FINLAND: CLIMATE. 216 



Climate. — Vegetation. — Fauna, 



The northern section of Finland lies within the arctic circle, and even in the 

 southern provinces the winter days are only a few hours long-, while in midsummer 

 they are connected by the ruddy gloaming of the sun setting a few degrees below 

 the horizon. " The night," says Turgenev, " resembles a sickly dav," and a 

 Finnish legend describes twilight and dawn as two betrothed lovers condemned to 

 a long divorce, but ever seeking to be united. In the fair season this union is at 

 last effected in mid-heaven, where their united nuptial torches light up the plains, 

 the hills, and all the seas. 



In these high latitudes the climate is severe. The isothermals, in Scandinavia 

 deflected northwards by the atmospheric and marine currents, here incline south- 

 wards, while the neighbourhood of the great eastern plains gives full play to the 

 cold east and north-east winds. But although extremely cold in winter, the 

 climate is rendered hot in summer by the south and south-west winds. The 

 cultivation of the land, and especially the destruction of the coast forests, are said 

 to have raised the mean temperature, while at the same time causing more sudden 

 and frequent atmospheric variations. 



The vegetation is more uniform and less rich than in Scandinavia, whose 2,330 

 species are here reduced to 1,800, which are, moreover, confined to a smaller area. 

 The oak, Avhich reaches the latitudes of Trondhjem in Norway, is confined in Finland 

 to the southern seaboard between the sixtieth and sixty-first parallels. The cherry 

 does not ripen beyond Vasa, and the apple ceases to blossom beyond the sixty- 

 fourth parallel in the province of Uleaborg. Northwards the vegetation diminishes 

 gradually, the last forests of stunted conifers reaching the shores of Lake Enare, 

 beyond which stretch the tundras to the Frozen Ocean. Here nothing grows 

 except mosses and lichens, and in some sheltered spots the dwarf birch, the white 

 alder, and the sorb, the sacred tree of the ancient Finns. 



In summer vegetation springs up and ripens with astonishing rapidity, and 

 near Uleaborg wheat is sown and reaped within the space of forty-two days. The 

 moisture of the atmosphere and the frequent fogs also keep the forests and pasture 

 lands perennially fresh, and in certain districts, especially in the neighbourhood of 

 Tavastehus, the j)easants' huts are not thatched or planked, but covered with 

 smooth grass-grown turf. The effect of these well-kept elevated plots is extremely 

 pleasant. The wooden framework of the roof is protected from damp by layers of 

 birch bark disposed beneath the green sods. 



The fauna of Finland resembles that of the neighbouring lands, though less ricli 



in the number of species. The bear, wolf, lynx, glutton, and fox still abound, but 



the marten has already disappeared. The arms of the Aland archij)elago bear the 



elk, formerly common in those islands, but exterminated at the time of the Hvissian 



invasion in 1809. The beaver also has become so rare that its existence has even 



been questioned.* 



* Wild animals killed in Finland between 1871 — 5 : — Bears, 421 ; wolves, 1,862 ; lynxes, 433 ; glut- 

 tons, 195; foxes, 12,391. Domestic animals destroyed by beasts of prey, 1868 — 70: — Horses, 1,802; 

 horned cattle, 5,584 ; sheep, 14,061 ; reindeer, 2,714 ; swine, 1,400.' 



