Peat-gatherer on Östvågöy, Lofoten Islands
Among her extensive travels at home and abroad in the 1920s the Scottish explorer-botanist Isobel Wylie Hutchison visited the mountainous Lofoten Islands, within the Arctic Circle off the north-western coast of Norway, from whose inner island-group of Vesterålen they are separated by a narrow stretch of water called the Raftsund. Hutchison found the local people rather reluctant to allow her to photograph them, until she discovered that they had been expecting to pay for the privilege. However, this shy young Östvågöy peat-gatherer remained embarrassed by the whole procedure, and turned his head away at the crucial moment. He was also astonished when asked if he spoke English, replying indignantly that he spoke Norwegian!
