208 



RUSSIA IN EUEOPE, 



plains whicli stretcli across Russia to tlie foot of tlie Frais and Caucasus. In 

 the territory of the Finnish Lapps isolated and snowy masses rise amidst the 

 forests, lakes, and peat beds ; but in the south the highest eminences are mere 

 hillocks, evidently worn by glacier action. The water-partings between the 

 streams flowing to the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia, Lake Ladoga, and the 

 AVhite Sea have a mean elevation of from 500 to 650 feet, culminating south 

 of Finnish Lapland with Mount Teiri-harju, north-east of Lake Uleâ. The ridge 

 surmounted by this hill throws off several irregular spurs, here and there 

 grouped under collective names, such as the Maan-Selkti, or " Back of the Land," 

 between the Gulf of Bothnia and White Sea basins, and the Suomen-Selka, or 



Fig. 100.— Parallelism of the Streams ilowing to the Gulf of Bothnia. 



Scale 1 : 5,000,000. 



'_>7 to ni 

 Fathoms. 



Over 54 

 Fathoms. 



50 Miles. 



** Back of Finland," running south-west of Lake Uleâ, parallel with, and at a 

 mean distance of 60 miles from, the Baltic coast. The south-west corner of the 

 land, continued seawards by the Aland archipelago, is an uneven, almost moun- 

 tainous tract. Taken together, all these granitic ridges may be regarded as a 

 plateau, whose backbone, lying nearer to the Gulf of Bothnia than to Lake 

 Ladoga, terminates abruptly on the Gulf of Finland." 



The hills in the south seem to have formerly been much higher than at 

 present, for on the slopes and summit of the Valdai plateau, in the heart of 

 Russia, the detritus of quartz and other Finnish rocks has been found at a greater 



* Chief elevations of Finland : — 



Finnish Lapland. 

 Peldoivi .... 2,360 feet. 

 Jeristumturi . . . 2,330 „ 

 Peldovaddo . . . 2,130 „ 



South Finland, according to Gylden. 

 Teiri-harju. . . . 1,093 feet. 

 Saukko-waara . . . 1,070 ,, 

 Kiwes-waara . . . 1,001 „ 



