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[Illustration: _Frontispiece_. PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.
"When my clothes came to an end I did without them."]
ALONE WITH THE
HAIRY AINU.
OR,
3,800 MILES ON A PACK SADDLE IN YEZO AND
A CRUISE TO THE KURILE ISLANDS.
BY
A. H. SAVAGE LANDOR.
[Illustration]
WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1893.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
This book is not meant as a literary work, for I am not and do not
pretend to be a literary man. It is but a record--an amplified log-book,
as it were--of what befell me during my solitary peregrinations in
Hokkaido, and a collection of notes and observations which I hope will
prove interesting to anthropologists and ethnologists as well as to the
general public.
Without any claim to infallibility I have tried to take an open-minded
and sensible view of everything I have attempted to describe; in most
cases, however, I have given facts without passing an opinion at all,
and all I have said I have tried to express as simply and plainly as
possible, so as not to give rise to misunderstandings.
There are a few points which I want to make quite clear.
First, that I went to Hokkaido entirely on my own account and for my own
satisfaction. Next, that I accomplished the whole journey (some 4200
miles, out of which 3800 were ridden on horseback and on a rough
pack-saddle) perfectly alone. By alone I mean that I had with me no
friends, no servants, and no guides. My baggage consisted of next to
nothing, so far as articles for my own convenience or comfort were
concerned. I carried no provisions and no tent.
I am endowed with a very sensitive nature, and I pride myself in
possessing the gift of adaptability to an extreme degree, and this may
partly explain why and how I could live so long with and like the Ainu,
whose habits and customs, as my readers will see, are somewhat different
to ours.
When I go to a country I do my best to be like one of the natives
themselves, and, whether they are savage or not, I endeavour to show
respect for them and their ideas, and to conform to their customs for
the time being. I make up my mind that what is good for them must be
good enough for me, and though I have occasionally had to swear at
myself for "doing in Ainuland as the Ainu does," especially as regards
the food, I was not much the worse for it in the end. I never use force
when I can win with kindness, and in my small experience in Hokkaido and
other countries I have always found that real savages in their
simplicity are most "gentleman-like" people. With few exceptions they
are good-natured, dignified, and sensible, and the chances are that if
you are fair to them they will be fair to you. Civilised savages and
barbarians I always found untrustworthy and dangerous.
The Island of Yezo, with the smaller islands near its coast, and the
Kurile group, taken together, are called "the Hokkaido." The Hokkaido
extends roughly from 41° to 51° latitude north, and between 139° and
157° longitude east of Greenwich.
My view of the origin of the word Ainu is this: _Ainu_ is but a
corruption or abbreviation of _Ai-num_, "they with hair," or "hairy
men," or else of _Hain-num_, "come with hair," or "descended hairy."
Considering that the Ainu pride themselves above all things on their
hairiness, it does not seem improbable to me that this may be the
correct origin of the word, and that they called themselves after the
distinguishing characteristic of their race.
The word Ainu is a generic term, and is used both in the singular and
plural; but when specifying, the words _Kuru_ (people, men), _utaragesh_
(woman), etc., are generally added to it: viz., _Ainu kuru_, Ainu
people, Ainu men; _Ainu utaragesh_, an Ainu woman; _Ainu utaragesh
utara_, several Ainu women.
The Ainu population of Yezo is roughly reckoned by the Japanese at about
15,000 or 17,000 souls, but at least half this number are half-castes,
and in my opinion (and I have visited nearly every Ainu village in Yezo)
the number of thoroughbred Ainu does not exceed 8000 souls.
The illustrations in this book are my own, and are the reproductions
from sketches which I took on the spot. They may not show much artistic
merit, but they seem to me to be characteristic of the country and the
people, and I hope that my readers will be impressed with them in the
same way.
A. HENRY SAVAGE LANDOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
From Hakodate to Mororran--Volcano Bay--The first Ainu--A
strange institution among them 1
CHAPTER II.
From Mororran to the Saru River 12
CHAPTER III.
Up the Saru River--Piratori and its chief 22
CHAPTER IV.
An Ainu Festival 30
CHAPTER V.
From the Saru River to Cape Erimo 35
CHAPTER VI.
From Cape Erimo to the Tokachi River 44
CHAPTER VII.
The Tokachi Region--Pure Ainu Types--Curious Mode of River
Fishing 50
CHAPTER VIII.
From the Tokachi River to the Kutcharo River 68
CHAPTER IX.
The Koro-pok-kuru, or Pit-dwellers 78
CHAPTER X.
The Kutcharo River and Lake--A Sulphur Mine--Akkeshi and
its Bay 95
CHAPTER XI.
From Akkeshi to Nemuro--A Horse Station--Nemuro and its
People 106
CHAPTER XII.
The Kurile Islands 121
CHAPTER XIII.
On the East and North-East Coast--From Nemuro to Shari-Mombets 133
CHAPTER XIV.
Along the Lagoons of the North-East Coast--From Shari-Mombets
to Poronai 145
CHAPTER XV.
On the North-East Coast--From Poronai to Cape Soya 157
CHAPTER XVI.
From Cape Soya to the Ishikari River 167
CHAPTER XVII.
The Ishikari River 179
CHAPTER XVIII.
Nearing Civilisation 187
CHAPTER XIX.
Completing the Circuit of Yezo--The End of my Journey 196
CHAPTER XX.
Ainu Habitations, Storehouses, Trophies, Furniture--Conservatism 207
CHAPTER XXI.
Ainu Art, Ainu Marks, Ornamentations, Weapons--Graves and
Tattoos 218
CHAPTER XXII.
Ainu Heads, and their Physiognomy 229
CHAPTER XXIII.
Movements and Attitudes 236
CHAPTER XXIV.
Ainu Clothes, Ornaments, and Tattooing 245
CHAPTER XXV.
Ainu Music, Poetry, and Dancing 255
CHAPTER XXVI.
Heredity--Crosses--Psychological Observations 266
CHAPTER XXVII.
Physiological Observations--Pulse-beat and Respiration--Exposure--
Odour of the Ainu--The Five Senses 274
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Ainu Superstitions--Morals--Laws and Punishments 281
CHAPTER XXIX.
Marital Relations, and Causes that limit Population 293
APPENDIX.
I.--Measurements of the Ainu Body, and Descriptive Characters 298
II.--Glossary of Ainu Words, many of which are found in
Geographical Names in Yezo and the Kurile Islands 304
INDEX 313
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of the Author _Frontispiece._
Aputa 1
Ainu Woman saluting 6
Toya Lake, near Aputa 11
Fisherman's Hut 12
Pack-Saddle 18
Norboribets Volcano 19
Horobets 21
Storehouses at Piratori 22
Benry, the Ainu Chief of Piratori 25
Ainu Man waving his Moustache-lifter before drinking 29
Ainu Festival, An 30
Ainu Women dancing 33
Piratori Woman in Costume 34
Utarop Rocks 35
Ainu Lashed Canoe 37
Front View of Lashed Canoe 38
Ainu Oars 38
Sailing Canoe 38
Ainu Wooden Anchors 39
Ainu Canoe, Top View of an 39
Erimo Cape 43
Natural Stone Archway, A 44
Iwa Rocks at Biru 49
Ainu Houses and Storehouse, Frishikobets, Tokachi River 50
Madwoman of Yammakka 55
Ainu Woman of Frishikobets, on the Tokachi River 60
Shikarubets Otchirsh, The 67
Ainu Man of the Upper Tokachi 68
Ainu Hook for Smoking Bear-Meat 77
Koro-pok-kuru Fort 78
Flint Arrow-Heads 78
Flint Knives 79
Koro-pok-kuru Pottery and Fragments of Designs 86
Stone Adzes and Hammer 94
Ainu Huts and Storehouses on Kutcharo Lake 95
Kutcharo Lake from Mount Yuzan 98
Sulphur Mine 100
Akkeshi in a Fog 105
Ainu Man and Woman on Horseback 106
Ainu Bits 110
Semi-Ainu Rat Trap 120
Ainu Woman of the Kurile Islands 121
Shikotan Ainu 126
Woman of the Kurile Islands 132
Abashiri Island 133
Ainu Belle, An 140
Saruma Lagoon 144
Eagle-displayed Sable, An 145
My Host, the Madman 148
Sarubuts, showing River-Course altered by Drift Sand 157
Ainu Village on the East Coast of Yezo 166
Mashike Mountain 167
Ishikari Kraftu Ainu 178
Kamui Kotan Rapids, The 179
Woman of Ishikari River 186
Ainu Bark Water Jugs 187
Ainu Half-caste Child of Volcano Bay 194
Komatage Volcano, Volcano Bay 196
Wooden Drinking Vessels 207
Kammakappe, The, &c. 209
Ahunkanitte, The, &c. 210
Atzis-Cloth in process of Weaving 210
Roasting Hook 211
Ape-Kilai, The, or Earth-Rake 214
Pestle, Mortar, Spoon, &c. 215
Ainu Pipe Holder and Tobacco Pouch 217
Ainu Knife, with ornamented Sheath, &c. 218
Kike-ush-bashui, or Moustache-Lifters 220
Suggestions of Leaves, &c. 221
Elaborations of Chevrons, Wave Patterns, &c. 222
Tchutti, or War-Clubs, &c. 223
Ainu Knives 224
Monuments for Women 225
Wooden Monuments over Men's Grave 225
Wooden Blade 226
Ainu Pipe, An 228
Ainu Man walking with Snow-Shoes 236
Thiaske-Tarra, The 238
Atzis, The 245
Atzis, after Japanese Pattern 245
Winter Bear-skin Coat 245
Atzis, Back of 246
"Hoshi," The 247
Boots, Deer-Skin Shoe, &c. 248
Tattoo-marks on Women's Arms 253
Snow-Shoes 254
Ainu Salutation 255
"Mukko," A, or Musical Instrument 258
Wooden Pipe, A 265
Naked Ainu Man from the North-East Coast of Yezo 274
Trophy of Bears' Skulls 281
Inao-netuba, &c. 292
[Illustration: APUTA.]
CHAPTER I.
From Hakodate to Mororran--Volcano Bay--The first Ainu--A strange
Institution among them.
I have often asked myself _why_ I went to Yezo; and, when there, what
possessed me to undertake the laborious task of going round the island,
up its largest rivers, travelling through jungles and round lakes,
climbing its highest peaks, and then proceeding to the Kuriles. There
are certain things in one's life that cannot be accounted for, and the
journey which I am going to relate is one of them.
Pleasure and rest were the two principal objects which had primarily
induced me to steer northwards; but it was my fate not to get either the
one or the other.
I was on the Japanese ship the _Satsuma Maru_. Rapidly nearing the
Hakodate Head, which we soon passed, we entered the well-protected bay
and the town of Hakodate at the foot of the Peak came into view. It
looked extremely pretty, with its paper-walled houses and its tiled
roofs, set against the background of brown rock with its fringe of green
at the foot. As we cast anchor, hundreds of coolies, carrying on their
backs loads of dried fish and seaweed, were running along the _bund_ or
wharf. A few _musemes_ (girls), in their pretty _kimonos_ (gowns) and
with oil-paper umbrellas, were toddling along on their wooden clogs, and
a crowd of loafers stood gazing at the ship as she came to anchor. The
Peak, more than 1000 feet high, was towering on our south side, forming
a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a sandy isthmus, and the large
bay swept round us, forming nearly a circle. The place has a striking
resemblance to Gibraltar.
I landed, and put up at a tea-house, where I was in hopes of learning
something regarding the island from the Japanese settlers, but no one
knew anything. The reports that there were no roads extending beyond a
few miles; that there was but very poor and scarce accommodation along
the coast; that the Ainu, who lived further north, were dirty people;
and that the country was full of bears, were certainly not encouraging
to an intending traveller.
I must confess that my first day in Yezo was a dull one; but the second
day I had the pleasure of meeting a Mr. H., a resident, who kindly
offered me his hospitality, and the next two were pleasantly spent at
his house. In conversation with a friend of his, I heard the remark that
no man alone could possibly complete the circuit of the island of Yezo,
owing to the difficulties of travel; and my readers can imagine the
astonishment of my interlocutors when I meekly said, that if no one had
ever done it, I was going to do it; and, indeed, that I intended to set
out alone the next morning.
"Impossible!" said one, "you are too young and too delicate."
"Absurd!" said my kind host, "it would take a very strong man to do
it--a man who could stand any amount of hardships and roughing." At the
same time he gave me a pitiful look, which undoubtedly meant, "You are a
mere bag of skin and bones."
However, the bag of skin and bones kept his word, notwithstanding the
poor opinion that his new friends had formed of him.
The preparations for my journey were simple. In two large Japanese
baskets I packed three hundred small wooden panels for oil-painting, a
large supply of oil colours and brushes, a dozen small sketch-books, my
diary, three pairs of boots, three shirts, an equal number of pairs of
woollen stockings, a revolver, and a hundred cartridges. The remainder
of my luggage was left in charge of Mr. H. till my return. I did not
burden myself with either provisions or a tent.
I rose early the following morning and bade good-bye to my kind host.
"Good-bye," said he, "I expect we shall see you back to-night to
dinner." The word "dinner" was the last English word I heard from the
mouth of an Englishman, and it was five long months before I heard
another.
The first thirty miles of my journey were ridden in a _basha_, a covered
cart built on four wheels that ought to have been round, but were not.
There were no springs for the comfort of the traveller, and no cushions
on the seats. The conveyance was public, and was drawn by two sturdy
ponies. The driver, a Japanese, carried a brass trumpet, on which he
continually played.
I might have begun my story by the usual "One fine day," if,
unfortunately, the day on which I started the rain had not poured
in torrents. A Japanese policeman and a girl were my only
fellow-passengers. Travelling at full gallop, on a rough road, in a trap
with unsymmetrical wheels and with no springs, during a heavy storm, is
scarcely what one would call a pleasant mode of progression; but after
some hours of "being knocked about," we went zig-zag fashion, first up a
steep hill, then down on the other side, giving the horses a rest at a
roadside tea-house by the famous lakes of Zenzai. The larger of these
two lakes--the Ko-numa--is extremely picturesque, with its numerous
little islands wooded with deciduous trees. In shape it is very
irregular, and many points, which project into the lake, add to the
loveliness of the scene, while the high ridge over which I had come, on
the one side, and the rugged volcano of Komagatake on the other, form a
beautiful background to the limpid sheet of water. The outlet of this
lake empties itself into Volcano Bay, S.E. of the Komagatake Volcano.
The other lake, though smaller, is quite as striking, and possesses the
same characteristics of its larger brother. It goes by the name of
Ono-numa. A peculiarity of these lakes is that they abound in a smallish
fish--the _funa_--which is greatly appreciated by the Japanese.
I sat down in the tea-house on the soft mats, and my _bento_--Japanese
lunch--was served to me on a tiny table. There was water soup; there was
sea-weed; there was a bowl of rice, and raw fish. The fish--a small
_funa_--was in a diminutive dish and its back was covered by a leaf; the
head projected over the side of the plate. On the leaf were placed
several neatly-cut pieces of the raw flesh, which had apparently been
removed from the back of the underlying animal. As I had been long
accustomed to Japanese food of this kind I ate to my heart's content,
when, to my great horror, the _funa_, which had been staring at me with
its round eyes, relieved of the weight that had passed from its back
into my digestive organs, leaped up, leaf and all, from the dish and
fell on the mat. All the vital parts had carefully been left in the
fish, and the wretched creature was still alive!
"Horrible!" I cried, violently pushing away the table and walking out
disgusted, to the great surprise of the people present, who expected me
to revel in the deliciousness of the dish.
For days and days after I could see in my mind the staring eyes of the
_funa_, watching each movement of my chopsticks, and its own back being
eaten piecemeal! Wherever I went this big eye stood before me, and
increased or diminished in size according to my being more or less
lonely, more or less hungry. I had often eaten raw fish before, but
never had I eaten live fish!
The journey in the _basha_ was resumed that afternoon, and, more dead
than alive, I alighted in the evening at Mori, a small Japanese village
at the foot of the Komagatake Volcano. The peak of this mountain is 4000
feet above the level of the sea, but its basin-like crater is at a
somewhat lower altitude. Up to a certain height it is thickly wooded
with deciduous trees and firs, thence its slopes are bare of vegetation,
rugged in form, and very rich in colour. It makes part of a volcanic
mass which extends from the Esan Volcano, further south, to the limit of
the Shiribeshi province, crossing straight through the province of
Oshima as far as the Yurapdake Mountain. Komagatake is one of the most
majestic and picturesque mountains I have ever seen, as it possesses
lovely lines on nearly every side. Its isolation and sudden sharp
elevation, rising as it does directly from the sea, gives, of course, a
grand appearance to its weird and sterile slopes, which are covered with
warmly-tinted cinders, pumice, and lava.
I went over to Mororran, across Volcano Bay, and the following morning I
risked my life on a small craft, which took me over to Mombets. From
this place I rode on to Uso and Aputa, two Ainu villages at a short
distance from each other.
Coming from Japan the first thing that strikes a traveller in the Ainu
country is the odour of dried fish, which one can smell everywhere; the
next is the great number of crows--the scavengers of the country;
lastly, the volcanic nature of the island. On visiting an Ainu village
what impressed me most were the miserable and filthy huts, compared with
the neat and clean Japanese houses; the poverty and almost appalling
dirt of the people and their gentle, submissive nature.
I shall not dwell at length on these Volcano Bay Ainu, as this part of
the country is comparatively civilised, and has been travelled over by
many people previous to my going there. Besides, most of them have
intermarried with Japanese, and have consequently adopted many Japanese
customs and manners.
The Ainu of the coast build their huts generally on a single line, near
the shore, and each family has its "dug out" canoe drawn up on the
beach, ready to hand when wanted. The huts are small and
miserable-looking, and they have no furniture or bedding to speak of.
The roof and walls are thatched with _arundinaria_, but so imperfectly
that wind and rain find easy access through their reedy covering.
Curiosity is the only good quality which I ever possessed, and in
obedience to it I poked my nose into several of the huts along the
beach. This was a mistake on my part, for in the Ainu country the nose
is the last thing one ought to poke in anywhere. I was more than
astonished to see how human beings could live in such filth! The natives
kindly asked me to enter, and I of course did so, stooping low through
the small door and raising the mat which protects the aperture. When I
was in I could smell a great deal more than I could see, for the east
window--the size of a small handkerchief, and the only one in the
hut--did not give light enough to illuminate the premises. However, I
soon got accustomed to the dimness, and then I could make out my
surroundings clearly enough. There was an old man, perfectly naked, with
a fine head, long white hair and beard, sitting on the ground among a
mass of seaweeds, which he was disentangling and packing. Two young
women and two young men, with bright, intelligent eyes and high
cheek-bones, were helping him in his work. In their quiet, gentle way
they all brought their hands forward, each rubbed the palms together,
and, lifting the arms, slowly stroked their hair, and the men their
beard with the backs of their hands, while the women rubbed the first
finger under the nose from the left to the right. This is their
salutation, and it is most graceful. They seemed pleased to see me, and
asked me to sit down. As there were neither chairs nor sofas, stools nor
cushions, I squatted on the ground.
[Illustration: AINU WOMAN SALUTING.]
Most Ainu of Volcano Bay understand Japanese, and they also speak it,
interpolating Ainu words when necessary, so I began a conversation. My
presence did not seem to disturb them or arouse their curiosity, and,
beyond gazing at the mother-of-pearl buttons on my white coat, they did
not appear to be struck by me. Evidently the buttons were much more
interesting to them than the person who wore them. Now and then they
uttered a few words, but whenever one spoke some of the company seemed
to be angry, as at an impertinence or a breach of etiquette. Men and
women wore large ear-rings or pieces of red or black cloth, which added
a great deal to their picturesqueness; but the women were disfigured by
a long moustache tattooed across the face from ear to ear. Rough
drawings adorn the arms and hands of the women, and some of the younger
females would undoubtedly be fine-looking if not disfigured by the
tattoos, for they carry themselves well when walking, and possess comely
features. Judging from appearances, I should think them very passionate.
Coming out of the hut I saw a scene which I shall never forget. Two
naked boys, covered with horrible skin eruptions, had got hold of a
large fish-bone, out of which they were endeavouring to make a meal.
Round them were gathered about thirty dogs, wild with hunger, barking
furiously at the frightened children, and attacking and fighting them
for that miserable repast.
I walked along the beach, and endeavoured to make friends with some of
the Ainu who were less shy than the others. One little girl was
especially picturesque. She was only about ten, and her large eyes,
tanned complexion, white teeth, the tiny bluish-black tattoo on her
upper lip, her uncombed long black hair flying around her, and her red
cloth ear-rings, made her indeed one of the quaintest studies of colour
that I have seen in my life. I got her to sit for me; and while I was
painting her, an old man, the chief of the village, dressed up in a
gaudy costume, with a crown of willow shavings on his head, came to me
and made his "salaams." He bore the name of Angotsuro, and before all
his salaams were over he found himself "caught in the action" in my
sketch-book. Many of the villagers had collected round, and one of them,
a half-caste, expressed the wish that I should paint the chief in
colours, like the picture of the girl. I asked for nothing better, and
started an oil-sketch of him. The excitement of the natives who were
witnessing the operation grew greater and greater as each new ornament
in the chief's dress was put in the picture. Some seemed to approve of
it, others were grumpy, and apparently objected to the picture being
taken at all. The _séance_ was indeed a stormy one; and though the chief
had his regal crown knocked off his head two or three times by the
anti-artistic party, he sat well for his likeness, especially as I
promised him in Japanese, that when the picture was completed he should
be given a few coins and two buttons off my coat.
It was while portraying him that I noticed what extraordinary effects
colours produce on those whose eyes are unaccustomed to them. A man in
the crowd would get excited, and open his eyes wide and show his teeth
every time I happened to touch with my brush the cobalt blue on my
palette. Other colours had not the same effect on him. His eyes were
continually fixed on the blue, anxiously waiting for the brush to dip in
it, and this would then send him into fits of merriment. I squeezed some
blue paint from a tube on to the palm of his hand, and he nearly went
off his head with delight. He sprang and jumped and yelled, and then ran
some way off, where he squatted on the sand, still in admiration of the
blue dab on his hand, still grinning at intervals with irrepressible
enjoyment. Where the point of the joke was no one but himself ever knew.
When the picture was finished I had no little trouble to keep the many
fingers of my audience off the wet painting. Moreover, some person
endowed with kindly feelings threw a handful of sand in my face, which
nearly blinded me for the moment and partly ruined the two pictures I
had painted. The money and the buttons were duly paid to Angotsuro and I
moved on.
That same evening I went out for a walk. It was a very dark night, and I
love dark nights. When for some years you have done nothing but see
strange things and new places there is indeed a great fascination in
going about in complete darkness; it rests both your eyes and your
brain. I walked for some time along the beach, stumbling against the
canoes drawn on shore and against anything that was in my way. Hut after
hut was passed, but everything was silent; there was not a sound to be
heard, not a light to be seen. The Ainu are early people; they retire
with the sun. I walked on yet farther and farther afield, till through
the thatched wall of one of the huts I discerned a faint light. I stood
and listened. The sad voice of a man was singing a weird, weird song,
the weirdest song I have ever heard. Then came a pause, and another
voice, even more plaintive than the first, continued the same air.
What with the strange melody in the hut, the soothing noise of the waves
gently breaking on the shingle, and the distant howling of dogs or
wolves, the mystic effect was such that I could not resist the
temptation, and I crept into the hut. A fire was burning in the centre,
but it had almost gone out, leaving a lot of smoke. Three old men were
sitting on the ground. They decidedly looked as if they did not expect
me, but, after their first astonishment was over, they asked me to squat
down in a corner, and there I was left to amuse myself, while they
resumed their singing and drinking. Of the latter they seemed to have
had enough already; but, all the same, several wooden bowls, about five
inches in diameter and two deep, were passed round and emptied in no
time. The more they drank, the wilder and more melancholy the song
became. Only one at a time sang, and he would begin in a very low tone
of voice and go up in a _crescendo_, gradually getting awfully excited;
then all at once he would stop, as if the effort had been too great for
him. His head drooped, and he seemed to sleep. Then, suddenly waking up,
coming back to his full senses in a startling manner, he drained one of
the bowls, which meantime had been refilled, and resumed the song. The
three men were facing each other, and so absorbed were they in their
music that, though I was not more than four feet away from them, they
seemed to have forgotten me altogether.
I was so impressed with the strangeness of the song that I pulled out my
pencil and paper to write down the air. As there was no light but the
flicker of the fire, I turned the white leaf of my sketch-book toward it
to see what I was writing. This caught the eye of one of the men. He
woke up, startled from his musical dream, jumped to his feet, and made a
dash for me, yelling some words which I did not understand, and holding
over my head something that I could not distinguish at the moment owing
to the dimness of the light. Standing thus he paused, evidently waiting
for an answer to something he had said. It came from one of the other
fellows, who pushed him so violently as to send him sprawling on the
floor, while, what he held in his hand--a big, heavy, pointed
knife--fell and stuck deep in the ground about an inch from my toes. A
dispute arose among themselves, but among the Ainu everything ends up in
a drink. The large wooden bowls were again refilled; grand bows were
made to me, and they all stroked their hair and beard several times--a
sign of great respect. I was then handed one of the bowls and made to
swallow the contents. But, heavens! never have I felt any liquid work
its way down so far. Had I swallowed fire it could not have been as bad;
and, indeed, it was neither more nor less than liquid fire.
As the night was wearing fast, and the old fellows had got on well with
their drink, the sing-song became rather too languid and monotonous; and
I crept out of the hut as quietly as I had entered it, not without first
giving the inmates something for their trouble. I had some difficulty
in finding my way back to my less musical quarters; and passing too
close to some of the other huts, the dogs--which infest all Ainu
villages--barked furiously and roused the whole place.
I learned afterwards that it is an Ainu fashion to try a man's courage.
This is done in the way in which my musical friends tried mine, namely,
by making a sudden rush with a knife as if death and destruction were
imminent, which to a perfect stranger, unconscious of the strain of
"bluff" in the action, is not very reassuring. If the person to be
tested is aware of this fashion he has to submit to an unlimited number
of whacks, administered to him on his bare back, with a heavy war-club.
These tests of a man's courage and endurance are called the _Ukorra_.
In the first instance it is done, in a certain sense, good-naturedly,
and not meaning to hurt one. Should, however, the person apparently so
dangerously threatened show fright or signs of cowardice, he loses the
respect of the Ainu, unless he has the happy thought of giving them a
sufficient quantity of some intoxicating liquor to make them all
drunk--which is a sure means of turning the most inimical Ainu you may
meet into your fast friend, even if you have had a deadly feud with him.
The second way--with the war-club--of course is a painful process, and
the Ainu have recourse to it when it is necessary to determine the
relative amount of courage possessed by certain members of a community.
The one that can stand the greater number of blows is naturally entitled
to the respect and admiration of his neighbours, and he is elected
leader in bear-hunts or similar expeditions. At the election of a new
chief--when the chief's line of descendants dies out--this process, I
was told, is often practised; for bravery is the first quality which an
Ainu chief must possess.
At Aputa, through some of the half-castes, I was able to pick up a great
number of Ainu words, which were most useful to me afterwards; and from
that, gradually increasing my stock of words, I soon knew enough to
understand a little and also to make myself understood.
One day I went along the coast to the next village of Repun, and then
retraced my steps to Aputa, as there was nothing of interest at the
former place.
An excursion which I enjoyed more was to the Toya Lake, with its three
pretty islands in the centre and the magnificent Uso Volcano on its
southern shores. The walk there and back was hardly fifteen miles, over
a mountain track and through forests of pine-trees and oaks. The lake is
about 250 feet above the level of the sea, and is about five miles in
diameter. Its shores are surrounded with thickly-wooded hills, which
have grassy terraces at a certain altitude, extending especially towards
the north-western shores of the lake. The barren Uso Volcano, with its
sterile slopes, is a great contrast to the beautiful green of the
comparatively luxuriant vegetation of the lower altitudes. The lake
finds an outlet into the Osaru River by means of a high waterfall.
The following day I rode back to Mombets, and the next on to
Shin-Mororran (the _new_ Mororran, distinguished by this affix from
Kiu-Mororran, the _old_ settlement on the northern shore).
Mororran has a well-protected harbour, and it would be the best future
port in Hokkaido if the anchorage were of a larger capacity. In more
speculative hands than the Japanese this port would be a great rival to
Hakodate. It consists of a thickly-wooded peninsula, which forms a
well-sheltered bay, at the entrance of which the picturesque island of
Daikuku stands high above the sea-level. In the harbour itself, smaller
islets and huge rocks contribute to its beauty.
The village of Mororran is a mere streak of fourth-rate tea-houses along
the road by the side of the cliffs. Apart from the natural loveliness of
the harbour, it has, indeed, no claims to consideration at present. In
former days it was called by the Ainu, Tokri-moi, "the home of the
seals," for these valuable amphibious animals were said to be then
plentiful in the bay.
[Illustration: TOYA LAKE, NEAR APUTA.]
[Illustration: FISHERMAN'S HUT.]