FINLAND 



423 



people, and many speak the Swedish language. Their own national tongue is, however, being 

 rescued from the obscurity into which it had been forced in the centuries during which the 

 Finns were Swedish subjects. 



The Finns are not wanting in intellectual vigour. This is seen from the important 

 contribution they have made to the world's literature in the Kulemla, an epic poem, 

 embodying their ancient myths and traditions, preserved in Runes, or ballads, which have 

 been orally handed down from times long prior to the dawn of history. In the first quarter 

 of the nineteenth century Lonnrot undertook the collection of the Runes, sifted the miscella- 

 neous and often fragmentary material, aud put together the national heroic poem, which is now 

 classed by some enthusiasts with the works of Homer and the great epics of India and Persia. 



The early Finns were chiefly hunters and fishermen. The dog was their most important 

 domestic animal, although they were acquainted in early times with the reindeer, horse, 

 and ox, but not witli the pig, sheep, or goat, which were introduced about A.D. 1000. Their 

 agriculture was limited, barley and rye being the only grain crops cultivated. They lived 

 in tents made of hides stretched on poles, and in huts consisting of holes dug in the earth, 

 with only the roof above-ground, many of which are still common sights in Finland to-day. 

 They wore skins, which they stitched together, using as needles small, sharp bones ; they also 

 had sledges and snow-shoes. 



With regard to religion, though a few belong to the Greek Church, the bulk of the people 

 are Lutherans. Though they are cleai'-minded and intelligent, among the lower classes 

 Christianity has not entirely driven out old superstitions and belief in sorcery and magic. A 

 curious veneration of the bear is general among them. Ursus takes rank as a kind of divinity. 

 He is lord of all the spirits, and endowed with supernatural power and wisdom. The sorcerer 

 is credited with power to make good or bad weather by spells and incantations, and is half 



J'hutu i>y t/ie Pkotocltrom < b. 



A LAPP CHILD ON REINDEER. 



