228 Traditions of the Ainos. 



determined the probable old metrical standard for the ruins of 

 Teotihuacan, and made it about - 8 metre = 31*5 inches, which 

 is not far from Mr. Petrie's for Central America and Copan, if 

 10'65 x 3 = 31*95 ; though it is also very near an even J- of the 

 Octacatl, to which I have previously referred. 



There is, doubtless, room for further investigation in respect to 

 these old American measures. 



VI. Traditions of the Ainos of Northern Japan.* 



ByD. P. Penhallow. 



Tradition is the unwritten history of a people, transmitted 

 from one generation to another by word of mouth, and from its 

 very nature is not altogether reliable, but in the absence of any 

 testimony of a more exact nature, must be given some weight as 

 affording an approximate clue to the history of the people con- 

 cerned. 



When traditions relate to historic periods, they may often be 

 verified in many particulars ; but when they deal with periods 

 which antedate all written records of a contemporaneous people, 

 verification is hopeless, and they must be accepted for what they 

 are worth. Thus it is with the aborigines of Japan. Japanese 

 history extends back to about B.C. 200 or B.C. 400, but many 

 of the Aino traditions relate wholly to a much earlier period. 

 Those which fall within the historic period of the Japanese can 

 in many cases be verified by the history of the latter. 



Bonded down through a long series of generations, traditions, 

 however well founded upon fact in the first instance, ultimately lose 

 much of their value, and may often become wholly different in 

 substance from those originally given. This is more conspicuously 

 the case as time passes. Passing events must leave a certain 

 impress upon the mind, which will, in the course of a few years be- 



* The Author was for fouryears resident in that part of Japan where 

 the Ainos are now most numerous, and, in his journeys through the 

 country, had numerous and exceptional opportunities of learning 

 their habits and language. 



