The Ishikari River.
On the north side of the mouth of the Ishikari River is an Ainu village
called Raishats. Its inhabitants are not natives of this island, but
were imported by the Japanese Government from Sakhalin when it was
exchanged with Russia for the Kuriles.
At the entrance of the river, and close to this village, another
wreck--of the "Kamida Maru"--a schooner, ended the mournful list of
disasters on this inhospitable coast.
The Ainu of Raishats are different in some ways from the Yezo Ainu
proper. They call themselves Kraftu Ainu, "Kraftu"[36] being the Ainu
name for Sakhalin. Their skin is of a lighter colour; but the principal
difference is in their eyes and eyebrows. The Kraftu Ainu have eyes of
the Mongolian type, though larger, while the Yezo Ainu have not; and
their eyebrows have a very pronounced curve near the nose. Most of the
women seemed to suffer from consumption, and the men also did not seem
as strong as the other Ainu. The women tattoo on their lips a small
square pattern instead of the long moustache, and most of them have now
adopted Japanese _kimonos_, or else wear gowns similar to those of
Russian peasants. Some also wear skin gowns similar to those of the
Kurilsky Ainu, ornamented with feathers and bits of molten lead sewn on
them. A velvet cap or a kind of tiara is their head-gear, and this also
is ornamented with gold and silver or red beads, or else is embroidered
in bright colours.
[36] Sometimes also pronounced _Krafto._
The children are arrayed in more gaudy colours than their elders. They
have bright red embroideries round their necks, and the whole gown is
full of spangles and beads, the proceeds of parental barter. A peculiar
paunch-suspender, which I saw here for the first time, was ingenious,
and answered a great want in the Ainu country. As will be seen later,
the majority of Ainu children have huge paunches, mostly due to the
inability of the hairy people to tie and secure properly the umbilical
cord at the child's birth. This not only produces great discomfort to
the child, but often causes its death. The belt which I saw was made on
the principle that the weight of the paunch, under which passed a kind
of net made of strips of skin, was supported by braces going over the
shoulders, and by this contrivance, if the original lesion did not get
much better it did not get worse, as it does when not taken any care of
at all. Neither men nor women wore earrings; but the fair sex wore a
kind of velvet ribbon necklace round their neck, and on this ribbon were
sewn ornaments of molten lead, silver, and other metals.
The habitations, storehouses, and customs of these Ainu are similar to
those of the others. As I slowly rode along the banks of the river just
before sunset, retracing my steps towards the Ishikari village, I saw a
hidden trail, which apparently led to the woods. I made my pony follow
it, and shortly afterwards I came to a graveyard. As I have said, the
Ainu are extremely jealous of their burial-places, and they resent
strangers, even Japanese, going near them. It was nearly fifteen days
since the accident to my leg had occurred, and though I could neither
walk nor stand on it, still I was beginning to be accustomed to the
agony, and with great trouble and pain I could dismount from my tiny
pony. Strange to say, mounting was not so difficult, for I could pull
myself up with my arms, lie flat on my stomach on the saddle, and then
swing round, and it did not jar me as much as coming down. I had my
paint-box fastened to the saddle, and I unlashed it to take a sketch.
The tombs were so many trunks of trees cut and carved, and with one
branch left on one side (_see_ Chapter XXI.). One tomb particularly was
more ornamented, and it had a flat-shaped monument, roughly but well
carved at its head. An object resembling the bottom of a "dug-out"
covered the body, and this was also carved. At each of the four corners
a wooden blade was stuck in the ground. From the stench I should think
that the body was only a few inches underground.
Fate had punished me so severely of late for faults which I never
committed that I thought myself now entitled to commit a fault for the
sake of squaring accounts. One of the small wooden blades, nicely
carved, would just go under my coat. I decided to steal it. To my mind
it was hardly a big enough crime even to balance the last accident I had
had.
I turned round to see that no one was looking. I put down my paint-box,
crawled to the grave, took the blade, put it under my coat, and, ashamed
of myself for committing the outrage--though with prepaid punishment--I
scrambled up on my pony as well I could, and hurriedly left the place. I
rode back to the ferry, a long way off, and went across to Ishikari, and
catching a moment when no one was watching me, I quickly passed the
carved blade from under my coat into my baggage.
"What a good thief I would make," I thought to myself, when to my horror
I remembered that in the hurry of leaving the graveyard I had forgotten
my paint-box in the very same spot from which I had taken the blade!
If any Ainu had gone to the graveyard and found it, I would get into a
nice mess! During the night I felt more than uncomfortable about it, and
at dawn the next morning I got the tea-house man to bring my horse and
set me on it, for I said, "I wish to go and see the sunrise from the
other side of the river."
The landlord thought it rather funny, and funnier still when he saw me
coming back a couple of hours later with a paint-box lashed to my
saddle, while he said he was sure I had started without one.
"Did you not see it this morning?" said I with assumed innocence.
"No, your honourable," said he, drawing in his breath.
"You did not look for it in the right place," said I, and up to this day
the landlord does not know where the right place was.
The Ishikari is one of the great salmon rivers of Yezo. About the end of
September the salmon enter the river to spawn. They are in such
abundance then that the stream is crowded thick with them, and it is
quite sufficient to have a hook fastened to a stick to pull out a large
fish each time it is dipped into the water. Millions of fine salmon are
caught within a few days, and the banks of the river are packed with
dead fish, while the whole population is occupied in splitting open each
fish, taking out its inside, for preservation.
The same method of netting as is practised for sardine fishing is
employed for salmon. Eighteen or twenty excited men vigorously row the
boats out into mid-stream, and after describing a semicircle, return to
the bank. The nets are hauled in, the fish flung out on the river banks,
and the same process begins _de novo_. A man in a "dug-out" watches when
the salmon are more or less plentiful, and signals for the boat to
start, while he himself spears them with a harpoon. At the right time of
the year as many as 1500 or 2,000 and more good fish are caught each
time the net is hauled in. This grand take of course only lasts a few
days.
Though good, the Yezo salmon has none of the fine qualities of the
salmon of northern European rivers, and it is not quite so good as that
of the Canadian rivers. It does not keep so well, and in colour is much
lighter than our salmon.
The Ishikari River opens to the north, and runs parallel to the coast,
leaving a flat tongue of sand between it and the sea. Following the
course of the stream against the current, it goes winding south, then
sharply turns to the south-east, following this direction for about
fourteen miles. Then again it winds up to the north, and then to the
east for a distance of over one hundred miles, where its source lies in
the very heart of Yezo.
The Ishikari carries a large body of water, and it is nine hundred and
twenty feet wide near its mouth. Its "drainage area" has been estimated
to be over three thousand square miles, including mountain slopes, while
the actual valley does not, in my opinion, exceed eight hundred square
miles. The river receives many affluents, of which the most important
are the Rubeshibe, Chupets, Piegawa, the Sorachi River, and the Toyohira
on its south side, and the Uriugawa on its north side. Near the coast
the valley is wooded mainly with scrub oak, but further inland its banks
are heavily timbered. The Sorachi River is the most important affluent
on the south side. It is navigable for "dug-outs" and small sailing
boats for some considerable distance. At Sorachi one strikes the new
road which leads from the Poronai coal mines to Kamikawa, where the site
has been chosen for the intended new capital of Hokkaido.
The road between Sorachi and the latter place not being metalled, was
exceedingly bad owing to the heavy rains, and my pony continually sank
in mud up to his belly. The road follows the course of the Ishikari
River more or less; and in the woods is a military settlement like those
we have seen near Nemuro and Akkeshi. At Otoyebukets the traveller must
change horses. About eight miles further on one reaches the Kamuikotan
rapids, a poetic spot: huge rocks in the water, violently rushing
between and over them, form pretty waterfalls. The Ainu occasionally
shoot down these rapids in their "dug-outs," and remains of these are to
be seen here and there smashed on the rocks. From this point the road
rises almost all the way, and the wayfarer must cross over the hill
range, from the top of which the whole plain of Kamikawa can be seen, in
the upper basin of the Ishikari, which, winding like a silver snake,
intersects the flat valley.
Descending the hill on the other side, I reached the future capital of
Hokkaido. It is indeed a town of the future, for at the present moment
there are only five houses, if I may call them so. The site of this
embryo metropolis is by the Chubets River; and on the hill called
Nayosami I was told a palace for the Emperor is to be erected. However,
they were not certain about it yet. It is a pretty hill, almost in the
centre of the large plain, and from the top of it one gets a lovely view
of a volcanic cone standing in front of you to the south. Near this hill
the new road turns sharply almost at a right angle, and two miles
further some _Tondens_ have been begun (_Ciuta Hombu_). Hundreds of
convicts, who, by the way, have made the road between here and Poronai,
were at work continuing the same road towards the east. I believe that
eventually it will be prolonged to the north-east coast, where it will
end near Abashiri. In my opinion the scheme practically will be a
failure, for Kamikawa will never be a flourishing place, as there is
nothing to support a large population. From a strategic point of view of
course Kamikawa has the advantage of being in the centre of Yezo.
Kamikawa is 342 feet above the level of the sea, but it is well
sheltered, and the climate, though very cold, is not quite so severe as
in other parts of Yezo.
The Ainu of the upper Ishikari are nearly the same as the Saru Ainu,
only somewhat taller and more ill-tempered. They show greater skill than
other Ainu in wood-carving and general ornamentation. Along the banks of
the river huts are scattered here and there; but the largest number is
at Chubets.
At the present moment the Japanese population of Kamikawa is, with the
exception of half-a-dozen policemen and as many civilians, composed
entirely of convicts. These are dressed in red coats and trousers, and
those who have committed murder have the top of their head shaved in the
shape of a bottle (Jap., _Hetzui_). If any misbehave, they are beaten
with the flat side of the long sword worn by the policeman in charge;
but I must confess that otherwise the policemen are extremely kind in
every way to these fellows. The well-behaved have one, two, or three
small pieces of black cloth sewn to their left sleeve. They are made to
work hard, but save this enforced diligence they seem to have a pretty
good time. As I was talking to a policeman in charge, two dead men were
brought on a cart by a man who had a towel over his mouth and a red
blanket over his head. The two men had died suddenly. They had arrived
only a few days previously from Southern Japan, where cholera was
raging, and they had all the symptoms of having died of that deadly
disease.
A very exciting way of retracing your steps down to the Sorachi River is
to shoot the rapids in an Ainu "dug-out." You make one or two Ainu
moderately drunk, as otherwise they do not seem anxious to attempt it,
and when they are in that pot-valiant condition you get them to paddle
your canoe down the stream, while you sit in the bottom holding on to
the sides. You start with the velocity of a turtle, increase it to that
of a horse, then to that of a swallow, and when you are well in the
rapids it is like travelling on an arrow. You go rubbing against rocks,
and are shot in the air when going over a small waterfall, only to fall
with a splash in the water some yards further, with an increase of
velocity as you go on. It really requires but little skill to navigate
rapids, for it is the current itself that does all the work. All that is
needed is to keep the "dug-out" straight in the water. Of course if you
should happen to collide with a rock when you are going at nearly double
the rate of an express train you would have little chance of saving your
life; but if you are neither smashed nor drowned, and you do not come to
grief in any way, you can accomplish the journey, which takes you the
whole day by land, in little over one hour when there is plenty of water
in the stream.
On the road from Sorachi to Poronai, and halfway between the villages of
Naye and Takigawa, a new coal mine has been discovered and opened, which
is said to be very rich in mineral of good quality; in fact, superior to
the coal of Poronai. It is ten miles from Otaussi Nai village, where the
high road has to be abandoned if the mine is to be visited.
There are many Ainu both at Takikawa-Mura (Waterfall-River village), at
Otaussi, and at Poronai-buts. Poronai has in its neighbourhood some rich
coal mines. As others have reported more accurately and correctly than I
can on the quality and extent of these coal seams, I shall abstain from
repeating or copying what has been already said. I may, however, mention
that the seams cut the valley of the Ikusum River eight miles from
Poronai-buts, and a continuation of them is found near the springs of
the Sorachi. The coal beds of Poronai are about three and a half feet
deep, and many different beds have been found deeper than these, but of
inferior quality. Poronai also goes by the name of Ishikishiri, and a
large penitentiary has been erected here for the accommodation of the
numerous convicts exported from the Main Island to improve the scheme
for the colonisation of Yezo. I was called on by the chief _yakunin_
(officer), and he expressed a wish that I should inspect the prisons. A
splendid horse was sent to convey me thither, and two policemen helped
me on my progress through the buildings, owing to my inability to walk
more than a few yards at a time. It was a large walled enclosure, with
houses for the officials and cells for the _akambos_, a jocular term,
meaning "babies," which is applied to convicts, because they wear red
clothes like children. The buildings were beautifully clean, but what
astonished me most was that no precaution whatever was adopted to
prevent convicts from escaping. The outside gates were all wide open;
there were neither soldiers nor policemen at the gates, and, moreover,
the _concierge_ was himself a convict!
"But," said I, "do not many of these fellows escape?"
"Oh, no, not many. Last month only sixteen ran away," was the
_insouciant_ answer of my guide.
From Poronai-buts to Sappro there is a small railway, by which the coal
trains are run to the coast as far as Otaru.
[Illustration: WOMAN OF ISHIKARI RIVER.]
[Illustration: AINU BARK WATER-JUGS]