CONTOUR OF THE COUNTRY. 239 



On the same subject Dr. Ignatius writes : 'Finland is 

 not a country of mountains, although the surface is marked 

 by inequalities, and the heights are composed of granite 

 masses. It is only in the northern part in Lapland that 

 we meet with mountains of some importance. The highest 

 of these is the Haldefjall, or, as it is called in Lappish, 

 Haldischok, which attains an elevation of 1258 metres. It 

 is situated at the extreme north-west, on the confines of 

 Norway, and it belongs properly to the Norwegian Alps. 

 And the same may be said, geographically speaking, of 

 other mountain summits situated in the small Lappish 

 territory of Enontekis, which runs in as a corner between 

 Sweden and Norway, Outside of this territory, the 

 principal mountains of Finland are the Pallastunturi, 

 858 metres ; the Peldoaivi, the Ounastunturi [the Peld- 

 vioi and Quanastuntivri of Helm], all in Lapland. To the 

 south of the Artie Circle no mountain summit is 600 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and very few exceed half that 

 height. There may still be found at Kuusamo some 

 elevations which attain the altitude of 805 metres, but 

 further to the south they are much below that. The 

 highest of the hills which has been measured in Southern 

 Finland is the Tiirismaa, in the parish of Hollola, to the 

 west of Lahtis. It does not rise more than 230 metres 

 above the level of the sea. The mean elevation of the 

 interior of Finland is about 100 metres. 



' With the exception of the moraines, of which mention 

 has been made, the elevated ground of Finland does not 

 form regular mountain chains well defined. Those which 

 are found in maps are inserted, for the most part, to indi- 

 cate the watershed, but the traveller traversing the country 

 will often find it difficult to observe them. The most 

 important of these is the Maanselka, or the " Back of the 

 Land," which separates the waters which flow into the 

 Frozen Ocean from those which flow into the Gulf of 

 Bothnia. After having followed in the north the Russian 

 boundary, the elevation bends away to the west near to 

 Moentoenvaara in 64 N. lat., where it takes the name of 



