TJie Country and its People. 109 
The Ainos, who are to be found mostly on the island of Yezo, 
are supposed to be the origmal inhabitants of Japan. These 
aborigines are, however, very different from the bulk of the 
population, and are said to be decreasing in numbers year 
by year. These Ainos are hairy people, and are a wholly dis- 
tinct race from the inhabitants properly known as Japanese. 
They are dark in skin, and have soft jet-black hair, which 
hangs from the head in thick luxuriant masses. Beside 
this, the beard, moustache, and eyebrows are very full, and 
many of them have large quantities of hair on the chest 
and limbs. One traveller states that some of the boys have 
fine soft hair on their backs, like the fur of a cat. But they 
have the advantage of the Japanese in size, being stronger, 
taller, and hardier. They are very civil to strangers, and 
treat each other with kindness. They follow agriculture 
and fishing very largely, but are not capable of mental 
application as are the Japanese. It is said that they have 
no written language or literature. Aino children in the 
mountains have a grain of millet seed put into their mouths 
as soon as born, and on the coast, a morsel of fish. Having 
had this, the child is laid aside, and not fed till next day 
under any circumstances. They are then treated as infants 
until about three or four years of age, not being weaned till 
that time, but from this early age are taught to be obedient, 
docile, and industrious. About the fifth year, tattooing is 
commenced, and different parts of the body are at intervals 
covered with beautiful devices. No woman among them 
could marry without this tattooing, — this custom, and that of 
drinking intoxicants, being part of their religion. The chil- 
dren do not wear any clothing until they are seven or eight 
years of age, and appear to suffer considerably in consequence 
from toothache and other ailments. The clothing of the 
elders, among the Ainos consists of skin coats in winter, and 
