When he was on leave (8.5.-23.7.), Lönnrot started to write a manuscript called Runokokous Väinämöisestä («Poetic collection about Väinämöinen») later renamed Alku-Kalevala («First Kalevala») by the researchers. He went to Helsinki hoping to finish the work before the summer.
His diaries are plenty of precious information on the first part of his trip in the Kainuu region. Lönnrot assemled the scattered notes and rewrote them at the beginning of January.
In Kylmäsalmi Lönnrot heard some songs about the funerals of the bear and a folk tale about the fox and the caught fish, which was later published in the newspaper Mehiläinen.
Lönnrot visited Tormua then crossed the border and reached Lonkka.
In Latvajärvi (Karelia of the White Sea), Lönnrot met the great runosinger Arhippa Perttunen:
He sang them [the songs] in the proper order, with few serious gaps, and most were items I had not obtained anywhere before; indeed, I wondered if they were to be had anywhere else anymore. I was thus very happy that I had decided to visit him. Who knows whether I would have found him alive had I come later. If he had died before my meeting him, a great deal of our ancient poetry would have gone to the grave with him.
Lönnrot left Latvajärvi (Karelia of the White Sea) and returned to Kajaani via Kianta, Hyrynsalmi, Ristijärvi and Paltamo.
During this expedition he collected 239 songs and about 13 200 verses, that is to say a greater amount compared to the total of songs he got during the 4 previous journeys. Lönnrot wrote to the Finnish Literature Society not to print the manuscript he had delivered them in the spring. It had to be reviewd and expanded with the new acquired material.
