THE F.EROES AND ICELAND 265 



name of Graasula [Grey Solan]. They are very fat but 

 pretty oily. The old are caught in the middle of April, 

 when they have built their nests, but not yet laid eggs. 

 It is at night, when it is dark, that the people steal upon 

 them, where they sit and sleep, and with a sure grasp 

 seize them so that they cannot utter any sound, for if that 

 happened all would wake and fly away. The young are 

 killed in autumn with a small stick or cudgel, which is 

 called Kadix, when people are stationed in the sea in a boat, 

 from which they both kill and pick them up as they fall 

 down.* The catch is lucky when about 200 are taken in 

 spring, and as many young. It is wonderful to see with 

 what swiftness this bird can shoot down from the sky into 

 the sea to catch Sild or Sej [herrings and coal-fish]. It 

 goes quite under water and leaves much foam on the place 

 where it has shot down. They have so wide a gullet that 

 there is scarcely a Graa sej [coal-fish] so big that they cannot 

 gulp it down whole. "t 



Modern History of Myggences Gannets. — As regards the 

 more recent condition of the Gannets of the Faeroes, I will 



* What is probably meant here is that the men in the boat kill any 

 which are already in the sea, besides picking up what are thrown down to 

 them by those on the Holm. 



t Mr. Harvie-Brown observes that coal-fish sometimes go up to 15 lb. 

 and even 20 lb., so Landt's assertion must be understood with some 

 limitation. 



