which was formerly spread widely through Europe, and now
stretches from Finnland far into Asia; occupying a'<: great
p o rtio n o ffth o nm th e rn sp a c eo f the Old Continent.* ’Even
at Memel we -are assured by this writer that- tile; peasantry
who speak this language are strongly marked7 and contrasted
in person and stature with the Lithuauian' pèasantrÿ.t Thé:
former are particularly small-in:stature': the Lithuanians are'
tall. J I The Esthonians,in spite _o£ the f calamitie%tG- whieh
their country has been subjected inffrequent conquests, now
amount to .about half a million of people :: the cLivonians ate
in very small numbers, and chiefly settled about <the little
river Salis, on the shores of:the gulf'of Riga. The whole
of Livonia p ^ h a ^ y ^ e lp 0ge4 tovearly timesr # j& e l Ä ,
the Duna or Western Dwina was in the^eommebcensont Of
history the boundary between the Finnishîxpèoplë'; om’:ôdÉè
side and the Letts or Lithuanian race on ^hb* Other; but the
Letts have gradually encroached^ and th e*nkhïé'ofîL|ttlâîf4
now comprehends the old Liyonia.§ ■ TbeJEsthoniaîisJ î’ikëî
some cognate tribes-on the Wolga, eali thetes^ivtp R p ^ ^ f t
and their country Marahwas. Although BehloeifeTdorigfà^d
recognised fully the affinity of the Ehsti and Ließ w:ic4itbë
Finpsy a late writer, whom I have before mentioned, -h'as^èd
jectürally associated them with the Letts and -Lithuanians,^
who arei an entirely distinct people. The authority qf, Sj ©grefi**
is allowed to have a complete preponderance on this*subject ;
according to whom, this part of Europe beyond the^Dana is
the old abode of a division of the Finnish rac e .ff Thelshorès;
• Erman’s Reise um die Welt, Bd. i. s. 40. ^
f Erman observes that the old traveller Count Herberstein remarked that the
population of Old Prussia consisted of giants and dwarfs. He supposes that these
two races are indicated by this remark.
X The Ehstianlanguage is here distinguished irito ttfd dialects^ those of Reval
and Dorpat. To die latter Adelung supposes that the idiom of the Krewinea or the
Krebingians belongs, which is spoken on the river Memel.
If Miiller’s Ugrische Volkstamm, ii. p. 22. § Mithrid. ii. s. 766.
Amdt über die Ursprung, See. Frankfort, 1818.
** Sjögren über die Finnische Sprache und ihre Literatur. Petersburg, 1821.
f t Yet a late writer, whose learned researches entitle himto respect, has' had the
boldness, or rather the absurdity, to conjecture the descent of these nations from the
Celts, contrary to all philological evidence. (Parrot, Versuch über die Sprache
so termed by the Russians, by the Swedes Ingers, who inhabit
Ingriaya little further, eastward, are said to be a branch of the
Karelians. Beyond these1 are the tribes of the same kindred,
whopa - we'shall sur-vey in. theuiext section under the name of
Tschedes.
ThCSeduancliesf*bf the Finnish race to the southward of the
Baltic, are probably the ^tribes known to the Romans under
the nahab-fïof Finni or- Fenni, and to whom Tacitus hesitated
whether to-ascribe a German or a Sarmatian origin.* Yet the
description which that writer gives of their manners reminds
us ■ of thetmost uncultivated of the Lappes. They had not yet
learnt agriculture.' Tacitus thus describes them : |
“ The Fenni live-in a state of amazing savageness anti squalid
poverty: They are destitute of arms, horses, and settled
abode-*—“ non arma> non equi, non Penates”—their food is wild
hefbs; theirclothing, skins; their bed, the ground. Thèir only
dependence isithèir arrows, which for want of iron are headed
with bone ; and the chase is the support of the* women as well
as.hf the mga, with whom they wander in the pursuit and claim
^.share:.öf the prey. Nor do they provide any other shelter
for, them infants from wild beasts and storms, than a covering
qf branches twisted together. This is the resort of youth, this
is the.receptacle of old age. Yet this manner Of life is accounted
by them happier than to groan over the plough, toil
in building houses, and to subject their own fortunes and those
of others to hope and fear. “ Securi adversus homines, securi
f adversus deos, rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt ut iilis non voto
quidem opus esset.”
The'earliest account of either stem of this race in Scandinavia
is to be found in Procopius. This writer was, as it is
well koown, a companion of Belisarius in the Gothic and Van-
daljc wars, in the course of which it is evident that he had opportunities
of conversing with; natives of the north of Europe,
Abstammung, Geschichte und Mythologie die Lieven, Letten und Ehsten. Stutt-
gard,: 1828.)
* A iiatife Finn, over-zealous for the honour of His nation, contends, contrary to
all probability, that Tacitus described Lappes and not Finns. See F. M. Franzen,
Dissertatio de Birkarlis. Abose, 1789.