John Scott Keltie

“ The intricate archipelago of islets and granite and limestone rocks in the Bothnian gulf renders the navigation extremely dangerous. The lakes occupy about 12 per cent. of the area, the marshes 20 per cent., so that Finland is more abundantly supplied with water than any other country in the world. The land appears to have been formerly a sea-bed, which was gradually elevated and is still rising at the rate of about 3.4 feet on the Gulf of Bothnia, and 1.9 feet on the Gulf of Finland in a hundred years. ”

“ Almost continuous wars between Russia and Sweden were the result of the conquest of Finland by the latter. In 1323 it was settled that the river Rajajoki should be the boundary between Russia and the Swedish province. After the final conquest of the country by the Swedes, they spread among the Finlanders their civilization, gave them laws, accorded them the same civil rights as belonged to themselves, and introduced agriculture and other beneficial arts. ”

“ History.—It was probably at end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century that the Finns took possession of what is now Finland, though it was only when Christianity was introduced, about 1157, that they were brought into contact with civilized Europe. They probably found the Lapps in possession of the country. The early Finlanders do not seem to have had any governmental organization, but to have lived in separate communities and villages independent of each other. ”

“ Even during last, but especially during the present century, there has been considerable literary activity in Finland, so that now books in almost every branch of research are found in the language, mainly translations or adaptations. We meet with, during the present century, a considerable number of names of poets and dramatists, no doubt very minor, as also painters, sculptors, and musical composers. At the Paris International Exhibition of 1878 several native Finnish painters and sculptors exhibited works which would do credit to any country ”

“ Of the whole population, 85 per cent. are Finns proper, 14 per cent. are Swedish-speaking farmers and peasants, chiefly in the governments of Nyland, Åbo, and Wasa, on the coasts and islands; Russians number about 6000, besides the military, mostly in the towns; Germans 1200, in Helsingfors and Wiborg; gipsies about 1000; and, to the furthest north, Lapps 600. Agriculture occupies about 80 per cent. of the population; trade, shipping, and manufactures, 7 per cent.; the professions, 1.5 per cent.; military, 1 per cent. The proportion of men to women is 1000 to 1056. ”

“ The diet, which had not met for 56 years, was convoked by Alexander II. at Helsingfors in 1863, and has met every five years since. Since 1860 Finland has been allowed the use of a coinage peculiar to itself. Under Alexander II. Finland has been on the whole prosperous and progressive. The use of the Finnish tongue is everywhere encouraged, though the upper classes mostly use Swedish, and the study of the Russian language was made compulsory in all the state schools in 1872. ”

“ Neither fossils nor coal have been found. Geologists suppose that the land, a low table-land, continuous along its north-western and southern borders with two low and flat border-ridges, was long ago covered with an immense ice-sheet, which, creeping from Scandinavia, crossed the Gulf of Bothnia, traversed southern Finland in a direction south by east, crossed the Gulf of Finland, and crept further on in the Baltic provinces. ”

“ Sometimes, especially in the north, the night-frosts destroy the crops, and then meal has to be largely imported from Russia. There are ten agricultural schools, two of which are of a higher class. Of the land 35 million acres belong to the crown, 6 millions to the upper classes, and 50 millions to the peasantry. Serfdom never existed in the country.
Of the exports about one-half is timber, though the forests are much thinned by fires, uprooting, and extravagance. Of the land under wood (64 per cent.) 39 per cent. ”

“ The particular affairs on which the czar has to decree are laid before him by the state secretary for Finland. The legislative function is exercised by the czar and diet or landtag (Seim) , without the consent of which no law can be either ordained or repealed, no new taxes imposed, or soldiers levied. The diet is called together every five years, and consists of the representatives of the nobility, clergy, citizens, and peasantry. The nobility are represented by the heads of the noble families admitted into the House of Nobles ”

“ In 1876 the exports showed an increase in timber, tar, butter, grain, and hides, and a falling off in woollen goods and iron. In the import list a falling off took place in all articles except cotton, petroleum, and coffee. In 1876 the custom-house receipts were £424,603, showing a falling off of about one-tenth as compared with 1875. In the imports Russia holds the first place, Germany being second, Great Britain third, and Norway and Sweden fourth. Russia also comes first in the export list, Great Britain second, and Germany and Norway and Sweden respectively third and fourth. ”

“ Finland has about 420 manufactories of various kinds, giving employment to about 11,000 workpeople. The principal articles manufactured are metal goods, cotton goods, woollen cloth, paper, candles, soap, tobacco, sugar, brandy, beer, leather. The whole production is valued at £1,480,000.
The value of the whole exports in 1876 amounted to £3,948,200, timber representing about one-half, cattle one-seventh, grain about 1 per cent., iron and steel goods about 7 per cent., woven goods 7 per cent., paper 21⁄2 per cent., fish and game nearly 3 per cent., tar 31⁄2 per cent., butter, &c., 21 per cent. ”

“ The administration of the law lies in the first place with the senate, in the second place with the high courts established in Åbo, Nikolaistad, Wasa, and Wiborg, and finally with the district courts in the country and the municipal courts in the towns. The established religion is that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, under the archbishop of Åbo and the bishops of Borgå and Kuopio. There is an ecclesiastical assembly or convocation every ten years, with thirty-four clerical and fifty lay representatives. There is complete religious freedom for other bodies. ”

“ Modern methods of agriculture are found only in the south, the hoe being the principal implement in the east. The area under cultivation is about 2,000,000 acres, of which 700,000 are occupied with rye, 300,000 with barley, 240,000 with oats, and 600,000 are fallow. ”

“ Its greatest length is 717 miles, greatest breadth 378 miles, the average breadth being about 185 miles; the area is 144,221 square miles. The surface is a labyrinthine mixture of land and water; and the sea-coast, especially in the south and south-west, presents the same succession of fiords and rocky headlands that characterizes the coasts of Norway and Sweden. The fiords of Finland, however, seldom exceed a few miles in extent. The coast is studded with innumerable small islands and rocks called skår ”

“ The Lapps occupy the extreme north-west of Russia, and some parts of northern Sweden and Norway. (3) The Permian Finns comprise the Siryenians, occupying an extensive region between 60° N. lat. and the Arctic circle and 50° E. long. ”