The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

GLACIALFINLAND :ACTION. 209elevation than the highest crests of the hills whence they came. After theretreat of the glaciers the land must have gradually suhsided, thus givingaccess to the sea, which slowly penetrated eastwards to form the present Gulfof Finland. But it is doubtful whether it ever suhsided sufficiently to open achannel between the White Sea and the Baltic. Some lakes, such as Ladoga,contain marine Crustacea, showing that they were formerly inlets of the Balticbut no banks of marine shell-fish occur till we reach the lower valley of the Dvina.The subsidence was followed by an upheaval, which still continues, andevidences of which are everywhere visible on the coast and in the interior : hereFig. 101. Parallelism of the Finnish Lakes and Peat LVds.Scale 1 :M0.000.old coast-lines and seaports, now lost amongst the fields ;there islands connectedwith the mainland, or shoals which have in their turn become islands surroundedby other shoals. The upward motion seems, however, to be much slower thanin Scandinavia. A mark engraved on the Hango headland was raised 9 inchesonly in eighty-six years, although the island of Suur Tytters, south of Hogland,has certainly been upheaved 12 inches in fifty years.Glacial Action.NmvHERE else in Europe are the erratic boulders more numerous or largerthan in Finland. Some are large enough to shelter the houses built .at theirfoot, and at the outlets of certain valleys they form " seas of stone." Even