some places to the East and in some other to the VVest At the South of Suderoe there is a whirle pool in the midst whereof stands a high Rock called Sumboe Munk neer that Rock there are six others that rise a little above the water on which when one setteth the Compass it turneth round and is so spoiled that it is afterwards of no use for some years ago there came a Ship too near this Sumboe Munk whereupon all the Compasses that were in the Ship as the Master related afterwards to the Inhabitants of Suderoe were spoiled and his Voyage had been so too had not a Seaman of the Ship by chance had a Loadstone wherewith he touched the Compasses anew The ordinary declination of the Loadstone on Feroe is otherwise 13 degrees 19 minutes to the North VVest which Severin Lawson formerly chief Marchant on Feroe a Burger of Copenhagen very expert in the Art of Navigation did mark and reckon out in the year 1659 the 26 of December at Thors Haven on Ferce Since we have described the Land of Feroe especially so that honest Marriners may the better know the Land Marks we will also here comprehend something of the Streams Between these several divided Islands there runneth many strong Currents in several manners according as the necks or points of Land meet against the streams and according to the scituation of the said land which causeth specially in VVinter when there is a storm and the wind bloweth against Tide a terrible and turbulent Sea principally where there is ground neer the surface of the water for where those grounds stretch themselves towards the Land the Sea raiseth it self and tumbleth about against it so that it is terrible to consider yea it breaketh so strengly against the Land that scarce any Ship where it is sufficiently deep can get over them which grounds with breaking waves are called in the Language of Feroe Boffves If there comes any Boats on these Boffves when they break it is presently sunk with men and all It happened for 16 years ago that Mr. John Hanson Hardy Curate of Suderoe on his Voyage to Thors Haven in a Sexâ—ing that is a great Boat rowed by twelve men came on such a Boffve in pretty good weather yet both he and his wife and all his Children with other of his Folks to the number of 21 souls were all drowned And the Boat sunk by the Boffve It happened in that sad accident that amongst these drowned Folks the Curates VVife floated up again eight days after and was found driving in the Current whereof doubtless the cause is that she had greater veins then ordinary as is usual for women to have by the blowing up of which her Corps was brought a Float It is very observable that when the said Boffve breaketh in bad weather it doth so three or seven times together without ceasing and then resteth some time therefore when the Inhabitants come to such a Boffve and must needs over it they lye still untill the Boffve hath broken and then get over it speedily with their Boat Besides the Boffve breaks also in still weather when it is very warm and when there will be Frost or Snow Thirdly when some Boat goeth something near the land over the Boffve that breaks not then but lyeth still it breaketh up unawares of it self and often bringeth people in danger I have been told by an old honest man yet living very expert from his youth both in Currents and Boffves who knew all the Boffves round about the Countrey where he lived that it happened some years since he went with a Boat from the Land whereon he dwelt namely Kolâ—er over to Stromoe to set there a man on land and went into a little Creek of the length of a Boat and half so broad where he set the man on shoar it being then quiet and still all about when against all expectation a Boffve broke upon him so that he and all his folks were in very great danger of their lives having never from his youth nor since that time perceived any Boffve to be there The Inhabitants are in this simple opinion that the Sea is sensible and that the Boffves cannot endure the Iron of the Boat But hereupon these are my reflections that the Boffve breaks up a certain number of times happeneth by the providence of God that hath created all things according to weight measure and number but that the Boffves break either against warm weather or against a North wind and Snow or a so when some Boat goeth over the same must have an occult cause which is hard to be found out and that one may the better understand the cause of it one must consider that there is this order in nature All motion that happeneth between the Elements and other beings that have neither sense nor life doth happen by a Magoetical Sympathy or Antipathy that is a hidden and inward affection in senseless beings whereby some things love eath other and are easily united together some hate one the other and cannot be united whereby there is made a motion in nature as if there were some life in the things which move themselves or suffer themselves to be moved This is perfectly seen in the Loadstone which by Sympathy loveth Iron and turneth it self towards it This is manifest enough amongst Medicaments and specially it is seen and perceived in Antidotes that is Medicines against poyson and in the poisons themselves for when a man hath taken some poison and thereupon taketh in an Antidote the poison is then driven out by the Antidote Chymists do find the same amongst Mettals and Minerals for Gold hateth Brimstone driving it away and contrarywise loveth Salt drawing the same to it self being easily united with it in Operations Silver on the contrary hateth salt drives it away and instead thereof loveth Brimstone There is a natural Sympathy and Antipathy between the Elements and is even so as we have now exprest between Mettals and Minerals for suppose a Circle divided in 4 parts with A. B. C. D. Lâ—t A. be Gold and Earth B. Silver and Water C. Bâ—imstorâ— and Air D Salt and Fire as A. Gold suffereth it self easily to be united and melted together with B. Silver so A. Earth is easily mixt with B. Water attracts it willingly to its self and draweth its fatness from it water also loveth Earth as its proper mansion wherein it resteth Secondly as B. Silver loveth C. Brimstone so B. Water maketh much of its neighbour C. Aire suffers it self easily to be attracted into it and joyns it in operation with it self In the third place as C. Brimstone is united with D. Salt to work with joyned forces on Mettals so the Air C. taketh easily to it self the Fire D. to play with it in Nature the Fire again loveth Air so much that without it it is as dead and hath no force On the otherside the Fire D. adhears to the Earth A. as
to a fit matter from which it receiveth force and can exercise its Functions and Earth again receiveth Fire lovingly that it may be warmed by it and produce its fruits As Salt D. adhears to Gold A. as to its fit subject wherein 〈◊〉 can operate so Gold again receiveth Salt joyfully as its kindest Friend of whomi it receiveth food and nourishment More over as we thus find a natural Sympathy between the things now mentioned we find also an Antipathy between them for as Gold A. cannot suffer Brimstone C nor Silver B. Salt D. who as their respective Enemies stand opposed in the Figure so the Earth A. cannot abide the air C. nor the water B. the Fire D. which therefore stand also over against one another in the figure and yet they are bound together by an orderly Sympathy for air it self cannot be shut up within the Earth and if it happeneth so it doth not tarry long in that Lodging but breaketh out with great force and causeth those terrible Earth quakes neither can the Earth remain above in the air but stayeth in its proper Seat and if the Sun draweth any thing from it into the air that gross unpolished guest knoweth not how to behave himself in that subtile habitation neither can the Air well abide it and therefore there ariseth a quarrel between them with terrible Thunder and Lightning In the same manner Fire cannot be united with Water without one of the parties destruction as is known to every body Notwithstanding that the Elements are in their nature so contrary to one another neverthelese the one will not nor can be without the other suffering each other by a temperature but when that is wanting so that there be either excess or defect nature then suffereth and is moved by Antipathy by which reason this unexpected motion doth happen in the water over those grounds that are called Boffves For it is seen in Feroe when the Air is very warm so that there ariseth a Fog from the Sea rendring the Air dusky that not only the Currents run a great deal swifter and stronger then at other times but the Sea also groweth stormy beating against the Land and the Boffves break out though it be still weather which happeneth because of the Antipathy that is between Water and warmth in its excess whereby Water suffereth in its nature Quite contrary this happeneth also when there will come a strong Frost and Snow in Winter the Currents grow then stronger The Sea beats the Boffves arise though it be very still weather because there happeneth a deficiency in the temperature of warmth water being forced to lose a part of its natural heat and therefore cannot keep its innate fluiddity but must by suffering in its nature let it self be chang'd to a standing rigid matter namely Ice which affect the Elements do perceive afore hand and by the vertue of their Magnettical Antipathy move themselves This Motion is also perceived in houses for it happeneth in Feroe that when there is a great storm and the wind cannot have its passage between those many hills as in plain ground that it is sometimes quite still in the Valleys so that one may go with a light between the houses and on the contrary the gathered wind comes afterwards a great deal stronger and more terrible but before such weather cometh or that one can perceive any thing of it as the water ariseth before the coming of a hard Frost so are the houses moved before this stormy weather cometh so that every nail of the house cracks though the houses be scarce moved afterwards when the storm beats upon them they being low and Fortified about with thick walls of Turffs and Stones which motion must therefore necessarily happen in the manner aforesaid But that the Boffves break when there comes a Boat over them hath a far more hidden cause though it may happen by the aforesaid Magnettical Sympathy We have declared above how it is with the Loadstone in that Countrey on the Rocks near Sumboe Munk and I doubt not but there being so strong a Magnet in those Rocks that are so little above the water there may also be a Magnet in such grounds whence it comes that when a Boat passeth over them the Loadstone by its Sympathy attracts the Iron of the Boat which that shallow water not being able to endure riseth it self though I leave herein every one to his own judgment Concerning the Current of the stream it runneth very swistly about the points of Land especially in the new and full Moon eight men in a Boat not being able to overcome it but must stay till it hath run out and turneth it self by reason of which it happeneth often that when the poor Inhabitants are at Sea about their Fishing and there cometh an unexpected storm the stream being against them they must stay on the same place at all adventure untill the turning of the stream and till they get the Current with them towards the Land but if the storm groweth too strong those poor people often come to misfortunes It cannot be well exprest with a pen how fierce the Sea is nor to what height it raiseth it self when the wind and the stream are against one another And it is observable as is said above that when the Current runneth against the wind the wind bloweth with greater force then it doth else and when the stream runneth before the wind it stilleth it self so that they seem at first to strive against each other as two enemies and afterwards to grow milder when one of them doth fly I must here relate an Example of the Sea's terribleness by the reason aforesaid The little Island Kolter which is described above is exposed to the open Sea on the west side and there is towards the Main a Promontory thirty Fathoms high where the Sea almost every winter breaks over with a Western wind and that in such quantity that the Inhabitants are sometimes in danger though the Sea has yet 50 Fathoms to run without the Clifts before it reacheth the Land It happened for some years ago that there lay a large stone six foot long and four foot thick and broad on a corner of the said Promontory which stone the proud Sea tumbled about and threw some paces from the place where it lay before that seems incredible if one considers the bigness of the stone and the height of the Mountain and one might well say how is it possible that the Sea can rise fifty Ells up in the Air but it is nevertheless a perfect truth for it hath not only been related to me by the Countrymen of the Island but it lying in my Parish I have my self been there and exactly considered the place and he that takes good notice of it may rather wonder then conceive how it can be so The Fishers say also that when there hath been some days such a strange storm of water and wind and the wind afterwards
the most part contemn the opinion there should be any We call such Apparitions Specters because they present themselves to the eyes of men appearing as if they were real bodies whereas they are spirits that take upon them an external figure and in respect to a right created body are to be considered but as shadows Wherefore Christ says to his Apostles that took him to be such a spirit Why are you so afraid and why come such thoughts into your hearts look upon my hands and feet it is my self feel and see for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones as you see I have that is though a spirit appears with the outward figure of a body By which words Christ doth not refute the Apostles opinion of spirits as vain and erroneous but agrees with them that there are Phantasms that they are spirits and that the figure they take hath not the propriety of a natural body Secondly Christ grants that they had cause to have been afraid if he had been a Phantasm Whereby we are taught that our own nature proveth their existencie since we are afraid when they appear by reason of the innate emnity which is between men and such spirits Wherefore when Eliphas of Theman saw a spirit going before him and there stood an image before his eyes whereof he did not know the figure but heard a voice the hair of his body stood upon end In Latin they call them Spectra that is such spirits as are seen so that the invisible good Angels when they appear in visible forms for as much as they are seen may also be called Spectra but we according to the Holy Scriptures and the explication of all Learned men understanding only by Specters spirits who in several visible Figures and likenesses appear unto men either to hurt or frighten them of which sort was the figure that appeared to King Saul in the likeness of Samuel 1 Sam. 28. as also the Divels outward shape that spoke with Christ and tempted him in the wilderness Mat. 4. The Heathens in their writings call some of those Specters Eaunes Satyrs and Panes which we call in Danish Skow and Bierge-Trold that is Wood and Mountain spirits those of Feroe call them under-ground people hollow men and Foddenskemand The Holy Scripture calls them Gods of the Woods Esaiah 13 th and also field Gods Deut. 32. which really are none but unclean spirits I have read in the writings of a godly man who pretended that besides the good and bad Angels there were also external spirits of the world which were not eternal and took their natural origine of the worlds visible spirit and finished also naturally which if it were they should then be some other Creatures then the eternal spirits or the visible shap'd Creatures Though there be much whereof our eyes cannot see the essence our reason comprehending no further then what is discovered in the outward corporal nature which yet it harldly comprehends as the wise man complaineth nevertheless one ought not to affirm such things as have no ground in the word of God though it were so in nature and therefore we will only contemplate these Apparitions by the clear light of Gods word and thereby together with understanding Learned mens writings see what one may conclude and judge of them One would think it might be worth a particular Speculation that the Holy Scripture speaks of Phantasms together with Zijm Jim and Ochim Esa 13. 21. cap. 34. 14. Jer. 50. 39. for the Lord threatning Babylon with its last destruction saith by the Prophet Esaias Babylon shall be changed as Sodom and Gomorrha and no man shall inhabit there any more neither live there for ever but Zijm shall there pitch their Tents and their houses shall be full of Ochim Ostridges shall live there and wood divels leap thereabouts Owls shall sing in their Palaces and Dragons dwell in their pleasure-houses The Prophets calling them Zihim and Ohim is not expounded by Luther in his Bible by any other word but he writes in the Margin that he taketh them to be all sorts of wild Beasts understanding without doubt such wilde Beasts as the wise man describes in this manner Wis 11. ver 19 c. The Lord saith he sent over them because of their sins new shaped cruel unkown Beasts that either breathed out flame or blew out cruel smoke or darted sparks terribly from their eyes which not only could bruise them to pieces with terror but murther them with the terribleness of their sights The wise man reckoneth also up these unknown Beasts Chap. 17. ver 3. 9. among spirits wherewith the Egyptians were terrified Maldonatus in his Scholia upon Esaiah esteems this kind of cruel unknown wild Beasts to be a sort of Divels That excellent Philosopher and Divine Johannes Henricus Vrsinus in the sixth Book Chap. 27. of his Analâ—ecta sacra writes that these names can signifie both cruel wild Beasts and men but more properly Devils for Zijm from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 driness are properly those that inhabit dry and desart places Jijm from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Island those that live in Islands Ochim from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a funeral Bird those that cry out with a terrible voice but in the Prophet he understands Divels to be so called first because seirim or Wooddivel is also mentioned there secondly because Saint John doth so expound it in the Book of the Revelations Chap. 18. ver 2. when he saith she is fallen she is fallen Babylon the great and is become the habitation of Divels and the domicil of all unclean spirits and the repair of all unclean birds Thirdly because it is plain both by holy and profane writings and experience teacheth actually that Divels have their habitations in desart places My poor conclusion is this that the examples and clear words of the Holy Scripture do agree both with other Histories as also with the above-mentioned of the apparition of spirits that they were not fancies but were real and indeed and those Images not being substantial bodies they must be spirits in external figure and appearing to hurt men that they are not good but bad spirits that is very Divels And such as are mentioned in the abovesaid true Histories whether they appeared in the Figure of man or of any Beast are doubtless that sort of Divels which the Holy Scripture particularly calls Field-gods in the fifth Book of Moses Chap. 32. ver 17. 2 Chron. Chap. 9. ver 15. For Divels can far easier turn themselves in several such forms than in that of Angels of light it being all one what name one gives such Apparitions if one but knows their Chief who as the deadly enemy of all mankind that walketh in every Element to hurt man Sinesius teaching that there are six sorts of spirits that are all bad appearing to men specially to hurt them namely those that are in the air in the fire in the water upon the earth under
beats the harder upon such ground as ariseth within Botthen which is perceived likewise in the streight near the Isle of Alland where because the grounds lye shallow here is heard a terrible noise which Mr. Herbinius affirms in his Dissertation to have himself experimented believing not before that such things were in nature As Whirle pools have hitherto given much to think to many so streight Currents have not busied the thoughts of a lesser number to explicate fundamentally their true cause ground and manner and though they did invent some causes they have not yet found the true Form and Modell My intention is not to set up my self against such eminent Philosophers but only to write down what I have experimented and discerned in nature if I can thereby bring any light to natural History I hope it will not displease the Ingenious Reader First here is set down the inward cause namely the secret Magnetick Sympathetical and Antipathetical vertue proved and explicated above by which Nature worketh between the Elements and bringeth them into moâ—ion Secondly there are found two other active external causes the one is the inward warmth of the Earth the other the heat of the Sun and Stars The warmth of the Earth is not as some wrongfully think a subterranean fire for then the Sea should be most moved near Island Italy and Sâ—icily since there are seen visible signs of it near them namely burning fires in the Mountains of Hecla Vesuvio and Aetna But there is a natural warmth in the Earth by vertue whereof Grass Herbs and Trees have their growing motion which â—s proved by this that the Sea hath principally in the Spring in March and April its chiefest motion and greatest Ebb and Floud in Feroe when warmth gets the upper hand and the Earth openeth it self for Plants to break out of it which motion with its Ebb and Floud doth not come as Cartesius supposeth from the the Earths Conjunction with the Moon in the Collure of the Solstice The Earth being removed under the Eqnator or the Line and the Moon under the Ecliptick meeting together in Aries and in Libra where the Aequator divideth the Zodiack and therefore the Sea and Stream are strongest in the Spring and in Autumn We will not enter here into the dispute about the motion of the Earth but only say against it that if it were so the Flouds should be greatest and the Streams most rapid both in the Spring and Autumn as Cortesius himself affirmeth though notwithstanding Ebb and Floud is greatest in the Spring and almost least of all in Autumn as is known to all the Inhabitants of Feroe besides which it would also follow that in Summer when the Moon and the Sun are in Cancer or in Winter when they are in Capricorn or in the Collure of the Solsticies the floods should be least and the streams weakest whereas in the middest of Summer the Floud is found to be greatest and the stream almost strongest one may therefore reasonably attribute it to the cause which hath then most force namely the warmth of Earth which then ascends and produceth its vertue Reason might well perswade it to be impossible that such a great and deep water should be altered thereby such a warmth being very moderate my reason would also dictate to me the same if the Magnetical Sympathy whereby this warmth is so qualified in the Water were not in nature There is neither but a mean warmth in a mans stomach which when it is hottest of all cannot be compared with the heat of fire yet in a short time it Cooks and Digests Meat to such an alteration by its natural vertue that the greatest fire could not do the like with any meat in a Kettle or boyling Pot. It is also proved that the heat of the Sun and Stars moveth the Water by this that when the warmth of the Earth is ascended in Plants and there is Rain and Cold Weather the Stream is then moderate but when the Sun shineth hot and it is Calm weather not only the Water is moved and the Boffves break out as is said before but the streams also are then very rapid and the Ebb and Floud higher then ordinary specially during the Dogdays when the Canicule together with the Sun are hottest but when the Dogdays are past and the Sun advanceth to the South the force of the Streams is weakned more and more untill Winter during which season it is but half as strong as in summer Besides this there is an other extraordinary cause of the increase of the waters motion in Winter which iâ— the hardness of the frost and having spoken of it above the Reader is referr'd thereunto God having thus created nature the Sea in the beginning was brought into a motion which will last as long as the world doth exist The form or manner of this Ebb and Floud hath most of all perplexed Philosophers every one having invented an Hypothesis to Explicate it God is wonderful in all his works and what seems hardest and difficultest of all to our understanding is often most plain and easie so this wonderful augmentation and diminution of the water doth consist in a meer motion to and fro between the Continents from East to West and from West to East and that in great waves as will be proved by the following arguments First the whole may be known by its parts seeing that the drops of water are of a round figure one may conclude that water is round Likewise as one seeth the Superficies of the water to be moved by the wind into waves one may also assuredly conclude that the motion of the great Ocean is made in Wayes so the Boffves whether it be by heat or cold forming themselves into waves the larger Sea doth the like also Secondly this is proved by experience in Nature Those of Feroe by this experience call this manner of Ebb and Floud East and West-fall East-fall is that which with its waves falleth on the East of Norway West-fall is when the Sea is moved and falleth back with its waves to the VVest part of Greenland The East-fall giveth in Feroe Ebb or lowest water falling to the East of Norway and making there highest water West-fall maketh highest water or Floud in Feroe because when the Floud falleth back from the West of Norway the Waves rise and form themselves higher and higher against Feroe according to the nature of Waves which is plainly proved by this that at East of Feroe the Water riseth but three Fathoms and at West seven Fathoms the distance whereof is but forty miles in Longitude Yea one may easily perceive the Sea to arise higher at West of Suderoe then at East though the Land where it is broadest be not above eight miles broad On the contrary Galilaeus Galilaei teacheth that it is the nature of water to lift up it self towards its extremities and run Horizontally between the Latitude whereunto it is answered that when
stony Rocks and high Steep Mountains through which the Water can find no passage and because of their steepness must presently run down nevertheless the water floweth more abundantly from the Springs when it raineth in Feroe and less when it is corystan drought some of the Springs growing then wholly dry which cometh from the harmony that is between the Air and the Earth For it happeneth constantly and naturally that when the Air is resolv'd into moisture the Earth also produceth then its humidity as may be seen on the Stones of Walls and when the Air is a long time dry the earth is so likewise and when the Earth is moistened by the Air it sucketh from the Sea Water nothing but the Salt but when the Earth is dry it thirsteth and therefore sncketh in not only the Salt but also the water whence it comes that little Springs are dryed up in long droughts but where there are great veins as there is also difference amongst Conduits the water is indeed diminished but not wholly dry'd up for we have sometimes great droughts in Feroe so that the Earth splits it self to the very Rock Water is then wanting in some places but in some other never Fire and Water being almost the two chiefest necessaries of mankind nature having denied this Land Trees so that there grows here none except some little Junipers that grow in some few places near the Earth nature hath recompensed that defect with abundance of Turf whereof though the Earth be fast there are found many sorts excellent good in several places so that some of them are made use of by Smiths to work Iron with instead of Sea-coals which is not found here except in one place of Suderoe unto which yet a man can hardly come The Air of these Islands of Feroe is no less considerable then the Water In Summer it is temperately warm not very hot at any time neither is the Winter very cold though the Land lyeth under 62 degrees of Northern Latitude it freezeth seldome a moneth together neither is the Frost then so hard as to produce Ice in the open Inlets wherefore all Horse and Sheep go into the Fields during the whole Winter and never come under shelter the cause of such mild eir is the Salt Sea wherewith the Island is embraced round about which being warm both by its saline nature and perpetual motion produceth ever a warm vapour which tempers th e Air and taketh away the rigour of its coldness and together causeth a moist air so that there falleth most melted Snow miâ—ling and rain in the Valleys though it freezeth upon the Mountains from this moist air and watery Clouds is produced much storm and terrible winds which sometimes tear up the stones from the ground turn up the Earthen crust from the Rocks and rowle it together as one might rowle a piece of Lead and those stormy winds are very variable according as the Gapps are between the tops of the high Mountains betwixt which the winds gather and throng themselves through with a wonderful force when sometimes it is amongst the Folks that dwell in the Valleys under these Mountains during such a storm so still that one may goe from one house to another with a light burning and then afterwards it cometh again so terribly by Gusts as if the the Hills would be torn to pieces and it is worth consideration that before the said impetuous wind cometh or is perceived the houses crack and make a noise as if they would streight fall down which afterwards though not much moved being low built and on all sides well defended with thick Walls made of green Turff and Stones Otherwise there being such high Hills so that the wind cannot blow straight forwards but now hitts against one corner then against another and so against a third one of those strong winds thus meeteth another and as it were begin a Fight together whereby are caused terrible Whirle-winds which having a long time stormed about between the hills come down over the Inlets and whirling round about run again through them some whereof are above three miles lone a great way into the Sea and then it is very dangerous for Boats that are met thereby which must presently let fall their Sails or else they are overturned men and all it also happeneth often though the Sail be not up that the Whirle-wind overturneth the Boat and the people as many examples do witness and as Boats are in danger by such Whirle-winds so ships have sometimes no less cause to fear those Gusts from the Mountains when they fail in greatest security for they in the like manner fall down from the Mountains when it is still weather as hath been expressed of several contrary Stormy Winds which Forreign Marriners that come with their Ships between these Lands must well observe or else they may possibly come in danger thereby Specially it is to be noted about these Whirle-winds that sometimes on Land between these Rocks when it is pretty good weather and there is no danger one of them will come on a sudden so furious that it beateth a man down from his Horse yea beareth down Man and Horse as also striketh down those that are going on Foot sometimes hurting them wherefore those that are used to the Countrey can easily perceive its coming for it is heard before with a terrible boistering between the Clifts when the weather is also very quiet wherefore the Rider alighteth from his Horse and layeth himself on the ground holding fast to the Grass or to a Stone as he thinks himself securest That sort of Whirle-wind happeneth but seldome and is doubtless of that sort which naturalist call Exnephia that are caused by the Clouds on the top of the Mountains as Kircherus relateth that it happeneth on the Mountain called Table Mount at the Cape of good Hope on which Mountain there is perceived by the people a little cloud before whence is caused such terrible and unlooked for whirl-winds which Cloud when they see on the Hill they run amain to their Ships Lanch from the Land and so preserve themselves and their Shipping There is told a strange Story which is said to have happened in this Countrey by reason of a Whirle-wind which the most part of those that read it will perhaps not believe though it be true It happened a pretty long time since that a Priest of Suderoe called Broder Anderson travelled to one of his Parishes namely Sumboe and when he came in those parts in a place called Sumboe Horse which is a very high Clift above 200 Fathoms high and hath several points by reason of which besides the height of the Mountain whether the wind bloweth from the Land or to the Land there may be caused a strong Whirlewind and the high way being very near the edge of the promontory where there is always a pretty storm though it be still weather every where below which happeneth by reason of the
that hath also a felling Club to strike with when the Seals lying on dry ground begin to see the Light and men they will flee to Sea wherefore the old ones rise themselves on their paws with their Jaws open directly against the man specially if it be a He for then he will not flee from the man but the man must avoid him and when he strikes at him he meeteth the blow with his jaws snatching the Club from the mans hands and casting it on that side where there is no body Then comes the other man with his Club and strikes him over the neck but if it be a Shee she is not so fierce and fleeth from the man if she can When they hit them right over the head they fall down in a sound and then the men are presently ready so cut their throats When they have done so with all the old they come to the young ones that lye all still far from the water and never take notice of men nor light till they come and kill them when the slaughter is finish'd they hale the dead Kobs to the Water side and tye them fast to the Rope wherewith those in the Boat without pull them to them Last of all the men get out with the Boat that is within but if the waves be great the said Boat and men are also haled out In this manner they get sometimes many Seals often half a hundred in one Cave the old Kobs are as big as an Ox or Cow and so fat that one can get three Loads of Fat from them they use their skins for Shooes and eat the flesh of them they melt the Fat into Train Oyle and salt a part thereof to eat There are found several sorts of Whales under this Land amongst which there cometh one sort called Grind-Whale Grind according to the explication of Mr. Peter Clauson signifieth all sort of grates or Trellices either of Iron or Wood and because this sort of Whale swimmeth side to side by one another when they go on coupling such a Flock of Whales is called a Whales Grind. These Grind-Whales are not great the biggest being but five ells long and the young ones an ell and a half they come in great Flocks under the Land when it is dark or foggy weather so that they cannot see it which is therefore called Grind-weather When the Inhabitants are out about their Fishing and see a Flock of Whales those that see them first call and make signs to the other Boats that are about them who leaving their fishing come presently together and go to the Whales to drive them in towards the Land but when the Whales will turn back towards the Sea they cry out and make the most noise they can in the Boat throwing stones and what else they can find at them till the Whales turn again and then when God giveth his blessing they can drive them where they please as if it were a Flock of Sheep or Cattle When they come to Land they send a man or two to give notice every where and this messenger must go speedily day and night and is called Grind-message Those then that get notice of it presently kindle a brand on a certain place that they on the next Island where the message is not come may get timely notice of it who can know by the place whence the Fire or Smoak ariseth what it signifieth whereupon there cometh speedily a great number of Folks together some by Land and some by Water having their Whale Spears with them When they have then brought as many Boats together as they think needful they drive the Whales into an Inlet or Creek where they know there are good Whale-banks and flat sandy grounds whereon they drive the Whales with great crying noise and casting of Stones driving them as fast as they can upon the Sands then if it be necessary the Boats divide themselves into two companies the one lying below in the form of a half Moon to meet the Whale if it wou d flee away during the slaughter the other advancing into the midst of the Whale Flock thrusting their Whale Spears into their bodies in the mean time some of the people lye in an ambush on the Land till the Whales are come on ground and wade to them as deep as they can and then kill them chiefly with their Weapons with such fury on both sides that the water becometh as red as blood whereby the Whale is also blinded so that it cannot see to run away it is a strange thing to see that these strong creatures make no resistance but only plunge as well as they can before the boats and people till death cometh upon them and then they strike terribly about with their Tayles so that they beat sometimes the boats to pieces and the men come in danger if they do not know how to have a care of them Some of them get again loose from the Sands and carry sometimes the boats a great way with them on their backs over-turning them here and there and striking them full of water yet those that are below drive them in again but if they are not able to force them thereunto the rest come to their help so make them return though it happeneth also sometimes that they will at last suffer themselves to be driven in no more plunging and diving so much and a long way under the water that they must let them go the same happeneth also at Sea when they see them first and will drive them to Land for then they plunge sometimes so much that they must give them over whence one may conclude that this work doth only consist in a blessing of God When they have killed as many as they can get which lasteth well a whole day or longer they hale them on Land and those that are killed at Sea float up the next day and are also driven thither When all the Whales are thus brought on dry ground and are toll'd first the Tithes are taken of them then the Finding-Whale for him that saw them first the rest being divided into two parts the one whereof belongs to the people that took them and the other part to the owner of the Land under which they are taken whether it be the Kings some Noblemans or belongs to some Free-holders son sometimes the whole Flock of Whales cometh into the Inlets of it self in foggy weather no body driving them sometimes they come in with the Tide in a dark night running on the Sands where they lye dry when it is low water so that when folks come out in the morning they see sometimes the Sand covered with dead Whales which happened also for few years since in Tiorneviig In antient time there came greater multitudes of Whales and oftner then in our days though it happened that in the year 1664 there were taken in two places about a thousand Wherefore the Lord as also for his other benefits be
have been clean or no. I have also an example that the Father hath been unclean and yet the Children healthful It has also been taken notice of that two living together in Marriage though the one be found infected they live together as before as long as one doth but murmur of it till the Magistrate doth separate them and yet the sound remaineth uninfected whereas another is often taken with the Disease by a very little conversation Here are examples yet before our eyes that poor Cripples clean but helpless have been put among the sick in the Hospital eat with them converse dayly with them and are not infected in the whole time of their lives what is this but that God confirms the truth of his word taking pleasure in them that live in a just Wedlock and wander in Lawful ways putting their hopes in him that neither fire nor Water contagious disease nor dangerous Pestilence shall hurt them CHAP. VII Of Religion And first of Teachers SOmething above 100 years after Feroe was inhabited with people it pleased God out of his Grace according to his Divine Providence and Promise in the 66th of Isaiah I will send some of them that are delivered to the Heathens a long the Sea and far out to the Islands where none hath heard of me nor seen my glory c. to settle his Domicil and build his Tabernacle here in Feroe For King Oluff Trygeson in the fourth year of his Reign and in the 1000 year of Grace when the word of God was Preached in Denmark did send Sigismund Brosteson a man of Feroâ— of whom is said before that the King caused him to be Baptized to Feroe who Baptized all the people there Though the Inhabitants of Feroe did not after the Death of Sigismund break the contract of their Baptisme with Christ as is perceived and concluded by the History of King Olaus the Holy who not only acquired friends in Feroe but also called them to him and made them take their oath which he had not done if they had not confessed themselves to be Christians having continual work with those of Island that came to him to be converted to the Christian Faith as the Chronicle of Norway plainly teacheth Nevertheless one may well perceive that the beginnings of Religion were very mean the Inhabitants in a long time refusing to acknowledge the Kings of Norway for their Soveraigns Whence we find also that it was long before they got any Bishops in the Country for Bishop Sarquir that is the fifth in the Catalogue of Bishops which Mr. Peter Clauson reckoneth lived 200 years after Sigismund Bresteson for he was Bishop in the time of King Hagen Hagenson in the year 1223. as is said before in the 4th chapter Wherefore if the Preaching of the Gospel had continued without interruption there would needs have been more then four Bishops in two ages though there may be an errour in the Catalogue since we find that there has been a Bishop in Feroe in the time of King Magnus Erlingson in the year 1277. whose name was Roar by whom King Suere was brought up whose name though the most renowned amongst them is left out of the Bishops Catalogue it might therefore more probably be that some of their names are left out of whom we find nothing in History yet howsoever it be all beginnings being difficult specially the light of the word being obstructed by the Prince of darkness it may very well have been so in matters of Religion here in Feroe till at last there came Bishops into the Country but we cannot find when that was possible in King Sigurd the Hierosolumites time in the age 1100. when the Kings of Norway were well setled wherewith the Catalogue of Bishops doth best agree When the said Bishops came first higher they had their residence at Kircke boe in Stremoe where there hath been formerly many stone buildings that are now ruin'd there only remaining a stone house with a great Parlour of Timber built after the antient fashion The Church which they had then in that place is yet standing and is made use of it is built of free-stone but of a very poor and low structure There stands besides another new Church-wall which one of the last Bishops called Hillarius did build it is a curious Edifice of even stone and the frames of the Windows are of Stone purposely cut for that use The Wall is yet in some manner unhurt and one might yet build a Church of it if the hearers would not spare their pains The Bishops in those days here as in other places have had great revenues of the Country but the Priests have fared very meanly It is not certainly known how many Bishops have been in Feroe Mr. Peter Clauson in his Description of Norway reckoneth up the following Sudmunds Mathias Kroll Suein or Swerke Peter Gauti Serquir Erland or Ellendar Loden Sigvar Giaffvard Hanard besides these there is found Bishop Roar in the History of King Suerre who it seems should be the third in order and besides the said Bishop Hillarius that built the new Church wall Arrild Huitfield in the Chronicle of King Frederick the I. in the year 1532. writes that Amund Oluffson was chosen Bishop of Feroe being a Canon of Bergen and gave the King 1000 Gilders of Feroe for his confirmation for Kings took then that pretended due which the Popes of Rome received of Bishops pro pallio or the Investiture having at last better discovered the covetousness of the Pope This Amund was the last Roman Catholick Bishop of Feroe King Fredâ—rick dying the year after his Son Christian the III. as soon as he was settled in his Kingdom removed all his Lord Bishops in all his Kingdoms and Provinces Since which time here hath been but one Evangelical Bishop called Mr. Jens Riber that lived here during some years till at last he was several times rob'd by French Pyrates and being an antient man he returned from hence to Copenhagen from whence he was sent to Stawanger in Norway and was there Bishop in the year 1556. after whom his Majesty of happy Memory King Christian the third Ordained that there should always be a Provost over the Churches there who was under the Bishops of Bergen as long as the Trade of Feroe was established there afterwards he was subjected to the Bishop of Copenhagen when the Comerce of Feroe was removed from Bergen to the Burghers of that City which the conveniency for travelling by Sea hath been the cause of His Majesty hath been Graciously pleased to grant a Mannor in Andesâ—â—rd in Osteroe called Gaard Hodcle to the said place of Provost the first whereof was Mr. Heine Haugregster as we have said above in the History of Magnus Heineson after whom was Provost Mr. Oiden in Osteroe Mr. Tolle Priest of Feroe in Osteroe Mr. Christian Marsing Parish Priest of Thors haven Mr. Jens Skrwe Parish Priest of Sundoe Mr. John Rasmussâ—n Feroe Parish Priest of