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 Europe — 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 
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