How does muir respond to his time in the swamp?

In 1864, John Muir was wondering through the swamps of Canada, looking for flowers and trees ("botanizing") and working at various odd jobs. During this time, Muir long sought a rare orchid, the Calypso Borealis, and, according to him: "But when the sun was getting low and everything seemed most bewildering and discouraging, I found beautiful Calypso on the mossy bank of a stream, growing not in the ground but on a bed of yellow mosses in which its small white bulb had found a soft nest and from which its one leaf and one flower sprung. The flower was white and made the impression of the utmost simple purity like a snowflower. No other bloom was near it, for the bog  a short distance below the surface was still frozen, and the water was ice cold. It seemed the most spiritual of all the flower i had ever met. I sat down beside it and fairly cried for joy".

b. legendary founder of thebes