216 EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



Ethnology : Tavastians — Karelians — Swedes. 



The foreign name of Finn seems to be a Teutonic translation of the native word 

 Suomi, or Suomenraaa, and has been identified with the English /(^^i. This etymology 

 has, however, been questioned by Sjogren and others, and the name as well as the 

 origin of the Finns, the Fenni of Tacitus, remains an ethnological problem. But, 

 speaking generally, the bulk of the present inhabitants of Finland may be said to be of 

 Ural-Altaic stock, and closely akin to the Magyars, as well as to the still uncivilised 

 Cheremissians, Ostyaks, Yoguls, and Samoyeds. They are evidentl}^ a very mixed 

 race, for the land, which they are supposed to have occupied towards the end of the 

 seventh century, has been frequently overrun by various tribes, whose descendants 

 became absorbed in the indigenous population. Before the polished stone period 

 the great extension of the ice-fields must have rendered the present Finland unin- 

 habitable ; but after the first settlements the most frequent relations of the people 

 were evidently with the eastern tribes of North Russia, for nearly all the objects found 

 east and west of Lake Ladoga are identical in material and w'orkmanship. I^ater 

 on, in the bronze age, and especially on the first introduction of iron, Scandinavian 

 influences prevailed. Then there are evidences of Slavonic culture, after which, in 

 the historic period proper, the Scandinavians are found to be in much closer contact 

 with the people than the Russians. The struggle for ascendancy between the 

 invaders from the sea and those advancing from the east often became a war of 

 extermination, laying waste whole districts. In the midst of such conflicts between 

 the foreign rulers of the land, it is surprising that the Finns were able to retain 

 so much of their national characteristics. 



In the north Lapp influence was probably very marked, owing to crossings 

 with the Finnish tribes of the Ostrobothnians and Quaens (Kainuliiiset). In 1849 

 Andreas Warelius mentions a great many districts and hamlets in the province of 

 Ulèâborg where the rural element was mixed, and still partly spoke Lapponic. 

 Whether the Lapps ever occupied the southern provinces is a moot question, although 

 the local traditions are unanimous on the point, such names as Jaettiliiiset, Hiidet, 

 Jatulit, Jotunit, being still current in reference to those aborigines. The national 

 legends speak of the struggles that the first Finnish immigrants had to sustain 

 against the magicians allied A^'ith the powers of darkness, and in Finland as well as 

 in Russia the Lapps, Samoyeds, and all the northern Finns are regarded as 

 wizards and enchanters. Several local names also point at the presence of Lapps in 

 the south ; but the absence of archgeological remains of Lapp origin shows that they 

 cannot have long sojourned in the land. More numerous are the traces of Teutonic 

 elements on the southern seaboard, and a few very old German words found in 

 Finnish have induced Thomson to suppose that the race formerly dwelt in the 

 Russian plains bordering on the Baltic. 



The southern Finns are divided into two distinct families, the Tavastians and 

 Karelians. The former occupy a triangle in the south-west, limited on the west 

 and south by the Swedes of the coast. They have been influenced mainly by 

 Scandinavian culture, whereas the Karelians have been brought in contact chiefly 



