Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Page 11

The English Letters of Pastor Schrøter
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other subjects he is an intelligent and reliable witness. On folk-
lore, indeed, we certainly do find him making some wild
speculations. In a letter of 30th October 1832, he canvasses
the probability of the Carthaginians having discovered the
Faroe Islands in the course of trading voyages to Ireland, and
he returns to this theme in several subsequent letters. By com-
parison, his treatment of King Sverre is fairly rational, and
the version of Det jærøiske Sagn om Kong Sverre which he
sent to Trevelyan on 20th May 1848 is very similar to, but
slightly longer than, the text later printed in Antiqvariske
Tidsskrift 1849—51. The most entertaining of all is a gene-
alogy which Schrøter inscribed in the copy of his Faroese trans-
lation of the Færeyinga Saga which he sent to Trevelyan in
1833. In this, Schrøter traces his descent on his mother’s side
all the way from Grímur Kamban, by way of Sigmundur
Brestisson and the Dame of Húsavík! Yet in these same letters
Schrøter discusses international politics or the state of the
Faroese economy, in terms that command our respect.
In the letters sent during the war of 1848—50, the reader
gets a vivid picture of the sheer isolation of the Faroe Islands
before the days of the electric telegraph and even of the steam
packet. On 20th May 1848, Schrøter wrote to Trevelyan, who
had sent him a supply of English newspapers by way of Shet-
land, as follows:
Dear friend!
Your friendly and interesting letter of March 13th I had
the honour to receive April 26th, also the interesting news-
papers, that affords me and others a more detailed informa-
tion of the State, that now is so alarming for us here; a time
of war in the reign is always a melancholy affair for the
colonies. Our situation is now indeed precarious, and we
are very anxious for news, as well deplorable as favourable.
May God grant your honour’s humane wish, that arbi-
tration by the Powers may settle the quarrel, but at present
it seems to me there is no prospect for that. That the Danes