The Faröe Islands ... With map and illustrations

Front matter

THE FAROE ISLANDS LOW'S POPULAR LIBRARY OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE. Uniform cr. %vo volumes, with Maps and Illustrations, Cloth, HALF-A-CROWN each. Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp, 1882-92. By Major F. R. Wingate, R.A. How I Found Livingstone. By H. M. Stanley, M.P. The Cruise of the Falcon : a Voyage to South America in a Thirty-ton Yacht By E. F. Knight. The Great Lone Land : a Record of Travel and Adventure in North and West America. By Col. Sir W. F. Butler, K.C.B. Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. By Lord Randolph Churchill. The River Congo : from its Mouth to Bolobo. By II. H. Johnston, CM.G. Clear Round ! Seeds of Story from other Countries. By E. A Gordon. The Cruise of H M.S. "Challenger." By W. J. J. Spry, R.N., F R.G.S. Through Ma?ai Land. By Joseph Thomson. The Wild North Land.

By General Sir Wm. F. Bi tler, K C.B. Coomassie : The Story of the Campaign in Africa, 1873-4. By H. M. Stanley, M.P. Magdala ■ The Story ofthe Abyssinian Campaign of 1866-7. By H. M. Stanley, M.P. Hausalnnd: By Rev. C. H Robinson, M.A. Two Kings of Uganda. By Rev. R. P. Ashe, M.A How I Shot my Bears. By R. H. Tyacke. On the Indian Hills. By E. L. Arnold. %* Other volumes will be duly announced. London : Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Limited, St. Dunstan's House, Fetter Lane, E.C. WHALING IN KARuE. Driving ihe Fish into Midvaag Fjord, past the Witch's Finger. (From a Picture in Herr Miiller's possession.) [Frontispiece THE FAROE ISLANDS BY J. RUSSELL-JEAFFRESON, F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF ' The Most Northerly Hospital in the World" " Tke Pathology of tke Faroe Islands" " The Ornithology in the Great Frozen Land {F. G. Jackson)" " Three Chapters on Arctic Equipment and Sport in1 The Life of Dr. Fridjoff Nansen,' " "A Visit to Bear or Cherrie Island" " A Kayajk Voyage from the Westerman Islands to Iceland '," " Sealing in East Greenland, '' ' ' Sport in Iceland and Spitzbergen.'1 WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY L imited §t. gunstan's Jf;ous£ Ff.tter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. PAGE CONTENTS.

Chapter II

First Experiences. Voyage from Scotland— Captain Andreasen — Sport on Sudero — The Little Diamond and its legend — The Great Diamond — Bird-catching and Egg-collecting — Native heroism ... 26

Chapter III

Making Friends. Thorshavn — Pitchi ng the tent— Governor Buch vvaldt — Our first supper — A primitive billiard-table — First excursionon Stromo — Local Government and Parliamentary representation — We per- Contents X PAGE 76 form our toilet in public — An evening at Government House 49

Chapter IV

Sport. Game — Sealing — Singular experience in a seal larder — Rodents 64

Chapter V

Legends and Folk-lore. Herr Muller — The use of the kyack — We remove to Government House — Scenery at Thorshavn — Fishing-smacks of Faroe — Cod-fishing — Folk-lore and legends — Faroese proverbs

Chapter VI

Trout-Fishing. Native ponies — A day's fishing — Festive evening at Government House — A Faroese wedding — " Uncle" — Herring fishery — Leinum Lakes — Curlew-shooting — " A superior person " — Havoc amongst the trout . . . . .106

Chapter VII

Vaago. Vestmanhavn — A stranded trawler — The Witch's Finger and its legend — A rough journey to Contents XI PAGE Vaago — The trout of Sorvaag water — Busdale Waterfall — Basaltic rocks — Snap-shots at wild-fowl — Sandevaag 123

Chapter VIII

Vaago {continued). Scarcity of snipe — Myggenaes — An egg-collection — " Uncle's " sportsmanship — We fish another large lake — A walk scross Vaago — A bag of curlew and oyster-catchers — Sailor's taste for a dish of cormorant — A lover of medicine — A risky run to Thorshavn — Naalsd and its only town — Lighthouses and cavern — Copper-ore — We board the Laura — Arrival of a walrus-sloop from the Arctic seas . . . 144

Chapter IX

Ostero. Terpsichore d la Faroese — A fair Icelander — Fishing at Ostero — A game fish — Fast and furious sport — A lovely aurora . . . . .169

Chapter X

The Northern Islands. Miavenaes headland — Gjothavig Fjord — " Tadpole" Kalso — Boro — Klakvig — Videro and Wood Bay — View of Fugld and Svino — A native repast — Mulen headland — Skare and Skaltofte — A big siring of wild-fowl . . . Contents XII PAGE 191

Chapter XI

Last Days in Stromo. Scenery of Sando — Inspection of a Danish man-ofwar — The doctor of Thorshavn — Hospital and lunatic asylum — The doctor's art-collection — The judge and his hospitality — Visit to the Betzy — Farewell calls — Departure from Stromo

Chapter XII

Whaling. Herr Mailer's antecedents — Method of whale-hunting — " Keeping the school " — " Driving " — The finishing stroke — The harpoon — Boats — Whales and their parasites — " The tiger of the ocean" — Method of "keeping the school" at Vestmanhavn — Division of the spoil — Weapons — Varieties of the whale — " Finner " hunting and the Betsy — Uses of the whale — Herr Miiller's record 207

Chapter XIII

Homeward Bound. Qualities of the Thyra — Our fellow-passengers — My lady patients — A rough night — My Arctic fox and the sensation he created — A "motherly"' petrel — Icelandic emigrants disillusioned — Winner of a sweepstake — Arrival at Leith Contents XIII

Chapter XIV

Information and Hints for Tourists. PAGB Salubrity of the Islands and medical report — Chief attractions of Faroe — Cautions and hints — Faroese viands and produce — Absence of fruit — Notions of agriculture .... 244 Index LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Whaling in Faroe Frontispiece Map of the Faroe Islands . . . To face p. i The Laura coming through the Roost outward bound „ 32 Trangjisvaag, Sudero „ 36 Fowling Implements and Faroese Fishing Hooks „ 44 Thorshavn from the Harbour . . . „ 49 The Garden of Government House, Thorshavn ..... „ 52 Thorshavn from the Fort . . . . „ 52 Herr Muller „ 76 The Church at Thorshavn ... „ 81 The South Harbour of Thorshavn . . „ no A native Turf-carrier .... „ 116 Rocks on the Island of Naalso . . „ 116 The Face Rock, Vaago .... „ 137 Thorshavn in Winter .... „ 202 Whaling Implements .... „ 224 Life on the Betzy Whaler .... „ 227 The Norwegian Whaler Urd fast to a Fish „ 228 The Stream running through Thorshavn . „ FAROE ISLANDS BY J. RUSSELL JEAFFRESON, F.R.G.S., Etc.

Compiled from the English and Danish Admiralty Charts, and from information gained from Native Pilots, Fishermen, Farmers and others by the Author, during 'he years 1891-1894. Fuglofiord, H. W.F. A C. XI. hrt. IS mint. Springs rise e_ Neaps 4J feet. Nalsofiord „ IV. hrt. 0 mint. „ „ BJ, „ 4\ „ "f> Trangjcouaag „ VI. hrt. 2 mint. „ ,, 4 (8. AC.) On the East tide and North end of the Islands Springs range 6 to 7 feet, and on the West 0 to 10 feet — Neaps about 2 feet less. Velocity of Springs, 4 knots— influenced greatly by winds. (B.A.C.) Magnetic Variation decreasing 9' annually in 93. (B.A.C.)

Chapter I. History Of The Islands And Character Of The People

The first time I sighted these interesting yet desolate Islands was in June, 1892, when we arrived in a dense fog off the inhospitable and rocky coast in the Mail Steamer. I was bound North-west, to meet the whaler on which I was destined to make my first acquaintance with the polar ice of the East Green land and Spitzbergen waters. We called at the three chief trading ports in Faroe, and I was so struck with the Islands, which are seldom visited by the tourists who pass them on their B way to Iceland, that I determined to avail myself of the first opportunity to thoroughly examine them. Accordingly, August, 189-, saw me safe on board the Danish Mail steamer Laura, outward bound for a summer's expedition to this curious little colony. Before I begin the record of my trip, a brief historical account of the Islands and their people will not be deemed out of place.

The Faroe Islands form a group of twenty-two in number, seventeen of which are inhabited. They are situated in the North Atlantic, nearly midway between Iceland and Norway, and 200 miles north-west of Shetland. The rocks are mostly basalt or of basalt-like forma tions. The seas are dangerous and stormy, and the tremendous currents formed by the tides in the narrow creeks and fjords render navigation more or less perilous. The Islands have an area of 510 square miles and a population of about 12,000. Their capital is Thors havn in the Island of Stromo, with a population of 1500. There is only one way to reach the Islands, and that is by the Royal Danish Mail Steamers, which call there on their way from Copenhagen to Iceland from ten to twelve times a year. The early history of the Faroe Islands is shadowed in the same cloud of mystery that envelops the ancient history of Norway, owing to Norway and Faroe being so closely united in Viking days.

The earliest account of Faroe goes back to the time when Harold Harfaager took Norway from his father, Hulda the Black ; but the people of Norway so hated him and his tyrannical rule that they began to emigrate rather than submit to the slavery of this Viking usurper. Some emigrated to Iceland and some stopped half-way at the Faroe Islands. The first settler whose name we know was Grim Kamban, a Norwegian chief, who lived about the year 825 a.d. According to him, he found settled in the southernmost island, called Sudero, a small b colony of Scotch and Irish monks. These pious and simple men did not at all please the fiery -tempered invader, who drove them off, killing the majority of them, and driving the rest to the mountains. From him we learn that they already called the Islands Faroe, or Sheep Islands, because the sheep they had brought with them from their native mountains throve so exceedingly well.

About this time one of the Irish monks who had been driven off by the Viking, wrote about the colony in a work called " De Mensura Orbis Terrae," and spoke of islands he had visited three days' sail north of Scotland, which he calls Faroe, or Ultima Thule. In the same work he tells of the old Norwegian conquest. At this period, too, was enacted the scene which formed the plot of the Faroe Saga, one of the most famous of all the old Scandi navian chronicles. About the year 800 the noblest Norse family in Faroe was the Goteskeggerne or " Man of Goter." The head of this family was one Trond, a Viking, a man of great repute for his skill in warfare, and also known as a most unprincipled and villainous personage. By reason of his valour he became ruler over the north part of the Islands. At the same time two famous chiefs, brothers, called Brester and Beine, were ruling over the southern islands.

One day Trond, for no known reason, sailed for these Islands and landed on the Little Diamond, where the brother-chiefs lived. Finding them sheep shearing, and therefore weaponless, whilst he was fully armed, he fell upon them and killed them both. These chiefs had two sons called Sigmund and Tore, aged nine and eleven, who witnessed the cruel murder of their fathers. Tore, it is related, wept bitterly, but Sigmund was of different stuff and did not cry. He only swore to be revenged on his father's murderer, and, child as he was, defied the Viking chief, who would have killed them both on the spot had not a man in his following, named Bjrane, stood up for them, saying, " The cub of the wolf shows good stuff: I will not see him killed. I will look after him." So Bjrane took the children, and, knowing that Trond would kill them if he got the chance, sent them over to Norway in his warship which was then about to start.

Sigmund, the child thus rescued from destruction, turned out a very famous man in Norway, and, taking after his Viking father, became a renowned hunter-warrior. He was also the best swimmer in Norway except the King. As he grew successful he became the owner of a Viking ship, and some years after wards set sail for Faroe and took possession of the Islands, subsequently returning to Norway. He was baptized as a Christian, and he tried to convert the Norwegians to this new religion, but they would not receive it ; so, in disgust, he set sail for Faroe again, where he found willing ears for his new doctrines, and all the people of Faroe turned to him except Trond, his father's murderer. But Sigmund, being a powerful chief, forced him to become a Christian much against his will. This com pulsory conversion so rankled in the breast of the old Viking Chief that he swore he would murder Sigmund as he had murdered his father.

About this time Sigmund brought over his brother from Norway to Faroe, and the two brothers, throwing aside their old Viking hopes and associations, lived together with an aged follower from the Hebrides on the Big Diamond Island. One night Trond and his followers landed on the Island to take Sig mund's house, but the brethren escaped in the darkness. While jumping a rift in the rocks Sigmund lost his sword, and as it was their only weapon, and seeing that it was impossible to make a stand against the well-armed enemy, they decided that their only course was to swim to Sudero, five English miles distant. The old follower sank half-way, in spite of Sigmund's aid, and, when half a mile from the place they wished to reach, Tore would have sunk also had not Sigmund carried him on his back. Half dead and exhausted, they arrived at the shore of Sudero.

When they were asleep on the rocks after their exertions one of the followers of Trond, called Thorgrime, found and killed them, giving Trond the ring from off Sigmund's finger as a proof. This vile murder of their Christian leader so enraged the Faroese that they caught and hung Thorgrime. Then Trond again assumed the governorship ofthe Islands ; but the Norwegian King, hearing ofthe murder, took possession of Faroe, making the islanders pay him a yearly tribute. Subjection to Norway continued till the year 1386, when Faroe was ceded to Denmark, and the Islands have belonged to Denmark ever since, except for a short time, in 1808, when England took the islands during the war with that Power. When collecting notes on the ancient history of Faroe I came across a saga in the old language, of which the following is a rough translation, given to me by a native schoolmaster.

It relates to the birth of one of the early and most famous Norse kings, called Sveere. He was born at Kirkebo, in Stromo, in 1150. The legend runs that Sveere was the son of King Sigurd of Norway, his mother being not the Queen, but a court lady. About this time the Pope published a bull ordering all royal illegitimate children to be put to death on account of the wars of which they were so often the cause. On hearing of this bull the mother, whose name was Gunhild, persuaded her brother, captain of a merchant ship plying between Bergen and the Faroes, to take her over in order to save her child from being killed. Gunhild had another lover in Norway, named Une, a weapon-maker by trade, whom she did not inform of her intended flight. Her brother landed her on the other coast of Stromo, when she made her way to the Bishop of the Island, who was then living at Kirkebo.

To him she applied for employment, representing herself as a poor Norwegian maiden. The Bishop had pity on her and employed her as a dairy-maid. In the mean time she first hid her child at the house of an old man and woman who lived near the Bishop, bribing them to secrecy. During the summer she spent all her time looking after the cows on the mountain. In the following year there came a Norwegian vessel to Kirkebo bringing her former lover. Gunhild at once recognized him, but he did not at first discover who she was. She had now removed her child to a cave in the mountains. Une presently recognized her, but kept his discoveryto himself, and, curious to learn why she had fled, he began to watch her movements. Although it was autumn and all the cows had been brought back to the sheds for the winter, he soon noticed that it was her custom, every day, at a certain hour, to ascend the mountain behind the town.

Determining to find out the cause of her secret visits, he set out one day ahead of her in the same direction. When he had reached nearly to the top of the mountain, great was his surprise, on coming to the face of an almost perpendicular precipice, to find, playing outside a small cave, a fine little boy. Une at once guessed the cause of the secret visits and soon made friends with the child, so that when the mother came up she found the two playing together. This so moved her that she became reconciled to her former sweet heart, and, on his offering to marry her and pretend that the child was his own, she consented and they were made man and wife. When the child was grown up, the Bishop, who had undertaken his education, wished him to become a minister. Everything was prepared for his ordination, and he was taken to his mother to receive her blessing.

She, however, exclaimed that her son was born a prince, and ought not to be a minister, but should wear a crown. Then said the boy, " If I am really a prince, I will have the crown, as it is my right." His mother then told him the whole story of his birth, and he determined to proceed to Norway, and, if possible, establish his claim. To this country he went in the disguise of a Faroese priest, giving as his reason for his departure a desire to travel and to see foreign lands. When he arrived in Norway he found it was being ruled by a king called Erling the Crooked, so named on account of his head being on one side. But soon after his arrival Erling retired from the throne, which was taken by his son, called Magnus, while Erling acted as protector and adviser to him. Sveere, seeing that he could not get the crown as easily as he had expected, thought it best to retire to the north of the country, where he hoped to gather a following from among the wilder and less settled tribes.

As he was crossing from the north of Norway into Sweden he met in the mountains a party of men called Birkebeines (Bark-legged ones), so called because they wore bark gaiters, and, much against his will, they appointed him their leader. They were about seventy in number, and possessed very few weapons. But Sveere so trained these men that they afterwards became his chief and trusted body-guard. After successfully stirring up the northern tribes, he assembled a large following, and in the year 1184, at his first battle, completely conquered Magnus in a tremendous sea fight in Sogne Fjord, and thus became king, ruling for eighteen years, till the year 1202. He became very famous and did much to improve the country, making roads of great utility, among others, the famous one from Bergen to Vessevangen, in use at the present day.

His reign was not undisturbed, for there were several rebellions, but these he successfully put down. His excommunication by the Pope, consequent upon his having driven from Norway the Bishop of Thorshavn, was one source of trouble, but he had received such an excellent theologi cal education that he was able to set aside the bull and defy the Pope. He wrote a long history of Norway, and also his autobiography. One of the great events of his reign was his magnificent speech (which is yet recorded) in which he harangued the people in their market place for their drunken habits, contracted from the large consumption of beer from Germany. He died in 1202 after a very successful and prosperous reign. The cave where he was hidden by his mother is still shown, and I have myself visited it. It goes by the name of the " King's Hole."

The house where the Bishop lived is said to be still in existence, and is called " Block House," being built of logs after the Canadian fashion. After Sveere had become King, the Bishop wished to build a cathedral in commemoration of the event at Kirkebo, but it was never properly finished. We had no opportunity of visiting the ruins, but they are said to be in a wonderful state of preservation, only the roof being wanting. The religion of the Faroese, like that of the Norwegians and Icelanders, is Lutheran. The Islands are divided into seven large parishes, each of which has its own clergyman or priest, the whole being governed by one head or chief priest. Each of the large parishes is again subdivided into districts or smaller parishes, which have their own separate churches. The clergyman of a parish has to do duty in each of his churches on Sundays in rotation, and consequently the villagers in the districts only get service in their own church at intervals of several weeks.

This accounts for the pretty sight often to be witnessed on a fine summer's Sunday morning, when a procession of boats may be observed going from one fjord to another, full of gaily dressed islanders, all in their best costumes, on their way to church. I must say I have noticed that in the small country districts the congregation consists chiefly of women. The original religion of the Faroese was Roman Catholic ; but in the whole of the Islands there is now but a single individual of that faith — an old woman, who lives at a place about three miles from Thorshavn, called Hoyvig. Here she has a special little chapel all to herself, and once a year a Roman Catholic priest is sent over from Denmark to hold communion with her. After my recent visit I had the pleasure of travelling back with the father, who had been to visit his small congregation.

He was a most charming man and an excellent linguist, speaking most modern languages, and I had many interesting talks with him about the Icelanders and their religion, among whom he had formerly done many years' work. There is a very curious legend told in Faroe explaining the events which brought about the change of creed among the islanders. According to the story, in or about the year 153^>> six Norwegian students were on a pleasure tour from Bergen up to the north coasts of Norway in a small sailing boat- When they came to the promontory called Statland, they encountered a severe easterly gale which drove them out of their course, and they were forced to run before the wind some days till they sighted Faroe. One of them was a theological student named Heine. All through their terrible voyage he kept trying to persuade his companions from drinking some spirits which they had on board, for he knew that if, in their exhausted state, without food, they took the liquor, they would go mad, and thus lose the small chance of safety which still remained to them.

But his good advice went unheeded, and, off the coast of Faroe, his companions lost their senses from the effect of the drink and want of food, and caused the boat to capsize, with the result that be alone was saved out of all the crew c and thrown up on to the rocks at Husevig in Sando. He was picked up in the morning, more dead than alive, by a girl called Helaborg, the daughter of a fisherman there. According to the legend this young damsel had a dream the previous night. She fancied that when walking along the shore she saw six keys tied together. One of them was very bright, but the others were dull and rusted. She went to her grandmother, who was one of the wise women, and asked her the inter pretation of the dream. The grandmother replied that the six keys were the six young men who were in the boat, that the rusty ones were the five who were drowned, and the silver key represented the one who would be saved and was destined to become her husband.

And so it happened. Heine was taken into the house of her father, the fisherman, where he was nursed ; the girl fell in love with him, and they were married. Afterwards he became a preacher and spread the Protestant faith all over the Islands, and before his death he had thoroughly put down the Roman Catholic religion and abolished the bishopric. From that day there has never been a bishop in Faroe. Heine lived and died in Ostero and received the Faroe cognomen of " Harveke," which means in Faroese " One that comes driven over the sea." His son, who was called Magnus Heine son, became a famous and brave defender of his native islands, defeating the smugglers that at that time harassed Faroe. For the purpose of this defence he built the first fort at Thorshavn, which was situated in exactly the same place as the one now in existence.

He ended his romantic career in rather an ignominious fashion, being hanged in Copen hagen on a charge of piracy, for having taken and sold an English ship. After he had been dead some years the real author of this deed, c the very man who had made the charge against him, was discovered and executed, while the body of Magnus was exhumed, and re-buried in great state in Copenhagen, where a monument, with an inscription tell ing the story, may be seen at the present day. As to education on the Islands I am told that great improvements have recently been effected. Certainly the Danish Government has built magnificent school-houses, and the large private school, carried on by Mr. Bergh, the English Vice-Consul, for the children of those who can afford to pay for their education, leaves nothing to be desired.

In the Govern ment school the pupils are taught all the ordinary rudimentary subjects in Danish, and English is also included, this branch of study proving of great value to them, for when the boys grow up they are able to take positions as fishermen and sailors in British ships, thus earning far better wages than they otherwise could have hoped for. This account of the Islands would be incomplete without a word or two on the character of their people, which attracts notice on account of the strange mixture it dis plays. The islanders are eminently moral, strictly honest, and very truthful, but they have one peculiarity, and that is that they are pessimists of the most pronounced type. In all the affairs of life, they invariably look on the dark side of things, and many amusing instances of this peculiarity I can call to mind.

If you are going out fishing you will meet, without a doubt, two or three people who will inform you that, although they wish you the best luck, yet it was exactly a day like the present one when they last went out and returned empty-handed. Supposing you have resolved on taking a boat home across the fjord, with almost a stern wind blowing, your boatman — should you ask him — will inform you with the gravest possible face, that if the wind will hold up till you get back, you may possibly be able to make the mouth of the fjord without having to tack. But what appeared to me to be the pre eminent characteristic of the Faroese is their kind-heartedness and hospitality. I cannot speak too highly of them in this respect, for wherever we went we were received with the greatest kindness imaginable, and in isolated districts where our camp was pitched the farmers and fishermen would put themselves to unnecessary inconvenience to help us, without the least wish for reward — in fact, in many cases to offer such a thing would have been considered an insult.

At two or three of our camping grounds, where we had put up the tent for the night, on getting up in the morning we found that some of the natives had paid us an early visit, leaving behind them a pail of clean water and a jug of milk, and going away to avoid being thanked. When writing on the subject of their kindness, I must not omit to mention a little incident which happened in one of the out-of-the-way places. The natives had evidently noticed that I was going about col lecting geological specimens, chipping bits off the surrounding rocks and putting them into my pocket. Accordingly, one of the inhabitants, wishing to perform an act of kindness towards one whom he probably regarded as a mad foreigner who had invaded his native island, arrived the next morning at my camp, bent double under the weight of half a sack of stones, which he had brought me as a present.