18 Canadian Record of Science. 



ican Indian to the European, aad in this history is truly re- 

 peated. It is the same story of pacific intentions, bold de- 

 mands, aggressive acts, and continual wars, resulting in the 

 final subjugation and extermination of a weaker race. Dur- 

 ing the first centuries of conquest, the Ainos were called 

 Ebisu, literally "savages," but later this name gave place to 

 that by which they are now known. 



If we are to examine the present geographical distribu- 

 tion of the Ainos, we find the southern limit in Yezo, where 

 they are most abundant now. According to the most re- 

 cent and trustworthy statistics, there are in all 16, 637, of 

 which 8,316 are men and 8, 321 women. 1 They are dis- 

 tributed in the eleven provinces of Yezo as follows : — 



Ishikari, 



1,058 



Shiribushi, 



857 



Iburi, 



3,726 



Hitaka, 



5,270 



Tokachi, 



1,498 



Teshiwo, 



352 



Oshima, 



245 



Kushiro, 



1,449 



Nemuro, 



473 



Chisuma, 



460 



Kitami. 



1,249 







Of these, however, 750 were brought from Karafuto to 

 the province of Ishikari, when in 1876 Saghalien was ceded 

 to Russia in exchange for the Kuriles. In addition to these, 

 Ainos are found in Saghalien, on the opposite Siberian coast 

 and in Kamschatka, as also to a more limited extent in 

 Alaska. 



Having progressed so far eastward, it is hard to conceive 

 why these people should not have continued in the same 

 direction as long as there were no great barriers. Spread- 

 ing as they did from one island to another through Japan 

 and the Kuriles, there is no reason why they should not 

 have visited the various members of the Aleutian chain and 



1 Braurfs (Science, ii, 134, see also i. 210 and 307,) endeavors to 

 make it appear, from statements of missionaries and from estimates 

 based upon the villages he passed, that there are at least 50,000 

 Ainos. His grounds, however, are wholly unwarrantable and his 

 conclusions in direct conflict with the most reliable official statis- 

 tics, for which he professes a profound contempt. The figures given 

 above are essentially the same as those given by Dr. Scheube, who 

 states the Aino population to be 17,000 in round numbers. 



