198 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



sentations are given in that language; while the 

 wooden houses, barns, and hamlets are shaped and 

 built after the true Swedish type. If the forests 

 seem to be endless, they are at least beautifully 

 varied, and by no means merit the term monotonous, 

 and are without any traces of the forest fires, so far 

 as I have seen, which have wrought such damage 

 in America; growing more sparsely, and rendering 

 walking so much easier than in Canada, where an 

 almost superhuman effort is necessary to penetrate 

 the dense undergrowth, at least in summer. Here 

 the woods of spruce, pine, and birch are broken into 

 exquisite glades and open spaces, carpeted with moss 

 and heather, and generally giving some distant 

 glimpse of a lake shining in the sun, or some broad 

 valley fenced off into fields and moderate-sized hold- 

 ings. Fairly good roads lead in almost every direc- 

 tion, and regular communication by means of small 

 steamboats is kept up on all the large lakes. Such is 

 the Finland of to-day. The people of the north, said 

 Voltaire, have an especial liking for the wines which 

 nature has denied to them. That the inhabitants of 

 Ostermyra find an excellent substitute in the ale and 

 the viina, or corn brandy, of the country, was evident 

 at that town, where the train stopped for the night. 



Our next attempt at finding a good hotel was at 

 Uleaborg, where a quiet night's rest seemed hopeful 

 at first sight at a small inn, the splendid new Socie- 

 tetshus not being quite ready for the reception of 

 visitors, and which, in appearance, at any rate, is 



