The national debt of Japan January, 1913, was more than 2,500,000,000 yen ($1,250,000,000), of which almost 1,500,000,000 yen ($750,000,000) was in foreign loans. BIBLIOGRAPHY. For interesting accounts of travel when and where modern conveniences were not available, read “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” (Bird); “The Mikado’s Empire” (Griffis); “Noto, an Unexplored Corner of Japan” (Lowell); “Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan” (Hearn); and papers in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. For similarly interesting accounts of travel with modern conveniences read “Jinrikisha Days in Japan” (Scidmore); “Japan and her People” (Hartshorne); “The Yankees of the East” (Curtis); “Japan To-day” (Scherer); “Every Day Japan” (Lloyd). On the industrial and commercial phases of these topics, consult books, papers, magazines, and pamphlets mentioned in the bibliography of the preceding chapter; especially, for the latest statistics, “The Japan Year Book.” CHAPTER IV PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS OUTLINE OF TOPICS: Ainu; ethnology; two types; comparative stature and weight; intellectual and moral qualities.—Classes in society of old and new _régimes_; social principle.—Family and empire.—Houses; public buildings; rooms; foreign architecture.—Gardens.—Food; meals; table manners; foreign cooking.—Undress and dress; European costume.—Bathing.—Bibliography. Who were the aborigines of Japan is yet a disputed question. Remains have been found of a race of dwarfs who dwelt in caves and pits, but who these people were is not positively known. They may have been contemporary with the Ainu, whom many call “the aborigines of Japan.” It is certain, however, that the Ainu were once a very numerous nation, “the members of which formerly extended all over Japan, and were in Japan long before the present race of Japanese.” But the latter gradually forced the former northward, until a final refuge was found in Yezo and the Kurile Islands. There the Ainu are now living, but are slowly dying out as a race; there are at present only about 17,000 remaining. They are said to be “the hairiest race in the whole world,” “of sturdy build,” filthy in their habits (bathing is unknown), addicted to drunkenness, and yet “of a mild and amiable disposition.” Their religion is nature-worship.[41]