Through Finland in Carts Part 38

Comment is needless. Romance will have its sway in spite of dense Englishwomen and stupid writers, who do not see what is going on under their noses, in their search for less interesting information elsewhere.

From romance to reality is but a span, and fishermen, and their name is legion, may be glad to learn a little about the fishing in Finland, and that the best rivers lie in the governor's province of _Wiborg_. There are lake salmon, trout, and grayling; minnows and sand-eels are specially favoured as bait.

In the Government district of _St. Michael_ excellent sport is also to be found, especially _Salmo eriox_ and trout. Dead bait is chiefly used.

But a large stretch of this water is rented by the _Kalkis fisk Klubb_.

In the district of _Kuopio_ permission to fish may be obtained from Henriksson, the manager of a large ironwork at _Warkaus_ and _Konnus_.

Silk bait and Devon minnows prove most useful.

In the province of _Uleborg_ salmon of every kind can be caught at _Waala_, where there is a charge of ten marks (eight shillings) for the season. There are also trout and grayling, and the ordinary English flies and minnows are the best bait, Jock Scott, Dry Doctor, Zulu, and shrimp being great favourites. Sportsmen can put up at _Lannimalio_, or _Poukamo_, at the peasants' small farms; but information is readily given by the English Consul at _Uleborg_, who, although a Finlander, knows English well.

At the town of _Kajana_ two marks a day is charged for trout and grayling fishing, but in the adjacent rivers, _Hyrynsalmi_ and _Kuusamo_, the fishing is free.

On the borders of Russia, at _Kem_, the best grayling fishing perhaps in the world is to be found.

The sport generally begins on the 1st April, and ends at _Waala_ on 15th September, and at _Kajana_ a few days later.

Practically all the fishing is free, and when not so, the charge is merely nominal. Near _Waala_ salmon up to 50 lbs., grayling 5 lbs., or trout 18 lbs. are not uncommon.

There is no netting except at two points on the _Ule_ river, and there is a great move nowadays to take the nets off from Sat.u.r.day to Monday to let the fish free.

_Herman Renfors_ was then the best fisherman in Finland. He told us that during five days, in September 1885,--things are not nearly so good as this nowadays--he caught the following:--

Sept. 9. 18 Grayling weighing 19 lbs.

8 Salmon, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 24, 31 = 93 "

-------- 112 lbs.

" 10. 18 Grayling weighing 21 lbs.

7 Salmon, 4, 5, 6, 16, 27, 30, 40 = 128 "

-------- 149 lbs.

" 11. 18 Grayling weighing 16 lbs.

5 Salmon, 7, 18, 26, 36, 52 = 139 "

-------- 155 lbs.

" 12. 6 Grayling weighing 6 lbs.

8 Salmon, 5, 5, 6, 7, 14, 29, 30, 43 = 139 "

-------- 145 lbs.

" 13. 6 Grayling weighing 6 lbs.

6 Salmon, 4, 2, 5, 31, 32, 33 = 107 "

-------- 113 lbs.

Total in five days 674 lbs.

Verily a record. His sister made his flies; and the salmon which weighed 52 lbs. he got with a salmon-spoon of his own make. He uses a spinning-rod 11 feet long, or a fly-rod 14 feet long. We saw him fishing in the famous rapids, and never shall we forget the dexterity of his throw, or the art of his "play." He once caught 1600 lbs. of fish in three weeks. Masters of the piscatorial art, does not envy enter your souls?

But this is digression, and our narrative demands that we proceed to tell how a twopenny fare in a little steamboat from _Uleborg_ brought us to the tar stores. On a Finnish steamboat one often requires change, so much paper money being in use, and the plan for procuring it is somewhat original. In neat little paper bags change for half a mark or a whole mark is securely fastened down, the colour of the bag indicating the amount of money it contains, therefore there can be no cheating. If one wants a mark changed the ticket-collector immediately produces a little sealed envelope containing a mark in pence, and having opened it one pays him whatever may be due.

From fifty thousand to seventy thousand barrels of tar are deposited every summer by the boats which shoot the _Ule_ rapids upon the quay near the town. What a sight! There they were piled two and three high like pipes of wine in the great London vaults, but in this case the barrels were not under cover, but simply lay on a quay that was railed in. Every barrel had to be tested before final shipment, and when we arrived a man was going round for this purpose trying each cask after the bung had been extracted. He wore high boots, and carried his ink-bottle in his boot leg as the London brewer carries his ink in his coat pocket. Then a helper, who followed behind, thumped in the bung while the foreman made his notes in a book, and in a few minutes a man or a woman came and rolled the barrel away. Those employed in the task wore strong leather gloves with no fingers--only a thumb, and so tarred they were absolutely hard, as also their boots from walking over the tarry ground. And yet all the faces were beautifully clean, and the clothes almost spotless.

The ground at these stores is literally sodden with tar, though here and there little drains are cut in order to collect it; the air being permeated by its wholesome smell.

Fancy if such a quay caught fire. Fancy those thousands of barrels in flames--and yet a famous admiral once set fire to this very tar store in the name of England; a little act of destruction that Finland has never quite forgiven Great Britain.

After spending some days in _Uleborg_, it became necessary to make a forward movement--not towards Lapland, as originally intended, for that had been vetoed as impossible in summer. We were still hundreds, we might almost say thousands, of miles from home, when we arranged to leave our pleasant quarters on the following afternoon for _Hango_.

What a truly national experience! First of all, the Petersburg steamer, by which we were to travel, though announced to start at three P.M., never left its moorings till 4.40. Only one hour and forty minutes late, but that was a mere trifle to a Finn. The cargo was taken on board up to the very last minute--eighteen enormous barrels of salmon (twice or thrice the size of eighteen-gallon casks of beer), five hundred rolls of leather, which, having come as raw skins from America, had been dressed in _Uleborg_, ready for _Riga_, whither the consignment was bound, also a hundred big baskets, made of the plaited bark so common in Finland, filled with glue, likewise the product of a leather factory.

One thing amazed us immensely; viz. that our steamer was allowed to lie almost alongside of the tar stores we had so lately visited. With the aid of only one single spark from her chimney all those barrels would quickly be ablaze. However, the genial English-speaking captain, as well as the British Consul who had come to see us off, set our minds at rest by explaining that the steamer only burnt coal, no wood-burning boat being allowed near the tar--the coal making few sparks and wood many.

Fancy, coal! we had not seen or heard of coal for weeks; all the trains, the houses, and the steamboats, burn wood only, except the large ships that go right out to sea, and they could not burn wood, because of its bulk, unless they dragged a dozen barges behind them to give a continuous supply on the voyage.

Another Finnish scene was being enacted around us. About a dozen emigrants were leaving their native land by way of _Hango_, where they were to change steamers for England, and pa.s.s thence to America. They had paid seven or eight pounds each for their pa.s.sage money, and were going off to seek their fortunes in a new world--going to a strange country, speaking another tongue than their own, going away from all they had on earth, from friends, relations, a.s.sociations, going full of hope, perchance to fail! Some years later, when I was in the States, I learned what excellent emigrants these Finlanders make, and how successful they generally become, but they looked so sad that day that our hearts ached for them as they sat on their little boxes and bundles on the quays, among the sixty or seventy friends who had come to see them off. The bell rang; no one moved. It rang again, when each said to the other _Hyvasti_ (good-bye), and with a jaunty shake of the hand all round, the emigrants marched on board, and our ship steamed away, without a wet eye or a smothered sob.

Will nothing move these people? Is it that they hide their feelings, or is it that they have none to conceal?

The stoicism of the Finn is one of his strongest characteristics.

As we pa.s.sed out of the harbour our thoughts recurred to heart-breaking farewells on board P. and O. and Orient steamers, where the partings are generally only for a few years, and the voyagers are going to lands speaking their own language and to appointments ready waiting for them.

How strange is the emigrant, and how far more enigmatical the Finn.

Our steamer _bo_ was delightful, quite the most comfortable we chanced on in Finland; the captain, a charming man, fortunately spoke excellent English, although over the cabin door was written a grand specimen of a Swedish word--_Aktersalongspa.s.sagerare_, meaning first-cla.s.s pa.s.senger saloon.

Although the _bo_ plied from _Uleborg_ to Petersburg, and was a large pa.s.senger steamer, she stopped at many places for two or three hours at a time, in order to take in pa.s.sengers and cargo, while we lay-to at night because of the dangers of the coast, and waited half a day at _Wasa_, one of the most important towns in Finland. The train journey from _Uleborg_ to _bo_ occupies thirty hours, while the steamer dawdles placidly over the same distance for three days and a half.

Have you ever travelled with a melon? If not, you have lost a delightful experience--please try. At one of the many halting-places on our way to _Hango_, we were wandering through the streets on a very hot day, when in a shop window some beautiful melons attracted our attention.

"Oh!" exclaimed my sister, "we must have one, how cool and refreshing they look."

"What shall we do with it?" I asked.

"Send it down to the steamer," was her reply, "it will be so nice on board."

We accordingly went in, bought the melon with the help of our best Swedish, for here, being opposite Sweden, that language was still in vogue; we explained it was to go to the _ngbtshytt_ (cabin) number ten, and left cheerfully.

We returned to our steamer home; while leaving the harbour we remained on deck, and it was not until late in the evening, when the ship began to roll considerably, that we went below. At the head of the cabin stairs a most extraordinary odour greeted our senses; as we neared our cabin the smell increased; when we opened the door we were nearly knocked down by the terrible scent of the melon which had looked so charming in the shop window. Though very hot all day, as the weather had been decidedly rough for some hours, the port-hole was closed, therefore the melon had thoroughly scented the queer little cabin.

"This is impossible," I exclaimed. "I never smelt anything so overpowering in my life, except a cod-liver oil factory in Iceland. We cannot sleep in such an atmosphere."

My sister looked crestfallen.

"It is rather strong," said she pensively; "shall we put it outside?"

"No," I replied, "if we, who bought it, cannot endure the smell, how are the wretched occupants on the other side to put up with such an inconvenience?"

"Then we must eat it," she remarked with conviction, and, undoing the paper and cutting a slice, she proceeded solemnly to devour that melon.

Strangely enough, in spite of its overpowering odour, the fruit tasted delicious, for, be it owned, I ate some too, and when we had enjoyed our feast we opened the port-hole and threw its rind into a watery grave. We had not been long in bed before we heard a great commotion outside--an appeal to the stewardess, then angry words, and at last a regular row.

Dare we own the cause? _It was our melon!_

No one knew it was our melon, but half awake, holding on to keep in our bunks at all, we lay and listened to the angry discussion, feeling it could serve no good purpose if we got up to confess a dead and buried sin. Nevertheless, that melon lay long on our consciences. We will never voluntarily travel with one again.

We did not fall asleep till we had pulled up for the night. As we lay we reviewed our past experiences, and thought over the towns of _Suomi_.

_Uleborg_, which we had just left, is perhaps the most northerly town of any importance in Europe, and, after _Helsingfors_, it is the most imposing in Finland. _Wiborg_, which from its position is on the high road to Russia, ought to be handsome also and have good stone buildings, but it is not handsome, and has few good buildings. _Willmanstrand_ is merely a collection of small wooden houses, some barracks, and numberless tents for camping out. _Nyslott_ is scattered, and of no importance were it not for its Castle and its new bath-house. _Kuopio_ is perhaps the most picturesquely situated inland town in Finland, and the view from _Puijo_, a hill of some height behind the township, is really good on a fine night. It is extensive, and gives a wonderful idea of the lakes and islands, rivers and forests of which Finland is composed. _Iisalmi_ is nothing--hardly possesses an hotel, in fact--and _Kajana_ not much better, although the rapids make it of great interest.