INTRODUCTION 7 



used by them, further reference is made to the same use of this 

 species (so determined by Professor Peck), which is said to be 

 not uncommon on birch in that region. 



Scarcely any record can be found of the use of lichens by the 

 people of Alaska, though it would appear probable that in times 

 of famine the abundant Iceland moss, Cetraria islandica, and 

 various forms of rock tripe, Umbilicaria, might be used as 

 human food. Mosses and lichens, without further specification, 

 are noted by Murdoch * as furnishing winter food for reindeer at 

 Point Barrow, and no doubt the abundant and well-known rein- 

 deer moss, Cladonia rangiferina, is one of the most important 

 of the species referred to. Many of the lichens are elsewhere 

 used as dye-stuffs, but no evidence of such use of any of them in 

 Alaska has been found, though Mr. Coville informs me that one 

 of the Alaskan tree species, Evernia vulpina, is the basis of 

 a yellow dye used for basket materials on the coast farther 

 south. 



Mosses, referred to above as serving for part of the food of 

 reindeer, are also mentioned by Murdoch 2 under the name 

 munik, as being employed for lamp wicks, a use to which we 

 observed the bog mosses, Sphagnum, to be put at Plover Bay, 

 Siberia. Dr. Hough 3 also mentions that wicks are made of 

 Sphagnum, willow catkins, or peat, rolled between the hands 

 with a little fat. Mr. Coville notes the use of moss in making 

 beds for young children as generally prevalent in Alaska as 

 well as in other parts of the United States ; and in his manu- 

 script on the Iliamna region, already referred to, Mr. Gorman 

 states that under the name uroveet, Sphagnum is used by the 

 natives as a padding or cushion for the baskets of birch-bark or 

 willow in which infants are carried, and that moss saturated 

 with water and placed before the fire is used as a means of in- 

 ducing copious perspiration after childbirth, as, he believes, a 

 long-established tribal custom, rather than from any good that 

 results. Dry Sphagnum is also said by Dr. Merriam to be of 

 frequent domestic use as an absorbent. Aside from this, no 



1 Ann. Rept. Bureau Amer. Ethnology, 9 : 59. 1892. 



2 Ann. Rept. Bureau Amer. Ethnology, 9 : 59, 106. 

 'Rept. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1896: 1033. 



