The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-07-17
eE1
1.-THE KING CURE OVER ALL FOR EMASNNRa
G@sHS
= NEURALGIA.
: SSIATICA IS ETz AES
CURIOUS BEAR FEASTS.
Queer Ways of Some Interesting SaV
ages in Northern japan.

SOHIOOS 6EAh f6AS -.
Queer Ways of Some Interesting Saw
ages in Northern Japan.
The, queerest festival ever heard of is
celebrated annually by certain saw
ages who live on the island of Yezo, in
the Japanese archipelago. They are
the hairiest people in the world, some of
the men being so covered with long fur
that their bodies can hardly be seen.
The bear is worshiped by them as a god,
and it is the ceremonial pertaining to
this cult hat is described as so re-
markable.
They have good reason to respect
the bear of Yezo, which is a huge and
ferocious animal, closely resembling
the American grizzly. 1t does not hesi--
tate to attack man, and when hungry
it sometimes enters dwellings in search
of food. On the other hand, the hairy
people are brave hunters, and, though
possessing no better weapons than
bows and arrows, they do not hesitate
to assail the brute. The arrows are
poisoned, and a mere puncture of the
skin is so fatal that bruin will surely
fall dead before he can run 200 yards.
This poison is prepared from young
roots of the aconite plant. Ordinarily
the hairy people use it for set bows in
the woods. When a bear comes along
and steps on a cord, an arrow is re-
leased and enters the flesh of the mi
NAL. In parts of Yezo the forests are
dangerous to travellers by reason of
these set bows. Bears are extraordi-
narily numerous on the island, and they
furnish clothing as well as food to the
inhabitants. Bear gall, too, is greatly
priced as a medicine.
Thus the hairy people regard bruin
with the highest respect, giving him a
place of N in their pantheon. To
propitiate him and to atone for having
put his brothers and sisters to death,
they hold periodical feasts, the most
important feature of which, oddly
enough, is the sacrifice of a young bear.
There is eating and drinking and dane
ing for several days, at the end of which
the bear is crushed to death under a big
log, upon which the merrymakers
mount. Finally, the animal is cut up
and eaten, and it's skull is placed on the
sacred hedge which is found on the east
side of every house.
1t is a great honor to be the giver of
a OCd Aaob. III SOiliPuA AiNCl y
man can afford it, because the host must
pay for everything, and immense guam
titles of rice brandy, or sake, are con-
sumed. At the end of winter q baby
pear is caught and placed in a cage of
logs. At first it is sucked by some
woman, usually the wife of the captor,
and later on it is fed with fish. The
festival takes place in September or
October, by which time the captive ami
NAL has grown so big and strong as to
threaten to break out of it's prison.
The ceremonies are elaborate, but con-
sist most Importantly of drinking and
dancing. For awhile the woman who
served as wet nurse for the peal sits
aside, ~sorrowful, having q quasi-pa-
rental feeling toward the victim.
At length young bruin is taken out of
h cage by three or four strong young
men, who lead him around for a time.
Then he is made target for arrows
which, instead of pointed heads, have
blunt wooden ends decorated with bits
of red cloth. Next, the animal is taken
before the sacred hedge, a log is laid
upon him, and the men mount upon the
log, crushing the poor beast to death.
Meanwhile the women dance around,
with lamentations, striking the men, to
manifest their indignation at such
cruelty. Finally the body of the vic
tim is laid on a mat near the hedge, and
b men proceed to get helplessly
drunk.
On the following day the bear Is cut
up, it's blood being caught in cups and
greedily drunk. The liver is aiken out,
$780, 49,
raw, with salt. The flesh and entrails
are put In the house, to be divided
among the participants in the feast next
day. An opening is made in the skull,
through which the brains are removed,
and the latter are passed around in cups,
mixed with sake. Finally, the empty
skull is filed with shavings and raised
on a pole above the sacred hedge.
The men of this hairy race have such
enormous mustaches that they are
obliged to hold them up, when eating
or drinking, by means of fat wooden
implements shaped like paper cutters. |
Their hair and bushy boards are never
combed or cut. These people are of
mail stature, though rather bigger
than the japanese. They are brown,
but their exact shade is impossible to
tell, inasmuch as they never battle or
wash. The girls are good looking, save
for tattooing about the mouth. 1t be-
gins when they are six years old, and as
they grow Older it is gradually extended
until it forms a broad band all around
the mouth. The ~tattooing is done by
scarifying with knives and rubbing SCOT
into the cuts.
The hairy nannla va IA anor Lind /
of cloth from the fiber of the bark of the
mountain elm, and their principal gar
n,ent is a long coat of this material. In
winter their clothing is of skins. for the
climate is cold, and they have water |
proof shoes of fish skin for travelling
over snow. Their houses are matched
with reeds or straw. The fireplace is a
depression in the middle of the hut,
and a hole in the roof affords an exit for
the smoke. At night a primitive lamp,
of a large mussel shell, a
wick and some fish oil, gives some light,
The only musical instrument properly
belonging to them, and not derived
from the Japanese, is a species of jews
harp made of bamboo. Cakes of dried
lily roots are a favorite edible. These
savages marry early. Polygamy is per-
mitted, but it is not much practiced,
morality is not strictly enforced
among the unmarried. Thieves are pun
ished by beating with clubs. A muir
derer is bound to n cross for a week,
and, being then released, takes his place
an honorable citizen.-St. Louis
Globe-Democrat.
Liverpool is the most densely-popu-
lated city in Great Britain, having a
of 97.9 per acre, or ia per