Finland in Color [antikvár]

1 o the foreigner Finland appears to be a new country which has only recently come into being. Indeed, one might well assume that settlement of this remote country only took place a few generations ago. In a certain sense, Finland is the America of Europe, though it is even younger than that country and still in the early stages of its development. As a stranger to the country, one gains the impression that the Finns are in the act of taking possession of their own country like colonists who have recently immigrated there. In a strange way the changing moods of history and Nature have made of the Finns a nation that is both ancient and very young. It is a nation that has a history and traditions, but of these there is little concrete and visible trace. The physical characteristics of Finland were determined about 10 000 years ago, by the glaciation of the Ice Age, and it was then that many lakes were förmed. The constant contrast of land and water is the main and characteristic feature of the Finnish landscape. Here, the lakes are not round and open expanses of water as elsewhere, but are broken by promontories and bays and dotted with hundreds of islands. The land is low-lying, giving on to a view of forest-clad slopes. And here the sky seems loftier than elsewhere. It has been said that Finland without its forests would be like a bear without a skin. Indeed, the forests of Finland can be likened to a skin and the lakes to blue eyes. Wood is Finland's chief raw material, and it is by no means a coincidence that Finnish builders are alsó expert lumbermen. Finland's national economy is for the most part still based on this raw material. Recently, however,