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

Journal of Isaac Sharp - April 29, 1862

Eidi

It blew hard in the night, and the storm of wind and rain continues unabated this morning, entirely precluding our departure hence until the swell of the surging waves becomes less. At nine, the hour appointed, more than 100 assembled - the countenances of many evinced their serious attention. The people of this place are much cut off from the pastor, within whose parish they reside, as the distance precludes his being with them more than six times a year.

Hvalvik

In the afternoon, although it continued to rain there was a change for the better, and a little before five we left for Qualirg (Hvalvik), and in about two hours landed in safety, and found lodgings at the house of a person who is accustomed to entertain merchants and others who may be passing by this way. The weather is far more winter-like than anything we met with in Iceland - the sheep have a very bare pasture, there being scarcely a trace of vegetation on the hillsides, except the sere and withered tufts, and the moss which grows among them - the little lambs are small and thin, and some of them may be seen on the margin of the fiords, with their mothers, learning their first lessons in the selection of the sea-weed growing on the rocks, most suitable to eke out their scanty sustenance. The butter is well made - clean and sweet, but about as pale as milk.