He says, “ their beards bang long upcitt their breasts,
and their arms, necks, and backs, are covered with hair.
But he adds, that he Observes only that this character was
more general than elsewhere. }M*It is e asy ^h e says,'
find individuals equally hairy in E u ro p e ^ Their
hairiness cannot then be so great as.-his expression would
at first lead us to suppose# Krusenatern says that a Jesuit
missionary "who resided-among the Ainos some time, in
1620, merely mentions their busby beards. He adds, that
in the north of Jesso he examined some people, and found
that, except in their bushy beards and hair on their faces,
they were as smooth as other nations* In Aniwa he. in-
induced several of them to uncover their are
generally clothed in . skins of dogs and seals, and here*Jig
says, “ we were convinced to a certainty that the greater
part of the Ainos have not more hair on their bodies, than
is to be found on those of many Europeans.”. However,
he'adds, that in Mordwinoff Bay a ch|ldteeight yeara ollr
had his body entirely covered with h air: his parents, and
Several other adult persons in the same placey^were. not
more hairy than ^Europeans.* It^seems, then, thairtkis
excessive hairiness is only a variety which occasionally
appears in the race.
All the voyagers who have described the Aiflosy agree
in representing them to be people-of jmild and, simple -character.
Krusenstem says, the characteristic quality of
an Aino is goodness of heart, which is expressed in the
strongest manner on his countenance. The women are very
modest and bashful.
Klaproth has translated an account of the islands of Jesso
and Tarakai, called by the Japanese Karafuto, from a
work entitled “ Survey of the three kingdoms,” in the Ja-
pono-Chinese, by a Japanese author, Rinsifee, in which
the inhabitants of these islands are described, under the
name of Omi Katta Jeso. But this work contains no account
of their origin or early history. On the other hand,
we are given- to understand that the Chinese have accounts
* Krusenstern, ibid.
of them which reach back as far as the times of the
celebrated Han dynasty.*
A late memoir, by M. de Siebold, contains a variety of
particulars velatings to the Aino, which may serve to complete
theethnographyof that race.
■: The isleiof , Jesso, the greater part of Karafto or Tarakai,
and; most ©f the Kurilian isles near the southern extremity
of Kamtschatka, are, according to SiieboM, the dwellings
of this race, who inhabited the shore of a sea abounding
in fish and ■ valleys traversed by frequent streams.. They
call -'themselves Ain<^jor Men, adding the names of particular
places;* as Kemoun-Aino, Men of Kemoun &c.
They are- termed, by the Japanese, Morin, meaning, according
to Klaproth, “ Hairy bodies.^ ;
The Ainos dwell' under cabins composed of reeds or grass
and covering excavations in the earth, like the poorer class
of Japanese, among whom are'Tound1 caverns which formerly
served - for habitations^ The furniture of these
dwellings is Of the simplest kind, some pots and fishing
tackle and mats;, seated on which is seen the single wife
of tfe^éwner, h av ingÆer - face tinged with blue round the
mouth, which!is a badge • distinguishing dames of superior
rank. She is occupied in making garments for her husband
with the bark of a tree, or in nursing the young bear torn by
him in the mountains from its enraged mother, or in drying
the fat salmon canghfc by her family m the neighbouring
streams and bays, or in collecting the “ fucus saccharinus
on the shore : the husband hunts seals and otters and brings
up his children to the chace.
The sun, the moon, ; the sea, and other striking- objects
of nature, are the divinities of the Aino : they represent
them under rude symbols and offer sacrifices to them. The
men of Karafto bum upon the shore the -heads of animals
which theydmve caught, as a gift M the sea. Daily the
Ainoraddresses the following words to the divinity who
* Ritter’s Erdkunde YQH^aie*.tm 3 . In the first “Abschnitt/, bf the.seeQa4
« Abthenung” of this great work, thelearned author has collected every thing
that has bfeen written, or/ at least known, of any importance, in the works of
European as wèll as of Asiatic writers, on the history of the race of Ainos.