20 COMMON SEAWEEDS. 



made an appetizing sance: the Englishman calls it 

 laver, the Irishman slolce, the Scotchman slaalc, and 

 the scientific man porphyra ; but all agree in dressing 

 it with lemon juice, spices, and butter, and like it well. 



The poorer class of Highlanders and Irish eat the 

 seaweed called dulse, both as food and medicine ; for, 

 like all plants, seaweed is made up of millions of small 

 sacs or cells containing the varied substances it draws 

 from sea water and sea air, one of the most impor- 

 tant of which is iodine, a specific in all cases of 

 scorbutic and glandular affections. 



There is a common saying in Scotland, "He who 

 eats of the dulse of Gruerdie and drinks of the wells 

 of Kildingie will escape all maladies except black 

 death." 



They prepare it thus in Iceland : First they wash 

 it well in fresh water, and expose it to dry, when it 

 gives out a white powdery substance, which is sweet 

 and palatable, and covers the whole plant. Then they 

 pack it in casks and keep it from the air; and thus 

 preserved, it is ready to be eaten either in this state, 

 with fish and butter, or, according to the practice of 

 richer people, boiled in milk and mixed with a little 

 flour of rye. This powdery substance is inannite, 

 abundant on many of our seaweeds. 



Cattle are very fond of dulse, and sheep will wander 

 away dangerously far at low water in search of it. 

 From this circumstance they call it in Norway sou- 

 soell, or sheeps'-weed. 



The common brown seaweed fringing the rocks from 

 highest to lowest tide is eaten with relish by High- 

 land cows. 



