Introduction 



JOHN MUIR, Earth-planet, Universe."— 

 These words are written on the inside 

 cover of the notebook from which the con- 

 tents of this volume have been taken. They 

 reflect the mood in which the late author and 

 explorer undertook his thousand-mile walk to 

 the Gulf of Mexico a half-century ago. No less 

 does this refreshingly cosmopolitan address, 

 which might have startled any finder of the 

 book, reveal the temper and the comprehen- 

 siveness of Mr. Muir's mind. He never was and 

 never could be a parochial student of nature. 

 Even at the early age of twenty-nine his eager 

 interest in every aspect of the natural world had 

 made him a citizen of the universe. 



While this was by far the longest botanical 

 excursion which Mr. Muir made in his earlier 

 years, it was by no means the only one. He 

 had botanized around the Great Lakes, in 

 Ontario, and through parts of Wisconsin, 

 [ix] 



