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292 OUTHIER’S JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH.
kindled ; and frequently they brought what little they had to eat before we afked for it.
As M. Helant, the only Finnifh interpreter we had, could not be every where, that we
might not want fcr neceflaries in his abfence, we learnt to falute in this language, and to
afk for milk, butter, bread, water, or to drink.
‘Lhurfday morning, the twenty-third, not content with giving us an excellent break-
fat, M. Brunius put feveral bottles of beer into our boats: we had five ready, and at
ten o’clock we embarked to go to the fouthern extremity of the bafe. M. Brunius
went with us; he was going to lay in his ftock of falmon: he told us, for many years
there had not been fo great a fcarcity of water in the river, nor fo much dry weather ;
in confequence on every fide there were fires in the forefts. Peter returned then from
Horrilakero, where he had employed twenty-two men in extinguifhing the fire, and re-
eftablifhing the fignal: he left feven to watch left it fhould break out afrefh.
At three in the afternoon we reached the fouthern fignal of the bafe, at a moment when
the clouds of fmoke were tolerably difperfed ; but fcarcely had we begun our obfervations,
before the wind changing brought them back again. We were impatient to finifh them,
and to profit of the remaining time before the frofts fet in, to go to Kittis, in the neigh-
bourhood of Pello, in order to make the neceflary obfervations with the fextant, which
had juft arrived from England at Torneo. In the evening we went down to Niemifby,
which is a fmall village: we pitched our four tents there in the meadow, where we
pafled the night. After liftening to all the means propofed for preventing the lofs of
time, M. de Maupertuis thought it would be beft for fome one to go to Pello to pre-
pare every thing neceflary, in order that, on arriving there with the fextant and other
inftruments, we might be enabled to begin immediately the neceflary obfervations. M.
Camus took thefe preparations upon himfelf, and for that purpofe left us on Friday, the
twenty-fourth, accompanied by M. Herbelot.
We returned to our fouthern fignal, where we happily terminated our obfervations :
we then came back to Niemifby, to embark in our four boats to go to Cuitaperi, to take
the angle between the fouthern fignal of the bafeand mount Avafaxa. Friday night and
Saturday, the twenty-fifth, we made many fruitlefs attempts: we were unable to make
cur obfervations, the clouds of {moke which covered the country keeping us on this
mountain, where our refidence was extremely difagreeable ; in {pite of cold, we had
numbers of gnats. A little rain which fell in the night was not fufficient to extinguifh
the fires; it had however beaten down and difperfed the fmoke, and we had clear wea-
ther fufficiently long to make our obfervation, which was only of one angle, on Sunday
morning the twenty-fixth.
At two o’clock in the afternoon we came down the mountain ; we found five boats
at the banks of the river, M. Camus having fent his back as foon as he had reached
Ofwer Torneo, where he took another. I embarked in the fame as M. de Maupertuis,
and we kept in it going down the cataract of Matka. A little below this cataract, as
we were threatened with a heavy rain, and it was late, we made for land at a good houfe
of Korpikyla, on the weftern fide of the lake made by the river: the rain difperfed, we
pitched our tents, and pafled the night there. M. Viguelius, chaplain and director of
the fchools of Torneo, was with us; he had that day preached at this houfe, which was
called Tepane Piping : the inhabitants of the neighbourhood having been informed of
it had aflembled there. M. Viguelius told me that this was often the cafe at places
diftant froma church; and further, that when there was any one ill, he ufed to make
the confecration to them to adminifter the communion. In the evening we faw be-
tween the clouds an aurora borealis.
Monday
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