The food of the Kurilsky Ainu consisted chiefly of meat of bear and seals, berries, and eggs of sea-birds. They were a migratory people, and in their small cranky canoes they often crossed from one island to another, carrying with them all their property, consisting of skin garments and fishing and hunting implements, these latter the same as those employed by other Ainu. The dress of the men is shaped like a short tunic, made of sea-birds' skins, with the feathers inside. Some of the smart ones are trimmed with seal, and they are worn fastened round the waist with a girdle of sealskin or a belt of sea-lion hide, often ornamented with molten lead buttons or Chinese cash. The women's garment is much longer, and reaches nearly to the feet; it falls loosely, and has long sleeves covering the hands; it is fastened with a girdle in bad weather, and the gown is then pulled up to the knee, showing the long yellow boots. When carrying water or working this is also done, as it gives greater freedom to the limbs, making walking and all movement much easier. A red, yellow, or brightly-coloured handkerchief, of Russian manufacture, is tied round the neck and another round the back of the head, and this makes the women look like Italian peasants. As the gown is worn usually loose it has the identical shape of a dressing-gown; it is ornamented with yellow feathers of puffins round the neck and the edge. Both men and women wear either moccasins, or long boots made of sealskin, with the fur inside, or else they wear salmon-skin boots, like the Ainu of Yezo. No woman that I saw at Shikotan had a moustache tattooed round her lips, or any tattoo marks on her arms. Very few of them wore earrings, though all had the ears bored for that purpose, and had worn them. The earrings which they possessed were mostly strings of coral beads and metal ornaments of Russian manufacture, which, like the brightly-coloured handkerchiefs, they had received in bartering with the crew of a sealing schooner. Since they have been at Shikotan the men have been presented with old caps and overcoats, similar to those of the Japanese police. Previous to this, however, when the Kuriles were under the rigid Russian régime, the Kurilsky Ainu men were compelled to trim their hair and beard, which was the first step taken by the priests of the Coptic Church in Christianising these nomadic barbarians. When this hair-dressing order was complied with, as the first link of the chain, the Coptic creed was enforced on them, and the barbarous Kurilsky Ainu became well-trimmed orthodox Christians.
At Shikotan, as it is, fishing on a small scale is their main occupation, praying the next, and Jacko, the chief of the village, is the high priest. Jacko's predecessor, in fulfilling the duties of this high post, was a man who had dropped his Ainu name, and had been baptized as Alexandrovitch. His house is now occupied by Jacko. It is the first on the right-hand side when the village is entered from the harbour side, and it is larger than any of the others; it is built of wood instead of rushes and reeds. The interior is divided into two rooms, and in the second are three stands, the middle one of which has a cross on it. On each of these stands is a Russian Bible, with images hanging on the page-marks. Several rough stools and a couple of benches are placed in rows in front of these stands, and on the walls hang two or three Russian religious images. Taken altogether, and compared with other Ainu huts, Jacko's chapel had quite a stately appearance.
Just as the Ainu of Yezo have partly acquired the Japanese language, the Kurilsky Ainu have learned to talk Russian, besides speaking an Ainu dialect.
On Sundays, or on any day which Jacko thinks is a Sunday, the chief reads the mass before a congregation of the other fifty-nine hairy Christians of the Russian Orthodox Church; he does not spare them a sermon, which sometimes lasts half the day, and his audience are most attentive and well behaved. None of them would think of leaving church before service is over; but one detail in which these hairy Christians are not yet fully Christianised is, that no collection plate is ever sent round! The Kurilsky Ainu have undoubtedly accepted the form of their adopted religion, but I rather doubt whether they have fallen in with the principle. Their former barbarian ideas and superstitions are still well rooted in their brain, and each individual was a curious and enviable combination of a perfect heathen and a thorough Christian, according to what suited him or her better at the time being. In other words, they believed in two diametrically opposed principles, one of which fitted in with every phase of their life when the other was deficient.
As many as ninety people, all told, were landed at Shikotan, but thirty had already succumbed when I visited the island. A graveyard on a hill on the west side of the village was indeed a sad reminder of this fact. It will not be long before all the others will pass away, for consumption and rheumatism have a great hold on most of the wretches. In ten years from now, I dare say, not one of the Kurilsky tribe of Ainu will be left on this earth. It is pitiful that the last remains of these independent people will end their days secluded and in exile on the barren rocks of Shikotan.
As it is, they seem to take life easily, and, with a characteristic proper to all nomadic peoples, they make the best of what they can get. They are not shy, and they have dropped the formalities and grand salutations of other Ainu. They are, however, as dirty, especially in their homes. The women dress their hair in small tresses.
The children wear long gowns similar to those of the women, and one or two of the children I saw had very fair hair. As will be seen by the illustrations, some of the men and women possess good features, more resembling those of European races than those of Mongolian type. They are gentle and quiet, like all other Ainu. They are submissive, and resigned to their sad fate.
The island of Skikotan is almost circular in shape, and it has one or two small anchorages on its north coast. I judged its diameter to be about twelve or thirteen miles. Etorofu and Kunashiri, though much larger in size, are of less interest to us in connection with the Ainu, as most of that race found there migrate from Yezo during the fishing season; therefore, nothing is to be added about them.
Etorofu is a long, narrow, but irregular island, over one hundred miles in length, and varying in breadth from five or six to twenty miles. It is very mountainous, and has some bold, rugged scenery, owing to its volcanic formation. Etorofu is by far the largest island of the Kurile group, and it possesses many safe anchorages, especially on its north-west coast, where several mountainous capes branch off the narrow strip of land, and afford small ships a fairly safe harbourage from west and south-westerly winds. Unfortunately, however, they are open to northerly and north-east gales, during the prevalence of which, should a ship happen to be cruising about in those latitudes, she would have to run for a shelter to the south-east coast. The south-east coast is not peopled, with the exception of a very few huts near Moyorotake, or "Bear Bay," at its most south-eastern point. A better shelter, however, is to be found in the bay, nearly in the middle of the island, on the shores of which are a few huts at Onembets and Imotsuto. Most of the coast is deserted, and the south-east portion is very rocky, huge cliffs, with high richly-coloured mountains in the background, ending like an impassable wall into the sea. Where the island is narrower there are some low terraces with scrub bamboo and stunted trees. Larch is found in Etorofu, while it is seldom found in Yezo. Heather-like plants are also indigenous in Etorofu, and cranberry bushes are frequent near the coast. From Betoya or Bettobu Bay down to its most south-western point Etorofu is all mountainous, with the exception of a small valley near Rubets. It is along the banks of the Bettobu River, in that small valley and on those terraces, that the numerous pits of the Koro-pok-kuru are found, and also at Rupets, further south on the same coast. This, however, I have already explained in connection with the pit-dwellers. The two small fishing-stations above mentioned are respectively under the lee of the headlands ending in Cape Ikahasonets and Notoro Cape. On the first headland the mountain of Tsiriju rises to a great altitude. The largest fishing-station is at Shana, on the western side of this headland, and further north, besides Bettobu, is the small station of Shibets. South-west of Shana one finds Rubets, Furubets, Oitoi, and Naibo, the latter in the bay of the same name. There are five lakes in Etorofu, two of which are between Shana and Bettobu, one near Rubets, the other close to Naibo; the fifth is a very small one, fifteen or sixteen miles north-east of Bettobu. The country has a rugged look, and in some places, as near Rubets, where the volcanic mountain masses leave space for low terraces the scrub-bamboo is very thick, as in Yezo, and small and stunted trees form the chief vegetation. Larch is more common on the north-west coast than on the south-east. Good timber is rather scarce in Etorofu, but a fair quantity of it is to be found inland, and also at the south-western portion of the island about Naipo.
Accumulations of sulphur are found at Ichibishinai, and there is an active volcano south-east of Bettobu, besides the beautiful volcanic cone of Atzosa, three or four thousand feet above sea-level. All this volcanic mountain mass, with its warmly-tinted peaks, bears the characteristics of the central portion of Yezo; and there seems to be little doubt that all this row of islands, with the frequent submerged craters and volcanic cones, is nothing but the continuation of the volcanic zone in Yezo. The main resource of Etorofu is the fishing. Four different kinds of salmon and salmon-trout are found, one similar to the salmon common in Yezo, the others somewhat differently marked. Salmon is extremely plentiful, and in July and August enormous catches are made, especially at the mouths of the rivers, where the fish are closely packed together.