THE SAIMA SEE. 7 



A journey of about four hours brings the traveller to 

 Wyborg, a town of some 13,0 DO or 14,000 inhabitants, 

 seventy-five miles distant from the capital. I visited 

 Wyborg in 18(30, and returning now after an interval of 

 two-and-t\venty years, it appeared to me greatly improved. 



According to Murray : ' The port of Wyborg is of great 

 extent, is enclosed by two large islands, which act as 

 breakwaters. The town is about eight miles from the 

 harbour, at the end of a large bay. There are there ruins 

 of a castle built in 1293 by the brave Torkel Kuntian, 

 one of the most illustrious Swedes mentioned in history. 

 It was destroyed by tire; the upper stories are roofless, 

 the lower ones are used as a prison. The old fortifications, 

 of which only a rampart remains, date from the fifteenth 

 century. In 1710 the place was besieged by Peter the 

 Great, and taken after a hard struggle of several weeks. 

 The peace of 1721 put the Tzar in definite possession, 

 and in 1743 the treaty of Abo enlarged still further the 

 conquest.' 



From Wyborg, the traveller may proceed either by land 

 or by canal to the Saima Lake, visiting by the way in 

 either case, if so disposed, the Falls of Imatra, by which 

 the waters of that inland sea find their way to Lake 

 Ladoga, and thence by the Neva to the Baltic and the 

 ocean beyond. 



The Saima Lake, according to one more restricted appli- 

 cation of the name, is some 60 veists, or 40 miles, long, 

 and 30 versts, or 20 miles, broad ; according to another 

 more extended application of the name, the length, in the 

 direction west-south-west and east-south-east, is said to 

 be 130 vorsts, or upwards of 8t> miles, and the breadth 

 from north to south is 120 versts, or 80 miles. But in 

 either case it is applied to what is only the lower part of 

 an immense inland expanse of water, extending some 400 

 versts, or 235 miles, in length, and covering an area of some 

 6000 square versts, or 4000 square miles. The difference 



