AAAAAi 17 It was, however, fated that they were not to enjoy them long, for 20 years afterwards they had a visit from Algerian pirates. These were certainly not gentlemen, for they burnt the newly-built church, robbed the houses, set them on fire and departed carrying with them all the food, clothing, valuables and about 400 men, women and children to be sold as slaves in Africa. The King of Denmark paid a large sum as ransom for their release, but only thirteen lived to regain their native land. Notwithstanding the sufferings, calamities and hardships of the people, the Westman Isles con- tinue to be inhabited by a people who draw their entire subsistence from the ocean and the cliffs, catching codfish and killing sea-birds, myrihds of which haunt the rocks of their sea-girt shore. The coast is so treacherous that unless the weather is calm and the sea still, a boat cannot be launched, a huge cascade is a sort of weatherometer that decides whether a landing can be effected. The fall is one long stream of spray falling 800 feet; in windy weather the spray is blown entirely away, but if it is still enough for this cascade to appear constantly two days in succession then the sea is usually calm enough to allow boats to venture out. Sometimes this does not occur for many weeks, and the people depend in a great measure on the sea-birds, in whose capture they exhibit wonderful courage and skill. In the egg season they let men down by ropes two, three or four hundred feet, and when one arrives at the shelves of nests he fills a large bag with the brittle treasures deposited by the birds. Getting his bag full he and his eggs are drawn up to the top by his companions. Sometimes the rope breaks or is cut by the sharp pointed rocks, then the luckless bird-nester is precipitated to the bottom and perhaps dashed to pieces in the rocks nearly a thousand feet below. When the cliffs are not accessible from the top they go round the bottom in boats and show wonderful daring in climbing the precipices. Later in the year they go and get the young birds, often having desperate battles with the old ones. They export large quantities of feathers, eat the eggs and some of the birds fresh, whilst others are salted down for winter consumption, and the old ones split open, dried, and used for fuel. “Necessity is the mother of ■w

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