uch a
manner as to form a general glossary.

W.F. KIRBY.

CHISWICK, _September 1894_.

INTRODUCTION

ESTHONIA

Esthonia, or Estonia, as some prefer to write it, is the most northerly
of the three so-called German or Baltic provinces of Russia--Esthonia,
Livonia, and Courland. It is bounded on the north by the Gulf of
Finland, which lies between that country and Esthonia; on the east by
the Government of St. Petersburg; on the south by Livonia, and on the
west by the Baltic. Opposite its western coast lie numerous large
islands, the most important of which are Dagoe and Oesel; these islands
nearly close the north-west corner of the Gulf of Riga.

The northern part of Livonia (including the island of Oesel, already
mentioned) is partly inhabited by Esthonians, and is dealt with in
popular literature as forming part of the country. The four provinces of
Esthonia proper, which are constantly referred to, are as follows, the
German names being added in brackets. Two western, Arju or Harju
(Harrien) on the north, and Laeaene (Wiek) on the south; one central,
Jaerva (Jerwen), and one eastern, Viru (Wierland). East of Livonia lies
the great Lake Peipse or Peipus, eighty miles long and thirty-two miles
broad at the broadest part, across which the son of Kalev is said to
have waded to fetch timber from Pihgast or Pleskau, which name is used
to include the Russian province of Pskov, bordering the lake on the
south and south-east. At two-thirds of its length the lake is divided
nearly in two, and the southern portion is sometimes called Lake Pskov.
It may have been across the narrow part between the two ends of the lake
that the hero is supposed to have waded, when, even during a great
storm, the water reached only to his girdle.

The coast of Esthonia is rocky, but the interior of the country is very
marshy, though there are no navigable rivers or lakes of much importance
except Lake Peipus, which we have already mentioned. Small lakes,
however, are very numerous, the largest being Lake Virts.

Esthonia was one of the countries conquered during the Middle Ages by
the crusading German Knights of the Sword, and has been described as a
country with a Finnish population and a German aristocracy under Russian
rule. Occasionally we meet with reminiscences of oppression by the
German nobility in the songs and tales; as, for instance, in the story
of the Royal Herd-boy; while everything beautiful or above the ordinary
l