JJCHEK-rLOIiA OF ^'ORTHEE^^ EUHOPE. 



411 



mosses/ IS^ear forests varioiis corticolous lichens are similarly 

 employed, e. g, Alectoria jitlata, Evernia prmiastri, and TIsnea lav- 

 lata, a rangiferina is also used for stuffing pillows for babies and 



was 



adults by the Lapps * ; while at one time, if not still, A. julata 

 (or is) employed in the Scotch highlands as a stuffing for znattresses. 

 Travellers occasionally bear testimony to the softness of C. rangi- 

 ferina as "a natural and luxurious mountain couch "f- Occasion- 

 ally too it forms at least an ingredient in the food of man. In the 

 Museum of Economic Botany at Kew there is a specimen of so- 

 called " lichen bread," presented by the Earl of Clarendon, which 

 IS used by the people of Finland in times of famine. This bread 

 resembles Eape cake or the black bread of jN'orthcrn Europe, and 

 contains among its ingredients probably a certain proportion of 

 this lichen and Cetraria Islandica, whose claims to be considered 

 a nutrient are less questiona'ble. Second only in importance to 

 the "Eeindeer Moss" is the "Iceland Moss", of commerce 

 ■ (Getruria Islandica) — a liclien which, its name notwithstanding, is 

 not only more plentiful, but more largely develo^ied in all its 

 varieties and forms, in Norway than in Iceland. It is in the former 

 country, moreover, and not the latter, that it is almost exclusively 

 collected for the European market, including even Scotland and 

 I'aro. In Iceland, however, it is still largely gathered for home 

 consumption, and is a regular article of food for man. Grould, 

 one of the most recent travellers in Iceland, says it is generally 

 added to milk-curd (" skyr "), having first been chopped small, 

 then soaked in water for twenty-four hours, and lastly boiled in 

 milk. This addition does not improve, in his opinion, the flavour 

 of the curd ; but the lichen or its extract has in milk, he says,^ " a 

 pleasant grassy taste ' ' +. Commander Forbes, too, speaks of having, 

 iiear Stadahraun, in the Myre Syssel, had a supper, in which "Ice- 

 land moss, stewed to a jelly in milk and eaten with cream, formed 

 one of the principal and far from disagreeable dishes "§. Their 

 taste must, to say the least, be peculiar, who go the length, with 

 Kerguelen, of describing "Iceland moss" as preferable to any 

 ^md of flour, and as affording " a noble feast ! " 



In this country and on the continent, " Iceland moss " appears 

 to be used to a considerable extent, in various forms, as a dietetic 

 n^edicine, or as an article of the Materia Medica. If we are to 



1 



* Norway and its Glaciers, by Prof. Forbes, (Edinburgh, 1853) p. 73. 

 ; "^J^ams's ' Through Norway with a Knapsack.' 



* Iceland: its Scenes and Sagas, by Sabine Baring Gould (London, 1863). 

 S Iceland : its Volcanoes, Geysers, and Glaciers, (Lonflon, I860) p. 184. 



