260 SIK WILLIAM RAMSAY 



lie fully appreciated, while the pleasantness of the 

 canal voyage, part of the time spent in walking from 

 lock to lock, was exactly the kind of rest he needed. 

 On reaching Stockholm he was surprised to receive at 

 once a visitor on whose card was the name " Ramsay." 

 This proved to be a member of the Swedish branch of 

 the family commissioned by Andreas Ramsay to put 

 himself in touch with the shipping lines and keep him 

 informed of the London Ramsay's plans. A first-class 

 criminal could not have been more adequately dealt 

 with. Mr. Ramsay evidently forwarded all the infor- 

 mation he got by telegram or telephone, for on arriving 

 at Abo, the first port of call in Finland, whence they 

 were to travel by train to Helsingfors, there was standing 

 on the landing-stage a fine-looking old man who was 

 eagerly scanning the faces of the arriving travellers as 

 they descended the gangway. When Ramsay passed 

 down, he evidently recognised him at once, and without 

 a moment's hesitation the old man threw his arms round 

 him, and murmuring " Mon cher cousin," welcomed him 

 to Finnish soil. 



From that time forward the plan of seeing something 

 of Finland resolved itself into seeing very little except 

 Helsingfors and its immediate surroundings, but a great 

 deal of the Finlanders, especially of the Ramsay family, 

 and learning something of the history and general 

 conditions of that sorely tried little country. Like most 

 of his countrymen Ramsay had always referred to 

 natives of Finland as Finns or Finnish, and the first 



