White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-12-10

THE bleak, wind-swept Faeroes
soon will hear the drone of reg
ular mail planes, for a new land
Ing field is planned for accommo-
dalton Of planes which will fly the pro-
posed America-Denmark air mail
route.
The Faeroes, numbering twenty-one
small Islands sprinkled over small
area about $50 miles off the northern
tip of Scotland have remained practi-
cally unchanged since Viking days.
Modern civilization can find no foot
hold on their windy cliffs; there life
can exist only when modelled on an
Gent, primitive patterns. And so the
islanders, forever wrestling with
waves and winds, have little time for
the tourist or his money.
Each of the islands rises from the
sea with TANKS as sheer as ships
sides and with plateau top, flat like
q ships deck. In all the Faeroes there
Is only one small sandy beach Of a
hundreds feet or so, beach which is
considered such remarkable gift of
nature that the big island Of Sando
takes it's name from the tiny strand.
Basalt cliffs rise majestically on all
the islands. Some tower nearly 1000
feet above the restless sea, and against
these black barriers the Atlantic sends
her mighty waves, to break with eX-
plosive force and burst into probably
the most remarkable clouds Of spray
and surf to be found in all the world.
videro is probably the bleakest is
land Of them all and therefore visitors
seldom land there. But the effort
pays, for there the dwellings are of
the most ancient type, customs have
been handed down unmodided, and it
Is such colony as Left Ericsson
might have planted. There is no.
town; not even a store. Low stone
farmhouses, half sunk In the ground
and girded by outer stone walls to
escape the violent winds, cling to the
barrens. Sheep Craze at will.
Live in "Smoke Rooms"
So poor is Videro that only one
house. that belonging to the school
master, a very great man indeed, has
a "glass ROOM" Such an extravaganza
Is not for the average Videro dweller,
who lives with his family in a "smoke
room,' or a converted smoke room.
The smoke room, which was once typ
lcal of all rural homes in the Faeroes
and still survives in many, hanks back
to the feast halls of the Vikings. Usu-
ally it is large, since it is often the
only room in the house, except the
stable below it for horses and cows,
and must serve for the entertainment
Of the neighbors as we'll as for all
family uses Around the room there
are no windows; only the entrance
door and those that open on the orig
lnal pullman BEDS" which may be
single-or double-deck
In the center of the room stands
low stone forge on which burns peat
or, rarely, brown coal, and above the
fire hangs a wooden chimney, which
carries some, but not all, of the smoke
to the outside air. Converted smoke
rooms with modern improvements
cleaned, and skylight glass window
where once an aperture in the roof,
uncovered in good weather, suffered
to admit light.
While the schoolmaster has his
"stove room" and is the only man of
videro with glass room, nearly all
the farmhouses on Stromo island have
glass rooms, and in Thorshavn, the
capital itself, the communal stove
room has been left out in the new.
grace1ess concrete houses.
A glass room is an appendage of
the smoke Or stove room, having glass
windows. Usually it is parlor and.
like parlors Of an earlier day, can be
used only on state occasions-for q
funeral, for marriage, or reception
Of special guest. Generally the I'M
used parlor contains the family's only
furniture, such as table, few
chairs, q vase with paper flowers, and
religious pictures on the wall
Frequently the glass room is opened
for travellers but the stranger usually
. prefers the family living room, with
it's warm stove, to these parlors, which
give forth the cold musty odor Of a
cellar closed for many years.
Like Their Food "Hiah."
The stove room serves, of course, as
the dining room. Sheep, fish and
whale are staples with the islanders.
The first two are common enough to
most people. The method of prepar-
ing the food for the table in the
Faeroes scarcely recommends it to the
fastidious. Like most primitive north
ern peoples, the islanders prefer high
meat, and to satisfy. this desire they
hang skinned sheep in an open shed
for about year before eating it. The
carcass acquires crust like camem