Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/137

Rh hundred versts, that is, three hundred and forty [German] miles in this journey.

The said accounts are confirmed by that Demetrius, who recently went to Rome as ambassador to the Pope, and from whose relation Paulus Jovius drew up his description of Russia, and who took this same route in his embassy to Norway and Denmark. But all of these, upon my questioning them respecting the Frozen or Icy Ocean, gave me no other reply, than that on the sea-coasts they had seen several very large rivers flowing into the sea with such force and abundance as to drive back the very waters of the sea for a considerable space from the shore, and that the rivers themselves were frozen together with the sea to a certain distance from the shore. This takes place in Livonia and other parts of Sweden; for although in the sea the ice may be broken by the force of opposing winds, yet in the rivers the ice is seldom raised or broken, unless an inundation occur, for the blocks of ice which are carried down by the rivers into the sea float about upon it for nearly a whole year, and afterwards, through the intensity of the frost, become united together, so that sometimes the ice of many seasons may be seen combined in one mass. This may be easily understood from the blocks of ice which are driven on shore by the winds. Indeed, I have heard from persons of good authority, that the Baltic Sea is often frozen over in many places.

The persons above-mentioned stated that in that country, which is inhabited by the wild Laplanders, the sun does not set during the summer solstice for forty days, but that during three hours of the night the body of the sun seemed to be obscured by a kind of dimness, so that its rays were not visible; but nevertheless it afforded so much light that no one was prevented by darkness from doing his work. The Russians boast that they receive tribute from these wild Laplanders, which, although a thing not to be expected, need not create surprise, as they have no other neighbours