Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-03-03
A STRANGE PEOPLE.
The Queer Race Known % che Aims
In Japa0.

The Queer Race Known % enc Aims
In japan.
The word Ainu Is a generic term,
and signifies "hairy men''-a name
applied to these curious people by
themselves, says the st. James
Budget. The Japanese estimate the
number Of the Ainu at 10000, but
Mr.. Lander, after deducting the half.
castles, reckons that they do not ex.
coed half that number. Pleasure and
rest were the two chief objects, we
are told, which induced Mr.. Lander
to visit these isles, but it appears to
have been his fate to meet with
neither. He landed ut lIakodate,
and after one days rest set forth to
survey the island and interview the
inhabitants. He travelled some
1900 miles, of which, $500 were
traversed on horseback on rough
pack saddle, and, like the hero Of
SCOTS ballad, The rode all UNI
armed and he rode all alone"
II sat down in the tea-house on
the soft mats, aud my Bento-Japan.
csc lunch-woA served to mo on q
tiny table. 2'nis was water soup;
there was sGnweed, there was bowl
Of rico and raw hGh. The fish-a
small funC.-wss In q diminutive
dish, and its back was covered by q
leaf; tho head projected over the
side Of tho plate. On the leaf were
placed lsvers) neatly cut pieces Of
raw fest, witch had apparently beer
removed froa, the back Of the under.
lying anlmsl.
"As / hud long been accustomed to
Japanese food OF this kind, I ate to my
hearts content, when, to my horror,
the funs, which had been staring at
me with its round eyes, relieved Of
the weight that had passed from its
back to my digestive organs, leaped
up, leaf and all from the dish, and
fell on the mat. All the vital parts
had bvsn carefully left in the fish,
and the w,etched creature was still
alive.
Horrible |" I cried, violently push.
ing away the table and walking out
disguised, to the great surprise Of the
people present, who expected me to
revel in the deliciousness OF the dish. "
These hairy people have long boards
and mustaches, which, once having
attained the age OF manhood, they
allow to grow and never touch. The
women, not being favored by nature
with such ornaments, endeavor to
make up for the deficiency by tattoo
ing u long mustachc on their lips and
cheeks.
The Ainu process Of tattooing Is q
painful one. The tattoo marks are
usually done with the point Of q
knife, not with tattooing needles, as
by the Japanese. Many incisions are
cut nearly parallel to each other.
These are then filled with cuttle.fisli
black. Sometimes smoke-black mixed
with the blood from the missions Is
used instead. On the lips the operas
ton Is so painful that 1t has to be
done by installments. 1t Is begun
with n small semi.circle on the upper
lip when the girl Is only two or three
years Of age, and few incisions are
added every year till she Is married,
tie mustaclie then reaching nearly
to the ears, where ut its completion
II ends In point.
Both lips are surrounded by III;
but not all women are thus marked.
Some have no more than semi
circular tattoo on the upper lip (;
others have an additional semi.circle
under the lower lip, and many get
tired OF the painful process when the
tattoo is hardly large enough to sur
round their lips. The father Of the
girl Is generally tho operator, but oc-
casionally 1t Is the mother who "dec.
crates" the lips and arms Of her
female offspring. Besides this tat
toed mustache, q horizontal line joins
the eyebrows, and another line, par
allel to it, runs across the forehead.
The tattoo could not be OF a coarser
kind. A rough geomctrical drawing
adorns the arms and hands Of women,
the pattern OF one arm being often
different from that OF the other.