This is a small town with one church, two windmills, and a few decent houses. The rest, like all of the houses in this country are of one story with flattish roofs, built of logs, and the cracks stuffed with moss.Ouluun päin lähtien mailin päässä ollut kestikievari "Lajvanjermi" oli savutupa eli
This apartment has a hole in the middle of the ceiling for the smoke to go out while the oven is heating... It is shut immediately afterwards which keeps the place in a kind of warm vapor. I saw them roasting, or rather drying, the flesh of calves in this oven. We found our trunks and förbud here. They could not read it, which deprived us the benefit of a förbud. All the way here, they spoke nothing but Finnish.Förbud on siis tarkoittanut edellä lähetettyä viestiä, jolla yritettiin varmistaa vauhdikkaat hevosten vaihdot ja muukin matkaan liittyvä. Parhaana kestikievarina Tornion ja Oulun välissä pidettiin Veijolaa, joka ei kuitenkaan tehnyt Maclureen vaikutusta.
... we could get nothing, not even a bed. Five women were sleeping in one nest on a little straw with a large, ragged as their only covering. Four or five men were on the opposite side of the large, smoky apartment, the whole furniture of which would not sell for two dollars. It was a picture of more misery than I have seen this whole time I have been in Europe.Oulussakin (?) oli savutupa.
Here, they speak a little Swedish. They heat the oven so that a cloud of smoke fills the upper part of the room a few inches above your head. The hole in the middle of the ceiling was open and a kind of white smoke was going out.Rantsilaa lähestyessä Maclure huomautti, että sekä naiset että miehet kulkivat lammasturkeissa. Rakennuksissa oli tuskin mitään huonekaluja, mutta ne olivat hyvin lämpimiä, kun Macluren käyttämä lämpömittari näytti parikymmentä jotain astetta alle nollan.
Pulkkilassa majasija oli pappilassa, jota ilmeisesti isännöi Jakob Frosterus, sillä Maclure kirjoittaa, että
We were well received by Mr. Forester and got a good supper and beds. He has a large family of fine children. He speaks German and Swedish. Along the road they spoke nothing but Finn.Iisalmessa majoitus oli "at a poor parson's house", joka ei kuullosta Seurasaareen siirretyltä pappilalta. Vaikka lämpötilat olivat edelleen pakkasen puolella ja rekikeli "We saw some cows out of their houses for the first time and they are small."
Kuopion majatalo ei Maclurelta saa korkeaa arviota: It was rather extravagant: they charged us 6 1/2 dollars for mush and milk, and a little bad coffee. Mutta kahvia tai jotain sitä muistuttavaa siis oli tarjolla. Eihän perinteinen suomalainen kahvi nykyäänkään amerikkalaisille maistu.
Kuopiosta eteenpäin "We traveled over lakes where they make holes and fish with small bag nets". Varkauteen päästyään matkustajat saivat näyttää passinsa neljänteen kertaan Torniosta lähdön jälkeen. Rantasalmella 27.3.1810 he kohtasivat ensimmäiset venäläisten mittojen virstanpylväät, jotka olivat puisia ja mallattuja mustalla, punaisella ja valkoisella. Savonlinnassa ei enää huolittu ruotsalaista rahaa.
Kuten monissa muissakin matkakertomuksissa täytyy miettiä, syntyivätkö havainnot eroista todellisuudesta vai rajan tiedostamisesta.
During this last day's journey the complexion of things begins to change. The rays of reason seem to diminish. The rosy, clear faces of the Swedes and Finns begin to disappear and a sallow, weatherbeaten face prevails... The open, smiling countenances which brightened up with the smallest mark of civility are succeeded by a sullen, contracted visage, fixed and immovable by anything but fear. Even the horses begin to participate and they are meager, balk, and require the whip. [...] For the first time since we landed in Europe, the peasants would not stir from the yard with our sleighs until they were paid for the post they were going to make. They grumbled much at the lawful price and stopped us until they went to the postmaster to inquire, although it was our landlord who paid them. Confidence has taken his leave and distrust obscures, discolors, and disfigures every object.Lainausten lähteenä The European Journals of William Maclure (1988)
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