14 Canadian Record of Science. 



Throughout the length and breadth of Japan, as we find it 

 to-day, there are many Aino names, clearly recognizable as 

 such, applied to mountains and other prominent natural 

 objects as well as to places, towus and cities ; and these are 

 permanent monuments exactly similar to the lasting record 

 of their former greatness, which our North American In- 

 dians have left in such names as Connecticut, Winnipesau- 

 kee, Niagara, etc., etc. Though the Aino words have un- 

 dergone much modification at the hands of the Japanese, 

 yet it is difficult so to disguise them that they cannot be re- 

 cognized. Conspicuous examples of this are to be found in 

 the present name of the town Matsumai from the Aino 

 Mado-mai. Likewise in the modern capital town of Sapporo, 

 we have a corruption of the Aino Satsu-poro, " a great dry 

 place." And if we apply this test more generally, we may 

 readily discover traces of the Ainos over a much wider area. 

 Thus Kurile, applied to the northern chain of islands reach- 

 ing to Kamschatka, is a distinctively Aino word. When 

 in this manner we get back to the continent, we there dis- 

 cover still further undoubted traces of this people. 



Upon this point Latham l says : — " I cannot think it is 

 by mere accident that the root, kor, appears in the names, 

 iToria, Kurile and TToriak ; nor yet that it is by accident that, 

 when we reach the Baltic, the same syllable appears in Kar- 

 dia and Airland, also reappearing in the name of the govern- 

 ment of iTwrsa." Pritchard ' 2 considers the Aino to be closely 

 related to the Samoides and Caucasian tribes, thus leading 

 us to examine western Siberia for evidences of their early 

 home and settlement. Yet again Brace :i , who regards the 

 Japanese as a graft on the Ainos, speaks of the latter in such 

 terms as might lead us to believe that they " belong to the 

 north Turanian family, and though their language does not 

 precisely determine the race, probably the Tungusian." 

 Wood 4 gives great weight to matters of tradition, and is 

 thereby strongly led to the belief in a western origin, for 



1 Descriptive Ethnology. 



2 Nat. Hist, of Man., p. 227. 



3 Races of the Old World. 



4 Trans. Eth. Soc, New Series, iv. 34, etc. 



