Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1979, Page 32

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Land Tenure, Fowling rights, and sharing of the catch
From an evolutionary point of view we may conclude that,
as a regulatory mechanism, part of the catch was allotted to
the fowler before sharing according to land tenure. In that way
the owner’s share actually must be regarded as the negative
counterpart of an original fowler’s share.
When several fowlers work together the catch is shared
among them after the landpartur has been taken, but the fowler
who is lowered down onto the fowling cliff gets a larger share
than the man tending the rope at the edge of the cliff. He
might get two or more shanes, the other men one each, or he
might be paid according to his effort, by getting every tenth
bird before the sharing takes place.
In Skúvoy both methods were used simultaneously, leading
to the situation, in which the fyglingarmaður (i. e. the man
who descends the cliff) might get up to seven times more birds
than the »ordinary« participants. An example which is even
more complicated is given in the table, p. 41.
When 10—12 fowlers were lowered halfway down onto a
a wide ledge in the cliffs to perform fygling they were paid
16 birds each, prior to the ordinary division of the catch.
On the island of Hestur the fowler who was lowered down
into a lundaland received 10 puffins and 10 eggs more than
the other participants. The fowler who took puffins outside
the ordinary lundaland (i. e. in places where the puffins’ holes
were more scattered) received 5 birds and 5 eggs before the
share-out. With these exceptions all participants were allotted
equal shares.
Lines, ropes and other equipment used in fowling often
received shares equal to a man’s share, or they received a cer-
tain number of birds — to compensate for wear and tear.
Also, the boat used was usually reckoned as equal to one man.
Adjustment of the catch
The allocations and reallocations of fowling places effected
down through the ages were intended to guarantee equalization
among good and less good fowling places. However, fowling