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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



half of the 3,000,000 Lithuanians live outside 

 the limits of the former Baltic provinces. 



Lithuanians and Letts today feel the thrill of 

 national consciousness. They would like to 

 stand before the world as independent nations. 

 Whether the action taken to this end is con- 

 fined to the foreign land-owners, whose power 

 and dignity would thereby be increased, or 

 whether the people have any share in it is 

 unknown. Until agrarian conditions are rad- 

 ically changed, the political existence of the 

 State will practically benefit neither Lithuanian 

 nor Esth nor Lett. 



THE FINNO-UGRIANS 



The Finno-Ugrians fifteen hundred years 

 ago occupied the northern half of the Rus- 

 sian plain. Slavic tribes, advancing from the 

 south, split into them like a wedge, pressing 

 some to the east, but the great majority to the 

 northwest toward the Gulf of Bothnia. Their 

 numbers have constantly diminished through 

 amalgamation with the Slavs. 



On the east are now found the sparse set- 

 tlements of the Voguls, who speak a peculiar 

 dialect ; the Cheremissians on the Volga, the 

 Permians, shrewd traders, and the more im- 

 portant Mordvinians. The identity of the 

 widely spread but fast disappearing Sam- 

 oyedes, now no more than 4,000 persons, is in 

 doubt. 



On the west the Esths in Esthonia, the 

 Choudes around Novgorod and the Karelians, 

 north and south of Petrograd, are historically 

 of greater interest. 



The: FINNS * 



By far the most numerous and most civil- 

 ized of the Finno-Ugrians, not reckoning the 

 Finno-Ugrian Magyars (see page 497), a re 

 those who call themselves Suomi, but whose 

 relative importance Europe recognizes in ap- 

 plying to them the generic name of Finns. No 

 other of their race, except the Magyars, en- 

 joys a political existence. 



Their country, Finland, has an area of 125,- 

 689 square miles, largely lake and island, situ- 

 ated between the Gulfs of Finland and Bothnia 

 and included between 6o° and 70 0 north lati- 

 tude. In the twelfth century it was conquered 

 and the people converted to Christianity largely 

 by Bishop Henry, a supposed Englishman, who 

 being killed in fight was canonized and as Saint 

 Henry has become the patron saint of Fin- 

 land. Since then until last year it has never 

 known independence. Constantly fought over by 

 Sweden and Russia, it with the Aland Islands 

 became a semi-independent Grand Duchy 

 of the latter in 1809. The stubborn opposition 

 of the people always thwarted attempts at 

 russification. In December, 1917, the Finnish 

 Diet declared Finland an independent republic, 



* See also, in National Geographic Maga- 

 zine, "Where Women Vote," by Baroness 

 Alletta Korff (June, 1910). 



which as such has been recognized by Russia, 

 Sweden, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark 

 and Germany. 



In general the Finns are short, have flat 

 faces, round heads, prominent cheek-bones, 

 oblique eyes, thin beards, variously hued hair 

 and not clear complexions. Education is gen- 

 eral and highly advanced, though three per 

 cent of the people are paupers. 



Except 50,000 members of the Eastern 

 Orthodox Church and less than a thousand 

 Roman Catholics, all the 3,500,000 inhabitants 

 are Protestant Lutherans. Among them are 

 about 400,000 Swedes who predominate along 

 the coast. Helsingfors is a Swedish city. Not 

 including the Magyars, there must be nearly 

 4,500,000 Finno-Ugrians in Europe. 



THE LAPPS 



The Lapps are pathetic figures to foreigners. 

 Though closely related to the Finns, they and 

 their ancestors in their wanderings have never 

 known any part of the world except the per- 

 manently frozen sub-soil and the tree-less 

 wastes of the tundra. In consequence they are 

 dwarfed in body and mind. 



They average only four feet, seven inches in 

 height. The faces, even of the young, are 

 drawn and appear old and the whole frame 

 often is undeveloped and misshapen. No shade 

 of color in hair or eyes or even in complexion 

 can be considered typical, there is so great 

 variety. They are said to be the roundest- 

 headed people in Europe. 



Some few along the rivers or seacoast are 

 fishermen or cattle breeders, but the most for 

 food, occupation and subject of thought are 

 dependent on the reindeer which seems made 

 for them as they for it. In Norway there are 

 about 17,000, in Sweden 7,000, in Russia twice 

 as many. They are steadily decreasing in 

 number, the little civilization that has reached 

 them not being altogether beneficial. Those in 

 Russia are reckoned Eastern Orthodox and 

 those in Scandinavia Protestant, but how far 

 this secretive people have really abandoned 

 pagan beliefs and practices is not known. 



The word Lapp is supposed to be Swedish 

 and to mean enchanter, but others suggest that 

 it is derived from the Finnish lappa, meaning 

 "land's end folk." Long regarded as sorcerers 

 and necromancers, they appear in Norwegian 

 tales as proficients in the black art. 



THE PEOPLES OF THE 

 CAUCASUS * 



The peoples of the Caucasus present a be- 

 wildering but a fascinating study. Any attempt 

 to classify or even discuss them in limited space 

 is futile. The official Russian figures estimate 

 them according to races as about 5,000,000 



* See also, in National Geographic Maga- 

 zine, "An Island in the Sea of History" (High- 

 lands of Daghestan, Caucasus Mountains), by 

 George Kennan (October, 1913). 



