The Newtown bee., 1880-12-08
A Strange Japan Race.

;, In her recent work, Unbeater Tracks in Japan," Miss Isabella l.. Bird gives some graphic pictures of the Ainos
 or aborigines of the island of Yezo
 Japan. After the yellow skins. the 1 stiff horse hair, the feeble eyelids, the elongated eyes, the sloping eyebrows 1 the flat noses, the sunken cheeks, the Mongolian features, the puny physique, the shaky walk of the men, the re- stricted totter of the women, and the general impression of degeneracy con- veyed by the appearance of the Japan ese, the Ainos," she says, "make very singular impression. All but two or three that have seen are the most fe- rocious-looking of savages, with phy- slque vigorous enough for carrying out the most ferocious intentions, but as soon as they speak the countenance brightens into smile as gentle as that of a woman, something which can never be forgotten. The men are about the middle height. broad -chested, broad. shouldered. thick-set,' very strongly built, the arms and legs short, thick and muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies, aud especially the limbs, of many are covered with short bristly hair. l have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur as fine and soft as that of cat. The head and faces are very striking. The foreheads are very high, broad and prominent, and at first sight give one the impression of an unusual capacity for intellectual de- velopment; the ears are small and set low; the noses are straight, but short and broad at the nostrils; the mouths are wide but well formed, and the lips rarely show a tendency to fullness. The neck is short, the cranium rounded, nhn lower part of the face is small as compared with the upper, the peculiarity called a 'Jowl' being un- known. The eyebrows are full, ani form 8 straight line nearly across the face. The eyes are large, tolerably deeply set, and very beautiful, the color a rich liquid brown. the expression singularly soft, and the eyelashes long, silky. and abundant. The skin has the Italian olive tint, but in most cases is thin, and light enough to show the changes of color in the cheek. The teeth are small regular and very white; the incisors and eye teeth are not dispro- portionately large, as is usually the case among the Japanese; there is no ten- dency toward .prognathism and the fold eyelids of the Japanese is never to be met with. The features, expression and aspect are European rather than Asiatic.
 "The 'ferocious savagery' of the appearance of the men is produced by a profusion of thick soft black hair, divided in the middle, and falling Tn heavy masses nearly to the shoulders. Out of doors it is kept from falling over the face by fillet round the brow. The boards are equally profuse, quite mag nificent, and generally wavy, and in the case of the old men they give truly patriarchal and venerable aspect, in spite of the yellow tinge produced by smoke and want of cleanliness. The savage look produced by the masses of hair and beard, and the thick eyebrows, is mitigated by the softness in the dreamy brown eyes, and is altogether obliterated by the exceeding sweetness of the smile, which belongs in greater or less degree to all the rougher sex. 1 have measured the height ot thirty of the adult men Of this village, and it ranges from five feet four inches to five feet six and half inches. The circum ference of the heads averages, 22. l inches, and they are, from ear to ear, thirteen inches. The average weight of Aino adult masculine brain, ascertaineG by measurement of Aino skulls, is 45.90 ounces avoirdupois, brain weight said to excel that of all the races, Hindoo and Mussulman, on the Indian plains. and that of the aboriginal races of India and Ceylon, and is only paralleled by that of the races of the Himalayas, the Siamese, and the Chinese Burmese.