As if were here denied
The summer’s sun, the spring’s sweet dew,
That clothe with many a varied hue
The bleakest mountain-side;”
but vegetation is not absolutely wanting, and the lichens are so largely developed and so widely distributed as to impart quite a peculiar and distinctive character to the scenery.
A lichen which is discovered in almost every zone of altitude and latitude, which ranges from the wild shores of Melville Island in the Arctic to those of Deception Island in the Antarctic circle,—which blooms on the crests of the Himalayas, on the lofty peak of Chimborazo, and was found by Agassiz near the top of Mont Blanc,—is the Lecidea geographica, a beautiful bright-green lichen, whose clusters assume almost a kaleidoscopic appearance.
A lichen of great importance in the Arctic world is the well-known Cladonia rangiferina, or reindeer moss, which forms the staple food of that animal during the long Arctic winter. In the vast tundras, or steppes, of Lapland it flourishes in the greatest profusion, completely covering the ground with its snowy tufts, which look like the silvery sprays of some magic plant. According to Linnæus, it thrives more luxuriantly than any other plant in the pine-forests of Lapland, the surface of the soil being carpeted with it for many miles in extent; and if the forests are accidentally burned to the ground, it quickly reappears, and grows with all its original vigour. These plains, which seem to the traveller smitten with the curse of desolation, the Laplander regards as fertile pastures; and here vast herds of reindeer roam at will, thriving where the horse, the elephant, and even the camel would perish. This useful animal is dependent almost entirely on a lichen for support. What a deep interest is thus attached to it! That vast numbers of families, living in pastoral simplicity in the cheerless and inhospitable Polar Regions, should depend for their subsistence upon the uncultured and abundant supply of a plant so low in the scale of organization as this, is, says Dr. Macmillan, a striking proof of the great importance of even the smallest and meanest objects in nature.
When the ground is crusted with a hard and frozen snow, which prevents it from obtaining its usual food, the reindeer turns to another lichen, called rock-hair (Alectoria jubata), that grows in long bearded tufts on almost every tree. In winters of extreme rigour, the Laplanders cut down whole forests of the largest trees, that their herds may browse freely on the tufts which clothe the higher branches. Hence it has been justly said that “the vast dreary pine-forests of Lapland 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 landscapes of that remote and desolate region. This character they owe to the immense number of lichens with which they abound. The ground, instead 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 branches 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 sound.”
In regions furthest north are found various species of lichens belonging to the genera Gyrophora and Umbilicuria, and known in the records of Arctic travel as rock tripe, or tripe de roche; a name given to them in consequence of their blistered thallus, which bears a faint resemblance to the animal substance so called. They afford a coarse kind of food, and proved of the greatest service to the expeditions under Sir John Franklin; though their nutritious properties are not considerable, and, such as they are, are unfortunately impaired by the presence of a bitter principle which is apt to induce diarrhœa. In Franklin and Richardson’s terrible overland journey from the Coppermine River to Fort Enterprise it was almost the sole support, at one time, of the heroic little company. Dr. Richardson says they gathered four species of Gyrophora,[9] and used them all as articles of food; “but not having the means of extracting the bitter principle from them, they proved nauseous to all, and noxious to several of the party, producing severe bowel complaints.” Franklin on one occasion remarks: “This was the sixth day since we had enjoyed a good meal; the tripe de roche, even when we got enough, only serving to allay the pangs of hunger for a short time.” Again, we read: “The want of tripe de roche caused us to go supperless to bed.”