four logs of wood. Over this there are a series of poles on which hangs a supply of dried venison, fish, &c., besides a curious miscellaneous collection of household goods, robes, and boots. The bow, arrows, and fishing spear are hung on the walls. In the fire-place are two or three offerings to the spirit of fire stuck into the sand, these are sticks whittled at the end, the shavings being allowed to hang down, not altogether detached. There is always to be found a lamp consisting of a scollop shell, with a little fish oil in it, and a wick hanging over the side, this is supported by a three pronged twig, the end of which is thrust into the sand. There are always a few wooden skewers on which fish, oysters, or venison are being cooked; and usually some shell fish are frying in their own shells. In one corner of the hut there is a shelf on which stands the lacquer ware, which is much valued and carefully preserved; a god of treasure, looking much like a rough scare-crow, and made of straw, usually hangs suspended from the roof over the shelf. The natives dislike strangers going near these shelves, and get uneasy if one approaches it, interfering if any attempt is made to touch it. All their lacquer is of the same pattern, and each house has the same articles; they appear to be manufactured by the Japanese expressly for them, as are also their knives. The only articles of home manufacture are their "atsis" or robes, bows and arrows, quivers, fishing nets, traps for catching animals, and canoes; they also make their own caps and boots, besides a few musical instruments. The huts in the north part of Yezo are better built, neater, and altogether superior to those in the south; and, though none of the Ainos are much addicted to washing, those living in the north are certainly more cleanly than their southern neighbours. On entering a hut on the N.E. coast, I was astonished to find it clean (of course excepting the poles over the fire), light and healthy looking. The embers in the sand fire-place were neatly swept up, and a rake, broom, and pair of wooden tongs were handy to replenish the fire or rake up the ashes. On either side of the hut was a raised platform, about seven feet square and two feet high, used to sleep on. There was a sick man lying on one of these; much attention had been paid him, and every pains taken to make him comfortable; a pillow made of clothes rolled up was under his head, a birch-bark vessel of rice and cup of water were by his side, and he was lying on some deerskins; there was even a broken vessel used for the purpose of a spittoon placed by him. The women seem industrious, and when in their houses are always to be seen working, either splitting up and twisting bark into thread, working the ornamental border for a robe, weaving straw mats or cooking. The villages are built irregularly, the doors or the huts face the sheltered side, away from the prevailing wind. Each hut has close to it a small shed raised on four poles, about seven or eight feet from the ground, these are built to keep stores in, and provisions, and are thus raised to protect them from dogs, foxes, rats and vermin. The bear cages are put amongst the houses in the village, and the bears are well looked after. The women are kind to their children, who are very merry and lively and generally look healthy. Babies are carried at the back, a plaited band goes over the head of the nurse, this is attached to the two ends of a short stick on which the child sits, another band round the child and secured round the nurse's body prevents it falling off. The Ainos have two or more dances; but these seem generally to le da ed only on particular occasions, in one men only take er, in another only women. The natives ride when travelling from place to place, also sometimes to the hunt. The hunters use bows and poisoned arrows with which they kill deer and large game; bears are generally shot with an arow from a spring cross-bow, the trigger line of which is laid across their track, but sometimes in winter they find a bear in his den, when they make a stout wooden cross so large that it will not go in at the entrance, and cutting down a number of branches from the trees they put the cross over the mouth of the den, stir up the bear and make him savage, they then lay the branches on the cross and he clears them away by dragging them into him, thus confining his space and making him expose himself, when he is knocked on the head. The native traps for smaller game are very neatly made, the spring is obtained from a crossbow which is connected with the slide or door of the trap (pl. xiv, fig. 1). There is yet to be mentioned their boats-these are dug-out canoes, about twelve or fourteen feet long and three road, they are worked with a paddle from one end and have often side pieces sewed on the gunwhales to raise them. For want of iron the staples to which the ropes are secured are prongs of deer's horns sharpened and driven in. Many of the men work at carpentering with the Japanese, and are said to be very handy. I was surprised to see how soon they understood the various folding legs of my camera and stand. I have only known of one instance of an Aino striking a Japanese, and this was when the latter (one of the subordinates) was troublesome to one of our officers, and persisted in doing what he was told not; the Aino gave him a box on the ear which, although not returned, made him look very savage and sulky, and will probably have been avenged soon afterwards. The interior of the island seems very little known, but probably there are few if any natives living far from the coast. As regards the number of Ainos existing, there are no statistics which can be the least relied on, any attempt therefore in that direction must be almost entirely guess work, but they can hardly muster so strong as hundreds of thousands. Captain Cook mentions the natives of the Kurile Islands having been converted to Christianity by Russian missionaries; is it not possible that the rough cross erected over Aino graves may have its origin in some relict of Christianity left by them when visiting these islands? Cook says, that they used to visit the islands to the south, although he does not say how far their visits extended. Description of the plates of Aino implements, selected from a collection procured in the country by Lieut. S. C. Holland, and presented by him to the Christy Collection. PLATE XIII. 1. Bow, made of a yellowish-brown coloured light wood, one half of it being smeared with a dark red substance resembling dried blood. It is circular in section, one inch in diameter at the middle, and tapers slightly towards the ends, which are shaped for the purpose of retaining the bowstring; one being thinned away at the shoulder, and the other having two opposed notches cut in it. On the smaller end a set of marks is cut, consisting of two opposed pairs of notches, an oblique longitudinal notch having a shorter transverse one meeting it on one side at the middle, being repeated on the two interspaces; on the other end of the bow is a single deep notch. The string is made of brown bark-fibre twisted. Length 46 inches. 2. Quiver, made of two pieces of a soft light wood, hollowed out, laid together, and fastened at the ends with strips of bark. On the sides at the middle two slips of wood are fitted and secured with cord and strips of bark; to one of these slips the ends of the suspending cord are attached. Length 184 inches, width 59 inches. 3. Short arrow. The shaft is of reed, the lower end notched to receive the bow-string; a single feather is cemented to it and tied at the ends with fibre. In the upper end of the shaft is fixed a stout bone spike tipped with a tapered scoop-shaped slip of bamboo, having small barbs cut at the base, and its concave side filled with poison. The figure shows the complete arrow on the scale of one-fourth, and the head of the full size. Length 74 inches. 4. A hollow section of bamboo, fitted into a discoidal wooden foot, the latter stained red and ornamented with carving. Height 5 inches. Lieut. Holland stated that this was made simply as a specimen of their ability in carving wood, and that he never saw such cups in use, coarse Japanese lacquer-ware being generally adopted. 5. Jew's harp, made from a thin flat slip of bamboo. Length 54 inches. PLATE XIV. 1. Wooden trap employed in the woods to catch smaller wild animals. It is in the form of a cross-bow, and consists of a pronged stock, a bow, and a T shaped slide. The bow is fastened to the stock at the lower end of two slits, made one in each prong; the bow-string is tied to the lower part of the slide, the cross-bar of which plays in the slits made in the stock. A short bent wooden pin, probably used as a trigger in setting the trap, is attached to the lower end. Length of stock 28 inches, length of bow 31 inches. 2. Snow shoe made of two bent pieces of wood, their ends overlapping each other, and fastened across with ropes of loosely twisted grass. Length 19 inches, width 8 inches. 3. "Ikubashi" or drinking stick, used by the Ainos to raise the moustache while drinking "saké." It is a flat piece of wood carved on one side and having a lozenge-shaped mark, perhaps an owner's or tribal mark, cut on the other. Length 124 inches, width 18 inch. 4. Flat piece of wood used to secure the pipe to the belt when travelling. It is engraved on one side, and slightly curved at one end, through which is perforated a hole for the pipe, as shown in fig. 5. Length 103 inches. 5. Wooden tobacco pipe together with the instruments for fastening it to the belt. The pipe bowl is very small, the cavity for the tobacco being only inch in diameter; it somewhat resembles the Tchutski pipes. Length 15 inches. 6. Wooden tobacco-box and cover, containing tobacco of a short fibre resembling Turkish tobacco, and probably of Japanese origin. A string passed through box and cover serves to attach it to the lower end of the instrument to which the pipe is fastened, two small holes being made in the latter for the purpose. Length 103 inches. 7. Flat piece of wood, engraved on both sides, and used as a winder for the bark fibre from which Aino nets and robes are made. 3 in. square. [The following communications respecting the Ainos have appeared in the Transactions of the Societies comprised in the Institute. The Hairy Men of Yesso, by W. Martin Wood. "Transactions of the Ethnological Society," new series, vol. iv. p. 34. Description of an Aino Skull, by George Busk. "Transactions of the Ethnological Society," new series, vol. vi. p. 109. Some Notes on the Ainos, by Albert S. Bickmore. "Transactions of the Ethnological Society," new series, vol. vii. p. 16. Description of the Skeleton of an Aino woman, and of three Skulls of men of the same race, by Joseph Barnard Davis, M.D. "Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London," vol. iii. p. 21. Account of the Skull of a Ghiliak, Appendix to Article II, on the Skeleton and Skulls of Ainos, by J. Barnard Davis, M.D. "Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London," vol. iii. p. 366. The Ainos, Aborigines of Yeso, by Commander H. C. St. John. "Journal of the Anthropological Institute,” vol. ii. p. 248. See also ante, p. 129. DISCUSSION. Mr. GEORGE ST. CLAIR reminded the members that in the year 1864 Mr. W. Martin Wood read a paper on the same subject before the Ethnological Society. In that paper the number of the Ainos was estimated at about 50,000. The traditionary origin of the Ainos as related by Mr. Wood, although in some particulars the same as given by Lieutenant Holland, was in others considerably different; and in those points in which it was different it approached more nearly the story of the origin of mankind given in the Hebrew scriptures. The Ainos' tradition indicated that the people came to Yesso from the westward; but on the mainland no tribes were found bearing any close resemblance to the Ainos, and it would be interesting if any light could be thrown on the ethnological relationships of so singular a people. The PRESIDENT and Mr. HYDE CLARKE also joined in the discussion. Lieutenant HOLLAND in reply said: The Ainos as a race are decidedly more hairy than any people I have met; by "more hairy” I mean that there is a greater abundance, that it grows more freely over the whole body, and that it is coarser and longer than is usual. It is possible that an European might here and there be found with nearly or quite as much hair on his body, but it would be an isolated case, and not to be met with every day, as it is in Yezo. The women do not seem to participate in this, and are not more hairy than is ordinarily the case. Some men are much more hairy than others, but if an equal number of Ainos and any other race of people I have seen or read of be taken, the Ainos would by far exceed them in growth of hair. There is no doubt that the Japanese are inclined to exaggerate this, and that they are much struck with the appearance of people who grow more hair than is customary with themselves. To this day they call Europeans "Ketoqui," meaning "hairy strangers from afar," and being struck with our hairy appearance they would no doubt be much more so with that of the Ainos. The only account of the origin of the Ainos which is to be found in the east is that published in Japanese books, and as far as I could find these all appear to agree. The Japanese story of the princess and dog is in fact the only account of their origin to be gathered from native sources. It seems hardly possible that any accurate estimate could be made of the number of Ainos now living, when it is considered that Yezo and Kunashir belong to Japan; Saghalin partly to Japan, partly to Russia, and Iturup and Urup are less known than either of the others. A very fair enumeration could be made of those living round the coast of Yezo, possibly also of those inhabiting Saghalin, but it seems incredible that the total number could have been ascertained with any degree of accuracy. The following paper was read by the Director: ACCOUNT of an INTERVIEW with a TRIBE of BUSHMANS in SOUTH AFRICA. By G. W. STOW, F.G.S. Communicated by the PRESIDENT and Professor RUPERT JONES. THE following interesting relation of an interview with a tribe or family of Bushmans is taken from a letter from Mr. G. W. Stow, F.G.S., to Professor T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., and communicated by him to the Anthropological Institute. As Mr. Stow is occupied chiefly in geological pursuits his remarks concerning the character and habits of the natives are merely incidental, but as coming from an eye witness, and as relating to a fast disappearing race of peculiar interest ethnologically, they are well worthy of being placed on record. Mr. Stow remarks with respect to the Griquas, that "as a |
