296 
TRAVELS 
for the bridegroom, creeping on ail fours, to receive on his back 
a large pannier full of ftones, which he was obliged to carry until 
the bride, in token that fhe was no longer a maiden, came and 
relieved him of the heavy load, by throwing the pannier on the 
ground. 
In one parifh in Finland (one of thefe parifhes, it is to be ob- 
ferved, is equal in extent to a whole province in moft other coun¬ 
tries) it is the cuftom for young women to wear, fufpended at 
their girdles, the cafe or fheath of a knife, as a fign that they are 
unmarried, and would have no objection to a hufband. When 
a young man becomes enamoured with any of thofe damfels, his 
manner of courting her is, to purchafe, or caufe to be made, a 
knife in the exaCt form of the fheath, and to take an opportunity of 
flipping it into the fheath flily without the girl’s perceiving it. If 
the girl, on finding the knife in the fheath, keep it, it is a favour¬ 
able fymptom : if not, it is a refufal. 
In the parifh of Kemi, before the day appointed or propofed 
for the marriage ceremony, the young people fleep together for a 
whole week, but without quite undrefling ; and this is called, the 
week of the breeches. It will, no doubt, be immediately recollected 
by my readers, that this is an exaCt counterpart to the bundling of 
the Anglo-Americans. If, in confequence of the familiarities 
that pafs during the “ week of the breeches,” their love be 
flrengthened, they marry ; but if, on the other hand, their mu¬ 
tual affeCtions be leflened, the marriage does not take place. 
Another particular that appeared very fingular among the cuf¬ 
tom s 
