single waistcoat; they frequently go abroad in the same dress, without dread either of rheumatism or fever. We shall see the reason of this when we come to speak of their baths. The Finlanders, who accompany travellers behind their sledges, are generally dressed in a kind of short coat made of calf's skin, or in a woollen shirt, fastened round the middle with a girdle. They pull over their boots coarse woollen stockings, which have the double advantage of keeping them warm, and preventing them from slipping on the ice.

The interior of the peasants' house presents a picture of considerable interest. The women are occupied in teazing or spinning wool for their clothing, the men in cutting faggots, making nets, and mending or constructing their sledges.

We met at Mamola with a blind old man, having his fiddle under his arm, surrounded by a crowd of boys and girls. There was something respectable in his appearance; his forehead was bald, a long beard descended from his chin, white as snow, and covered his breast. He had the look of those bards who are described with so much enthusiasm in the history of the north, not one of whom probably was equal to this poor man in science or intelligence. His audience were not gathered round him for nothing: he sang verses, and related to them tales and anecdotes; but our presence broke in upon the silence and tranquillity of the assembly; every body withdrew; children are children in all countries. The sight of strangers was such a novelty, that, forgetting the bard, they began to mock at our figure, and to laugh in our faces, while the poor mendicant finished by asking us, in bad Swedish, some halfpence or skillings in charity.

'Night was approaching, and we were extremely fatigued with our amphibious mode of travelling, half on foot and half in the sledge. In this emergency I had a strong proof of the utility of an invention which I was shewn in the model reposi tory at Stockholm: it was a sledge, with four wheels suspended from its sides, which by means of a spring could be placed under the sledge, and raise it from the ground; and thus in a moment convert the sledges into a species of wheel carriage.'

Having stopped at a village, our travellers were hospitably entertained. In describing, says our author, the dwelling of a Finnish peasant, I think I shall gratify the reader by the annexed engraving, representing the inside of the house, where, at the same time, a scene of domestic amusement is exhibited, which is not infrequent among the Finnish peasantry. One of the men is playing on the national instrument of Finland, called the harpu (which will be described more particularly hereafter) while two other men, being seated opposite each other, and having their hands locked together, accompany the instrument with their song and the motion of their bodies, raising each other alternately from their seats. The other part of the company enjoy the scene as spectators.'

After passing through a forest eighty miles in length, they travelled over the ice, very often in great jeopardy. The ice was so transparent that they could discover the whole depth of the element below, and even the smallest fishes. On entering Ostrobothnia, they halted at Wasa, the seat of the tribunal for the north of Finland. From thence they proceeded to Uleaborg, where they were kindly entertained. The ladies here on retiring at night give strangers a hearty and unexpect ed slap on the back, to testify the pleasure they have received from the visit.

Marriages in Finland are negociated by old women. the day after the ceremony a hired orator lectures the bride, and thumps her with a pair of the bridegroom's breeches, saying, "Be fruitful, woman; and don't fail of producing heirs to your husband." In some parts the young people sleep together for a week previous to the ceremony, but without quite undressing, and this is called the week of the breeches.

The Fins are fond of the bath, and both men and women use it promiscuously. They often pass instantaneously from an atmosphere of seventy degrees of heat to one of thirty degrees of cold, a transition of a hundred degrees; which is the same thing as going out of boiling into freezing water! and what is more astonishing, without the least inconvenience; while other people are very sensibly affected by a variation of

but five degrees, and in danger of being afflicted with rheumatism by the most trifling wind that blows. Those peasants assure you, that without the hot vapour baths they could not sustain as they do, during the whole day, their various labours. By the bath, they tell you, their strength is recruited as much as by rest and sleep. The heat of the vapour mollifies to such a degree their skin, that the men easily shave themselves with wretched razors, and without soap. While they are in this hot bath, they continue to rub themselves, and lash every part of their bodies with switches formed of twigs of the birch-tree. In ten minutes they become as red as raw flesh, and have altogether a very frightful appearance. In the winter season they frequently go out of the bath, naked as they are, to roll themselves in the snow, when the cold is at twenty and even thirty degrees below zero. They will sometimes come out, still naked, and converse together, or with any one near them, in the open air. If travellers happen to pass by while the peasants of any hamlet, or little village, are in the bath, and their assistance is needed, they will leave the bath, and assist in yoking or unyoking, and fetching provender for the horses, or in any thing else, without any sort of covering whatever, while the passenger sits shivering with cold, though wrapped up in a good sound wolf's skin. There is nothing more wonderful than the extremities which man is capable of enduring through the power of habit.

'Having set out from Kengis, we did not change our boat till we reached Kollare, a distance of twenty-two miles. We performed this voyage in twelve hours, in the course of which our boatmen had only five hours rest. We were surprized by a heavy fall of rain, which poured upon us for half an hour in such large drops and with such violence, that we began to fear it would fill the boat. I had not seen so copious a shower since I left Italy, nor did I think it usual in this high latitude. The rain was so round, and the drops so large, that we lost sight of the surrounding objects, insomuch that our view was confined to the distance of eight or ten feet all around us. This was the first and only time we heard any thunder in our travels towards the north. Our tent hitherto had only been an enVOL. IV. 2 U