484 STUDIED, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



the western frontier he has seen very fair people with 

 European features and a quite distinctive costume, 

 especially a peculiar head dress closely resembling in 

 its form the Grecian helmet, and quite unlike anything 

 used in other parts of the East, It is therefore highly 

 probable that at some remote period the whole of 

 eastern and south-eastern Asia was inhabited by Caucasian 

 races in various stages of development, before the incursions 

 of the more hardy Mongols of the north broke them up 

 and largely exterminated them. 



For more than a quarter of a century it has been 

 recognised by anthropologists that some of the savage and 

 semi-civilised peoples of southern and eastern Asia really 

 belong to the Caucasian type. One of the most interest- 

 ing of these isolated fragments is the curious hairy race 

 called Ainos, inhabiting the island of Yezo in Japan, and 

 the southern part of Sakhalin, now belonging to Russia. 

 They are believed to be the aborigines of the country, and 

 to have once spread over the whole of the islands, being 

 the barbarians found there by the early Japanese invaders 

 who exterminated them from the more southern and 

 fertile islands. They are a fine people physically and 

 of a mild disposition, but very low as regards material 

 civilization, and extremely conservative of their old 

 customs and mode of life. Mrs. Bishop describes them as 

 about the middle height, broad-chested, the arms and legs 

 short and muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies 

 of many of them are covered with short bristly hair, as 

 shown in the portrait on p. 467. The forehead is high, 

 broad, and prominent, giving the appearance of intellectual 

 power. The nose is straight but short, the cheek-bones 

 not high. The eyes are large, rather deep set, and very 

 beautiful owing to their soft expression and rich brown 

 colour ; and the skin is of an Italian olive tint, and light 

 enough to show the changes of colour in the cheeks. In 

 character they are truthful ; infanticide is unknown, and 

 aged parents receive filial reverence, kindness, and support, 

 while in their social and domestic relations there is 

 much to admire. They are treated as barbarians and 

 inferiors by their Japanese rulers, yet it is impossible 



