which is about the size of a good hazel-nut; it is of a scarlet colour at first, but as it ripens, becomes yellow when eaten with sugar or cream, it is cooling and delicious, being full of saccharine matter and strongly subject to fermentation; it is singular that no intoxicating beverage has been made from it, either by distillation or otherwise, and particularly amongst a people whose propensity for strong drink is so ungovernable. Of this fruit, great quantities are sent annually from the gulph of Bothnia to Stockholm; it is used in sausages and in making vinegar, and Clarke praises its medicinal virtues in cases of debility.* The Laplanders are so passionately attached to spirituous liquors, that they will kiss the ground in obeisance to any one from whom they hope to obtain this liquor, and exclaim, "Auna, Auna, minule vina," give me, give me, a little wine! "Addi mungi vedni!" give me some brandy wine! A few years ago, for six drams of common Swedish brandy, a Laplander would press the acceptance of one of his best rein-deer, and deem it an affront if this remuneration were declined.

Linnæus, in his tour through Lapland, states, that he taught the natives to make a beverage from the tops of the fir, which it is likely was the same as our spruce beer, and shewed them how to render the sap of the birch valuable as an agreeable drink. The Laplanders use the bark of the birch dipped in train oil as a celery.

A few of the wealthy Laplanders brew beer from grain. At marriages, brandy is freely circulated, and when the bridegroom demands the rein-deer, the promised portion of his wife, if he neglect to bring brandy with him, he is generally disappointed of the expected dowry. It is a prevailing custom in Lapland to make love through the medium of brandy, and a marriage is never concluded without drinking several bottles of spirits; the warmth of a lover's attachment is estimated by the quantity of spirits he distributes ; a particular name is given to the spirituous liquor thus brought by the lover to the habitation of his mistress, and that is soubbouvin, or the lover's wine. At the funerals of the Laplanders, spirits are sprinkled over the place of interment; all the mourners drink of it, the reindeer employed in carrying the deceased to the grave are, three days after, slaughtered to make a feast for the mourners, at which repast the paligavin, or fortune liquor, is drunk in honor of the deceased, whom they think is happy.† Such is the Laplanders' attachment to brandy, that lying-in women are accustomed to drink it, seasoned

* Clarke's Travels, vol. ix. p. 371-2.

Regnard's Journey to Lapland.

with pepper, partly for the sake of its intoxicating quality, by way of narcotic, and partly to hasten and ease the pains of labour. The mothers even pour it down the throats of infants, and at all their christenings and funerals, intoxication prevails, the ceremonies of rejoicing and mourning being made mere pretexts for dram-drinking. At feasts, says Malte-Brun, they seldom depart before the whole repast is consumed The puolem-vine, or brandy brought from Flensburg, circulated freely, and mirth is evinced in noisy loquacity. All the guests thunder the wild discord of their jolias, or national songs, and the amusement is sometimes varied by cards made from the bark of trees, and coloured with the blood of the rein-deer. The Laplanders, when inflamed with liquor, never commit any acts of cruelty, shewing only an elevation of spirits which prompts them to shout, jump, and laugh, craving drams with hysteric screams, till they drop on the ground in total disregard of all that belongs to them, offering every thing they possess for brandy. When sober, they are as gentle as lambs, and of the most placable disposition. Like the gipsies, they practise several modes of divination, one is by inspecting a cup of liquor; and which, to ensure the greatest possible certainty, must be a cup of brandy, which at once explains and ensures the whole business of the prophecy, evincing that the love of strong drink, even on such occasions, predominates over the love of money.

Notwithstanding the love which the Laplanders display for intoxicating liquors, and the consequent mental imbecility which the use of these liquors produces, yet several of this nation have manifested talents of no ordinary description. Schober and Weber give an account of a Laplander who was gifted with uncommon memory and facility in the acquisition of languages; but his inordinate desire for spirits unfortunately proved his ruin. This person was early taken from his native land, and educated in Sweden under the auspices of Charles XI. He was afterwards sent to Lapland to preach the gospel to his countrymen, having previously qualified himself in theology. After labouring about half a year in this pious undertaking, he got weary of the employment, and, mounted on a rein-deer, he entered Stockholm in the dress of a Lapland peasant; there he remained for a short time, collected some money, which he spent in brandy, and then repaired to Copenhagen. In that city, he represented himself to be a Lapland prince, was admitted to the presence of the king, and afforded much amusement to the courtiers by his singular exploits in drinking. Under the same title, he visited the principal courts of Germany, following the customary course of inebriety. He visited France, learned the language of that country in a

month, and after receiving presents from Louis XIV., proceeded through Germany and Poland, to St. Petersburgh, where he had been only six weeks, when he was able to express himself with clearness and fluency in the Russian language, even so as to preach before the emperor, with whom he became so great a favourite, that he settled on him an annuity of 250 rubles. He then repaired to Astracan, and in a short time became master of the Tartarian language. In one of his drunken moments, while lying in a street, he was seized by some Calmucks, carried into the country, and presented to the Khan. His head was shaved, his person dressed in the costume of the people, and himself provided with two wives. In the course of a month he could converse familiarly with the inhabitants; but although he was treated with the greatest kindness and familiarity, he took the earliest opportunity of escaping to Astracan, where he studied the Persian, the Mongul, and the modern Greek languages. But before he could further shift the scene of his eventful life, his dissipation put a period to his existence..

The taste and habits of the Finns are little better than those of their Lapland neighbours, for without tobacco, beer, and brandy they consider life to be joyless. Old and young possess the same propensity, and although little acquainted with bodily debility, their excessive use of inflammatory liquors undermines their physical vigour, and often renders them disgusting objects of intemperance and folly,

The desire to obtain tobacco and brandy often induces the Finns to undertake incredible journeys; both men and women would sooner eat their provisions raw, and even starve, rather than be deprived of those luxuries. It is related of one, that having travelled from a great distance to Abo to purchase an iron pot, he observed some brandy and tobacco in a shop for sale; and such was his infatuation, that he spent all he had in their purchase, and returned home without the utensil for which he had undergone such fatigue..

When the people repair to the great fair at Abo, they immediately have recourse to their favourite liquor, and in this weakness they are indulged by the artful traders who traffic with them. While under the influence of intoxication, they disclose all their plans to each other; and in these unguarded moments, the trader or his agent contrives to hear their communications, in order to take advantage of their simplicity.*

It is calculated that, on an average, a Finlander annually consumes fr m 27 to 30 rix-dollars in brandy, which is equal to the

* Clarke's Travels, vol xi. pp. 334-5.

purchase of a cask. Neither Finn nor Norwegian drinks brandy to keep him warm, to promote digestion, or to lighten labour, all is consumed before the door of the merchant with whom he trafficks, and the infatuated being would be surprised at himself were he to return home without becoming raving mad with brandy. Edicts have been issued to prevent the merchants supplying them with this liquor to excess, but to no effect. The poor creatures, when reproved for such irregularity, exert all the little intellect and ingenuity they possess to defend the practice. With the greatest self-complacency, they urge as an unanswerable argument, that "brandy is as equally strong, and as equally nourishing as bread, because like bread it is prepared from grain, and bread being the staff of life, brandy which is prepared from it, must be equally nourishing as it is exhilarating :" thus this unfortunate propensity enervates every spring of activity, every incentive to improvement, and every moral sentiment.* By the influence of this beverage, the imaginations are carried to the height of frenzy and enthusiasm. In their moments of merriment, they boast of an intercourse with fairies at banquets and dances; they talk with triumph of the feasts which they have shared in the elfin-caverns, where wine, brandy, and tobacco, the productions of the fairy regions, have flowed in abundance. With these and similar notions, many of the gloomy days of life are enlivened; while poverty is forgotten amidst the reveries of intemperance and folly.

When Mr. Bullock, an Englishman, visited Finland in 1822, for the purpose of procuring a herd of rein-deer, he could effect nothing without brandy. One of the natives, finding he could not get a glass, told this traveller and his companion that "he wondered what sort of people they were not to have so much as a drop of brandy." Barrow, who lately visited Finland, confirms the observations of Mr. Bullock; he affirms that drunkenness is a habitual vice among the Finlanders; they drink votki raw, and in large quantities, so that they soon become intoxicated.

It may be generally remarked of all these northern hordes, that the precept of their ancient god who recommended full cups, has been devoutly followed; ale and mead were the favourite beverages of Odin, but these have long given place to the more bewitching delusions of the alembic. To these may be added as a favourite amongst the Finlanders, the pleasing liquor extracted from the birch-tree, a drink, which, in some places, is manufactured much in the same manner as in Norway; it loses its strength, flavour, and agreeable qualities in about ten days, if not made with the greatest care.

* Vide Von Buch's Travels through Norway and Lapland, p. 296.

Finland being thinly inhabited and badly cultivated, there are few manufactories; and though barley, rye, and buck-wheat, are cultivated, yet the poorer sort of people, for want of better sustenance in times of scarcity, dry even straw which they bruise and mix with some meal, and make bread from this compound. At Abo, the capital, however, may be found every species of European wines, and that sort of claret called La-Fitte, which here, as well as in Sweden, is denominated Long Cork, and is a great favourite with the people. Votki is also plentiful; in flavour it resembles whiskey, is exceedingly fiery, but when mixed with water and sugar, is by no means an unpleasant beverage, although by some it has been execrated as a most unpalatable and villainous spirit.

In most of these northern regions, the rein-deer moss (lichen rangiferinus) is also used as fodder for cattle, and has the effect of adding a superior richness to the milk and butter: being crisp and agreeable, it is sometimes eaten by the inhabitants. The flowers of the hægberg (cornus mascula) flavour their distilled spirits: the moss, besides being a substitute for mortar, is employed in calking the interstices between the under-walls, and in closing fissures in their humble habitations.

In Russia, distillation is one of the most extensive and beneficial branches of trade carried on in that empire, brandy being the idol of the people. According to Storch, this art was first introduced into the country in the sixteenth century, the knowledge of which was obtained from the Crimea when that peninsula was in the possession of the Genoese. Shortly after its introduction, spirits became the rival of mead, the chief and original drink of the country.

The manufacture and consumption of brandy are calculated at 5,500,000 vedros.* For the production of this quantity, about 1,650,000 chetverts,† or 11,000,000 poods of corn are necessary. The sale of it has been hitherto a monopoly of the crown, and the right to distil it confined, with the exception of a few privileged provinces, to the nobility who possess landed estates. In all those parts of the empire where grain abounds, distillation is carried to the greatest extent. The fertility of Little and White Russia, Livonia, Karkof, Varonitch, Orel, Kursk, Kalouga, Tula, Iver, Nijegorod, Kazan, Simbirsk, Penza, Tambov, Saratov, &c. affords ample means to distillers.

The following enumeration of a few of these distilleries made some

A vedro is a measure that contains 27 Imperial gallons. † A chetvert is reckoned equal to 52 Winchester bushels.