travellers.” On the roads there are many hardships, and travellers often
become weary and perish. To help them the lamas send them horses, and
the way they do it is this. Going to some lofty summit where the wind
blows heavily, they throw strips of paper bearing pictures of horses
into the air, and the wind carries them away. The lamas believe that by
this sacrifice of paper horses they supply real ones to the needy
travellers.
XVI.
JAPANESE.
It is a great mistake to think of the Chinese and Japanese as much
alike; they are really vastly different. The Japanese is smaller, more
delicately built, quicker, and more lively than the Chinese; he delights
in novelties and borrows them from everywhere and from everybody. The
Chinese language consists chiefly of words of one syllable; the Japanese
have many long words of many syllables. While unlike in body,
disposition, and language, the Chinese and Japanese are alike in many
customs, arts, and ideas. For long centuries the Japanese borrowed much
from China, or from Corea, which had learned from China. The Japanese
owe their writing, the cultivation of tea, silk raising and weaving,
lacquer work, porcelain, metal working, and many religious ideas to
China. But lately, in their hurry to borrow all sorts of things from the
European and American whites, they have become ashamed of many of their
Chinese ideas and customs.
[Illustration: JAPANESE GIRL WITH BABY (ARNOLD).]
On the seventh day of a Japanese baby’s life, the little head is shaved
clean except for a tuft on the nape of the neck. From that time on, the
head is shaved until the boy goes to school, but tufts are left here and
there, according to the fancy of the mother. After a boy begins school,
his hair is left to grow. Japanese children have many sports and games,
but they are quiet and gentle in them all. The older children carry
their baby brothers and sisters strapped firmly on their backs. There
are many interesting things for Japanese children to see on the streets.
There is the sand painter; he sweeps a space clean and then opens
several bags of different colored sand; he sprinkles handfuls of it here
and there on the ground until he has made a pretty picture. There is the
man who moulds and blows rice paste into all sorts of queer shapes,
while the little buyers look on with delight; his sweet stuff is shaped
into rabbits, foxes, monkeys, flowers, jinrikishas, fans, umbrellas,
etc. There is the man who sells sugared peas, candied beans, and other
sweets; he beats a drum and sings a song as he walks, so as to attract a
crowd of children, and when he stops he tells a story, or does some
trick, to amuse them. Then there is the little old woman of the batter
cakes; she carries a little earthenware stove with a fire of charcoal in
it; this she hangs at one end of a pole balanced upon her shoulder, and
at the other end hang a griddle, ladles, cake turners, a jar of batter,
and a sauce of salt and beans to eat with the cakes; the children pay
five cents, and the old lady sets everything down, whereupon the
children have great fun making their own cakes and eating them on the
street.
Japanese children are ever gay and happy, but there are two days in the
year of especial joy. The third day of the third month is _the Dolls’
Festival_. This is the day for the little girls. At that time dolls and
all sorts of toy tools, implements, vessels, and dishes are for sale.
The Japanese are fond of dolls, and in some families they have dolls
that have been kept more than two hundred years. In some families they
will have dozens or scores of dolls. Among these there is always one
that represents the Emperor, another the Empress, and others the
courtiers. At the time of the festival all these dolls are carefully
arranged on a stepped platform. The Emperor and Empress are given the
seats of honor, and the rest are grouped around them. With these are
arranged all the toy objects. The fifth day of the fifth month is the
Boys’ Festival. Then they are selling bows and arrows and other toy
weapons everywhere. Everywhere they hang out great paper fishes, shaped
like carp, and brightly painted. These are hung to tall bamboo poles of
which there is one set in front of every house where they have a boy in
the family. One fish is hung for each boy, and it is a gay sight to see
the hundreds of bright fish waving and tossing in the wind. The reason
why the carp is represented is because it swims _up_ the river against
the current; so it is hoped “the sturdy boy, overcoming all obstacles,
will make his way in the world and rise to fame and fortune.”
[Illustration: BOYS’ FESTIVAL: JAPAN (BRAMHALL).]
Japanese houses consist of a light framework supporting a heavy thatched
or tiled roof. The sides of the house are wooden slides, which are
usually removed in the daytime, leaving the sides open. In cold weather,
slides consisting of frames covered with paper can be fitted in to form
walls. The house is divided into rooms by sliding screens of paper,
which can be easily removed so as to join two, three, or more rooms into
one. There are no tables or chairs. The floors are covered with thick
mats. At night quilts are brought in and laid down for beds; in the
morning these are rolled up and stored away.
Japanese gardens are curious and beautiful. They may be small, and
frequently they contain no flowers. Sometimes a pretty landscape is
built of rocks and water: there are little mountains and hills, valleys,
streams, waterfalls, lakes. Wonderful in such gardens are the dwarfed
trees. They may be pine trees, fifty or one hundred years old,
flourishing and perfect in form, but not more than a foot in height.
While Japanese gardens frequently contain none, the people are
wonderfully fond of flowers. Among the favorites are the chrysanthemum,
plum blossoms, and cherry blossoms. When these are in bloom every one
goes to the places where they grow and delight in their beauty. These
flower picnics are looked forward to for months. The cherry and plum
trees are covered: “You see no leaves—only one great filmy mass of
petals. Japanese chrysanthemums are wonderful; there are many strange or
beautiful varieties. At one place in Tokyo, these flowers are wrought
into all sorts of curious compositions—men and gods, boats, bridges,
castles, etc.”
The Japanese love to hear stories. There are fairy stories for the
little people and tales of adventure and history for the larger ones.
There are men whose business is story telling. Some of these wander
about until they find a good spot, when they will stop and begin the
tale; a crowd soon gathers to listen. Others are hired to tell their
stories in a story-telling house, where people gather every evening,
just as at the theatre.
We have said so much about amusements and festivals that you may think
the Japanese are always playing. No indeed, they are hard workers. They
cultivate their fields industriously; they have many trades; they are
great traders; they are fine artists. Their silk weaving, their metal
work, their lacquer work, and their porcelains are famous.
In these last years Japan has made great changes. She has borrowed so
much from the whites that they have little left to teach her. To-day she
has all our great inventions—telegraphs and telephones, electric lights
and railroads; and in borrowing so much that is new she has lost and is
losing much—very much—of the happy old life.
XVII.
AINU.
Before the Japanese entered what is now Japan that country was occupied
by the Ainu, among the most interesting people of the world. There are
not many of them. In Yezo, the northern island of Japan, there are about
seventeen thousand, and in the island of Saghalien, formerly Japanese,
but now Russian, there are others. They are not like the Japanese, but
are considered whites, not Mongolians. The men measure about five feet
four inches; the women not more than five feet two inches. Their color
is flesh, with a tinge of red or yellow; their eyes are large and do not
appear to slant like those of the yellow peoples; their hair is abundant
and tangled and they have much beard. Their body is very hairy. They are
filthy and rarely wash themselves.
The women tattoo, beginning in girlhood. The patterns are cut in the
flesh with a razor and soot is rubbed into the lines; to render the
color permanent, water in which ash-tree bark has been steeped is rubbed
over the part tattooed. The tattooing first done is at the centre of the
upper lip; later the lower lip. The marks are added to from time to time
until they cover the upper lip and reach from ear to ear. Such women
appear to have a great moustache. After marriage a woman’s forehead may
be tattooed, also patterns may be made up the backs of the hands and on
the arms, and rings may be tattooed around her fingers.
[Illustration: AINU: A HAIRY SPECIMEN (BATCHELOR).]
Ainu clothing is generally made of elm bark, and that worn by men and
women is much alike. The bark is stripped from the tree in spring, when
it is full of sap. It is soaked in water to separate the inner and outer
bark. Fibres are secured from the inner bark, which can be woven like
thread into cloth. The men’s garments of this fibre cloth are adorned
with patterns embroidered with colored threads; those of women are
generally plain.
[Illustration: AINU WOMEN: SHOWING TATTOOING (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The Ainu house is rectangular, with a rather frail support and a
substantial thatched roof. The roof is built first; then the chief posts
of the walls are set and the roof is lifted up and put on them. Ainu
houses grow as the family grows. A young married couple build a small
house; as they have children a new and larger house is built behind the
old one, which remains as a sort of hall; when the family is still
larger and richer, the hall is torn down and a larger house is built
behind the second one, which now becomes a hall or porch to it. There
are two windows and one door in these houses. The windows are on the
south and east sides, while the door is at the west end. The east end of
the house and its window are sacred; people must not throw things
through this window nor spit out of it. Sometimes the men worship the
rising sun as they see it through this east window.
The Ainu are hunters and have ingenious ways of capturing or killing
animals. In hunting deer they use a little squeaking whistle, the sound
of which attracts the animals. They set bows, with arrows on the
stretched cord, near trails over which deer and bears pass; in passing,
the animal strikes a cord which lets loose a trigger, and the arrow
flies. They also set a trap consisting of a stout bow, which, when
sprung, shuts two boards tightly together; the foot of the animal is
caught between these and held fast. Formerly the Ainu used poisoned
arrows in hunting. These had a broad, hollowed point, in which a little
of the poisonous paste was stuck. The poison was made from the root of
aconite mixed with tobacco, peppers, and poisoned spiders. These, and
other substances, were carefully mixed into a gummy paste. At present
the Japanese government forbids the Yezo Ainu to use these poisoned
arrows.
The bear hunt is looked forward to with anxiety. It is in the spring
while snow is yet on the ground. Before starting the hunters pray to
their gods for help and direction. Dogs accompany them. When a den is
found, there is great excitement. They try to draw the animal out by
teasing him with long poles. If he will not come out, one of the men
draws his knife, enters the den, and faces the bear. The animal pushes
him aside, when the hunter pricks him from behind with his knife. The
angry animal then rushes forth, growling and snarling. The hunters and
dogs waiting outside soon despatch him, though frequently some one is
hurt or killed. The hunters then sit down near the dead bear and say all
kinds of pretty things to him, pretending that they are sorry to have
killed him, and asking his forgiveness. They then skin him, cut up the
meat, carry it home, and have a feast.
At Ainu feasts the men always become dreadfully drunk from drinking rice
wine. When he drinks, the Ainu uses a little stick to lift his moustache
and keep it from the wine. These moustache lifters are made for the
purpose and are frequently neatly carved.
Sometimes Ainu hunters secure a little bear cub, which they carry
carefully home. It is fed with the best of food, and treated as a great
pet. When it is so big as to be rough and troublesome, they put it in a
cage. When it is quite grown, a bear feast is planned. Many guests are
invited. The men eat millet-cakes and drink rice wine. After feasting
for some time two men noose the bear with ropes and drag him around; the
whole company then worry and tease the poor creature, finally choking
him, after which they eat him.
The Ainu have many gods. In praying to them they use _inao_. These are
little sticks which are so whittled with knives that curls of shavings
hang from them. There are several ways of cutting these, and they are
believed to please the gods. They are stuck up in the ground and left
where prayers are made. Ainu men spend much time whittling these inao.
XVIII.
HINDUS.
The Hindus are but one of the many peoples living in India. They are
considered a Caucasic, white people, though their skin is a dark brown
and they have black hair and eyes. Their language belongs to the Aryan
family, to which most European languages belong.
The dress of the Hindus is too well known to need description. Hindu
women are fond of jewelry, and wear rings, arm-rings, ankle rings,
earrings, and nose rings of many kinds and made of gold, silver, or
brass. The Hindus bear marks stamped upon themselves. Thus a round spot
in the middle of the forehead, horizontal lines across the forehead, or
perpendicular lines from the root of the nose to the top of the
forehead, show to which of the great religious sects the man belongs.
These marks are made fresh every morning.
The Hindus are divided into four _castes_, or classes. These are named
Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. There is a yet lower
population called Pariahs. The Brahmans are the highest; they are
priests or religious men; everybody must yield to them. The Kshatriyas
come second, and are soldiers or warriors. The Vaisyas are the traders,
or merchant class. The Sudras are the lowest, and are the people who
have trades, or are laborers. The Hindus say that these different
classes of men came from the body of Brahma, their great god; that the
Brahmans came from his mouth; the Kshatriyas from his arm; the Vaisyas
from his thigh; and the Sudras from his feet. As for the poor Pariahs,
they do not seem to have come from Brahma, and no one has anything to do
with them. Each of these castes was so much higher than the next one
that they might not even be touched by them without being defiled and
needing to be purified. People of different castes might not drink from
the same vessel or eat from the same dish. One writer says: “I saw a
high-caste Hindu dash an earthen jar of milk upon the ground and break
it to atoms, merely because the shadow of a Pariah had fallen upon it as
he passed.” Under English government many of these notions in India are
passing away. The Pariah’s lot, however, is perhaps as hard as ever.
Many trades are practised in India, some of them most skilfully.
Whatever trade a man follows will be that of his son after him, as it
was that of his father before him. Hindus are fine weavers, and some of
their muslins are delicate and costly. They are glass-makers, potters,
carpenters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, brass founders, shell workers,
shoemakers, barbers. These trades are carried on in the open streets;
the men carry tools with them, and when they secure an order they set up
their outfit and fall to work. Among pretty things sold in India are
figures in clay representing all sorts of tradesmen at work.
[Illustration: HINDU DANCING GIRLS AND MUSICIANS (VERNEAU).]
Hindus tame and train elephants as beasts of burden. The native princes,
in particular, use them. A palanquin in which the prince sits is mounted
on the elephant’s back. These royal elephants are gorgeously decked out,
and the palanquin is brilliant with metals and precious stones.
Elephants are also employed in caravans and in the exciting tiger hunts.
The Hindus love amusements. They are fond of music and have many curious
instruments. Dancing girls dance for the amusement of guests at feasts
given in the homes of the wealthy. They usually take their own musicians
with them; one of these plays upon a little drum, the other on a kind of
guitar. Street exhibitions are frequent. Parties of acrobats go about
performing feats. Everyone has heard of the Hindu jugglers. Mr. Ward
describes some tricks he saw done. Thus, the juggler spreads a cloth on
the ground: in a moment a movement is seen under it: the cloth is raised
and under it are pineapples growing. The juggler picks the fruit and
presents it to the spectators to show that it is real. Again, he takes a
large, clay jar, fills it with water, and turns it upside down to let
the water run out; when he turns it up again, it is full of water.
Again, he puts a lean dog into a common basket; opening it, he shows the
dog with a litter of pups; covering these and opening again, there is a
goat; again the basket is put down and raised and shows a live pig;
again—and the pig is dead with its throat cut; then he ends the trick by
again covering and uncovering, when the pig is seen alive and well.
_How_ does he do it? Almost as wonderful as these juggler’s tricks are
the performances of the snake charmers. They carry the dreaded,
poisonous cobras around in baskets and handle them, playing at the same
time on their little flutes, quite as if the creatures were entirely
harmless.
[Illustration: HINDU SNAKE CHARMERS (BREHM).]
Nowhere in the world are there more dreadful religious customs than in
India. People there are so crowded that life is hard. The result of this
was that parents often destroyed their little babies, particularly
girls. Often the mothers themselves threw the little beings into the
sacred river, where they were drowned in its waters or were eaten by
crocodiles. At the great religious festivals, men tortured themselves
fearfully, or threw themselves under the chariot of the god that they
might be crushed to death. The dead among the Hindus were usually
cremated—burned upon a great open fire of wood. Formerly the widow of
the dead man mounted the funeral pyre and was burned with his body. The
English government has put an end to many of these practices, and among
them this _suttee_, or burning of the widow. It has really done little
good, as a widow’s life is so sad that she might almost better die. A
widow must shave her head, wear miserable clothing, and serve every one
like a slave: she is despised and harshly treated.
Few peoples have caused as much wonder as the Gypsies. With their
swarthy complexions, black hair and eyes, and handsome faces, they are a
striking type. They love out-door life, and hate to be within walls.
They wander from place to place, pitching their tents where fancy leads
them. They are tinkers, mending pots and kettles; they are horseshoers,
jockeys, horse traders, horse doctors; they tell fortunes, in which
almost all of us believe a little, and every one fears them a little.
There are many thousands of them in the United States: there are many in
Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland, and other European countries; they
are in North Africa, in Mexico, in Brazil, in India. Everywhere they are
the same, and everywhere they talk their own language, the _Romany_. It
is believed that they first came from India, and that they are related
to the Hindus.
XIX.
TODAS.
In the “hill country” of India live many curious brown peoples whose
languages are different from the Aryan tongue of the Hindus. These
peoples, called Dravidians, are considered the earliest occupiers of
India. Among them no tribe is more curious than the Todas. In some ways
they are like the Ainu. Though brown, they are probably really white or
Caucasic. They have the features, strong beards, and hairy bodies of
whites, and in these respects are like the Ainu.
The Todas live on a tableland whose surface is covered with hills and
rolling prairies. The hills are clad with coarse grass, and in some of
the valleys are deep forests. The sunshine is bright and warm, and the
dry season is long.
The Todas think only of their cattle. They do not hunt—in fact, they
have no weapons; they do not cultivate any fields, getting what plant
food they use from the Badagas and other neighboring tribes. But they
_do_ raise cattle—buffalo. Their villages are located in the midst of
pasture land. No village is occupied for a whole year, but the people
have always at least two villages and live first in one, then in the
other. This is to have fresh pasture for their cattle and to be secure
in the wet season. Toda villages contain but few houses, most of which
consist of a single room eight feet square; sometimes two or three such
rooms are set side by side—these do not open into each other, but each
has an outside door. The roofs of these houses are thatched and project
a yard or so beyond the house walls. The people sit under the shelter of
these projecting roofs while they work or visit. There are no windows or
chimneys to the houses. Everything in the house has its proper place—the
pestle and mortar for pounding grain, the fireplace, and the raised bank
of clay that serves the old people as a sleeping place. Near the house
is a pen of stones and mud for the owner’s cattle.
All the cattle of the villages are herded together. There is one dairy
for the village, and all the cattle are milked there by special
dairymen. After milking, these men give out so much milk as is needed to
every one in the village; from the balance they make butter which they
divide to the men of the village according to the number of cattle each
owns. We have already said that the Todas raise no crops. The Badagas
and Kotas live on the land of the Todas; they are stronger and more
vigorous than the Todas, and both tribes have weapons and could easily
defeat them in battle. But they live in peace with them and pay them, as
rent for their land, grains and other produce they need.
We have spoken of the common village herds. There are other (sacred)
herds, which are cared for by dairymen priests, who are themselves
almost worshipped. The priest has an assistant who cuts wood for him and
otherwise serves him. When the priest milks the sacred cows, and he
alone may do so, he repeats a prayer. He does the same when he carries
the milk into the dairy. The village people treat him and his assistant
with great respect and may not touch them, nor any of the implements
they use. Men and boys may go to the wall that encloses the dairy
buildings, but may not enter. Women may not go near the place.
The cows in the sacred herds have descended from sacred cows of the
past. In each herd there is an especially sacred “bell-cow.” This means
that she is the owner of an ancient cow-bell which the dairyman priest
keeps in the dairy. It belonged to her mother before her and to _her_
mother, and so on back. When a bell-cow dies, the bell has to be put
upon her daughter. The priest brings it out from the dairy and waves it
around and around the head of the cow morning and night for three days.
As he does so he says:—
“What a fine cow your predecessor was.
How well she supported us with milk;
Won’t you supply us in like manner?
You are a god among us.
Do not let the Tirieri[2] go to ruin.
Let one become a thousand!
Let all be well!
Let us have plenty of calves!
Let us have plenty of milk!”
The cow wears the bell for three days and nights, after which it is
taken off forever. It is not used again until the old cow dies and her
daughter is then made bell-cow in her place.
Footnote 2:
Sacred dairy.
[Illustration: GROUP OF TODAS (VERNEAU).]