Evening star., 1924-07-25
FARCE ISLES OFFER
UNIQUE FEATURES
Place Where u. S. FLYERS
Will Stop Has No Vehicles
Because of No Roads.
FRESH MEAT VERY RARE
Only Five Sunny Days a Year and
Gardens Are Practically
Unknown.
FRESH MEAT VERY RARE

II the American world -circling
flyers wish to command full atten-
tion of the Farce islanders they must
make Thorshaven. tho island cap
ital, before July 29," says a bulletin
from the headquarters here OF the
National Geographic Society.
For the frugal, serious Farce
folk have one important holiday. St
Olafs day, on July %, and the next
day they invariably start haymak-
ing. The weather or the condition
OF the crop has no bearing; the ira
ditional date must be observed
Islands without Roads.
when the flyers aHght on one or
the little island group, which lies
midway between the ShetIands and
Iceland. the airplanes VIII be a nov
city to the people. Equally novel.
moreover, would be an automobile,
horse and wagon. d boy on roller
skates or any vehicle on wheels.
The islands are roadless.
The capital, Thorshayen, has no
paved streets. Houses are helter-
skelter, paths twist among them.
hordes of wandering black ducks
groceries and milk and goats justify
an ancient joke by 'abutting' too
literally on these tortuOus thorough
fares.
Cliffs and Wild Birds.
IF the flyers carried sightsecrs
they might well afford long stop
over at the Faroes. There are 81 is
lands of appreciable size II are in
habited and some of the latter often
see no off-island visitors for years.
Yet practically all the islands have
alluring natural beauties = notably
the tall cliffs, carved Enthusiastically,
washed by exceptionally strong tidal
currents and circled by wild birds.
The FaIoes' unique natural fea-
ture is Lake Sovvaag, on Vaago.
Practically surrounded by inacces-
sible walls for all Of its six-mile
length, the water finds an overflow
on seaward cliff and falls sheer
$50 feet into the ocean 1t is the
only lake of its size in the world
that pours its water directly into the
sea.
Gardens are at a premium in the
islands. Sheep and goats don't aid
garden making. In the small Amer
lean village of generation ago the
clergyman usually had the one home
library in the town; in the Faroes
the pastor often has the only garden.
Five CIoudless Days Year.
The animals are not wholly TO
blame for the somewhat barren land
scapes-barren of trees and natural
growth as well as of gardens. The
islands are among the cloudiest re-
gions of the world; over a consider
able period only five days year
ranked as cloudless. Our flyers will
find the Faroes' temperature in mid
summer about like that of Denmark
in early April The clouds, not the
latitude, are mostly to blame.
"It is as hard to get fresh meat on
the islands as it would be to order "A
vegetable luncheon. Having formed
the dried fish habit of necessity, the
people have drifted into the dried
meat habit from analogy. Whale meat,
aged year or two and cooked in
whale oil is home delicacy, but is
not highly recommended by occasion
al island guests. The islanders, for
their part, can't see why visitors
should eat trout, and they will only
cook the fish, which abound in the
many insular lakes. under protest.
Hosts and guests usually are in
agreement, however. on the high
merit of the goat cheese and the bar
ley bread baked over turf fire.
The islands belong to Denmark, OF
which they form a county. They have
an aggregate land area of about 500
square miles and a total population OF
some 10000 people"