Ghilyaks

Ghilyaks, a widespread people of North-east Asia, settled chiefly along the south side of the Sea of Okhotsk, in the island of Sakhalin and the Lower Amour river basin; present two distinct types - one Mongolic, with scanty beard, high cheek-bones, somewhat flat features, and yellowish complexion, the other marked by regular features and bushy beard, attributed by some to Russian mixture, by others to an original kinship with the Ainos of North Japan. [Ainos.] The latter is the more probable view, for they show a marked resemblance to the Ainos in speech, national usages, religion, and traditions, as well as in their physical appearance. There are two main divisions - Kile or Kileng, the Kili-miof the Chinese, and the Kacheng, with total population about 8,000, of whom 3,000 are in Sakhalin and 5,000 on the mainland. They live chiefly on the banks of the rivers and along the sea-coast, and are essentially a fishing people, though partly also engaged in hunting and trapping the fur-bearing animals of the surrounding woodlands. Most of the peltries are brought for sale to the Nicolayeff dealers. (J. Barnard Davis, On the Skull of a Ghiliak, in Proceedings of the Anthropological Society, iii., 1870; Dr. A. Anoutchine, Memoirs of the Imperial Society of the Natural Sciences, Moscow, vol. xx., Supplement.)