Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/523

Rh instrument. Of course I said that I did, when, to my great astonishment, he produced an iron Jew's-harp of orthodox pattern, and to my utter astonishment told me that it was an original Ainu invention! Aside from the fact that it evinced a degree of skill in metal-working to which the Ainu have never attained, its whole appearance betrayed it at once. It is true that they have a musical instrument, of which Miss Bird writes: "They have another which is believed to be peculiar to themselves, consisting of a thin piece of wood, about five inches long and two and a half inches broad, with a pointed wooden tongue, about two lines in breadth and sixteen in length, fixed in the middle, and grooved on three sides. The wood is held before the mouth, and the tongue is set in motion by the vibration of the breath in singing. Its sound, though less penetrating, is as discordant as that of a Jew's harp, which it somewhat resembles." I did not see one of these wooden instruments, but that which they showed me was so unmistakably of foreign manufacture that I could not suppress a smile when the extraordinary claim was made, and thereby hurt the feelings of the sensitive Ainu. This claiming priority in inventing the Jew's-harp quite jumps with their assertion that their progenitors used tobacco (though the dates of the introduction of tobacco to China and thence to Japan are quite well known, and it is beyond question that the Ainu learned of tobacco and how to use it from the Japanese); that they used to have a written literature, all traces of which were stolen by Yoshitsune; and other minor but equally untenable claims.

The only Ainu weapons which show any individuality are the bows and arrows. Their knives, swords, spears, and matchlocks are clearly of Japanese make. They have discarded flint and stone arrow-heads and spear-points, but only a comparatively short time ago; specimens in obsidian, etc., can be dug up in the vicinity of most of their villages.

The Ainu bow is made of a light, rather coarse-grained wood, resembling red cedar in appearance. This wood is called on-ko; in Japanese, probably, araragi, (Taxus cuspidata); the Chinese character which the Japanese employ for this wood seems to refer to the Ailanthus glandulosa by the synonyms, but may also denote a kind of Rhus (Rhus cotinus). Batchelor says that the onko is the yew-tree. It is very inelastic, and, unless a singularly good piece can be obtained, the bow is wrapped with thin strips of wild cherry to increase its elasticity—just as the Esquimaux seize their bows and brace them with intestines. I examined a great many bows, but did not see any "stout saplings with the bark on," as mentioned by Miss Bird, and I am inclined to think that she may have mistaken the cherry-seizing for bark. The bows are short, the longest I saw being only fifty-three inches, the