Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-05-16

commanded a full view Of Torueaa, and the ice
track across The river, where hundreds Of per-
sons daily passed to and fro. The eastern win
dow showed Us tho Arctic dawn, growing and
Frightening through its wonderful gradatons Of
color, for four hours, when the pale orange sun
appeared above the dlsian. houses TO slide alohn
their roofs for two hours, and then dip again.
We had plentiful meals, consisting mostly Of
reindeer meat, with sauce Of Swedish cram
berries, potatoes, which had been frozen, but
were still palatable, salmon roes, sofl bread in
addition TO the block shingles ofjNdd5rod, Eng
lish porter and excellent Umeaa beer. In fact,
in no country inn Of the United States could we
have been more comfortable. For the best
which the place afforded, during four days, with
a small provision for the journey, we paid about
seven dollars.
The day before our departure, endeavored
to obtain some information concerning the road
to LaPland, but was disappointed. The land
lord ascertained that there were skjits, or re-
lays Of post-horses, as far as Muonioniska, 2IO
English miles, bot beyond this could only
learn thar DE pedpla anrs al Finnish. epb,a
no Swedish, were miserably poor and could
give us nothing to eat. was told that GER
tain official parsonage at the apOihecary's shop
spoke German, hPd hhstened ihither but the
official, dark-eyed, Olive-faced Finn, could
not understand my first question. The people
even seemed entirely ignorant Of the geography
of the country beyond Upper TOrneaa, or Mat
arengi, 40 miles off The doctors wife, bux-
ON, motherly lady, who seemed TO feel quite
an infarest in mr. undartsk;nr onJ ,,.,. -. LII
and obliging es such women always are, pro-
cured for US supply of tladbrod made of rye,
and delightfully."- crisp and hard-and this was
the substance Of our preparations. Reindeer
mittens were not 10 be found, nor a reindeer
skin to cover our feet, so we relied, as before,
on plenty of hay and my Scotch plaid. We
might, perhaps have had better success in Tor
neaa, but knew no one there who would be
likely to assist us. and we did not even visit
the old place. We had taken the precaution
of getting the Russian wise, together with
small stock Of roubles, at Stockholm, but now
find that it was quite unnecessary. No pass
port is required for entering TOrneaa, or trav-
cling on the Russian side of the frontier.
Trusting TO luck, which is about the best plan
after all, we started from Haparanda yesterday
at noon. The day was magnificent, the sky
cloudless and resplendent as polished steel. and
the murcury 80 below zero. The sun scarce
ly more than the breadth Of his disc above the
horizon, shed faint orange light over the
broad, level snow-plains, and the bluish-white
hemisphere of the Bothnian Gulf, visible be-
yond Torneaa. The air was perfectly still,
and exqustely cold and bracing, despite the
sharp grip it took upon my nose and ears
These Arctic days, short as they are, have
majesty oftheir own-a spIendor, snbdued though
1t be; breadth and permanehce Of hue, i'm
parted alike TO the sky and to the snowy earth,
as II tinted glass was held before your eyes
find myself at a loss how 10 describe these CT
fecis, OF De IND III fhag bssaara i,tss ia.
travellers mood. Certainly, it is the very re-
verse Of that depression which accompanies the
Polar night, and which even the absence orany
real daylight might be considered sufficient to
produce.
Our road was we'll beaten, but narrow, and
we had great difficulty in passing the many hay
and wood teams which met us, on account Of
the depth Of the loose snow on either side. We
had several violent overturns at such times, one
of which occasiOned us the loss of our beloved
pride-a loss which rendered Braisted disconso-
late f'r the rest of the day. We had but one
between us, and the bereavement was not slight.
Soon after leaving Haparanda, we passed
small white obelsk, with the words "Russian
Frontie" upon it. The town of Torneaa,
across the frozen river. looked really imposing,
with the sharp roof and tall spire Of its old
church rising obOve the line of low red build
ings. Campbell, remember, says.
"Cod as the rocks on Torneo's hoary brow,n
with the same disregard of geography which
makes him grow palm trees along the Susque-
hanna River, There was Tornea bat look
ed in vain for the "hoary brow" Not hill
within sight, nor rock within circuit of ten
miles, but one unvarying level, like Inc vest
ern shore of the Adratic, formed by the depos-
its of the rivers and the retrocession of the sea.
Our road led up the left bank of the river,
both sides Of which were studded with neat lit
lie villages. The country was well cleared
and cultivated, and appeared so populous and
furnishing that could scarcely realize in wha;
part of the world we we're. The sun set at
quarter past 4, but for Two hours the whole
southern heaven was superb in its hues of rose
and orange. The sheepskin lent us by our
landlady kept our feet warm, and we only felt
the cold in our faces my nose, especially,
which, having lost coat Of skin, vas very
fresh and tender, requiring unusual care. At
3 O'Clock, when we reached KuckuIa, the first
station, the northern sky was one broad flush Of
the Purest violet, melting inso lilac a the re-
NTH, where il met the fiery skirts Of sunset
We refreshed ourselves with hot milk, and
pushed ahead, with better horses. Ala o'clock
it was bright moonlight, with the stllest air.
We got on bravely over the level, beaten road,
and in two hours reached KOrpikyla, large
new inn, where we found very tolerable accom-
mOdations. Our beds were heaps Of reindeer
skins; frighlfully ugly Finnish girl, who
knew a few words of Swedish, prepared us a
supper of tough meat, potatoes and ale. Ev-
erything was now pure Finnish, and the first
question of the girl, ''HUarifrdhn kOmnhr dti :"
Where dost thou come from y showed an ig-
noEance Of the eommonesl Swedish form Of ad-
dress. She awoke US with cup of coffee in
the morning, and negotiated for us the purchase
Of reindeer skin, which we procured for some
thing less than adolIag. The has5onde (house-