THE PAGE OF NATURE. 99 



Those who have read the affecting account which 

 Franklin and Richardson give of their expedition to 

 Arctic America, must be familiar with the name of the 

 Tripe de Roche, which occurs on almost every page, and 

 is intimately associated with the fearful sufferings which 

 these brave men endured, a part of which only would 

 have sufficed to unseat the reason of most individuals. 

 During their long and terrible journey from the Copper- 

 mine River to Fort Enterprise, one of the stations of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company a journey to which, I venture 



FIG. 14. GYROPHORA CYLINDRICA. 

 (a) Enlarged portion. 



to say, there are few parallels in the annals of human 

 hardship in the almost total absence of every other 

 kind of salutary food, their lives were supported by a 

 bitter and nauseous lichen, to which the name of Tripe 

 de Roche (Gyrophora, Fig. 14) has been given, as if in 

 mockery. I cannot resist the inclination to transcribe 

 from this melancholy narrative a single fragmentary 

 passage, which will give some idea of the fearful condi- 

 tion to which these heroic adventurers in the cause of 

 science were often reduced. I need not preface it by 

 any comment of mine ; it speaks for itself. " Mr. Hood, 



