1936 On the Continent

nears the Equator, so that if instead one proceeds north it must grow colder. In actual fact summer in Finland differs not at all, so far as warmth is concerned, from summer in the south of England. For that matter, there are more opportunities for indulging in bathing and sun-bathing in Finland than, for example, at Brighton. For not only is the sun as warm in Finland, but there is more of it; the northern day is so much longer, thanks to the Midnight Sun.
    All countries have a definite character of their own, so distinct, indeed, that one could hazard a guess at the character and interests of a person simply from his choice of countries for foreign travel purposes. The phrase that best suggests the individual character of Finland—in summer—is that the country is a “natural recreation ground.” I say “in summer,” for although there are abundant opportunities for winter sports in Finland, the best time to visit the country is during those months when one can, if one wishes, spend every moment of the twenty-four hours out of doors.
Landscape
    That Finland is a “natural recreation ground” will be seen from the following brief topographical review. Nearly three-quarters of the country is still, though Finland is a farming country, covered with forests of pine and spruce, mingled with birch, alder, aspen and other leaf-trees. Scattered all over this wooded country are lakes, altogether about 60,000 of them, not counting pools which in England might, by courtesy, be termed lakes; more numerous in some districts than others, lakes are nowhere entirely lacking in Finland. The land, irregular rather than rolling, abounding in picturesque rock mounds and sandy ridges that afford extensive views of the surrounding country,rises as one proceeds north, until in the far north-east the fells attain to the dignity of mountains. The sea-coast, incredibly broken and girdled in parts by the densest archipelagos in the world, is one long succession of rock, boulders and stretches of good firm sand. A scientist has recently calculated the length of shore-line in Finland, that is the length of the rim of land lapped by water on the coast and in the lakes. His measurements, based on scale 1: 20,000 maps, which do not therefore take into account every little irregularity, gave a total length of 168,500 kilometres—four times the circumference of the globe.
Climate
    That a landscape of this description should provide an inexhaustible wealth of beautiful scenery needs no telling, nor that it affords boundless opportunities for a pleasurable life out of doors and for every variety of summer outdoor pastimes. The crowning quality, however, of the “natural recreation ground” is the purity and clearness of the air and the bright, friendly sun. The Finnish landscape is extraordinarily difficult to paint because of the clear atmosphere, which shows up the details of a landscape until sheer distance makes them too small to be seen or they disappear over the horizon. Into this atmosphere colour creeps as the sun sinks low in the sky, and thereafter subtle changes of colour succeed one another as the lingering sunset merges almost unnoticeably into dawn. The Midnight Sun is not visible in South Finland, but even there its nearness is felt in a total absence of darkness at the height of summer—no Daylight Saving Bill need ever be passed in Finland—and the farther north one goes, the “whiter” the nights, until in the Petsamo region the sun does not set at all between May 22nd and July 23rd. Perhaps because of this wealth of sunshine, or because of the all-pervading pine forests and the lakes, the impression I invariably get on returning to Finland from a trip abroad is that the air has a brand-new flavour, that it is really fresh air and not the tired, devitalised air of crowded countries.
    The Finns themselves recognise this special quality of the Finnish summer by treating the summer as one long holiday. Schools and universities close for three months,theatres and the Opera House admit their inability to compete with the charm of existence out of doors by doing the same, concert artistes take a rest or tour the health resorts, business grows slack, enabling offices to knock an hour off the working day. All who can do so leave town, and those who cannot make the best of it by spending their evenings and week-ends on the bathing beaches in the suburbs or camping in the islands or cruising in yacht or motor-boat along the