either into the ditch or againfl a tree, and fometimes twifts the
horfe, and throws him down along with it. W e were often
obliged to get out o f the fledge, but our boots being too flippery
to fupport us on an inclined plane o f fmooth ice, we were reduced
to the neceffity o f fitting down, and o f Hiding gently to the bottom
o f the defcent.
■ In the whole way from Abo to Yervenkyle the traveller finds
nothing fufficiently interefting to merit a place in his journal.
The country is in a great meaiure flat, and it is hot till he is about
a mile from Yervenkyle that it begins to become feme what mountainous,
without however prefenting him with any remarkable
profpedl.
The houfes o f the peafants are well built, and the ftranger finds
every where lodging and beds; and he may be tolerably accommodated,
if he have the precaution to carry feme conveniences
along with him. You are received with great hofpitality; the
peafant furnifhes you with whatever he has got to eat, though,
in general, he can only offer you freih and curdled milk, fait
herrings, and perhaps, as before-mentioned, a little fait meat.
In companion with thofe who travel among them they are poor,
but in relation to themfelves they are rich, fince they are fup-
plied with every thing that conftitutes, in their opinion, good
living. I f they have more money than they have immediate ufe
for, they lay it up for feme unforefeen emergency, or convert it
into a vafe, or feme other domeftic utenfil. You muff not be
furprifed in Finland, i f in a fmall wooden houfe, where you can
get
get nothing but herrings and milk, they fhould bring you water
in a filver veffel o f the value o f fifty or fixty rix dollars. The
women are warmly clad; above their clothes they wear a linen
fhift, which gives them the air o f being in a fort of undrefs, and
produces an odd though not difagreeablc fancy. The mfide o f the
houfe is always warm, and indeed too much fo for one who
comes out o f the external air, and is not accuftomed to that temperature.
T he peafants remain in the houfe conftantly in their
fliirt fleeves, without a coat, and with but a fingle waiffcoat; they
frequently go abroad in the fame drefs, without dread either o f
rheumatifm or fever., W e fhall fee the reafon o f this when we
come to fpeak o f their baths. The Finlanders, who accompany
travellers behind their fledges, are generally dreffed in a kind o f
fhort coat made o f a calf’s-fkin, or in a woollen ihirt, faftened
round the middle with a girdle. The y pull over their boots
coarfe woollen ftockings, which have the double advantage o f
keeping them warm, and preventing them from flipping on the
ice.
The interior o f the peafants’ houfe prefents a pifture o f con-
fiderable intereft. T he women are occupied in teafing or fpinning
wool for their clothing, the men in cutting faggots, making nets,
and mending or conftructing their fledges.
W e met at Mamola with a blind old man, having his fiddle
under his arm, furrounded by a crowd o f boys and girls. There
was fomething refpeaable in his. appearance; his forehead was
bald, a long beard defcended from his chin, white as fnow, and.
p f 2 covered