200 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



was past midday before the two-wheel cart from 

 the posting station was at the door in readiness for 

 a start northwards on the excellent road which skirts 

 the coast. There was much to see at Uleaborg, which 

 must be deferred till our return. The post-boy was 

 evidently The Fat Boy, who kept nodding until 

 eventually the reins fell altogether from his nerve- 

 less grasp, and we had to drive ourselves. The only 

 fear was of passing the next post station, or Jceskie- 

 vari ; but just as we were about to rouse the sleeping 

 one he performed that office for himself, and hence- 

 forth kept very wide-awake till a fresh cart and 

 pony and another boy took us on past the Yuorittan- 

 joki, an exceptionally clear river, most of the rest 

 being porter-coloured from the peat bogs, to the 

 great lijoki or li Eiver, close to another keskievari, 

 where we decided to stay the night. 



Across the whole breadth of the lijoki, a distance 

 of about one-fourth of a mile, runs a double line of 

 Finnish salmon traps, with the exception of an 

 opening on one side to allow of the passage of boats, 

 and through which, as we watched, there floated 

 with the current an enormous raft of timber, about 

 sixty yards by forty, skilfully steered by long sweeps 

 at either extremity, and loaded with barrels of tar, 

 there being barely sufficient room to allow it to pass 

 through the opening. 



Being without a so-called interpreter, who is often 

 an unspeakable nuisance, one fares but moderately 

 well with one's phrase book, which rarely gives the 



