CHAPTER VIII. 



LANDS DRAINING TO THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 

 (Russian Lapland, Northern L^hals, Novaya Zemlya, Governments of Archangel and Vologda.) 



LL the northern hinds whose waters flow to the Frozen Ocean 

 correspond in their general outlines with the two vast, but almost 

 uninhabitable, provinces of Archangel (Arkhangelsk) and Vologda. 

 This immense region, lying, so to sa}', beyond the pale of 

 habitable Europe, and which in its climate and a section of its 

 population presents quite a Siberian aspect, has scarcely two inhabitants to the 

 square mile. Archangel alone, even excluding Novaya Zemlya, is nearly as large as 

 France and Great Biitain together, yet it contains a smaller population than many 

 towns of second rank, such as Lyons, Leeds, or Birmingham. The whole region 

 comprises about one-fourth of European Russia, whereas its population amounts 

 to one-sixtieth of that of the empire. Nevertheless it is one of the most interesting 

 lands in East Europe, not only for the character of its soil, waters, and climate, but 

 also for the history of its inhabitants. The dwellers by the arctic shores have also 

 had a special, though modest, part in the development of European culture, and 

 scarcely three centuries have passed since the highway of the White Sea was the 

 only route by which the Muscovite lands could communicate with the West. 



Physical Aspect. — The Tundra. 



Nearly all the territory comprised between the granites of Finland and the Ural 

 Mountains slopes uniformly and almost imperceptibly towards the AVhite Sea and 

 Arctic Ocean, and is furrowed by long winding streams. But the peninsula of Kola, 

 politically included in the Russian government of Archangel, must be physically 

 regarded as an eastern extension of the Scandinavian peninsula. Russian Lapland 

 is partly limited by the deep inlets of the White Sea and Gulf of Bothnia, and all 

 the geological formations west of the White Sea belong, like Sweden and Finland, 

 to the granites and older rocks, whereas those stretching fi-ora the White Sea 

 eastwards to the Urals are of much more recent origin. 



The interior of Russian Lapland is but little known, although it has already 

 been traversed by explorers in all direction". The Maan Selka of the Finns is 



