THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 101, 15 May 1937, Page 11

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

The Island of Foula

jpOULA, A SMALL ISLAND off the north coast of Scotland, with a population of 120, is said to be- the "TJltima Thule" (the utmost limit) seen by the Eomans under Agricola in A.D. 87, when the legionaries were oxrcling Britain. Tacitus, writing of tha campaign, says the legions got to Ofkney, whieh they subdued, and from the high hills there land wag seen dim on the nortEern horizon. The name Foula is,- however, from ihe najne "Fugl-ey" given by. the Norsemen to the " f owl-isle ' ' in the western sea. The island has been "brought into the news lately by the Joe Bock Production!?, Elstree, who have made a tilm picturing the eimple primitive life of the isianders; their everyday fight against tEe elements; jtheir struggle to get a preearious Jiving from tany crofts snnggling under the lee of towering, bird-haunted cliffs, from rearing sheep and cattle, and from the fishing in etqb"H boats on the prolific grounds near the iele. ' Foula lies about 20 miles to the west of the other Shetland islands, a motordriven fishing boat running between the isle and "Walls on the west mainland. The boat Has a erew of four and ©airies mail, goods, and passengers onee a vreek if weather conditions are f avouxable. Of ten, however, ' with gales raging, communication is cut off for days and, at times, for weeks. There is one shop on the island which usually has enough provisions to last six or eight weeks; but, whenever anything Tuns out, the folk soon improvise some substitute, or do without. They have had to adapt themselves to their lonely life," and the constant figKt against natural and economic forcee has made for strengfch of eharacter, independence, and intelligence in the people of this isolated outpost of Britain. Frnfla was the last plac'e in the north where the people kept up the old Norse language. William Henry of Guttorm, in the latter paTt 'of the eighteenth century, was able to Tecife the Lord's Prayer as well as say an old eourt ballad named "Hildina" and other fragments of folklore, all in the old Norse tongue. As Iate as 1934, a Norse scholar, Mr. Einar Seim, found traces of tEe old language in daily use

and even found old words which had escaped the painstaking researches of tho famous Norse scholar, Dr. Jakob sen. Many of the isianders are expert fiddlers, the favourite music being "springs" or funes for reels and similar old-time dances. The island is the home of several reel-tunes and native dances, the best known being the Foula Beel, to which is sometimes sung the "Shaalds o' Foula," beginning: Weel, since we are welcome to Tule, Up wi' it, Lightfoot, an' link (dance) it awa', Send for a fiddler, play up the Foula Beel, We'll skip it as light as a maa (gull. t>oysl For the Shaalds o' Foula will pay for it a', boys! The island is roughly three miles long and about two miles broad. There ls* a road linking up the three 4 4 toonships. 5 ' There is one ' motor car, brought to the isle by the film people. Unlike the Test of Shetland, Foula had no ponies until the firm folk brought across a few for transporting various gear up over the steep heights. The east side of the island is lowfying and comparatively fertile, there being burns (brooks) running through the "toonships. " So fierce is the wind at times, howling over Foula, "that the rushing burn-water is blown right back frOm the edge Qf the precipices over which it falls. The story is told that one time a crofter of Ham lost a lot of his sheaves. When the storm eased some of the sheaves were found over on the mainland, 20 mfles away! There is only one anchorage and landing place, at Ham Voe, where a little stone-and-concrete pier juts out from the north side of the voe to form a small harbour for boats. The whole west side is a range of cliffs, mostly towering sheer from the sea. The Sneug is the highest peak, rising to about 1300 feet.