232 ACCOUNT OF THE MINERALOGY 



lites he got, were found among the debris upon the sides of 

 the hills, those we picked up in such situations, were uniform- 

 ly deprived of lustre, and otherwise much damaged. 



The boats are principally used for fishing ; they are all con- 

 structed in the country, of plank brought from Norway. They 

 are built in the canoe shape, and though not very commodious, 

 are so admirably fitted to the seas of Faroe, that I do not 

 recollect, during the whole of our excursions, to have been in 

 the least incommoded by the rising of the spray. The conti- 

 nual practice of the natives, and their constant habits of attend- 

 ing to the tide, not only for the purposes of their avocations, 

 but also to mark time, when the sun is obscured in clouds, 

 renders them extremely expert in the management of their 

 craft; yet they never venture their boats to sea without ha- 

 ving them well manned, — a precaution extremely necessary, 

 where, by the rapidity of the currents, andathe sudden gusts 

 of wind, the waves are thrown into the most violent agitation, 

 almost instantaneously. 



The Faroe Islands being so celebrated as the source of the 

 finest zeolites and calcedonies, which decorate the cabinets of 

 Europe, Ithere expected to find a perfect magazine of every thing 

 magnificent of that nature ; and never doubted that we should 

 meet with people in plenty, who, if they had not objects of this 

 description to dispose of, would at least be able to conduct us to 

 the places where they were to be procured. I was therefore sur- 

 prised, that not one person in Thorshavn could give us any sa- 

 tisfactory information on the subject. Such is the indifference 

 those beautiful productions of nature, so justly prized abroad, 

 meet with in their own country. Our guide, Hans, who had also 

 attended Sir John Stanley in the same capacity, told us, that 

 that gentleman had supplied himself with zeolites from a cave 

 in Naisoe, about twenty-three years before ; but that he had 



not 



