THE HAIRY MEN OF YESSO. 135 



hands and arms — and, indeed, the greater part of their bodies— are covered -with 

 abnormal profusion of hair. The natural colour of their skins is somewhat paler 

 than that of the Japanese, but it is bronzed by their constant exposure. The 

 women of the Ainos, as if in default of the extraordinary endowments of their 

 spouses, have a custom of staining their faces with dark blue for a considerable 

 space around their mouths. The children they generally carry in a very singular 

 fashion over their shoulders, and during a journey these tender charges are placed 

 in a net and slung over the backs of their mothers. The children are lively and 

 intelligent when little, but soon acquire the downcast aspect of their elders. Yet 

 these strange people have a history, and, though its details are lost, they cherish 

 the remembrance that their forefathers were once the equals, if not the masters* 

 of the Japanese. This is supposed to have been in the sixth century before 

 Christ, at a period coeval with the reign of the first Mikado of Japan. The Ainos 

 were then masters of the northern provinces of Niphon ; but they appear to have 

 become dispossessed of their land by the Japanese, and then were gradually 

 driven across the Strait of Tsougar into Yesso. Their final subjection was not 

 accomplished until the close of the 14th century, when they were completely 

 overcome by a Japanese general, and compelled to render tribute at Jeddo. As 

 to the origin of the Ainos, we believe the whole college of ethnologists are at 

 fault. They have no written characters, but have had their rude bards or sagas, 

 who, in verses orally transmitted, have kept alive the memory of their ancient 

 heroes and their exploits on mountain and flood. The world will not quite lose 

 these wild strains, for a French missionary, the Abbe Mermet, is preparing a 

 translation of them. The language itself has already been collected, thanks to the 

 perseverance of a Japanese ofiicial, who has compiled a glossary of the Ainos 

 tongue rendered into his own. This zealous linguist deserves to have his name 

 recorded, and it is a sufficiently remarkable one, being Jasherotsona-notske. 

 Possibly the Ainos tongue may have in it some valuable hints for professors of 

 mnemonics. One of its chief characteristics appears to be a clum?y principle of 

 repetition. Thus the numerals are compound and carry one syllable all through — 

 as" chena-ppou, one; so-ppou, two; re-ppou, three; eunes-ppou, four; oskina- 

 ppou, five, and so on. Their name for the sun is baikrets-housoup, and for the 

 moon knonnats-housoup ; for water they have ba, and for hand, tekke. Probably 

 the European public may shortly receive from the Abbe Mermet a translation of 

 the Ainos Japanese dictionary. It is some evidence of the former influence of the 

 Ainos in Niphon that the Japanese have adopted several of the Ainos words in 

 the spoken language of Japan. The rude mythology of the Ainos is connected 

 on Bome obscure principle with the animals of the chase and the monsters of the 

 deep. The bear is their chief divinity, although they slay that animal whenever 

 they can accomplish such a feat. In the process of dissecting the carcase they 

 endeavour to conciliate the deity whose representative they have slain, by making 

 elaborate obeisances and deprecatory salutations. The head they always reserve, 

 . and place it outside their habitations as a sure protection against misfortune. 

 From the Japanese they have adopted some few Bhuddist notions, but their native 

 theology mainly belongs to the class of fetiche worship. All tribes of men have 

 some tradition of the origin of the race. That held by the Ainos places a woman 

 as the first of our race ; and she came, as they say, from the west. This was 



