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whole time, in order that the boat may overcome the force of the stream,
while one person is stationed at the helm to regulate its direction as
circumstances may require. The rapidity of the descent is such, that you
accomplish an English mile in the space of three or four minutes. The
man that manages the rudder can with difficulty see the rocks he must
keep clear of: he turns the head of the boat directly in the line of the
rock he means to pass, and when he is in the very instant of touching
it, he suddenly makes a sharp angle and leaves it behind him. The
trembling passenger thinks that he shall see the boat dashed in a
thousand pieces, and the moment after he is astonished at his own existence.
Add to all this, that the waves rush into the boat from all sides and
drench you to the skin; while, at other times, a billow will dash over
the boat from side to side, and scarcely touch you’. — Acerbi.
The first part of the journey, to (280 Kil.) Matarengi, is usually
performed by boat; the latter part, from Matarengi to (85 Kil.)
Haparanda, by road. The boat from Muoniovara to Matarengi, or to
Ruskola a little beyond it, is manned by three boatmen and has
room for two passengers only. Besides the formidable cataract just
mentioned, we descend a succession of other rapids, but the
dangers of the passage have perhaps been somewhat exaggerated. The
cost of the boat as far as Ruskola is about 80 kr., and the trip takes
21 2-3 days. Good quarters are procurable at Kihlangi, Kengis Bruk
(iron-works), Pello, and Ruskola. Between the Kexisvara station
and that of Kengis Bruk, 3(o Engl. M. below it, the large
Muonio-Elf falls into the Tornea-Elf, which descends from the
Törneu-Träsk (40 Engl. M. long; 1130 ft. above the sea), to the E. of the
Ofotenfjord. The interesting costumes of the natives at Pello
(265 ft.) should be observed. The Kittis, a neighbouring mountain,
formed one extremity of a degree of longitude measured by
Mau-pertuis in 1736.
About 3 Kil. from Ruskola lies Ofver-Tornea. Near it, on the
Finland side, a little to the S. of the Arctic Circle, rises the
Avasaxa (670 ft.), a hill which commands a view of the midnight
sun for one week. Comp. p. 377.
From Öfver Torneå, where we leave the boat, to Haparanda,
see p. 377.
32. From Christiania by Railway to Charlottenberg
f and Stockh ohn).
143 Kil. (89 Engl. 31.). Railway in 472-51/:; hrs. (fares 10 kr. 55, 7 kr.
05, 4 kr. 80 0.). — The train arriving at Kongsvinger in the evening spends
the night there and goes on to Stockholm next morning. The hotels are
often overcrowded, in which case travellers sleep in the railway-carriages.
Comp. p. 311.
From Christiania to (21 Kil.) Lillestrømmen, see p. 118. The
Eidsvold line diverges here to the N., while the Stockholm
railway runs towards the S.E., traversing a less interesting tract of
country. Lillestrømmen lies on a narrow arm of Lake 0’teren
(330 ft.), formed by the influx of the Lerelv and other streams.
The lake, the broader part of which begins 5 Engl. M. to the
S.E., at the influx of the Glommen, is 20 Engl. M. in length.
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