PLATE LIX.
A KURILIAN.
F R O M the southern point of Kamtshatka, called Cape Lopatka, towards
the south-west, there extends a series of islands called by the Russians
Kourilskie, in almost a direct line to Japan. These islands, many of which
are extremely rocky and mountainous, are inhabited by various people,
who are all included under the name of Kurilians, but whose manners
and ways of life differ in many respects; and who form, as it were, a
series of gradations between the Japanese and Kamtshadals. Some of
these have the appellation of the " hairy" Kurilians, from the quantity
of hair, with which their bodies are covered. One of the most
remarkable parts, in which they differ in appearance from the inhabitants
of the continent, as well as from the natives of the Aleutan isles,
is the immense bushy black beard, which they wear.
All these people are much more civilized and humane than the
numerous nations of Siberia before described, particularly those, who
inhabit the most southern isles, and who have a connexion with the
Japanese. From their vicinity to Japan, they are enabled to exchange
their commodities, such as, whale oil, furs, feathers, for metals, stuffs,
tobacco, and various other articles. The southern Kurilians dress in
some measure like the Chinese or Japanese, using cotton, and sometimes
even silk, in the formation of their clothes, which they also
ornament with fur, and embroider in various ways. They also puncture
the skin, wliich tliey consider as very ornamental. Among almost
all these islanders there exists a very great veneration for old age,
particulariy in their respective families.
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