"This is no house for strangers; go elsewhere!" answered a drowsy hoarse voice from inside.
"May you be kept—hot!" said I, in pure Ainu fashion, though in my heart I attached quite a different meaning to the sentence from that which the hairy people give it; and wearily I pulled myself together and passed on.
A shadow crept out of one of the huts, and thanks to that shadow I found a shelter for the night. There are fifty Ainu huts at Shari, and ten Japanese, with an Ainu population of about one hundred souls. The Ainu here have adopted Japanese clothes, and many of them eat Japanese food when they can get it. The Ainu women of Shari are exceedingly pretty, as they do not tattoo the long moustache across their faces, like other Ainu. Some of them have a small semicircular tattoo on the upper lip, which is not very displeasing to the eye; and in some cases is even becoming. The girls have also given up tattooing their arms. The men are much taller than the Ainu men of other regions, and they seem to be rather ill-natured. Japanese blood can be detected in many of them, and that may account for it. While the women are prettier, the men have repulsive faces, possessing all the characteristics of purely criminal types.
One young fellow who sat for me was the very image of Robespierre in his worst moments, and an old man who sat for me afterwards would, according to Phrenology, prove to be a murderer of the first water. This gentleman was a troublesome sitter, and excelled in making the most awful faces, which were accompanied by sounds imitating those of wild beasts. The Shari Ainu build their storehouses with cylindrical roofs, similar to those of their brethren on the Kutcharo Lake.
After the heavy storm of the previous night the weather cleared up for the rest of the day, and the sunset, reflected in the limpid waters of the river, was simply magnificent. On the other side, sheltered by the sand-hills, were a few Ainu huts standing out against the brilliant red and yellow sky, and here and there a large fish jumped out of the water, leaving circle after circle of concentric rings to break for the moment the reflection in the water.
From Shari to Abashiri the road is for some distance among trees, mostly fir and spruce, and then the Tobuts Lake is reached, half of which is a mere marsh. It is picturesquely situated, and I followed its borders for about three miles, having the sea on one side, the lake on the other. The track was easy and mostly on sand. At the outlet of the lake into the sea is the Ainu village of Tobuts, access to which is to be had only by boat, as the river is extremely deep, and its current very swift.
In the proximity of Tobuts another and smaller lake, the Opoto, with its short and winding estuary, is on the left of the traveller, while a long way ahead the Abashiri rocks stand high on the horizon. A few Ainu huts are scattered along the coast, and some of them have peculiarly shaped storehouses. They are small, built entirely of wood, and roofed with shingles. Some have two floors, and in this case, though built on piles, the first floor is only a few inches above the ground. The "mat" was supplanted by a wooden door at the entrance of the storehouse.
The Abashiri cliffs are grand, and from a distance have all the appearance of, though they are not in reality, basaltic rocks. They are scarred, riven, and fractured in all directions, as if by excessive heat. The upper portion of the cliffs is of a beautiful grey-whitish colour, blending into yellow and red at their warm brown bases. The small cylindrical islet which I give in the illustration is on the north side of this cliff, and is of the same volcanic formation. It has certain traces of sulphur as a further evidence of its origin. Flocks of sea-gulls, penguins, and cormorants have chosen this island for their abode.
Abashiri is the only place on the north-east coast which may eventually be of some importance, as it has a fair anchorage for small craft under the lee of the islet and outstretching cliff. No other place on the north-east coast possesses such an advantage. On the Shiretoko Peninsula sulphur accumulations are found at Itashibeoni; but, unfortunately, the want of a safe harbour, the ruggedness of the coast, and the lack of drinkable water in the vicinity, are all facts which make it improbable that it could be worked with profit for some years to come. The Ainu at Abashiri are repulsive creatures, especially the men, and have more the appearance of wild beasts than human beings. Their faces are almost square, the mouth large, with narrow lips, the ends of which converge towards the ears. The nose is short and stumpy, they have very heavy eyebrows, and the eyes are almost lost under the shadow of their projecting forehead.
Ponies are scarce and bad along this coast, and the further north one goes the more difficult the travelling becomes; the huts are rarer; the human beings more uncouth and solitary. The north-east coast is a region of swamps, lagoons, and quicksand rivers.