JAPAN. 



62T 



youngest members. Accordingly, in dividing a few 

 presents among them, 1 preserved a most perfect equa- 

 lity, which they all appeared pleased with, no one, not 

 even the oldest, remarking, that I had given him too 

 little in proportion to the other* ; on the contrary, they 

 called my attention to a little girl, about eight years 

 old, whom I had overlooked, and who- now obtained 

 her share. This unanimity, and the silence which 

 reigns among them, awake the mo=t favourable feelings 

 towards them. I lere was no loud talking, no immode- 

 rate laughter, and still less any disputing. The satis. 

 faction that appeared in all their countenances as they 

 spread the mats round the hearth for us ; their readi- 

 ness, when we were going away, to launch their canoes 

 and carry us acrou the shallows to our boat, when they 

 perceived that our boatmen were stripping themselves 

 for this purpose: but still more than all this, their mo- 

 desty never to demand any thing, and even to accept 

 with hesitation whatever was offered to them, wherein 

 they differ very much from the inhabitants of the west 

 of Sachalin, whose diffidence La Peroiisc could not 

 speak ot* with praise; all these uncommon qualities, for 

 which they are not indebted to any polished education, 

 but which are merely the marks of their natural cha- 

 racter, make me consider tlie Ainos as the best of all 

 the people that I have hitherto been acquainted with. 



1 have already mentioned thtir inconsiderable num- 

 ber*, particularly in Je**o. On the north of this island 

 we counted only eight d welling, bdhses, ami if we ad- 

 mit ten as the number of each family, this makes that 

 of the inhabitants of thU district only eighty. Farther 

 inland they probably have no establishment* ; for M 

 their whole nourishment consi.Hs of fiih, they only set- 

 tle on the tea (here*. In Salmon Bay, ami Tamary 

 Aniwa, the Ainos probably amount to three hundred ; 

 but we were there at the time of die fishery, and it is 

 chiefly from hence that the Japanese procure this arti- 

 cle, for which they are obliged to have recourse to the 

 inhabitant" of the neighbouring l*ys, who settle here 

 at such time*, in order to prepare so large a quantity. 

 Not only the recently built house* of the Ainos in the 

 vicinity of the Japanese factory is a proof of this, but 

 also the number of houses provided with furniture but 

 destitute of inhabitants in Mordwinoff Bay, where Lieut 

 Golowatschelf, who visited that part, found but a few 

 person*, and these not merely to guard the property, 

 for they teemed to consider it a* their own. 



" According to the roost ancient accounts we have 

 of thii island, it* inhabitants are said to be covered 

 with hair. The Chinese describe it a a large coun- 

 try full of wild people, whote whole body it covered 

 with hair, and with such enormous beards that they are 

 forced to raise them up in order to drink. The liutrh 

 in the well known expedition in HJ41, under th 

 mand of Captain Vrie*. and the Kimian* under Span- 

 berg in 1 7 > - confirmed thU description. Although so 

 many concurring accounts seem to testify the fact of 

 the native* of JCMO being overgrown with hair, never- 

 thelea* I am disposed, from our experience, to de- 

 clare this report to be fabulous. The Jesuit 1 licrony- 

 mu* de Angrlis, the first European who, in I'i^O, vi- 

 sited Jeseo, merely mention* their bushy bexrds, but 

 ay* not a word of their hairy bodies; and a he reri- 

 ded for ome lime amongst them, he certainly had a 

 better opportunity of examining their personal qualities 

 than could be found in the short visit* of the Dutch, 

 the Ruasians. or the Chirwie. and he would not have 

 failed to make known so linking a circumstance. On 

 the north of Je*so we examined tome people, but found 



that, except their bushy beard and the hair on their Japan: 

 faces, there was not the least thing to give probability ~-y~ ^ 

 to such a story. In Aniwa I got several of them to un- Account of 

 cover their breasts, arms, and legs, and we were here the Ai:.-. 

 convinced to a certainty that the greater part of the 

 Ainos have no more hair upon their bodies than is to 

 be found upon those of many Europeans. Lieut. Go- 

 lowatscheff found indeed in MordwinofT Bay a child of 

 eight years okl, whose body was entirely covered with 

 hair ; but he immediately examined its parents and se- 

 veral other grown up persons, and found them all in 

 that respect like Europeans. I will not flatly contra- 

 dict the report of older and modern navigators, whose 

 credibility I do not argue against ; but I believe that 

 they have exaggerated this story respecting the Ainos, 

 or, what is the same thing, the natives of the southern 

 Kuriles: at least it is not equally true with regard to 

 all. Perhaps the impression which the Dutch received 

 from their bushy beard, hairy face, and lank locks, add- 

 ed to the uncleanliness of their persons, left an idea 

 that their bodies must be as much covered aa their fa- 

 ces ; and as they did not wait to examine whether this 

 were really the cae, this gave rise to a story whiclr 

 has been ever since repeated as a fact." 



The following notices respecting Japan, communica- 

 ted in a discourse to the Literary and Scientific Society 

 at Java by the Honourable Governor Raffles, and drawn 

 from the information of I)r Ainslie, who had resided 

 four months in Nangasaki, may be considered as the 

 most recent intelligence on the subject of this article. 



Every information obtained by that gentleman tends Rfctnt ic- 

 to confirm the accuracy, ability, and impartiality O f count ot tlie 

 Kjrmpl'er, whose account of Japan is represented as one * 1 ""* 

 of the m<wt complete works of the kind that was ever 

 produced in the same circumstances. The Japanese 

 acknowledge that from this book they know their own 

 country ; and their first enquiry to the English com- 

 missioners was for a copy of Kirmpfer. In expressing 

 the estimation in which his writings were held among 

 them, they literally observed, that " he had drawn out 

 their heart from them, and laid it palpitating before 

 us, with all the movements of their government, and 

 the actions of their men !" The natives are represented 

 by Dr Ainslie as a nervous, vigorous people, whose bo- 

 dily and mental powers assimilate much nearer to those 

 of Europe, than what are usually attributed to Asia- 

 tics; as possessed of masculine features perfectly Euro- 

 pean, except the small lengthened Tartar eye, which 

 almost universally prevails ; as perfectly fair and even 

 blooming in their complexion ; and actually exhibiting 

 among female* of the higher class more of the hue of 

 health than is usually found in Europe. He describes 

 their proficiency in the sciences, especially in metaphy- 

 sics and judicial astrology, as sufficient to evince a vi- 

 gorous intellect ; and their skill in the arts as by no 

 means resembling the stationary mediocrity of the ("hi- 

 ne*e, but as the effect of an ardent and progressive 

 principle of improvement Nothing, he tells us, is 

 so offensive to the feelings of a Japanese, as to be 

 compared, in any one respect, with the Chinese ; an< r 

 the only occnsien on which he ever saw the habitual 

 politeness of a native surprised into a burst of pas- 

 sion, wa when, upon a similarity between the tv.-i 

 nations being unguardedly asserted, the latter laid hi 

 hand upon his sword. They have at least none of 

 that uniformity of character which the artificial system 

 of government has produced in China; and their wo- 

 men particularly, associate among themselves like the 

 ladiea of Europe. L)r Aimlia was present at frequent 



