LAKE ONEGA. 23 



the steppes in the vicinity of Odessa. The trees which I 

 saw were chiefly the pine (pinus sylvestris), and the fir 

 (abies excelsor)-, but from another forest official, from 

 whom also I deiived much valuable information, I learned 

 that in the forests beyond there were also to be found the 

 Norwegian maple, the lime, the elm, the juniper, and 

 other kinds of trees, the juniper attaining to an arborescent 

 size, very different from the juniper bush of Britain. 



Finding it difficult to thread our way through the close 

 growing trees, I asked how a forester found his way when 

 lost in the wood. The reply was, ' The coniferae are on 

 the north side of the trunk more or less densely covered 

 with lichens, and thus we know in what direction to go/ 



Lake Onega may be considered a basin of the Vodla, 

 the principal river flowing into it, while the outlet is by 

 the Svir. Its water is clear, and abounds in fish. The 

 bases of the islands, of which it contains several, are lime- 

 stone. It is by the Vodla and Mariienskai water-course 

 that it is connected with the Volga, while by the Svir it 

 is connected with Lake Ladoga, the Neva, and the Baltic, 

 into which river flows also the Oiat, which rises in the 

 Government of Olonetz, and, entering that of St. Peters- 

 burg, it joins the Svir on the left bank, after a course of 92 

 miles. The Vodla flows from a lake bearing the same 

 name, 26 miles long from north to south, and 14 miles in 

 breadth, to the N.N.E. of Pudoj, or Pudoscha, a town with 

 a population of 1200 inhabitants, situated about 65 miles 

 east of Petrozavodsk. Flowing first in a S.S.E., and then 

 in a S.S.W. direction, it falls into Lake Onega after a course 

 of about 100 miles. 



From Vosnisenya I sailed to Petrozavodsk. Lake 

 Onega measures about 220 versts, about 150 miles in 

 length, and about 75 versts, or 50 miles, in breadth. 

 Petrozavodsk is situated on the western shore of the lake. 

 The town dates from 1701, when Peter the Great estab- 

 lished works there for casting cannon. These were 



