seems inapplicable to the Zuni custom, the true meaning of which is somewhat obscure. Doubt also hangs over the meaning of the bear-sacrifice offered by the Ainos, a primitive people who are found in the Japanese islands of Yesso and Saghalien, and also in the southern of the Kurile Islands. It is not quite easy to make out the attitude of the Ainos towards the bear. On the one hand they give it the name of _Kamui_ or “god”; but as they apply the same word to strangers,(318) it probably means no more than a being supposed to be endowed with superhuman powers. Again, it is said “the bear is their chief divinity;”(319) “in the religion of the Ainos the bear plays a chief part;”(320) “amongst the animals it is especially the bear which receives an idolatrous veneration;”(321) “they worship it after their fashion.... There is no doubt that this wild beast inspires more of the feeling which prompts worship than the inanimate forces of nature, and the Ainos may be distinguished as bear-worshippers.”(322) Yet, on the other hand, they kill the bear whenever they can;(323) “the men spend the autumn, winter, and spring in hunting deer and bears. Part of their tribute or taxes is paid in skins, and they subsist on the dried meat;”(324) bear’s flesh is indeed one of their staple foods; they eat it both fresh and salted;(325) and the skins of bears furnish them with clothing.(326) In fact, the “worship” of which writers on this subject speak appears to be paid only to the dead animal. Thus, although they kill a bear whenever they can, “in the process of dissecting the carcass they endeavour to conciliate the deity, whose representative they have slain, by making elaborate obeisances and deprecatory salutations;”(327) “when a bear is trapped or wounded by an arrow, the hunters go through an apologetic or propitiatory ceremony.”(328) The skulls of slain bears receive a place of honour in their huts, or are set up on sacred posts outside the huts, and are treated with much respect; libations of _sake_, an intoxicating liquor, are offered to them.(329) The skulls of foxes are also fastened to the sacred posts outside the huts; they are regarded as charms against evil spirits, and are consulted as oracles.(330) Yet it is expressly said, “The live fox is revered just as little as the bear; rather they avoid it as much as possible, considering it a wily animal.”(331) The bear cannot, therefore, be described as a sacred animal of the Ainos, and it certainly is not a totem; for they do not call themselves bears, they appear to have no legend of their descent from a bear,(332) and they kill and eat the animal freely.