The inhabitants cannot possibly subsist by the produce of their own lands

The inhabitants of this place are Finns (which means inhabitants of boggy places). They are likewise called Tchukhontzi and Maimisti: they speak a particular language, which differs from all known original languages: they write in Gothick letters, and are of the Lutheran confession. They build their villages and houses on hills or mountains, at a considerable distance from one another, so that every one might have his corn-fields and meadow-lands near his own house. Besides the Finns, there are other nations inhabiting this country, such as Swedes and Germans, and since the conquest, many Russians.

The soil in this government is very little fit for cultivation, on account of a great many bogs, lakes, stony bottoms, and the severity of the northern climate; so much so, that the inhabitants cannot possibly subsist by the produce of their own lands. They are frequently brought by necessity to prepare their corn for bread without separating it from the chaff, or even to mix with it the bark of the fir tree. The fir and pine grow here in great plenty; and a very considerable trade is carried on at Vyborg for timber, but chiefly for deal boards and tar. There is likewise a sufficiently profitable traffick for fish. Near Serdobole and Rouskolsk there are quarries of grey marble, which is sometimes variegated with yellow streaks.

Sergeĭ Ivanovich Pleshcheev & James Smirnove: Survey of the Russian Empire, according to its present newly regulated state, divided into different governments. 1792