In The Long Grey Wall Of
The Long Grey Barrack There Were Many Dismal Windows, And When We
Hooted For Admission A Stupid Face Appeared At One Of Them And
Disappeared.
Then a grey gateway opened, and we rode into a yard
of grey gravel, with some silent rooms opening upon it.
The
solitude of the thirty or forty rooms which lie between it and the
kitchen, and which are now filled with nets and fishing-tackle, was
something awful; and as the wind swept along the polished passage,
rattling the fusuma and lifting the shingles on the roof, and the
rats careered from end to end, I went to the great black daidokoro
in search of social life, and found a few embers and an andon, and
nothing else but the stupid-faced man deploring his fate, and two
orphan boys whose lot he makes more wretched than his own. In the
fishing-season this barrack accommodates from 200 to 300 men.
I started to the sea-shore, crossing the dreary river, and found
open sheds much blackened, deserted huts of reeds, long sheds with
a nearly insufferable odour from caldrons in which oil had been
extracted from last year's fish, two or three Aino huts, and two or
three grand-looking Ainos, clothed in skins, striding like ghosts
over the sandbanks, a number of wolfish dogs, some log canoes or
"dug-outs," the bones of a wrecked junk, a quantity of bleached
drift-wood, a beach of dark-grey sand, and a tossing expanse of
dark-grey ocean under a dull and windy sky. On this part of the
coast the Pacific spends its fury, and has raised up at a short
distance above high-water mark a sandy sweep of such a height that
when you descend its seaward slope you see nothing but the sea and
the sky, and a grey, curving shore, covered thick for many a lonely
mile with fantastic forms of whitened drift-wood, the shattered
wrecks of forest-trees, which are carried down by the innumerable
rivers, till, after tossing for weeks and months along with
" - wrecks of ships, and drifting
spars uplifting
On the desolate, rainy seas:
Ever drifting, drifting, drifting,
On the shifting
Currents of the restless main;"
the "toiling surges" cast them on Yubets beach, and
"All have found repose again."
A grim repose!
The deep boom of the surf was music, and the strange cries of sea-
birds, and the hoarse notes of the audacious black crows, were all
harmonious, for nature, when left to herself, never produces
discords either in sound or colour.
LETTER XXXV - (Continued)
The Harmonies of Nature - A Good Horse - A Single Discord - A Forest -
Aino Ferrymen - "Les Puces! Les Puces!" - Baffled Explorers - Ito's
Contempt for Ainos - An Aino Introduction.
SARUFUTO.
No! Nature has no discords. This morning, to the far horizon,
diamond-flashing blue water shimmered in perfect peace, outlined by
a line of surf which broke lazily on a beach scarcely less snowy
than itself. The deep, perfect blue of the sky was only broken by
a few radiant white clouds, whose shadows trailed slowly over the
plain on whose broad bosom a thousand corollas, in the glory of
their brief but passionate life, were drinking in the sunshine,
wavy ranges slept in depths of indigo, and higher hills beyond were
painted in faint blue on the dreamy sky. Even the few grey houses
of Yubets were spiritualised into harmony by a faint blue veil
which was not a mist, and the loud croak of the loquacious and
impertinent crows had a cheeriness about it, a hearty mockery,
which I liked.
Above all, I had a horse so good that he was always trying to run
away, and galloped so lightly over the flowery grass that I rode
the seventeen miles here with great enjoyment. Truly a good horse,
good ground to gallop on, and sunshine, make up the sum of
enjoyable travelling. The discord in the general harmony was
produced by the sight of the Ainos, a harmless people without the
instinct of progress, descending to that vast tomb of conquered and
unknown races which has opened to receive so many before them. A
mounted policeman started with us from Yubets, and rode the whole
way here, keeping exactly to my pace, but never speaking a word.
We forded one broad, deep river, and crossed another, partly by
fording and partly in a scow, after which the track left the level,
and, after passing through reedy grass as high as the horse's ears,
went for some miles up and down hill, through woods composed
entirely of the Ailanthus glandulosus, with leaves much riddled by
the mountain silk-worm, and a ferny undergrowth of the familiar
Pteris aquilina. The deep shade and glancing lights of this open
copsewood were very pleasant; and as the horse tripped gaily up and
down the little hills, and the sea murmur mingled with the rustle
of the breeze, and a glint of white surf sometimes flashed through
the greenery, and dragonflies and butterflies in suits of crimson
and black velvet crossed the path continually like "living flashes"
of light, I was reminded somewhat, though faintly, of windward
Hawaii. We emerged upon an Aino hut and a beautiful placid river,
and two Ainos ferried the four people and horses across in a scow,
the third wading to guide the boat. They wore no clothing, but
only one was hairy. They were superb-looking men, gentle, and
extremely courteous, handing me in and out of the boat, and holding
the stirrup while I mounted, with much natural grace. On leaving
they extended their arms and waved their hands inwards twice,
stroking their grand beards afterwards, which is their usual
salutation. A short distance over shingle brought us to this
Japanese village of sixty-three houses, a colonisation settlement,
mainly of samurai from the province of Sendai, who are raising very
fine crops on the sandy soil. The mountains, twelve miles in the
interior, have a large Aino population, and a few Ainos live near
this village and are held in great contempt by its inhabitants.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 79 of 112
Words from 80071 to 81097
of 115002
