THE AINOS OF YEZO, JAPAN. 435 



lers, or koro-pok-gune dwellers, under ground, which they claim to have 

 exterminated. Bat it is impossible to determine whether this is a 

 genuine tradition or an invention of the people to explain the ex- 

 istence of the pits. It is reasonable to suppose that they should have 

 heard of the Smelenkur of Saghalien, who also live in half-underground 

 d wellings. The Tsuishikari Ainos, who originally inhabited Saghalien, 

 and who have customs somewhat different from the Yezo Ainos, say 

 that th^ir people* " used to live in underground houses called toichioei. 

 In spriug they forsook them and lived above ground until the frost and 

 snow again made them seek shelter in these subterranean dwellings, 

 which were pits roofed over, not caves."* Possibly the Saghalin Ainos 

 are the more or less direct descendants of the ancient pit-dwellers, but it 

 seems quite as likely that they have thus merely described the dwellings 

 of the Smelenkur of Saghalien, with whom they must have been well 

 acquainted. The Smelenkur seem to be a Mongolian people. 



From the relics of the Stone Age and of the kitchen middens in Japan, 

 Professor Milne concludes that the Aiuost once inhabited Japan as far 

 south as Kiushiu. The remains are of the same character throughout 

 the country, but they are more abundant in the north. The evidence 

 that they are of Aino origin may be briefly summarized as follows : 



(1) The designs on the pottery are the same as those on pottery 

 found in Yezo, supposed to have been made by Ainos at a time when 

 they possessed the art of making pots. 



(2) Some of the shell-heaps occur in places known to have been occu- 

 pied by Ainos. Historical evidence is clear that the Ainos formerly 

 lived as far south as the thirty-eighth parallel, which is about the lati- 

 tude of Sendai. 



(3) The Ainos formerly used stone implements, presumably the same 

 as those found with the pottery. Professor Milne presumes that the 

 Japanese, entering the country from the south, chased the Ainos before 

 them, while the Ainos in turn drove the pit dwellers back toward 

 Kamtschatka. There is, however, a missing link in the argument, be- 

 cause the present Ainos do not make pottery of any kind. It is scarcely 

 probable that such a useful art, when once developed to the condition 

 of elaborate artistic decoration shown by the vessels and fragments 

 from the shell-heaps, should be utterly lost by a people. The specimens 

 shown on Plate lxxxi will give an idea of the character of this deco- 

 ration, which is far superior to anything found on Japanese sepulchral 

 pottery. The only explanation that suggests itself which might ac- 

 count for the loss of this art by the Ainos is, that in gradually moving 

 northward they passed into a region where they could not find clay for 

 making their vessels. But this can scarcely be true, for fragments of 

 ancient pots are found in Yezo mounds. 



* J. M. Dixon. The Tsuishikari Ainos. Trans. Asiatic Soc, Japan, xi, 1883, 39-50. 

 t Trans. Asiatic Soc, Japan, vxi, 1879, 61-87. 



