THE SAIMA SEE, 15 
than the floatage by rafts or single logs, and how much 
the first proprietor or the wood merchant gains in profit 
from this contrivance of the Finnish peasant, though it is 
not very easy to do so completely, I may state the follow- 
ing particulars: In the floating of timber on the Mat 
Kosero by the old system, the log of timber costs about five 
kopecs; now, by floating it in these koshells it costs about 
one and one-half kopec, or less than one-third of the 
former cost. The bringing of timber to the Koumsa saw- 
mill, in consequence of this new method of floatage, costs, 
for each log, about thirty kopecs less than it did formerly. 
If we assume that the transport of each log to the saw- 
mills in the Government of Olonetz costs, upon an average, 
ten kopecs less than it used to do; and if we take 237,000 
—the number of logs cut up by these saw-mills in 1865— 
as the average annual number, then it will be apparent 
that the saving of expense will be 23,700 roubles, or £2370, 
per annum. Such results have followed this so-called 
triling contrivance. The name of the peasant has not 
been made famous ; but it is said that he is now a very 
rich man, and the other peasants speak of lim as a very 
knowing one’ 
Between the lower lake on which Nyslot is situated, and 
the higher lying lakes or basins of the Saima Lake system, 
are tivo canals, with locks, connecting successive series of 
these. Near Taipola, where is one of these canals with 
two locks, are the iron-works of Warkaus, 
Finland, as I have stated, is poetically known in the 
country as “The land of a thousand lakes,” and as “‘The 
last-born daughter of the sea.” In travelling you con- 
tinually come upon beautiful lakes of great and small 
dimensions embedded in woods, such as may be seen in 
the immediate vicinity of St. Petersburg, at Schuvalova, 
Hjora, and Ukie; but the upper portions of the Saiman 
See, for it bifurcates towards the north, gives to the visitor 
another idea altogether of what is implied in the designa- 
tion, “The land of a thousand lakes,” 
