Amalgamation has been completely effected in the course of long centuries, and even the Ainu, though the small surviving remnant of them now live apart, have left a trace upon their conquerors.
By some authorities Ainu colonists are supposed to have been the first settlers, and to have arrived there via Yezo; by others, the earliest corners are believed to have been a hyperborean tribe travelling southwards by way of Kamchatka.
Its proper Ainu name, Karafuto or Karaftu, has been restored to the island by the Japanese since 1905.
The most i m important developments of the cult are in East Asia p p among the Siberian tribes; among the Ainu of Sakhalin a young bear is caught at the end of winter and fed for some nine months; then after receiving honours it is killed, and the people, who previously show marks of grief at its approaching fate, dance merrily and feast on its body.