Der Grosse Entwurf [antikvár]

FROM THE GULF OF FINLAND TO LAPLAND Finland is a large peninsula, clasped in the coo! arms of the Gulf of Bothnia and the GulfofFin-land, but the open sea's onslaught is moderated by an extensive archipelago whose barren outer islets bear up against the breakers of the open firths. Water is plentiful everywhere in »the land of a thousand lakes». When flying from the southern coast to Lapland one sees scarcely anything but an unbroken belt of blue lakes and evergreens. STUBBORN PINES have taken root in the scanty soil of the archipelago rocks. They are stunted and buffeted by the strong winds. They bend but are not broken — just as the Finnish people have never given up in the century-old struggle for life in the meagre northern soil which their forefathers chanced upon in their wanderings and gave the name »the promised land».