Introduction 
go into Louisiana at all, either because he 
learned that no south-bound ship was avail- 
able at the mouth of the Mississippi, or because 
the unexpected appearance of the Island Belle 
in the harbor of Cedar Keys caused him to 
change his plans. 
In later years Mr. Muir himself strongly 
disparaged the wisdom of his plans with respect 
to South America, as may be seen in the chap- 
ter that deals with his Cuban sojourn. The 
judgment there expressed was lead-penciled 
into his journal during a reading of it long after- 
wards. Nevertheless the Andes and the South 
American forests continued to fascinate his 
imagination, as his letters show, for many years 
after he came to California. When the long de- 
ferred journey to South America was finally 
made in 1911, forty-four years after the first 
attempt, he whimsically spoke of it as the ful- 
fillment of those youthful dreams that moved 
him to undertake his thousand-mile walk to 
the Gulf. 
Mr. Muir always recalled with gratitude the 
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