INHABITANTS OF THE KURILS. 23 



board. He had learned to speak Japanese fairly well, and could 

 also speak a little English, He told me his woes, and how they 

 all longed to get back to their former homes. He finished his 

 story, in the most plaintive voice imaginable, in these words : 

 " Shikotan, no good ; Ushishir dohrey (good), sea-lion ple-e-nty, 

 sea-otter ple-e-nty, fur-seal ple-e-nty, bird ple-e-nty; Shikotan 

 no-o got, Shikotan no-o got." 



After he had been on board some time, a boat, manned by 

 several men, was noticed pulling into the bay. He recognized 

 them, and said they were coming to look for him, and asked to be 

 hidden until they went away ; so he was sent into the forecastle. 

 Those in the boat came on board, and, after a short stay, left with- 

 out finding or inquiring for our Kurilsky friend. 



After their departure we landed our visitor, making him happ)" 

 with a present of tobacco and a few trifles. 



The Kurilsky Ainu on Shikotan, in October, 1801, numbered 

 liut fifty-nine men, women, and children. They were visited at 

 that time by a Russian missionary priest from Japan. 



Amongst the Kurilsky, judging from appearances, there were 

 few, if any, of pure Ainu blood ; they were a mixture of Ainu, 

 Kamchatdales, and Aleuts, these last having been taken to the 

 Kurils in the days of the old Russian American Company. 



The pure Ainu do not extend beyond Yetorup. 



The Ainu race has been considered by some ethnologists to 

 have had a northern origin, and that this people penetrated to 

 Jezo and Japan, advancing southwards and westwards, until they 

 were met and turned back by the Japanese advancing from the 

 opposite direction. 



The researches of Basil Hall Chamberlain, Professor of 

 Japanese and Philology in the Imperial University, amongst old 

 Japanese writings, and his study and explanation of many of the 

 place-names of the country, prove beyond a doubt that the Ainu 

 once inhabited Central and Western Japan, and may have had a 

 more extended southern range. 



There is little or nothing to lead one to assume a northern 

 origin for the Ainu ; indeed, there is a certain amount of negative 

 evidence which, I think, tends to show that they were not a 

 northern race. The Ainu has no marked characteristics, customs, 

 utensils, weapons, boats, etc., peculiar to most, if not all, primitive 



