FAMILY OF AINOS. 
235 
Bniin, who had been down foraging for shellfish, 
dead crabs and mollusks being numerous on the 
sand after the recent gale. 
The captain and myself landed, and discovered 
the abodes of the Ainos, in precisely the same 
manner as did M. de Langle and his companions 
in the time of La Perouse. “ They saw a litter of 
blind puppies, the mother of which, barking in 
the woods, led them to suppose that the owners 
were not fiir off.” A half-scared woman, seeing us 
approach, cndeaYoured to conceal herself in the tali 
grass. She was, however, detected, and good- 
humouredly hunted down, when she made for the 
door of a little smoke-dried hovel. We followed 
her, and pushing gently aside the sliding board 
which served the purpose of a door, we entered 
smiling, and lo ! the entire family was before us. 
The countenance of the frightened damsel was 
shrouded by a veil of loose black hair, and all were 
silent and solemn, squatting on their hams around 
the fire ; gipsy-fashion an iron cauldron, with its 
seething mess of fish, hung suspended in the midst. 
