Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 17

EIN DANI OG BYRJANIN TIL FØROYSKA FORNFRØÐl
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Fig. 4. Ejnar Knudsen (1888-1949) was born near
Slagelse in Denmark. He graduated in 1909from tlie
Copenhagen Veterinary College (today The Royal
Veterinary and Agricultural University). After a
couple of other positions he was appointed director of
tlte newly established Research Programme in Faroe
and was hased at its head office in Hoyvík. He was in
Faroe until 1934 when he changed his place of work to
a Researclt Station in Northern Jutland. While in
Faroe he edited eleven State reports on agricultural
experiments. Photo (1944): The Royal Library.
Department of maps, prints and photographs.
Hatt in Faroe
It was a fine and bright weather as the ship
‘Dronning Alexandrine’ approached the
Faroe Islands. During the day, however, the
sight deteriorated and the clouds covered
the mountains. But the weather cleared up
again. Hatt described their arrival at Faroe
on October 17th in his notebook; ‘We
sailed south of Mykines and Vágar, Koltur
and Hestur, as well as Trøllhøvdi. We ar-
rived at Tórshavn at three o’clock in the af-
ternoon’. After the arrival the couple went
down to the Hotel Djurhuus, where they
took lodgings, enjoyed a meal and ‘enjoyed
the beauty of the town’ (Fig. 3).
The following morning Hatt arrived at
Hoyvfk at the ‘Research Station of Agricul-
ture and Farming’, where he presumably
had organised to meet with Ejnar Knudsen
(1888-1949), the director (Fig. 4). Hatt was
well received and was immediately put in
contact with Mads Winther Liitzen (1877-
1942), an agricultural adviser (Fig. 5). This
visit to the Research Station should clearly
be seen in the context of Hatt’s project in
Greenland and his overall interest in agri-
culture and farming systems. Therefore it
was of big importance to him to meet
Liitzen who some years earlier had pub-
lished the book ‘Landbruget paa Færøerne’
(English: Farming in the Faroe Islands)
(Liitzen, 1924).
After lunch the Hatt couple visited the
Museum established the previous year un-
der the roof of the library. Here they met
with Mads Andreas Jacobsen, the librarian
and chairman of the Museum, who guided
them around (Fig. 6). Later in the afternoon
Jacobsen took the Hatt couple to Kirkju-
bøur. The site was of course a great experi-
ence to Hatt and he described it quite de-
tailed in his notebook.
The following day, Wednesday October
19th, Jacobsen took Hatt to Eysturoy by
motorboat. The weather was brilliant and
the scenery spectacular with mountaintops
clad in snow, which had fallen the previous
night. They sailed up through Tangafjørður
and from there up into Sundini between the