The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-28
RitImtond 9ispatrk.
SATURDAY.. AUGUST %, 1869.
THE CIRCULATION OF THE "DIsPATCH" "
IS LARGER THAN THE COMBINED CIRcU-
LAT1oN OF ALL THE OTHER DAILY NEWS
PAPERS OF THIS CITY.
SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS.
The Ainoes or Hairy Men.

SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS.
The Ainoes or Hairy Men.
At the meeting On the 25th instant Pro-
fessor Bickmore,l of Madison University,
read an interesting paper on the "Ainoes
or Hairy Men of Yesso, saghalien, and
the Kurile islands," 1t has long been
known, he said, that q race cf men live in
those islands whose bodies are SO profusely
covered with hair that they have been
called hairy men. Professor Bckmore,
during all his travels over the eastern and
northern parts Of Asia, visited Iesso, the
Hakodadi, it's chief city, he travelled
northwards over a mountain chain, and
came down to Volcano bay-so named
| by Commodore Perry's Expedition on ac-
count of the many volcanoes along its
shores. Following round this bay to its
head he came to O village of this strange
people. Their houses are made of q rude
framework of sticks covered with millet
straw or coarse hay. The walls are only
four feet high, and holes in these under the
caves serve for windows. They have no
benches or stools. A few boards and sticks
resting on stones or blocks of wood, and
covered with the skin of some wild animal,
form their only lounges and beds. Their
cooking utensils are comprised Of few
iron pots obtained from the Japanese, and
their dishes are all made of wood or from
the valves of large shells. Their only
clothing is manufactured by stripping off
the bark of a tree and removing the
fbrous inner layers, which are twisted be-
tween the thumb and forefnger into con-
tinuous line of the size of q mackerel line.
To weave cloth from this cord number Of
pieces of it are fastened at one end to q
post, and at the other to a stick, which is
held horizontally. The filling is then
passed through from right to left and uice
Uersa. All the cloth they have is manu-
| factured in this slow and laborious manner.
Their dress consists of o loose cloak or
dressing-gown.
The only thing they cultivate is little
millet, their whole subsistence being de-
pendent on fishing and hunting. They are,
therefore, perfect savages in regard to
civilization, while at the same time their
great mental characteristic is on overflow
ing good nature, which manifests itself in
every possible way. Everywhere Professor
Bickmore was kindly received into their
houses, and all the many questions his in
terpreter asked were most politely and fully
answered. -. 49,. --Ff i ...j..
| During art of the summer their bays
and friths are literally filled with salmon,
and at such times stock of food is laid up
for the coming year by drying the fish in
the sun, without salt, and storing them in
small houses built on high posts. Each
principal house has one of these store
houses near it. They hunt the bear and the
deer. The skin of the former their Japan
ese masters oblige them to give up to them,
but those of the deer they are allowed to
keep for their own use. The skull of the
bear is always carefully kept as trophy,
and placed on the top of pole near the
house of the man who killed it. In front
of single house Professor Bickmore count
ed twenty-nine of these skulls.
The two great physical characteristics Of
this people are: first, that their eyelids are
horizontal and open widely, and are not
obHque and open but partially, as in all
branches of the Mongol family; and, Sc
condlv, that their cheek bones are not pro-
minent. These two important characters,
which are constant except in the desce nd
ants of those Japanese officers who have
taken Aino women for concubines, sepa-
rate them from the Mongol family Ito which
they have been hitherto referred by all
ethnoloSists) and show that this peculiar
people, in that remote corner Of the earth
are really fragment of our own Caucasian,
or Indo- European, race. This view is con-
tirmed by the wonderful development of
their hair, which has been regarded as their
chief characteristic, though it is really OF
only secondary importance. In this re-
spect they come nearest to the Russian, or
Their language is peculiar, and is known
to differ entirely from that of the japanese,
and of every other people near them. 1t
is supposed to be syllable language.
From the Japanese histories we learn
that this people have inhabited the islands
known as the Japan group at least for
half century before the time Of Neuchad-
nessar, yet it was only in 1867 that PROBES
sor Bickmore's researches showed their true
position. Their entire population is sup
posed to be from 10000 to $4,000. Under
the iron tyranny of the japanese this peo-
pie are passing away, and Professor Bick-
more thinks that eff the enlightened
nations of the western world had been but
few centuries later in reaching that dis
tant region of the East this people would
only have been known to US by few pas
sages in the writings of the japanese his
tories, and even then such references would
have been regarded by scrupulous investi-
gators as apocryphal and more properly
classed with myths and fables"
Professor Bickmore exhibited several
stereoscopic views Of these Ainoes, and
maps carefully colored to show the areas
they occupy.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Bickmore's
paper, Professor w. P. Blake expressed the
satisfaction with which he had listened to
it, particularly as he had become familiar
with the appearance and characteristics OF
the Ainoes by constant contact with them
for some months while travelling IN the
mountains of the interior of the northern
part of Japan. He confirmed in general
the statements of Mr.. Bickmore, and de-
scribed the .Ainoes as o race entirely dis
tinct from the Monaghan races, and as
more nearly allied to European types, but
yet different, especially in the great guam
tity of long, black hair covering the head,
lips, chin, and the whole body, even to the
fingers and toes broad, tlattened noses, and
thick lips. Their foreheads are remark
ably square, and prominent over the eyes,
which are horizontal, and not oblique as in
the Mongol races. They have considerable