34 THE OCEAN. 



of nutriment, and has conferred on the recipients 

 of His bounty the taste requisite for its enjoyment. 

 From the quantity of saccharine matter which they 

 contain, many of these plants are highly nutritive, 

 and cattle often feed on them with greediness. One 

 of the species most extensively eaten is that known 

 in Scotland by the name of Dulse {Rhodomenia 

 palmata). It exhibits the appearance of a thin mem- 

 branaceous leaf, irregularly oblong, of a purplish or 

 dark red colour, or sometimes rosy-red : there is 

 no rib, but the substance is uniform ; it grows from 

 three inches to a foot in length. Before the introduc- 

 tion of tobacco, this leaf was rolled up and chewed 

 in the same manner as the Virginian leaf is at 

 present. It is an important plant to the inhabitants 

 of Iceland ; they wash it thoroughly in fresh water, 

 and dry it in the air, when it becomes covered mth a 

 white powdery substance, called mannite, which is 

 sweet and palatable ; it is then packed in close casks, 

 and preserved for eating. It is used in this state 

 with fish and butter, or else, by the higher classes, 

 boiled in milk, with the addition of rye-flour. In 

 Kamtschatka, a fermented liquor is produced from it. 

 It is extremely common on all our coasts, and being 

 frequently washed on shore, is sought with avidity 

 by the cattle : sheep sometimes go so far in the pur- 

 suit of it at low water as to be drowned by the 

 returning tide. This species, with another which I 

 am about to describe, was, until recently, so mucli 

 esteemed by our northern countrymen, that it v/as 

 publicly sold in the cities as an article of regular 

 consumption. The cry of "Buy dulse and tangle. •* 



