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The Ainu are the aborigines of the Japanese Archipelago and of the large island of Saghalin to the north and the string of islands, called the Kurile Islands, to the north-east, stretching all the way to Kamtschatka. In Japan itself they have come under the influence of the dominant race and civilization, have probably, in former times at any rate, intermarried with persons of that race, and have been greatly affected by its civilization. Ainu words have found their way into Japanese speech, and Japanese words into Ainu speech. With the Ainu of the Kurile Islands it is different. Only quite recently have they come under Japanese influence. When in 1884 Russia recognized the islands as belonging to the Japanese Empire the inhabitants were scattered on the different shores of the Archipelago. Out of pity for their miserable condition, and to save them from complete annihilation, the Japanese Government collected them together (they were only ninety-seven in number, all told), and transported them to Shikotan, one of the most southerly and most fertile islands of the group, where they could cultivate the land. These well-meant efforts were vain. The Ainu were in a very low state of civilization. They did not understand the cultivation of the soil; and they pined for their rocks and forests, for their life as fishers and hunters, with all its toil and all its hardships and adventures. Their numbers have dropped from ninety-seven to sixty individuals; they are a dying race.