31 He left two serious works: The Southem Section of Sakhalm Island (an abstract from a military medical report), published by the Siberian Division of the Imperial Russian Geo.graphic Society ( 1870), VoL I, Nos. 2 and 3, and An Ainu-Russian Dictionary.
It is difficult to believe that this disease which devastated Northern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands could have bypassed Southern Sakhalin. A. Polonsky writes that when a person died in a yurt, the Ainus abandoned it and built another one elsewhere. Such a custom obviously arose at the time when, fearing epidemics, the Ainus abandoned their infected dwellings and settled in other locations.
An Ainu told Rimsky-Korsakov: "The sizam sleeps while the Ainu works for him; he chops trees, catches fish;the Ainu doesn't want to work—but the sizam beats him."
8 In the book by Shrenk which I have already mentioned there is a picture of an Ainu. See also the book by Friedrich von Hellwald, Natural History of Tribes and Peoples, Vol. II, which depicts a mature Ainu dressed in a khalat.
7 A. Polonsky's research work "Kurily" [The Kurilians] was published in the Reports of the Imperial Russian Geographic Society ( 187 i ), Vol. i 4.
N. V. Busse, who rarely said anything good about anybody, stated the following about the Ainu women: "One evening a drunken Ainu came to me. I knew him to be a real tippler. He brought along his wife, so far as 1 could understand, with the aim of offering up her fidelity to the connubial couch and thus to wheedle fine gifts from me. It seemed that the Ainu woman, who was quite pretry in her own way, was ready to assist her husband in his plan, but I pretended not to understand their explanations. . . . On leaving my house, right before my own eyes and in full sight of the sentry, the husband and wife paid their debt to nature without any ceremony. This Ainu woman did not demonstrate any feminine modesty whatsoever. Her breasts were practically uncovered. The Ainu women wear the same garments as the men, consisting of several loose short khalats belted with a low sash. They do not wear shirts or underwear and therefore the slightest disarray of their clothing discloses all their hidden charms." But even this dour author admits that "among the young girls there were some who were pretty, with pleasant, soft features and ardent black eyes." Be it as it may, the Ainu woman is very retarded in her physical development. She ages and withers sooner than a man. This can be attributed perhaps to the fact that during the age-long migrations of the people the lion's share of priva- tions, hard work and tears fell to the woman.
Here he tells of their great qualities: "When we visited an Ainu dwelling on the bank of Rumyantsev Bay, 1 noted the most delightful harmony in a family which comprised ten persons. One could almost say there was absolute equaliry among its members. After having spent several hours with them we were unable to determine who was the head of the family. The older members demonstrated no signs of authoriry over the younger. When gifts were distributed to them, not one showed the slightest sign of discontent that he had received less than another. They vied with each other to serve us in every possible way."
Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov (1764-1807), the founder and leading spirit of the Russian-American Company, was the Russian Ambassador to the court of Japan before his appointment as Governor of Kamchatka. The Russian-American Company set up its headquarters in Sitka in Alaska, and from there Rezanov made his famous journey to San Francisco, offering furs to the govern- ment of California in exchange for food. He became engaged to the beautiful daughter of the Comandante of San Francisco, but died shortly afterward of fever during a journey through Siberia. Chekhov's verdict on him is not borne out by serious historians. —^^NS.
11 Khvostov destroyed Japanese homes and barns on the banks of the Aniva and awarded one Ainu elder with a silver medal on a Vladimir ribbon. This piracy greatly alarmed the Japanese gov- ernment, which began to take measures to defend itself. Shortly thereafter Captain Golovin and his companions were taken prisoner on the Kurile Islands, exactly as though they were in a state of war. When the governor of Matsmay later released the prisoners, he told them solemnly: "You were all captured because of Khvostov's raids, but we have now received from the Okhotsk administration the explanation that his raids were acts of piracy. This is clear to us, and therefore we are ordering your release."
J2 Particulars may be obtained in Venyukov's "A General Survey of the Gradual Expansion of Russian Boundaries in Asia and Means for Their Defense. The First Region: Sakhalin Island,"' Military Miscellany (1872), No. 3.
13 Tyuleni Island lies in the Sea of Okhotsk, I 1 miles off Cape Patience in Southern Sakhalin.—^^NS.
14 It was obviously because of the Japanese desire to legalize the servitude of the Ainu that a risky clause was included among others in the pact, in which foreigners who have fallen into debt can repay their debt through work or by offering services. How- ever, there were no Ainus on Sakhalin whom the Japanese did not consider their debtor.
1.1 Nevelskoy always regarded Sakhalin as a Russian possession, basing this claim on the occupation of the island by our Tungus in the seventeenth century, the first description of which appeared in 1742, and the occupation of Southern Sakhalin by the Russians in 1806. He believed the Orochi tribe consisted of Russian Tungus, with which ethnographers disagree. It was in fact first described in writing not by the Russians but by the Dutch; and as for the occupation in i 806, the primacy of the Russian claim is refuted by the facts. Undoubtedly, the right of first exploration belongs to the Japanese, and the Japanese were the first to occupy South- ern Sakhalin. However, it seems that we overreached ourselves in our generosity. "Out of respect," as the peasants say, we could have given the Japanese the 5 or 6 Kurile Islands closest to them, but instead we gave them 22 islands, which, if we are to believe the Japanese, bring in I,ooo,ooo rubles in profits annually.
1G Relations are splendid between the local administration and the Japanese, which is as it should be. They serve champagne to each other on solemn occasions, and they find other means to maintain good relations. I cite verbatim one of the letters received from the consuclass="underline" "To the Honorable Commander of the Korsakov Post: With respect to Order No. 741, dated August 16 of this year, I have made arrangements to distribute supplies consisting of 4 barrels of salted fish and 5 bags of salt to the men who suffered an accident on the brig and on the junk. In addition, in the name of these poor fellows, I have the honor to express to you, gracious sir, the extremely sincere recognition of your friendly compassion and your gift to a neighboring nation, a gift which is so imponam to them and which, I feel absolutely certain, they will always remember with gratitude. Kuzc, Consul of the Japanese Empire." This letter gives some idea of the success achieved by the young Japanese secretaries in learning our language. German officers who have learned Russian, and foreigners who translate Russian literature, write our language in an incomparably worse fashion.
Japanese courtesy is not cloying, and I find it charming. No matter how often it is practiced, it is not obnoxious, in accord- ance with the proverb "Butter docs not spoil the porridge." A Japanese wood-turner in Nagasaki from whom our naval officers bought various knickknacks always politely praised everything Russian. He would see an officer's trinket or wallet and go into raptures, saying, "How magnificent! How elegant!" Once one of the officers brought an extremely crudely fashioned wooden ciga- rette case from Sakhalin. "Won't I pull a fast one on him now," he thought. "Let us see what he'll say now." But when they showed the cigarette case to the Japanese, he did not falter for a moment. He shook it in the air and said in tones of wonder, "How strong it is!"