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LETTER XLII

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2010

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Summary

I expected to have written out my notes on the Ainos in the comparative quiet and comfort of Sarufuto, but the delay in Benri's return, and the non-arrival of the horses, have compelled me to accept Aino hospitality for another night, which involves living on tea and potatoes, for my stock of food is exhausted. In some respects I am glad to remain longer, as it enables me to go over my stock of words, as well as my notes, with the chief, who is intelligent, and it is a pleasure to find that his statements confirm those which have been made by the young men. The glamour which at first disguises the inherent barrenness of savage life has had time to pass away, and I see it in all its nakedness as a life not much raised above the necessities of animal existence, timid, monotonous, barren of good, dark, dull, “without hope, and without God in the world;” though at its lowest and worst considerably higher and better than that of many other aboriginal races, and, must I say it? considerably higher and better than that of thousands of the lapsed masses of our own great cities, who are baptized into Christ's name, and are laid at last in holy ground, inasmuch as the Ainos are truthful, and, on the whole, chaste, hospitable honest, reverent, and kind to the aged.

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Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
An Account of Travels in the Interior, Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikkô and Isé
, pp. 73 - 81
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1880

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  • LETTER XLII
  • Isabella Lucy Bird
  • Book: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511709845.009
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  • LETTER XLII
  • Isabella Lucy Bird
  • Book: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511709845.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • LETTER XLII
  • Isabella Lucy Bird
  • Book: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
  • Online publication: 05 October 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511709845.009
Available formats
×