AINU FAMILY-LIFE AND RELIGION. 87 



general consent, were theft, incest, murder, suicide, infanticide, 

 disobedience to parents, and idolatry, as well as exposure of per- 

 son. In ancient times every village was governed by three chiefs 

 subservient to Sara. These chiefs never had absolute authority ; 

 all crimes were submitted to the judgment of as many members 

 of the community as cared to be present " (Batchelor). 



Inasmuch as there are no family names, no village, tribal, or 

 national rights to be respected, there is nothing approximating to 

 father-right or mother-right. Or perhaps it would be more exact 

 to say that, inasmuch as women are only recognized as servants 

 throughout their whole lives, and as mothers as soon as they 

 have reached the proper age, the personality of the whole family 

 is sunk in that of the husband and father while he lives. When 

 he dies he is at once and absolutely forgotten (except so far as is 

 mentioned hereafter), and each surviving member of his family 

 pursues an entirely separate course, in no way concerning him- 

 self about the others. If a man dies and leaves a family of infant 

 children, the care of them devolves upon the mother until the 

 oldest son reaches the age of about eighteen ; then he becomes the 

 head of the family. Female inheritance is utterly unknown, as 

 would be expected in a society wherein women have no rights 

 at all. If a man is so unfortunate as to leave no true heir, or so 

 careless as not to have adopted one, his property goes to his next 

 younger brother, or his nearest male relative, if he have no broth- 

 ers either by birth or adoption. 



When very sick, an Ainu wan (the women may not pray at all) 

 will call upon the fire-goddess, who is reckoned a great purifier, 

 thus: "Abe kamui, yekoingara iva en-Tcore" ("O fire-goddess, con- 

 descend to look upon me "). Upon the approach of death, the mas- 

 ter will lie close to the fire on his own side of the hearth, partly 

 for the sake of the warmth, but probably in a measure for any 

 possible benefit to be gained from propinquity to the realm of the 

 fire-goddess. Then the village chief and elders, and the sick 

 man's friends, all come to see him ; the men to pray and " drink to 

 the gods," while the women weep and wail in rather a noisy fash- 

 ion, since they are denied the comforts of religion! There are 

 times when the patience of the praying men becomes exhausted, 

 if no favorable answer is given to their petitions. Mr. Batchelor 

 tells of one death-scene which he witnessed when two men were 

 praying to the goddess of fire and another toward the sun-rising 

 through the eastern window ; while a fourth was looking toward 

 the northeast corner of the hut (which corresponds in a measure 

 to the latrine of Japanese houses) and swearing most vehemently 

 at all the gods, something after this fashion : " You fools ! why 

 don't you pay some attention to us ? Can't you see that this man 

 is in great danger ? Here we've been praying and praying for 



