From Cape Erimo to the Tokachi River
The mountain pass between Horoizumi and Shoya is supposed to be very
dangerous on account of bears. I rode the ten miles quietly, but failed
to meet or see any. The way through thick woods is exceedingly pretty.
After traversing a small valley with a dense growth of scrub-bamboo, it
climbs a small hill, from the top of which a lovely view of Cape Erimo
lies like a picture before one's eyes. There are only thirty houses at
Shoya, and the place could not be better described than by the words "a
miserable hole." The rough weather, as well as several landslips, had
some time before my arrival broken all communication between Shoya and
the next village east of it. There is a rough mountain trail as far as
Saruru, but my ponies could not possibly get through the scrub-wood and
heavy climbing, and none of the natives could be induced to carry my
luggage. They all positively refused to follow me on account of the
multitude of bears which they said were on the mountains.
"If the sea goes down," said an old fisherman, "you may be able to get
through early to-morrow morning at low tide; and, if you are careful,
you will not be washed away by the waves." The cliffs near Shoya are
remarkable for their beauty. They are mostly older eruptive rocks which
nature has carved into hundreds of rugged and fantastic forms. About a
mile from the village is a huge natural archway, and from this point
begin the precipitous cliffs, pillars, and rocks which make the journey
so difficult.
At Shoya there are no pure Ainu, but some of the fishermen exhibit
traces of Ainu blood. My recollection of Shoya is decidedly not of a
pleasant character. I put up in the house of a fisherman, which also
answers the purpose of a tea-house for the few stranded native
travellers.
"We are so poor," said the landlord when I asked for something to eat,
"and we have finished our provisions of rice. The other people in the
village are poorer than we are, and they also have none; and as for
fish, the sea has been so rough for several days that we have not been
able to catch any. We ate the last scrap of fish we had just before you
arrived! If you gave me a fortune, I could not give you anything to
eat."
When the landlord confessed this to me in the evening, I had already
been fourteen hours without food. The prospect of not getting any more
for at least the next eighteen or twenty hours was not an agreeable
look-out. I was very hungry, but, failing a meal, the next best thing
was to try and go to sleep. Even that did not prove successful, for
hunger keeps you awake, and in its first stages sharpens all your senses
considerably.
The night I spent at Shoya is worthy of a description. From top to
bottom the corners of my room were filled with webs, which the spiders
had spun undisturbed in all directions across the room. Hundreds of
flies and horseflies rose buzzing when I entered the room, and I had to
engage in a very unequal war against them before I could settle down on
the hard planks. In one corner of the ceiling a big, long-legged spider,
too high for me to reach, was enjoying a good meal out of a huge
horsefly which he had captured in his net. I almost envied the
long-legged epicure. Nature will be ironical sometimes. When night came,
and I was still sleepless, the planks on which I was lying seemed harder
than any planks I had ever slept on before. I turned round one way,
then the other, then another, till all my bones were aching. Finally,
through exhaustion, I fell asleep, and even had a nightmare. In my
dreams, the ghosts of all the spiders I had killed, magnified to the
size of human beings, were dancing round me, while one fat old
fellow--fatter than any two others put together--was gravely sitting on
my chest watching the performance. His weight was such that I was nearly
suffocated. Sometimes he would seize me by the throat and almost choke
me, while the dancing spiders would choke themselves with laughing ...
when--
"_Hayaku Danna!_"--"Quick, sir!" said a Japanese voice, waking me
suddenly; "get up, or else the tide will rise, and you will not be able
to get to Saruru."
I opened my eyes; the dream passed, and the monstrous spiders vanished;
but the pain caused by the emptiness of my stomach was still there, and
my throat was dry and aching.
It was before sunrise, and it was almost in complete darkness that I
left Shoya. I was weak and chilly. The monotonous sound of the waves
breaking over the shore added melancholy to _malaise_, and made me very
doleful and limp. Nevertheless, as I was in for it, I pushed my way with
my ponies along high cliffs and among rocks, and got on as best I could.
Where the sea had receded the stones were slippery, and my two animals
were no sooner on their feet than they were down again on their knees.
The hollow sound of their hoofs on the rocks was echoed from cliff to
cliff, and awakened the sleepy crows from their night's repose. I had to
walk most of the way, and urge on my ponies with howls, as well as stir
them up with the whip. Though the tide was low, the waves often washed
up to my waist. Daylight came, and I went along, following the high,
rugged cliffs, through tunnels occasionally, among rocks continually.
The scenery was really magnificent, seen as it was in the mysterious
morning light of the rising sun. My horses were done up when I got to
Saruru, and I exchanged them for fresh ones. By this time the tide had
risen, and it was not possible to proceed any further along the
sea-shore. I was glad of it, as I should thus be forced to try the
mountain track, which I was told was not so very rough from this point.
A half-caste offered to show me the way. It was a very stiff climb among
thick shrub, but it was comparatively smooth work after the experience
of my journey from Shoya. I came across many tracks and footprints of
bears on the mountain. In some places the marks were quite fresh and of
different sizes, varying in length from one foot to four inches. The
half-caste told me that black bears seldom attack men unless they are
hungry. They often attack horses.
"But if they hear that a man is near they will not dare to attack even
the horses," he said, and then began to sing at the top of his voice.
His singing, half Japanese, half Ainu, was so excruciating that it was
no wonder to me that it kept the bears away.
We crossed two rapid streams before reaching the summit of the mountain
range. The view from the summit was lovely. In the distance I could
distinguish two headlands, while an immense stretch of stormy sea and a
high mountain were in the foreground. I began to descend, and again I
got into the region of thick forest and scrub. I perceived a few houses
near the coast, and we made for them. It was the village of Moyoro,[12]
or Biru, as it is called by others.
[12] Moyoro. _Moy_, a bay; _oro_, to be in.
Between Saruru and Biru, where the mountain track sometimes descends to
the shore, I found many Ainu and half-breeds, especially in the two
villages of Onnito[13] and Bitatannuki.[14] They are said to be very
bad, and what I saw of them, even at Biru, corroborated this assertion.
[13] Onnito. _Onni_ or _Onne_, great, large; _to_, lake, swamp.
[14] Bitatannuki. _Bita_, to undo; _tannu_, long; _ki_, rushes,
reeds.
Biru is situated on a small bay, in the centre of which some gigantic
pillars stand out at a great height. The rough sea dashes against them,
and thousands of crows and sea-birds have chosen these rocks for their
abode. Biru is not a large village. There are only forty fishermen's
huts, most of which are on the high cliff surrounding the small bay; the
others are down on the beach. Kelp, seaweed, and sardines are as
abundant here as on the south-west coast, and maintain the staple
industries of the inhabitants. The sea-weed is of great length but small
width. Fourteen more miles over the cliffs brought me to Perohune.[15]
There were four large deltas to cross, that of the Toyoi-pets[16] being
the largest. The current in all these rivers is extremely swift.
[15] _Pero_ or _Pira_, cliff; _Hune_, _Hun_, a particle indicating
the existence of something at a place.
[16] _Toy_, earth; _o_, (?) _i_, a place; _pets,_ river.
Perohune enjoys a big name, but there is only one house in the place. I
was, however, fortunate enough to get two good ponies there. The fog was
settling down thicker and thicker, and I could not see more than a yard
or two in front of me; but at times it lifted up for a few moments, and
showed me either the dangers I was nearing or the landscape I was
losing. I passed two lakes, the Tobuts,[17] otherwise called Oputs, and
the Yuto. Both are divided from the sea by a narrow sand-ridge. There is
but little of human interest along this deserted coast. There are no
houses and no people, but many small rivers, and now and then high
cliffs. My ponies, driven mad by the _abus_, the terrible horseflies of
Yezo, constantly threw themselves down and rolled on the sand.
[17] _To_, lake, swamp; _buts_, mouth of a river. _O_, a meaningless
prefix; _puts_, mouth of a river.
From Perohune to Yuto Lake the distance is about eleven miles, and from
Yuto to Otsu it is eleven more miles, on a very easy track. I saw some
large sea-birds and penguins, and I was struck by the great number of
drift logs which had been washed on shore by the sea. The last
thirty-eight miles of the coast was literally covered with this drift
wood. During the summer months the fog is always dense along this coast,
greatly owing to a cold current which comes from the Otkoshk Sea, passes
through the strait between Kunashiri and Etorofu, in the Kuriles, and
then turns south, following a great part of the south-east coast of
Yezo. Not far from Erimo Cape it meets a warm current from the China
Sea, which passes through the Tsugaru Strait, and which in all
probability is the Kuro-shiwo, or Japan current. This Japan current
parts from the main stream near the south-western extremity of Japan,
goes through the Corean Strait, and follows the north-west coast of
Nippon, passing then through the Tsugaru Strait. As will be seen later,
a branch of this current runs along the north-west coast of Yezo, and
through the La Perouse Strait.
[Illustration: IWA ROCKS AT BIRU.]
[Illustration: AINU HOUSES AND STOREHOUSE, FRISHIKOBETS, TOKACHI RIVER.]