Sharp County record., 1881-01-13
A Strange Japan Race.

A Strange Japan Race.
In her recent work, "Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan" Miss Isabella L. Bird
gives some graphic pictures of the
Amos, OF aborigines of the island of
Yezo, Japan. "After the yellow skins,
the stiff horse hair, the feeble eyelidS,
the elongated eyes, the sloping eye
brows, the flat noses, the Sunken cheeks,
the Mongolian features, the puny
physique, the shaky walk of the men, the
restricted totter of the women, aud the
general impression of degeneracy con-
veyed by the appearance of the Japan
ese, the Amos" she says, make avery
singular impression. All but two or
three that J. have seen are the most
ferocious-looking of savages, with a
physique 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 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 especially the limbs
of many are covered with short 'bristly
hair. [ have seen two boys whose
backs are covered with fur as fine and
soft as that of a cat. The heads 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 Uranium rounded,
the cheek b nes low and the lower part
of the fdce i, smuB as. oompared with
the upper the peculiarity called q
'iowr being unknown. The eye
brows are full, and form a
straight line nearly across tho
face. The eyes are large, tolerably
deeply set, and very beautiful the color
rich liquid brown, the expression sim
gularly soft, and the eyelashes long,
silky and abundant. The skin has the
Italian olive tint, but in most cases ia
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 dis
proportionately large, as is usually the
case among the japanese; there is no
tendency towards prognathism and the
fold of integument which conceals the
upper eyelids of the japanese is never
to be met with. The features, express
sion and aspect are European rather
than ASiatic.
"The 'ferociOus savagery' Of the ap-
pearance of the men is produced by a
profusion of thick soft black hair, divi-
ded in the middle, and falling in heavy
masses nearly to the shoulders. Out of
doors il is kept from falling over the
face by fllet 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 miti-
gated by the softness in the dreamy
brown eyes, and is altogether oblitera-
ted by the exceeding sweetness of the
smile, which belongs in greater or less
degree to all the rougher sex. have
measured the height of thirty OF the
adult men of this village, and it ranges
from five feet four inches to five feet
six and q half inches. The circumfer-
ence of the heads averages 221
inches, and they are, from ear to ear,
thirteen inches. The average weight
of the Aino adult masculine brain, as
certained by measurement of Aino
skulls, is 1890 ounces avoirdupois, a
brain weight said to excel that of all
the races, Hindoo and Mussulman, on
the Indian plains, and that of the abor-
iginal races of India and Ceylon, and is
only paralleled by that Of the races of
the Himalayas, the Siamese and the
Chinese Burmese"