OCR Text |
Show 341. initiation in the morning light, "The world seemed wholly new; young beauty appeared at every step." The lesson learned, in spite of possible fears, came in his concluding sentence: Nature's love is universal, and nowhere have I heard it proclaimed in more understandable terms than in the hot plains of Mono, and in the rocky and storm-beaten mansions of Bloody Canyon. It seems that the fears and doubts of the traveller only make his final realization that much stronger, if he is open to the true message of the mountains. In a casual yet significant way these two essays in Overland attempted to redefine the means and ends of tourism, by reconsidering where the tourist went and why. Knowing that the American was programmed to appreciate certain kinds of scenes, and for the wrong reasons, Muir tried to expand the range of popular taste by including places which were either less dramatic or more intimidating than those normally considered worthwhile by the sightseeing public. Perhaps I have slighted one element of both essays. Through his descriptions, Muir hoped to help the traveller see with the informing accuracy which scientific understanding could provide. Both essays relied on more than sentiment, and devoted considerable space to the specific flowers, the kinds of plant communities, and the geological history of the areas. For Muir this was a significant tool in attempting to see Nature in her own terms. Yet neither botany nor |