34 



NATURE 



[Nov. 4, 1880 



aborigines of the Island of Yezo, and possibly of all ' and seeing and sharing the daily life of complete savages' 

 Japan, will prove of special interest. AVe already know j who go on with their ordinary occupations just as if I 

 much about the physique and the habits of these strange were not among them. I found yesterday a most 

 people ; but Miss Bird's notes of what she saw and heard j fatiguing and over-exciting day, as everything was new 

 during the weeks she lived in their houses, saw their daily j and interesting, even the extracting from men who have 

 life, heard what they had to say of themselves, their his- few if any ideas in common with me, all I could extract 

 tory, and their superstitions, are a real addition to our ! concerning their religions and customs, and that through 



an interpreter. I got up at six this inorning to 



' '^"" --- ^,__ write out my notes, and have been writing for five 



hours, and there is shortly the prospect ot another 

 savage sJaiiic. The distractions, as you imagine, 

 are many. .At this moment a savage is taking a 

 cup of sake by the fire in the centre of the floor. 

 He salutes me by extending his hands and waving 

 them towards his face, and then dips a rod in the 

 sake', and makes six libations to the god — an 

 upright piece of wood with a fringe of shavings 

 planted in the floor of the room. Then he waves 

 the cup several times towards himself, makes other 

 libations to the fire, and drinks. Ten other men 

 and women are sitting along each side of the fire- 

 hole, the chief's wife is cooking, the men are 

 apathetically contemplating the preparation of their 

 food; and the other women, who are never idle, 

 are splitting the bark of which they make their 

 clothes. I occupy the guest seat — a raised plat- 

 form at one end of the fire, with the skin of a black 

 bear thrown over it." 



These Ainos drink enormous quantities of saki, 

 the national liquor of Japan ; they can drink three 

 times as much as a Japanese without being affected by 

 it, and the drinking of it is with them the chief act of 

 worship to the rude gods, if gods they be, which are 

 stuck up in various parts of their huts. Here is another 

 picture : — 



" About nine the stew was ready, and the women ladled 

 it into lacquer bowls with wooden spoons. The men were 

 served first, but all ate together. Afterwards 

 sake, their curse, was poured into lacquer bowls, 

 and across each bowl a finely-carved ' sake-stick ' 

 was laid. These sticks are very highly prized. 

 The bowls were waved several time with an 

 inward motion, then each man took his stick 

 and, dipping it into the sake, made six libations 

 to the fire, and several to the 'god,' a wooden 

 poat, with a quantity of spiral white shavings 

 ialhng from near the top." 



The intense fondness of the Ainos for their 

 children is a marked feature in their character, 

 ind the instantaneous and implicit obedience of 

 the latter to their parents is as great as with 

 the Japanese themselves. Their hospitality is 

 genuine, universal, and almost profuse. "In 

 e\ ery house the same honour was paid to a 

 guest. This seems a savage virtue which is not 

 stiong enough to survive much contact with 

 cnilisation. Before I entered one lodge the 

 ^soman brought several of the finer mats, and 

 arranged them as a pathway for me to walk to 

 the fire upon. They will not accept anything 

 for lodging or for anything that they give, so I 

 was anxious to help them by buying some of 



their handiwork, but found even this a difficult 



matter. They were very anxious to give, but 



\^hen I desired to buy they said they did not 



wish to part with their things. I wanted what 



they had in actual use, such as a tobacco-box 



and pipe-sheath, and knives with carved handles and 



scabbards, and for three of these I offered 2!, dollars. 



They said they did not care to sell them, but in the 



evening they came saying they were not worth more than 



I dollar 10 cents, and they would sell them for that; 



They said it 



■existing knowledge of them. As usual all sorts of things 

 were said by people in Hakodate? to prevent her from 

 trusting herself alone among these uncivilised people, but 

 Miss Bird took her own womanly way, and was rewarded. 

 These Ainos she found of fierce outer aspect, with their 

 long shaggy hair and beards, broad faces, and rough 

 bodies, but in speech and manner gentler than the 



'ii«il«\^^. 



Japanese sketch) 



gentlest Hawaiian. Their soft and feminine speech 

 constantly struck her, and in genuine politeness they are 

 not surpassed by the Japanese. Here is a picture of 

 Aino domestic life : — 



" I am in the lonely Aino land, and I think that the 

 most interesting of my travelling experiences has been and i could not get them to take more, 

 .the living for three days and two nights in an Aino hut, yvas ' not their custom." 



