238 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 



nothing must be added here in regard to the hydrography 

 of the country ; but in regard to the correlated feature of 

 the country its oreography, some additional information 

 may be welcome. 



' The mountain ranges of Finland ' writes Helm, ' have 

 few remarkable elevations to show, and as we proceed 

 southward the more level does the country become. The 

 great Norwegian mountain range, which extends to the 

 White Sea, stretches out an area of rocks towards the 

 south-east, which divides itself into smaller ridges and 

 solitary mountains, such as : Peldvioi, 2000 feet, and 

 Quanastuntivri, 1931 feet in height, until at last, in the 

 region of the sources of the Tana Fluss, it assumes the 

 peculiar form of land ridges called Maanselka, here 

 appearing as an elevated plateau, a table land, there 

 as sandy steppes, there as wood-covered heights. 



' The mother ridge, which gives rise to numerous branches, 

 two of which stretch away direct to the northern coast of 

 the Gulf of Bothnia, proceeds first in an easterly direc- 

 tion to the boundary of the Government of Archangel, 

 and thence it wends its way southward, constituting one 

 part of the western boundary of Russia, and extending itself 

 in various curves, westward and southward, bounding on 

 one side the Province of Easter Bothnia, Karelia, Savalar, 

 Tavastland, and Sata Kunder, it becomes gradually less, and 

 finally disappears near to the sea in the district of Chris- 

 tinestad. In its long course the Maanselka throws out a 

 great many wooded hills and irregular groups of heights, 

 and these, with the enclosed sheets of water, form a circlet 

 of picturesque scenery around the included country. 



'Proceeding from the mountainous region of Lapland 

 and Haiden we find small plains on the north-west coast 

 of the Gulf of Bothnia, but here as yet often broken up 

 and interrupted, until at length, at the entrance to Wasa 

 Ian, is seen the vast extended fertile plain of East 

 Bothnia, bounded on the north, east, and south, by the 

 Maanselka and its branches, and here and there towards 

 the sea, sown, as it were, with hills. 



