Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1907-12-19

Japan, and on certain OF the kurile |
islands which extend northwards to-
wards Kamtchatka, there dwells to-
day race of people distinct in type. |
They are the Hairy Ainu, and although |
from time to time been visited by
travellers, most of the inhabitants have
been living in a semi-civilized state
Very few have seen the true Ainu, as
they are still to be seen, living in
barbaric style on the widest parts of
Yezo island. Among various writer's
who have contributed to the literature
on the subject of the Anus, no one
has given a more graphic description
of these natives than Mr.. A. H. Saw
age Lander. He had previously com
pleted long and arduous journey,
which embraced q tour of the whole
coast of Yezo and part of the Kurile
islands, during which he spent many
months studying the habits and Gus
toms of these quaint people. Although
the present writer has also visited
parts of Tezo, and travelled along the
whole length of the Kurile islands, he
does not attempt, in such an article as
this, to do more than touch briefly up
on one or two customs of the Ainu. AS
their name suggests, they are race
Of exceedingly hairy people. The men
grow great boards, of which they are
excessively proud, and their bodies are
.hickly covered with hair, almost like
members of the monkey tribe. The
women grow no hair on their faces,
out seem to find solace for this
imaginary defect in tattooing nous
aches on their lips, and often print
tive designs on their hands and arms
and also across their foreheads. Young
unmarried women have very little
tattooing on them; but once wom-
an is married, her husband seems to
take pride in decorating his bride
with representations of hirsute adorn
ment. The modus operandi is one
which requires considerable fortitude
on tie part of the patient, since the
crudest form of tattooing is adopted.
This consists of making a number of
incisions in the skin with the point of
a knife. Cuttle-fsh black or smoke
black is then rubbed into the wounds,
and the operation sets up great in
flammation of the lips, and is very
painful.
A characteristic of the Ainu race is
the color of their skin, which is of a
deep bronze or copper color, and in
nowse resembles any other of the
nrin al hnt NJ
of the American red Indians. The
Ainu have no records, written or 9th
erwise, OF their former history, nor of
how and whence they come to inhabit
the island of Yezo. These matters
seem unknown to them, and even to
anthropologists. Legends, however,
exist among certain of the Ainu to
the effect that many years ago Yezo
was inhabited by a race of diminutive
people who were conquered, and APP
parently exterminated, by the Ainu.
These people were called by the Ainu
Koro-pok-kurn, or pit-dwellers, owing
| to their habit of living in huts con-
structed over form of rectangular,
| circular, or oval-shaped pit, many
traces of which are still found in Yezo
| and the Kurile islands. A few years
ago the present writer also discovered
on the Behring sea coast of Alaska
some very perfect remains of pit.
| dwellers' village, which is quite unlike
any settlements made to-day by the
| Eskimo or Aleut natives of Alaska
| The Anus claim that at some remote
| period they were themselves the in
habitants of some far northern coun
try, and as evidence of this they cite
their hairy bodies. They say, why
IL we did not come from a cold coun
try, should we need to have skins like
bear?" 1t is possible that they did
migrate southwards from the shores ot
the Behring sea, either by way OF the
Aleutian islands, or along the coasts OF
Kamtchatka and the Kuriles.
One good trait in the Ainu character
is their great bravery, and this is 8
quality held in high esteem among
them. On the island of Yezo, and some
of the Kuriles, bears are very numer
Gus. The Ainu men, who are merely
armed with such primitive weapons as
bows, arrows and knives, hunt ant
kill a great number of bears. One
species OF these bears (Ursus ferox) i:
VIGOROUSLY savage. One of the mos
curious and unnatural customs OF the
Ainu has puzzled me as to its origin
At certain seasons of the year the mer
organize parties for hunting bears;
old bears are killed, their skins an
skulls being brought homg. The skulls