upon which grew the vegetation which gave rise to the coals; the
effusion of dolerite which covered up the Coal formation was subaerial.
The existing land features, with the fjords, are due to ice
erosion in the glacial period.[1]
The climate is oceanic; fogs are common, violent storms are frequent at all seasons. July and August are the only true summer months, but the winters are not very severe. It seldom freezes for more than one month, and the harbours are rarely ice-bound. The methods of agriculture are extremely primitive and less than 3% of the total area is under cultivation. As the plough is ill-suited to the rugged surface of the land, the ground is usually turned up with the spade, care being taken not to destroy the roots of the grass, as hay is the principal crop. Horses and cows are few, and the cows give little milk, in consequence of the coarse hay upon which they are fed. The number of sheep, however, justifies the name of the islands, some individuals having flocks of from three to five hundred, and the total number in the islands considerably exceeds ten thousand. The northern hare (Lepus alpinus) is pretty abundant in Strömö and Osterö, having been introduced into the islands about 1840–1850. The catching of the numerous sea-birds which build their nests upon the face of the cliffs forms an important source of subsistence to the inhabitants. Sometimes the fowler is let down from the top of the cliff; at other times he climbs the rocks, or, where possible, is pushed upwards by poles made for the purpose. The birds and the contents of the nests are taken in nets mounted on poles; shooting is not practised, lest it should permanently scare the birds away. Fowling has somewhat decreased in modern times, as the fisheries have risen in importance. The puffin is most commonly taken for its feathers. The cod fishery is especially important, dried fish being exported in large quantity, and the swim-bladders made into gelatine, and also used and exported for food. The whaling industry came into importance towards the close of the 19th century, and stations for the extraction of the oil and whalebone have been established at several points, under careful regulations designed to mitigate the pollution of water, the danger to live-stock from eating the blubber, &c. The finner whale is the species most commonly taken.
The trade of the Faeroe Islands was for some time a monopoly in the hands of a mercantile house at Copenhagen, and this monopoly was afterwards assumed by the Danish government, but by the law of the 21st of March 1855 all restrictions were removed. The produce of the whaling and fishing industries, woollen goods, lamb skins and feathers, are the chief exports, while in Thorshavn the preserving of fish and the manufacture of carpets are carried on to some extent. Thorshavn is situated on the S.E. side of Strömö, upon a narrow tongue of land, having creeks on each side, where ships may be safely moored. It is the seat of the chief government and ecclesiastical officials, and has a government house and a hospital. The houses are generally built of wood and roofed with birch bark covered with turf. The character of the people is marked by simplicity of manners, kindness and hospitality. They are healthy, and the population increases steadily. The Faeroes form an amt (county) of Denmark. They have also a local parliament (lagthing), consisting of the amtmann and nineteen other members. Among other duties, this body elects a representative to the upper house of parliament (landsthing) in Denmark; the people choose by vote a representative in the lower house (folkething). The islands are included in the Danish bishopric of Zealand.
History.—The early history of the Faeroes is not clear. It appears that about the beginning of the 9th century Grim Kamban, a Norwegian emigrant who had left his country to escape the tyranny of Harold Haarfager, settled in the islands. It is said that a small colony of Irish and Scottish monks were found in Süderö and dispersed by him. The Faeroes then already bore their name of Sheep Islands, as these animals had been found to flourish here exceedingly. Early in the 11th century Sigmund or Sigismund Bresterson, whose family had flourished in the southern islands but had been almost exterminated by invaders from the northern, was sent from Norway, whither he had escaped, to take possession of the islands for Olaf Trygvason, king of Norway. He introduced Christianity, and, though he was subsequently murdered, Norwegian supremacy was upheld, and continued till 1386, when the islands were transferred to Denmark. English adventurers gave great trouble to the inhabitants in the 16th century, and the name of Magnus Heineson, a native of Strömö, who was sent by Frederick II. to clear the seas, is still celebrated in many songs and stories. There was formerly a bishopric at Kirkebö, S. of Thorshavn, where remains of the cathedral may be seen; but it was abolished at the introduction of Protestantism by Christian III. Denmark retained possession of the Faeroes at the peace of Kiel in 1815. The native literature of the islands consists of the Faereyinga Saga, dealing with the period of Sigmund Bresterson, and a number of popular songs and legends of early origin.
Bibliography.—Lucas Jacobson Debes, Feroa Reserata (Copenhagen, 1673; Eng. transl. London, 1675); Torfaeus, De rebus gestis Faereyensium (Copenhagen, 1695); I. Landt, Beskrivelse over Färöerne (1800), and Descriptions of the Feroe Islands (London, 1810); A. J. Symington, Pen and Pencil Sketches of Faroe and Iceland (1862); J. Russel-Jeaffreson, The Faröe Islands (1901); J. Falk Rönne, Beskrivelse over Färöerne (Copenhagen, 1902); C. H. Ostenfeld, E. Warming and others, Botany of the Faeroes (Copenhagen, 1901–1903); Annandale, The Faroes and Iceland (Oxford, 1905). The Faereyinga Saga was translated by F. York Powell (London, 1896); for folk-songs and legends see S. Kraeth, Die färöischen Lieder von Sigurd (Paderborn, 1877); V. U. Hammershaimb, Faeröisk Anthologi (Copenhagen, 1886–1891).
FAESULAE (mod. Fiesole, q.v.), an ancient city of Etruria,
on the height 3 m. to the N.E. of Florentia, 970 ft. above sea-level.
Remains of its walls are preserved on all sides, especially
on the N.E., in one place to a height of 12 to 14 courses. The
blocks are often not quite rectangular, and the courses sometimes
change; but the general tendency is horizontal and the walls
are not of remote antiquity, the irregularities in them being
rather due to the hardness of the material employed, the rock of
the hill itself. The courses vary in height from 1 to 3 ft., and
some blocks are as long as 1212 ft. In this portion of the wall are
two drains, below one of which is a phallus. The site of an ancient
gate, and the road below it, can be traced; a little farther E.
was an archway, conjectured by Dennis to be a gate of the Roman
period, destroyed in 1848. The whole circuit of the walls extended
for about 123 m. The Franciscan monastery (1130 ft.) occupies
the site of the acropolis, once encircled by a triple wall, of which
no traces are now visible. Here was also the Capitolium of
Roman times, as an inscription found here in 1879 records (Corpus
Inscr. Lat. xi., Berlin, 1888, No. 1545). The Roman theatre,
below the cathedral to the N.E., has 19 tiers of stone seats and is
37 yds. in diameter. Above it is an embanking wall of irregular
masonry, and below it some remains of Roman baths, including
five parallel vaults of concrete. Just outside the town on the E.
a reservoir, roofed by the convergence of its sides, which were of
large regular blocks, was discovered in 1832, but filled in again.
Over 1000 silver denarii, all coined before 63 B.C., were found
at Faesulae in 1829. A small museum contains the objects found
in the excavations of the theatre.
Though Faesulae was an Etruscan city, we have no record of it in history until 215 B.C., when the Gauls passed near it in their march on Rome. Twelve years later Hannibal seems to have taken this route in his march south after the victory of the Trebia. It appears to have suffered at the hands of Rome in the Social War, and Sulla expelled some of the inhabitants from their lands to make room for his veterans, but some of the latter were soon driven out in their turn by the former occupiers. Both the veterans, who soon wasted what they had acquired, and the dispossessed cultivators joined the partisans of Catiline, and Manlius, one of his supporters, made his headquarters at Faesulae. Under the empire we hear practically nothing of it; in A.D. 405 Radagaisus was crushed in the neighbouring hills, and Belisarius besieged and took it in A.D. 539.
See L. A. Milani, Rendiconti dei Lincei, ser. vi. vol. ix. (1900), 289 seq., on the discovery of an archaic altar of the Locus sacer of Florence, belonging to Ancharia (Angerona), the goddess of Fiesole. (T. As.)
- ↑ See Hans von Post, “Om Färöarnes uppkomst,” Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, vol. xxiv. (1902).
