Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/517

Rh get which an Ainu man will resort to any expedient, or contain ready money with which he might purchase the one thing essential to perfect happiness according to his light, he does not dare to violate their sanctity.



Back of the eastern dais, along the wall under the sacred window, were hung some very pretty mats with a curious, semi-geometrical pattern picked out in brown and red. These served as a background for one or two sets of open shelves, on which were arranged a number of cups, plates, and other pieces of crockery for every-day use. These were all of Japanese manufacture, and had evidently been brought from the main island, for the Ainu do not make pottery of any kind; nor is there any authentic record of their ever having done so, though they have a myth that in ancient times they possessed the art, but that all specimens were destroyed, and the written instructions for making ware were stolen from them. It may be remarked, parenthetically, that this is entirely discredited by those who know most about Ainu ethnology.

In the northeastern corner of the house—which, next to the eastern window, is held sacred—on shelves, some of them covered