Through Finland in Carts Part 18

Aino Saima Helmi Aili Kyllikki Eine Aura Sirkka Lempi Sivia Rauha (Friede, Irene) h.e.l.lin Ainikki (Kalevala) Ilpotar "

Inkeri "

Louhi "

Lyyli, or Lyylikki Mielikki (Kalevala) Tellervo "

Tuulikki "

Hilja Tyyne Suoma Alli Impi Laina Ilma Iri

SURNAMES.

Aaltola Vuorio Lallukka Ritola Aitamurto Haapaoja Hakli Sutinen Poso Matikainen Koskinen Piispanen Pilvi (a cloud) Vitikka Vipunen (Kalevala) Korhonen Lyytikainen Paivarinta Paivio Makkonen Porkka Rahkonen Ojanen Reijonen Alkio Teittinen

Winter in the South of Finland generally sets in about the last week of November, and when it comes is usually very severe, while the nights are long and the days short. As a rule the air is dry, and therefore that delightful fresh crispness, which is so invigorating, prevails, as it does in Norway, where, one day when we were with Dr. Nansen at Lysaker, the thermometer registered 9 below zero Fahr., yet we found it far less cold than England on a mild damp day.

The mean temperature of the North of Finland is 27 Fahr., and round _Helsingfors_ in the South, 38 Fahr.

As November advances every one in the Southern districts looks forward eagerly to black ice; that is to say, that the ice should form before the first fall of snow covers the land. This often happens, and then the lakes, the rivers, and all round the coast, rapidly freeze some inches thick, the surface being as flat as a looking-gla.s.s, unless the wind has seriously disturbed the ice much while forming, and Finland becomes one enormous skating-rink from end to end. Every one throughout the country skates--men, women, and children. Out they come in the early morning, and, with some refreshments in their pockets, they accomplish visits and journeys which, to the uninitiated, seem impossible. Fifty or sixty miles a day can be managed on skates, and even the peasantry avail themselves of this opportunity of enjoying sport, and, at the same time, accomplis.h.i.+ng a vast amount of friendly visiting and work. It is during this black ice that the ice-boats are most in requisition; for the b.u.mpiness so often experienced when snow has settled on the frozen surface does not exist, and the ice-boats' speed, which is tremendous at all times, becomes absolutely terrific and wildly exciting, as we know from our experiences in Holland.

However, Finland is not always so fortunate, and sometimes the frost and snow come together; and then, although the peasantry, as in Holland, skate over the waterways to market and on business, the better-cla.s.s folk, who skate for amus.e.m.e.nt, betake them to rinks.

Roadways are marked out on the ice in Finland the same as in Norway; that is to say, little holes are dug along the would-be path into which small fir-trees are stuck, and therefore these impromptu roads look like little avenues.

In the case of an ice-rink, fir-trees are planted all round the edge in a veritable wall, to keep out the non-paying public. Bands play in the afternoon and evening, and when it becomes too dark to see by nature's light, electric lamps are kindled, and the place becomes a regular rendezvous, not only for skaters, but for onlookers, who walk about on those bright starlight evenings, chatting to their friends, sipping their coffee, and listening to the music.

As a rule, in Finland they go in more for distance than figure-skating, as is also the case in Holland, Norway, etc., where long distances have to be traversed, and speed is of more importance than style. Still, in the Finnish towns, where people skate on rinks merely for amus.e.m.e.nt, some beautiful figure-skating may be seen.

Once a Finnish lady went over to Paris and received the sum of 120 a month for giving entertainments in figure-skating. All Paris was charmed, and Finland naturally felt proud.

Sledging, of course, is everywhere necessary in Finland in the winter, and only those who have enjoyed the delights of a drive, with a good horse briskly pa.s.sing through the crisp air to the tingling of sleigh bells, can realise its delights.

_Skidkning_ is also much in vogue, but in Finland it is not so dangerous as in more mountainous countries. In Norway _ski_ are absolutely essential. There the snow lies so deep on the mountains and in the valleys that the peasantry could never get about at all were it not for their _ski_. But in Finland the country is so much flatter, and the lakes so much more numerous, that people can walk on the hard-frozen surface readily. Therefore the peasantry--except in certain districts--do not use _ski_ so much as a necessity, as for pleasure and sport. The upper cla.s.ses go on _skidor_ as constantly as they skate.

They get up compet.i.tions; they go for whole days' expeditions into the country, and, on their "wooden shoon," enjoy themselves thoroughly in the winter months.

In a _Winter Jaunt to Norway_, I described a jump of eighty-eight feet made on these strange snow-shoes, and the _ski_ themselves, as follows:--

It is perhaps a bold statement to call _ski_-racing one of the finest sports of the world, but to our mind it undoubtedly is, and one which requires wondrous pluck and skill, and for a man to jump eighty-eight feet from a height, with a pair of _ski_ securely fixed on his feet, requires some courage!

They are utterly unlike Canadian snow-shoes, because they are required for a very hilly country, and over a great depth of snow.

An ordinary-sized man's _ski_ are eight or nine feet long. They are only about 4 inches wide, and an inch at the thickest part, that is to say, immediately under the foot, but towards either end they taper to half this thickness. As a rule they are both the same length, and pointed upwards at the toes; but in some of the Norwegian valleys and in Finland, one _ski_ is much longer than the other, and that one is usually quite flat.

In the middle of this plank-like piece of wood, which is split with the grain to stand the great strain often imposed upon it, and never sawn at all, the toes are fastened by a leather strap.

Another strap goes round the heel in a sort of loop fas.h.i.+on, securing the foot, but at the same time giving the heel full play.

A special _ski_ boot is worn over enormously thick horsehair stockings. This boot has no hard sole at all, and, instead of being sewn at the sides, the large piece of thick leather which goes under the foot is brought well over the top and secured to what might ordinarily be called a leather tongue. At the back of the boot is a small strap, which is used to fasten the _ski_ heel-strap securely to the boot. Once fixed on the _ski_, the foot is so secure no fall can loosen it, and the only way to extricate the foot is to undo the three straps. Outside these huge ungainly hair stockings and strangely comfortable boots very thick gaiters are worn. It is very necessary to keep the feet and legs warm in such a cold land as Norway, where the mercury freezes oft-times in the thermometers, and snow six or seven feet deep covers the land sometimes for months. Such cold sounds appalling, but it is quite the reverse. The air is absolutely dry, and there is seldom any wind.

At the given word, No. 1 rushed from the plateau on the hilltop, down the hill itself. The pace, in consequence of the steepness, was tremendous. On he came; on to the little platform built out from the mountain-side he rushed; then, with a huge spring, his legs doubled up, and whirling his arms like a windmill to keep his balance, he jumped.

Oh, what a moment of profound excitement! Would he regain his footing all that distance below? Balancing himself for a moment in the air after his jump, he regained his footing, and sped away down the hillside, stopping himself by a sharp turn of the _ski_ as he was nearing the loudly applauding spectators. One after another they came, and at least 50 per cent, succeeded in landing on their feet and speeding away.

The longest jump of all was 26 metres, that is to say, nearly 88 feet, and this was done by Ustvedt; but he did not regain his footing. Ingemann Sverre, who jumped 22 metres, and landed on his feet to continue his course, won the king's cup and the ladies'

purse.

We looked on and marvelled.

Since then a hundred and twenty feet is the record jump. Strange as it may seem, _ski_ was a word practically unknown in England.

Such compet.i.tions are now held in Finland, where _ski_ soon promise to be as fas.h.i.+onable as in Norway. _Ski_ are called--

In Swedish _Skida_, plural _Skidor_.

In Finnish _Suksi_, " _Sukset_.

They are almost the same as the Norwegian shoes, excepting that they always have an inward curve under the foot, and seldom have a heel-strap. The heel-strap is only necessary for jumping or for going uphill, and as there is little jumping and no hills to speak of in Finland, the shoe, being curved up at the toe like a Chinaman's, is sufficient to keep the _Sukset_ on the feet.

Bears, as said before, do not walk hourly in the streets of Finland.

Nevertheless, bears do exist, and in the Northern and Easterly districts in considerable numbers. It is in winter that the bear-hunts take place, and, having discovered the whereabouts of the monarch of the forest, the Finlander disturbs him from his winter sleep, either by smoke or by the aid of dogs, and then for days follows him over the snow. The bear is an adept at walking through snow, but man on _sukset_ is his match. After circling bruin in parties, or chasing him alone, the bear generally falls in the end to some sportsman's gun. It is a great day when the dead bear is brought back to the village, and one usually celebrated by a triumphal procession, merry-making, and a grand feast, followed by much singing of the national songs, handed down from father to son, and thrilling tales of wondrous acts of daring at bear-hunts, for, as we have seen, in the _Kalevala_ the bear is a great subject for the poet's verse. The man who fired the fatal shot is, on the occasion of the bear-feast, naturally the hero, and for him it is an occasion to be gratefully remembered. Every Finn speaks with profound admiration and bated breath of _Mrten Kitunen_, who during his life killed a hundred and ninety-eight fully-grown bears, besides innumerable young ones. It must not be imagined from this that bear-killing is an easy sport; on the contrary, it is extremely dangerous, for the fatigue and perils of _skidkning_ the wild forests, with a very low temperature, for hours and hours is in itself a perilous pastime. Frost-bite is by no means uncommon, and, of course, in such cold, it is impossible to sit down and rest, lest that drowsy sleep, so dreaded in northern climates, should take hold of the weary man and gradually lull him into his last slumber.

Nevertheless, women, who in Finland are particularly enterprising, sometimes take part in bear-hunts, and it is on record that several have themselves shot fully-grown animals. No mean achievement for a woman; but Finnish women are go-ahead, and have given the world a lead by gaining admittance to Parliament.

Many women stalk the deer in Scotland, and some have made wonderful bags, but then, although stalking often necessitates many weary hours'

walking, there is not in Scotland such severe and perilous cold to deal with. In Finland many ladies shoot, and when a hare is killed the cry of _All's Tod_ rings through the forest, and sounds almost as inspiriting as the cry of the hounds at home.

Tobogganing is another great inst.i.tution in Finland, and as the hills in the South are not steep enough for a really good spin, the Finlanders put up a _Kalkbacke_ or _Skrinnbacke_, in imitation of their Russian friends, and enjoy rattling spins, and moments of intense excitement, gliding down these dangerous routes. They are really switchbacks made of ice and snow, and as they are steep, the pace is terrific.

In summer yachting is one of the great inst.i.tutions of Finland, and we were lucky enough to be in _Wiborg_ at the time of the great race between _Wiborg_ and _Helsingfors_ for the Yacht Cup.

It was a delightful day, and a large steamer having been chartered by our host, whose son was the President of the _Wiborg_ Yacht Club, he invited his friends to see the race. We were a very merry party of forty or fifty, as we steamed away from the _Wiborg_ pier to where the two yachts were to meet.

The _Menelik_ belongs to _Wiborg_; the _Thelma_ to _Helsingfors_. The _Menelik_ is a lugger, built in _Wiborg_ at the yard of Hackman Company, although designed by Arthur E. Payne of Southampton. She is a two and a half rater.

The _Helsingfors_ boat was designed by Charles Sibbick in Cowes, England.

The Yacht Club in _Helsingfors_ began its existence in 1876, and is certainly in a very flouris.h.i.+ng condition. The course was a long one, and the two best days' sailing out of three secures the Cup. The first day was a trial to the patience of the steersmen. It was a dead calm; such a calm as one seldom meets with, and not until the afternoon did the faintest breeze spring up, while even then the sailing so far exceeded the seven hours' time allowed that the day was drawn as a blank.

But, as onlookers, we enjoyed ourselves immensely; there were numbers of steamers like ourselves on pleasure bent, the umpire's boat, and several rowing boats which had managed to come out so far to sea, the day being calm. The end was all that our kind host could wish, for the _Menelik_ won by three minutes. Yachting and canoeing are fine pastimes in this land of waterways.

Dancing is a very popular form of entertainment in Finland, and often indulged in by old and young. It is quite a custom on Sat.u.r.day evening for the young folk from various villages to meet together at some workmen's recreation room, or at one of the larger farms, and have a ball. One of the best specimens of such an entertainment we chanced to see was at the old-world city of _bo_. About a mile from the town a new park has been opened, in the arrangements of which our friend, the Chief of the Police, took the greatest interest, and to it, after a charming little dinner, he escorted us to see the peasant ball in full swing.

Every Sat.u.r.day at six o'clock it begins; and, as some sort of restraint is necessary, the sum of one penny is charged to each would-be dancer.

In the middle of the park is a large _kiosk_, big enough for a couple of hundred folk to pirouette at a time. It has a roof supported by pillars, but there are no side walls. A couple of fiddlers were playing hard when we entered, and a cornet coming in at odd minutes composed the band, and, until midnight, the couples twirled and whisked round and round the wooden floor. Why should not something of the kind be allowed in our parks from seven to twelve in the evening at a charge of a few pence?

The great national dance of the country is called the _jenka_. It is more like a schottische perhaps than anything else; and really it was extraordinary to see how well these peasants danced, and how they beat time. Thoroughly they entered into the spirit of the thing, the polka, waltz, and _jenka_ being all danced in turn, until the park closed.

Writing letters in Finland is an expensive amus.e.m.e.nt. Every epistle, not delivered by private hand, costs twopence for transmission; rather a high rate for home postage, considering that foreign letters only cost a fourth more. Postcards cost one penny, whether for home or foreign use.

This high rate of postage seems very remarkable, considering the almost universal adoption of my father's old friend's (Sir Rowland Hill) enlightened suggestion that a penny would pay.

We learn that during the year 1896 our English post-office pa.s.sed 1,834,200,000 letters and 314,500,000 postcards; and, writing on the same subject, the Duke of Norfolk said, "The penny letter has long been known to be the sheet anchor of the post-office, and it is interesting to record that no less than 95 per cent. of the total number of inland letters pa.s.sed for a penny each." Fifteen years later every English-speaking land could be reached by a penny stamp.

Finland might take the hint and inst.i.tute a penny post; but we hope she will not send some fifty thousand letters _unaddressed_, as we English did, their valuable contents amounting to several thousands of pounds!

The quickest postal route to Finland is _via St. Petersburg_; but letters are often delayed to be searched, and they are not unfrequently lost, so that all important epistles are best registered; and one Finnish family, some of whose relations live in Germany, told us they never thought of sending letters either way without registering them first.