Isaac Sharp and Asbjorn Kloster in the Faroe Islands (April – June 1862)

From the Narrative of Isaac Sharp (April 28, 1862)

We left the next morning for Eidi, a principal merchant station on Eysteroy, where about 170 came together; and our visit of Christian love appeared to be appreciated in the minds of some who were present. Many of the remote districts of Faroe are much cut off from instrumental help; a pastoral visit from the appointed minister, owing to the distance and difficulty of travel, being paid at intervals, varying from three to six times a year. In the interim, according to the rules of the “Lutheran Church,” the portion for the day is read to those who assemble in the kirk in each parish, on Sundays and on some other days.

Great is the difficulty and distress to which these islanders are constantly exposed, in the event of sudden illness or accident, there being at present but one doctor for seventeen islands, occupying a space of nearly sixty miles from north to south, and forty from east to west; notwithstanding which, and the hardships and privations they undergo, the average duration of life does not appear to be low.