Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1956, Qupperneq 143

Føroyski leypurin
151
for peat, manure, corn (for drying), whalemeat, hay. Otherwise the
volume of the leypur has been reckoned as a proportion of the tunna
(«barrel»), the skeppa (8 skeppur — 1 f.), the kannubæri (48 kannu-
bærar = 1 f.) and the fimtingur (16 fimtingar = 1 f) to which so many
leyputvnames bear witness. The fimtingur is only in use in Suðuroy
and as a /eypur»measure only in the villages of Hov and Sandvík.
2. To the question «What is the leypur used for?» one is tempted
to answer «What is the leypur not used for?» The leypur has, indeed,
followed the Faroeman in all his work on hill and shore, in the cliffs
and out at sea. The leypur is borne on the back. It can also be carried
by a pony; in the case a leypur hangs from each side of the animal.
A man bearing a leypur uses a head band (see Figs. 3 and 4). The
band is described, including the materials used, the various modes of
fixing it, of tying the knot in it and of fastening it to the leypur
(see Figs. 1 and 2).
The use of the leypur is described in connection with the following:
peat, manure and seaweed, fish offal, corn, hay, wool, fish, whalemeat
and in connection with work on the land incl. planting, in connection
with fishing whether by line or net, when fowling in the cliffs, for
carrying ice and snow, conveyance of goods and other articles of every
sort, e. g. the belongings of priest, doctor or bailiff. But not only men,
women and children have also borne the leypur. Peat and manure
have in addition been carried on horseback. The chief use of the leypur
will have been for peat, manure and seaweed, and fish.
A small number of tools are referred to which are used in making
leypar and which are called after it. In some villages carpenters made
most of the leypar, but on the whole every Faroeman knew how to
make himself a leypur.
Even those who carry the leypur a great deal do not suffer from
any special «occupational complaintss, other than that a man can get
a depression across his head from the band and prominences on the
back, corresponding to the spines on his back from the leypur itself,
but these are not dangerous. — The body does not become bent through
carrying a leypur.
It is odd that the many tales relating to the huldumenn (invisible
beings of human size) never — as far as the author knows — mention
the leypur, especially since superstition had it that the huldumenn worked
just like ordinary mortals, they had sheep and cattle, they fished from
their boats etc., but had no leypur.