the
Finnish language was now prevalent, Swedish being only spoken by
comparatively few people.

That day was the end of the fine weather. Towards evening the wind was
blowing very hard, and it increased in strength every minute until it
blew a perfect hurricane. Then what my friends had said to me came to
mind. It was indeed a fearful windstorm!

The gale had become such that the horse at times did not seem to have
strength enough to pull our sleigh. The snow flew in thick cloudy masses
to a great height, curling and recurling upon itself and blinding us.
Fortunately our robes were fastened very securely. I wore my hood, and
it was so arranged that my eyes were the only part of my face that was
not covered. The wind was so powerful that our sleigh was in continual
danger of upsetting, and was only saved because it was so low.

I was glad indeed when I reached the hamlet of Matarengi with its
red-painted log church, two hundred years old, and separate belfry of
the same color.

The windstorm lasted three days. During that time I found that the
temperature varied from 8 to 22 degrees below zero.

Then it became calm, the sky was perfectly clear, and the mercury marked
40 degrees below zero. There was not a breath of wind. It was fine, and
I made ready to continue my journey.

Wherever I changed horse and sleigh, before starting I shook hands with
the station master and his family, and after this bade good-bye to the
driver who had brought me to the place. One must not forget that little
politeness in these northern lands, otherwise the people would think you
ill-bred or proud and would dislike you. No man has ever made friends by
being proud or conceited. It is, after all, very silly, and often very
ill-bred. I have found that one gets along much better in the world by
being polite and obliging. It is so much easier to be pleasant than
sour and gruff. In the former case you are happy; in the latter
discontented and wretched. I always feel sorry when I meet people who
are proud or conceited. Often I laugh at them in my sleeve, and when
that pride or conceit becomes overbearing I have great contempt for
them, and do not wish to have anything to do with them.

I approached very fast the regions of "The Land of the Long Night." The
road was filled with freshly made, huge snowdrifts, which greatly
impeded our progress. Towards noon the wind increased again, and soon I
was in a worse gale than before. I said to myself,