CH A P T E R XII.
An Account o f the IJles o f Aland— Their Situation, Name, and H if-
tory— Parifhes and C ivil Regulations— Soil and Produce— The
Inhabitants-, their Manners and Cufoms — Natural Hi/lory:
Quadrupeds, Birds, amphibious Animals, Fifhes, Infetts, Plants,
and Minerals,
H P H E ifle o f Aland, with Its dependant iflands, to the number
o f eighty, moll o f them fmall, but inhabited, are fituated
between the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, in latitude 59 degrees
47 minutes, to 60 § degrees north, and longitude 36 degrees
57 minutes, to 39 degrees and 47 minutes.* In refpeit to its ex-
tent, Aland conftitutes the finalleft o f the poffeffions belonging to
the crown o f Sweden, containing only eleven fquare Swediih
miles, or about feventy-feven Engliih, being in length about
twenty Engliih miles, and in breadth about fixteen.
The name o f Aland ieems to be derived from the ancient
Gothic A , which fignifies water, and the word land ; fo that
Aland together is the fame in meaning as illand. This appears
to be the molt natural etymology, though various writers have
From the meridian of Ferro. Reckoning from the meridian of London, the
longitude would be from 19 degrees 17 minutes, to 22 degrees 7 minutes eaft.
indulged
indulged themfelves in co n je cW s , for which there is always room
in enquiries concerning the origin o f places, and the derivation o f
their names.
Aland has been fuppofed anciently to have been governed by its
own monarchs ; but however that may be, it is certainly known
that fince the fourteenth century it has made part o f the bifliop-
rick and government of Abo, with the exception that in the year
1 74 3 Aland and the other iflands fubmi'tted to Ruffia, and fwore
allegiance to the Czarina, but were foon after reftored to Sweden
by the treaty o f Abo. Thefe iflands in former times frequently
fuffered from the invafions of the Ruffians, and the inhabitants
had been forced to fly from their houfes and fertile plains. But in
1 7 1 8 a congrefs was held here for the reiteration o f peace, by
which the enjoyment o f tranquillity was fecured to them.
Aland and the feveral ifles contain eight pariihes, each o f which
has a church. Befides thefe places o f worihip, there are feven
chapels. -' T h e names o f the pariihes are Sund, Saltvick, Finftrom,
Hammarfand, Jomala, Lemland, Foglo, and Kumblinge.
T he Laplanders and Fins were undoubtedly the earlieft inhabitants
o f thefe iflands, and their refidence here is plainly to be
traced in the names o f places which itill remain, and were in all
likelihood given by them; fuch as Lappo, Lapbole, Lapwafs,
Finby, Finftrom, Finno, Finko, and Finholm. In the pariih o f
Sund is a natural grotto formed in the fide o f a mountain, about
fix yards in length and three in breadth, and from four to five yards
in height. During the invafion o f the Ruffians in 1 714 it ferved
C c 2 ' a s