ee 
Feb. 9, 1882] NATURE 345 
could be their origin? And how far are they shown to | other side of the stars so profusely scattered throughout 
he unalterable? the same visible area? It may be nearer, or, more cor- 
And, in the last place, what is the distance or real | rectly speaking, less unimaginably distant, than we are 
magnitude of that luminous mass? Is it on this or the | apt to suppose. It might even show sensible parallax, if 
Fic. 3.—Perry, 1851, 
eee. : : ‘ Sate : Pe 
d’Arrest’s stellar point in 117 could be compared in posi- | universe—the greatest display as to magnitude of ‘its 
tion with neighbouring stars; and even so, an enormous | incomprehensible Creator. 
extent must still be assigned to it. Or it may lie yet And with these inquiries as to a mystery never in all 
further away in the unfathomable depths of space, ex- | probability to be penetrated by man, our imperfect 
panded to a gigantic size—the largest bedy in the visible | remarks shall close. T. W. WEBB 
A BEAR FESTIVAL AMONG THE AINOS | noticeable; and as the individual who gives a bear-feast 
is compelled to invite all his relations, friends, and neigh- 
A. LTHOUGH it is well known that. the Ainos of Yeso | bours, and to supply them with unlimited quantities of 
worship the bear, and have a festival known as the | sa#é (rice-beer)—a beverage which is three times more 
* bear-festival,”’ at which that animal is killed, no foreign | expensive in Yeso than in Japan—the excuse on the 
writer, except the one whom we are about to mention, | score of expense is probably a valid one. It is, it 
has ever actually beheld this ceremony. Dr. Scheube, of | seems, incorrect to say that the Ainos reverence the 
Kioto, in a paper recently published in the A/z¢thez/ungen | bear as they do their gods—the god of the fire or of 
der deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Natur und Vilker-kunde| the sea, for instance; but they respect the bear 
Ostastens, describes one at which he was an honoured } above all other animals. He is most useful to them; 
guest. He observes that these celebrations are becoming | he supplies them with food, raiment, and even with 
rarer every day; in the various villages which he visited | medicine. On the other hand, when enraged, the bear 
there had not been one for some years. The motives | is a terror to them; he destroys their houses, planta- 
assigned for this cessation of an old custom, is that the | tions, and domestic animals, and kills themselves. The 
Ainos are becoming /afanised, and that the expenses are | animal intended for sacrifice is selected while it is still 
too great. In those parts of the island where Japanese | very young, towards the end of winter, it is nourished by 
habits have penetrated most, the absence of the skulls of | the wife of its owner at first, and when it gets stronger is 
the bears, which are also objects of veneration, is very | fed on fishalone. In the beginning it runs freely about the 
4628 (Aquar. Gaseous). The first of these I have seen well with my 9$-inch house, but as it increases in size and strength it is placed 
s-eculum, in a cage. About September or October, when it is a 
