In the first
place, Finland (in Finnish, "Suomi") is about the size of Great
Britain, Holland, and Belgium combined, with a population of about
2,500,000. Its southern and western shores are washed by the Baltic
Sea, while Lake Ladoga and the Russian frontier form the eastern
boundary. Finland stretches northward far beyond the head of the
Gulf of Bothnia, where it joins Norwegian territory. There are
thirty-seven towns, of which only seven have a population exceeding
10,000, viz., Helsingfors, Abo, Tammerfors, Viborg, Uleaborg, Vasa
(Nikolaistad), and Bjorneborg.
Finland is essentially a flat country, slightly mountainous towards
the north, but even her highest peak (Haldesjock, in Finnish Lapland)
is under 4,000 feet in height. South of this a hill of 300 feet
is called a mountain; therefore Alpine climbers have no business
here. The interior may be described as an undulating plateau largely
composed of swamp and forest, broken with granite rocks and gravel
ridges and honeycombed with the inland waters known as "The Thousand
Lakes" (although ten thousand would be nearer the mark), one of
which is three times the size of the Lake of Geneva.
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