Thursday, April 3, 2014

Much lake-ore is smelted in peculiar furnaces called "harkhyttor"

In the north and north-west of Finland, especially in the country of Wiborg and the neighbouring parts of Kuopio, much lake-ore is smelted in peculiar furnaces called "harkhyttor", a name derived from the Finnish word harkko, meaning piece, lump, and from the Swedish word hytta, meaning furnace. These furnaces are described as consisting of a shaft about 3 ells, or 6 English feet, in height; and the mass of reduced iron, it is stated, may be malleable, though more frequently it is only a mixture of raw and malleable iron, and must be remelted in a refining hearth.

John Percy: Metallurgy: The Art of Extracting Metals from Their Ores, and ..., Volume 2

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Redolent of butter, cheese, beeves, and oxen

... I took my place on board a wretched little commercial steamer, redolent of butter, cheese, beeves, and oxen, bound for Finland. Our passengers were few, and not over select, but the charms of the scenery atoned for the discomforts of the voyage.

John Reynell Morell: The Neighbours of Russia: And History of the Present War to the Siege of Sebastopol.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Finlanders call a bear Karu

Those who inhabit the frontiers of Finland, have adopted some of the expressions of their neighbours, as happens to every people: but when two nations give to things of common use, to objects which are continually before their eyes, names absolutely different, it affords a strong presumption, that one of them is not a colony from the other. The Finlanders call a bear Karu, the Laplanders Muriet: the sun in the Finnish language is called Auringa, in the Lapland tongue Beve. Here is not the least analogy. The inhabitants of Finland, and Swedish Lapland, formerly worshipped an idol whom they called Iumalac, and since the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, to whom they are indebted for the appellation of Lutherans, they call Jesus Christ the son of Iumalac. The Muscovite or Russian Laplanders, are at present thought to be of the Greek church; but those who wander about the mountains of the North Cape, are satisfied with adoring one God under certain rude forms, as has been the ancient custom of all the nations called Nomades, or wandering nations.