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Show 339. wild Nature in tame human terms, thus r i s k i n g the charge of anthropomorphic d e s c r i p t i o n when he humanized the w i l d e r n e s s. THE TOURIST IN THE WILDERNESS Perhaps Muir had t r i e d to humanize sublime scenes to himself so t h a t he would be c o m f o r t a b l e . Certainly he did so for the reader in "By-Ways of Yosemite Travel. Bloody Canyon." He must have decided i t was an a p p r o p r i a t e s t r a t e g y , since he was attempting to convince h i s audience t h a t the high passes and east side of the S i e r r a were not d e s e r t s. Muir's reason for v i s i t i n g Bloody Canyon and the Mono Basin was perhaps s i m i l a r to t h a t of h i s r e a d e r . His f i r st excursion took p l a c e during h i s F i r s t Summer, when he was working for Pat Delaney, the man who had become a " g e n t l e shepherd," content to " l i e down with the lamb." Discontented with following the sheep or with the l i f e of a sheep camp, Muir followed Delaney's s u g g e s t i o n and sought wilder places within reach of Tuolumne Meadows, one of which was Bloody Canyon. Muir assumed t h a t h i s r e a d e r too wished to get beyond the improved, degraded, and a c c e s s i b l e f e a t u r e s of Yosemite Valley, since "Lovers of clean mountain wildness must t h e r e f o r e go up higher, i n t o more i n a c c e s s i b l e r e t r e a t s among the summits of the range." He assumed too t h a t h i s reader would learn to accept the i n t i m i d a t i n g l a n d s c a p e , and come t o love i t in sPite of h i s f i r s t impressions "under the gaze of [Nature's] coldest r o c k s ." |