are far less cleanly
than their Japanese neighbors. Travellers(18) who have remained with them
for many weeks assert that in all that time they never saw them wash
either their persons or their clothes.

They practise few arts. The making of pottery even in its rudest forms is
unknown. All vessels in use are obtained by barter from the Japanese.
Occasionally an old-fashioned Japanese matchlock gun is found among them,
but mainly their hunting is carried on with bows and arrows. Their fishing
is conducted with the rude apparatus which their ancestors used. They have
no written language, and even the pictorial writing, which has often been
found among rude people, seems to be utterly unknown among them. Their
religious ideas(19) are of the most vague and incoherent description. The
objects of worship are chiefly inanimate objects such as rivers, rocks and
mountains. They seem to have a certain fear of the spirit land. They do
not readily talk about their deceased ancestors. Their places of burial
are concealed, and foreigners rarely obtain access to them.

In their rude superstitions the bear seems to have a singular part.
Whether their traditions concerning this animal had their origin in some
earlier fear of the bear as a ferocious neighbor it is impossible to
determine. In every community the men capture each spring a young cub
which they bring home. They entrust it to a woman who feeds it on the milk
from her breast. When it is too old to be further nursed in this way, it
is confined in a bear cage provided for the purpose. Then in the autumn of
the following year the grand bear festival is held. At an appointed signal
the door of the cage is opened and the bear, which has been infuriated by
hunger and teasing attacks, rushes out. The assembled hunters rush upon
him with bows and arrows, clubs and knives, and after an exciting struggle
despatch him. The carcass is cut in pieces and distributed among the
families of the community, who feast upon it with great delight. Mingled
with this rough and exciting scene is much _sake_ drinking. This is one
accomplishment which they have learned from the Japanese. The men are all
confirmed _sake_ drinkers, and both men and women persistent smokers. Of
the meaning and object of this bear feast the Ainos themselves are
ignorant. It goes back to a period beyond their present traditions.
Whether it has in it an element of bear worship it is impossible to learn.

The remains of the S