23S 
CHAEACTER OF THE AINOS. 
tlieir waist, which is covered with brass ornaments, 
and from which is invariably suspended the all- 
useful knife. Oysters, mussels, and scallops, 
mingled with the bones of salmon, seal, and 
porpoise, are thiwvn in heaps around their houses, 
showing their piscivorous propensities, and gi\dng 
evidence of the debt these poor people owe to the 
sea. The one idea of their existence seems to be 
the capture of salmon. These noble fish they sell 
to the Japanese, “reserving,” says La Ptirouse, 
“ for themselves only the stench, which adheres to 
their houses, furniture, clothes, and even the very 
grass surrounding their villages. ” 
As they come striding through the tall grass, 
Avith their bows and spears, and their long hair 
streaming in the wind, the Ainos give one the idea 
of l:»eing formidable savages; but this ferocious 
exterior suggests recollections of tlie ass in the 
lion s skin, and only serA^es as a cloak to hide a 
harmless, timid nature. On suddenly meeting a 
party in the AA^oods the men crouch doAvui and the 
Avomen and children “ hide their diminished heads.” 
