The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

FINLAND: INHABITANTS. 217with the Russians.According to Van Ilaartmann, the Tavastians, who call themselvesHaniiiliiiset, are the typical Finns, with strong thick-set frames, broad head,features, and nose, square shoulders, large mouth, and small eyes, usually straight,hut at times slightly ohlique. The iris is always hlue, varying from the lightestto the deepest azure.To these Finns the Russians formerly applied the expression" Blue-eyed Chudes." The hair is fair, and even of a yellowish white, whence theRussian saying, " Fair as a Finn." Thus, while the brachycephalous peoples ofCentral and "West Europe are generally brown, those of Finland are pre-eminently afair race. But the skin is not white, and they lack the transparent rosy tint of thefair Teutons, whether Scandinavians, Germans, or Anglo-Saxons.The heard alsois but slightly developed, and Tavastians are rarely met with features answeringto the idea of the beautiful as understood by the peoples of West Europe.Morally the}- are slow and dull, often moody, suspicious, spiteful, chary of speech,grateful for kindness, enduring, long-suffering in sickness and distress.Fatalists ina high degree, they represent the conservative element in the Finnish nation. Inthe eleventh and twelfth centuries the centre of their power seems to have beenmuch farther east, between Lake Ladoga and the Northern Dvina ; but assailedby the Karelians on the north, and the Russians on the south, they were obliged tomigrate westwards, although some 20,000 Tavastians are still said to dwell in theeastern districts towards Petrozavodsk and Belozersk.Proceeding from west to east, a gradual transition may be noticed between theTavastians and Karelians, or Xarialaiset. The Savoliiiset, or people of Savolaks,in the Ny-Slott district, may be taken as the natural link between the two races.The Karelians, who occupy East Finland proper, besides vast tracts in Russia,stretching as far as the neighbourhood of the White Sea, are brachycephalous, likethe Tavastians, but otherwise resemble them neither in their features, stature, norcharacter. Most of them are above the middle size, some being almost of giganticproportions, with slim, lithe, and elegant figures, regular features, straight andlong nose, broad forehead, well- chiselled mouth. The eye is seldom oblique, likethe Mongolian, or light blue, like the Tavastian, but of a deep grey blue, and thehair, mostly abundant and of a chestnut colour, falls in thick ringlets round thehead. They are generally cheerful, lively, attractive, full of spontaneous vigour,but less persevering than impulsive. Their kindly disposition is no less pleasingthan their inborn grace, and even beauty.History frequently represents them engaged in warlike excursions. In 1187and 1188 they invade Sweden itself, penetrate through Lake Malar, burn the cityof Sigtuna, and kill the Bishop of Upsala.Three years afterwards they burn Abo,and destroy all the Swedish colonies in Finland. Later on, although evangelizedby the people of Novgorod in the beginning of the thirteenth century, theyfrequently attack them, but likewise join with them to fight the Swedes. By theirhelp also they drive the Tavastians from the shores of Lake Ladoga. About 1850Castren estimated them at over 1,000,000, of whom 830,000 were in Finland proper.Here they have increased to upwards of 1,000,000.On their appearance in their present homes the Finns seem to have been scarcely