MIDDALR. 
107 
months, and remain some time, for the sole 
purpose of gathering it. They then convey it 
on their horses to Reikevig, or any other fac¬ 
tory, and dispose of it to the Danish merchants. 
Povelsen and Olafsen observe, that a person can 
collect four tons or a horse-load in a week, and 
that a peasant is better off with this quantity of 
the lichen, than with one ton of meal It is 
said to require three years before it has arrived 
* Kerguelen, in the Account of his Voyage to the North, 
gives us an extract from a letter of an Icelander, (Mr. Olave) 
whom he met with in Patrixfiord, where the qualities of this 
Lichen are very highly extolled; perhaps more so than they 
deserve. I send to you. Sir, (says Mr. Olave) a herb, 
n which, resembling Lung’s-wort, serves among the Ice- 
“ landers as a succedaneum for bread; it is called Iceland- 
“ moss, and grows on the rocks of the loftiest mountains $ 
“ so that with truth we may say, God gives us bread from 
“ stones. It never grows in earth or soil of any description, 
“ nor casts forth roots. It affords a noble feast 5 the pow- 
“ der of it is taken in milk, and is so pleasant and salubrious, 
“ that I prefer it to every kind of flour; it is, besides, an 
“ excellent stomachic, and a most safe medicine in a dy- 
“ sentery.”—Amongst many other good qualities of the 
mind which Icelanders in general possess, contentment with 
the station in which Providence has placed them, and a 
strong sense of gratitude for the supplies which the Deity is 
pleased to grant to them, are, certainly, the most predomi¬ 
nant. Cut off by the situation and poverty of his native 
land from almost all communication with happier climates, 
where plenty and luxury abound, ah Icelander is ignorant 
even of their existence, and eats his dried uncooked fish. 
