AKAROE. 
35 
for the purpose of seeing the eider ducks, which 
breed on this, as well as on all the other unin¬ 
habited islands, in great quantities. It was a 
windy day, and we had a rough passage in a 
little Icelandic boat, over which the waves were 
continually beating. These boats, which are 
rowed by two men, are very high, both at the 
head and stern, and, by being made sharp fore 
and aft, are capable of being rowed equally well 
both ways: the larger ones, however, have a 
rudder. The sides of the boats, instead of belly¬ 
ing out, like ours, are nearly flat, and applied to 
each other at acute angles,* that a transverse sec¬ 
tion would appear almost like the letter V; at 
the same time they are so deep, that, when un¬ 
supported by a sufficient quantity of water to 
keep them afloat, they necessarily fall down on 
thei'r sides, which renders getting in and out very 
auk ward. They are, nevertheless, safe boats, 
and accidents are seldom heard of from their 
oversetting. On our landing on the rocky island, 
We found the eider-fowls sitting upon their nests, 
which were rudely formed of their own down,' 
generally among the old and half decayed sea¬ 
weed, that the storms had cast high up on the 
beach, but sometimes only among the bare rocks. 
It was difficult to make these birds leave their 
nests, and so little inclined were many of them 
to do it, that they even permitted us to handle 
