862 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Nov. 8, 1902.] 
Commissionex" Wilcox, of the Park Department, turned 
over the Aquarium to the Zoological Society, and Prof. 
Henry Fairfield O shorn made an address accepting it. 
President Fornes, of the Board of Aldermeti, congratu- 
lated the society on its new responsibilities, and the city 
on the excellent i^rospect of the aquarium tnider the new 
management. Mr. Chas, H. Townsend, the new direc- 
tor, made a brief address suggesting many of the possi- 
bilities of the institution as an adjunct to the educational 
work done in the citj^ and as a place where scientific 
work could be carried on. 
In the Faroe Islands. 
After a fishing trip to one of the northern islands T am 
once more installed in Hans Kristoffer's little guest room 
in Midvag, resting from hard tramps across the moun- 
tains and enjoying the activity of other people. When 
I arrived, hay making was in full swing. Our household 
mustered a band of ten workers, Hans Kristoffer, Jeg- 
vand Senior, Jegvand Jtmior and our youngest, Heine, cut 
the grass and six stout girls turned and tossed it with 
their hands. Rakes are little used on a Faroe farm. I 
spent much time in the hay fields with the sheep dogs 
Frem and Heick sleeping by my side. Occasionally Hans 
Kristoffer or Jegvand Senior came and sharpened a scythe 
near by and we held such converse as my limited stock 
of Danish allowed. "Grind" was the subject of our last 
peaceful talk; grind — the "driving whales" of northern 
seas that in flocks of from fift5'^ to 1,500 visit these fjords 
from time to time and are driven toward some bay and 
killed near shore. "Do \rou think there is anj' hope of my 
seeing the grind ?" I asked Jegvand. "It may well be," 
he answered. "August is a good month, and Midvag has 
the best strand for the killing. If a flock is seen anywhere 
in these waters the boats will, if possible, drive it here. 
We shall know they have been sighted by the 'grinde- 
bud' [whale message] which will come either by land 
or by sending up a column of smoke from a headland on 
grind — one hundred and fifty in the Westmanhavn flock. 
The second morning after the Midvag boats went to the 
hunt, a Sunday morning, the air was so still and warm 
that for the first time I had breakfast out of doors. There 
is a cosy nook in Han Kristoffer's garden sheltered from 
the sea winds by a grass-covered dike, currant and elder- 
berry bushes. Within this inclosure grow sweet fern, 
cranesbill and .saxifrage, and there I breakfasted and 
chatted with a sociable northern wren, a "mouse's 
brother," as the Faroe folk call him. I had shared my 
soft-boiled eggs and barley bread with him, and he was 
giving thanks in a burst of song, when suddenly from the 
beach close by an old man shouted "Grinde-bud !" The 
whale message had cotne again 1 The mouse's brother 
whisked away, and I sprang up on the dike and looked 
seaward where the man was pointing. There, three miles 
away, on a headland of Stromoe, a column of smoke rose 
high in the still air. It meant that the grind was in that 
neighborhood, and that all the men of Midvag who had 
not gone to Westhavn must come at once. Jegvand Senior 
had gone on ctitting grass when the first message came, 
but this time it was not five minutes before I saw hitn 
hurrying over the strand like a boy of fifteen with a full 
killing outfit on his shoulders. In seven minutes from 
the first cry the first boat was at sea ; a short enough 
time for eight men to gather with their outfit and launch 
a boat. Before half an hour had passed eight -boats had 
put off, and that left not a single seaworthy craft in 
Midvag, and only small boys and great-grandfathers. 
Even our Heine, a slight lad of sixteen, had gone, though 
he had not been permitted to accompany eighteen-year-old 
Jtgvand to Westmanhavn. 
All the boats disappeared in the distance and tiothing 
happened for four hours, except the arriA^al of men from 
Sorvag and from Bo. When the cry had gone up from 
our beach, a man, "Grindebudet," as he is called, had 
started on a run for Sorvag. four miles distant over the 
hills. . When he came in sight he had shouted "Grindc- 
bud !" and another man had taken it up and run on to Bo, 
two miles and a half further on. In an incredibly short 
time the people arrived, breathless with the haste they 
had made. In little knots they lay on the grass by the~ 
shore, their daggers ready, Avaiting until their services 
would be needed, as the grind came to land. Far off at 
sea in a shining belt of water, I saw through my glass 
specks that proved to be boats in a long line. I saw 
their great tails and dragging them forward to the shore. 
One immense whale hemmed in a boat close to the rocks 
and thre\v such quantities of bloody water over the men 
that they were helpless. It was like a huge red fountain, 
through which I could see now and then the blinded men 
trying to strike, but yet afraid of hurting one another. 
The boat was being beaten to pieces, and other boats had 
to hurry to their r.escue. I saw boys six and seven years 
of age running into the water and stabbing with their 
small knives imtil plucked out and borne ashore by some 
old man who often returned to do a little killing of his 
own. One boat was sinking, but the men clambered into a 
neighboring boat and were taken to shore. Dignified 
Jegvand Senior was there, looking far less like a devil than 
most of the men, and I saw our Heine, as cool and col- 
lected as an old hand, striking to right and left with tell- 
ing strokes. 
In less than an hour all was over. Not one escaped. 
Two hundred and eighty-five whales lay dead and dying 
on Midvag strand, and from shore to shore the sea was 
red with blood. 
Then the Sysselmand (or county sherifif) came to the 
front. Four men were appointed as assistants. The com- 
mand was given for all the men to aid in dragging the 
carcasses as far toward land as possible, so they would 
be stranded by the ebbing tide. The assistants were to 
measure, value and mark them, and make a deep incision 
in the stomach so that the meat would keep fresh longer. 
In the houses the women were hard at work. The 
grinde-bud had come just before the men had had their 
breakfasts. It was now 4 o'clock, and the men were tired 
out and half fatnished. Hans Kristoffer's house has a 
great reputation for hospitality, and he had more than his 
fair share of visitors. A grewsome looking set they were, 
dripping and bloody. Dozens of the least presentable were 
fed and cheered and dried in the outer kitchen or "rog- 
sine" with its earthern floor. The dryer ones ate.Tn the 
family living room. I would really like to know how 
many pots of coffee Fru Hans made in the next twenty 
liours, I know she was kept busy all night, and in fact no 
one slept in the house of Hans Kristoffer, The Syssel- 
mand and his helpers were writing all night just outside 
my room, and men coming and going all night. 
About 9 o'clock that evening I went down to the shore. 
Most of the whales were on land and others showed their 
sharp black fins and tails in the shallows. There were 
AFTER THE GRIND-HUNT. 
Faroe Islands, 
FLOCK OF GRINDWHALES. 
Faroe Islands. 
Stromoe. Hester or Kolter. The position of the smoke 
will tell us just where the flock is and where it is to be 
driven and then we send men and boats to help. Yes," 
added Jegvand, musingly, "it would be interesting for 
you to see the grind," and with brightening eyes he went 
on to tell of past killings and of the great one last year, 
when 1,500 whales met their death on Midvag strand. It 
must have been a dreadful sight ; usually a flock numbers 
from fifty to three hundred, and even Jegvand admitted 
that 1,500 whales was an embarrassment of riches. And 
then the neglected hay making was resumed and I went 
back to the house. 
Why should we have talked so much of grmd that after- 
noon of all others? Was it a case of telepathy, some 
subtle connection between our group in the hay field and 
a messenger hurrying toward us from the fjelds on the 
north? I had just returned to my room and was stand- 
ing by the window when I heard a rumor in the air, a 
suggestion of hoarse cries, and Jegvand Junior came 
dashing down from the bay field in flymg leaps. Only 
one thing could make Jegvanhd jump like that— the 
"grinde-bud r In a twinkling I was out of the house, 
but already Jegvand had seized his new grind dagger, belt 
and coat, and started on a run over the beach. As I 
stood there a dozen young fellows sprang past me, their 
eyes blazing with excitement ; they were savages, pure and 
simple, for the time being, possessed with the love of 
killing, which lies in more or less latent form in every 
man's nature. The older men went on with their work 
in the fields; they could tell by the way the message came 
that only the young men were needed. In five minutes all 
were at the boats ; then came a pause. The grind it seems 
were at Westmanhavn, ten miles to the north, and were 
safe for the present. The men of Westmanhavn had 
hemmed them in a narrow fjord and all they needed was 
help for the killing. So the young men returned to their 
homes to make fuller preparations, for it would be a two 
•days' work. I lingered near to see what our Jegvands 
\vOuld be. , A bottle of milk, a grind dagger, sheath and 
' "'belt, an tetitire suit of sheepskin clothes to wear over his 
ordinary suit, a warm helmet hood and a good-sized wooden 
box filled with dried mutton, bones and all, and woolen 
stockings all mixed up together. Jegvand gathered up his 
possessions and stalked forth without saying "farvel" to a 
soiti. Jegvand is usually very polite, but at that hour his 
©yes were fixed on' a future full of grind and saw nothing 
this side of Westmanhavn. So he left us and for two 
days and nights no news came from the north ; then he 
appeared, not having slept for fifty-four hours, and with a 
hand badly cut by a grind dagger. But they took the 
nineteen, and there were more to come. Little by little 
thew drew near to Midvag strand, and in front of them 
now and then came a flash of silver as a whale spouted. 
"They are 'urolig' " (uneasy), said Fru Hans, anxiously. 
"They may yet get away!" and the Sorvag and 
Bo men began to get up and talk together seriously. 
I ate a scrappy dinner standing at the window, opera 
glass in hand^^ At last six boats left the approaching line 
and came, to land for stones, loaded up and put out again. 
That meant that the drive would soon begin, and I scur- 
ried off" to the other side of the bay, where the flock must 
pass on its way to land. The boats drew nearer together 
until they almost touched, formed a semi-circle— forty- 
two there were by that time, and' I could hear a sound 
like a great Indian pow-wow, hoarse .shouts and cries and 
loud thumps and knockings on the gunwales to frighten 
the whales and keep them from rushing out to sea. The 
men threw stones fastened to ropes in the spaces betAveen 
the boats and to right and left if the whales turned, and 
so slowly but steadily the flock AA^as urged forward. An 
old man sitting near me said the boats Avould not charge 
in yet; the bay was still too wide, the water too deep, the 
whales could break away if frightened too soon. There 
seemed very fcAV, to me, but "w-here there is one head 
seen above there will will be tAventy below," said the man. 
Then at last the signal was given, the boats dashed 
forward, the men shouting Avildly, the grind Avas seized 
with a panic, and surged toward the land. A large flock 
of eider ducks, usually so fearless, became alarmed and 
made for the .shore, looking over their shoulders and tell- 
ing one another to hurry. There. Avas a roar of surf on the 
beach, six great rollers preceded the grind and crashed 
along the coast, the grind dashed to the right and Avere 
met and turned by the boats, then to the left of the bay 
Mdiere I stood, and instinctively I began to climb higher. 
I could not see the drove from the storm of white water 
in front of it, but it struck the shore and two great Avhales 
upheaved by the pressure behind and beloAv Avere cast high 
on the rocks at my feet; the boats closed in and the 
slaughter began. 
Three hundred men fought Avith harpoons, hooks and 
daggers, and as the Avounded and maddened Avhales broke 
from the harpoon lines and dashed on .shore, they Avere 
met in the .shallows by the men of Sorvag and of 
B6, Avho, tip to their arm pits in blood and water, struck 
again and again with their long daggers, and severed the 
r.prnal cord in the n'eek. With the first gush of l:)lood all 
escape for the grind was at an end. Blinded, the Avhales 
swam helplessly to and fro, fighting only when wounded. 
Then they threw themselves aboutj lashing the boats with 
poor little baby Avhales born in the last agony of panic and 
o; death, and lying by their mothers. The beach pools 
were pools of blood and on the strand the surf beat in a 
long crimson line. 
Next morning when I went doAvn again, the division had 
been made and boats Avere being rapidly loaded with the 
n-eat. The laA\'s that gOA-ern the distribution of the 
grind are not to be comprehended by the average feminine 
mind. But I believe one-tenth goes to the Crown, one 
per cent, to the poor, one" per cent, to the schools, the 
biggest Avhale to ijie boat that first reached the grind, a 
head to the person Avho first gave the alarm, tihe Syssel- 
mand and his assistants have something for their labors, 
the pastor has his share, and after that all the inhabitants 
of a certain wide and large district share the rest, though 
those of a few far-away villages get but a half-share. " I 
think the grind laws need revision. For instance, the capital, 
Thorshavii, with its 1,200 inhabitants, shares our grind at 
Midvag Avith those that have borne the brunt of the fight 
and keep open house to all afterward. On the beach 
that morning I met many of the Faroe men from other 
places, with whom I had tramped and fished and rowed— 
men from Sorvag and Bo, Leinum, QuiAng and Westman- 
havn, Thorshavn, Stromnoes and Saxon — even Myggenoes 
men appeared in the course of the day. They exchanged 
greetings over vertebrje and piles of blubber and rows of 
heads whose broad curving lips wore a queer smile. The 
air Avas heaA^y Avith the smell of fresh flesh, and a detailed 
description of the strand that morning would not be 
pleasant reading. All that day and all the next night the 
work went on. and our four men haA^e just finished carr3r- 
ing up our share of meat to the lath-sided storehouse, 
there to be salted — most of it — and the rest to be cut in 
strips and hung frorn the house eaves to dry in the wind. 
It is two days nOAV since the grind was killed, and yet the 
waters of the bay are still thick and red. Oh, for a strong 
breeze and tide to bring in fresh seas and purify us again ! 
The first morning after the killing, as I came out of my 
room, I found an official looking paper made out in mys- 
terious terms with my name attached, an4 learned to my 
surprise that I also Avas entitled to a share of grind. I 
was much elated, and visions of wealth danced before my 
eyes. I Avas, it appeared, to have the equivalent of a tiny 
v.hale, and it Avas to be sold by auction. It did not seem 
honest, hoAvever, to appropriate a Avhale that I had not 
earned. But our Jegvand Junior had fought and bled and 
fought again, and Heine had come to the front nobly. I 
Avould give my whale to those who had been in the thick 
of the fray. So I did, and I can only hope I did it 
modestly, with no trace of conscious virtue. Young 
I 
