THE BALTIC. 19 



to the remote Gulfs of Botliuia and Finland. The North Sea is scarcely less salt 

 than the ocean, notwithstanding the quantity of fresh water discharged hy the 

 Maas, Rhine, "Weser, and Elbe. But in the Kattegat, Great Belt, and Sound 

 the proportion is reduced by one-half, at least on the surface ; towards the centre 

 of the basin on the south-east shores of Sweden it falls to one-seventh ; while in 

 the farthest gulf, near St. Petersburg, TJmeâ, and Torneâ, the surface waters are 

 almost sweet.* Even in the neighbourhood of Stockholm the water of the outer 

 bays may be drunk without inconvenience. But after the east winds have long 

 prevailed, causing an inflow of water into the network of canals about Stockholm, 

 Lake Miliar itself becomes somewhat brackish. Thus, according to the prevalence 

 of the winds and the greater or less abundance of the rivers falling into the Baltic, 

 its saline properties change constantly even on the same coasts, though nowhere 

 sufficiently to allow the inhabitants to extract salt from the sea- water. During the 

 Crimean war, cutting off the usual supply from the south of Europe, the Fin- 

 landers and Esthonians boarded the English and French vessels in quest of this 

 article, even at the risk of being made prisoners. f 



The Baltic difiers from the North Sea and Atlantic in the great variations of 

 its temperature from season to season, in this respect rather resembling the 

 fresh-water lakes of North Europe. While the shores of Norway and Lapland 

 beyond Cape North are absolutely free from ice even in the depth of winter, 

 the whole surface of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland is usually ice-bound from 

 November to April. This is due to their less saline character, to their greater 

 shallowness, and to the action of the cold north-east and east winds unchecked by 

 the low hills of Finland and Bussia. The Baltic shores of Germany are also 

 frozen for a certain distance seawards, and the open waters in the centre of the 

 basin are filled with floating masses, which, drifting with the current, block the 

 outlets of navigation during the cold season. 



In exceptionally cold years the whole of the Baltic itself has been frozen 

 over, and crossed by temporary high-roads of commerce. This occurred at least 

 ten times during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, when trading 

 caravans often proceeded from Sweden and Denmark to Liibeck, Eostock, Stral- 

 sund, and Danzig. Wayside inns were built on these routes, fairs were held 

 on the ice, and packs of wolves passed over from the Norwegian forests to the 

 Jutland plains beyond the Baltic. In 1658 armies engaged in deadly combat 

 on the ice. Frederick III. of Denmark, having rashly declared war against 

 Sweden, Charles Gustavus, then warring in Poland, hastened to the Little Belt, 

 where he encamped with 20,000 men. Here he caused the ice to be tested, 

 ventured across with horse, cannon, and transports, and defeated the enemy 

 opposing his landing on the island of Fiinen. Then venturing on the frozen 



* Mean salineness of the ocean 34-404 in 1,000. 



„ North Sea 32-823 



„ „ „ Kattegat and Sound ..... 16-230 „ 



„ Baltic 4-331 „ 



,, ,, „ Kronstadt Roads ..... 0-610 „ 



Forclihaniiner, Fhiloiophical Transuctions, 1^65. 

 t Ant. von Etzel, '-Die Ostsee und ihre Kiiotenlaiider." 



