelled toward the Lord's tropic gardens of the 

 South. Many influences have tended to blunt 

 or bury this constant longing, but it has out- 

 lived and overpowered them all." 



Muir's love of nature was so largely a part 

 of his religion that he naturally chose Biblical 

 phraseology when he sought a vehicle for his 

 feelings. No prophet of old could have taken 

 his call more seriously, or have entered upon 

 his mission more frevently. During the long 

 days of his confinement in a dark room he had 

 opportunity for much reflection. He concluded 

 that life was too brief and uncertain, and time 

 too precious, to waste upon belts and saws ; that 

 while he was pottering in a wagon factory, God 

 was making a world; and he determined that, 

 if his eyesight was spared, he would devote the 

 remainder of his life to a study of the process. 

 Thus the previous bent of his habits and studies, 

 and the sobering thoughts induced by one of the 



[ XV ] 



