620 



JAPAN. 



Japan, husbands, and the watchfulness of their parents : they 



^-"V* ' never quitted for a moment, while we were on shore, 



Account of the huts in which they had assembled, and were ex- 



ihc Ainos. tremely distressed when Dr Telesius made drawings of 



them. 



The characteristic quality of an Aino is goodness of 

 heart, which is expressed in the strongest manner in 

 his countenance ; and so far as we were enabled to 

 observe their actions, they fully answered this, expres- 

 sion. These, as well as their looks, evinced something 

 simple, but noble. Avarice, or rather rapacity, the 

 common fault of all the wild inhabitants of the south- 

 ern islands in the eastern ocean, they are entirely 

 strangers to : in Roman/oft' bay they brought fish on 

 board, which they immediately left to us, without de- 

 manding the least thing in return ; and much as they 

 were delighted with the presents made to them, they 

 would not admit them as their property, until they 

 had been frequently assured by signs of their being in- 

 tended for them. 



" The dress of the Ainos consists chiefly of the skins 

 of tame dogs and seals ; but I have seen some in a very 

 different attire, which resembled the parkis of the 

 Kamtschadales, and is, properly speaking, a white shirt 

 worn over their other clothes. In Aniwa bay they were 

 all clad in furs; their boots were made of seal skins, 

 and in these likewise the women were invariably 

 clothed. In Romanzoff bay, on the contrary, we saw 

 only two fur dresses, one of which was a bear's skin, 

 the other made of dogs' skins ; and the rest of the peo- 

 ple were dressed in a coarse yellow stuff, made of the 

 bark of a tree, (as we ascertained in their houses,) 

 which a few wore, bordered with blue cloth. Under 

 this dress they had another of a fine cotton stuff, that 

 they probably purchase of the Japanese. Here we saw 

 no boots such as were worn by every one in Aniwa bay; 

 but, instead of them, they used Japanese straw slippers. 

 A few of them covered their legs with a kind of half 

 stockings stitched together, of the same coarse stuff as 

 their upper garments. This difference in the dress of 

 the Ainos of Jesso and Sachalin seems to prove a much 

 greater degree of wealth in the latter island, and the 

 men here appeared to wear a more cheerful aspect ; but 

 whether this is owing to their superior wealth in fish 

 and furs, which find a certain market with the Japanese, 

 or to their little dependence on these latter, I cannot pre- 

 tend to decide, though I am inclined to believe the for- 

 mer. The greatest part of them went with their heads un- 

 covered ; others wore a straw hat, pointed in the middle. 

 I fancy it is not the custom of the country to shave the 

 hair, though I saw several of them with their heads half 

 shorn, probably only in imitation of the Japanese. The 

 women, even the youngest, use no ornaments on their 

 heads ; but, as I have already mentioned, they invaria- 

 bly paint their lips blue, a practice which, to an Eu- 

 ropean accustomed to the rose colour, appears extreme- 

 ly ugly. On the contrary, many of the male sex wore 

 ear-rings, which were commonly merely a brass ring. 

 I purchased a pair off a young man, made of silver, with 

 large false pearls suspended from them. The possessor 

 seemed to set great value on these ornaments, being 

 very unwilling to part with them ; and twice he repent- 

 ed of his bargain, took them back again, and demanded 

 a higher price. An old coat, two cotton cloths, and a 

 piece of flat white metal, were the treasures for which 

 he at last exchanged them. Buttons and okl clothes 

 were the articles the Ainos most sought after, and for 

 which they gave their pipes and other trifles. 



" The huts we saw in Aniwa bay were, as I have al- 



ready said, probably newly built, and served only for Japan. 

 their summer residence. In Romanzoff bay they ap. * "V'-' 

 peared to be their constant abode both in winter and Account of 

 summer. The two we visited, and near to which were the Ainos. 

 balagans for drying fish, consisted of a single large 

 room, which, with a small division at one end, occupied 

 the whole interior of the house. Their construction 

 did not seem to me to be very solid, and, unless the 

 houses are entirely covered with snow, as in Kamtschat- 

 ka, I cannot conceive how they are able to bear the 

 cold, which must be intense here in the winter; since, 

 even in the month of May, the thermometer only shew- 

 ed three degrees of warmth. In the middle of the room 

 was a large hearth, around which the whole family, 

 consisting of eight or ten persons, was seated. The 

 furniture consisted of a large bed, over which a Japan- 

 ese mat was spread, and several boxes and barrels. All 

 their utensils were of Japanese manufacture, and most- 

 ly lacquered. It appeared, from the interior of the 

 house, that the inhabitants possessed a degree of afflu- 

 ence such as is not found among the Kamtschadales, 

 still less among the Aleuti, and the unfortunate inha- 

 bitants of Kodiack. The great provision of dried fish 

 bore indeed rather a disgusting appearance ; but no ob- 

 jection can be taken to this when we reflect, that their 

 existence depends upon them, fiah being probably their 

 only nourishment, and their houses on this account be- 

 ing chiefly scattered along the shore. We perceived 

 no symptoms of cultivation, not even any plantation* 

 of vegetables ; nor did we see any tame fowls or do- 

 mestic animals except dogs, which they had in great 

 abundance ; and Lieutenant Golowatscheff found in- 

 Mordwinoff bay, on the west coast of Patience bay, 

 above fifty in one place. In all probability they use 

 them for their journeys in the winter ; for we saw in 

 Aniwa bay a sledge which bore a perfect resemblance 

 to a Kamtschadale narte. Dog skins, also, are here an 

 important article of dress. We were struck on perceiv- 

 ing, that snow-water was the common beverage of the 

 people on the north side of Jesso, although that of tha 

 river, which flowed into the bay, was extremely good. 

 Perhaps the fear of cold in the winter, as they would 

 have to fetch their water from the rivi-r, which is not 

 very near to their houses, has so accustomed them to 

 snow-water, that they prefer it to that of the river so 

 long as they are able to procure it. It seemed also the 

 custom here, (at least, it was so in all the houses whicli 

 either I or any of my officers visited,) to bring up. a 

 young bear in the house, to which a place was assigned 

 in one of the corners of the room, and which was deci- 

 dedly the most restless of any of its inhabitants. One 

 of our officers was desirous of purchasing one of these 

 bears, and offered his great-coat in exchange for it ; 

 but he could not persuade the proprietor, although 

 cloth is of great value in the eyes of the Ainos, as the 

 Japanese are unable to supply them with it, to part 

 with his young eleve. 



" It would be presuming too much to enter into any 

 detail upon the form of government and the religion of 

 the Ainos, as our stay here was much too circumscribed 

 for us to have instituted any inquiries into these sub- 

 jects ; but, with their limited population, it is not easy 

 to imagine any other than a patriarchal constitution. 

 During our visit to one of their houses in Romanzoff 

 bay, we observed in the family, which consisted of ten 

 persons, the happiest state of harmony, or rather a per- 

 fect equality. We continued there some hours, and 

 were scarcely able to distinguish the head of the fami- 

 ly, so little assuming were, even the oldest towards its 



