On the third field trip Elias Lönnrot reached Viena Karelia for the first time, where he had originally planned to reach on his first trip. Up until Saunajärvi in Kuhmo the collector had been accompanied by two students. The guide who had brought them thus far was a splendid and rather peculiar inventor named Petteri Viiliäinen, whom the Czar had rewarded with 500 golden roubles.