According To Mr. Davies, The Average
Weight Of The Aino Adult Masculine Brain, Ascertained By
Measurement Of Aino Skulls, Is
45.90 ounces avoirdupois, a brain
weight said to exceed that of all the races, Hindoo and Mussulman,
on the
Indian plains, and that of the aboriginal races of India and
Ceylon, and is only paralleled by that of the races of the
Himalayas, the Siamese, and the Chinese Burmese. Mr. Davies says,
further, that it exceeds the mean brain weight of Asiatic races in
general. Yet with all this the Ainos are a stupid people!
Passing travellers who have seen a few of the Aino women on the
road to Satsuporo speak of them as very ugly, but as making amends
for their ugliness by their industry and conjugal fidelity. Of the
latter there is no doubt, but I am not disposed to admit the
former. The ugliness is certainly due to art and dirt. The Aino
women seldom exceed five feet and half an inch in height, but they
are beautifully formed, straight, lithe, and well-developed, with
small feet and hands, well-arched insteps, rounded limbs, well-
developed busts, and a firm, elastic gait. Their heads and faces
are small; but the hair, which falls in masses on each side of the
face like that of the men, is equally redundant. They have superb
teeth, and display them liberally in smiling. Their mouths are
somewhat wide, but well formed, and they have a ruddy comeliness
about them which is pleasing, in spite of the disfigurement of the
band which is tattooed both above and below the mouth, and which,
by being united at the corners, enlarges its apparent size and
width. A girl at Shiraoi, who, for some reason, has not been
subjected to this process, is the most beautiful creature in
features, colouring, and natural grace of form, that I have seen
for a long time. Their complexions are lighter than those of the
men. There are not many here even as dark as our European
brunettes. A few unite the eyebrows by a streak of tattooing, so
as to produce a straight line. Like the men, they cut their hair
short for two or three inches above the nape of the neck, but
instead of using a fillet they take two locks from the front and
tie them at the back.
They are universally tattooed, not only with the broad band above
and below the mouth, but with a band across the knuckles, succeeded
by an elaborate pattern on the back of the hand, and a series of
bracelets extending to the elbow. The process of disfigurement
begins at the age of five, when some of the sufferers are yet
unweaned. I saw the operation performed on a dear little bright
girl this morning. A woman took a large knife with a sharp edge,
and rapidly cut several horizontal lines on the upper lip,
following closely the curve of the very pretty mouth, and before
the slight bleeding had ceased carefully rubbed in some of the
shiny soot which collects on the mat above the fire. In two or
three days the scarred lip will be washed with the decoction of the
bark of a tree to fix the pattern, and give it that blue look which
makes many people mistake it for a daub of paint. A child who had
this second process performed yesterday has her lip fearfully
swollen and inflamed. The latest victim held her hands clasped
tightly together while the cuts were inflicted, but never cried.
The pattern on the lips is deepened and widened every year up to
the time of marriage, and the circles on the arm are extended in a
similar way. The men cannot give any reason for the universality
of this custom. It is an old custom, they say, and part of their
religion, and no woman could marry without it. Benri fancies that
the Japanese custom of blackening the teeth is equivalent to it;
but he is mistaken, as that ceremony usually succeeds marriage.
They begin to tattoo the arms when a girl is five or six, and work
from the elbow downwards. They expressed themselves as very much
grieved and tormented by the recent prohibition of tattooing. They
say the gods will be angry, and that the women can't marry unless
they are tattooed; and they implored both Mr. Von Siebold and me to
intercede with the Japanese Government on their behalf in this
respect. They are less apathetic on this than on any subject, and
repeat frequently, "It's a part of our religion."
The children are very pretty and attractive, and their faces give
promise of an intelligence which is lacking in those of the adults.
They are much loved, and are caressing as well as caressed. The
infants of the mountain Ainos have seeds of millet put into their
mouths as soon as they are born, and those of the coast Ainos a
morsel of salt-fish; and whatever be the hour of birth, "custom"
requires that they shall not be fed until a night has passed. They
are not weaned until they are at least three years old. Boys are
preferred to girls, but both are highly valued, and a childless
wife may be divorced.
Children do not receive names till they are four or five years old,
and then the father chooses a name by which his child is afterwards
known. Young children when they travel are either carried on their
mothers' backs in a net, or in the back of the loose garment; but
in both cases the weight is mainly supported by a broad band which
passes round the woman's forehead. When men carry them they hold
them in their arms. The hair of very young children is shaven, and
from about five to fifteen the boys wear either a large tonsure or
tufts above the ears, while the girls are allowed to grow hair all
over their heads.
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