The characteristic quality of an Aino is goodness of heart, which is expressed in the strongest manner in his countenance ; and so far as we were enabled to observe their actions, they fully answered this expression. These, as well as their looks, evinced something simple, but no ble. Avarice, or rather rapacity, the common fault of all the wild inhabitants of the southern islands in the eastern ocean, they are entirely strangers to : in Romanzoff bay they brought fish on board, which they immediately left to us, without demanding the least thing in return ; and much as they were delighted with the presents made to them, they would not admit them as their property, until they had been frequently assured by signs of their being intended for them.
"The dress of the Ainos consists chiefly of the skins of tame clogs and seals ; but I have seen some in a very dif ferent attire, which resembled the parkis of the Kamtscha dales, and is, properly speaking, a white shirt worn over their other clothes. In Aniwa bay they were all clad in furs ; their boots were made of seal skins, and in these likewise the women were invariably clothed. In Roman zoff bay, on the contrary, we saw only two fur dresses, one of which was a bear's skin, the other made of dogs' skins ; and the rest of the people were dressed in a coarse yellow stuff, made of the bark of a tree, (as we ascertained in their houses,) which a few wore, bordered with blue cloth. Un der this dress they had another of a fine cotton stuff, that they probably purchase of the Japanese. Here we saw no boots such as were worn by every one in Aniwa bay ; but instead of them, they used Japanese straw slippers. A few of them covered their legs with a kind of half stockings stitched together, of the same coarse stuff as their upper garments. This difference in the dress of the Mims of Jesso and Sachalin seems to prove a much greater degree of wealth in the latter island, and the men here appeared to wear a more cheerful aspect ; but whether this is owing to their superior wealth in fish and furs, which find a cer tain market with the Japanese, or to their little dependence on these latter, I cannot pretend to decide, though I am in clined to believe the former. The greatest part of them went with their heads uncovered ; others wore a straw hat point ed in the middle. I fancy it is not the custom of the country to shave the hair, though I saw several of them with their heads half shorn, probably only in imitation of the Japanese. The women, even the youngest, use no ornaments on their heads ; but, as I have already mentioned, they invariably paint their lips blue,—a practice which, to an European accustomed to the rose colour, appears extremely ugly. On the contrary, many of the male sex wore car rings, which were commonly merely a brass ring. I purchased a pair of a young man, made of silver, with large false pearls suspended from them. The possessor seemed to set great value on these ornaments, being very unwilling to part with them ; and twice he repented of his bargain, took them back again, and demanded a higher price. An old coat, two cotton cloths, and a piece of flat white metal, were the treasures for which he at last exchanged them.
Buttons and old clothes were the articles the Ainos most sought after, and for which they gave their pipes and other trifles.
"'The huts we saw in Aniwa bay were, as I have already said, probably newly built, and served only for their sum mer residence. In Romansoff bay they appeared to be their constant abode both in winter and summer. The two we visited, and near to which wet e balagans for drying fish, consisted of a single large room, which, with a small divi sion at one end, occupied the whole interior of the house. Their construction did not seem to me to be very solid, and, unless the houses are entirely covered with snow, as in Kamtschatka,I cannot conceive how they are able to bear the cold, which must be intense here in the winter ; since, even in the month of May, the thermometer only shewed three degrees of warmth. In the middle of the room was a large hearth, around which the whole family, consisting of eight or ten persons, was seated. The furniture consisted of a large bed, over which a Japanese mat was spread, and se veral boxes and barrels. All their utensils were of Japan ese manufacture, and mostly lacquered. It appeared from the interior of the house, that the inhabitants possessed a degree of affluence such as is not found among the Kanns chadales, still less among the Aleuti, and the unfortunate inhabitants of Kodiack. The great provision of dried fish bore indeed rather a disgusting appearance ; but no ob jection can be taken to this when we reflect, that their ex istence depends upon them, fish being probably their only nourishment, and their houses on this account being chief ly scattered along the shore. We perceived no symptoms of cultivation, not even any plantations of vegetables ; nor did we see any tame fowls or domestic animals, except dogs, which they had in great abundance ; and Lieutenant Golowatscheff found in Mordwinoff bay, on the west coast of Patience bay, above fifty in one place. In all probability they use them for their journeys in the winter ; for we saw it Aniwa bay a sledge, which bore a perfect resemblance to a Kamtschadale narte. Dog skins, also, are here an im portant article of dress. We were struck, on perceiving that snow-water was the common beverage of the people On the north side of Jessn, although that of the river, which flowed into the bay, was extremely good. Perhaps the fear of cold in the winter, as they would have to fetch their water from the river, which is not very near to their houses, has so accustomed them to snow water, that they prefer it to that of the river so long as they are able to procure it. It seemed also the custom here (at least, it was so in all the houses which either I or any of my officers visited,) to bring up a young bear in the house, to which a place was assigned in one of the corners of the room, and which was decidedly the most restless of any of its inhabitants. One of our officers was desirous of purchasing one of these bears, and offered his great coat in exchange for it ; but he could not persuade the proprietor, although cloth is of great va lue in the of the Ainos, as the Japanese are unable to supply them with it, to part with his young eleve.