book cjes 0f g roufe, called the cock o f the wood, a bird almoft
— ,— equal in iize to afmall turkey, is not uncommon; the moor-
fowl and ptarmigans are very plentful; but the-black game
is fo abundant, that we feldom fat down to dinner, even at
the commoneil inns, without being regaled with a brace of
thofe delicious birds.
Having paired feveral large lakes, with which the country
abounds, and crofled the frozen furface o f a bay o f the Gulf
o f Bothnia, we arrived on the enfuing morning at Helfing-
fors, which Hands in a veryromantick iituation, upon a rifing.
fhore, near feveral rocks and huge fragments of granite.
Within a-fmall diftance of Heliingfors, and clofe to the gulf,
the Swedes were conftrucfting a fortr.efs,:which, when finiihed,.
will be the ftrongeft in thefe parts. The harbour is the moil
commodious in Finland.
Agreeably to an invitation from the governor o f Heliingfors,
to whom we applied for further information refpecting
our pafiage acrofs the. Gulf of. Bothnia,, we repaired in the
evening to a b a ll: the gentlemen and ladies all wore the new
Swediih dnefs*; and:amufed themfeLves chiefly with rhinuets-
and Englilh country dances.. The company were very polite
and attentive to us, and feveral accofted us- in French.
Feb. i i . We quitted Heliingfors on the .morning,, and
arrived at Abo, which .is diftant about 150 miles, on the
evening of the 1 2th, through a trail o f country that feemed
better peopled than the other parts of Finland which we had
hitherto- traverfed ? and; which was diverlified with a beautiful
mixture of hill'and dale.
Abo, the capital of Swediih Finland, lies upon the point
where the Gulfs o f Bothnia and Finland unite: the town,
* See the ie lc r ip t io q and en gra vings o f thefe dreffia in th e next ch apter I I .
. which
which is not ill built, contains feveral brick-houfes, but the chap:
' ‘i'tr ' • ' ' VTII
generality are o f wood- painted red. The inhabitants ex- ■ . ‘ ■
port linen, corn, and planks.
We had fcarcely arrived, when the burgomaffer o f the
town obligingly waited upon us, and on the following morning
conducted us to the univerfity, which was founded in
1640. by Chriftina, and endowed-with the fame privileges as
that o f Upfala.- It contained at that time about 300 ftudents.
The collection in the library amounted to 30-00 volumes,.'
a catalogue o f which was publiilied in 163 5 , and a fecond
edition in 168 5* ; The books were removed in 17.13 to
Stockholm when the Ruffians had pofleffion o f the towrr;
and were again reftored to- the univerfity upon the peace of
Nyftadt. There is alfo a fchoolat Abo, which was founded'
by Gulfiavus Adolphus, for 300 fcholars.
Feb. 13. About 40 miles from Abo we arrived upon the 1
Gulf of Bothnia, and-palled over the frozen furface along a :'
track marked with two rows o f fin all trees1 and boughs placed'
upright in thedee as a direitiomfor travellers ; we crofled 00- '
cafionally.feveral fmail iflands and rocks, feparated from each '
other by ftraits from fifty yards to four-or five miles-in
breadth. At midnight we flopped upon the iiland Varifala-. ’
till break o f day,, as-' well from the dread o f large holes in the
ice which render travelling by. night extremely hazardous;
as becaufe;our danger-would have been extreme, i f we had
wandered from the path,-and been, loft upon the wide ex—'
pahfe of ice,, which had nearly-happened, to colonel Floyd,,
as he-thus defcribes in his-journal.: 1 “ A cowardly driver -
“ overturned me into the fnow, but the fall was gentle..-'
‘ Night came on, at fir ft- very much overcaft, but afterwards-:
“ illumined by an Aurora Borealis, which was, however^ not:
^ Arckfeiylio-ltz: Memo ires de G h r iilm e , T om .1 I I . p.- 30 9;'
r " S' u ini