A, 8. Bickmore on the Ainos of Saghalien. 363 
same manner as is the custom with the Japanese. Whether 
During my stay at Nicholaifsk, at the mouth of the Amoor 
river, I met a Cossack who had been sent down to this part of 
Saghalien to live among this people in order to learn their cus- 
oms and acquire their language. He gave me the following 
information in regard to that part of them that live on that 
island: The Aino name for Saghalien is Karapto They 
have no written characters, but the old men can send intelli- 
gence to each other by means of sticks notched in different 
They are superstitiously afraid of the Japanese, 
and believe that they have supernatural power to injure them, 
and can at pleasure cause them to sicken and even die. When 
aman dies they bury him clad, not necessarily in white, but 
in the best suit he may happen to have, and usually in furs 
when he possesses any. The bodies of persons of all ages are 
placed at full length in boxes, with the face upward. At such 
times they all cry and mourn very bitterly, even to the chil- 
dren, The Cossack said that one time he wanted a little child 
that was visiting her parents, and when he came to their house 
he found her erying with the others over the loss of a friend. 
When a widow laments, they do not beat her with sticks as a 
Japanese doctor reported to me was the custom of the Ainos 
on Volcano Bay. Every friend who comes to mourn with a 
widow is very careful not to mention her husband’s name, not 
from any superstitious fear of the dead, but for fear of remind- 
ing her of her logs, and thus adding to her sorrow. When a 
man dies, the next youngest brother takes the widow as his 
for her father. A man may have two or three wives ; the Cos- 
sack did not know any bis who had more than three. (The 
Gilyaks, their immediate neighbors, usually have two.) If a 
woman is unfaithful, the husband merely reproves her, and if 
© one but he and the guilty parties knew of it, he would 
robably not mention it to any one. When a woman is in la- 
oo Se ake 
r, sh | 
Kept from her husband for one month afterward. 
h the other members of the family, but is. 
pr eae 
