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Show 288 CHAPTER VII: SACRED GROVES: MAN IN THE WOODS THE EATERS Perhaps the greatest problem with American definitions of ecology, and consequently with American definitions of wilderness, has been finding Man's place in the landscape. Muir shared this problem, and we need to examine his own life in the wilderness to appreciate the origin of his incomplete analysis of Man's life in Nature. When he travelled in the Sierra, Muir never lived off the land. Since he wasn't a hunter or fisherman, he was frequently hungry. But when he considered the men who were hunters, he was disgusted. A constant refrain from his journal was, "Man seems to be the only animal whose food soils him." Though he was right that "meat of any kind is hard to carry, and makes a repulsive mess when jammed in a pack," that was |
