THROUGH FINLAND. 
*33 
to point out the route to fuch as may come after him. Thofe 
roads, however, are full of Rones, which render travelling ex¬ 
tremely unpleafant. Our bones w T ere feverely bruifed by the 
eternal jolting of the fledge. After the embarraflfnents of this 
foreA, we received fome compenfation for our flow and tedious 
progrefs, by the agreeable fenfation we experienced in croffing a 
lake, where we feemed to fly with all the velocity our horfes were 
capable of, and without being in the leaA Ihaken. We cou- 
rageoufly braved the danger of deAruClion with which the crack¬ 
ing of the ice feemed to threaten us, and difregarded the rents 
which ran in all directions under our feet. We certainly ffiould 
not have encountered the perils we were expofed to in croffing 
this river, had we not found travelling by land a thoufand times 
more fatiguing and difagreeable, both on account of the bad Rate 
of the furface for our mode of travelling, and the inconvenience 
of the Rones which fometimes made us Rart from the fledge, be¬ 
fore we were aware of the obflacle that lay in our w r ay. 
It was principally between Tuokola and Gumfila that we found 
travelling on the river haraffing and dangerous; and we ffiould 
probably have periffied but» for the affiflance of two peafants, who 
undertook to ferve us as guides, and point out to us the places of 
the river where the ice was ArongeA and in beA condition to fup- 
port us. Between Tuokola and Gumfila the river is extremely 
rapid, and the current being Rronger in fome places than in others, 
the ice in thofe parts is of a Render texture, fo that it was neceflary, 
in order to enfure our fafety, to have a perfect knowledge of the 
Vol. I. H h direction 
