THE SAIMA SEE, 13 
of Kuopia. From the south bank issues the river Pielis, 
conveying its waters into Lake Orivesi. Lake Puruvesi 
is situated to the south of Orivesi. It is 24 miles long 
from north-east to south-west, and 18 miles in breadth, 
A little below Nyslot we met two Finnish timber-rafts 
containing each, it was estimated by a Finnish gentleman, 
about 5000 logs; and above Nyslot other two containing, 
according to the estimate of a Finnish engineer engaged 
extensively in the manufacture of machinery for saw- 
mills and other purposes in Nyslot, 10,000 logs each. I 
have called these finnish timber-rafts. The movement 
of all the Finnish timbey-rafts seen by me on the Saima 
See was etfected by a boat carrying out an anchor toa 
considerable distance a-head, and the raft being warpt 
thither by a windlass on the raft, to which motion was 
given by a horse on board. The men had on board a fire 
for cooking, and a small hut for snelter. The largest 
rafts were destined for Messrs Hood & Co.’s saw-mill at 
Nyslot. 
In regard to the form of the raft which is known in 
Northern Russia, if not also here, as the koshell, M. 
Judrae, a distinguished Member of the Imperial Forest 
Service in Russsia, gives the following information :— 
‘Up to 1860, logs designed for floatage on the lake 
were generally made up into rafts at considerable expense; 
but in 1861, a peasant, a native of Finland, devised the 
system of floatage in the so-called koshell. ‘These koshells 
are of two kinds, designed respectively for transit by lake 
and by sea. The former are of a less complicated struc- 
ture than the latter. The lake koshell consists of two 
parts, a head anda body. The head is a simple ratt of 
logs of ordinary size, one row deep. On this the navi- 
gators take their places, and sometimes horses, together 
with a windlass or other machinery for winding up rope to 
which an anchor is attached. ‘The head is formed of logs 
arranged lengthwise in a regular row, the number varying 
with the intended size of the koshell, It goes foremost, and 
