Part 35 (1/2)
”L.M. is an abbreviation for _lask.u.mies_ or pilot--it means that he is a certified pilot for this stream,” replied _Herr Renfors_, ”and as there are ladies here I am going to get him to take the boat down--ladies are such a responsibility,” he laughed, ”I dare not undertake the task.”
We soon entered into conversation with this picturesque Finn, and found his father was also a _lask.u.mies_, and that as a boy he always went with him, steering the boat down when he was fourteen, although he did not get his badge till he was eighteen years of age. As soon as he got it he married, and now had two children. These pilots only receive their badges after careful examination from the government, and, the pay being good, and the position considered a post of honour, they are eagerly-sought-for appointments.
”How wildly exciting it is,” we exclaimed, as we whirled round corners, waves das.h.i.+ng into our boat only to be baled out with a sort of wooden spoon.
”I make this little journey sometimes twenty times in a day,” he replied; ”but I can't say I find it very entertaining.”
Sometimes we simply gasped--especially when nearing _Kajana_, and we knew we had to go under the bridge before us, while the youth was steering apparently straight for the rocks on the sh.o.r.e. Destruction seemed imminent, the water was tearing along under the bridge at an awful rate, but he still steered on for the rocks; we held our breath--till, at the eleventh and three-quarter hour, so to speak, the pink-s.h.i.+rted Finn quietly twisted his steering pole, and under the bridge we shot and out at the other side quite safely.
We breathed again!
Pilots are only necessary for the rapids, and they receive one mark for the shorter and two marks for the longer stretches, one of which is thirteen miles in length, so that a boat between _Kajana_ and _Uleborg_ has to pay ten marks for its pilots, which they are bound by law to carry. On some of the stretches there are as many as twenty-four pilots to each rapid.
Our experience of a tar-boat but whetted our appet.i.te, and we looked forward, all pleasurable antic.i.p.ation, to our descent to the coast.
The next morning at seven A.M. we left _Kajana_ in a very small steamboat to cross the great _Oulujarvi_ lake, and arrived about twelve at _Waala_, where our own tar-boat was awaiting us. We were struck, as we pa.s.sed over the lake, to see a veritable flower-garden upon the surface of the water. The lake is so wide that at times we quite lost sight of one sh.o.r.e; yet these small flowers, something like primroses, only white, with their floating roots, were everywhere, looking almost like snow upon the water! We pa.s.sed boats sailing down with tar, the wind being with them, and we pa.s.sed empty boats rowing up. They never go home the entire way under three weeks, and even coming down the rapids, if the wind is against them, they may take several days to reach _Uleborg_. Whereas, with wind to help them across the lake, they can go down laden in a little over two days all the way from Russia. Once started on the downward route they seldom rest until their journey is completed, for it is important for each boat to do three voyages from Russia during the season, if possible, and more, of course, from shorter distances.
We were horrified to find that a large number of women and children were employed on the water. Rowing or towing such heavy boats is a serious matter; and to see a couple of women, or a woman and a child, doing the work, the husband, brother, or other male relative steering where no professional pilot is necessary, made us feel sick at heart. Such work is not fit for them, and in the case of young girls and boys must surely be most injurious. When returning home the poor creatures often pull their boat out of the water and, turning her on one side, spend the night under her sheltering cover.
The tar-boats ply a dangerous trade; but our own experiences must be described in another chapter.
CHAPTER XVIII
DESCENDING THE RAPIDS
In our case it took twenty-nine hours without sleep to descend the rapids, for we left _Kajana_ at seven A.M. on Thursday morning, and only reached _Uleborg_ at mid-day on Friday. The journey is perfectly wonderful, but should only be undertaken by people blessed with strong nerves and possessed of iron const.i.tutions. From _Kajana_ to _Uleborg_ one travels down the splendid _Oulu_ river and across the _Oulujarvi_ lake, joining the river again on the other side of _Waala_.
It was indeed an experience, in more ways than one. The first hours we spent in a small steamer, too small to carry a restaurant, so, let it be understood at once, provisions must be taken for the whole journey, unless the traveller wishes starvation to be added to his other hards.h.i.+ps.
The _Oulujarvi_ lake is a terror to the tar-boats, for it is one of the largest lakes in Finland, and when there is a storm the fragile tar-boat is forced to hug the land for safety, or draw up altogether and lie-to until the storm has spent itself. Many of these small craft have been taken unawares when out in the middle of the lake, and come to signal grief accordingly. Then again, in times of dead calm, the heavily-laden boat does not even have the benefit of the quickly-running water to bear her on her way, and the three occupants of the vessel have to row the entire distance, for the steersman, no longer requiring to guide her with his enormous pole, s.h.i.+ps it and rows at the side with one oar,--with which at the same time he guides. These steering poles are really remarkable; they are about twelve or fifteen feet long, and are simply a solid trunk of a pine tree as wide as a man's hand can grasp at the thinnest end, broadening out, and trimmed in such a way that they form a kind of flat solid paddle at the other end. The weight of these poles is overpowering, even when slipped through the ring of plaited tree branches which keeps them in place, and makes them easier to hold securely. When the cataracts are reached, even these strong poles s.h.i.+ver with the force of the water, and the steersman has all his work to do to combat the rus.h.i.+ng waters; his whole bodily weight must be brought to bear in order to fight those waves and steer his craft safely through them. Every muscle is strained to meet the power of those swirling waters.
No praise we can give is too high for the skill of the pilot of the rapids, no admiration too great, for it is to that and his physical strength, to his power and calmness, to his dexterity and boundless knowledge of hidden dangers and unexpected horrors, that the safety of our lives is due, and, when we peeped occasionally at our steersman as we flew over the great rapid, where for over an hour every nerve, every fibre of his body was strung to agonising pitch, we looked and wondered.
His eyes were fixed steadfastly before him, and as he flung all the weight of his body on to his pole, the whole boat trembled, but in a second obeyed his bidding and twisted whither he wished. Second, did we say? half-second, quarter-second, would be more accurate, for the bow of the boat was guided at giddy speed to within a few feet of a rock, and just as she was about to touch, twisted off again for us to ride over some crested wave, or fly down some channel which just cleared the death-trap.
By such means we zig-zagged from side to side of the river, which at the cataracts is generally nearly a quarter of a mile broad, and in the calmer stretches widens out to half a mile and more.
Speaking of pilots and their wondrous skill, in the autumn of 1912, by Imperial decrees, the Finnish Pilot Department was transferred to the Russian Ministry of Marine. So marvellous, so dexterous has been the work of the Finnish pilots for generations of inherited knowledge, that an Englishman can but quake at the advisability of such a change.
Finland was so indignant that half the pilots stationed on the coast and the islands--about five hundred men--resigned _en bloc_. The famous pilot school at _Helsingfors_ no longer exists.
These pilots used to mark out the s.h.i.+p routes every spring so cleverly that s.h.i.+pwrecks were rare; but in the summer of 1912 the new Russian staff made such endless mistakes and omitted so many risky channels that a great many disasters followed on the coast, though not serious ones. Luckily, the regular Finnish pa.s.senger steamers have not suffered, as they all carry their own pilots.
Strategical considerations have been officially adduced for the Russification of the Finnish pilot service; but the wisdom of this strategy may be open to doubt. In time of war the pa.s.sages nearer the coast will naturally be of the greatest strategic importance, and it would seem highly unsafe to confide the navigation of war-vessels to the new Caspian pilots, who cannot possibly in a few years acquire an intimate knowledge of these extremely difficult waters. The new measure dispenses with the services of those men who, born and bred on the spot, and having the advantage of generations of traditional knowledge, can alone with safety do pilot service, especially in time of war, when guiding beacons and rock-marking poles and buoys are removed, and there is nothing to guide the navigator except that knowledge which has become second nature to the pilot trained to do service in his own home waters.
But we are digressing.
We arrived at _Waala_--a cl.u.s.ter of small houses--about 11.30, and, landing from our little steamer, found that although our tar-boat had been ordered and everything was ready owing to the kindness of the inspector of the district, who himself came to see us off, we could not get really under way before one o'clock. All the luggage had to be packed into the boat,--not much luggage, be it said, for, beyond the reach of the railways, one bag or suit-case per person is all that is possible (less is preferable), as that can go into one of the little _karra_ (carts), or can be carried by a peasant when necessary.
Travelling through the interior and northern parts of Finland is roughing it indeed, and when it comes to being away from the post-stations (where carriages and horses are procurable, and generally fairly good), and sleeping in a real peasant's house, then one realises what discomfort means, and for cleanliness prefers to sit on a hard wooden chair all night for safety's sake.