THE AINOS OF YEZO, JAPAN. 467 



The height of the monuments varies from 3 to 6 feet, and depends 

 upon tbe age and position of deceased. Monuments for women are 

 plain posts, not so high as those accorded to men. 



Mourning customs vary greatly in different parts of the island. Tbe 

 period of mourning may last three days, or as many years. This is a 

 subject concerning which little seems to he known. Formerly it was 

 the custom to burn tbe houses of tbe dead, but this is no longer done 

 in Yezo. 



PUNISHMENTS. 



In the museum at Sapporo tbere is a collection of clubs, carved in 

 rough relief, which tbe Ainos use in punishing wrong-doers. Their 

 punishments are severe, but they do not take life, even for the crime of 

 murder. The murderer is bound to a cross for a week, and, after his 

 release, receives some good advice from the judge, when he again takes 

 bis place as an honorable citizen. 



The clubs are used for punishing thefts and other crimes. The pris- 

 oner is stripped to tbe waist, and heavy blows are delivered upon the 

 bare back. Tbe Ainos also have certain trials to prove the innocence 

 or guilt of the accused person, such as the trial by hot water, in which 

 a stone must be picked from the bottom of a kettle of boiliug water, 

 and tbe trial by a heated iron, which is supposed not to burn tbe flesh 

 of one wrongly accused. Mr. Batchelor states that a murderer has his 

 nose and ears cut off, or the tendons of the feet severed. These cruel 

 punishments are undoubtedly old practices no longer in vogue, although 

 one can not speak very confidently as to the cause of their discontinu- 

 ance, unless it be due to Japanese control, B. von Siebold has sup- 

 posed, from these old customs that the Ainos were once a savage and 

 warlike people. They may have been so, as one might infer from Jap- 

 anese tradition, but it seems to me unsafe to make the assumption on 

 tbe grounds suggested by Von Siebold. Their present character does 

 not sustain it in any way. Sympathy, regard for physical suffering of 

 others, are not early developments in human character. Lingering 

 traces of savage heartlessness and cruelty are still recognized in the 

 practices of our own children. 



HUNTING AND FISHING. 



Wild animals, as bears, deer, foxes, and many others, abound in the 

 Yezo forests, while the sea yields an abundance of fish of an excellent 

 quality. The Ainos are brave hunters, and they are largely dependent 

 on the chase for their animal food and winter clothing. Their hunting 

 implements, however, are of the rudest description. The bears of Yezo, 

 which are the same as the brown or grizzly bear of North America, 

 are large and dangerous. At certain seasons they do not hesitate to 

 attack man, even entering the dwellings in search of food. These fe- 



