422 LABRADOR 



their study offers a problem for further research, attractive 

 for both economic and scientific reasons. 



Mention may also well be made of certain growths which, 

 while not ordinarily attractive as foods, may yet serve in 

 emergency to sustain life for an indefinite period. A list 

 and description of a number of such " emergency foods/' 

 easily available at any season of the year, has recently 

 been given by Ernest Thompson-Seton (Country Life in 

 America, September, 1904, Vol. VI, p. 438). After enu- 

 merating several small forms of animal life that may serve 

 in this way, he describes and pictures the plants. Among 

 them are several abundant lichens (Cetraria or Iceland moss, 

 Cladonia or reindeer moss, Umbilicaria or rock-tripe), 

 the outer and inner (but not the middle) bark and the 

 buds of aspen (Populus tremuloides) , the shoots of spruce 

 and tamarack, the inner bark of willows and birch. Most of 

 these need to be well dried at first, and then either roasted 

 or boiled for a long time. It is evident that a knowledge 

 of these plants and of their nutritious qualities might on 

 occasion prove of the utmost value to the traveller in these 

 regions. The party of Sir John Franklin lived almost ex- 

 clusively on such diet for over three months. " Lowly in 

 the scale of diet as they are in the scale of organic nature," 

 says Mr. Seton, "the rock-tripes are yet reliable friends of 

 man, and no one should travel in these vast inhospitable 

 regions without a knowledge of their appearance, their 

 qualities, and the best methods of preparing them -for 

 human food." 1 



1 Some of the edible plants here mentioned are of very common 

 occurrence in all these northern lands. The list here mentioned could 

 doubtless be largely extended. 



