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