They Are Charming In Many Ways, But Make
One Sad, Too, By Their Stupidity, Apathy, And Hopelessness, And All
The Sadder That Their Numbers Appear To Be Again Increasing; And As
Their Physique Is Very Fine, There Does Not Appear To Be A Prospect
Of The Race Dying Out At Present.
They are certainly superior to many aborigines, as they have an
approach to domestic life.
They have one word for HOUSE, and
another for HOME, and one word for husband approaches very nearly
to house-band. Truth is of value in their eyes, and this in itself
raises them above some peoples. Infanticide is unknown, and aged
parents receive filial reverence, kindness, and support, while in
their social and domestic relations there is much that is
praiseworthy.
I must conclude this letter abruptly, as the horses are waiting,
and I must cross the rivers, if possible, before the bursting of an
impending storm. I. L. B.
LETTER XXXVIII
A Parting Gift - A Delicacy - Generosity - A Seaside Village -
Pipichari's Advice - A Drunken Revel - Ito's Prophecies - The Kocho's
Illness - Patent Medicines.
SARUFUTO, YEZO, August 27.
I left the Ainos yesterday with real regret, though I must confess
that sleeping in one's clothes and the lack of ablutions are very
fatiguing. Benri's two wives spent the early morning in the
laborious operation of grinding millet into coarse flour, and
before I departed, as their custom is, they made a paste of it,
rolled it with their unclean fingers into well-shaped cakes, boiled
them in the unwashed pot in which they make their stew of
"abominable things," and presented them to me on a lacquer tray.
They were distressed that I did not eat their food, and a woman
went to a village at some distance and brought me some venison fat
as a delicacy.
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