LICHENS. 149 
land possess a character which is peculiarly their 
own, and are perhaps more singular in the eyes of 
the traveller than any other feature in the land- 
scapes of that remote and desolate region. This 
character they.owe to the immense number of 
lichens with which they abound. The ground, in- 
stead of grass, is carpeted with dense tufts of the 
reindeer moss, white as a shower of new-fallen 
snow ; while the trunks and branches of the trees 
are swollen far beyond their natural dimensions 
with huge, dusky, funereal bunches of the rock-hair, 
hanging down in masses, exhaling a damp earthy 
smell, like an old cellar, or stretching from tree to 
tree, in long festoons, waving with every breath of 
wind, and creating a perpetual melancholy twilight 
around. The Alectoria is found in great abun- 
dance in this country, especially in the pine-woods 
of the Highlands; and is still employed in re- 
mote places as a stuffing for mattresses. In 
British Columbia, when all other food fails, the 
natives make shift with this lichen, which certainly 
does not look very nutritious. Commander Mayne 
describes it as one of the most important articles 
of food of the native Indians. They steep it in 
water until it is quite flaccid, and then, wrapping 
it up in grass and leaves to prevent its being 
burnt, they cook it between hot stones. They 
also boil it and press it into cakes three or four 
