108 
M1DDALR. 
at its full growth ; for, having once cleared a spot 
of ground by gathering the lichen, the natives 
wait always that length of time before they visit 
the same place again, when they find another 
harvest. The only necessary preparation pre¬ 
vious to cooking is to steep the lichen in clean 
cold water for some time, for the purpose of ex 
tracting the strong bitter taste which is peculiar 
to it; it is then dried in the sun, reduced to pow¬ 
der, and boiled up with milk, till it has become 
of such a consistency as to be quite a jelly when 
and rancid butter with a grateful heart. He possesses the 
amor patriae in as strong a degree as the inhabitant of any 
country. Volcanoes, which have laid waste his whole 
island, earthquakes, disease, and famine, cannot drive him 
from his native shores. The few who have gone over to 
Denmark have expressed the greatest desire to return home, 
although the kindest treatment, and every thing that was 
likely to make them comfortable, had been employed to in- 
induce them to remain. The man, who was my guide during 
most of my excursions in Iceland, had himself passed two 
years in Copenhagen, and although, as he confessed to me, it 
was a milder climate and he had better living in Copenhagen, 
yet he had much rather spend his days where he then was. 
Besides the Lichen islandicus , Povelsen and Olafsen notice 
three other species of Lichen which are occasionally eaten. 
Lichen prohoscideus, the Coralloides tenuissimum nigricatis of 
Dill. and L. nivalis. This latter, which grows in great quan¬ 
tity about Reikevig, is called by the natives, Maringraus , or 
the Virgin Mary's Grass , and is said to be extremely agreeable 
food, and of a sweet taste. 
