68 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
very plentiful in Yezo, but later on, and before the 
Government stepped in, the slaughter was so great 
that they were almost exterminated; now there are 
comparatively few. The method of killing was to 
drive them in winter, when they congregated in 
large herds in the warmer valleys, into deep, soft 
snow, where they could be easily got at and 
slaughtered by the hunters with spears and 
clubs. Their skins at the time I am writing of 
were sold for about 35 cents each. A Hakodate 
firm bought 10,000 at that price, and shipped them 
to Europe. 
On two occasions when weather-bound I was the 
guest of an Ainu chief, in whose house I spent the 
night. Like all Ainu houses, it was a primitive 
structure built of saplings, grass, and bark, with a 
hole in the roof. Large slabs of bark were placed 
outside the grass, but no nails were used, lashings 
being the only fastenings. In the ordinary Ainu 
houses the floor—that is, the ground—was covered 
with straw mats, but in the chiefs place part of the 
floor was raised, and Japanese mats were used. Both 
the headmen in whose houses I put up had quite a 
number of beautiful old Japanese lacquered utensils, 
consisting of large boxes of various shapes, as well 
as bowls and other things, which were kept on a 
sort of dais on one side, and made quite a display. 
The exteriors were mostly black lacquer with gold 
ornamentation, the insides being of red lacquer. 
These articles, of which the Ainu were proud, were 
presents from the Daimiyo of the district in former 
times. The villages at which we stayed stood some 
distance off the road, and our Ainu hosts were par¬ 
ticularly kind, giving us the best of everything they 
