THE KURILSKY AINU 
21 
The Ainu are fast diminishing, and, although a 
project was set on foot some years ago by influential 
Japanese and foreigners to take means to try and 
preserve the race from extinction, there is, I am 
afraid, but little hope of success. Their habits, their 
helplessness and want of spirit, and their passion 
for strong liquor, tell against them, and, like all other 
savage people who come in contact with civilized 
races, they are doomed to disappear. Whatever 
may have been the case in the past, at the present 
day they have no energy or ambition. Little, if 
any, actual tyranny on the part of their Japanese 
masters is witnessed, yet there is sufficient circum¬ 
stantial evidence to show that they have suffered 
harsh and cruel treatment. Practically leading the 
life of serfs, and taught to look upon themselves as 
beings altogether inferior to their Japanese con¬ 
querors, they have for hundreds of years been so 
cowed and crushed as to have lost all idea of resist¬ 
ance or independence, and helplessness and sub¬ 
missiveness have become hereditary. To-day the 
Ainu are the most docile, submissive, and spiritless 
people on the face of the earth. Strike an Ainu 
man, and the chances are he will burst into tears. 
I have seen this on more than one occasion, the 
chastisement being nothing more than a smart cuff 
with the open hand. They display a curious mixture 
of courage and timidity; they will not hesitate to 
attack a bear, but they have a mortal and instinc¬ 
tive fear of the Japanese. Witness their dread of 
offending the Japanese officials by giving information 
about themselves to Miss Bird, as recorded in her 
book, cc Unbeaten Tracts in Japan. 55 Even the 
northern Kurilsky Ainu, who were not subject to 
