racter.

I shall only add at present, in reference to this lively party of
young "Britishers," that I found them very good fellows in their
way--a little boisterous and inexperienced, but well-educated and
intelligent. The young chap with the dog was what we would call in
America a "regular bird." He and his dog afforded us infinite
diversion during the whole passage--racing up and down the decks, into
and out of the cabin, and all over each other. There was something so
fresh and sprightly about the fellow, something so good-natured, that
I could readily excuse his roughness of manner. One of the others, a
quiet, scholastic-looking person, who did not really belong to the
party, having only met them on board, was a young collegian well
versed in Icelandic literature. He was going to Iceland to perfect
himself in the language of the country, and make some translations of
the learned Sagas.

A favorable wind enabled us to sight the Orkneys on the afternoon
following our departure from the Frith of Forth. Next day we passed
the Shetlands, of which we had a good view. The rocky shores of these
islands, all rugged and surf-beaten, with myriads of wild-fowl
darkening the air around them, presented a most tempting field of
exploration. I longed to take a ramble in the footsteps of Dr.
Johnson; but to see the Shetlands would be to lose Iceland, and of the
two I preferred seeing the latter. After a pleasant passage of two
days and a half from Grangemouth we made the Faroe Islands, and had
the good fortune to secure, without the usual loss of time occasioned
by fogs, an anchorage in the harbor of Thorshavn.

[Illustration: A DANDY TOURIST.]

[Illustration: THORSHAVN.]

CHAPTER XLI.

THE FAROE ISLANDS.

The Faroe Islands lie about midway between Scotland and Iceland, and
belong to Denmark. The whole group consists of thirty-five small
islands, some of which are little more than naked rocks jutting up out
of the sea. About twenty are inhabited. The rest are too barren and
precipitous to afford a suitable place of abode even for the hardy
Faroese. The entire population is estimated at something over six
thousand, of which the greater part are shepherds, fishermen, and
bird-catchers. Owing to the situation of these islands, surrounded by
the open sea and within the influence of the Gulf Stream, the climate
is very mild, although they lie in the sixty-second degree of north
latitude. The winters are never severe