The sweat-bath house is found everywhere. It is large enough to accommodate a good many bathers at once. Two sets of wide benches run around the inside of the house, one higher than the other: these are for the bathers to sit or lie upon. They reach the higher benches or platforms by means of a short ladder. In one corner of this sweat-house is a dome-shaped oven or fireplace built of stones. This is heated very hot, and then dippers of water are thrown upon the hot stones, until the steam fills the whole building. The bathers bask in the vapor, rub and strike themselves with bunches of birch twigs, and then dash cold water over themselves. They delight in these vapor baths, and every one—men, women, and children—takes them. _We_ would not enjoy it much, for there is much smoke mixed with the steam. Similar vapor baths are used in Russia, and recently “Russian baths” have come much into use among ourselves. Like many other northern peoples the Finns make many articles from birch bark. Boxes, vessels, carrying sacks, and even shoes are made from it. The climate of Finland is rather bad; winters are long and severe. The people raise some plants, but their agriculture is simple and old-fashioned. They burn over the space to be planted, work the ashes and soil with crude tools, and plant the seed. Their crops sometimes fail and terrible famines result. At such times they have made bread from bark and roots crushed between rude grinding stones. Such bread is called _famine bread_. [Illustration: FINNS SINGING (VERNEAU).] The Finns love song and poetry. It is said that every village has one poet, or more, and that he prepares a new song whenever aught of importance occurs. Besides these new songs they have many ancient songs, of which they never tire. When they sing the songs of the olden time, two men seat themselves face to face upon a bench, join hands, and rock backward and forward in time to the song. First one sings a line or passage, and then the other repeats the same, and so they continue, rocking back and forth and singing the whole night through. Sometimes a third man plays upon the _kantele_, while the others sing. This kantele is somewhat like a zither; it has a flat sounding-body upon which are strung from three to eight strings of different lengths. It is usually picked with the fingers like a guitar. It is said that the first kantele was made of fish-bones, though it is not easy to see how that could be.