If they had any secret peculiarities they would certainly not divulge them to a stranger, for they were notoriously silent, gloomy, morose, and uncommunicative.

Everything that was known about them, my friend assured me, might be communicated in a few words.

They belonged to a Finnish tribe called Korelli, and had been transported to their present settlements in comparatively recent times.

In answer to my questions as to how, when, and by whom they had been transported thither my informant replied that it had been the work of Ivan the Terrible.
Though I knew at that time little of Russian history, I suspected that the last assertion was invented on the spur of the moment, in order to satisfy my troublesome curiosity, and accordingly I determined not to accept it without verification.

The result showed how careful the traveller should be in accepting the testimony of "intelligent, well-informed natives." On further investigation I discovered, not only that the story about Ivan the Terrible was a pure invention--whether of my friend or of the popular imagination, which always uses heroic names as pegs on which to hang traditions, I know not--but also that my first theory was correct.