The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-29
MABEL LOOMS TODD
AND ANUS OF JAPAN.
Visiting Among People Almost of
Stone Age.
SEARCHING FOR OLD RELICS.
An Odd Race That Has Not Kept Pace With ia
pans REPRESENTATIVE Tools Used ID
Farming Difficulty in Securing Srecimens.
Women Formerly Tattood Their Faces.
YOKOHAMA HARBoR, Aug.
YACHT CORoNET.


The little town of Esashi, in northern
Hokkaido, temporarily raised into promi-
nence by the total eclipse track having
seen fit to traverse its domain, has now
returned to it's normal quiet, echoes of
the great world growing fainter in the
distance as the various scientific expe-
ditions retreat further from the Sea of
Okhotsk toward more frequented regions.
Our own expedition and that from the
Paris Observatory under Prof. Deslandres
as we'll as Prof. Terao's party from the
Imperial CTokyo) University, used about
a week after the eclipse in taking down
instruments, packing apparatus and dis
mantling the stations generally. We had
the sad satisfaction q use the expression
advisedly, for if the circumstances had
been different L should have had to say
the happy exaSperation'O of hearing
from the Astronomer Royal of England
in Akkeshi that at his station the sky
was heavily clouded and nothing was
done. Even yet we have not heard how
the European parties Jared; but that this
corona was one of unusual brilliancy was
evident from it's brightness through the
thinly drifting clouds which obscured its
detail.
The Ainu, however, were obscuret' by
no clouds of any sort during the sojodrn
in their vicinity, and very fire opportu-
mites for studying this interesting race
were afforded. There are no roads in
Northern Yezo, no jinrikishas, no kagos,
no carriages, but plenty~of horses and no
side saddles. So the country had to be
explored in rather primitive but per-
feetly effectual manner, on horseback
through the narrow and often bewildering
he h ~IrIxr
scrub bamboo or along the hard sand
beaches at low tide. In these rides | was
fortunate in having the company of
Japanese gentleman, formerly Governor
of of the Hokkaido provinces, who |
knows the Ainu thoroughly, and their |
language as well, and who, still better is |
we'll known to them for many miles in all |
directions. In way they are a shy race, |
almost hermit-like SO far as foreigners
are concerned, and any casual traveller |
visiting the villages alone, or with Jap
anese guide who is strange to them, sees
)ut little of their life or customs and can
'arely purchase any of their implements
1r articles of dress. The fact that for
,igners were in the region had interested
hem greatly, and that for the first time
| foreign lady was near by had aroused
much curiosity, and at all the villages
hey seemed as glad to see me as I was
o see them. So mutually in exceedingly
rood humor, and able to communicate
asily by my helpful acquaintance, our
tudy of each other progressed finely.
The elder women have elaborate orna-
nentation around the mouth in tattooing
# blue-black color, which gives them
peculiarly barbarous appearance; but
he young girls are attractive and often
" the Japanese Government several
ears ago, and while not entirely sup
'ressed, is far less frequent than for
nerly. These young girls have generally
clear brown skin, showing a warm
usset red in the cheeks, with beautiful
crown eyes shaded by long and thick
yelashes. In the younger generation,
90, the luXuriant black hair is often
imply coiled at the back of the head
instead of being cut in the strangely
native way, to stand out thick
y on each side of the head, like an over
rown hearth brush, and perfectly short
t the back of the head, nearly half way
o the top. Their teeth are even and
White, and altogether they look little
Ike the cruel heather race they were
supposed to be. But the Anus
ave no literature, no written language
ven, and their arts are of the rudest.
contact with the cultivated Japanese for
thousand years has apparently taught
hem little or nothing, and even now
hey would be scarcely beyond the stone :
ge except for the easily obtained impIe-
nents of Japanese make. !
The native Ainu utensils are primitive ,
nd very interesting. The bows with {
heir poisoned arrows, the knife handles, !
he tobacco pouches, the apparatus for ,
'eaVing elm fibre into cloth-all of wood, f
ften very well carved-have sometimes
cen handed down from parent to child
trough several generations. Frequently
family has but one of each article, and
hat one highly priced, which accounts
lrgely for their dislike of selling their
ossessions. My Japanese friend, how
yer, prevailed upon some of the Aainu |