J E S S O. 



Jj. It is remarked, that the northern extremity of Jesso 

 i * <IIM to I** 8 *** many advantages over the'southeni. 

 Nevertheless about Endtrmo harbour, the soil is good, 

 and the produce luxuriant. Wild grapes are abundant. 

 The woods contain elm, oak, ash, and all the common 

 tree* of England ; while the gardens exhibit the or- 

 dinary esculent plants. Millet and other grain are 

 plentiful ; but the natives are very little addicted to 

 agriculture, a* they subsist principally on wild fruits 

 or roots, M the saranna, and by hunting and fishing, 

 although the houses of the Japanese are environed 

 by gardens and plantations. Fish is found in great 

 variety in the surrounding seas. A particular species 

 of anchovies, called nising, of delicious flavour, ap- 

 pear* in ratt shoals on the surface, driven towards 

 the coast by whales ; and quantities of salmon are 

 caught, either for immediate use or winter store. 

 Whales, porpoises, and turtle, are al*o numerous ; but 

 it has been affirmed that the first are unmolested, on 

 account of their services in pursuing the nising. Tri- 

 pang, or biclie de mar, a kind of holothuria prized 

 in eastern repasts, is obtained by diving among the 

 rocks, as also various other animals of the molluscs 

 tribes, whose names are not yet recognised in the works 

 of naturalists ; and many Crustacea. Of birds, there are 

 numerous aquatic species resembling those of Europe : 

 Eagles are kept tame in cages, and supposed to 

 be an article of food, though it u more probably on ac- 

 count of their feathers for arrows ; two kinds of hawk, 

 one of a yellow colour ; crows, pigeons, and a yellow 

 bird r milling a linnet. The quadruped* are hones, 

 which have perhaps been introduced within a century 

 by the Japanese ; wolves, foxes, dogs, bears, deer, and 

 rabbits. Deer and bears inhabit the mountains. The 

 Utter are seen in considerable numbers among the na- 

 tives, by whom they are taken young, domesticated, 

 and then killed, and ate as dainties at a certain season, 

 H hile a portion is used as a medicine. The dogs resem- 

 l.le those of Kamtschatka, but are of a smaller breed. 

 They are trained for draught, and harnessed to tledges 

 in winter, which would indicate, that during a portion 

 of the year the ground is covered with snow. These, 

 however, it is likely, do not exhaust the list of the'qua- 

 drupedson this inland. 



aMu- Jesso is inhabited by two distinct races of mankind ; 

 the aborigines who call themselves Ainos, and the Ja- 

 panese, who have wrested the island from their posses, 

 ion, and now bold them in subservience. The opinions 

 entertained regarding the former, who also inhabit the 

 ula of Sakhalin, are so singular and (lis- 

 as to merit a brief investigation. They have 



733 



denominated wild Kuriles, and are sup. 

 posori to be covered with hair in unnatural profusion 

 a peculiarity at this day ascribed to the inhabitants of 

 the Kurile Islands. Nor is this opinion more preva- 

 Irnt among the natives of the neighbouring countries 

 than among Europeans who have visited the country. 

 Matin, a none formerly given to the island by the 

 Japanese, signifies the bind of hairy people ; and Kan- 

 ucroon, an intelligent interpreter of that nation, by 

 whom it was viartcd in Io52, says the beards of the 

 men are sometimes two feet long ; that the whole face, 

 excepting the eyes and nose, is covered by it ; and that 

 the portion depending from the upper lip is raised 

 when they drink. Froes, a Portuguese missionary, who 

 was at Miaco in Japan in 1 565, had previously been 

 cqmintnil with this latter fact, as also that the people 

 wen very hairy all over the body ; and Saris, au Eng- 



lish navigator, learned at Jedo in 1613, that they were -fesso. 

 as hairy as monkeys. In the fragment which is pre- N ""~v~ ' 

 served of the journal of the Gastric-urn in 1643, the hair- I " ha ' 1 ' t: ""' 

 iness of the whole body, and the size of the beard al- 

 most totally covering the face, were both the subjects 

 of observation. It was likewise remarked from her con- 

 sort the Breskens, a Dutch vessel, which navigated the 

 coasts of Jesso in the same year, that the people leav- 

 ing the south part in a boat, had long stiff black beards ; 

 and in 1738, Captain Spanberg, a Russian, landed on a 

 large island in 43 J 50' north latitude, which if not Jesso 

 itself, as there is some reason to believe, is in its imme- 

 diate vicinity, where the bodies of the men were wholly 

 covered with long hair. Further, the lastEnglish naviga- 

 tor who visited Jesso towards the close of the prece- 

 ding century, employs these words in describing the 

 natives of the southern extremity. " Their beards 

 were thick and large, covering the greatest part 

 of the face, and inclining to curl. The hair of the 

 head was very bushy, which they cut short before 

 on the forehead, and behind the ears ; behind it was 

 cut straight. Their bodies were almost universally cover- 

 ed itiVA long black hair, and even in some young children, 

 tee oLterved the same appearance." This combination of 

 testimony would assuredly seem conclusive, did not 

 the still more recent visitors of the Ainos, in the pre- 

 sent century, deny that any such characteristic is com- 

 mon among them. Their intercourse, indeed, was more 

 with the northern inhabitants. But in Saghalin they 

 admit that a child cf this description was seen, though 

 its parents were distinguished by nothing of the same 

 kind. We are induced to conclude, upon the whole, 

 that the aborigines of Jesso are more hairy than the ge- 

 nerality of mankind. They are somewhat In-low the 

 middle size, strong and swift, of a dark brown com- 

 pli xion, almost black, with black eyes, and an agree- 

 able physiognomy, and resemble the KamUchadales, but 

 have more regular features ; however, new born child- 

 ren are perfectly white. The women have rather plea- 

 sant countenanced to the south, while to the north they 

 are ugly, and are scarcely any fairer than the men. 

 The long rough black hair of the latter hangs down 

 from the head behind, and that of the women of the 

 same colour is frequently tied above in a knot, or comb- 

 ed over the face. It is not said that the men lacerate 

 their bodies in any fashion for the purpose of orna- 

 ment ; but the women are tattooed on the hands, face, 

 and feet, and in some parts of the island around the 

 mouth, in flew crs or other figures, which are executed 

 by the mother during the earlier age of her offspring. 

 Children go entirely naked. There is little difference 

 between the dress of adults of either sex, but the feet 

 are usually bare. A tobacco box, pipe, and knife, arc 

 carried in a belt girding their vestments around the 

 waist. The men wear large ear-rings of gold, silver, 

 r baser metals, according to their rank ; the women 

 an ornament of the same kind, consisting of a short 

 chain of two or three silver rings of still greater 

 dimensions. Betides strings of glass beads, and other 

 ornaments, a small shining silver plate or mirror hangs 

 from the neck. Their fashions seem to have under- 

 gone little alteration since the earliest visits of Eu- 

 ropeans. The Aines testify a remarkably quiet and 

 Elacid disposition, intermixed with a large portion of 

 berality and benevolence. They freely part with their 

 property without any expectations of return, and are 

 always ready to be serviceable. The women are ex- 

 ceedingly timid and reserved, but preserving less gra- 



