ALAND THE BALTIC IN 1854. 173 



again so cut up by loch and morass, that not only it 

 but every farm almost had an isolation of its own. 

 Thus even the progress which arises from internal 

 traffic and communication was checked. The land 

 lies in a succession of meadows, with marshy pools 

 in the midst, and edged by rocky wooded ridges, 

 which run like headlands and promontories into the 

 grassy plains. These meadows afford pasturage for 

 the cattle required for draught or winter store ; the 

 plateaux and slopes offer spots for limited tillage ; 

 the pine plantations give fuel ; the lakes have fish ; 

 the meres bring water-fowl ; so that there is enough, 

 and enough only, within their narrow demesnes for 

 their own wants. There is little product for export 

 little demand on foreign markets. 



This primitive state, this simplicity, without savag- 

 ery or barbarism, has been ever a favourite topic of 

 poets and pastoral romancists. They have fondly 

 pictured it as a primal natural stage a sort of stand- 

 point, where man arrived at the height of innocence, 

 happiness, and content, and thence emerged into all 

 the vices, luxuries, and ambition attendant on civil- 

 isation. Delusion we know this to be ; and yet there 

 is something attractive even in the idea of a state 

 where man pretends to no higher dignity than that of 

 labour, and is surrounded by no artificialities of rank, 

 ceremonies, or etiquette ; where his vices and pas- 

 sions, though perhaps no less than in other stages, are 

 still simple in their development ; where, 



