Reindeer moss

“ Though the reindeer may eat grasses and aquatic plants, its great resource is the so-called reindeer-moss, which is really a lichen, common on the mountain heights of the interior where the herds pass the winter. ”

“ Food has not to be stored for them. They will not touch the moss that has been gathered unless brought up to do so by farmers. They get their food themselves. We do not give them water. When thirsty they eat the snow. When our people go among them they will often not even raise their heads, and remain quiet when we pitch our tents. Once in a while there is so much snow in some districts that it is impossible for reindeer to get at the moss; then the only way is to go to the lowlands, or into the forest, where the reindeer can feed on the moss hanging from the firs or pines. ”

“ Herds of reindeer wander over the lonely parts of the country in search of the moss that is their favorite food. They have beautiful branching horns and their short legs are very 126 strong. They have a wonderful scent, which warns them of danger, and they easily take fright. Often, when a hunter has crept upon them ever so softly, they have discovered his nearness and away they scudded over the hills and rocks where he would not dare to venture, and he has been obliged to give up the chase for a time, at any rate. ”

“ In the Mosses the plant-body (gametophyte) is always separable into a radially organized, supporting and conducting axis (stem) Mosses. and thin, flat, assimilating, and transpiring appendages (leaves) . To the base of the stem are attached a number of branched cell-threads (rhizoids) which ramify in the soil, fixing the plant and absorbing water from soil. [For the histology of the comparatively simple but in many respects aberrant Bog-mosses (Sphagnaceae) , see Bryophyta.] The stems of the other mosses resemble one another in their main histological features. ”

“ On the other hand, some are barely individually distinguishable to the naked eye. Fig. 527 represents a common little Moss, enlarged to about twelve times its natural size; and by its side is part of a leaf, much magnified, showing that it is composed of cellular tissue (parenchyma-cells) only. The leaves of Mosses are always simple, distinct, and sessile on the stem. The fructification is an urn-shaped spore-case, in this as in most cases raised on a slender stalk. The spore-case loosely bears on its summit a thin and pointed cap, like a candle-extinguisher, called a Calyptra. ”

“ The whole ground was covered with footprints of reindeer, but a gentle wind blew up the valley, and left little hope of sighting them. Climbing the hills to the northward to obtain a better view, a broad undulating table-land lay spread out before us, ridges of plutonic rock, like low walls, traversed the country from east to west, and here and there marshy pools, some of them almost deserving the name of lakes, lay in the hollows, and sent little streams winding towards gaps in the coast cliffs. ”

“ The fogs and more steady low temperature of insular situation, which now prevail, not only induce that chemical change in dead and dying vegetables which forms peat-moss, and preserves this moss from decay, but also being too cool for the vegetation of the gramineæ, &c. tend only to promote the general spread of sphagni and other moss-generating plants, which, again, are almost the only plants that can vegetate on acrid moss-flow, as they draw little or nothing from below, and are nourished directly by the moisture and other fluids of the atmosphere. ”

“ Many other mosses will also usually be found in like habitats.
Marly and clayey banks will yield such mosses as Fissidens bryoides, a very beautiful little moss, known by its flattened foliage, with leaves on opposite sides of the stem, looking very fern-like, fruit-stalk arising from the top of the stem and surmounted by an erect reddish capsule, with a cone-shaped lid, and a fringe of sixteen bifid teeth. The fruit of this moss ripens from October to the end of the year. ”

“ To light upon them is easy enough, to get out of one if tumbled into is a difficult matter. They are happily small, and can be at once recognised by the vivid green pillow of moss that overlies them. This pillow is sufficiently close in texture and buoyant to support a man's weight, but it has a mischievous habit of thinning around the edge, and if the water be stepped into where this fringe is, it is quite possible for the inexperienced to go under, and be enabled at his leisure to investigate the lower surface of the covering duvet of porous moss. ”

“ The first and most frequent is in a bunch of hanging moss, usually at no great height from the ground; when so placed the nests are formed almost entirely by hollowing out and matting the moss, with a few filaments of a dark, hairlike moss as a lining. The second situation is in a bush growing to a height of about six feet, a nearly bare stem, throwing out two or three irregular masses of leaves at the top. These bunches of dark green leaves conceal the nest admirably. ”

“ As soon as it has started it grows and spreads very rapidly, drinking in water and air through all its cells and sending up the moss buds which swell and grow, giving out roots below and fine stems above, which soon become crowded with leaves, forming the velvety carpet we call moss. Meanwhile the soft threads below die away, giving up all their nourishment to the moss-stems, and this is why, when you take up the moss, you find each stem separate. But now comes the question, How does each stem live after the nourishing threads below have died? ”

“ The best material to grow them in is sphagnum moss, with good drainage, and they require to be kept moist all the year round. In warm weather they of course require more than in winter, when just a sufficient quantity to keep the moss in a moist condition will be all that they will need. It is imperative never to allow water to reach the heart of the plant, for that will sometimes induce it to rot, and will often cause the leaves to go spotted.
The plants must, of necessity, be kept free from insects. Sometimes the thrips will attack them, but this should be cleaned off. ”

“ A moist climate, such as that of Buitenzorg, favors the growth of epiphytic or perched plants—also of parasites. Seeds or spores, carried by the wind or birds, find lodgment in the forks of trees. With plenty of moisture in the air and a constant warm temperature they grow luxuriantly. Thus it happens that trees are covered with moss. Even the very leaves are often marked with delicate patterns of moss and lichen. Orchids and ferns in great number are perched upon the horizontal branches and the smooth trunks also serve for the lodgment of many plants as well. ”

“ The moss about their roots must be sweet and in a living state; when it becomes decayed it should be removed, the roots washed, and the plant replaced in clean live moss with fresh free drainage, so that the water, of which a considerable quantity is required, may never become stagnant. Shading is an important element in the successful cultivation of these plants; therefore the sun, when at its full power in summer, must never be allowed to shine upon them, but in winter a little sun-heat is beneficial, and they then require all the light which it is possible to give them. ”

“ The moss grows and drapes itself in great long festoons all over that tree and by and by the first thing you know that tree has lost all its green leaves and stands up here stark and dead with nothing on its bare branches but that old gray moss which has to die too because it has nothing to live on any longer. It never learned to gather any juice for itself. They call the moss a parasite. I couldn’t be a human parasite, Sam. ”

“ Hence, I can only indicate the most likely mosses to be found in particular habitats. In many instances the same plants may be found flourishing in equal abundance in a variety of habitats. I have already mentioned Ceratodon purparens, as a moss to be found everywhere. It is abundant on heathy waysides and on old walls, thatched roofs, and even on trees it is no less plentiful. ”

“ The swampy parts of the extensive moss-covered marshes in elevated situations afford it places of security and comfort, in which it is not likely to be disturbed by man, and finds immediately around it an abundance of food. The nest itself is a mere hollow in the moss, scantily inlaid with a few grasses. The eggs, which, like those of many of the Tringas, are four, and placed with the small ends together, measure one inch and five-eighths by one and one-eighth, being pyriform, with the tip somewhat inflated. ”

“ The beautiful green velvety carpeting of woods commonly known as Mosses (Figs. 118, 119) , growing most luxuriantly in damp, shady places, so useful from freely absorbing and retaining moisture, to be given out in time of drought, is made up of small delicate plants, each individual consisting of a stem and leaves, exhibiting under a low magnifying power a great variety and beauty of form. While Mosses, in the arrangement of their stem and leaves, differ greatly from the Jungermanniae, one group of them, the Hypoterygiae (Fig. 117) furnish perfectly the transition ”

“ This well-developed vegetative reproduction explains why so many Mosses grow gregariously. In certain Marchantiaceæ special cupules, in which gemmæ are developed, are found on the surface of the thallus (Fig. 197 A, s-s) . Again, protonema may also arise from the leaves, and thus the leaves may act as reproductive bodies. Certain Mosses nearly always reproduce vegetatively, and in these species the oospheres are seldom fertilised.
Fig. 187.—Marchantia polymorpha: a mature antheridium.
Fig. 188.—Spermatozoids.
The first generation bears the SEXUAL ORGANS ”

“ That they may bind the moss in leafy nets. ”

“ And every little spray of leaves that tossed airily in the pleasant breeze, every slender branch swaying gently in the wind, every young sapling pushing its childish head panting for light through the mass of greenery and quivering with golden sunbeams, every trunk of aged tree gray with moss and lichens, every tuft of flowers, seemed thrilled and vivified by some wonderful knowledge which it held secret, some consciousness of boundless, inexhaustible existence, some music of infinite unexplored thought concealing treasures of unlimited action. ”

“ The trees bathed their great heads in the waves of the morning, while their roots were planted deep in gloom; save where on the borders the sunshine broke against their stems, or swept in long streams through their avenues, washing with brighter hue all the leaves over which it flowed; revealing the rich brown of the decayed leaves and fallen pine-cones, and the delicate greens of the long grasses and tiny forests of moss that covered the channel over which it passed in motionless rivers of light. ”

“ THE warmth and comfort inside the ship were a strong contrast to the chill loneliness outside. In the snug lamplight of the wardroom, with a journal to be written up, or a book from the well-stocked shelves behind the door, it was easy to forget that only a few planks and a bank of snow shut out a thousand miles of darkness and deadly cold. ”

“ For great part of the year the ravines are merely more or less deep grooves in the monotonous undulating whiteness, but in summer they hold brown foaming torrents rushing between steep undermined banks of snow, quite unfordable if deeper than the knee. ”

“ Alas! one half-hour’s experience of the real thing is enough to take the whole gloss off the subject. The sledge is heavily laden with tent and sleeping-bags, provisions, and fuel—an item not considered by many people, without which even a drink of water is an impossibility. The driver toils along behind the sledge, guiding it by its handles as he would a plough, or flogging the dogs with all his might. Striding along in the deep snow gives him a peculiar waddling gait universal amongst the Eskimo. ”

“ And the larch has hung all his tassels forth,
The fisher is out on the sunny sea,
And the rein-deer bounds through the pasture free,
And the pine has a fringe of softer green,
And the moss looks bright where my step has been. ”

“ A dark stone projecting above the snow on a cape we were approaching was the only coloured thing in sight for two whole marches, and it had a most disagreeable fascination for our eyes. In order to compensate for this blankness of scenery, every man had been advised to decorate the back of his holland overall with such devices as seemed good to him. Accordingly the back view of our sledge-crews was an extraordinary spectacle. One man’s back bore a large black anchor with the motto “Hold fast,” another displayed a complicated hieroglyphic savouring of Freemasonry. ”

“ The seventh returned, as had been arranged, carrying with them a man who had been an invalid since the day after leaving the ship. From this point the road lay due northward over floes half-a-mile wide, with hedges of hummocks between them. The surface looked smooth enough, but it was only a crust over soft snow, and broke under one’s weight into slabs most uncomfortable to travel over. Nothing can exceed the monotony of sledge-travelling. Day after day the same routine is gone through; day after day the same endless ice is the only thing in sight. ”

“ Were our men degenerate? Our picked crews, full of health and strength, and enthusiastic to a man, were equal to the best of their predecessors. The conclusion was inevitable—the conditions and not the men were to blame. Within half-a-mile of our ship, there were many places that would stop the finest crew that ever drew a sledge. The ice was massive beyond all expectation; but it was not the ice that stopped our travellers—it was the soft snow. ”

“ On the left rose high cliffs banked with treacherous snow, and on the right rounded and broken ice piled in towers and pinnacles upon the shore. In some places round headlands it was utterly impossible to get the sledge safely past with the man and tent robes lashed on it, and one had to help him round as best he could, while the other held in the eager dogs and tried to guide the sledge. The poor brutes were so anxious to get back to the ship that constant halts were necessary to disentangle their harness, no easy task with frost-bitten fingers. ”