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Show 340 By definition, an "impression" is vague and inaccurate. Further, the t o u r i s t ' s impressions might be too weak or too strong, the f i r s t temporary, and the second producing fear. Muir wanted the t o u r i s t to get a more l a s t i n g response, which he called vision. Though Bloody Canyon hardly seems a gothic place to contemporary v i s i t o r s , i t apparently did to the nineteenth century t r a v e l l e r , and c e r t a i n l y did to Muir on his f i r st visit. Perhaps his uneasiness was due to the close proximity of a group on Mono Indians when he camped for the night, or perhaps i t was his own mood. For a horse mounted t o u r i s t, the dangers were more t a n g i b l e . As Whitney's guide proclaimed, and Muir concurred, the name of the canyon probably came from the blood stains from wounds on the legs of mules and horses "compelled to s l i p and shuffle awkwardly over i t s sharp cutting rocks." Muir could not r e s i s t mentioning the p o s s i b i l i t y of animals falling headlong to t h e i r deaths during the descent. All of this was l i k e l y to be discouraging to the t o u r i s t. First impressions would be l i k e l y to turn him away. In compensation, Muir's essay humanized the landscape, and the Indains who resided in i t . If his f i r s t impression of the Indians was t h a t of wallowing bears, by the next morning they appeared in a more p a s t o r a l aspect, near Mono Lake, "coming through the r y e . " So too the strange voices of the night yielded on the next morning to the songs of the creek which became "more human and lovable at every step" during the descent. As he r e i t e r a t e d , when describing his own |
