Pleasures of a polar winter

But, to enter fully into the enjoyments of a polar winter, we should pass the time with the Finlander in his cabin, or the Laplander in his hut. Sunk into the ground some feet, by way of protection from the penetrating power of frost; and presenting but a mere conical point to the weight of snow, and the power of wind, the dwelling bids defiance to the rigour of the season: while the family within find themselves assembled, and alive to social enjoyment. This is the season for conversation and intercourse. While all abroad is frozen, the mind may expand. The parents have laid in their stores ; they have made provision for the winter's consumption ; the young men, under their direction, have set their traps, and they tend them, to see, from time to time, what further support they furnish. This is, now, their chief occupation ; and the rest of their time they spend in forming those connexions which are hereafter to become their constant enjoyments. Young women are then engaged in kindnesses. The fact is, that these people are removed from those fascinations by which the desire of accumulation impels natives of more temperate climates. They value the productions, the natural productions of their own country: these are their wealth. Artificial riches, the gains arising from calculations, and profits by means of the precious metals, they are not, indeed, strangers to; but are indifferent about. They have, no doubt, among them, different dispositions and characters : the worthy and the unworthy, the generous and the selfish. They have their hard hearts, and their miserly spirits. But these, acting within narrow limits, the infelicities they occasion are narrow also. They show, indeed, that under all climates, and seasons, man is the cause of his own disappointments and vexations. Not the circumstances that surround him, whether he be placed amid the fervent plains of India, the sandy desarts of Arabia, the temperate vales of Europe, or the snow-clad regions of the poles, are to blame. Man is not, therefore, either happy or unhappy, whether he enjoy the perpetual spring of Quito, the verdant summer of Britain, the rich autumn of Italy, or,the winter—the long, long winter of Lapland, and the Arctick circle. They are all equally indifferent to his real happiness.

Select reviews of literature, and spirit of foreign magazines, Volume 2

A pagan Finlander, grinning with rage

Then he heard a rustling close beside him in the thickets; and, lo! from a narrow passage, like a cave in the rocks, which hitherto he had not observed, he saw the features of a pagan Finlander, grinning with rage, and preparing to assault him. Now then he proved the worth of the sword which had been made for him by Asmandur; for he struck with it so irresistibly, that the pagan's head was cleft into two; but, as if some demon of the mountains had assisted the adverse party, by opening to them the subterraneous passages among the cliffs, this man was followed by numberless others, who came howling and outrageous at his defeat.

Friedrich Heinrich Karl La Motte-Fouqué: The magic ring: a romance, Volume 2

I suppose those islands will be off the coast of Finland.

The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless, save for a few light clouds that hung about the eastern horizon, and were blazing gold and red in the light of the newly-risen sun. The air-ship was flying at an elevation of about two thousand feet, which appeared to be her normal height for ordinary travelling. There was land upon both sides of them, but in front opened a wide bay, the northern shores of which were still fringed with ice and snow.

"That is the Gulf of Finland," said Arnold. "The winter must have been very late this year, and that probably means that we shall find the eastern side of the Ourals still snow-bound."

"So much the better," replied Colston. "They will have a much better chance of escape if there is good travelling for a sleigh."

George Griffith: The Angel of the Revolution

They are a strange people

'About the Finns I'll warrant,' said Father Cassimer. 'They are a strange people. My brother the merchant told me that he knew one of them at Abo who said he had a charm for the wolves; but somebody informed against him for smuggling, and the Russian government sent him to the lead-mines in Siberia. By Saint Sigismund, there's the first of them!'

THE WOLF-GATHERING.
CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
No. 421. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1852.

The old hereditary castle, of a wealthy landowner in Finland

Just a year ago, during the Christmas holidays, a numerous society had gathered in the country house, or rather the old hereditary castle, of a wealthy landowner in Finland. Many were the remains in it of our forefathers' hospitable way of living; and many the mediaeval customs preserved, founded on traditions and superstitions, semi-kinnish and semi-Russian, the latter imported into it by its female proprietors from the shores of the Neva. Christmas trees were being prepared and implements for divination were being made ready. For, in that old castle there were grim worm-eaten portraits of famous ancestors and knights and ladies, old deserted turrets, with bastions and Gothic windows; mysterious sombre alleys, and dark and endless cellers, easily transformed into subterranean passages and caves, ghostly prison cells, haunted by the restless phantoms of the heroes of local legends. In short, the old Manor offered every commodity for romantic horrors. But alas! this once they serve for nought; in the present narrative these dear old horrors play no such part as they otherwise might.

H. P. Blavatsky: Nightmare Tales

Finnois flegmatique qui s'était endormi

Pierre lui fit le salut militaire et reprit son récit après avoir mis sa chaise à l'envers pour s'asseoir à califourchon.

--Je tournai le coin du jardin, suivant qu'il m'avait été ordonné, et je fis arrêter mon équipage. Personne! Un instant je crus que cette proposition d'enlèvement n'avait été qu'une aimable mystification de ma charmante cousine, et je ne saurais dire qu'à cette idée mon coeur éprouvât une douleur bien vive; mais je faisais injure à Clémentine. Je la vis accourir dans l'allée, un petit paquet à la main: elle ouvrit la porte palissadée qui donnait sur la route, et, d'un saut, bondit dans la calèche. Je sautai auprès elle.

--Touche! dis-je à mon postillon, Finnois flegmatique qui s'était endormi sur son siège pendant cette pause.

Quand vous aurez une femme à enlever, mes amis, je vous recommande de prendre un cocher finnois; ces gens-là dorment toujours, ne tournent pas seulement la tête et ne se rappellent jamais rien. Au fait, vous savez cela aussi bien que moi, et ma recommandation était inutile.

Henry Gréville: La fille de Dosia

The Finlander is evidently in uniform

At the British Museum there is a curious collection of broadsides and ballads, printed in Germany during the thirty years' war. One of these designs heads a ballad, and represents an "Irlander," a "Lappe," and a " Findlander." In the ballad the Lappe asks what has brought them all so far from home, and the "Irlander" explains the reason of their coming, which was to assist the Protestant cause. This was in 1631. The Lappe is partly dressed in skins, and is armed with a bow and arrows. His face is very characteristic; Ms boots are of the same pattern as those now made in Lappmark, and his knife and its scabbard resemble those now used on the Tana river.

The Finlander is evidently in uniform; and the Lapp wears knickerbokers; so he was probably clad in part at the expense of his country.

Popular tales of the west Highlands, Volume 4