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
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
being hollow veines in many places of the Earth and Rocks the water doth run through them and those Conduits being narrow the Sea lyeth heavy thereon and presseth them so that the lesser water must needs rise above and seek a way to get out where it can find it whence come Springs and Fountains Thus far Scaliger Out of this meaning of Scaliger the Ingenious Reader can easily perceive that there are many trooked Veines or Conduits under the Earth and Rocks but yet it doth not follow that they cause or help the ascent of the Water for it cannot ascend directly up as we see it doth not through a hollow Post By the help of nature and art Archimedes invented a screw to make Water ascend from the place where it lyeth still which Screw was a hollow Leaden Pipe that was twined about a round and long staffe in the manner of a Screw but it was to be turned about and so the water was screwed up such are not naturally found in the Earth and though there be no such crooked Conduits in the Earth the water can nevertheless ascend from the lowest part of the Earth to the highest top of the Mountains as shall be demonstrated hereafter Besides it is to be noted that the water of the Sea doth not throng or press up the water of the Fountains because it is more abundant or heavier then the water that is in the veines of the Earth for if one layeth a horn on the back so that both ends are equally high Horizontally and one filleth it full of water though there be then much more in the thicker end then in the smaller which it seems by reason of its gravity should endeavour to seek the bottome of the Horn and so drive out the lesser water it cannot nevertheless do so for the greater water cannot drive the lesser higher up then it self lyeth high whence it followeth that the water of the Sea is as high yea higher then the highest Mountain on whose top there springeth Fountain water which must be proved All Mathematicians do truly affirm that Earth and Water make a round Globe together as it may be perceived by the Eclipse of the Moon when the Earth lyeth between it and the Sun for what is then darkened is round because the interposed Earth is of a round Figure That Water is absolutely round as the Earth is proved by the custome of Seamen who when they will discover Land climb up to the Main mast whence they can discover it when no body else can see it in the Ship the cause whereof is the roundness of the Water for if it were flat they could as well see the Land below in the Ship as above on the Mast Finally the whole is like its parts and therefore if a drop let fall on a Table or on a Cloth formeth it self round the whole Mass or body thereof must have the same nature and propriety That Fundament being firm and without contradiction the wide Sea can soon mount in the roundness of its figure higher then any Mountain on Land is high And therefore naturally according to the aforesaid nature of Water can easily weigh up and press the lesser water through the Conduits of the Earth though they be not crooked and that as high as the Sea is in its highest Superficie which is demonstrated by the following Figure Let this round Figure be the whole Globe consisting of Water and Earth let D. E. and F. G. and H. I. be three parts of the Land and the space between water Let A. be here the highest Superficies or uppermost part of the water let K. L. be a Spring on the high Mountain D. K. L. now water presseth on its highest near A. down towards the Center C. through which it cannot come to the lowermost Superficie and therefore seeks a passage through the earth and amongst many let there be a veine near M. running up either straight or crooked from M. to I. K. as may be seen in the Figure which it can easily do till B. lying first Horizontally with A. but the Sea cannot drive up the least drop thereof to N because it is higher then A The Water therefore runneth thus from K. down the Mountain over the Plain near L. and thence into the Sea by O. which it will do as long as the World lasteth and since the perpendicular of the Mountain I. K. is a third part of the length of the earth semidiameter C I. which alter the supputation of Astronomers is 859 Leagues so the Mountain is high perpendicularly 286 Leagues no Mountain being so high no not Mount Olympus that is esteemed the highest in the World And this supposition sheweth the rising of the Sea in the motion of its waves expounded pag. 64. for if there be so great a difference of Floud in the space of ten Leagues what difference is there then in hundreds of Leagues This Demonstration is confirmed by a rare example of a water in Feroe for there is on Suderoe towards the South near a little Village called Famoien a little Lake pretty high on the Mountain that hath ordinary Ebb and Floud with the Sea but it hath doubtless larger Conduits then other veines of water through which it can easier rise and fall so that this example is a singular proof of the demoustration aforesaid for if that Lake had Ebd and Floud immediately of it self other fresh waters that lye still would also have the same nature but if this happens mediately by reason of the motion of the Sea it followeth that fresh water ascendeth from thence That there runneth salt water in the Conduits of the Earth and cometh out again fresh is by this reason since all Mettals and Minerâ—ls as Chymists prove clearly are produced of Salt and the Earth hath its fatness of the same they draw then the Salt from the Water for their maintenance and nourishment as the flesh draweth from the blood in the veines of a mans body that whereof the body hath its increase and fatness And wheresoever there are Mettals and Minerals in the Earth the Water Attracts their qualities and is tinged according to their nature whence doth proceed several healing waters that Earth draweth Salt to it self is proved by an Artificial Experiment for if one will bind a piece of linnen Cloth over the one end of a bottomless Cask and fill the Cask full of Earth pouring on the earth a quantity of Salt water and letting it sink through the Earth two or three times the Water at last will come out fresh the Earth having drawn to its self the Salt thereof If any would conclude fresh Springs to come of rain water because when it raineth there runneth out more water at the Spring then when it hath been a long time dry weather the Spring being then drained and producing no water It is answered thereunto that rain cannot be the cause of Spring water on Feroe the Land consisting in hard
the Sea vapours having further inquired after this business and found that the Sheep grew first spotted about their legs afterwards on their thighs then under their Bellyes and finally all over Wherefore the cause is in the earth whether it be Brimstone or Salt Peter which both are found there that causeth it I leave to the judgement of others The riches of the Inhabitants doth consist in their Sheep for those that have many of them though few grow rich thereby those means being very casual for when there cometh a hard Winter and Sheep dye they are almost all equally rich Besides Sheep God hath plentifully blessed the Land with several sorts of Fowle whereof the greatest part serveth for the food of man and are taken every year in great numbers a part of them being Land Fowles and the other part Sea fowles whereof some fly away towards Winter and some stay here the whole year over those that fly away are a kind of Land Fowl being a manner of Snâ—pe called Lofver and Spofver and some water Fowle Those that stay here continually are some profitable as Doves Stares Grellings and Snow Fowle which is seen but one time of the year namely towards the Spring VVhen there cometh sharp Frost and Snow and never else though they tarry continually in the Land and keep themselves on top of the highest Mountains the Damageable ones are Owles Sparrow-Hawkes Crows and Ravens which last doth a great deal of damage on young Lambs and weak Sheep wherefore they are much hated and there hath been an ordinance in the Land which is yet sometimes observed that every man that roweth in a Boat must bring at St. Olaus Tide every year into the Session-house the Beak of a Raven which Beaks are laid on a heap and burn'd and he that hath brought none must pay a Raven-fine that is for every one that hath neglected it one skin which makes two pence half penny Amongst those Ravens there are found some white though few but those that are half white and half black are fit when they are taken young and have the Tongue string cut to be taught to speak I have made a notable experiment upon a young white Raven whole Tongue string was cut and yet I had no thought of teaching him but calling usually in the morning upon my Boy whose Name was Erasmus and the Raven cominually in the morning hearkning to that word Erasmus begun at last to call out Erasmus before the chamber where the Boy lay forming its voice exactly after mine the Boy hearing it answered anon Master and therewith arose and came into the Chamber to know what I would have but I telling him that I had not called him he went to bed again but was again called in the same manner and was so deceived by the Raven several Mornings till we perceived it was the Ravens voice and nevertheless the Boy was often since deceived thereby not being in a long time able to discern whether it was I that called or the Raven When I perceived that the said Raven could speak I begun purposely to teach it and as long as I would inform it would not go from before me though it were the space of two hours and what I taught it in the day time it repeated early in the morning putting the Syllables together till it could at last speak out the whole word as children do when they learn to spell in the Schools This Raven was at last killed without my knowledge for the mischief it did Besides here cometh a Fowl with half a cloven foot that liveth both on Land and Water called a Teale and in Norway a Sea pye it is a Fowle as big as a Crow having a yellow long round and obâ—use bill it is the Ravens enemy for being swift in its flight it flyeth hastily to the Raven striking it with its stump Beak so that the Raven cryeth out wherefore the Raven often hideth it self from it whence it comes that the Country-men make much of the Teile and will not suffer it to be destroyed because it driveth Ravens away amongst Water Fowles some are here continually seen as many sorts of Ducks and Plovers Eiders Maws and Teisters A Teister is a good Bird to eat it changeth its colour in Winter and becometh Grey the Eider cock is brown as the Hen when she is young but when he is old he groweth almost white and is called Eider-blick from this Fowle is gotten Eider down which the Eider plucks off from its Breast and layeth in its nest about the Eggs when it hatcheth them and when they are come out and are fled away with their dame this Downe is taken up from the Nest being then full of Moss and Straw wherefore it is dryed and cleansed over a Basket the Down which is pluckt off at other times from the Eider is good for nothing for it is fat and rotteth Here is besides seen a strange water Fowl called Imbrim that is never found on the Land the Inhabitants take it to be the Halcyon or the Kings Fisher but it doth not agree with the description which Francius hath in his Historia Animalium sacra Chap 17. for he writeth that the Kings Fisher is no bigger then a Sparrow and is blew with other of its qualities that do not at all agree with the properties of this Fowl for this is bigger then a Goose having a long Neck and a pretty long Beak it is grey on the back checquer'd with white spots its neck is also grey something whitish down towards the breast having a white ring about the middle of the neck The cause wherefore it is thought to be the Kings Fisher is they have heard and read that the Kings Fisher hatcheth its young ones on the Sea which they believe the Imbrim doth also since it is never found on Land and can neither come upon it for its feet stand too much back and are so weak that it cannot go with them besides its wings are so little that it cannot fly therewith In the third place there are two holes one under each of its wings capable to hold an Egg wherein they suppose it hatcheth its eggs till the young ones come out neither is it ever seen with more or less then two young ones which conceit seems not unreasonable it being possible that it might be of a larger proportion in cold Countreys then in hot it is often seen near the Land in Harbours when it is either bad weather or like to be so and then it cryes out so that one presently perceiveth its arrival if a man waveth a white linnen to them the young ones will easily be allured to Land that one may shoot them but the old ones are more wary Here cometh also a water Fowle in Summer called Liomen not unlike the Imbrim in bigness and voice its legs hang also back so that it cannot go and its wings are so little that it can hardly fly wherefore when
blessed and praised As we have said before these Whales have short heads and little eyes they have a black skin with a white stroke under the belly and are pretty fat they have a palm thick of fat the head is almost nothing but fat they partly melt the fat of the whole to make Train Oyl salting the rest with black salt to make use of it as of Bacon This sort of salt they prepare of sea weeds which they dry and burn to ashes where with they salt their fat preserving it very well thereby being hung in a dry place it looketh black and as smoked Bacon but within it is white as the other he that knoweth it is not will not be able to discern it from Swines Bacon another part they also make use of instead of fat or butter which they use to put in their meat as shall be spoken of in another place They dry and eat the flesh when it is fresh the same looking and smelling as Beef and what they cannot straight consume they cut into long segments and hang it up to dry in the wind consuming it afterwards in time as other smoaked flesh Forreigners sometimes pickle something of the tayl which tasteth very like neats feet wherefore the Inhabitants take these Whales to be and call them Sea kine Mr. Peter Clauson writeth in his Description of Norway that these Whales are driven in by a Whale-Dog whereof I have often enquired but could never get any certain knowledge of it yet I cannot abstain from informing the curious Reader of what is at last come to my knowledge It happened in the year 1664 when there came many Whales in Skaalesord about Harvest as aforesaid that when the greatest part of the Whales were killed there appeared a Sea Monster swimming about the Whales between them and the Land that was in every manner like a Dog as for those parts that were above water it was of a grey colour hairy with long ears like an English rough Spaniel this hath been told me by men worthy of credit and the fame of it grew common over the whole Country John Theodore de Bry in his description of the West India Voyages writeth that there is a sort of Sea Dogs found in the Magellanick Streights that are hairy on their fore-parts to the middest of their body with short ears as one uses to cut those of rough Dogs or like Lyons their fore feet being like the hands of men and their hinder parts like a Fish They are great and terrible to look on whence one may finally conclude that there are such Whale Dogs though I cannot decide whether they be of the same sort with those that are in the West Indies There are doubtless more Sea Monsters yet then have been known hitherto Here is also taken another sort of Whales which they call Doglings and are usually found in one Haven of this Country namely that of Qualboe in Suderoe and seldome in Vaage in the same Island and that usually in Autumn three or four or six almost every year and if they fail one year there comes the next year twice as many they are 7 or 8 els long and very thick being about 2 ells broad where they are thickest They are taken in a very strange manner for when the people perceive them without the Inlet they row out to them with some Roaps in their Boats If it be bad weather so that they cannot come near them they drive them into the Inlet as they use to do with those called Grinds But if it be calm weather they row close to the Whale that lyeth there still by the Boat thinking it perhaps to be its Mate In the mean time they pierce a hole in the fat of its eye lid wherein they fasten the Rope the piercing whereof hurteth it not but only tickleth it wherefore it suffereth the same willingly when they have thus fastened the Rope they row to a Sandy Bank whither it suffereth it self easily to be drawn and the rest follow after till they are all gotten on the sand and then in like manner they make the Rope fast to the other Whales tying the other end fast to some stones on Land and lastly row out to them with their Boats piercing them with their Whale-Spears till they lose their blood and dye but then the men must retire and have a care of themselves for they beat then terribly about them The said John Theodore de Bry in his History of the West Indies relateth that the Indians on the Coast of Florida take Whales in this manner when any one sees the Whale on ground they row to it with a Boat having a strong Rope with them with two stakes on both ends when the American cometh to the Whale he climbs upon it and strikes first the one stake into the Pipe through which it draweth breath and bloweth up water driving also the other stake through the other hole whereby the Whale is choaked at last and when it is dead there comes more people to help him to draw it on land This manner seemeth strange but ours in Feroe is no less wonderful The flesh and the fat of these Doglings are not good to eat for if one eateth thereof it pierceth through the pores so that ones clothes look yellow and smell of it the Oyl thereof being so subtile that it must be mighty strong and fast wood that can hold it It is very remarkable that this Dogling Whale cometh usually no where in Feroe but in Suderoe and that specially in Qualboes Inlet every year about Michaelmas Here is related a strange story about it which can be accounted but for a Fable They say it happened once during the darkness of Paganism when Feroe was first inhabited by men that a Gyant under took to possess himself of the Island of Myggeness a Sorcerer dwelling on the land would hinder him wherefore the man did often fight with the Sorcerer and at last vanquished him wherefore the Sorcerer made an agreement with him that if he would not destroy him but let him have his habitation in the Island he would yearly procure him a sort of Whales and Fowl in the Land which were not gotten in other places of Feroe and that for him and his Successors as long as the world should last though with this condition that if any one mocked or derided his Whale it should never come any more which condition the man accepted and since that time there came yearly a particular sort of Whale under the Land as the Inhabitants relate and have by relation of their Predecessours the said Whale had but one eye finally it happened that an indiscreet man being weary of the labour he had every year by reason of that Whale did contemn it for having but one eye wherefore it never came there since the Inhabitants believing it removed thence to Qualboe in Suderoe they alone and almost every year having them though they have two eyes
they are carried thither by a whirlewind for the Sea it self when it is most boisterous seldome casts any Fish on Land but rather Seaward from the bottom for as little as strong wind can hinder the flight of Birds as little can the strongest motion of the Sea hinder the swimming of Fishes but if either wind or water grow too strong for their inhabitants as Birds hide themselves in trees holes and nests so the small Fishes that lie under the Land float on the deep to save themselves there as long as the storm lasts as is frequently seen in Feroe Wherefore those Herrings were carryed there on Land by a kind of Whirle wind called Typhon which in the Danish Tongue is named Oes That sort of Whirlewind is formed amongst the Clouds and strikes from thence on the Sea and Earth with such a sudden and mighty whirle that if it falleth on Land it takes up Trees Bushes Stones Flesh and what else it meets with and where buildings are too great it strikes them down and breaks them to pieces If it falleth on the Sea it takes up an incredible quantity of water so that one may see deep Cavities in the Sea till the water runs together again and what Fishes are then in that water are drawn up by such a whirlewind Marriners that have tryed the dangers of the deep can speak enough of this whirlewind and have first given it the name of Oes because it draws up the water of the Sea Expert Seamen when they are aware of it let presently fall all their Sails or else they would lose them and sometimes come in great danger of their lives What this Oes takes and draws up from one place it lets it fall on another when it hath wrought out and left its strength whence it comes that one seeth in some places rain down Stones Flesh Mice and particularly the Lemmings or Cats of Norway and in this manner are also these Herrings rained down on Kolter The Hurricane of the West Indies which is sufficiently known is doubtless of this sort of Wind. Sandoe lyeth two miles south of Stromoe and Hestoe stretching it self most to East and West it is eight miles long and four miles broad having but one Creek on the South side neer Sand neither is it a very good Haven At West towards the North point there is a little Isle called Troldhoffret edging off from the North East side to the South West with a high Promentory thereon feed wild Oxen and Sheep Skuoe lyeth two miles to the south of Sandoe stretching it self to the East and West being three miles long and one broad it is a high Land with high Clifts Store Diemen or great Dam liethhalf a mile at the Southeast of Skuoe it is almost round a good mile in Diameter it is a high Territory for the most part flat and green above with great Clifts round about If this Island were garrison'd with thirty warlike men it would not be easie for any Potentate to take it in there being no way to get up except in one place at East and that difficulty for one man at a time and therefore could easily be so strengthned by art that none at all could come up Neither could Ships lye on the Sea about the Island because of the strong current nor could they be taken by Famine there being Cattel Sheep and Fowle enough on the Island It hapned some years ago that the Countrymans Wife on that Island kept secret love with the serving man and they both murthered the Master VVherefore that they might avoid the punishment of the Magistrate they held out the Island a long time but the innocent being unwilling to keep such continual watch with the guilty and they at last being grown secure some nimble men of Feroe by the Bailiff of the Countrys order came on the Island by the East side and took the Delinquents Prisoners who afterwards received their just punishment Lille Diemen lyeth two miles from Store Diemen at South South East it is inhabited and to be accounted for an Isle it ariseth from the Sea as a round and sharp Clift thereon feed wild Sheep Suderoe is the last and Southest Island lying two miles south of Lille Diemen It is almost twenty miles long and eight miles broad where it is broadest bowing with one end to the South the other end stretching it self to the Northwest it is full of Hills having on the VVest side many Clifts neither can one land on it but in four places and yet with difficulty At East it hath four long Creeks namely on the North end Qâ—ailviig neer the close second Qualboe whence a Valley stretcheth it self on the VVest side a mile long then Trungesvaag within which Inlet is a very good little harbour called Punthaven besides which between a little Isle and the Land one may fasten Ships with a Rope and go from Shipboard to Land on a Planck There is besides every where in the Inlet good Harbouring in Summer Finally here is also Vaagesfiord whence there runneth also a Valley a mile long on the Southside In that Inlet there is a bowed Creek where there is one of the best Havens in Feroe called Lebroe It appeareth by the premises that Feroe doth consist of seventeen inhabited and Cultivated Islands namely Fugloe Suinoe Wideroe Bordoe Kunoe Kalsoe Osteroe Nolsoe Stromoe Waagoe Myggeness Kolter Hestoe Sandoe Skuoe Store Diemen and Suderoe and four little Isles or Holms to wit Tintholm Myggenessholm Trolehofred and Lille Diemen whereon only Pasture VVild-Sheep Besides here are several other Holmes whereof the most notable and necessary to be known of Marriners are these Hossvigsholm Kirckboeholm and Comboeholm There are also under the Land several Rocks arising out of the Sea whereof two are considerable for Marriners to know the Land by the one at North of Fugloe called the Bishop which is a round and pretty high Rock it doth not lye so far from the Land as it is set in the Map but only a stone cast or a Musquet shot off The other is at the South of the Land a pretty way at South East of Sumboe it is also a round high Rock called the Monck Neer this Monck is a dangerous whirlepoole which in still weather draweth Ships to it self and brings them in great peril for the waves strike every where into the Ship nay in the very Mast and the Ship cannot be steered but one must let it drive as the stream will have it till it be appeased It is most dangerous in still weather for then one cannot easily get from thence with a Gale of VVind one may take a care not to come into it Jautoe which Mr Peter Claason speaketh of in his book called a Description of Norway is not extant but is only an inclosure called Gote and is twofold namely North Gote and South Gote Neither is he to be blamed for it since he hath written with others pen and seen with others eyes It
stilleth it self so that the Inhabitants dare row out on Fishing There is nevertheless an extraordinary great motion every where at Sea so that sometimes they are as it were lifted up to the Heaven and presently come down as it were to the Abyssm as David saith Psal 127. which motion of the Sea they call Alda and certifie that when they are sunk in it they can see no land though it be above 300 Fathoms high As for the motion of Tides themselves they perfect their course according to the Moon here as well as in other places where there are ordinary tides by an ebb of six hours and a Flood of the like space of time Yet their course is different according as they beat against the Rocks and points of Land and as the ground is under them whence it comes that the particular streams alter their course and run directly against the general Tides such streams being called here Ider Concerning the general Currents here the Seaman that is not much acquainted with the Land may have this for information In the first place where the streams run even between the land there is a principal Current as between Suderoefiord Staapenfiord Kalsoefierd Skuofiord and Fugloefiord When the Current runneth here to the West it is called West-fall and when it runneth to the East East-fall but in Kalsoefiord the East-fall runneth Northward and the West-fall Southward because of the points of Land Secondly it doth not run with equall rapidity during the six hours but its course can be divided into three parts In the first third part it runneth prerty fast changing and augmenting its force more and more In the second third part it is very rapid and is here called Braaddew In the last third part it loseth its force by little and little till it comes to turn and then the stream is as it were half dead In the third place the Tide is not allways equally strong but it is strongest in the new and full Moon three days before and three days after losing after of its force till the first and last quarter and it renews its strength again from the first and last quarter till the new and full Moon though according to the Moons vertue it be neither always equally strong but in the Spring and Summer when the Sun acteth most on the earth so that the warmth reflecteth thence and in the Dog days when the air is hottest by reason of the heat of the Canicule it is stronger in every change of the Moon then it useth to be in Autum or Winter from which effect may doubtless be concluded that the Sun together with the Moon and the inward warmth of the Earth doth produce the motion of the Tides For the 4 th when the stream runneth in the Inlets at E. or when it is East-fall it is then West-fall by the land and in the Iders and so quite contrary so that when the Master of a Ship cannot advance his voyage in the middle of the Inlets he must seek his advantage by the Iders for they stretch themselves in some places a mile from the Land Fifthly the Tide beginneth that is the water riseth at West fall and when that is out and it is Braaddew it is Floud or highest water that is West-fall in all the principal streams of every Inlet but afterwards cometh the East-fall from the Land beginning thereby by little and little to grow low water but how high or low the water riseth or falleth in Feroe cannot be exactly described there being a great inequallity in it both by reason of the changes of the seasons of the year and of the Moon wherein the streams are strongest Notwithstanding the stream ariseth much higher at west of the Land then at East usually seven Fathoms at West and but three at East In the sixth place it is very needful for a Pilot to know when it is high water or West-fall in Feroe not that he might thereby run securely over Rocks and grounds for he hath no great need of that in Feroe but that he may know how the stream runneth and advance his voyage accordingly all Marriners having erred therein till this day even the Sea expert Hollanders who in their Sea Mirrour write that a South and North Moon maketh highest water in Feroe Those that have traded in this Country and in their Voyage have taken notice of the Tides have found it otherwise and believe quite contrary that an East and West Moon giveth highest water wherein they doe not much erre but I have enquired about this business of old understanding men who nevertheless take little notice of highest water nor know wherefore it is so observable but only note their West and East fall which they nevertheless only mark by Flood and low water not understanding what an East or West Moon signifieth and they say altogether that the second day after New or Full Moon it is perfect West-fall that is highest water at six of the Clock in the morning and East-fall or Low-water at twelve of the Clock at Noon whence an expert man can conclude that a North East Moon and a South West make highest water the first day the Moon beginneth to fill that is at five a Clock and fifteen minutes in the morning and then they have highest water or West fall in new or full Moon in Feroe a North East and a South West Moon making highest water in all the principal Streams above mentioned In the other particular Streams it is high water at different hours in some before and in some after the ordinary time for in Leerviigs-fiord an East North East and West South West Moon maketh highest water that is when it is four a Clock and a half in the Morning In Nolsoe fiord an North East and South West Moon that is at three a Clock and in Westmans haven and Myggenessfiorda North West and South East Moon that is at nine a Clock in the forenoon so that here is a strange difference in the rising of the water between these many Islands which cometh altogether by reason of the points of Land I dare not undertake to explicate the several Streams with their Iders there being often in one Inlet five different Currents that run against one another so that I verily believe if the Learned Philosopher Aristotle were here himself to undertake that work he would find no less difficulty therein then in his Euripe Nevertheless I cannot forbear writing something of the little stream between Stromoe and Osteroe which seemeth very strange Though that stream on both sides of the water be wholly still and dead and there be a very short way over the grounds between both Lands it runneth nevertheless forward and backward according to the ordinary Changes of the Moon so swiftly that it is impossible to row against it but one must expect till it returneth Whereof the cause is this There goeth neither Ebb nor Tide at South of the stream but at
North the water riseth and falleth though there be no stream therefore when the Tide comes the water runneth over to the South Sinus and when it falleth again it runneth over the grounds from the South into the North yet no stream can be perceived because the Inlet groweth wider on both sides and is deep in it self even as in the Main Sea Before Feroe no stream is discerned though there be some as every where in the world but when it comes to the Islands the free slow course of it is hindered and therefore it is forced by the narrow Streights between the Islands to thrust it self between the Lands as a River would do through a Sluce Besides these several Streams there are also some other that turn round about which they call Male Stromme or Whirle-pool whereof there are many that have been known hitherto and are of all esteemed to be Sea-Abyssms which errour cometh because none could Sound their bottoms by reason of the danger attending it they drawing to themselves all that cometh near them whirle it to the bottome and after a certain time cast it up again There are in Feroe three such Whirle-pools the one between Videroe Suinoe and Bordoe not very dangerous the other at South of Sandoe by Daâ—es Cliffts called the Mill dangerous when there is a storm or a strong stream The third at South of Suderoe running about Sumboe Munk very dangerous The cause of these Whirle pools is not that there is a bottomless Abysm at the bottom of the Sea wherein the water should run when it is Ebb and Flow out again when it is Tide so that this should cause Ebb and Flood according to the opinion of some for if it was so it would not rage so much the stillest water having the deepest bottome but it proceeds from round grounds with Channels or Conduits in them I have dilligently inquired about these Whirle-pools of the two Deputies sent with me from Feroe to Denmark humbly to represent the general necessities of the Country and one of them named John Jonason dwelling on Suderoe told me that he had been the first that durst undertake to row over the VVhirle pool that lyeth South of Suderoe about Sumboe Munk whereof he spoke with certain and long experience First this Stream is very terrible and dangerous of it self especially when there is a Storm and a strong Current it draweth to it self all that comes too near it and as it were swallows it up so that a Ship cannot save her self nor avoid it if she approacheth it too near For a few years ago the said John Jonason saw about Christmas Tide in Stormy weather a great Ship come into that Stream whereof he saw sometimes the Fore-mast sometimes the Mizen-mast and the Sea strike above the Maine Quarter a while after which he could see nothing more of the Ship The Sea expert Baggowandel in his book called the VVatching Eye makes mention of this VVhirle pool and saith that Skipper Peter Odevald gave him knowledge of it I remember the time that the said Odevald got to know this Stream for he and his Folks told me that his Ship was drawn into it before he was aware and that he could not then Steer her the water beating in on all sides to a great height of the Mast and he could not save himself with his Sailes because it was quite still weather the Master affirming that he was never before in such peril and danger though at last it pleased God to assist him so that he came off again by the reflux of the Stream and arrived safe to Thors-haven whither he was bound Secondly according to the said John Jonasons Relation the ground round about this VVhirle-pool is eighty or ninety Fathom deep over which ground the Stream goeth still and quiet without any boistering afterwards round about the VVhirle-pool the ground lyeth 25 30 to 35 Fathoms deep over which ground the Sea with its waves begins to lift it self to work hard to draw and to whirle about afterwards there riseth a third ground which lyeth eight ten to twelve Fathom deep which formeth it self Snaile wise in a Circle four times double Nature hath made this high ground with points as the tops of some Cliffts whence it comes that upon the points there is only eight Fathoms deep of water and between them ten or twelve Fathoms wherefore when a Fisher Boat comes upon that uneven round Bank it is whirled about by the stream that turns round about these high Cliffts and that with such a swiftness that young people unused to such a whirle must lay themselves down in the Boat to avoid giddiness of the head and it is to be noted that besides this swift and hasty Gyration the Boat is turned about in another Circle according to the Snail-wise figure of the ground In the third place between these four round grounds there are three Channels or Conduits wherein the Sea worketh still and runs about in the said small turnings and before on the East side where the ground begins there is a Gulf where the stream runs in as through a Sluce though within it worketh but softly These Channels are 25 30 to 35 Fathoms deep now these Channels having uneven bottoms and the water flowing about in slow whirles it seems that the form of the bottom must be like that of the Superficie that is to say with small bowings and Cavities in it Fourthly in the mid'st of this VVhirle-pool there is a deep hole that is 50 or 55 Fathoms deep neer the very bottome in the middle thereof it is generally 61 Fathoms deep the inward water is even and still above only it runs slowly in a Circle which may easily be seen by the Seas Scum falling out of the Whirle pool that floweth round on the South side of that hole ariseth out of the water a Rock ten Fathoms high called Sumboe Munk about which there is but fifteen fathoms deepth At North of Sumboe Munk there are six lesser Rocks between which and the Munk there is the depth of three or four Fathoms And it is to be noted as is said above that on these Rocks the Compass runneth round about even as the Whirle-pool it self whereby it is spoiled So it is worth observation that on Sumboe Munk there is an extraordinary great cold even in the hottest Sunshine and best weather of Summer so that the people that get up the Munk to take Fowle can hardly endure the cold besides the Fowles that are hatcht and keep themselves there are very lean so that there is nothing on them but the bare Feathers I am in great doubt whence such an extraordinary cold should come the water about Feroe though it be cold in it self yet by reason of its faltness and perpetual motion causing usually there a temperate Winter I cannot therefore conjecture that this Streams continual motion should contrarywise cause such an extraordinary cold on the Munk. One may conclude
the water hath its own motion without resistance it floweth Horizontally without waves as through Conduits but when there is a resistance on both sides the bottom is uneven and there is no outlet the one part by its perpetual motion driving the other it must needs according to the supposition of Kircherus arise and fall in waves wherefore if it were as Galilaeo believeth either there would never be Ebb or Floud in Feroe in the Flemish Islands or the Islands of Cape Verde which both lye in the mid'st of large Seas where the Ocean should flow Horizontally or else both West-fall and East-fall should make there Ebb and Floud which never happeneth in Nature Ebb and Floud consist therefore without doubt and certainly in the motion of the Sea like that of waves to and fro from one Continent to another or in the fall where the one wave falleth upon the other driving one another against the Land Now since the ground ariseth toward the Land and the waves lift and cast themselves over it that must needs naturally cause the increase of the water towards the Land whence it happeneth that East-fall maketh highest water under Norway from the North Cape to Bergen where the Sea hath a free course as likewise to the west of Scotland and England except it be that Ireland lye in the way As also to the west of Ireland France and all Africa untill the Cape of good Hope contrarywise VVest-fall giveth highest water under all the East Coast of America and on the other west side thereof until Mare del Zuz And on the contrary VVest fall maketh high VVater in Mare del Zuz under the East point of Tartary and China In the mean time sometimes VVest-fall and sometimes East fall maketh high water about the Islands which are spread abroad in the Ocean and in the still Sea according as the difference of their Meridian is and the Seas motion doth augment its waves For Example when the Sea falleth west on Feroe the waves of the Sea fall then highest thereon and therefore VVest-fall maketh highest water Quite contrary when they fall back again on the East the waves have their cavities turned towards Feroe and therefore East-fall giveth there lowest water It is certainly true that as God hath created all things according to weight measure and number a certain wave falling at the west of Feroe in its retiring Nature hath equalized these waves in certain number thickness and length never to be altered according to the distance that is between the Continents and they are moved in such an unalterable perfection that neither the strongest contrary wind can hinder their course or fall nor a fore wind procure that they should come sooner or later the reason is that the wind moveth but the uppermost superficie but cannot move the deep Abyss thereof VVhence it cometh that when the great waves fall on upon the ground of Feroe and the water must thrust it self over the grounds between the Islands as through a â—â—â—ce and when there cometh a strong Storm against the Tide which cou d well move the water from the bottome in the same place where it seems that the course of the stream might be hindered it can nevertheless not happen so the force of the next wave coming from the main deep beating after it and the greatest driving the least the wind not being able to hinder the cause can neither hinder the effect of it yet none of them being willing to yeild they strive against one another with such fury storm and roaring of the Sea that it cannot be expressed with a pen and when the Tide falls back in its time the waves grow quiet and the wind appeaseth it self as two mighty Enemies that can win nothing on each other do at last agree lay down their weapons and walk the same way together But as a great wind cannot hinder neither cana fore-wind further the course of the streams because of the great wave that goeth before at the bottome of the deep which cannot be driven further then its natural course doth require after which the stream that is driven by the wind must needs regulate it self all what a fore-wind can doe is only that what water it driveth afore it self from the Superficie may serve to increase the flood whence cometh flood water that breaketh over Banks and endamageth many places though from this generality particular streams must be excepted For a further proof of this former explication it were to be wished that one had or could get an exact description of the West Coast along Europe and Africa and on the other side the whole East Coast of America and afterwards in the still Sea all the west Coast of America and East Coast of Asia as far as it lyeth open to the Sea when it is highest water at the points and in the Bayes how high the water riseth and falleth in every place and what is their Longitude As also that one could get these three Points dilligently observed about the Islands over the whole world or as far as might be which if it could be performed one could plainly see and perceive that this demonstration is so in nature yea one could also find how big and long every wave is formed None ought to doubt of it because such waves are not perceived by Marriners for as little as they can discern the motion of the water in the Main Sea as little can they perceive the waves rising or fall For the difference in forty miles in Feroe being but four Fathoms of the waves rising how could it be observed by Sailers Neither can it be discern'd any where but about such Islands at Sea and having been undiscovered and untry'd hitherto the wit of many hath invented several Hypothesis which are not in nature Much less ought any one to suffer himself to be seduced by particulars which are all irregular and much of what is written thereof upon the relation of others erronious Thus the Hollanders have err'd in describing the Currents of Feroe after the declaration of Marriners in the same manner Kircherus after the Description of Olaus Magnus and the relation of Seamen also the stream of Moskoe whereupon he hath grounded a great absurdity to explicate the nature of Ebb and Floud which hath made Mr. Herbinius in his publick disputation to err so much that all his suppositions fall of themselves But all particulars are explain'd when universals in their true grounds are right understood and the Inlets and Points diligently observed For an example we will take the stream under the the Low Countries in the North Sea Catigate and the East Sea according to our general demonstration we find the Ocean to fall and run into the Channel with the great waves of its motion by an East-fall as also to both sides thereof of France and England afterwards it fills all the Inlets and Harbours of the Coast of all Netherland thence the stream is
before and at the same time that huge floud which striketh up high in the Air against the Land We might also discern that by the Suns effect on the Earth for it shineth hotter in the afternoon then before Mid-day not that its heat is then in it self greater then before but because the Sun must in the forenoon drive away the cold from the Horizon but in the afternoon produceth its heat without any hinderance This explication doth very well agree with the name which Seamen give to that time of the Tide calling it Spring as if it sprung by its own force and would not be directed by the Moon Secondly it is plainly proved that the Moon governeth the Sea by the Quadruple motion of it twice to the West and twice to the East in 24 hours and 48. min. according to the course of the Moon though our Master Herbinius will not grant that not thinking there is such a thing in nature as that the Moon by Antipathy could now in 6 hours and 12 min. drive the Sea from it self and afterwards by a Sympathy in six other hours attract that again whilest nothing of all this happeneth by Antipathy in the opinion of Herbinius For according to these principles the Sea is in a perpetual motion to and fro as water in a Vessel between its limits against which if it beats it cannot get over but must appease its proud waves and fall back again which will last as long as the world continues But the God of order that has created and ordained all things according to weight measure and number hath made the Moon to govern thereover not only as a moving cause with the rest in the manner aforesaid but also regulateth its motion according to its own seasons and the Moon having two Motions the one from East to West together with the Sun and other Planets and Stars the other from West to East by which it moveth every day usually 12 degrees from and to the Sun which maketh 48 min. of time so there can be no Antipathy between the Moon and the Motion of the Sea to what side soever it turneth it self And God having made the distance so broad between the Continents that it can be six hours falling back from one Land to another which it would perhaps perform a great deal sooner if it might follow its own propension nay it might well in its fury and rapidity overwhelm the whole Globe of the Earth by reason of the aforesaid causes therefore the Moon is made to hold back by its course that of the Sea that it may not perfect its motion from one Coast to another in six hours or less but in six hours 12 m. which maketh in the four Tides of a day 48. m. so that the Moon governeth the Sea as a man doth a running Horse sometimes putting him forwards sometimes making him go slowly at other times giving him the Bitt and sometimes keeping him back and notwithstanding maketh him so run that it cometh to his Stage at the appointed time This is my poor opinion concerning Ebb and Floud grounded upon my own experience and dilligent enquiry whereby having written it in our Danish Tongue I would specially give Seamen occasion to enquire into nature wheresoever they come after this manuduction which if they do I doubt not but they shall make such observations that this explication will thereby be so confirmed that it will not be easily refuted We will here transport us from the salt Sea to the fresh Water on Land God can never be sufficiently praised that hath so wonderfully and abundantly blessed that Country with well tasting and wholesome Fountain Water Springing some Fathoms high on the top of the highest Mountains which in the greatest drought runneth constantly almost every where so that there is scarce a Cottage but there runneth along a little Spring water or a great Brook gathered of many such Rivelets whose water is generally colder in Summer then in Winter though they have there no healing Fountain for many diseases as in other Countreys except one in Osteroe near Gote which yet is not much made use of this water is of that nature that it is much warmer in Winter then other Water and if one will keep it a whole year it continueth without corruption One might it seems reasonably conclude that since Brimstone is hot and keepeth Wine from corruption that there may be Brimstone in the rock through which the water floweth whereby it is tinged with this quality and therefore there is doubtless a great vertue hidden in that water for the use of man if it were as convenient to come to as it is discomodious Since all what seemeth strange in the beings that God hath created when reason cannot comprehend it is presently taken for a miracle though it be an effect of nature one may also justly hold this for admirable that God by his wonderful wisdome and power hath so ordained it that the mortal body aggravates the soul and the earthly Tabernacle oppresseth the wandering senses so that they scarce reach the things which are on earth and hardly perceive what it hath under hand as the wise man speaketh in the ninth Chapter of his Book of Wisdome whence cometh that many of the Sons of Men that will not trouble their Brains with such deep thoughts do meerly consider such effects of nature as wonders others give themselves no thoughts at all about them making use of them as unreasonable creatures others to whom God and nature hath given more light of understanding do not persist in searching the secrets of nature so as to tire themselves therewith Amongst these secrets of nature there are not the least but the most in water namely its course and its ascent to the top of hills and its flowing down from thence The strange stream between Boetia and the Island of Negropont called Euripe which runneth in and out 7 times in a day troubled so much that accute Philosopher Aristotle in his deep Speculations to comprehend the cause thereof that he as Historians believe took his Death thereupon The said Aristotle hath also taken great pains to understand the natural cause of the Springing of Fountains but he hath been deceived in the invention of his reasoning Scaliger having long since refuted him But the Wise King Solomon in Eccles 1. 7. teacheth us whence the water Springs come and what is their natural cause all waters saith he flow to the Sea from whence they flow again but he teacheth us not the manner how it happeneth nor the cause whereby the water can Ascend from the Sea some hundreds of Fathoms high through the Mountains as it doth generally here on Feroe Magirus in his Physilogia lib. 4 c. 6. bringeth in the opinion of Scaliger in this manner although we know not the cause of this natural thing yet we judge that the water doth not mount up in a direct line but through many turnings and there
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
as other great Fishes The Fowl wherewith the Sorcerer did present Myggyness is the sule described above which is neither found any where in this Country except there this is sold for the price it cost Though many things happened in those dark times amongst the Children of infidelity both there and other places that seem now in this our light to be very disconsonant and incredible as yet dayly many things are perpetrated by Witches which the childten of light cannot apprehend much less imitate them therein The Inhabitants receive also sometimes a considerable profit from the Whales that are pierced at Sea which come sometimes floating hither to the Land Here are besides seen under the Land great living Whales as the Roar and Witch-Whale on which the Inhabitants dare not venture The Roar is very great and long and the Witch-Whale very dangerous for it will play with Boats sometimes it riseth from under the water under the Boat so that it standeth fast on its back as upon a Rock which often bringeth the people in great danger But God and Nature have revealed them a strange secret means to drive away such dangerous Monsters namely Castoreum which usually they carry in the head of their Boat boaring a hole in the Wood and putting Castoreum in it which they stop afterwards with a peg others have it inclosed in a piece of wood whereunto they link their Fish lines and carry it always with them in the Boat and when the Witch-Whale comes under such a Boat or that they cast that piece of wood upon it it sinketh to the bottome as a Stone This Whale must have a very good scent and cannot suffer the smell of Castoreum wherefore it retireth presently to the deep It is believed here by old experience that Castoreum hath this property that if a man hath any about him and cometh in danger upon the water he cannot save himself but sinketh to the bottome as a piece of Lead and drowneth for it hath been proved by experience that a person that could swim well perished at Sea having Castoreum about him being sunk and drowned whilest others that were in the Boat and could not swim saved their lives whereof the samous expert and learned Dr. Thomas Bartalinus writeth in his Centuries of Anatomical History Cent. 2. Hist 17. The Inhabitants say also that if they have no Castorum they carry with them Juniper wood whereof they cut Chips and cast towards the Whale whereby it also sinketh It was a great while before I would believe this till the Provincial Judge a very prudent man named Jonae Poulson that is well inform'd in the proprieties of this Country assured it me to be true I would nevertheless hardly believe it a long time till I had found the natural cause of it which is this Since Castoreum that can drive down the Whale hath the vertue to drive the dead Foetus out of its mothers Womb by which vertue the Whale is also driven and the Oyl of Juniper hath the same vertue as Castoreum to drive out the Foetus it may also be that Juniper Wood whereof the Oyl is prepared may also drive the Whale and there must be a great Antipathy between the Whale and such things which by reason of its acute scent it presently perceiveth and is weakned in its nature so that it must presently sink to the bottom by which reason it followeth also that all other Medicaments expelling the dead Foetus have also the vertue to drive down the whale as are Assa Foetida Myrrha Galbanum Oppoponax Scammony Brimstone Cinnamon and Mace or these Herbs Rue Sabina Foenum Gracum Hollow Hearb Felworth Matricary as also these Herbs which grow in Feroe Samphire Mugworth Tyme and others though part of the Species aforesaid be but the ingredients of those Medicaments Experience must further teach what is hidden in nature if it be so as is argued of this Species and if Castoreum hath the propriety and vertue to depress a man down to the bottom of the Sea so that he must drown notwithstanding he can swim it followeth also that the aforesaid Species have that propriety to the depression of a man One doth besides often hear that when people come in danger sometimes the greatest part are easily saved one or two perishing some can neither be sav'd by others nor save themselves as if it was so disposed by God that they before others should infallibly dye such a death and could not escape as might be proved by example if it were needful who knows whether any of them had not about him some of the things aforesaid which might easily and ordinarily happen with Mace and Cinnamon Much is hidden in nature that is yet undiscovered and in time will be brought to light For a conclusion as in my time during my abode in Feroe the said Sea-monster namely the Whale-dog was seen so in the year 1670 there was seen at the West of Feroe before Qualboe plaine a Mair-maid close by the Land during two hours and a half by many men not only of Qualboe but also of other places of Suderoe she stood upright above the water having long hair on her head spread on the water round about holding a Fish in her hand with the head downwards it was also told me that the same year the Fisher men of Westmans haven in Stremoe had seen a Mermaid at the North of Feroe whether these Monsters do 〈◊〉 Feroe any evil hereafter time will teach us that consisting Whales in the providence of God passing by what other Monsters have appeared in Feroe in the Figure of Boats whereof we have mentioned something already CHAP. IV. Of the Inhabitation of Feroe and the Facts of the Inhabitants THese Islands of Feroe lying in the mid'st of the storming Sea far distant from other Countryes have during a long time whilest Navigation was not so much practised as in these later times been uninhabited being only visited by the Fowles of Heaven till the time of Harold Pulchricomus first absolute King of Norway when as we are taught by the Chronicle of Snore Sturleson this land was first possessed by men and inhabited in the year of our great Monarch Jesus Christ's Nativity 868. having been uninhabited from its creation during the time of 48â—5 years and hath been tilled till the date of this book a little above 800 years The cause of its inhabitation being this It happened that Harold Haldanson Pulchricomus principal Ness or Promontory King in Norway beginning to reduce the Kingdom under him made War upon the Inhabitants upward of 10 years from the year of Christ 858 to 868 and having during that time put to death a part of those little Kings and Princes reduced a part of them under himself driven another part out of the Land and the last year some Kings and principal men having made alliance to resist him and raised a great Army King Harold destroyed their Forces after which time he found
in this Treatise and thereby gratifie the curious Reader Many seek far abroad the wonderful works of God either by reading or travelling in forreign and remote parts whereas we have them as admirable amongst us if they were right considered but as we care not for what we dayly see we think it therefore not worthy to be Communicated to others who would nevertheless esteem it rare and wonderful Whence it is come that none of those that have been before me in Feroe hath taken the pains to leave any thing in writing of the Quality and Constitution of that Country But being come thither a Stranger and remarking many effects of nature not usual in my own Country I would not live Idle without the examination and considering thereof endeavouring to doe my Countrymen that are not informed of this Lands Nature some small service by the Notification of what I have discovered I pray therefore and desire the Courteous Reader to take in good part this my Labour which I have destined to the Common good and if he find any thing imperfect expound it in the best meaning every one having his faults Thus live well and let me be included in thy favour From my Pathmos in Thors-haven the 12. of March 1670. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. Of the Land of Feroe in it self and the Circumstances thereof Page 1. CHAP. II. Of the Lands Fertility p. 111 CHAP. III. Of the Waters Fertility p. 163 CHAP. IV. Of the Inhabitation of Feroe and of the Facts of the Inhabitants p. 190 CHAP. V. Of the Qualities of the Inhabitants p. 25 CHAP. VI. Of the Pâ—litie p. 277 CHAP. VII Of Religion and first of Teachers p. 325 Of the Hearers p. 336 Of the School p. 341 CHAP. VIII Of Specters and Illusions of Satan in Feroe p. 349 The MAPP of the LAND of FEROE containing XVII Inhabited ISLANDS CHAP. I. Of the Land of Feroe in it self and the Circumstances thereof THe Islands of Feroe in themselves are only some high rocks arising out of the wild Sea and covered with a portion of thin Earth For Feroe doth consist of many Islands that are high Hills of hard stone strangely divided from each other by deep and rapid streams of water And that the said Hills or Mountains might be useful to mankind and the Lords holy Name in this latter age of the world be prais'd by true Christians in the midst of the storming Sea it hath pleased the Divine Providence to cover the valley between the Mountains and the sides of the Hills almost every where with two foot thick of Earth somewhere thicker or thinner according to the nature of the place whence doth grow not only abundance of Grass for Cattel but also Corn for the maintenance of man Wherefore if the land as other even Countreys could be cultivated and inhabited many thousands of men proportionably to the greatness and number of the Islands might there live and subsist But the people dwell only by the Sea-side where it is lowest and most convenient for them to get to Sea with their Boats and ply their Fishing there being almost every where high promontories whence no body can come down nor get up though there be some dangerous and terrible places whence they also launch out their Boats to Sea to go a Fishing where they must have strong Ropes in the Boat that those on Land may sometimes help the people out if they are in any danger some also who are the most live in creeks inletts and havens that are many convenient and good for Seamen to lay in their Ships in time of danger And where they live they have inclosed a small piece of ground which they Till to get Grass and Corn calling such Closes Boe The other part without the inclosure consisting in Valleys and Hills and sometimes in hills only is a thousand times larger and is called Hawe where their Sheep feed both Winter and Summer and their Kine only in Summer This part is never Tilled neither can it be so because the Inhabitants live along the Sea side for their Fishing sake and other conveniency having nevertheless the full profit thereof for they keep there as many Sheep as ever the place can feed A part of the islands of Feroe is Inhabited and a part furnished with Cattel they are in their greatness Havens Creeks Inletts and other circumstances as followeth Fugloe or Fowle-Island which is the most North East is pretty high and something flat on the top with high Clifts almost round about three English miles long and two broad where it is broadest having a little Creek on the East side called Hatterviig though it be unfit for Ships to Anchor in Suinoe lyeth two miles southward of Fugloe consisting in two long and high Hills on the North and South side The South Mountain is about a Leage in length the North but about half a League there is a valley in the midst on the East side whereof the people do inhabit and by this reason the Island being seen something far off at Sea seems to be divided in two Islands The said valley is about a mile long from East to West and therefore the Inhabitants have Boats lying on the East and on the West sides that they according to the Wind may ply their Fishing on either side such Valleys as also other places where the passage over land from one water to another is but short are called in the Language of Feroe Eide whereof there are many to the great benefit of the Country Videcoe or Vidoe lyes three miles west of Fugloe and hath a mile from Suinoe being crooked and having also a Valley where the people dwell it is in length about six miles and where it is broadest about three miles The south end of it stretcheth it self down between Suinoe and Bondoe being full of high Hills at the North of the Valley there is a high promontory at the East there is a little Creek though not very good sor Ships to Anchor in Bordoe a strange Island being in its Figure like a Crab having many points like claws it lyeth South West and West of Videroe and Suinoe being separated from them by a small Sinus in some places half a mile broad there being a place near Qnandesund only of Musket shot distant on the North East and East side it embraceth Videroe as with two arms and thereby makes a safe harbour every where between both Lands against all manner of weather and current having three entrances one at North between Mulen and Videroe another at South between Suinoe and the most easterly east point of Bordoe and the third at east between Suinoe But since towards the South East or South outlet as also about the North East or East three points of Land streatch out themselves the one from Videroe the other from Bordoe and the third from Suinoe and the ground under water being uneven it makes an indifferent Whirle-pool that turns the Boats that pass over
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
that since there is so strong a Magnete in the Center of the aforesaid lesser Rocks there may be also a strong Magnete in the other round grounds by reason of whose vertue besides the Streams Ships can so easily be brought into that danger And if there be a Magnetical vertue therein whereof I doubt not I leave to others Judgment whether it can be the cause of that extraordinary cold Insert here the second Figure The Form of the Whirlpoole at the South East of Sumboe with the Soundings Pag 52 The Whirle pool under Sandoe turneth about to its very middle point and hath no depth in the mid'st I have my self been twice on the third Whirle-pool between the North Islands and when one comes near it it droweth the Boat to it self as if it would swallow it so that the people have enough to doe to keep the stream from getting the upper hand all those of one side rowing strongly against the Gulf with their Oares whilest all those of the other side with their Oares row quite contrary And if the stream gets the upper hand is whirles first twice about with the Boat and then twice back again continuing so four or five times whence it is easie to conclude how the ground is figur'd below These sorts of grounds have tortur'd many sharp understandings and the fury of the stream being so great that none in a long time durst venture himself to search such grounds the reason of the most part hath concluded that such whirle-pools were Voragines or bottomless pits that caused Ebb and Floud Amongst others Athan. Kircheny l. 3. Hydrog writes of the Renowned Whirle pool under Norway called Moske Strom that it is a Sea Gulf wherein the Sea runs down under the land of Norway and runneth out again at another Sea Gulf within Sinus Bothnicus or Botthen whose opinion Mr. Herbinius in his publick dissertation held at Copenhagen in the year 1670. doth follow which opinion being grounded upon uncertain relations is very erroneous as will be proved by the following reasons First of all this Whirle-pool lyeth under the Land between two Territories or Islands where the bottom of the Sea ariseth and doth not descend in deep cavities even as is found in all the Whirle pools of Feroe and in that of Botthen In the like manner the said Kircherus in his Tabula Geographica Hydrographica describes many Sea Gulfs through the whole world but they are all found near the Continent or between small Islands Scylla and Charybdis are so in the Scicillian Sea the one under Scicilly the other near the point of Calabria and to confirm the thing the more Kircherus saith that there stands a high Rock in the midst of the stream which must be as the Munk in the mid'st of Sumboes Whirle pool described above God doubtless hath naturally set such high Rocks in the midst of thâ—se kind of streams as a Beacon for Seamen that they should not câ—me into danger Secondly Mr. Peter Clauson in his Description of Norway writes that the water runs about in such turbulent and boisterous manner that one can hear it some Leagues off at Sea which would not be if there were any deep ground to make a swallowing Gulf since the stillest water hath the deepest bottom but that great noise is made first because it is a narrow and small passage between two Islands for the large Ocean to run through with the Tide to the Continent and as narrow to fall back again into the Maine Sea and besides that overcome those high grounds which being winding in the manner of a Snail reason doth perswade that huge beating and running about must make a terrible noise In the third place Mr. Peter Clauson aforesaid writes that what whole Trees that stream draweth in come out again â—ugged with torn Roots and Branches which happeneth by reason that these high round and sharp grounds between which the Trees are whirled about by the strong stream doth beat and wear off the Roots Branches Bark and the uppermost of the Trunk thereof Of which sort of Trees there comes many ashoar to Feroe which would not happen if there were any pervious Gulf for then the hole would be large and the water run still round about and when any thing came to the Gulf it would hastily run through it without any damage as one may plainly see putting a piece of Wood in a Funnel and fill the Funnel full of water c. Kircherus to strengthen his opinion writes that near that high Rock in the midst of the stream there is an Abysme through which the Water is swallowed in that manner there should first be a Vortex or Whirle pool and within it a Vorâ—go or Sea-gulf that should have its way under Norway and it s out let within Botthen If it were so there would not then come out again the tenth part of what it swalloweth whereas the Whirle-pool rendreth as much as comes into it and the matter that is come out of it never returns into it again the stream that hath driven it out transporting it into the Main whence it â—omes driving to Feroe Island and Greenland as is more then sufficiently known In the like manner what comes up again in Botthen is driven by the stream to one of those Sea Coasts or else out into the East Sea and one should then see many of those Sea Wrecks in the East Sea whereof nothing hath been yet perceived Finally it is openly known to all those that have any ways frequented the Northern Countreys that the Inhabitants that dwell on the Islands and the Continent about Moskoe-Strome row out upon the Whirle pool when the weather is good and the stream slow in its reflux and fish there abundance of fish called Sey as I have been newly told by a Reverend man worthy of belief very well known in that place I confess nevertheless that there may be a deep hole near that high Rock which if there be as I do not at all doubt then Moskoe Strom doth agree in the ground perfectly with Sumboes Whirle-pool And it is in truth an admirable work of Nature that as she hath wonderfully formed the Shell of a Snaile so she forms the like figures in the air for Whirl-winds and in the ground for Whirl-pools setting in the middest of such whirlepools a token to be aware of danger and that nature might not be a hinderance to it self it hath made therein a receptacle or deep hole to receive and keep what the stream draweth in from time to time and afterwards restored it when it runs out again Neither will the Gulf within Botthen be found to be otherwise then a round ground since there is also perceived such a terrible noise and boistering as Olaus Magnus makes mention of which comes from the rapid ebb and â—loud through the long Bothmicus of the East-Sea whose great force yet is not much perceived because of the deep ground every where and therefore
divided into two parts or branches whereof the one runneth Northward between England and Norway and on both sides fills up all their Havens The other runneth towards the East between Norway and Jutland towards Sweden and endeth there its working running back again six hours after from thence to the Channel joyning it self to the general motion of the Ocean at the West of America where then it maketh highest water about this particular Stream and its Ebb and Floud are these following points to be considered First that it is caused by the general motion of the Ocean and therefore the noting of the time thereof cannot contribute to the explanatioâ— of this Phaenomenon but the time oâ— the floud without the Channel ought only to be considered and from thence learn the motion of the Ocean all what is within turning it self according to the ends and points of Land by a meer Flux and re-flux as the Ocean falleth sometimes on the East and sometimes on the west part thereof Secondly it is observed that on the East side of England and Scotland as also over against it under Norway there cannot be a strong Current nor great Ebb and Flood by reason that the wave which the Ocean drives into the Channel is diminished by the many Inlets and Havens that are at the south end of England and in the reach of Land between high Sand to the Elbe and the stream running afterwards partly Northward and the North Sea between England and Norway not being perfectly moved because of its narrowness here and there at East and West that little stream according to its proportion filleth both sides whence it comes that one perceiveth no great stream in Norway till one cometh pretty well North where the Ocean â—loweth without hinderance and it is even so under the remote part of Norway and other neighbouring places In the third place it is to be doubted whether this Flood and Stream which comes in through the Channel and runneth against Gottenborough runneth not through the Catigate into the East Sea and maketh there an ordinary stream of Ebb and Floud in six hours as in the Ocean Our Herbinius denyeth the East Sea all this and for ought I could learn of our Seamen they are almost all in the same opinion not knowing any other thing of a Stream there then what a constant Wind can cause either out or in through the Sound Nevertheless the Stream which comes from the Channel runneth into the East Sea and out again though inperceptibly and all the East Sea though it cannot easily be observ'd hath its ordinary ebb and sâ—oud which is not only proved by the stream of Botthen above mentioned but can also be easily perceived by the little Current running between Faâ—ster and Zealand which orderly runneth East and West absolving its Ebb and Floud in six hours as I have newly been informed and have experimented we have also the like examples in Feroe at North of Nolsoe Stream between Stromoe and Osteroe there is no stream perceived neither ebb nor floud that can be discerned because of the depth of the ground though it be there nevertheless as is proved by the strong stream at North of Stromoe in the streight between the Islands over the high grounds described and explained above which hath its course with the Stream of Nolsoes Inlet The third proof of the manner in which ebb and floud is effected depends of the Moon which God hath created as an assistant to the motion of the Sea in exercising two offices by helping the motion thereof and by directing it That the Moon contributeth to its motion is plainly seen because the stream is in general during the whoâ—e year according to the propriety of every season strongest and ebb and floud greatest in New and Full Moon increasing and diminishing according as the Moon increaseth or diminisheth its light wherefore such a thing happeneth I humbly conceive to be this warmth being a principal cause to the motion of water in general and the Moon being of a cold and moist nature when the same receiveth its light from the Sun it groweth warm thereby and by this warmth moveth the water Now since it is most warm when it is in Conjunction or Opposition with the Sun because then it darts its beams directly upon the Moon The Moon is then therefore most able to move the water when it is New or at Full. Now the Moon generally retiring every day from the beginning of the New Moon twelve degrees from the Sun or coming every day after full Moon twelve degrees nearer it so as it retireth or cometh nearer the Sun it shooteth its beams awry on the Moon and the more byassing the Suns light is distributed the less warmth doth the Moon receive and therefore moveth the Sea as its warmth diminisheth or is increased and therefore the motion of the Sea with its floud and ebb is greatest not only when it is new or full Moon but also three days before and after and is least when the Moon is in the Quadrate or first and last quarter but because the Moon being in the Perigeum or in Conjunction with the Sun is then nearer both Sun and Earth it seemeth then to have the greatest warmth of the Sun and to be able to exercise its overture on the Sea better then when it is in the Apogeum furthest from the Sun and Earth in its opposition or filling The operation of the Moon is nevertheless equal both when it beginneth to be new and when it is filled for the Moon having greater warmth and force at new Moon it is thought to act by reflecting its light towards the Sun the dark and cola part being turned to the Earth yet having less warmth and force when it is full it can nevertheless more conveniently and better pour down what it hath on the Sea by turning its splendid aspect directly upon it But it is very remarkable that two or three days after the beginning of the new or full Moon the Stream increaseth at Floud and doth not diminish which seems to contradict and destroy our demonstration whereunto we must seek another cause then the Moon which in my opinion is this whatsoever is heavy and is brought into motion by some violent force doth not straight ways diminish its said motion when the cause hath lost its force but rather augments it it is even so in this case The Moon hath some difficulty to augment the course of the stream when it is weakest in its first and last quarter but when it is grown rapid in new and full Moon it cannot so still it self again but increaseth naturally specially the Mover having lost in two days time something of its force This is plainly seen in the Sea for when it hath been moved by a great Storm it is more unquiet the next day when the storm is appeased then it was whilest it lasted for then cometh that terrible Alde which we have described
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
the steepness of the Hills intercepts the force of the Suns Beams the Earth keepeth its Fatness and Seed in it self bringing forth more Fruit then elsewhere The Earth doth not only produce Grass for Cattle but also many Herbs for the use of man for here groweth not only Garden Herbs namely Turnips Carrets Colworts Lettice Cresses Penny-royal and such like but also several and many wild Herbs specially Feroe is to be esteemed for four sorts of wild Herbs that grow here in abundance First of all there being no Country that God visits with any particular sickness but he causeth to grow in the same Countries some wholesome Plant against the said Disease and Feroe as aforesaid being by its nature very subject to the Scurvy God hath abundantly blessed the Land with Herbs good against it namely Cresses Scurvy-grass Beccabunge and Sorrell Secondly here groweth a huge quantity of Tormentill which the Inhabitants having no Bark of Trees to Tan their Hides with make use of God and Nature having revealed to them the dryness of that Herb so that they Tan their skins with it and therefore call it Bark In the third place here is found abundance of Angelica which they call Quander not only in Gardens and Church-yards where it is planted but also in the open fields and on the high hills the Inhabitants take pleasure in eating the great hollow Stalkes of it that are not yet grown to Seed whereof they peel first off the outward rind afterwards they teare off the long filaments eating the rest for pleasure as they do elsewhere the fruit of Trees they make also in time of dearth use of the roots of Angelica instead of other victuals The fourth Plant that groweth here is Radix Rhodia called in the Language of Feroe Hielpe-Rod whereof the Learned Doctor Simon Panly in his Flora Dania writes that it is in vain to seek it in Country Gardens and much more in the wild Fields or such other places it being only found in principal Gardens where it is planted nevertheless it hath pleased God to adorn Feroe with that Plant above other Countreys if then Denmark by the said Doctor Simon Panly is praised for its Scurvy-grass Norway for its Gentiane and Chamaemorus and Island for its Angelica Feroe ought also to bear the prize for its Rhodian root I have distilled Water of the said root and found it in oder and taste to be like Rose-water having made use of it in my occasions and found content therein as in other Rose-water yet it doth not grow in every place but only on the sides of Hills over-running waters or Lakes Here grow no Trees except some Juniper Shrubs in some few places close to the Earth and some Willow Bushes but they do not grow high It hath been try'd to Plant Fruit Trees but they will not prosper it may be the saline damps of the Sea are the cause of it There being such an abundance of grass and herbs in the Land there is also plenty of Cattel to feed thereon here are no Wild Beasts axcept Mice and Rats though they are not found in all the Islands Wherefore some think they cannot live where they are not seen but we will leave that undecided Venemous Beasts as Serpents and Snakes are not found here neither perhaps the propriety of the Earth will not permit them to live thereon Of Tame Cattel they have Kine Horses and Sheep those that live in great Farms which are but very few have sometimes twenty Oxen a piece the Cows goe often out to Grass the whole Winter provided there falleth not too much Snow The Cattel is for the most part little though fat according to the ground it feeds on The Horses are also of a little growth but they are strong and go surely and swift where the way leads without Horse-shooe on these high hills so that a man may more surely relye on them then upon himself they feed abroad both Winter and Summer without ever coming under shelter Their Sheep feed also abroad the Winter over and are half wild some quite wild nevertheless they go always and feed in one place so that they seldome go from their owners ground into another mans though they be only divided by Hedges as in other places yea what is more every Flock feedeth in the same close and doth not mingle it self with any other For if a Countryman have many Sheep some 200 some 300 400 or 500 they are devided into Flocks which they call Oner consisting each of about an 100 or an 150 Sheep which Flocks feed always in their usual places and the Countryman knows where he is to find every flock the cause wherefore they do not go from their own place into another or into another mans Close though they be Wild and there be no separation between them is this the Countryman setteth at first young Lambs on the place where he will have them to feed which he causeth to be look'd to and kept there a whole year and suffereth them not to go any where but where he intends they should be and when they are so us'd to a place they always feed there the old ones keeping company with the young that are bred of them the Flock remaineth feeding on its place as long as there is any living and if a Flock dyeth or perisheth by the â—igour of Winter they straight ways place another in the manner aforesaid It happeneth notwithstanding when a Country man putteth too many Sheep in his Close that they throng themselves into his neighbours and then the owner must take them back and kill them for they cannot be disaccustomed of it about which they have a particular ordinance called Siode Breffvet It cannot be expressed what these Beasts must suffer when there cometh on a hard Winter for when there falleth a hasty and lasting Snow and the Shepherd is not straight present to drive them into the Snow shelter that is a place in the open Fields as a Fold inclosed with Fences of Earth and Turffe against the North that Sheep may shelter themselves there the Sheep gather themselves close together in the open Field and then it happeneth that the Snow wholly covereth them so that the Country man cannot see them till at last he perceiveth a damp arising from the Snow by reason of their warmth and then he goeth and maketh a passage for them that they may get out and seek their Pasture It happeneth sometimes that they cannot be found by reason of the extraordinary great Snow and sometimes though seldom that they then remain a whole month under the Snow and suffer great hunger so that they eat the Grass by the Roots They also eat the wool off of one another being able to remain alive as long as they have any marrow in their bones and though a part of them be driven in time into the Snow shelter yet there is no Hay given to them but they must suffer what they can and scrape
it is on the Land and men run after it lit tumbleth over and over being hardly able to escape though it flyeth pretty well when it taketh its flight from the water specially when there bloweth any wind It maketh its nest on banks near fresh waters so close to the water that it can drink thereof sitting in the Nest and if the water encreaseth by reason of rain so that it floweth over the eggs it sitteth on them nevertheless and hatcheth out the young ones Besides these here cometh also a rare water Fowle called Garfugel but it is seldom found on Clifts under the promontories it hath little wings and cannot fly it stands upright and goeth like a man being all over of a shining black colour except under the belly where it is white it hath a pretty long raised Beak though thin toward the sides having on both sides of its head over the eyes a white round spot as big as a half Crown showing like a pair of Spectacles it is not unlike the Bird Pinquin that is found in Terra del Fugo painted and described in Atlas minor mercatoris I have had that Bird several times it is easie to be made tame but cannot live long on Land Here cometh also some damageable Fowl in the Summer namely the Swarth bag the True and the Skue The Swarth bag is a great Bird like a Kite it is white all over but the back where it is black and therefore is called a Black back it is of the figure of a Mew and is also reckoned amongst that sort of Fowl it hunteth after lesser Birds to eat them and hath nothing olse worthy of writing The True or Thief is called so because it threatneth and stealeth the meat from other Birds for it hunteth after and strikes at them till they let the meat fall from their Beaks and then he catcheth the meat in falling through the air very dexterously and liveth thereby not being able to plunge in the Water after Fish and when it hath gotten something from the one he seeketh presently another continuing so the whole day over The Skue is of the same Species with the True but something larger as big as a Raven being very fierce in the defence of its Eggs and young ones so that if a man comes by its nest he must take a care of himself for it flyeth streight ways at his head and strikes him cruelly with his wings wherefore the Inhabitants that know the temerity of it fasten a knife upright on their head against it and it happeneth often that in falling with vehemence on the man it is run through with the knife and falleth down dead being called Skue because it shooteth it self so hastily on men The profitable Water Fowls that come hither in Summer are Wild-Geese which are of three sorts ordinary grey Geese reddish Geese and Helsin Geese that are less then ordinary Grey Geese coming hither in great numbers and keeping themselves in great Lakes of fresh Water When they Mew the Inhabitants go sometimes on Goose Hunting with little Boats on the said Lakes taking sometimes a great store of them Swans come also hither in the Spring but they only rest themselves and proceed streight on their way to other Countreys But specially there cometh hither in the Spring in great numbers to the Inhabitants great profit and advantage some other sorts of Birds good to be eaten amongst which the first is principally worth taking notice of it is called Sule and is found no where in Feroe but on the Islet or Myggoness whereof the Inhabitants have yearly a great help to their house keeping they rehearse a strange Fable of the reason wherefore that Fowl is only found there and no where else whereof we will speak in another place The Sule is a pretty great Fowl being of a blewish gray it is also found in Scotland and is called by Seamen a Gentleman The other eatable Sea Fowls are found in great quantities every where in the Land namely the Skrabe Lunde Lomvifve and the Sea-Daw The Skrabe cometh in February about St. Matthews day and fareth away about St. Bartholomew Tide The Lomvifve and Sea-daw come about St. Gregories Tide and fly away at Mary Magdelens These Daws are none of those that are so frequent in Denmark those being Land Birds that are seen here also though very seldome The aforesaid sorts of Birds lay every one but one Egg and get but one young every year and though they be those that chiefly are sought for and there be well taken of them a hundred thousand every year there is nevertheless more of them then of any other sort yea by the admirable providence of God they are so plentiful that they in clear weather can darken the shining of the Sun as it were with a thick Cloud making such a terrible noise and sound with their wings in flying that they who hear it and do not know the cause thereof would not think otherwise but that it were thunder Every one of these Birds builds its nest and brings forth its young ones in a particular manner The Skrabe builds on the Land under the Earth scraping with its Beak and Claws lying on the back whence it is called Skrabe it diggeth under ground in some places a foot deep in some other eight or ten foot in several turnings seeking specially to dig it self behind a stone where it thinketh to lye surest It breedeth as aforesaid but one young it being remarkable that this Bird is the whole day away from its young and never comes to it but in the night to feed it and if it flies not from its young at the dawning of the day it stayeth with it the whole day over till the night comes and then flyeth out to Sea till the other night cometh and though the young is fed but once a day yet it is so fat that no Goose though it have been three weeks fatned can be fatter and they call those young ones lyers they do not by reason of their fatness make present use of these young ones but salt them to eat them in Winter melting their fat which they burn in Lamps They have to take them out several hooks half an Ell or an Ell long wherewith they pierce them through and draw them out They do not usually take the Dame her self except she be sometimes hurt with the hook so that she cannot live but if they cannot get the young one with their hook or by thrusting their arm into the Birds Nest by reason of the many turnings they dig a hole down unto it as near as they can guess and then thrust about with their hooks till they can get it which hole they must again stop so close that not one drop of water can come into it for else she will forsake her hole and never come thither more which otherwise she doth every year in the wonted place so that the Inhabitants know in what place under
make Merchandize of for other expences The Inhabitants get a great many of those Fowles as God giveth his blessing and fit weather Yet this is not every where in the Land but only in the Islands that lye towards the Sea and have great Promontories as the Northern Islands Myggyness Waagoe Skuo the Diemens and Suderoe And when it is dark Weather they take most for then the Birds stay in the Rocks but in clear Weather and hot Sun-shine they seek the Sea and against their flying away they keep themselves most there sitting on the Clifts towards the Sea side where people go also sometimes to them with Boats and take them with Fowling Staves CHAP. III. Of the Waters Fertility AS the Justice of God for the Sins of men hath deprived many places of his blessings in their waters he hath done the like for the sins of the people of Feroe for in former times Fishing hath been so abundant that the Inhabitants could maintain themselves with it alone but it is now so diminished that some years they cannot fish for their own corporal necessities so that the poorest sort that have no Lands to Till suffer sometimes great indigency Nevertheless God doth ' sometimes shew the Liberality of his Mercy to these poor Inhabitants to incite them thereby to better themselves and knowing that the nature of this people is not to deal with too much riches and opulency without abusing thereof he taketh care they should not have satiety of all things at one time for it is plainly perceived that when he crowneth the land with abundancy the Fishes are driven from their Seas and contrarywise when he taketh away the beasts of the Fields he giveth them very abundant fishing The Fishes wherewith this people maintain themselves are of three sorts first small Fishes secondly Seals and in the third place Whales The most Fish that is fished here are Cods a kind of Whiting and great Flounders there is besides fish'd places Trouts and Sand Flounders specially God sendeth them a sort of small fish called Murt which are a kind of I think Pilchards and that in such a quantity that the Havens and Creeks are sometimes fill'd with them specially towards Autumn though that happeneth not every year there cometh such an abundance especially of them sometimes hither to Thors Haven where there liveth many needy souls that one cannot perceive the bottom for them seeing often with pleasure many children that have little to eat at home stand by the Sea side morning and evening fishing as many of them as they and their Parents can eat not taking usually any more then will serve them for one meal Cods are usually found in certain places of the Sea called Meads having a certain time when they come and when they go away These places are well known to the Inhabitants by the Points of Land whence they take their distance to come to the right place wherefore they call it Meade or Measure These places being usually grounds where it is thought there are Springs of fresh water by reason whereof those fishes like to be in such places The Seale Dog called in the language of Feroe Kob is found in great numbers some in the Inlets which are called stone Kobs because they lye upon stones when it 〈…〉 weather They bring forth 〈…〉 ones in the beginning of 〈…〉 suck their Dams till St. Johns Tide some are found on the Sea side and are bigger then those of the Inlets they are called Later Kobs and are as big as a Cow they lay themselves upon the Clifts and out Rocks under high Promontories where no body can come to them with Boats and when they bring forth their young ones which happeneth in September they retire themselves in great cavities under the Rocks which the Inhabitants call Later They have many ways to take them besides shooting them they cast Nets over them formerly they took them with Dogs instructed thereunto which few make now use of the Kob doth not so well and sleepeth usually when he lyeth on a Rock whereupon the Dog goeth to him against Wind least the Kob should smell him and having sneaked 〈…〉 upon him catcheth at him 〈…〉 Throat holding him fast till 〈…〉 cometh that killeth him 〈…〉 The third manner is very remarkable and is called to go on Later this word Later is not a Latine Word but an old word of the Language of Feroe signifying as much as coupling for when the Kobs are coupled together they call it then properly at Lateris For here are many hollow places from the Sea into the rocks being large and wide cavities as great Vaulted Cellars before which there is a little hole as a door so that a small Boat can go into them within the hole the water is deep so that one can yet go farther in with the boat but it becometh shallower and shallower and at last is dry ground with a spacious Vault so that there is a great Eccho within when any body speaketh being so dark there that one cannot discern whether it be day or night The Kobs have their habitation in these Vaults or Caves sometimes above 100 together and because the Inhabitants are of opinion that they couple therein they do therefore call them Later and to seek those holes to kill the Kobs is called by them to go on Later These Caves are of two sorts whereof the ones entrance is under water where no man can come in and is called Kaufve-Later because the Seals dive under water when they goe into them the other whose Orifice is above water The Peasants have particular small boats to go into these Caves with wherefore when they know that the young Seales are great and fat they go with their Boats into the Cave having usually two Boats with the one of which they get in the other staying without at the entrance having between the Boats a Tow of 80 Fathoms length or larger that if the Boat which goeth farthest in be fill'd with water as it often happeneth the other that is at the entrance may pull it out with the people in it and the Cave being narrow they have a pointed stake on each side wherewith they thrust themselves in They have also two Candles in the Boat that they may the better see to kill the Kobs it being so dark within The said Candles are as thick as a mans arm and they hide them in the Boat least the Seales should see the men before they come on dry ground When they are come so far in the Cave that they can feel ground which they try with their pointed Staves first one Man leapeth out from the Boat into the water as deep as he can wade having a club in his hand to fell the Kob with which they call Kob grass then leaps the second man after him having a Candle in each hand which he must hold over his head that they be not put out with the water after them cometh the third man
shut with Locks and bars and the Keys east into the River so that none could tell exactly when they expired If the one Brother as is related lived so long he must have sustained himself with the body of his dead brother Whence followeth also that this maid could not naturally be kept alive without meat In the same Harvest a man of Suderoe was also carried away as the Parish Priest there Mr. Jacob Christianson writ me and afterwards further related me by word of mouthâ— He was absent several days but by the prayers of the Priest and Congregation he return'd shortly after being then dumb during a fortnight at last by their general Prayers having recovered his speech he spoke blasphemous words against God and his holy Scripture but by the Grace of God came again to his right sense and afterwards related that whilest he was away he perceived nothing but when he should return he saw a great many of that sort of Spirits that push'd and thrust him away from them and then he returned without hinderance Doubtless the Devil by the Commandment of God upon the prayers of the Congregation durst not keep him longer In the year 1669. Satan did here torment two Children of a man of Saxan in Stremoe the Parish Priest of the North Church Corporation whereof Mr. Gregory Hanson vaard writ also unto me the mans name is Christopher Absolonson His Son was first troubled by him but by the assistance of God the boy overcame him so that the evil spirit fled when ever he saw him and the boy could also plainly see when he came but as soon as he begun to pray or sing the Spirit vanished He afterwards troubled his Sister from the beginning of August to Christmas the Maids name is Mary when the spirit came to her she grew very sick and hath almost continually been sick and weak of understanding everâ— since he begun to trouble her But that I might have certain information thereof I have sent for the Boy from whose mouth I received the following relation He told me that he saw him first about St. Olaus day in the evening before the house in the Figure of a great man in grey cloaths The next time he saw him was on Christmas Eve when he came into the house and took out his Sister wherefore the Boy pursued him and found him neer the River standing over the Maid which lay on the Earth near the water but at the Boys coming he went away wherefore the Boy carried his Sister into the house she being sick and weak but the Spirit followed him softly to the house and when the boy came out again he stood yet before it The next day in the evening he came again in the room and the boy saw him leaning against a Post but they being awake in Prayer and invocation he did not tarry long and when he went out the boy followed him out of doors wherefore he spoke to the boy and ask'd wherefote he followed him so the boy ask'd him again what he had to do there whereunto he answered that he should get what he came for And the boy replyed that he should not get it at all Whereupon he went away as another man but came nevertheless again several times in the night when they were watching over the Girle being in the mean time in continual Prayers and Singing of Psalms but he did them no harm except that he put out the light and the boy grew some thing sick the Girle not being able to speak as long as he was there the 23 th day being Christmas Eve the Boy being absent the spirit came in as she sate by the Table and was playing at Cards with her other brothers and sisters and struck her on the one side as she sate so that she spit blood afterward Since came the Parish Priest to them and sent her over to Gote in Ostereo from which time they have perceived nothing of the spirit In the aforesaid Examples there are many things considerable which ought not to be passed by in silence For the first that they let themselves be seen in outward and corporeal shape is not only proved by Profane and Church Writers specially Sulpitius Severus in vita Martini Episcopi Turonensis but also by the Holy Scripture in the Divels tempting of Jesus Christ in the wilderness Matth. 4th Secondly that they have their habitation within Mountains in Caverns and Holes vacant and dry places our famous Divine Doctor Jasper Brockeman teaching us also in his Systeme of Divinity that they inhabit in those places that are polluted with any crying sin as effusion of blood or where unbelief or superstition hath gotten the upper-hand But it seems they go into the mountains where the eye of man can perceive no entrance the possibility whereof Stephanus Johannis Stephanius in his Notes upon Saxo Grammaticus teacheth us to be by the cunning power of Satan but in what manner it happeneth is an Art the Devil keeps for himself Thirdly that they will abuse the body of men to luxury was well known to the Heathens who called them therefore Incâ—bus and Succubus as also to the holy Fathers wherefore Hieronymus by reason of their great luxury called them sicarius's yea many witches confessions of the seduction of Satan do plainly witness it whereof many examples are found in Theatrâ— de veneficis and other writings Fourthly that they cannot easily carry men away as they please happeneth by the Almightiness of God whose power is greater than the Divels and assisteth those poor men for else it would be as easie for them to carry away men in their infirmities as it was for the tempter to carry Christ through the Air upon the Pinacle of the Temple Fifthly That they cannot do men more harm than God permitteth them which is plainly perceived in the Book of Job That they may be seen by some men and not by all might be proved by more Examples here in Feroe that being a meer endowment of their nature and that people grow much altered when they see such Apparitions The curious Reader may perhaps be desirous to know what they may be There have been many before now and are yet that will not believe such Apparations esteeming them to be only the meer fancies of melancholly people but it is as great errour to deny them for the many examples both here and elsewhere not only amongst common people that do easily deceive others or are deceived but also amongst many understanding men as is read in History together with the Holy Scripture sufficiently prove their existencie notwithstanding that the eyes and ears of men in many sights and Apparitions by an errour of the sence are deceived And as the Disciples took Jesus Christ when he walked upon the Sea and when he appeared to them the doors being shut to be a Phantasm or a Spirit so many simple people pretending they have seen or heard spirits which were not so maketh that
it round about but Ships are in no danger of it Towards the South East Bordoe stretcheth it self out into three branches or points so that they seem at Sea as several Islands and constitute too long Inletts whereof that which is most Eastward is called Arnefiord the other Baardevijgs from Baardevijg's Inlet there runs a little valley half a mile long to the North west side where there is a safe harbour called Klack From hence the Land stretcheth it self again to the North along Videroe a matter of six miles or less all these branches and arms are for the most part streightning on both sides into long and sharp points on the North West Bordoe embraceth again with two arms or branches another little Island called Kunoe Kunoe is a long and narrow Island about six miles in length and a good mile in breadth growing sharp on both sides consisting in a long sharp hill separated from Bordoe by a narrow straight in some places half a mile broad and in some others less stretching it self most to the South and North from Mule on Bordoe till the Harbour of Klack which it shuts up with its southerly end and renders it safe against all Currents of the Sea Kalsoe lyeth Westward oâ— Kunoe separated from it by an inlet called Calseefiord which is two miles broad and this Inlet is open from South to North so that all Ships may safely run through it especially when the Stream is with them Kalsoe is a little longer then Kunoe and a little broader stretching it self to the South and North without Haven or Creek on the West side it is a very steep promontory on the East side the hill is edged and runs sloping to the Sea side all coloured withgreen Osteroe lyeth West of Kalsoe and Bordoe stretching it self most Northward towards East it is almost twenty miles long but inequally broad for some places are two miles broad others four or six miles broad according as the points stretch themselves far out the Land consisting in many long branches or arms on the East side towards Kalsoe Bordoe and the main Sea it hath six long branches or arms that constitute five Inlets or Creeks namely Funding fiord Andâ—fiord an indifferent Harbour Englefiord a good Harbour Joteviig and Lammehauf viig afterward the Land stretcheth it self to the South East in a long point called Ostness from which neck three miles Northward begins again another inlet far in the Land two miles long called Skaalefiord at the beginning of the Inlet there is a good harbour called Kings haven because formerly when his Majesties Ships did Cruise here under the Land after Pirats they took Harbour there on the West side from South to North the Land is almost even without any Inlet or Creek and the inlet between Câ—lsoe and Osteroe is in some places but a mile and half broad and safe for Ships to sail through the North end of Osteroe is very notable for Senmen for it stretcheth out it self with a little round point to the North west with a round hill upon it Nolsoe lyeth two miles Southward of Osteroe or Ostres extending it self most N. W. to N. and S. E to S. it is 4 miles long and a mile and half broad where broadest having on its west side Stromoe at the distance of two miles and half There is almost on the midst of the Island a high Hill sloaping by little and little to the South side where the Island is even on the top and not very high North of the Hill there is a little plain and West of it towards Stromoe a little Harbour called Nolsoeviig an indifferent good Summer Harbour Stromoe is the largest Island in Feroe and 24 miles long and where it is broadest eight miles in breadth it lyeth West of Osteroe and Nelsoe stretching it self North west to North and South West to South being full of many high Hills amongst which Skelingsfels over goeth all the rest in height standing like a high house above the others it is very notable for Seamen that are bound for Thorshaven for when they get sight of it and sail there unto they fall before the Northern entrance of Thorshaven That Island hath also several Creeks and Harbours on the East side from the South end is first of all Thors-haven where the general Commerce is established it is a little but a good harbour whereunto there are two entrances over against North Nolsoe between Stang and Ostness and over against South Nolsoe between Baarn and Skadlehoffoed afterwards there is Kalbacksfford then Kollefiord next thereunto Thorsviig and Qualviig one cannot come further with Ships for on the North of Qualviig Stromoe and Osteroe are as it were bound together by a ground that is between the Islands over which runs a very rapid stream and there is no Current on either side of the ground From this stream it is that Stromoe is so called at North of Stromoe is Haldersviig an indifferent Harbour into which one enters on the North side on the north side there is a very fair Harbour called Westmans Haven which is sheltered by Waagoe lying over against it Waagoe lyeth West of Stromoe being divided from it by a straight called Westmans haven seund a mile and a half broad thorough which there is a safe passage The Land of Waagoe is almost of a Triangular or Quadrangular Figure being eight miles in Diameter it is cut in by two long Creeks first by one on the South East side called Midvaage a good Summer Harbour then at West there is another Creek called Sorvaage The Land it self is all full of Hills hard by the South point of Sorvaage there lyes two little Islands with high clifts on them called Tineholm and Gaaseholm Myggeness lyeth out at the West of Sorvaage two miles from the Land it is three miles long and one and a half broad having a high territory with high promontories round about it there being but one place to come on Land it stretcheth it self most to the North East and South West Towards the South West end of it lyeth Myggeness Isle having a high clift round about it is flat above though sloaping like the roof of a house on the North East side it is separated by a little Riff three or four furlongs broad Kolter lyeth three miles to the South-East of Waagoe and above two miles to the West of Stromoe it is a little Island a mile long and about half a mile broad stretching it self most to the South and North having a high Mountain at the North end but at the South end it is low and narrow having a high Promontory on the West side Eighteen years since in the middest of Summer there was found on the highest top of the Mountain of Kolter the quantity of many tomies of Herrings spread along The Mountain where the Herrings were found is above two hundred fathoms high The vulgar sort will perhaps ask how these Herrings could come there whereunto is answered that