FÅROER, or FERØE, a group of European islands, situated in the Northern Ocean, between Zetland and Iceland, about 200 miles north-west of the former. They appear to form the country described by the early Venetian navigators under the name of Friesland, though that term was afterwards applied by the English to the northern extremity of Greenland. These islands are twenty-two in number, of which the principal are Stromoe, Osteroe, Suderoe, Wangooe, and Sandoe. They consist throughout of rocks and hills, rising to a considerable height, and separated from each other by narrow valleys, or rather ravines. Although, however, these hills rise abruptly, there are often on their summits, or at different stages of their ascent, plains of considerable magnitude. They everywhere present to the sea perpendicular cliffs, broken into a thousand fantastic forms, and which, to those who sail along the coast, present at every turn the most picturesque and varied scenery. The highest peak is that of Skellingfell, in the island of Stromoe, which is supposed to rise about 3000 feet above the sea. The rocks consist generally of trap, and exhibit little variety of composition, though they present some striking geological phenomena. The zeolites and chalcedonies here collected have long supplied the best specimens of these minerals to the cabinets of Europe.

The population of the Faroe Islands, according to a statistical table drawn up in 1812, amounted to 5209. Agriculture is in a very imperfect state, the infield, or cultivated land, being supposed to bear to the outfield, or uncultivated, the proportion of one to sixty. The plough is scarcely ever used, being in fact ill suited to the rugged and uneven surface of which all the islands consist. The ground is therefore turned up with the spade, care being taken not to destroy the roots of the grass. Horses and cows are few in number, and the latter give very little milk; in consequence, probably, of the very coarse hay upon which they are fed. Sheep form the chief riches of the islanders, and the number possessed by them was calculated in 1812 at 35,307. Some individuals have flocks of two or three hundred. These sheep are allowed to run about, both in summer and winter, without ever being housed, and in severe seasons they suffer considerably. The wool is generally coarse, and is torn off the animals in so rough a manner, as often to lacerate the skin. The fishery, which was once considerable, has been neglected, and is now of little consequence. The catching of the numerous birds which build their nests upon the face of the cliffs, forms a great source of subsistence to the inhabitants. Those persons employed in this hazardous trade display great ingenuity and the most adventurous spirit. Sometimes the fowler is let down from the top of the cliff by a rope fastened to his waist; at other times, where there is any footing at all, he climbs the steepest rocks, or, where that is impossible, has himself thrust up by poles made for the purpose. The puffin (Alca Arctica) is the most common of these birds, and the eider duck is here often shot for food.

The Danish government has given the monopoly of the trade of the Faroe Islands to a mercantile house at Copenhagen, under the condition of supplying the inhabitants with a sufficient quantity of grain at a constant fixed price. Should the market price be such as to render this a losing transaction, the merchant is indemnified by government. This care of provisioning the islands is probably superfluous; and the natural bad effects of a monopoly are felt in the high price of other imported articles, a good jacket being often given for a few leaves of tobacco. The exports consist of hose knit on the islands, to the annual amount of 100,000 pairs; tallow, fish, train-oil, feathers, skins, and butter. During the war between Britain and Denmark, the Fort of Thorshavn was, in 1808, destroyed by Captain Baugh, lest it should afford harbour to privateers. A German adventurer, who assumed the name of Baron Hompesch, afterwards landed and plundered the place; but his conduct was disavowed by the British government, who even restored the value of the property of which the natives had been robbed. Finding also, that the people having lost their communication with Denmark, were in danger of suffering from famine, Britain permitted a limited intercourse to be carried on, under license, from Leith. But the peace restored all things to their usual channel.

Thorshavn, the principal place in the country, does not contain above 520 inhabitants. It is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Stromoe, upon a narrow tongue of land, having creeks on each side, where ships may be safely moored. The houses are built of wood, and roofed with birch bark covered with turf; the greenness of which makes it impossible, at a very short distance, to distinguish the place from the surrounding fields. The character of the people is generally marked by great simplicity of manners, kindness, and hospitality. (See A Description of the Faroe Islands; by the Rev. G. Landt; translated from the Danish; London, 1810. An Account of some Geological Facts observed in the Faroe Islands; by Sir George Stewart Mackenzie, Bart. in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin. vol. vii. An Account of the Mineralogy of the Faroe Islands; by Thomas Allan, Esq. ibid.)