, and frost and snow rarely last
over two months. They are subject, however, at that season to frequent
and terrible gales from the north, and during the summer are often
inaccessible for days and even weeks, owing to dense fogs. The
humidity of the climate is favorable to the growth of grass, which
covers the hills with a brilliant coating of green wherever there is
the least approach to soil; and where there is no soil, as in many
places along the shores, the rocks are beautifully draped with moss
and lichens. The highest point in the group is 2800 feet above the
level of the sea, and the general aspect of them all is wild and
rugged in the extreme. Prodigious cliffs, a thousand feet high, stand
like a wall out of the sea on the southern side of the Stromoe. The
Mygenaes-holm, a solitary rock, guards, like a sentinel, one of the
passages, and forms a terrific precipice of 1500 feet on one side,
against which the waves break with an everlasting roar. Here the
solan-goose, the eider-duck, and innumerable varieties of gulls and
other sea-fowl, build their nests and breed.

[Illustration: VIEW IN FAROE ISLANDS.]

At certain seasons of the year the intrepid bird-hunters suspend
themselves from the cliffs by means of ropes, and feather their own
nests by robbing the nests of their neighbors. Enormous quantities of
eggs are taken in this way. The eider-down, of which the nests of the
eider-duck are composed, is one of the most profitable articles of
Faroese traffic. The mode of life to which these men devote
themselves, and their habitual contact with dangers, render them
reckless, and many perish every year by falling from the rocks. Widows
and orphans are numerous throughout the islands.

The few scattering farms to be seen on the slopes of the hills and in
the arable valleys are conducted on the most primitive principles. A
small patch of potatoes and vegetables, and in certain exposures a few
acres of grain, comprise the extent of their agricultural operations.
Sheep-raising is the most profitable of their pursuits. The climate
appears to be more congenial to the growth of wool than of cereal
productions. The Faroese sheep are noted for the fineness and
luxuriance of their fleece, and it always commands a high price in
market. A considerable portion of it is manufactured by the
inhabitants, who are quite skillful in weaving and knitting. They make
a kind of thick woolen shirt, something like that known as the
Guern