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 Muris [6] 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.

In the month of May, the inhabitants of Rostoe began to prepare for their voyage to Bergen, and were willing also to take the strangers along with them. Some days before their departure, the intelligence of their being at Rostoe reached the wife of the governor over all these islands; and, her husband being absent, she sent her chaplain to Quirini with a present of sixty stockfish, three large flat loaves of rye-bread and a cake: And at the same time desired him to be informed, that she was told the islanders had not used them well, and if he would say in what point they had been wronged, instant satisfaction should be afforded; it was also strongly recommended by that lady to the inhabitants, to give them good treatment, and to take them over to Bergen along with themselves. The strangers returned their sincere thanks to the lady for the interest she took in their welfare, and gave their full testimony, not only to the innocence of their hosts in regard to what had been alleged, but spoke of the kind reception they had experienced in the highest terms. As Quirini still had remaining a rosary of amber beads which he had brought from St Jago in Gallicia, he took the liberty of sending them to this lady, and requested her to use them in praying to God for their safe return into their own country.

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