Beginning in 1828 , he made 11 expeditions , ranging as far south as Estonia , as far north as Finnish Lapland , as far west as the Tampere area -LRB- 100 miles northwest of Helsinki -RRB- and as far east as Russian Karelia , in search of the ancient sung poetry , or '' runo , '' tradition then alive in the Eastern Orthodox regions of Finland , though long banned in the Lutheran areas .