A Description of the Feroe Islands, containing an account of their situation, climate, and productions, together with the manners and customs of the inhabitants, their trade, etc. translated from the Danish

Preface

. A.S the works hitherto published in regard to the Feroe Islands do not afford that satisfaction which might be expected, I have little reason to doubt that the following Description of them will meet with a favourable reception from the public. The jFæ roa Reserata of Debes* was in its time read * Lucas Debes was born in: the island of Falster in l6"23. He resided several years in-Feroe ps a clergyman; and died in 1670. His work, entitled Fœroa Reserata sive Insularum- Faroensium Descriptio, cum mappa geograp/i. insulatum et tabula vortice reprœseiitante, was published in octavo at Copenhagen, in \6j3. Aa English translation of it appeared as. London in lf>7fl; and a German at Copenhagen* in 1757- Trans.

PREFACE.

. with approbation; but this work is now become scarce, and besides, being in many points erroneous, it every where displays traces of that prejudice and credulity which prevailed at the period when it Was written. During a residence of seven years in these islands, where 1 officiated as a clergyman, I employed such time as I could spare from my public duty in collecting every thing I found worthy of notice in the three kingdoms of nature, in order that I might discharge a promise made to the Society of Natural History, at Copenhagen. With the same view I occasionally visited the different islands, to make myself acquainted with their local situation, as well as with their physical and economical condition ; and in the course of my excursions I seldom failed, at each place which I examined, to write down short notices of what I observed, and of every thing remarkable that occurred to me ; though without any inten tion, at that time, of communicating the result of my labours to the public.

On my return to Copenhagen, in the year 1708, finding that several of my friends were anxious to obtain a more correct account of these remote islands, I resolved to P-R'EFA'OE. V embrace the opportunity which my leisure then arforded me of gratifying their wishes ; and began the following attempt towards a description of them. But, though the me moranda I had made supplied me with valu able materials, I found that in many par ticulars they were fir from being complete ; aud I was, therefore, obliged to supply the deficiency from such , printed works and manuscripts as I was able to procure. These I employed wherever 1 found them suited to my purpose ; but I can safely assert that I never copied any circumstance as authentic without having previously convinced myself of its truth by every means in my power. ..

Being no great admirer of old traditions, I have mentioned only in a very brief man ner what I thought necessary to introduce in regard to the ancient state ofthe inhabit ants of these islands ; and on this subject 1 made use of what has been quoted from old writers respecting the trade of Feroe, by H. Debes, and Lucas Debes ; and also what has been said by the more modern writers on statistics — Thaarup and Schlegel. Besides these helps, I obtained the perusal of some manuscripts, containing materials towards a Natural History of Feroe, written VI

PREFACE.

. by Mr. Mohr ; but, though I had reason -to regret, while turning over his observations, which consisted mostly of loose sheets, that so little was completed .of what this indus trious naturalist had begun, 1 must acknow ledge myself indebted to him for the account of some plants which I had not .the good fortune myself to discover. In regard to the harbours and anchoring places in Feroe, some information has been given by Svaboe and . Lamhauge ; but that my work might be as complete as possible, I conceived it necessary not to omit an ac count of them, especially as I had access, by means of Captain Lowenorn, to the Repo sitory of SearCharts ; .and, at. the same time was favoured with. the use of the elegant and accurate charts of. Captain Born, which enabled me to gire more authentic informa tion respecting these harbours, or, at any rate to correct that which has been already published.

For tbe taxes and duties paid by the inha bitants of Feroe I consulted, by permission of government, the registers preserved in the exchequer : in regard to the public institu iions, the necessary information was kindly

PREFACE.

. VII •communicated to me from the places to which they belong. I was exceedingly desirous to have it rn my power to give some more recent information with respect to the Feroese trade ; but as I had not the good fortune to obtain the necessary documents, the reader must be satisfied with the short account I have given of it, according to the state in which it was a few years ago, I must here return thanks to Professor Schumacher for the aid he atforded me in describing the zeolites found in Feroe ; and in doing so I Close the list of those sources from which I derived any assistance. The chart which accompanies this work was copied by Mr. Born, from the general chart of the Feroe islands* constructed by his father. * The translator thinks it necessary to observe, that the scale in the map which accompanies this English edition is of Danish n.iles.

According to Christiani, (Delle Misure d'tgni genere antic/ie e modcrne, Spc. Bresica, 1760.) The Danish mile is to the English as 5000 to lOfjO ; or, iis 4*58 to 1. A Danish mile, therefore, is somewhat more than four miles •and a half English Wherever miles occur in the work itself --they are to be considered as English miles. Trans. ERRATA. Page 14, bottom line, for consists, read consist. P. 17, 1. 9 from the bottom, for there, read these. P. -23, 1. 6 from the top, for /armed, read found. V. 28, 1.9, dele be. P. 23, I. 2, for six parishes, read seven parishes. P. 64, 1. 12, for was, read were. Ibid. 1. b from the bottom, for™* romro-r, read Stromoe. P. 2J9, 1. 6 from the bottom, for posts, read laths. P. 220, at the top, for Cormces. read Pica, P. 263, in the title to

SECTION XVI

, for Snakes, read Feriues. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Section I

History and Name. It is conjectured, and with some degree of pro bability, that the freebooters who at one time infested most of the northern seas, first discovered the way to these islands, where they introduced sheep, in order that when obliged to put in there for shelter in the course of their frequent cruizes, they might always find a sufficient supply of provisions. In the time of Harald Harfager, king of Nor way, that is, in the ninth century, these islands were inhabited by some discontented Norwe gians, who for a long time supported themselves by piracy and occasional incursions into their original corn try, Norway. There is some reason to believe that these people were first subjected B to the Norwegian dominion by king Hagest Adelsteen, but they soon shook off that yoke, and maintained themselves in a state of freedom, till they were again reduced to obedience by king Magnus the Good; after which period these islands always belonged to Norway, till they became a part of Denmark by the union of the two crowns.

It is generally believed that the Norwegians who first established themselves in these islands gave them the name of Faaroe, from the number of sheep which they found in them,** and that this name by a little change in the pronunciation was altered to Feroe. I should readily subscribe to this opinion, were it certain that the Norwe-* gians employed the -wordfaar to express a sheep. But the term Fero is derived, perhaps, from fier, feathers; an article which, in consequence of the great number of sea fowl caught in thes$ islands, is very abundant; or from fiœr or fiœrn, far distant : the last derivation is the more pro bable, as the people in the north of Scotland give the name of Feroe to an island not far distant from these: and to distinguish it from the Feroe islands belonging to Denmark, they call the lat ter North Feroe. f But these are merely con- * Faar, in Danish, signifies a sheep, and oe an island.

T. t Called commonly Weir. Torfeus gives it the name of Foeroe. Barry's History ofthe Orkneys. jectures, which do not warrant us to affirm any thing certain on the subject.

Section II

Situation and Extent. The Feroe islands are situated in the North Sea, between the latitude of 61° 15' and 62° 21': in regard to longitude, the town of Thorshavn lies 19" 15' 15" west from Copenhagen, and 9° 47' 45" east from Teneriffe. They are about 380 English miles distant from the coast of Norway on the eastern side, and 200 miles from the Shetland isles towards the south-west. These islands are in number twenty-two, seventeen of which are inhabited. They occupy, in a direction from north to south, 67 miles; and extend in breadth, from east to west, 45 miles. They consist of a group of steep rocks or hills, rising from the sea, chiefly of a conical form, and placed for the most part close to each other, some of which proceed with an even declivity to the shore ; but the greater part of these declivities have two, three, or more sloping terraces, formed by projecting rocks, and covered with a thin stratum of earth, which produces grass- Close to the sea, however, the land in general b consists of perpendicular rocks, from two to three hundred fathoms in height.

The highest of all the hills in these islands, and that first seen by navigators, particularly from the west, is Skælling, which lies in the southern part of Nordstromoe. Its perpendicular height is 400 Danish fathoms, or 2240 English feet; and though it is the steepest of all these hills, it is possible to ascend to the top of it. When viewed from the bottom, it appears to terminate in a long sharp point; but when you have clambered up to its summit, you find a pretty level plain covered with moss, about 600 feet in length, and 200 in breadth. When the weather is clear, the whole of the Feroe islands may be seen from it. The hills lie so close to each other, that the termination of the bottom of one is the com mencement of the bottom of another, being separated merely by a brook or rivulet.

There are no vallies of any extent between them: in the higher ground between their summits a few dales, covered wiih wretched grass, are some times seen; but these are not level, being inter rupted sometimes by hillocks, sometimes by small rocky eminences, and sometimes by collec tions of large loose stones, which have the appearance of being thrown together by a volcanic eruption. On some heights there are found considerable tracts covered with rubbish, which seems to be effloresced matter thrown down from the rocks; and these tracts produce no grass, fate the finer mould, fit for the purposes of vegetation, which might be collected in them, is swept away by the violence ofthe winds,- or washed down by the rain and snow water. Some moist places, less exposed to the impetuosity of the winds, afford a scanty nourishment to the Kænigia islandica, and the drier spots produce the Saxi fraga oppositifolia and the Statice Armerta.

But such is the smoothness and steepness of many parts of these hills, that no earth can remain on them; and, in general, the stratum of earth by which the rocks of the Feroe islands are covered is so thin, that it is sometimes no more than eight inches in depth; and in the vallies, where the land, is arable, it never exceeds four feet.

Section III

Of the Hills. It would form a curious object of research to inquire in what manner the Feroe hills have been formed, and how they attained to their present elevation; whether above or under the water ? Whether they owe their height to volcanic explo sions which threw one stratum above another, or whether these strata were deposited upon each DESCRIPTION OK other under the water, and were afterwards mised to their present situation by a volcanic eruption, or some elastic force produced by subterranean inflammation; or whether these hills have been formerly covered by the sea, which has since retired back in consequence of some convulsion of nature ? To determine to which of these causes they are indebted for their origin, or whether to more than one of them united, would be interesting; but it would require much more knowledge than I can pre tend to possess; and I am inclined to think, that if some of those celebrated naturalists who have carefully explored the hills of other countries, and examined their interior parts; the different strata of which they consist, as well as the component parts of these strata, and from the result of this examination have given us their opinions, or conjectures, in regard to the manner in which these hills have been formed, should take a survey of the Feroe islands, they would in one place adopt one system, and in another a different one; or perhaps, be at length obliged to confess that they found themselves at a loss to account for the phenomena which they saw around them.

The form of the hills is different, according to their situation, whether more to the north or the south. Those in Suderoe exhibit, in general, an evener surface ; but those in Stromoe and Osteroe have on their sides several sloping terraces and hillocks, lying close to each other. These hillocks present nearly the same appearance; so that when viewed at some distance, particularly from another hill or eminence, they resemble a camp consisting of pitched tents: and when these hillocks are covered with snow, which is often the case when there is no snow in the lower regions, this resemblance is still more striking ; but the case with Norderoe is entirely different: the hills are steeper, and of a more conical form; and they have rough ridges on their summits, beset with projecting paps and asperities.

The terraces and indentations on these hillocks correspond, in general, to each other ; nay, where two large hills are separated by a dale, which is terminated by a creek or small inlet from the sea, it may be readily perceived that the projections and indentations on these hills correspond in most places to each other. The rocks in general consist of trap, almost every where intermixed with feld-spar, some glimmer and small grains of zeolite. The ridges of the hills sometimes exhibit clefts or fissures, which the inhabitants call skaare; and very often these fissures may be traced, in a straight line, through other inlands, notwithstanding the inter position of the sea. No certain traces of any crater or signs of volcanic eruptions are here to be found; nor did I ever observe any pumice-stone or lava in these islands, unless basaltes can be considered as belonging to that kind of production.

Besides the large collections of stones already mentioned, which are occasionally found in the hills, there are seen sometimes in the vallies single stones, six, eight, or ten feet in diameter, but in places where it is impossible they could have fallen down from the hills. Such stones are found also here and there at a considerable height in the hills, where there is no other emi nence in the neighbourhood from which they might have rolled down. On the sides of many of the hills, and particularly on the lower pro jecting declivities, there are often found great heaps of stones, among which there are some large ones; but it may be plainly perceived that these have been thrown down from the higher projections, in the fissures of which the rain water lodges, and when it freezes in winter it splits the rock by its expansion, and on a thaw taking place these fragments tumble down, and by their fall destroy the grass plats below.

But the stones thrown down in this manner are different from those before mentioned; for the latter have two sides, which stand at a right angle, or, at least they have one or more flat surfaces, whereas the former are in general round. In some of the hills there are strata of basaltic columns, standing in a perpendicular position; in other places they have an oblique direction. At Frodeboe, in Suderoe, is a series of these columns, the bottoms of which are concealed, but their summits are all visible. It extends to a considerable height in the side of the hill pro ceeding north or north-west, but sinks down towards the shore in a south or south-east direc tion ; and at the bottom of the hill these columns stretch out several fathoms into the sea, always sinking lower, till they at length disappear beneath the water.

In exploring the Feroe hills one often meets with deep fissures between them, partly filled with basaltic matter, which extends the length of sixty, a hundred, or two hundred feet, and some times more; and which seems to have been vio lently torn asunder in the middle, or to have been split, so that there is now seen on each side a thin incrustation, or wall, about eight inches in thickness, as smooth and regular as if it had been formed by art. The matter behind this incrusta tion I found, in some places where it was visible, to be a red kind of stone, or hardened ochreous clav; and very often the cavity between these walls of basaltic matter serves as a bed or channel for a rivulet or stream : but these fissures are not found so frequently high up in the hills as towards the sea coast, where the cavity between the walls is in general larger, and the walls higher.

Such is the external appearance of the hills in Feroe. It might now be worth while to take a view of their interior structure, and to examine the component parts of their different strata. Were one to attempt this with boring instru ments it would be a work of immense labour to penetrate the hard stone masses of which they are composed; but fortunately we can attain the same end in another manner, and with very great ease, as nature has laboured for us by splitting the high rocks, and tearing the one half from the other, so that in many places one sees on one side majestic cliffs rising perpendicularly to the height of five or six hundred feet, without being able to discover what has become of the other half. Thus, for example, when one comes to the mouth of a creek, or inlet of the sea, for all the habitations of the peasants almost are situated on creeks, it is seen that the hamlet is enclosed by hills on each side, but from the fore part of these hills there are several flat projections rising above each other; and if one looks down from any of these to the bottom of the hill, at the edge of the water it is observed that in many places it has a resemblance to the higher pro jections; so that if the water were to sink a few fathoms more, a new projection would appear where the water washes the bottom of the hill.

From this circumstance, I am much inclined to think that the water once stood at some of the higher projections, as it now stands at the lower. These hills, therefore, must have once been depressed to a greater depth in the water, from which they may have been afterwards raised up at different periods ; or the water has formerly stood at the height of the most elevated projec tions, and at different times may have sunk down gradually to its present level. But in examining the bottoms of the hills along the sea-coast one will often discover indubitable marks of volcanic eruptions, or of some other convulsion of nature which has acted a distinguished part in the formation of the singular phenomena which here present themselves to the eye of the curious observer. It is seen in many places close to the waters' edge, that the matter of which the rock is formed has been in a state of fusion, and has become hard in its course.

Sometimes this hardened matter is smooth on the surface, but has the appearance of the ice on a stream or rivulet, where the water rises above the first crust, and forms several strata one above the other; but sometimes this hardened matter is rough, and full of holes and knobs, such as we may suppose would be seen in metal first fused, and then cooled in water. Here also are seen the before-mentioned fissures, lined with basaltes, lying on each side in .a horizontal position; but where there is no fissure there is a cavity at the bottom of the rock, where it appears that the matter has been prevented from acquiring its usual position, and to have been twisted and bent by the force of the heat. In several parts of these islands may be seen lofty columns, bearing large arches, which sup port huge masses of rock; and under these arches there are wide apertures or cavities from twelve to twenty feet in length or breadth, the bottoms of which are covered by the sea.

There are also in some places narrower cavities., but these extend to a greater distance within the hills, and produce a very loud echo when a per son calls out before the mouth of them. Some of these cavities, which serve as places of retreat for the seals, are of such length, that one can proceed forwards in them with a boat from thirty to a hundred fathoms. Others extend quite through the hill, so as to be open at both ends; and some of them stretch across a whole island. In some small creeks at the bottom of the steep hills, or which form indentations in them, there are frequently seen tall rugged rocks, of a pyramidal form, some of them like towers, and at such a distance from the parent rock, that a boat can row between them. These rocks, to which the inhabitants give the name of Drenge, are of various heights, for some of them rise scarcely to the fourth part or half the height of the parent rock, while others rise to the same height.

But these rocks are not confined merely to the creeks; some of them are found at the projecting extremities of the islands; others stand close to the sides of the hills, at the distance of a few fathoms from the land ; and some so close, that the water can scarcely find a pas sage between them; but it is evidently seen that they have once formed a part of the coast from which they have by some means or other been torn. At the bottom of the rocks there are some times seen immense columns, between some of which and the rock there is a vacant space to wards the foot of them, while the tops, bent towards the rock, are united with it, as if they had been raised on purpose to support it and prevent it from falling into the sea. Others of them are connected with the hill at the bottom, and have their tops entirely free and disengaged from it.

Such phenomena are not uncommon at the projecting extremities of the Feroe islands ; in particular all the appearances which I have here mentioned may be seen at the western and northern extremities of Stromoe and Vaagoe; and I have no doubt that the extremities of the other islands exhibit other phenomena which may be partly similar to, and partly different from those here described. But 1 must observe that what I have said is far beneath the truth, and that no words of mine could convey an adequate idea of these wonderful works of nature. It has been already said that some of the hills which hang over the sea are cleft from top to bottom, and that one half seems to have been removed to what place no one can tell; while the other stands exposed to open view, and ex hibits to the observer the different strata of which it is composed.

But the component parts of the strata are not equally visible in all the hills which have been cleft in this manner, for some appear so dusky and worn by the hand of time that though it can be seen that they are composed of strata, it is impossible to discover of what these strata con sist. Others, on the contrary areas clean and fresh on the surface as if the convulsion had re cently taken place. Captain Born who resided several years as commandant in these islands, and who constructed an accurate chart of them, has given, in the Transactions ofthe Society of Natural History at Copenhagen, a description of the strata observed in the hills of Feroe, part of which I shall here take the liberty of transcribing, especially as he had a much better opportunity than I had of ex amining them ; and I think it my duty to remark that his observations correspond in general with those made by myself in various parts of Feroe.

" The strata in the hills of these islands consists, THE TEROE ISLANDS. 15 in many places, as far as they rise above the level of the sea, 1st. " Of a compact sort of stone, in which rents, not however very wide, frequently occur. On the fracture this species of stone exhibits a very coarse grain ; has a shining appearance, and is of a dark blue colour; as far as has yet been seen it is not mixed with any other sort of stone. 2nd. " A b'uish grey and finer grained sort of stone, which contains grains of quartz and calcedony. 3d. "A darker black kind of stone, which at a considerable distance appears to be rough and full of cavities." The author does not give any name to this kind of stone which forms a considerable part of the rocks in Feroe, but he remarks that it is not so hard as that mentioned in the 1st. article.

It exhibits no cracks or fissures; and though it is inferior in hardness its small particles adhere so strongly that it is easier to reduce it to powder than to break a fragment from it. This species of stone appears to be porous, and is intermixel with particles which seem to be real zeolite. 3d. " Here and there between other strata is a dark coarse grained porous kind of stone, partly of a brownish black, and partly a grey colour. It often lies in horizontal strata, and is full of round holes formed by air bubbles. It is in this kind of stone that zeolites are oftenest found. 4th. " In some places also there are strata of a fine orained stone like sand-stone: it is of a in grey colour, but so hard and compact that it can not be used for grindstones. 5th, and lastly, " Basaltes, and another kind of stone less basaltic in its nature, of which, according to the Captain's account, the Feroe islands for the most part consist."

If the stone mentioned in the second article be not granite, the Captain is of opinion that he saw in these islands no granite; and the case is the same in rega-d to lime-stone. In order to illustrate this subject better, Cap tain Born examined with great attention the island of Myggenæs, and the small islands which lie around it. The length of Myggenæs is considered to be about four English miles and a half, and its per pendicular height above the surface of the water from twelve to fifteen hundred feet. Here nature has formed a rock which exhibits to the eye the different strata of which the island con sists. But from the oblique strata which sink down towards the east, and rise up towards the west, the Captain concludes, that if this steep rock was thrown up from the sea at a very early period by some revolution in the earth, the shock under the island may have been stronger in the west than the east ,* or that this rock may have formerly been higher above the surface of the sea, and afterwards sinking down, may have fallen to a greater depth on the east side than the west.

In describing the different strata of which the rock consists, the Captain says, " The small island which lies to the west of this rock, and which has been torn from Myggenæs, consists of small crystallised basaltes, which extend below the island of Myggenæs and the western end of the reck, and which decline towards the east under the water. Upon this is deposited a stratum of the stone, described in the third article; which, like the greater part of the following strata, sink beneath the water. The next is a thin stratum of red petrified clay, above which is a stratum of the stone described in the second article ; and then one of the stone mentioned in the first article. Above this is a second stratum of the petrified clay, then the stone described in the third article ; then another stratum of the clay, and above it a stratum of the stone described in the fourth article.