202 



TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



stage sometimes a first-rate pony with a heavy or 

 worn-out Jcarrii or cart, and the next stage the reverse. 

 The change at the end of each stage is performed with 

 great celerity, rivalling the putting-to of the Metro- 

 politan Fire Brigade. One has just time to write one's 

 name and destination in the dag-boJc, and to pay the 

 last driver or JcytipoiJca, before finding everything 

 ready for a fresh start. After a considerable interval, 

 the Semijoki was crossed in a ferry-boat, being a river 

 the size of the Thames, or half that of the lijoki 

 shallow, rapid, very dark in colour, the banks thickly 

 inhabited, the houses being like continuous small 

 villages. The next stage took us to the left bank of 

 the Great Kemi Eiver, and enormous is the volume of 

 water which it contains, with numerous inhabitants 

 upon both sides of it. 



The post road continues to Tornea and Haparanda 

 in Sweden, and also follows the Kemi Eiver from this 

 point upwards to Eovaniemi, a distance of eighty versts, 

 or a long day's travel, at which points the stream 

 bifurcates into the Kemijoki and Ounasjoki. Two 

 post roads hence lead to Kemijarvi, or the Kemi Lake 

 upon the former branch and Kittila on the latter, 

 about eighty miles distant, up to which point salmon 

 can ascend. The Arctic Circle, or latitude 66 32' 20", 

 passes a mile to the north of Eovaniemi. Here the 

 houses are better built, and the people richer than in 

 southern Finland. Just at this point, overlooking the 

 forks of the river, is the hill, Ounasvaara, a few feet 

 lower than Aavasaksa, to which so many people travel 



