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Show 327. is a deceptive innocence about these l e t t e r s from the "travelling correspondent," these "Notes from a N a t u r a l i s t . " Writing from his campfire, seemingly about the mundane questions a traveller might want to e n t e r t a i n , he was trying out his ecological perspective on the public. "What's worth seeing and how s h a l l I see i t ? " These are no simple questions, since an answer requires that one consider who the traveller i s , what h i s journey should do for him, what he will do to the places he v i s i t s , how his v i s i t will change his view of himself, and how he will see his home differently when he r e t u r n s . One might c a l l t h i s the complicated ecology of tourism which leads to the overwhelming question: "Oh, do not ask, 'What i s i t ? ' / Let us go and make our v i s i t ." Certainly the t o u r i s t to Yosemite already had a choice of guiding writers and a r t i s t s . He may have learned to see through the eyes of B i e r s t a d t , Thomas H i l l , or Muir's friend William Kieth. He may have learned of Yosemite through the pictures of Muybridge. He might come to the Valley with his copy of Ruskin's Of Mountain Beauty, or with a copy of Tyndall*s Hours of Exercise in the Alps. More l i k e l y , Whitney's guide and Hutching's a r t i c l e s had provided the t o u r i s t with a specific itinerary, in t h i s sense, a l l of Muir's writings were for the tourist, since they involved the question of how to see. Most t o u r i s t s did not want to hear philosophy, but wanted to know exactly where to stop and look. Muir h e s i t a t e d to enter t h i s f i e l d , and his two most obviously t o u r i s t - d i r e c t e d essays for Benjamin Avery's |
