The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-04
THE FAROE ISLANDS.

| MT, Consul Viliers writes an inter-
 esting report to the foreign office on
 the Farce Islands, which, he says, do
 not deserve to remain so much beyond the range of those who travel, either 1 for pleasure or profit. They may, he | points out. be reached from Leith
 within forty-eight hours by the Dan ish Royal mail steamerh, and will well 1 repay a visit though we gather that | hotel accommodation Is still to be pro- vided. MT Villiers gives the following picture, among others, of fishing life on | the islands. Ut must not be assumed | that because the Farce Islander does not cultivate much land Or attend much to the raising of stock he Is un- meployed: the sea $ his harvest field 1 Active he may be on land, but the wa ter is his element, and the products of the waters are his sources of wealth. It is as fisherman and bird catcher that he excells It is an endless pleas-
 ure to watch him, whether he be hand ling the oar or the rudder, cleaving
 now and again with the former breaker surging off his rockbound
  boat, or easing the latter as blast of
 wind fills his little brown sail as if in- tending to capsize his craft in the
 midst ot turbulent eddies, where cur rents race at nearly ten knots an hour. or whether he be hanging In midair on the face of a fowling cliff.
 sky above and surf below, with myr- I iads of angry and bewildered sea fowl
 flying around him, forming, as it were, living snowstorm while he deftly catches them in his folwing net or re-
 moves their eggs from their nesting
 places His prowess must be Wit messed to be credited The risk Is great his life precarious; a village IS
 now and again deprived by one storm
 of it's entire adult male population.
 If successful, what is his reward?
 A humble livelihood. Singing hymn,
 the Farce fisherman leaves his harbor with a few companions in a slender lightly built beat of an ancient and
 recognized model, constructed ito be- have we'll in a rough sea rather than for any comfort, and capable of seat ing four, six or eight and sometimes
 ten men, His boat is provided With
 oars. with a mast and sail for use
 should the wind prove favorable, { water keg and few provisions. He is
 dressed in woolen garments. usually
 homemade, and in stormy weather he
 dons a. suit of oi!slSins. HIS gear con- sists of some long lines usually six.
 These are about sight hundred feet
 long, and attached at short intervals
 are short lines with hooks for bait. As
 bait he uses small coalfish, m,uscles or pieces of bird flesh With these lines
 he catches cod, coalfish, halibut, her ring and plaice; freduently capturing
 enormous specimens. In fair weather
 he will go out to the fishing banks
 many miles from land.
 "Even on his successful return, her aided by the singing again of his fla vorIte hymn as he enters port, his la
 bors are not ended. for even if wet and tired he must immediately cut open,
 tehead. clean and deliver his fish to a merchant, wto weighs them and de- posits them. salted, in his cellar The principal industry is the treatment of
 split cod These, after salting, re-
 ouire to be washed and sun dried on the rocks, langthy process, engaging many women and children during the summer months Most of these split cod are exported to Italy and Spain.
 the market for them varying according to their size. Fish are also taken by nets as well as by lines Besides the onen boats, there are now nearly one hundred decked boats employed, and
 the fishing industry is being thus de-
 veloped. These are mostly old Eng fish boats, and are bought cheaply, es pecially now that the steam trawler
 has begun to replace their use. AL
 though the foreign trawlers, with their
 broad sweeping nets, frequently visit
 the distant fishing banks and success fully carry to the United Kingdom and to the Continent holds full of prof itable fresh fish, no Farce Islander has as yet acquired one. Trawling is not permitted within three miles of the
 shore. that is to say, inside territorial waters. Further, the presence in these waters of fishing vessels with travis on board, although not engaged in fishing, is not allowed, except in