Far'oe, Fer

'OE, FER'OE, OF FAR'OER, Islands, a group of 22 islands belonging to Denmark, lying in the Northern Ocean, between Lat. 61° 15′ and 620 21 N., and Lon. 6° and 8o E.; about 185 m. N.W. of the Shetland Isles, and 320 S.E. of Iceland. The principal island, Stromoe, in the centre, is 27 m. long by about 7 broad; the chief of the others are Osteroe, Vaagoe, Bordoe, Sandoe, and Suderoe. Total area, 495 sq. m. Only 17 of the islands po e inhabitants. Desc. Each of these islands is a lofty mountain rising out of the waves, and divided from the others ly deep and rapid currents. The highest point, Skoelling, in Stromoe, has an altitude of 2,240 feet. Some of the group are deeply indented with deep and secure harbors; all are steep, and most of them present, seawards, a succe ion of sheer precipices. Soil, thin, but tolerably fertile; barley is almost the only cereal grown. Prod. Hay in large quantities, salted mutton, tallow, feathers, eiderdown, . Manuf. Coarse woollen stuffs, and stockings. Vast quantities of seafowl haunt the rocks, the taking of which for the sake of their feathers affords a perilous employment to the inhabitants. Cap. Thorshavn, at the S.E. end of Stromoe. These islands are under the jurisdiction of a Danish governor, and have belonged to Denmark since the union of that kingdom with Norway, in the 14th cent.