I left Polvila with tears in my eyes on the afternoon of the 6th of June. I first went 7½ km by boat to Kuluntalahti, then 5 km to Jormuanlahti, another 5 km by land to Mieslahti and then a little over 3 km by land to a shabby little house in the far corner of Lumimäki in Mieslahti.

I slept on a narrow bench using my bag for a pillow. No one even made an effort to provide me with a better bed, and I don't think they had one. I went to bed without having had any dinner and I continued my journey in the morning to Kariniemi without breakfast, a distance of 15 km. I either walked without knowing where I was going or navigated by my compass. I finally arrived at 10 o'clock and was very hungry. I stayed there the entire day and the following night due to the rain. It was still raining the next day but I set out after breakfast anyway. But I forget with all these I''s that I had a companion the whole time and I will use the plural from now on. We covered the first 2½ km to Putkonsalmi, to the Mukonen house, without any difficulty. Mellin. From Mikkonen's we rowed to Seipilä 5 km. Rain on the way. Dried clothes in the house; a 2½ km walk to Lehtovaara, where the deputy parish clerk of Hyrynsalmi lives. We ate dinner and then went on to the village of Oravivaara - 10 km. It was raining along the way. My feet were soaking wet since one of my boots had a hole in it and the other had a worn sole. This was unpleasant, and things certainly did not get any better when the shepherd in Karpinvaara, after watching us to his satisfaction, asked "You don't have any Gypsy blood in you, do you?" We answered, "By no means". We reached Orivaara by evening where we went to the church caretaker's. On from Orivaara to Lietejoki - 10 km - then by boat to the clerk's and Deacon Vegelius'. I saw the new hymns for the first time, and for the most part I was favorably impressed. On Saturday afternoon we went to the Riihivaara house. 10 km. From there we continued the next day to Pyykkölä 12½ km. A little over halfway we came to the Korpijoki River, which I swam across to get the raft. In Pyykkölä they asked us to stay until the next day, but we did not have time. Rather, we went on 5 km in the evening to Suovaara, 5 km to Isovaara, to the 2½ km to Alanne household and 5 km to the vicarage. We enjoyed a cheerful welcome and treatment, which we doubly appreciated when we realized that poverty had reached this area, too, and they had to use ground pine bark to make bread. But it is easier for the common people to put up with their poverty when they see the gentry taking part in the suffering, too. People like company; exceptions are rare. On Monday we went to the clerk's farm - bark bread and coffee. Poverty had hit the vicar and the clerk; over the last five years they had only received part of their wages. Besides, they have more of their fair share of trouble from beggars, and regardless of what anyone may say, the way our clergy treat the poor is generally praiseworthy. They share everything as much as possible, sometimes even more; there is no other way to put it when they give to others although they themselves are in need.

On the same day we went to the vicarage and on the next to the Alanne place. Their daughter, a 20-year-old intelligent and God-fearing girl rowed me alone from there up the Vuokinjoki 7½ km. Four weeks earlier the same person had brought me to Kerälä 17½ km. When I started to speak in a somewhat more jocular tone, she did not answer me at all, but once I talked about more serious matters she had very intelligent answers indeed. A silent, calm, fear of God gives a person dignity. - Niipaskoski 5 km from the Alanne place, the only rapids on the Vuokkijoki. - the Vuokinniemi house. The Russians had attacked and beaten the woman of the house in the spring. They hit her in the head and she lay ill for many days, all because she could not give them any food. Poverty brings many other forms of suffering with it. This is the way some of the Russians here act. A number of men come in with their spears, make a lot of noise, demand food for themselves and hay for their horses; they are willing to pay but are bossy and make holes in the walls, table and floor with their spears. They sometimes pay with forged notes, which someone has tricked them into taking in their travels and which they have not been able to get rid of elsewhere. The woman in question got a fake three-ruble note and gave them back a genuine note for the same sum, that is, she gave them the food and hay for free.

There was a man from Alajärvi last summer. Had been a porter for a few well-to-do farmers, sold the goods, squandered the money, and had not been seen around. He finally returned home but when he had no money for food or transport, he came up with the idea of saying that he had been sent by the Czar to study the farm, the servants of the Crown and, in particular, the practices of the tax collectors. He ordered people to bring all their documents and tax receipts to him. He said, "There the collector has overcharged you again." He threatened to fire every single one of them or have them all hanged. He claimed the Czar was appointing new civil servants and reducing taxes and had already sent grain to the church in Hyrynsalmi, where everyone could have as much as they liked for free. Most of the peasants in Vuokki and other areas actually left for Hyrynsalmi but turned back in Alanne when they discovered that no one there knew anything of the matter. The man was treated well; liquor was brought from the village, and beds of straw were put in his boat. He was ashamed of his tattered clothes sometimes but said that he could not take better clothing on these trips into the wilderness; but they were in his bag. His pipe with the silver band had mostly fooled the peasants, since the people who live in Russian Karelia do not smoke tobacco. The men in Pussila thought he was an itinerant Russian, but when he came from there 7½ km to Murtovaara, he again began to put on the same act. Until his former master, who had returned home, recognized him. The man left in such a hurry that he forgot his pipe. He drowned in the autumn.

From Vuokinniemi to Jumalinen 7½ km - used to be a wealthy house; they were eating pine bark bread, but gave the guests proper bread. The son's marriage had been put off, because there was not enough money to have a wedding. Jumalinen to Mäkelä 5 km, from there 5 km to Matero; this was one of the most abject places I had seen in a long time. A pretense of a house, poor, dirty, falling apart. Their only horse had died; the carcass of a cow was still lying on the hill where it died; the fields had gone to seed. The men came back from Oulu with grain, half of the three barrels used up during the trip. Neither of them had the strength left to row me 2½ km. across the lake -- From there we went 2½ km to Isokylä in Vuokki, where we ate with the Härkölä family and then continued on to Kikki, Räme and Vängänvaara. Toward the end I lost my way and went 5 km right up to the shore. - From Vänkä to Salmijärvi 5 km and then on to Pussila, another 5 km. The clerk, teacher, Mikkonen. Had my boots resoled. Poverty. The wife of the board member took short daily hymns along even when she went fishing. From here to Hyry 10 km, 4 km to Viianki and 6 km to Kivijärvi. On the last leg of the trip I got lost again and walked from one pond to another. Lots of ponds.