22 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
Japan, were in terror of the Japanese, and I have 
known them hurriedly shift from one island to another 
on learning of their approach. This fear of their 
Japanese masters was much more apparent some 
twenty odd years ago than it is to-day. It was 
probably as causeless then as it is now, but there 
is little doubt that in the past it arose from cruelty 
and oppression. The Japanese Government has of 
late years done much to help the Ainu, but, un¬ 
fortunately, there is too little inclination on their 
part to help themselves. 
With no written language, the Ainu have but 
little history of their own. Practically they are 
without any stirring traditions to put and keep heart 
in them, few or no doughty deeds of their forefathers 
to emulate, and literally nothing to make them feel 
proud of their race. In other words, they have no 
patriotic spirit, and consequently nothing to encourage 
them to make an effort to continue to exist as a 
nation. Like the Blacks of Australia, their final 
extinction is all but certain. And yet it is a pity 
that such a sturdy and comely people, so much 
superior in physique to their Japanese rulers, should 
be effaced from the earth. 
The Ainu are apparently a strong and healthy 
people, and one would think their numbers ought 
to increase; but the opposite is the case. The 
reasons for this are several. Epidemic diseases—like 
smallpox, for instance, when it once gets a hold—play 
sad havoc. Syphilis, introduced amongst them by 
the Japanese, and drink, play a not unimportant 
part in reducing their numbers. One other cause 
which tends largely to prevent their increase is, in 
my opinion, the fact that, wherever the Ainu live in 
