I Got Up At Six This Morning To Write Out
My Notes, And Have Been Writing For Five Hours, And There Is
Shortly The Prospect Of Another Savage Seance.
The distractions,
as you can imagine, are many.
At this moment a savage is taking a
cup of sake by the fire in the centre of the floor. He salutes me
by extending his hands and waving them towards his face, and then
dips a rod in the sake, and makes six libations to the god - an
upright piece of wood with a fringe of shavings planted in the
floor of the room. Then he waves the cup several times towards
himself, makes other libations to the fire, and drinks. Ten other
men and women are sitting along each side of the fire-hole, the
chief's wife is cooking, the men are apathetically contemplating
the preparation of their food; and the other women, who are never
idle, are splitting the bark of which they make their clothes. I
occupy the guest seat - a raised platform at one end of the fire,
with the skin of a black bear thrown over it.
I have reserved all I have to say about the Ainos till I had been
actually among them, and I hope you will have patience to read to
the end. Ito is very greedy and self-indulgent, and whimpered very
much about coming to Biratori at all, - one would have thought he
was going to the stake. He actually borrowed for himself a
sleeping mat and futons, and has brought a chicken, onions,
potatoes, French beans, Japanese sauce, tea, rice, a kettle, a
stew-pan, and a rice-pan, while I contented myself with a cold fowl
and potatoes.
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