The Geography of the North owes much to the researches of Professor Parrot

The Geography of the North owes much to the researches of Professor Parrot, well known for his ascent of Mount Ararat, who made a journey in the course of last summer to North Cape, at the expense of the University of Dorpat, for the purpose of making astronomical and magnetical observations, and of noting the oscillations of the pendulum. He left Dorpat, and travelling through Russian Finland by Wyborg, Kuopio, and Uleaborg. reached Torneo. In that remote little town, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, he was surprised to find a comfortable inn, and markets well supplied with the produce of the South. He proceeded on his route by an interesting navigation of 380 miles up the rivers Tornea and Muonio, sometimes between hills well peopled and cultivated, but more frequently through thick woods. The rivers, in some places, opened into lakes, in others they fell in bold cascades. At length he reached the sources of the Muonio, about 1400 feet above the sea, and close to the borders of the three kingdoms, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. Leaving his boat on the shores of the lake, and placing his instruments and baggage on the shoulders of eight sturdy Finlanders, M. Parrot crossed on foot the Scandinavian ridge, through the most diversified scenery imaginable ; patches of snow lying in the clefts of the rocks, while at their feet was a most luxuriant herbage, with berries of many kinds, and the full bloom of a short but vigorous summer. The little lakes and cascades were without number. He had not advanced far through this wild scenery before he descried the waters of Lyngenfiord, an inlet which runs a long way into the land.

The monthly magazine, or, British register. v. 25 (Jan. -June 1838)

Guided to his home by the light of a conflagration

At Uitzoki the party found the pastoral residence occupied by one of those men who sacrifice on the shrine of Christian duty, not merely the comforts of civilized life, but talents and acquirements of a high order. On accepting his charge he had performed the journey from Tornea in the depth of winter, accompanied by a young wife and a female relation of the latter, fifteen years of age. He had found the parsonage vacated by his predecessor a wretched edifice, distant some fifteen miles from the nearest Lap habitation. After establishing himself and his family in this, he had returned from a pastoral excursion, guided to his home by the light of a conflagration from which its inmates had escaped with difficulty, but with a total loss of everything they possessed. A wretched hut, built for the temporary shelter of the Laps who resorted thither for divine service, afforded the family a shelter for the winter. He had since contrived to build himself another dwelling, in which our party found him, after five years' residence, the father of a family, and the chief of a happy household. The latter was destined to be diminished by the visit of our travellers. The susceptible Durmann fell a victim to the attractions and accomplishments, musical especially, of the young lady, and he left Uitzoki, in company with our author, for Enare, a betrothed man. Their journey was hurried, for Mr. D. was engaged to perform service at the church of Enare, and love had delayed his departure to the last moment. The second of their three days' journey was one of eight Swedish, or nearly sixty English, miles, performed in wet clothes, and almost without rest or sustenance, for sixteen consecutive hours.

Essays on history, biography, geography, engineering &c. contributed to the 'Quarterly Review' by the late Earl of Ellesmere. 1858

The nobility of Finland also unfortunately prove an exception to this rule

If we except the inhabitants of a few Finnish villages within the government of St. Petersburg, which, having fallen within the pale of the Russian empire at a very early period, were reduced to servage, it is surprising how little the constant contact with Russia and Russians has altered the Finnish character, even in those free villages which are situated in the vicinity of the metropolis, and which draw their subsistence from it, by sending thither their fish and dairy produce. The nobility of Finland also unfortunately prove an exception to this rule. Selected for offices of trust by the Russian government, with the double view of gaining them over to its interests, and securing the services of public servants whose probity rendered them valuable in the vast sink of the Russian administration, so far from operating favourably on its corruption, they have become themselves perverted and corrupted.

For many years past, a considerable contraband trade with St. Petersburg has been carried on by the Finns, all foreign articles being only subject to a nominal duty in Finland, and to a very heavy one in passing the Border of Russia Proper. It is principally carried on in sledges across the Gulf of Finland, and the small and active horses bred in the country, which are harnessed to them by the smugglers, are very fast trotters, and are sometimes purchased at high prices for this purpose.

Charles Frederick Henningsen: Revelations of Russia in 1846, by an English resident. Vol II. 1846

As I advanced I found every thing getting more and more Russian

The first night I slept at Bjorsby, which is nothing but a miserable post-house, and early in the morning set off for Helsingfors, a tolerable sea-port town, defended by the fortress of Sveaborg, said to be the strongest in Finland. As dining and sleeping comprised the whole of my operations there, I can only say that I performed them both very commodiously, particularly the former with the assistance of partridges and a cock of the woods, of which there are a prodigious number. On the twenty-sixth I arrived at Louisa, which, as well as I remember, Coxe represents to be a neat town ; on this subject I can only say that his ideas of neatness by no means coincide with mine. The following day I crossed the frontier into Russian Finland, when my baggage was searched at both extremities of a bridge, which divides the territories of the King of Sweden from those of the Emperor ; and after having obtained an order for horses from the officer stationed on the frontier, I found myself in the evening at Frederickshams. As this country formerly belonged to the Swedes, the inhabitants preserve their own customs and religion ; but as I advanced I found every thing getting more and more Russian ; the churches began to be ornamented with gilt domes, and the number of persons wearing beards, continued to increase.

The remains of the late Lord Viscount Royston : with a memoir of his life. 1838

In the Month of September 1741, she pierced her Navel with an Awl

When I wrote this, I had not seen a remarkable Case published in the Philosophical Transactions of September, of a Woman, from whom a Fœtus was extracted, that had been lodged thirteen Years in the Fallopian Tubes, sent from Riga by Dr. James Mounsey, Physician to the Czarina's Army together with the Bones of the said Fœtus, as a Present to the Royal Society of London. The Woman, as we are told in that ingenious Treatise, was a Soldier's Wife of Abo in Finland, of a middle Stature, who, being pregnant for the third Time in the Year 1730, was afflicted with violent Pains and Twistings of the Bowels, &c. and continued sickly for ten Years afterwards. In the Month of September 1741, she pierced her Navel with an Awl, out of which ran a yellow-coloured Water, &c, In the Month of June two small Bones came out, &c. and in October 1742, she was taken in Hand by Dr. Mounsey, and Mr. Geitle, Surgeon, who thurst a grooved Probe into the Fistula, and made an Incision with a Bistory, upwards and obliquely, from the Linea alba, into the Cavity of the Abdomen ; but the Woman being unruly (as well she might) and the Operation not going on according to the Doctor's liking, he proceeded no further till the next Day, &c. At the next Operation the Incision was carried downwards ; but Care taken not to make the external Wound larger than needful, lest the Omentum and Guts should fall out, &c. In short, the Fœtus was at length extracted Piece-meal at several difficult Operations. Now comparing all these Circumstances together, it seems reasonable to believe that this Fruit never was in the Cavity of the Womb, but that the impregnated Ovum was stopt in its Passage through one of the Fallopian Tubes, where it grew and was detained so many Years. Nothing therefore can be concluded from hence against the Cause I have assigned of my Maid's Pregnancy (as a certain learned Gentleman of the Royal Society, who communicated this Story to me, seemed to imagine) for the Cases are very different ; and the uncommon delay of this Finland Woman's Delivery was owing to the præternatural Situation of the Fœtus.

A letter humbly addressed to the Royal Society. Fugitive pieces on various subjects. By several authors. Vol I. 1771

The other Finn was at the wheel at the time

The ship was loaded so deeply and was leaking so much, and moreover had such wretched pumps, that many misgivings were expressed as to her ever crossing the Atlantic safely. The superstitious among the crew were still more disaffected when two Finnish sailors came on board, for a Finn is believed to have dealings with the evil one, and to be a dangerous shipmate. We sailed for Boston one September morning, and beat down the Gulf of Finland. The crew that were shipped at New Diep were to get fifteen dollars a month, but wages were higher in Cronstadt, and the two Finnish sailors had shipped for twenty dollars. They had signed articles to that effect, drawn up by the American Consul. This grieved the captain's economic soul, and the day after we sailed, he called one of the Finns into the cabin and summoned me for a witness. He told the man that if he didn't prove to be a first-class, able seaman, he should cut his wages down to ten dollars a month ; but, if he would sign the articles that the rest of the crew were on, and accept fifteen dollars, he would say nothing about his seamanship. The man was confident of his ability, and had every appearance of a thorough seaman. He understood English imperfectly, and was somewhat bewildered by this proposition, but he realized it was a scheme to defraud him of five dollars a month, and he respectfully declined to sign the new articles, saying, he had signed once before the consul and that was his bargain. After a little useless argument, the captain rose and shut the cabin door ; then he caught the man by the neck with his left hand, and gave him a blow with his right fist that knocked him down. He jumped on his chest two or three times with his whole weight ; and then kneeling on top of him pounded his face severely. The man cried out for mercy and promised to sign. He was then helped to the table and wrote his name on the fifteen dollar articles. The other Finn was at the wheel at the time, and whether he heard anything of what was going on or not, he seemed to lose his head just then, and ran the ship off her course. The mate, perceiving it, struck him and put another man in his place. He was just coming forward as the captain and his shipmate stepped out of the cabin. The bruised face of his comrade startled him, and when the captain told him to go into the cabin he refused, supposing he was going to be beaten for his bad steering. The captain, without further words, seized a belaying pin from the rail and hit him a powerful blow on the head, which cut a deep gash on the side of his forehead, and in a moment his face was one mass of blood. The steward and myself carried him into the cabin, by his head and heels, and seating him on a stool in a state-room, bound up his broken head with strips of sail cloth in lieu of rags. The captain brought a pen to him and told him to write his name on the old articles.
" What ish dis ? " he asked.
"Do as you're told, " said the captain, and the man signed.
The captain then put a pair of handcuffs on the man's wrists, though he was as quiet as possible, and he was left to meditate on the privileges of sailing under that symbol of freedom and justice, the American flag. 

Robert C. Adams: On board the "Rocket". 1879

No country is better adapted to Botany

This part of Finland is not so extensive as Swedish Finland. It is remarkable that in both countries the productions of nature are sooner ripe in the parts covered with forests, than on the sea-coast and on islands. There the people breathe a more salubrious air. In the towns on the sea, only one of sixty dies annually, while there is born one of forty three. No country is better adapted to Botany. There are enumerated near thirteen hundred different kinds of plants, besides a great number of herbs fit for divers uses. They raise also several kinds of grain, such as wheat, rye, oats, barley, but all of them, especially wheat; in quantities too scanty for the supply of the inhabitants. The interval between seed-time and harvest is from ten to twelve weeks. The Finns apply principally to the culture of tobacco, which thrives uncommonly in their country. As to trees, those which bear fruit, such as Cherry and Plumb-trees, are almost always destroyed by the rigours of winter; the Mulberry is planted and thrives only on the islands ; the Oak does not grow beyond 61, and the Ash beyond 62 degrees.

Chantreau: Philosophical, political, and literary travels in Russia during the years 1788 & 1789. Volume first. 1794

(Anthony Cross (In the land of the Romanovs) tulkitsee matkakertomuksen toisen käden tiedoksi.)

Helsingfors is not an old city, but has some very fine public buildings

The second day out, we touched at Helsingfors, the capital of Finland. We had always supposed the Lapps and Finns to be quite on a level ; but we found that in this we were greatly mistaken. Finland is not at all the forsaken, half-barbarous land we had pictured it. [...]

Helsingfors is not an old city, but has some very fine public buildings. Most of the houses are built of brick, roughly joined together, covered with a coating of white plaster that resembles stone, and is said to be very durable. Yet Finland is noted for its beautiful marble, most of which is taken to Russia. Many of the smaller houses have double windows, and the ledge between them is filled with dried moss to keep out the cold. The government buildings were striking, but dazzling, with their pure white walls. On an eminence in the distance stood a large Greek church, with walls of red brick, cupolas capped with brazen balls, and roof of snowy white. This was to be painted green — a favorite color with the Russians.

Strolling about the city under the hot sun, we were suddenly startled by the cry of fire. We fol lowed the crowd a long distance. The firemen were very slow — running on foot, with the hose in their hands, while the water for their use was carried in barrels. Several cottages were burned, in spite of the cries and bustle in trying to put out the flames.

Mary Louise Ninde Gamewell. We two alone in Europe. 1886

à la finnoise

Fannie Merritt Farmer: The original Boston cooking-school cook book 1896

Felix J. Déliée: The Franco-American cookery book; or, How to live well and wisely every day in the year. 1907

Explanations of all terms used in Coockery-Cellaring and the preparation of drinks. 1908

Charles Herman Senn: The menu book. 1908

Charles Ranhofer: The epicurean : a complete treatise of analytical and practical studies on the culinary art : including table and wine service, how to prepare and cook dishes, an index for marketing, a great variety of bills of fare for breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, suppers, ambigus, buffets, etc., and a selection of interesting bills of fare of Delmonico's, from 1862 to 1894 : making a Franco-American culinary encyclopedia. 1916

Very affecting scenes even among the rugged rocks of Finland

How desolate, how rigid soever the northern climates may be deemed — nature in its rudest state will still in some respect present me with a pleasing prospect. I have been witness of very affecting scenes even among the rugged rocks of Finland. - I have seen there summers finer and more serene than those of the tropics, days without night, lakes so covered with swans, ducks, woodcocks, plovers, &c. that one might say they had forsaken all other waters to come hither and build their nests. The sides of the rocks are frequently covered with moss of a shining purple, and the Kloucva

A beautiful kind of creeper with a red flower

with its flowers of scarlet, and leaves of lively green, having spread abroad a carpet on the ground, meets with the stately fir, and round the dusky pyramid twines its fragrant branches, forming retreats alike adapted to love or to philosophy. In a deep valley, and on the margin of a meadow, stood the mansion of a gentleman of family, where repose was undisturbed, save by the sound of a torrent of water, which the eye saw with pleasure falling and foaming upon the black surface of a neighbouring rock. 'Tis true, that in winter the verdure and the birds disappear together. Wind, snow, hoar frost, and hail envelope and beat upon the house, while chearfulness and hospitality reign within. They will go fifteen leagues to visit each other, and the arrival of a friend proclaims a festival for a week :

The women are of their parties, and 'tis but just that as they bear their husbands company in the wars, they should preside in their entertainments. Instances of conjugal affection, among these people are frequent and extraordinary. The wives of some general officers I have known, have followed their husbands in the field from their first entering into the army. Note of the Author.

they drink the healths of their guests, their ladies, and their great men, to the sound of horns and drums. The old men sit smoaking by the fire and relate the feats of their youth, while the young fellows in their boots, dance to the fife or tabor, round the Finland maid ; who in her furred petticoat, appears like Minerva in the midst of the youths of Sparta.

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre: A voyage to the Isle of Mauritius, (or, Isle of France), the Isle of Bourbon, yhe Cape of Good-Hope, &c. With observations and Reflections upon Nature and Mankind. 1775

Russians and Finns, but with great difference

In the government of St. Petersburg, husbandry is the business of the Russians and Finns, but with great difference. The former live together in valleys, the latter singly or by families.— The former generally labours his old land, the latter strives to lessen his work, at the expence of the parish. They differ also in their instruments of husbandry; the Finnish are more light and simple than the Russian: they use only the branch harrow ; their little country carts are not, like the Russian, on two, but one axle-tree; and the wheels never shod with iron. Some times, they employ two poles, fastened at one end to the two sides of the saddle, and the other two trailing on the ground.

Sketch of the Agriulture of the Russian Empire. The Commecial and Agricultural magazine for 1799. Vol. I. From August to December

When the Finlander with surprising boldness and dexterity

In the Plate, a native of Finland having slain a Bear, is seen, according to the custom of that country, offering thanks to the Deity for his success. The hardy inhabitants of this province seldom shoot the Bears ; but attack them with a short spear, and rarely with any other weapon. They first approach the retreat of the Bear, and by irritating him, induce him to come forth to the attack. As soon as the animal beholds the assailant, he rises on his hind legs, to encircle htm in his grasp, when the Finlander with surprising boldness and dexterity, rushes into the embrace, and plunges the concealed weapon in the shaggy monster's heart.

Foreign field sports, fisheries, sporting anecdotes, &c.&c. (1819)

Would be glad to see Finland absorbed in Russia

The next move which revealed the extraordinary ignorance prevailing in Russia on all matters connected with Finland, was an attempt to stir up class against class ; the Russian press shed ding crocodile tears over the lamentable economical and political position of the downtrodden Finnish peasant, and broadly hinting that under Russian rule he would live in a land overflowing with milk and honey. These tactics had proved singularly successful in the Baltic Provinces a few years ago, when the untutored Letts enthusiastically hailed the Russians as their benefactors, and were impatient for the reforms which would, it was promised, include an equitable redistribution of land. The " reforms " have come to pass since then, and the Letts are painfully picking up ideas on Russian good faith, and feeling like the ill-advised horse who invited man to espouse his quarrel. But the Finnish peasant is shrewd and practical, and he is very well aware that he has an important share in the government of his country. Moreover, unlike the Russian, he never was a serf, and has consequently no particular quarrel with the rod that was never lifted up against him. When, therefore, a few weeks ago the semi-official Novoye Vremya expressed the hope and belief that after all the Finnish peasantry would be glad to see Finland absorbed in Russia, the whole country resolved to record its solemn protest against any such calumny, and would have done so had the government not interfered to prevent it.

E. B. Lanin: Finland ("From The Fortnightly Review". Littell's Living age. v.188. 1891.)

A poor Finnish student, who was desirous of returning to Åbo

We had a companion in the person of a poor Finnish student, who was desirous of returning to Åbo, but could not pay his passage; on which Thornton very good-naturedly proposed taking him on board our boat. We picked up some information from him respecting Finland, but not so much as I had expected; our conversation was carried on in Latin, which he spoke readily enough, but after a most barbarous fashion. Once or twice in the course of our voyage we were able to land for a short time, and were much pleased with the appear ance and manners of the peasants of Åland. Castleholm we were prevented from going to

The life of Reginald Heber. v.1. 1830

Except the cook, who was a Fin

In the course of our conversation, he informed me that he had a snug birth aboard the Hercules, merchantman. This vessel was built in the Gulph of Finland, burthen 800 tons. She was two years on the stocks, composed entirely of fir and pine, except her knees, which were oak. The axe and long Finland knife were the only tools employed. The saw and the plane were excluded. The hands were Swedes, except the cook, who was a Fin, and it was well for him, that he did not understand the Swedish language, for the poor fellow often thought they were prasing his culinary powers, when they were cursing him.

The memoirs and adventures of Mark Moore, late an officer in the British navy. 1795

These are called beds of Loulais

The King set out for Finland in the beginning of June, for the purpose of reviewing the troops in the dutchy. There a volley from a party commanded by himself startled his horse, and he had the misfortune to break his arm by a fall. The interview with the Empress, though retarded by this accident, was effected on the 29th of June, and celebrated, during the three days which their majesties remained together, by continual fetes. The Empress had caused a very elegant wooden palace to be erected at Fredericksham, richly ornamented and furnished, in which was an elegant theatre, appropriated to the performances of a troop of French comedians provided for the occasion. The King gave the Empress very positive assurances of an exact neutrality, and returned to Stockholm on the 4th of July, entirely recovered of the fracture. The burgesses of Stockholm, in memory of the happy return and recovery of their Monarch, set apart the sum of 4,000 rix-dollars, for the perpetual support of some beds in the Royal Hospital, at hich fractures of arms and legs are to be cured gratis. These are called beds of Loulais, from the name of the camp at which the accident happened to the King.

I. F. Henry Drevon: A journey through Sweden, containing a detailed account of its population, agriculture, commerce, and finances. ~1789

Contemplativeness is another distinctive feature of the Finns

The disasters, the wars, the bad crops, the famines, from which the Finnish peasant has so often had to suffer, have created his capacity of grave and uncomplaining submission to fate ; but the relative liberty he has always enjoyed has prevented him from developing that sad spirit of resignation, that deep sorrow which too often characterizes his Russian brother. Never having been a personal serf, he is not servile; he always maintains his personal dignity and speaks with the same grave intonation and self-respect to a Russian tsar as to his neighbor. A lymphatic temperament, slowness of movement and of thought, and sullen indifference have often been imputed to him. In fact, when I have entered on a Sunday a peasant house in eastern Finland, and found several men sitting on the benches round the wall, dropping only a few words at long intervals, plunged in a mute reverie as they enjoyed their inseparable pipes, I could not help remembering this reproach addressed to the Finnish peasant. But I soon perceived that though the Finn is always very deliberate in his movement, slowness of thought and indifference are peculiar only to those, unhappily too numerous, village paupers whom long continued want and the struggle for life without hope of improvement have rendered callous. Still, a Finnish peasant family must be reduced to very great destitution before the wife loses her habits of cleanliness, which are not devoid of a certain aesthetical tint. The thrift of the Finn is striking; not only among those who have no choice, for they are compelled to live upon rye bread, baked four times a year and containing an admixture "of the bark of our black pines," as Runeberg says. Simplicity of life is the rule in all classes of society; the unhealthy luxury of the European cities is yet unknown to the Finns ; and the Russian tchinovnik cannot but wonder how the Finnish official lives, without stealing, on the scanty allowance granted him by the State.

Contemplativeness — if I am permitted to use this ugly word — is another distinctive feature of the Finns : Tawastes, Sawas, and Karelians are alike prone to it. Contemplation of nature, a meditative, mute contemplation, which finds its expression rather in a song than in words, or incites to the reflection about nature's mysteries rather than about the facts, is characteristic as well of the peasant as of the savant. It may be akin to, without being identical with, mystical reverie. It may, in certain circumstances, give rise to mysticism, as it did at the beginning of our century; it produced that tendency towards sorcery and witchcraft for which the Finns were, and are still, renowned among and feared by their Russian neighbors ; but actually it gives rise among the instructed classes to a tendency towards a philosophic and pantheistic conception of nature, instead of the childish wonder with which others are satisfied. It also colors the Finnish folk-lore with an idealism which makes it so strongly contrast with the sensualism of the folk-lore of so many other nationalities.

P. Kropotkin: Finland: a rising nationality. (Littell's Living age. v.165. 1885)

Herrings, in large quantities, were frequently found dead

It may be deserving of mention, that in some places in Sweden, where cholera raged at this time, phenomena occurred for which it is difficult to account. Dr. Willman assures me, for instance, that soon after the disease broke out in the town of Malmo, where it caused great havoc, the jackdaws, which breed in large numbers in the church steeple, simultaneously disappeared ; and that it was not until after the cessation of the disorder that they returned to their old quarters. The same was also the case with the sparrows. The fish on the coast, moreover, especially on one particular day, came up dead to the surface, in large numbers.

The Doctor also assured me, that when he was in Finland in 1848, in which country the cholera was then raging, the herrings, in large quantities, were frequently found dead in the Gulf of Finland.

Llewelyn Lloyd: Scandinavian adventures. Volume I. 1854

Exceedingly remarkable for its antiquity and its wide extent

A SECOND main stem of the nations dwelling in Russia is that of the FINNS, of which, though not one branch (the Hungarians excepted, if we choose to reckon them among them) has ever risen to a ruling nation ; yet, as the common flock of most of the northern nations of Europe, is exceedingly remarkable for its antiquity and its wide extent, from Scandinavia to a great distance in the asiatic regions of the north ; and thence again to the shores of the Volga and the Caspian. Dispersed as all the finnish nations are in this prodigious space, yet the resemblance, in bodily frame, in national character, in language, and in manners is preserved. It is scarcely less remarkable, that the generality of the finnish races still dwell only in the north, which has ever been their favourite abode, and on which account they are likewise called inhabitants of morasses or fens ; and the chace and the fishery have ever been with each of them their chief occupation and trade. So great a resemblance seems to leave us in no doubt concerning the common descent of the nations that fall under this division of our work ; which of them, however, is properly the parent flock, can hardly be decided.

William Tooke: View of the Russian empire during the reign of Catharine the second and to the close of the present century. Vol I. 1799

I do not think we shall ever return to Abo to settle the question

When we, were about to depart, our good-natured Finnish guide objected ; and, lighting a candle, preceded us down a ladder into a long vault, where a most singular sight presented itself. In rows of wooden chests, most of them with the lids off, were seen the knights, ladies, church dignitaries, even little children, all in the dress of their times, so completely salted by the briny air, and dried by the cold, that their skin appeared to be in perfect preservation, although shrivelled. Age, however, had dismembered one grandee, who had fallen to pieces, and whose remains were mixed up with his garments, a red velvet cloak still retaining its colour. One coffin was as large as a four- post bed. The body it contained was richly clad in ample robes of white silk, to which time had given a creamy colour; and on the hands were kid gloves. It was afterwards a matter of dispute between us whether the in dividual in question was a stately old lady or a bishop; but I do not think we shall ever return to Abo to settle the question. A little baby, a girl, lay in a corner, its wrists tied with blue ribbon, according to Northern custom. A boy would have worn pink. The guide made signs that it belonged to the lady, whose effigy, in jewelled robe and marble ruff, we had seen above. Our Finn took hold of its arm, and bent it, but it slowly recovered its straight position.

Marie Guthrie: Through Russia: from St. Petersburg to Astrakhan and the Crimea. v.1. 1874

To Imatra, where I find an immense but well-kept hotel

Wiborg I found to be the third city of Finland in point of population. It is situated at the end of a large bay where a review of the Russian Baltic fleet is generally held every summer. There is nothing in Wiborg calculated to especially interest strangers, who in fact, only visit it en route to the celebrated falls of Imatra, some forty miles distant to the north. These falls may be reached both by canal and post-road. It is best perhaps to go by one and return by the other. Every morning a small steamer leaves Wiborg for Lake Saima, " the thousand isles " — recalling, but not resem bling, those in the St. Lawrence River. Lake Saima is nearly as large as Lake Wenern in Sweden. The Saima Canal is a grand triumph of engineering skill, being in some respects not unlike the Gotha Canal, to which I devoted a recent chapter. It was con structed at a cost of $2,000,000, by a Swedish engineer, in 1856. The lake is 256 feet above the Gulf of Fin land, and it has therefore been found necessary to con struct as many as twenty-eight locks to withstand so great a pressure of water as this difference in level naturally implies. These locks are most substantially built of the famous granite rock of Helsingfors. From a town on the lake we are forwarded by diligence to Imatra, where I find an immense but well-kept hotel.

The falls have been misnamed, since there is no perpendicular descent of water; they deserve rather to be designated as rapids. They vividly recalled those in the Niagara River below the suspension bridges. They are formed by the rushing of a small river between steep granite walls. The violence and roar of the water are appalling. The rapids gradually slope through a distance of about half a mile, the whole amount of descent being sixty feet. A capital view of them is obtained from the side of the river opposite the hotel. The style of transport thither is calculated, however, to try weak nerves and giddy heads, for you are drawn across the seething, tempestuous flood in a basket slung on wire ropes. The river must have been of much greater volume ages ago, for the limits of its old bed are clearly defined in the vicinity of the rapids. Here there are several pot-holes, containing boulders which cannot have gyrated for centuries.

Frank Vincent: Norsk, Lapp, and Finn; or, Travel tracings from the far north. 1890

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 

Complaints about this Abo route are so great

We knew before embarking that the voyage to St. Petersburg would occupy at least eight days, and perhaps as many as eighteen. But, even with the chance of delay, we thought it advisable to avoid the more circuitous course now usually adopted — by the steamboat to Abo, and thence by land along the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. We had no desire to face the annoyances complained of by all who enter Russia at that point. There being no public conveyance from the landing-port, we should have been compelled to take any carriage and any servant that happened to be idle, at the risk of being robbed by the one, or having our necks broke by the other.

The greatest objection to this route, however, lies in the severities of the Russian custom-house, which, troublesome everywhere, are on the Finland line so particularly annoying, that some friends who traversed it the preceding year say they would go five hundred miles about rather than be again exposed to them. Carriage, trunks, pocket-books, and pockets are searched, not once merely on landing, but over and over again at certain stations along the road. One had his box of tooth- powder carefully emptied to see what treason or what contraband might lurk in its dusky shelter. Another had his soap-balls cut in two, with the same purpose ; he next saw his stockings slowly unfolded, pair after pair, and was not sure that some of them did not vanish in the process ; for the searchers have a trick of coming three or four together, and, distracting their victim's attention by opening several packages at the same time, quietly secrete any article that pleases them ; yet, after all, ask a fee for having given so little trouble.

It should be a rule with the traveller in every country not to allow more than one of his trunks to be open at the same moment in such places. But, with the lightfingered Russians, even this precaution will not always save his property. An American gentleman, lately passing this very road, with his wife, while he had his feet on one portmanteau, and was sitting on the other to keep them from being all opened at once, had the satisfaction of seeing a costly shawl walk off before his eyes.

The best of it was, the theft was denied ; the search which he attempted in the adjoining cottage among the goods and chattels of the officer's wife, to whom he supposed it had been handed, was, of course, fruitless. For the sake of future travellers, he afterwards complained to the finance minister, who received him very courteously, and, perhaps, ordered one or two of the parties to be knouted, — then appointed others in their place, to play the same game on the very first opportunity. These are evils in Russia which, although civilization may banish them, neither the knout nor the emperor have yet been able to root out.
In short, the complaints about this Abo route are so great, that, though the country is very pretty, and the roads good, there are few who know its character that would not prefer almost any conveyance by sea all the way to St. Petersburg

Robert Bremner: Excursions in the interior of Russia. v.1. 1840 

Beauty among the Finlanders is rarely found

The Finlander imitates with success the dress of the Russians; a stranger is not sensible of the difference between the two people: he finds great difficulties, however, in his attempt to be as cheerful as his conquerors. A Russian sings from morning till night, unless when he is paying away money. A Finlander never tunes his throat, unless when he is drunk, and then he roars, without regard to music: he catches, perhaps, a tune from some passing Russian, but he forgets it again in a few minutes. I wondered, at my first arrival here, to hear such a mixture of good and bad music upon the highways. I now find who were the base performers. A Finlander pulls off his hat to every person who appears like a gentleman: a Russian seldom, unless to his brothers in sheep-skins.

The Finland women are extremely coarse in their persons and features. They wear a strange kind of dress, ornamented with embroidery of different coloured threads, and hung in every corner with glass beads, which are even wrought into the cloth. They are even fond too of gold and silver ornaments, and have each a silver gorget upon their breasts; but this is their holiday dress; in ordinary, it differs little from that of the men. The married women tie up their hair, and wear upon their heads a small hood of linen ; the unmarried women allow their hair to fall upon their shoulders, and have sometimes a gaudy head-dress, composed of a bit of pasteboard or other stiff substance, studded with beads, or sparkling with lace. This last piece of finery encircles but does not cover their heads. In this last article of dress they appear to have copied after the Russian females, whose habits, I have already observed, bear a strong resemblance to that of the women in the highlands of Scotland; yet the dress of the Russian men does not, in the smallest degree, resemble that of the Highlander: indeed, neither of them wear breeches; but the - Russian
, Russian long trowsers have no similarity to the philibeg. The dress of the Russian is long, flowing, and warm. —The highland er's, the plaid excepted, short and scanty.

The inhabitants in many countries under the line, are not more tawny than the Finland men and women, at an advanced, and even at a middle period of life. The extreme cold of the polar winter, not less than the hot stoves and baths, and the sultry summer, produces this effect, with the assistance of their dirty habits. The Russians, particularly the women, have a spirit of cleanliness, in defiance of their general customs, which are inconsistent with it. But the Finlanders, when old, retire as it were amidst filth itself; their forms are encrusted with nastiness; and indeed the human form, amongst them, is nearly lost. When young, their colour is rather delicate; their snowy hair spreads upon their shoulders, and they would seem to promise more agreeable persons in old age. The Russians have dark hair and complexions from infancy, though many of the Russian women have not only fair complexions, but delicate shapes, which, added to their enchanting demeanour, render them irresistibly charming.

Beauty among the Finlanders is rarely found. I have nevertheless seen some perfect models of beauty among the females, which their awkward manner and dress could not hide; for the Finland ladies have not the native politeness of the Russian, and when they are polite, their politeness is copied from the latter. I have in vain attempted to discover what the Finlander inherits from nature, unless a soft disposition, which is entirely moulded by the actions of those causes already mentioned.

William Thomson: Letters from Scandinavia, on the past and present. 1796 

(Anthony Cross (In the land of the Romanovs) tulkitsee matkakertomuksen plagiaatiksi Andrew Swintonin kirjasta.)

A wide column being reserved for his complaints

At distances varying from ten to twenty versts, (the Russian verst being about two-thirds of a mile,) are post-houses, which consist usually of two or three good rooms, attached to a peasant's house, and furnished with a stove, beds, &c, for the use of travellers. Here is kept a "Dag-bok," on the first page of which is a table of the distance and charge for each horse to the first station in every direction. The following pages are ruled in columns with suitable headings, for the traveller to enter his name, where he is from, whither going, and the number of horses he requires; a wide column being reserved for his complaints, if he has any to make. The regulations for travelling are hung up on the walls, and also a tariff of the prices, revised every six months, at which the wants of the traveller must be supplied, every post-house being also his hostelry or inn for the time being, if required. To the post-house, the neighbouring farmers must each in rotation send a horse, one of their small country carts without springs, and a man or boy, to the number of twelve in most country places, besides holding others in reserve in the neighbourhood. The charge is four copeks silver, (the copek is one-hundredth part of a ruble silver, which is equal to about three shillings and two-pence of our money,) per horse, per verst, for the first stage out of every town ; and .two copeks and a half for every other stage throughout the country. For the use of the cart, if required, the charge is two copeks for ten versts; the post-boy usually gets a gratuity of two copeks per stage.

Report of a visit to Finland, in the autumn of 1856

This Finn was an intelligent man

This man had come to America five or six years ago; he had brought a family which had since increased by three or four members. This family he had at first left behind in the city, while he himself was drifting about. He had come to this town and started to work for my present employer who, seeing his great strength and his love of work, had treated him well, had gained his confidence, and finally had made him an offer which had seemed good to the Finn. It had even seemed kind.

The offer was this. The lawyer would sell the Finn a half-section of land at twenty dollars an acre, to be paid for in half-crop payments. He would build a shack and a stable for him at so-and-so much, and equip him besides with all the machinery and the horses he needed at stated prices. The machinery was second-hand; I do not remember the sums involved; but I do remember that the price as stipulated was what it had cost when new. Of horses there had been five--good horses, the Finn admitted; but colts, not broken or trained for the work. The price of these was one thousand dollars. For the whole of this equipment the Finn had been induced to give five notes, lien-notes, with that iniquitous clause, ". . . Or if the party of the first part should consider this note insecure, he shall have full power to declare this and all other notes made by me in his favour due and payable forthwith, and he may take possession of the property and hold it until this note and all other notes made by me are paid, or sell the said property at public or private sale; the proceeds thereof to be applied in reducing the amount unpaid thereon; and the holder thereof, notwithstanding such taking possession or sale, shall thereafter have the right to proceed against me and recover, and I agree to pay, the balance then found to be due thereon."

This, I am aware, is perfectly within the law; it may even work without hardship where "the party of the second part" is fully aware of what he signs, though I doubt it. This Finn was an intelligent man; he could read and write his own language. But, as far as English goes, he was to all intents and purposes illiterate; through none of his fault. He had been turned loose on American soil, equipped for the struggle of life with nothing but an inherent trustfulness; he was paying for his lesson with bankruptcy. My own, comparatively trifling and mild experiences, annoying as they had been, here widened out for the first time into the experience of a whole class of immigrants, and that the most desirable one. In every nation there are sharks, of course; it is only just to say that in later years I found the worst of the sharks among successful immigrants. In every nation there are brutes and fools; we cannot charge their doings to the collective score. But children need looking after; and the immigrant is, as far as the ways of this country are concerned, no better than a child. Here was a bona-fide settler, a prospective citizen of the most promising kind, turned into a sower of discontent. Do you blame him?

Frederick Philip Grove: A Search for America (1927)

A delightfully retired spot, called Suonenjoki

The second Sunday after leaving home I spent at a delightfully retired spot, called Suonenjoki. I went to the Church in the forenoon, and carried a number of Testaments with me to distribute among the people. The clergyman gave away some of them in my presence. To see the tear of joy and gratitude stealing down the manly cheek of the peasant, excited feelings of gratitude in my heart to that God who has counted me worthy to be a dispenser of blessings to others. I felt something of the blessedness of giving.

On Monday, the 2d instant, I arrived in Kuopio. There are some pious people here, whose acquaintance I made when I passed the place in 1817, on my way to England, on whom I immediately called, in order to learn the true state of things. One of them is a bookseller, and who has chosen this line of business for the pious purpose of supplying his countrymen with religious tracts, and other religious books, but especially with Bibles. He brings them from Abo, at his own expense, a distance of 400 English miles, and carries them about with him to all the fairs, and sells them for five rubles per copy, which makes about five pence advance for his trouble and the carriage of them. From this pious and intelligent man I learned, that the cause of our Lord and Master is prospering in various places, particularly to the north of Kuopio, and extending itself to Karel. Many are inquiring about the salvation of their souls: the awakening in some parts is general, and the consequence is a desire to have the Scriptures, and to read them.

Annual report of the American Bible Society. 1817-21.

She describes her people, so primitive in their habits

The most notable woman we have aboard is Miss Selma Borg, well known as the translator of Swedish and Finnish novels. She goes for the summer to her home in Finland. We find her a talented, warm-hearted woman, full of enthusiasm in regard to America and her institutions, yet always mindful of her people and her native land. She goes to labor for the Centennial cause, to arouse her countrymen to the importance of their having a proper representation at that time. Despite the apathy of the Russians on the subject, she is determined that Finland shall send specimens of her arts and manufactures. "How shall I go to my family," she said, in her beautiful patois, "how satisfy them about your great land? They will ask me of your government, your public schools, woman's suffrage, social science, and all the great topics of the times; and although I have been among you fifteen years, they have been so crowded with work, that I feel I know nothing thoroughly."

Miss Borg is a strong, vigorous thinker, a woman of large heart and intellect. She is an ardent reformer and searcher after the truth. In connection with Miss Marie A. Brown, she has translated the novels of Madame Schwartz and Gustav Adolph, and has lately made a collection of the lays of Sweden and Finland, which are full of feeling and replete with melodic sweetness and beauty. The weird character of the songs of the Norsemen as interpreted by the Swedish Nightingales, Jenny Lihd and Christine Nilsson, has created in our continent a desire for their translation, and Miss Borg has given them to us in all their wild, quaint, plaintive beauty.

She tells us much that is new, interesting, and instructive concerning Finland: of the days which commence at two o'clock in the morning and last until ten at night, of the fierce cold of the winter, and the warm, beautiful summer, when in three months they sow the seed, have the blossom, the fruit, and the harvest. She describes her people, so primitive in their habits, simple in their tastes, and noble, honest, and loving. But she expresses her determination to spend the remainder of her days in the land of her adoption. Her lines have fallen in pleasant places, for she has made friends with the Quakers of Philadelphia. But no language of mine can express her enthusiasm of words and manner when she speaks of the "dear people among whom I passed my time." Her compagnon de voyage is a countryman, Mr. Fagerstrom, a genuine specimen of the men of the Norseland. He has spent seven years in America in the study of machinery, and goes home to put in practice the knowledge he has gained. But I think there lurks in his heart a fear that he will not be content, after the hurry and enterprise in which he has so long mingled.

Mary H. Wills: A summer in Europe. 1876

The salle à manger we find chequered with tables

The salle à manger we find chequered with tables, where famished individuals are busily engaged, absorbing with astonishing rapidity savoury concoctions of original appearance, the obsequious "Kelner" displays a document, which imparts the refreshing knowledge that matter for refection is obtainable in endless variety from the cuisinal laboratory.

The Finnish has been liberally and literally rendered into the English tongue for our edification, and we have the choice of ox-steak, calf-steak, calf-cutlet, swine-steak, sheep's-leg, and so on, reminding us of some of the Parisian restaurants, where the liqueur "Chinois à l'eau de vie," is translated "a Chinese in brandy." Our lot falls upon calf-cutlet, and an unctuous conglomeration appears, redolent of garlick, and smothered in fennel and other species of the grass kind. Our entremêt is a cock-de-bois, which we innocently imagine might be cock of wood, alias woodcock, but the "rara avis" proves to be a species of capon, old as Methuselah, with a parchment hide, and must have lived at the period of the great fire and then and there been roasted. A supply of Finnish beer, a sort of attenuated rhubarb and magnesia tends to gravitate the solidities, but it is funny stuff, and our paymaster disburses the few farthings necessary in liquidation of expenses, and we adjourn to the billiard-room.

George Francklin Atkinson: Pictures from the north, in pen and pencil; sketched during a summer ramble. 1848

With the consent of the Lutheran Bishop of Heinola

No trace of pursuers were behind them now, though their flight must by this time have been known both in the capital and at Schlusselburg. But in those days there were neither railroads nor electric telegraphs ; so, riding on more leisurely, Balgonie changed horses again near Viborg, and erelong the great Lake of Saima appeared before them, with the distant hills of Swedish Finland beyond its friendly waters.

A boat was procured there; the kabitka was abandoned ; and, with a shout of joy, Usakoff assisted the Finnish boatman to hoist the great lug-sail to catch the breeze of a balmy and beautiful evening, as they bade a long farewell to Russia and all its terrors.

In a quaint old Church of Finland, by the eastern shore of the Lake of Saima, and in view of its little archipelago of granite isles, — a lonely little fane, buried amid groves of plum and cherry trees, built of wood and painted red, with a little holy bell jangling in its humble belfry, — Charlie Balgonie and his fugitive bride were united by the old Curate, with the consent of the Lutheran Bishop of Heinola ; and there a thousand roubles spent among the poor spread in the primitive district a happiness, the tradition of which is still remembered with many a grateful exaggeration.

After this, poor Usakoff, finding himself perhaps, as a third person, rather in the way, left them to become a soldier of fortune; and he is supposed to have perished in one of the Polish struggles for freedom ; at least, they heard of him no more, after their final journey to Scotland.

James Grant: The secret dispatch; or, The adventures of Captain Balgonie. 1874

But they are much less rude and barbarous

The inhabitants of Russian Finland were formerly very similar to those of Lapland, and have indeed the same origin; but they are much less rude and barbarous. Those of the towns are engaged in commerce and various trades, while the inhabitants of the country follow agriculture, hunting and fishing. The latter are laborious, and in general very prudent. Their dress also is similar to that of the Swedish peasants. They most commonly let their beards grow; some, however, only wear mustachios. Their clothes are generally made of a coarse kind of cloth, called walmar, which is manufactured by the women; but they sometimes purchase a finer sort. In winter they wear pelises, made of sheep or other skins. Some wear shoes made of skin, some wooden shoes, and others make their shoes of the bark of some tree laced together. They wear a leathern girdle, generally untanned, in which they carry a large knife. Their hair hangs loose; and they cover their heads with a sort of felt hat.

William Alexander: Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Russians. (1814)

It is very beautiful, certainly, but it is a very poor one

I WAS tempted to make an excursion from Helsinfors to Abo, a distance of one hundred and fifty English miles, in order to see a part of Finland which I had heard represented as a very beautiful country. It is very beautiful, certainly, but it is a very poor one. I saw only two mansions on the road, and they were nearer to Helsinfors than to Abo; the latter town having been formerly the capital of Finland, as the other is now. You see fir, beech, and mountain-ash trees, with alder and juniper plants, clustered together very picturesquely, forming glades, and crowning mountain-tops; and you have an eternal variety of small lakes, barren scaurs, and cultivated grounds. In spite of the abundance of water, we could find no fish to eat on our road; and there was only one decent inn, which was at Nyby, rather less than half way between Helsinfors and Abo. But when I speak of a good inn, my readers must not imagine that they will be received in a papered room, with sofas and tables, and a neat chimney-piece, adorned with fly-catchers in papers; —no, they will have to mount a small scaffold of steps, (for all the houses here are of wood, and built on an above-ground foundation of stone); you then enter a room which is unpainted, and the whole of the rafters stuffed with moss, to prevent the air from penetrating; the floors are clean, and you generally find a stove which keeps the whole warm.

Frank Hall Standish: Notices on the northern capitals of Europe. 1838

If the weather is stormy, the ice assumes all the appearance of waves

“To visit Langhorn and to relieve his distress, Ledyard crossed from Hamburg to Copenhagen, thus leaving the direct course to St. Petersburg, and, as you shall hear, increasing the distance many hundred miles. From Copenhagen he went to Stockholm, intending to cross over to Abo in Finland, and thus proceeding to the place of his destination.

“The manner in which the passage between Stockholm and the place I have just mentioned is made in the winter season, is so singular that I must describe it to you. The traveller, muffled up in furs, is seated on a sledge, which is drawn by two or three horses. The ice is sometimes so smooth that the passage is comparatively easy; but, if the weather is stormy, the ice assumes all the appearance of waves, and immense masses, heaped one upon another, offer the most fearful impediments. The sledge is frequently upset, and the horses sometimes become unmanageable and run away. When, however, there happens to be an open winter—one in which the frost is not sufficiently intense to freeze the passage entirely over, the water yet contains so much floating ice that no vessel can sail through it. This happened to be the case in the season in which Ledyard arrived, so that he found it necessary either to stay at Stockholm till the spring, or to proceed round the gulf, a distance of twelve hundred miles, over trackless snows, and in regions thinly peopled, where the nights are long and the cold intense, and all this to advance on his journey only about fifty miles.

Thomas Bingley: Tales about travellers - their perils, adventures, and Discoveries. 1841