488 Canadian Record of Science. 



by a man or woman and the cub allowed to suck it from the 

 lips, which it will readily do. In fact, it is at first fed in 

 much the same way as boys at home feed young birds. The 

 next step is to teach the animal to lap from the hand, 

 which is also soon accomplished ; then it learns to take its 

 food from a wooden tray. This is the general way of rear- 

 ing bear cubs, and any one who knows how fond bears are 

 of licking things, will readily understand how easy it would 

 be to teach a cub to lap. A very young cub could almost 

 subsist by licking only. 



" However, a woman may occasionally be found who is 

 strong-minded enough to take a very young cub — a cub 

 whose eyes are not yet open — to her breast, once a day, for 

 a day or two, but at the same time she feeds it from the 

 band and mouth in the manner above stated. Such women 

 are very scarce indeed, as is also the occasion for them, for 

 cubs are seldom taken young enough to admit of being so 

 nursed. I have seen the cubs of bears brought up by hand, 

 but have never seen one nursed as a woman nurses a child. 



"No doubt the Ainu are low enough in the scale of human- 

 ity and have some barbarous manners and customs, but 

 their barbarity has been exaggerated, as their stupidity has 

 been taken too much for granted. Thus, in the case under 

 discussion, it seems to me that the bringing up of bears' 

 cubs at the human breast, should not be called an Ainu cus- 

 tom merely because a few strong-minded women can be 

 found, after a great deal of search, who will take and nurse 

 a cub for a day or two. They are exceptions to the rule." 



The results of the communications as above, are of con- 

 siderable interest as showing that the Ainos are. at least in 

 some respects, of a much higher order than might be in- 

 ferred from the writings of many, and we cannot but feel 

 that these facts are of considerable ethnological interest, 

 concerning as they do, a most interesting remnant of a 

 people of whom we are just beginning to gain a correct 

 knowledge. 



