On the arrival of the boats at Rostoe, Quirini was quartered with the principal person of the island: This man's son led him to his father's dwelling, as his debility was so great he was unable to walk without assistance. The mistress of the house and her maid came forwards to meet him, when he would have fallen at her feet; but she would not permit him, and immediately got him a bason of milk from the house, to comfort him and restore his strength. During three months and a half that Quirini dwelt in this house, he experienced the greatest friendship and humanity from the owners; while in return he endeavoured by complaisance to acquire the good will of his kind hosts, and to requite their benevolence. The other partners of his misfortunes were distributed among the other houses of the place, and were all taken good care of.
The rocky isle of Rost, or Rostoe, lies 70 Italian miles to the westwards of the southern promontory of Norway, which in their language they call the worlds backside, and is three miles in circumference690. This rocky isle was inhabited at this time by 120 souls, of whom 72 received the holy communion on Easter-day like good catholics. They get their livelihood and maintain their families entirely by fishing, as no corn of any kind grows in this very remote part of the world. From the 20th of November to the 20th of February, the nights were twenty-one hours long; and on the contrary, from the 20th of May to the 20th of August the sun is either always seen, or at least the light which proceeds from it. Thus during June, July and August, they may be said to have one continued day of three months; while in the opposite months of winter they have one almost continued night. During the whole year they catch an incredible quantity of fish; which, however, are almost solely of two kinds. One of these they catch in prodigious quantities in the great bays, which they call stockfish691. The other, called Halibut, is a kind of flat fish of an astonishing size, for one of them was found to weigh near two hundred pounds. The stockfish are dried without being salted, in the sun and air; and, as they have little fat or moisture, they grow as dry as wood. When they are to be prepared for eating, they arc beaten very hard with the back part of a hatchet, by which they are divided into filaments like nerves; after which they are boiled, and dressed with butter and spices to give them a relish. The people of this country carry on a considerable trade with these dried stockfish into Germany. The halibuts, are cut into pieces on account of their great size, and are then salted; in which state they are very good eating. With these two kinds of fish the people of Rostoe load every year a ship of about 50 tons burthen, which they send to Bergen, a place in Norway, about a thousand miles from their island; and from whence a great number of ships of 300 or 330 tons burthen, carry all the produce of the fisheries of different parts of Norway into Germany, England, Scotland, and Prussia, where they are exchanged against the produce of these countries, particularly for every necessary article of food, drink and clothing, as their own country is so extremely barren and unfruitful, that they cannot raise these things for themselves.
Thus, most of their traffic being carried on by means of barter, they have little money among them, nor is it very necessary. When these exchanges have been made at Bergen, the vessel returns to Rostoe, landing in one other place only, whence they carry wood sufficient for a whole year's fuel, and for other necessary purposes.
The inhabitants of these rocks are a well-looking people, and of pure morals. Not being in the least afraid of robbery, they never lock up any thing, and their doors are always open. Their women also are not watched in the smallest degree; for the guests sleep in the same room with the husbands and their wives and daughters; who even stripped themselves quite naked in presence of the strangers before going to bed; and the beds allotted for the foreigners stood close to those in which their sons and daughters slept. Every other day the fathers and sons went out a fishing by day-break, and were absent for eight hours together, without being under the least anxiety for the honour and chastity of their wives and daughters692. In the beginning of May, the women usually begin to bathe; and custom and purity of morals has made it a law among them, that they should first strip themselves quite naked at home, and they then go to the bath at the distance of a bow-shot from the house. In their right hands they carry a bundle of herbs to wipe the moisture from their backs, and extend their left hands before them, as if to cover the parts of shame, though they do not seem to take much pains about the matter. In the bath they are seen promiscuously with the men693. They have no notion of fornication or adultery; neither do they marry from sensual motives, but merely to conform to the divine command. They also abstain from cursing and swearing. At the death of relations, they shew the greatest resignation to the will of God, and even give thanks in the churches for having spared their friends so long, and in now calling them to be partakers of the bounty of heaven. They shew so little extravagance of grief and lamentation on these occasions, that it appeared as if the deceased had only fallen into a sweet sleep. If the deceased was married, the widow prepares a sumptuous banquet for the neighbours on the day of burial; when she and her guests appear in their best attire, and she entreats her guests to eat heartily, and to drink to the memory of the deceased, and to his eternal repose and happiness. They went regularly to church, where they prayed very devoutly on their knees, and they kept the fast days with great strictness.
Their houses are built of wood, in a round form, having a hole in the middle of the roof for the admission of light; and which hole they cover over in winter with a transparent fish skin, on account of the severity of the cold. Their clothes are made of coarse cloth, manufactured at London, and elsewhere. They wore furs but seldom; and in order to inure themselves to the coldness of their climate, they expose their new born infants, the fourth day after birth, naked under the sky-light, which they then open to allow the snow to fall upon them; for it snowed almost continually during the whole winter that Quirini and his people were there, from the 5th of February to the 14th of May. In consequence of this treatment, the boys are so inured to the cold, and become so hardy, that they do not mind it in the least.
The isle of Rostoe is frequented by a great number of white sea-fowl called Muris694 in the language of the country. These birds are fond of living hear mankind, and are as tame and familiar as common pigeons. They make an incessant noise; and in summer, when it is almost one continued day for three months, they are only silent for about four hours in the twenty-four, and this silence serves to warn the inhabitants of the proper time of going to rest. In the early part of the spring, there arrived an amazing quantity of wild geese, which made their nests on the island, and even sometimes close to the walls of the houses. These birds are so very tame, that when the mistress of the house goes to take some eggs from the nest, the goose walks slowly away, and waits patiently till the woman has taken what she wants; and when the woman goes away, the goose immediately returns to her nest.
690
The small island of
692
This must have appeared a most wonderful reliance upon female chastity, in the opinion of jealous Italians, unaccustomed to the pure morals of the north. –E.
693
This custom of promiscuous bathing is very ancient, and existed among the Romans, from whom it was learnt by the Greeks, but gave rise to such shameful lewdness, that it was prohibited by Hadrian and Antoninus. This law seems to have fallen into oblivion, as even the Christians in after times fell into the practice, and gave occasion to many decrees of councils and synods for its prohibition; yet with little effect, as even priests and monks bathed promiscuously along with the women. Justinian, in his 117th novel, among the lawful causes of divorce, mentions a married woman bathing along with men, unless with the permission of her husband. Russia probably adopted bathing from Constantinople along with Christianity, and in that country promiscuous bathing still continues; and they likewise use a bundle of herbs or rods, as mentioned in the text, for rubbing their bodies. –Forst.
Norway certainly did not learn the practice of bathing either from Rome or Constantinople. Some learned men are never content unless they can deduce the most ordinary practices from classical authority, as in the above note by Mr Forster. –E.
694
The Norwegians call this species of sea fowl