The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-28
AMOS OF YEZO ISLAND, JAPAN
Relieved TO be Defendants or Cave
Dwellers Of ~outhe I'm Europe

New York. Dec. 27.-The New York
Herald says:
There are excellent reasons for believ-
ing that the Amos Cor Ainu), who dwell
on the island Of Yezo. Japan. and de-
seconded from the stock which ancientIy
peopled the caves OF southern Europe
Their physical traits are distinctively Eu-
rOpean. as cOntrasted with the Asiatic
type. OTIS T MASON.
''Ethnologist of the National Museum"
Startling. TO say the least, is a theory
formed by ethnologists and for the first
time promulgated. TO the effect that the
Amos, the famous hairy people OF the
island OF Zezo. north of Japan. are in
reality the sole surviving representatives
OF our own aneestors-that is TO say.
OF the early progenitors OF the people who
row inhabit Europe and America
The idea is that these remarkable semi
savages are the descendants of the race
that peopled the caverns of Southern Eu-
rope nifty thousand or perhaps hun
dred thousand years ago. That race dis
appeared so utterly as TO leave no trace
save in the evidences of long occupancy
which the caves afford. and the puzzle
as TO what became OF those pslaeolithic
folk who left behind them so many
sculptures and etchings representing ami
mails and other natural objects. will prob
ably never b. solved.
But for this very reason a greater in
terest attaches 10 the discovery. II II be
truly such. OF reminder OF that ancient
people in the dawn OF the twentieth GEN.
tury on an island Of the japanese archi-
pelago.
II the Amos DE the modern representa-
tives Of the ancient cave dweIlers. who
inhabited Europe tens OF thousands Of
years before history had it's beginning.
the first question that suggests itself. is.
naturally. How did they get so far away.
The answer is that they were driven by
stronger tribes gradually eastward across
the whole Of Asia. until at length they
reached the jumping OF place. so to
speak which was Japan.
There is no doubt that they were spread
pretty much all over the archipelago
when the modern japanese first con-
quered the country The history and
traditions Of the japanese tell or their
eucountering swarrns ~ fierce hairy men.
called b. them earth spiders because
they lived ~ holes IN the ground. who
resisted the invasion as best they could
with bows and arrows and axes Of stone
Nowadays the ethnolog!st. in trying to
reach conclusions as TO the origin and
relationship OF a race pays most atten-
ton 20 the shape Of the skull. the char
acter Of the hair CI<inky or otherwise and
other physical traits All such evidences
oppear TO show that the Amos. by de-
scent. are not Asiatics. bat Europeans.
Their faces are not az all like those Of
the japanese. their hair IS very softssrd
Wavy. their CON Flexions are hrownish
rather than yellow; their fcreheads are
brocd and MASSIVE. their frames are
strong and well knit and their nustaches
arc thick and heavy.
Undoubtedly primitive man was much
more hairy than his descendant Of today.
and IN this respect The Alma suggests a
likeness to the early white man OF the
imagination. some % these ssysRes %
Yeo are almost a. hairy - hears. and
individuals among them are covered With
hair as with garment
Hsiriness among them r. considered
great beauty. s1d persons exceptionally
gifted "a this regard are specially adrnir-
e. The hair q the head and q the
beard Is allowed 10 grow filii length. aud
IS never ooml,sr Although TIE Amos roE
dwell f. rude butts y fhsfch. Eifh a
framework 81 poies their formerly o.
served habit - Owing IN holes - thc
ground strongly sagests r survival % the
cave-1weliug csistor-. Inherited. II re