To the Fall of Imātrā

— At ten o’clock the train reached Wiborg, and as there was still plenty of daylight left I rambled through the pretty straggling town until I reached the quay. Immediately opposite, on a solitary rock, rose the red walls of the picturesque old castle. I retraced my steps, and looked out in earnest for an English or French hotel, but alas ! unsuccessfully. Just as I began to despair of finding one I espied a welcome signboard whereon was written “ Hotel de Helsingfors.” Here, then, methought, is a French hotel.

Upon entering, the place appeared to be deserted, but after repeated knocking I roused a woman servant. I expended my choicest Parisian upon her in vain ; there was no answering gleam of intelligence in her stony stare. Suddenly she vanished, and after farther waiting a man came forward. I addressed him in French, but he too only stared. This was not encouraging, and I tried my native tongue, but with a sinking heart.

“ Can you speak English ? ”

“ Yees.”

“ Well, I want to go to Imātrā, and believe there is a steamer which leaves here at six in the morning ? ”

“Yees.”

“ Then I should like to be called at five.”

“ Yees,” and he was gone.

Still I waited in the passage, and as no further notice was taken of me I had no alternative but to knock again. After a sufficiently dignified interval the woman returned. I opened my mouth, and pointing to it made a show of eating, whereupon she nodded her sagacious head. Then I leaned back and snored, to signify that I wanted to sleep ; next, looked about me as if seeking a room. Without moving a muscle of her face she bowed in response to this ridiculous pantomime, and conducted me to a room wherein was a bed ; suddenly, like a Jack-in-the-box, she disappeared. However, she was back again directly, and began to set the table with the same deliberation which characterized all her actions, and when she had done nodded and left me. I was hungry, and did justice to the supper, which consisted of little dishes of various kinds of food, among which raw fish played an important part.

The room had several long windows in it, and as they gave upon the public street, our English custom suggested that I should close the shutters or draw the curtains ; but there were none, nor was there any means of fastening the door. So, taking things as I found them, I undressed, got into bed, and, tired with my journey, slept at once and soundly until the woman, without knocking, came into the room in the morning, and proceeded to clear away supper and bring in the breakfast with the utmost stolidness, while I washed and dressed.

The meal included new-laid eggs, rye bread, and coffee, and when I was done, as no one was anywhere to be seen, I went to the familiar passage and knocked vigorously. As before the woman answered the summons. Putting my hand in my pocket, I showed her money to signify my willingness to settle the score. She nodded and retired. The man then came upon the scene, and I held out to him a handful of money. He selected sundry small coins, and sent the woman to show me the boat. She led the way to the quay, paused before a small steamer, bowed, and left me. For half an hour I fastened my eyes on the vessel, and finally there came a seafaring man, who began to bail her out, for she was evidently leaky. I spoke to him and asked if the steamer were for Imātrā, but he took not the slightest notice, and, drawing an old clay pipe from his pocket, turned his back upon me and began to smoke. Time passed, I waited, the seafaring man continued to smoke, and still he and I were the only people abroad. What was to be done ? Ah, a gleam of hope ! Yonder, unless my eyes deceived me, was a walking polyglot dictionary, — a Russian officer. I joyfully approached him. He politely raised his cap, and I mine.

“ Parlez-vous français ? ” I asked.

He shook his head. Then he spoke in Russian.

I shook my head.

He tried German, Italian, Finnish. No result.

“ Oh ! ” I groaned, “ what shall I do ? ”

“Ah,” said he, “I speak leetle leetle Eengleesh. ”

“ I want to go to Imātrā,” I observed, " and don’t know how to get there.”

“ Ah,” he explained, “ to Imātrā you vood and know not ? ”

“ Just so.”

“ Ah, zen you mus’ to ze console Eengleesh.”

“ Where does he live, and how can he help me ? ”

“ Ah, zen, vat he vor eef nod to — vat you zay — haelp ees compatriot ? You mus’ to eem vid me.”

Suiting the action to the word, the goodnatured fellow trotted off, and I gladly followed.

Arrived at the consul’s — a large wooden house surrounded by a flower garden — my acquaintance rang the doorbell. After many ineffectual peals, a maid with a shock of red hair showed herself at an upper window. To her the officer spoke in Finnish. She gave a short answer, and abruptly closed the window. Turning to me the officer explained : " Ze console ees een ees bed ; he vil up een — I know not to zay ”— here he showed me his watch and signified half an hour. “ Zen you vil here be you shall zee heem.” Then he took off his cap and bowed, making the significant French shrug of apology. “ Mes affaires,” — he smote his breast,— “ not zee you more longer : pardon, adieu.” And the kind fellow went off, after elaborately explaining once more half an hour by his watch.

At the appointed time I had an interview with Her Majesty’s consul, and the result of it was that I went to a good hotel and posting station where the proprietor spoke English ; and changing my Russian money into Finnish, I hired a telega, or native cart, in which I departed on the first stage of my journey. Now this conveyance was a most execrable piece of human ingenuity without springs. Perhaps it was constructed to match the streets, which were villainously paved with irregular boulders. Jolting, shaking, bumping, — these words convey no adequate idea of the motion, but I felt as if all my bones must be speedily dislocated. However, once out of the town, the muddy country ruts were a great relief, and we jogged along over a hilly country until the end of the first stage was reached, when we drew up at a station consisting of a small cluster of wooden houses. All the inhabitants turned out to see me, and to superintend the harnessing of an immense cart-horse to another springless vehicle. A very small boy perched beside me to control the action of the great beast, and as his muscles were not matured, and the animal was fresh, we got over the ground at an astonishing rate. For the next stage I was given a tiny pony and a very large and sleepy man. As a consequence the pace grew slower and slower, and animal and driver at last sank into blissful slumber. Then, losing all patience, I woke the man, and so astonished and frightened him that he, in turn, astonished the small horse, who exerted himself to such an extent that we soon made up for lost time.

Thus I journeyed on through extremely pretty scenery, for many miles following a canal which often opened out into a series of beautiful lakes. In the farmyards were to be seen the most comical pigs, small, black, and with long manes. The land was ploughed by a primitive wooden implement having an iron point, and a striking feature of the landscape was in the fields of beautiful bright blue and scarlet flowers.

The next post-house was situated amidst the wildest scenery, and was surrounded by big pine forests. It stood on the edge of a precipitous declivity that was strewn with stones and crossed by shelves of rock. By this time I was getting very sore, and was therefore taken aback by the sight of the next vehicle, — a large four-wheeled springless cart. Before starting the people wanted to know where I wished to go ; so I drew a picture of a waterfall, and wrote beneath it “ Imātrā.” The worst of it was that I did n’t know whether I was being driven in the right direction, and as the day lengthened felt somewhat uneasy as I thought, that I ought sooner to have reached my destination. Down the steep hill my new driver galloped furiously, taking all impediments in his path after the reckless manner of the Russians. The consequence was that the springless cart performed incredible feats of agility ; it jolted and bumped, twisted half round, and leaped into the air in the wildest fashion. There was no seat, and as I lay on the floor I clutched at one of the sides, but as often as I obtained a hold it was wrenched from my grasp, and I bounded from side to side and from end to end like a shuttlecock. I was sore enough before, but this was simply awful, and my breath came in such gasps that I could not yell to the maniac in front to stop. We reached the foot of the declivity, and without pausing the horse galloped up the hill beyond ; fortunately the road grew less rocky, and I managed to seize the side of the cart and steady myself somewhat.

For an hour or more that demon driver rivaled the driving of Jehu, and then he looked curiously over his shoulder at my prostrate form : he evidently hesitated, and then leaving the main road, or rather track, struck aside into the forest. For another hour we wound in and out among the trees, until, reaching a clearer space, the man drew rein and again looked strangely at me over his shoulder. My previous drivers had yellow hair and blue eyes, but this fellow was quite different, being swarthy of complexion, and having black hair and, to my thinking, evil black eyes. My misgivings returned with tenfold force ; night was at hand, and I knew not where I was. In this dismal forest, far from the main road, who would hear a cry for help ? The silence was profound save for the moaning of the wind through the melancholy pines. I lay bruised and aching, hungry, tired, and seemingly at the man’s mercy. I cannot say that all the events of my past life rose before me in a moment, but I thought of home and friends, and resolved that if my worst fears should be realized, and robbery and perhaps murder be attempted, I would at least sell my life as dearly as I could. So, deeming a bold show the best policy, I sat up, drew my large jack-knife from my pocket, and whittled at a piece of stick. Conscious that the evil black eyes were upon me my heart beat fast, but I tried to preserve an outward appearance of calmness, and as I cut whistled a merry tune. For a long time, it seemed to me, he hesitated. It was a crisis : to betray the slightest fear was to be lost, so I looked him in the face, smiled, and pointing forward with the blade of the knife said, “ Imātrā, Imātrā ! ” To my great relief he turned, slowly gathered up the reins, and drove onward. After an anxious half hour we again struck the road, and six miles of further traveling brought us to Imātrā hotel, a solitary house standing in its own very pretty and parklike grounds. After my long fast and open-air drive I was ravenous, and did not leave much of the plentiful supper which was soon smoking on the table.

I rose at six the next morning, so as to make the most of the long day before me. I walked somewhat stiffly, but otherwise was none the worse for the previous day’s experience. On passing through the forest I was guided by the tremendous roar of the waters, and found the scene indeed worthy of my efforts to reach it. Standing warily on the steep bank, I saw, as far as sight could reach, to right and left a chasm, filled with huge gray rocks and water-worn boulders, and down the channel rushed a mighty river which issued from an unseen lake higher up. So steep was its course that the hemmed-in torrent fretted and dashed against the rocks, to rebound in huge billows upon the next impediment which shivered them into foam, the lighter spray being turned by the sunbeams into innumerable rainbows. On each bank pinetrees stretched their drenched branches over the raging flood ; as the great waves leaped through the air in endless succession and variety of form, the very earth trembled with the shock. There had recently been a series of heavy rains, so that I was fortunate enough to see Imātrā at its best. For a long time I lingered by the side of this fine waterfall, trying to become familiar with the spirit of the scene, seeking to understand the language of the mighty voices, — deep calling unto deep.

Imātrā has been said to surpass Niagara, but the two can scarcely be compared, they are so different. At Niagara the river is seven hundred and forty yards wide, but is split by Goat Island into two parts, the falls being one hundred and sixty-three feet in perpendicular height. The scenery is strikingly devoid of interest, for the trees on both banks are small and the country is a dead level. Between the falls is a watermill, below them a suspension bridge, and, until quite recently, the annoyance caused by hotel touters, guides, curiosityvenders, peripatetic photographers, and cabmen well-nigh drove one crazy and greatly detracted from the enjoyment. The Imātrā cataract is not, I should judge, more than thirty yards wide, but the volume of water is immense. It is encompassed by beautiful woods and an extremely diversified country, unpenetrated by railway whistle, unstrewn with the ginger-beer bottles of excursionists, unviolated by the hand of the irrepressible advertiser ; there are no human annoyances ; in utter loneliness one can commune with nature and nature’s God.

Returning to the hotel, I breakfasted on delicious fish caught that morning in the lake, and being the sole guest at this littlefrequented place was made much of by the Swedish landlord. Our talk was somewhat restricted, as he spoke only his native tongue and Finnish, but pencil illustrations and a comparison of words rendered intelligible much that was said. Mine host was very proud of his travelers’ signature book, in which English autographs were few and far between. I signed my name near that of Prince Louis Napoleon, and for fun appended the letters M. H. L. S. The Swede was delighted. I rose at once in his estimation, but though he wanted the “ handle ” explained I did not inform him that they stood merely for “ Member of the Highgate Literary Society.” Anxious as I was to get away, my landlord prized me too highly to let me go; my fascinations were undoing me ! He looked with admiration at my watch and chain, knife, and other personal effects. I drew pictures for him with colored chalks and pencil, and wrote such rhymes as “ Peter Piper ” and “ Round the rugged rock ; ” but the more I did, the more he wanted. At last I had positively to decline any further amusement and insist on the horse being harnessed. After I had got into the cart it seemed as if he would never leave off shaking my hand, and when I had fairly started he waved his cap and his arms until a bend in the road hid me from sight.

This time, with better horses, better drivers, and fewer hills (for I returned by a shorter route), I reached Wiborg by half past seven o’clock, terribly sore and with ursine hunger.