A Ship's Captain Reflects on the Ainu
In A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, William R. Broughton, captain of the HMS Providence, presented his analysis of the Ainu in the late eighteenth century:
This people appear to have intelligence. Their beards are long, black, and strong. They have brown skin and their heads are shaved with the exception of a tusk of hair the size of two fingers, which rests at the front of the head. They put their hands together below their heads as a greeting. They are dressed in bear skins and armed with bow and arrow. . . . The people seem to have no religion. They eat like barbarians, without any sort of ceremony. . . .They seem to have no government, no writing or books, and no one seems able to read or write.
Source: W. R. Broughton. (1804) A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean 1804, 89ff.
This complete Ainu contains 155 words. This
article contains 1,405 words (approx. 5 pages at 300
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