JIEMOIR OF PENNANT. 
45 
footing, he pennits himself to be lowered do^\Ti, 
depending for his security to the strength of his 
companion, who is to haul him up again ; but it 
sometimes happens that the person above is over- 
powered by the weight, and both inevitably perish. 
They fling the fowl down to the boat, which attends 
their motions and receives the booty. They often 
pass seven or eight days in this tremendous employ, 
and lodge in the crannies which they And in the 
face of the precipice. 
“ The sea which surrounds these islands is ex- 
tremely turbulent. The tides vary greatly on the 
eastern and western sides. On the first, where is 
received the uninterrupted flood of the ocean from 
remote Greenland, the tide rises seven fathoms ; on 
the eastern side, it rises only three. Dreadful 
whirlwinds, called by the Danes oes, agitate the sea 
to a great degree; catch up a vast quantity of 
water, so as to leave a great temporary chasm in 
the spot in rvhich it falls, and carries away with it, 
to an amazing distance, any fishes which may hap- 
pen to be within reach of its fury. Thus great 
shoals of heirings have been found on the highest 
mountains of the Faroe. It is equally resistless on 
land, tearing up trees, stones, and animals, and car- 
rying them to very distant places. We must no 
longer laugh at the good Archbishop of Upsala 
(Olaus Magnus), who gravely tells us, that at times 
the rats called lemming are poured down from the 
clouds in great showers on the Alps of Norway. 
